§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what decision he has made in respect of the pension entitlement of ex-miners dismissed during the 1984–85 miners' strike; and if he will make a statement. [153236]
§ Mr. HainMy Department issued a consultative document in May last year which elicited some starkly conflicting views, and highlighted a range of difficult moral, legal and equity questions. As a result of the complexity of the issues raised it is taking time to reach a decision on the way forward. None the less, the Government wish to see a just outcome to resolve this long standing matter. Having spoken to those involved, I do recognise the strong feelings there are about an early resolution.
Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many medical assessment procedures were conducted on average each week in respect of the miners' compensation claims for chest diseases for(a) January to March 2000, (b) April to June 2000, (c) July to September 2000 and (d) October to December 2000 and the individual weekly totals from 1 January to date. [153379]
§ Mr. HainA breakdown of the number of medical assessments is available only from June 2000 onwards.
Between January and June 2000, Healthcall, the company contracted to undertake the Medical Assessment Process, completed a total of 1,163 MAP assessments.
The average weekly number of MAPs between July and September 2000 is 276. Between October and December 2000 (excluding the two-week Christmas holiday period), an average of 371 MAPs were undertaken.
549WThe individual weekly totals from 1 January 2001 to date are as follows:
Week ending Number of MAPs 7 January 340 14 January 497 21 January 455 28 January 570 4 February 417 11 February 655 18 February 559 25 February 515 4 March 645 The total number of MAPs undertaken to date is 13,218.