§ 86. Mr. Awberyasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what procedure is being adopted for examining the incidence of special diseases in various industries for the purpose of ascertaining whether they are more prevalent in them than is customary with a view to bringing them within the scope of industrial diseases regulations; how many of such diseases have been scheduled during the past five years; and in what particular industries they are found.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterMy Department keeps a close watch on developments, including those in industrial medicine, which have a bearing on the possibility of further diseases satisfying the conditions for prescription laid down in Section 55 (2) of the Industrial Injuries Act. It is an important part of the work of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council to examine such developments and report to me as it thinks fit. Within the last five years two new separate items have been added to the list of prescribed diseases and several additions to the list have been effected by extensions of existing items. The changes affect a wide variety of industries, including the chemical industry, agriculture and industries using radio-active materials.