Martin Salter, Labour MP for Reading West, has welcomed the payment of a £1.5 million capital grant  in order to help the children’s hospice Naomi House. The charity was badly affected by the Icelandic banking crisis. Last year, Mr Salter led a delegation of south east MPs to meet with Kevin Brennan MP, the Minister of State for the Third Sector, in order to highlight the invaluable service provided by Naomi House to local people, and to reiterate the need to release the £5.7 million of deposits that were effectively frozen by the government following the economic turmoil affecting Iceland.

In October 2008, the government decided to freeze the assets of Kaupthing, Singer and Freidlander (KSF) which included the Naomi House deposits. Naomi House, which provides services across seven south-east counties, is hugely dependent on the income provided by these deposits. The crisis in Iceland, and the governmental action in the UK, has meant that cutbacks to original and innovative plans have been drawn up. The ‘Outreach’ programme, part of a blueprint to provide 72 hour continuous home care for parents with terminally ill children, has been abandoned already. On a recent visit to Naomi House near Winchester, Mr Salter was introduced to a new initiative at the charity, ‘Jacksplace’, which planned to offer care to young people up to and including 25 years of age. Without the release of the deposits, however, the scheme would not have been able to open.

Mr Salter then followed up the issue by raising the matter with Commons Leader Harriet Harman during Business Questions on Thursday 26^th March 2009. He said:-

“My right hon. and learned Friend will recall her comments about the problems facing charities such as Naomi House children’s hospice, which serves my constituency and those of many other hon. Members, following the collapse of the Icelandic banks. Will she prevail on her colleagues in the Treasury to find a way to include charities such as Naomi House in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, as it was never the intention to exclude all charities from the scheme, particularly those that care for terminally ill children?”

Ms Harman responded that there was “absolute determination” on the part of the Government to support Naomi House through this difficult time and confirmed that meetings are taking place on the issue at the highest levels.

Martin Salter said:-

“It’s fantastic news to hear that our cross-party campaign has finally produced the goods and that £1.5 million of Government money has found its way down from the Strategic Health Authority via the Hampshire Primary Care Trust into the coffers of Naomi House. It was monstrously unfair that a charity like Naomi House that provides such tremendous services for terminally ill children and their families should be facing real problems as a result of a financial collapse in a far off country. I am really pleased to have been able to play my part and I’m delighted that families in my constituency can be reassured that Naomi House will now be there for them.”