HL Deb 21 February 1992 vol 535 cc1504-6

3.10 p.m.

Viscount Ullswater rose to move, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 4th February be approved [12th Report from the Joint Committee].

The noble Viscount said: My Lords, these regulations are being made under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979. Their purpose is to increase by 5 per cent. the amounts of compensation paid under the scheme to those who first become entitled to a payment on or after 1st April 1992. By doing so the Government are meeting their commitment to maintain fully the value of the payments set in 1980 when the scheme started.

Parliament enacted this legislation in 1979 to provide compensation to those suffering from certain dust diseases which developed as a result of their employment and who were unable to obtain compensation through the courts in the normal way. The nature of the diseases covered by this Act means that there can be a period of as much as 20 or 30 years between exposure to the harmful dust and the disease being diagnosed. In that period many of the employers in whose employment the exposure took place may have gone out of business, leaving sufferers with very distressing illnesses, shortened life spans and no means of obtaining compensation for themselves or their dependants.

The Act is not intended to be used as an alternative to seeking compensation through the courts. It is intended to help those sufferers, and their dependants where the sufferer has died, who are at a disadvantage when seeking to sue a former employer because, by the time he or she realises that they have the disease, the employer no longer exists.

There are three basic conditions for a payment under this compensation scheme. Those are that disablement benefit is payable in respect of the disease; that no court action has been brought nor compensation received in respect of the disease; and that every relevant employer has ceased to carry on business. I am sure that noble Lords will agree that it is not possible fully to compensate individuals and their families for the suffering and loss but at least the regulations allow us to offer practical and material help when it is most needed.

The Department of Employment makes every possible effort to administer the compensation scheme in a sympathetic way to ensure that those who need the help receive it promptly. It is recognised that each case is an individual tragedy and the department is as generous in interpreting the conditions as the Act and the regulations will allow. Since the Act came into force in 1980, 6,866 applicants have made a claim, 75 per cent. of whom have received payment. The total cost to date has been £30.1 million.

The initial payment regulations set out a scale of payments by age and percentage disability as assessed by the statutory medical hoards. When the scheme was introduced the Government gave an undertaking to Parliament to review the amounts of compensation payable with the aim of retaining the value of the amounts originally set.

This is now the ninth occasion on which the Government have asked Parliament to increase the rates. Last year we approved an increase of 9 per cent. from April to take account of the movement in the index of retail prices during the preceding 12 months. The proposal this year is for an increase of 5 per cent., again in line with the index of retail prices.

I feel sure that the House will agree with me that the circumstances leading to those payments are to be regretted. I very much welcome the opportunity once again provided by these amending regulations to maintain the value of the compensation payments.

Although the number of claims for dust diseases covered by the Act is now much fewer than when the Act was first introduced, it is a sad fact that claims are still being received by my department. Claims are mainly from those who were exposed to asbestos many years ago before the dangers were fully appreciated. I beg to move.

Moved, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 4th February be approved—[12th Report from the Joint Committee.]—(Viscount Ullswater.)

Baroness Turner of Camden

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his clear explanation of the regulations. We on this side of the House fully support them as from its inception we fully supported the scheme to which he referred. I am grateful to the Minister for his full explanation of that scheme; it is useful to have it on the record.

On Question, Motion agreed to.

House adjourned at sixteen minutes past three o'clock.