§ Mr. Oakesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many claims for industrial injury benefit have been refused in each of the last three years on the grounds that the accident occurred while the claimant was working abroad for a United Kingdom employer.
§ Mr. SwinglerI regret that the Department's statistical records are in a form which does not allow this particular information to be extracted.
§ Mr. Oakesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many employees insured in the United Kingdom under the Industrial Injuries Acts are working outside the United Kingdom; and what were the respective numbers for the last three years.
§ Mr. SwinglerI regret that this information is not available.
§ Mr. Oakesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are his reasons for not proposing to amend the Industrial Injuries Act, 1965 so as to authorise payment of industrial injury benefit to insured persons who have an industrial accident while working abroad for a United Kingdom employer.
§ Mr. SwinglerWhere there is scope for a reciprocal agreement with another country, we try to arrange that workers228W who go there temporarily in the course of their employment with a British employer should remain covered by our schemes of national insurance and industrial injuries insurance and excluded from the corresponding schemes of the other country.
Any further extension of the scope of our industrial injuries scheme to cover employment in other countries would involve the risk of double benefit, conflicts between our law and the law of the other country, difficult investigations and other administrative and financial liabilities which are not appropriate for a scheme designed only to suit the conditions of employment in this country.