Thurso urges Chancellor to cover the Icelandic bank losses of Highland Hospice

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 10th Apr 2009

John Thurso MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, is leading calls for the Treasury to cover the losses Highland Hospice has suffered due to the collapse of the Icelandic banks. The northern charity had around £700,000 on deposit with the Icelandic bank Kaupthing, Singer and Friedlander and has been forced to postpone plans to create a virtual hospice serving remote rural areas.

Under current rules the Treasury would not cover this loss although it is compensating smaller charities. John Thurso, who is a member of the Treasury Select Committee which recently issued a report on this subject, has written to the Chancellor suggesting ways the rules can be adapted to enable the hospice to be covered by the Government compensation scheme. The Treasury Select Committee itself in its report is advocating the extension of the Government scheme to help all charities affected by the collapses.

John said "Smaller charities are being helped. It is those a little bigger that are being left out.

"Highland Hospice is one of the most important charities in the north, hugely respected for doing a fantastic job, and it seems monumentally unfair that they will have to cut back improvements in services for the terminally ill until they can restore their reserves."