§ Mr. ClaphamTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will indicate(a) what has been the total cost to date, including legal costs, of devising a compensation scheme for miners suffering from chronic bronchitis emphysema, (b) when he expects a scheme to be operative and (c) what is the number of cases currently formally lodged with solicitors. [64700]
§ Mr. Battle[holding answer 11 January 1999]: (a) Since the judgment was handed down in January last year some £900,000 has been incurred by Department advisers, including principally Counsel, external solicitors and medical experts. The costs of DTI staff and of staff working for IRISC, the Department's claim handler, on this work cannot be separately identified.
(b) Significant progress has been made in recent weeks in negotiations between the Department and the plaintiffs' solicitors on agreeing the arrangements for handling the many thousands of claims from miners or their widows. I am optimistic a final agreement on a medical assessment procedure to establish the levels of injury and the resulting disability will be reached in the near future. There will need to be a tendering process for the required medical services. A national programme of spirometry (lung function testing) will begin by the spring which should enable us to make significant numbers of interim offers. Full and final settlements based on the full medical assessment process should start to flow early in the second half of 1999.
(c) As at 1 January some 65,000 claims have been received by IRISC, the Department's claim handlers. We do not know how many further claims may be lodged with claimants' solicitors.