§ 4. Mr. Prenticeasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what proposals he has for prescribing occupational deafness as an industrial disease; and whether he will refer this matter to the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterNone, Sir, though I understand that the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council has been keeping this disease under review as part of its normal duties.
§ Mr. PrenticeMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he has yet reached any conclusion from the wider studies of the Government's investigation into the problem of noise? Five months ago I asked him a similar Question and he said that he was keeping in touch with the matter. Would he agree that a number of countries cover occupational deafness 3 in their industrial injuries schemes? Why should we lag behind?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterIn answer to the last part of the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question, he will well appreciate the very real difficulties which may be encountered in bringing this particular complaint within the relevant Section of the Industrial Injuries Act. On the wider point, as he may know, the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council has asked its Industrial Diseases Subcommittee to keep it informed about the research which is going on.