§ Mr. Dormandasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the number of miners and ex-miners diagnosed as having pneumoconiosis under the Industrial Injuries Act for each of the last five years; and what steps are being taken to reduce the incidence of the disease.
§ Mr. RidleyThe latest available figures are:
1965 … … 1,036 1966 … … 968 1967 … … 762 1968 … … 804 1969 … … 655 H.M. Inspectors of Mines and Quarries do their best to ensure that the requirements of the Mines and Quarries Act, 1954, relating to dust are met and the National Coal Board devotes considerable resources to this purpose. On the recommendation of the National Joint Pneumoconiosis Committee a more stringent interim dust standard was introduced into National Coal Board mines on 1st April, 1970, together with a new and improved method of dust sampling based on the weight of respirable dust in mine atmospheres. Arrangements have also been made to provide H.M. Inspectors with sampling data every month. These measures should enable conditions to be monitored more closely.
Research into the aethiology of the disease and to improve methods of dust measurement and control is conducted by the Pneumoconiosis Unit of the Medical Research Council, the Safety in Mines Research Establishment, the Institute of Occupational Medicine, the National Coal Board's Mining Research and Development Establishment and at universities and medical institutes.