§ Mr. Gwilym Robertsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what are the latest figures available for the proportion of former mineworkers and quarrymen suffering from emphysema and bronchitis as compared with the proportion of the population as a whole suffering from these diseases; what criteria his Department uses for identifying industrial diseases; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what plans he has for changing the criteria used for identifying industrial diseases with the aim of enabling diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis to be so prescribed; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. OrmeThe information relating to the incidence of these diseases in coal miners shows it to be rather more than twice that found in workers in non-dusty work who have a similar social background.
The conditions for a disease to be prescribed, set out in Section 76 of the Social Security Act 1975, are, broadly, that it must be shown to be a particular risk of occupation and not one common to all persons and that in particular cases the connection with employment may be established or presumed with reasonable certainty. The difficulty with emphysema and bronchitis is not only that they are very common among the public at large but also that it is not possible in the present state of medical knowledge to distinguish clinically between those cases 191W which arise from occupation and those which do not.
That link with occupation in the individual case is necessary, however, if payment of the preferential benefits of the Industrial Injuries Scheme is to be justified. It is not possible to establish such a link for bronchitis and emphysema which have other causes, but, of course, in such an important matter the position must always be kept under review.