§ 35. Mr. RowlandsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a further statement on the handling of compensation claims from former miners suffering from respiratory diseases. [40989]
§ Mr. BattleAt a High Court hearing on 27 March 1998 the solicitors acting for the plaintiffs requested a three month adjournment to allow further discussions to take place with the Department's agents about our settlement proposals for dealing with the many thousands of claims expected. The court granted an adjournment and discussions continue. We trust that agreement can be reached quickly so that valid claims can be paid in full.
I also refer my hon. Friend to my previous answer to him of 30 April 1998, Official Report, columns 235–36, which explained that, as a further three month delay may be unwelcome to some claimants, particularly those who are severely disabled, we are continuing to make interim payments of £2,000 to miners seeking compensation for emphysema who are also in receipt of DSS PD.D12 benefit. Initially offers were made to those over 80 on 187W receipt of PD.D12 certificates from claimants' solicitors. But we are also making offers to claimants below 80 (in descending order) wherever practicable, to ensure that we reach our minimum target of 5,000 offers. Ideally we wish to reach this point by the end of June but, to enable us to do this, we need the co-operation of the plaintiffs' solicitors to submit evidence of receipt of benefit. Unfortunately, PD.D12 certificates are not being sent in to us as quickly as we expected and we trust that plaintiffs' solicitors will do all they can to speed the process up.