HL Deb 28 June 1974 vol 352 cc1764-5WA
LORD TAYLOR OF MANSFIELD

asked Her Majesty's Government to state:

  1. (a) the number of coal miners during the past five years who have been before the pneumoconiois panel at Sheffield and
  2. (b) of that number how many were certified as having, and how many certified as not having, pneumoconiosis.

LORD WELLS-PESTELL

Between 1969 and 1973, 1,152 men from the coal mining industry were first diagnosed by Sheffield Pneumoconiosis Medical Boards as suffering from pneumoconiosis for industrial injury disablement benefit purposes. The figures available for disallowances relate to the number of cases and not to the number of men, who may make more than one claim in any particular period. Over the period concerned the number of cases where the Sheffield Board carried out a clinical examination and did not diagnose the disease was 1,863. In addition there were 3,851 cases in which there was not sufficient evidence of pneumoconiosis at a preliminary radiological examination for the case to be referred to a Board.