§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what comments he has received from the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council about his Department's consultation paper on the industrial injuries scheme; when those comments will be published; what 67W other organisations and individuals have submitted comments to him on the consultation paper; and what views they expressed on it.
§ Mr. NewtonCopies of the council's response were placed in the Library on 12 March. Their main comments were that the scheme should continue to compensate all levels of industrial disablement and that major policy decisions should be deferred until the results of the OPCS survey of disabled people were known.
The following organisations submitted comments, as well as about 40 individuals:
- Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers
- Borough of Stockport
- British Medical Association
- Confederation of British Industry
- Confederation of Health Service Employees
- Dairy Trade Federation
- Disability Alliance
- Disablement Income Group
- Engineering Employers Federation
- General Municipal Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union
- Leicester City Council
- National and Local Government Officers Association
- Policy Studies Institute
- Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation
- Royal College of Physicians
- Trades Union Congress
- Union of Democratic Mineworkers
All respondents welcomed the proposals to extend the scheme to cover accidents abroad and to abolish unemployability supplement. The majority favoured the indexation of awards of special hardship allowance and the payment of the allowance at all levels of disablement. Most respondents did not support the proposals relating to constant attendance allowance, gratuities for disablement below 15 per cent., the aligning of national insurance and industrial injuries widow's provisions, and special hardship allowance for those over national insurance pension age. Views for and against the ending of hospital treatment allowance were fairly evenly balanced.