§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to curb the delays in providing compensation for people suffering from asbestosis and other industrial dust diseases; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PrenticeI am not aware of any long or undue delays in dealing with claims for disablement benefit under the industrial injuries scheme for asbestosis and other prescribed industrial dust diseases, but if the hon. Member knows 435W of any particular case where such delay has occurred I shall gladly look into it.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what representations he has received from trade unionists and medical specialists regarding compensation for lungs damaged by dust; if he will publish in the Official Report the views of his Department; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will amend the regulations or introduce new legislation to provide early sufferers from dust disease with compensation; and if he will make a statement;
(3) if, since the effect of present regulations regarding compensation for dust disease is to encourage workers to cause crippling damage to their lungs by continuing to work before compensation is paid, he will review the present methods under which payments are made;
(4) if he will improve the methods of compensation for miners and other industrial employees working in dust atmospheres, who have a relatively low level of damage to their lungs, to ensure that they do not have to continue to work in order to qualify for compensation as at the present time; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PrenticeIn October 1978 the secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers sent the then Secretary of State a report on "Coalworkers' Pneumoconiosis, Emphysema and Bronchitis", produced by a medical panel appointed by the union, and asked that consideration should be given to implementing its recommendations. The main recommendations were: that all coal miners found to have pneumoconiosis, including those whose chest X-rays revealed only a little dust in their lungs should be certified; that there should be alterations in the provisions whereby disability from other respiratory conditions is regarded as the effect of pneumoconiosis; that loss of faculty should be redefined as arising when, on medical opinion, a restriction is advised as to the claimant's type and place of work and that when loss of faculty—as redefined—results in loss of earnings, special hardship allowance should be paid.
The report submitted by the NUM has been thoroughly studied by officials of the Department and of other interested 436W Government Departments and organisations, including the National Coal Board. Their general view, with which I am in full agreement, is that it does not contain sufficient new evidence to justify the introduction of the potentially far-reaching and costly changes for which it calls. Medical opinion is not agreed on many of the difficult questions discussed in the report which itself suggests, in a number of places, that the evidence is unclear and conflicting. Apart from the question whether the report brings forward any substantial new evidence, which I am clear it does not, resources are not at present available for increasing public expenditure to finance improvements of the kind suggested.
I do not accept that the present provisions for payment of benefit encourage workers to cause crippling damage to their lungs. In the case of pneumoconiosis, for example, the disease is diagnosed wherever there is radiological evidence that a worker has category II pneumoconiosis. Such workers are automatically entitled to receive disablement benefit—even though their degree of disablement may be slight—as are certain other workers, for example young men and those with a short history of exposure to dust, where the radiological finding is less than category II. These workers are also entitled to claim special hardship allowance if they have to move or are advised to move to less well-paid work.
As regards the principle of paying benefit where there is no assessable physical or mental disability or loss of faculty this would amount to a radical alteration in the whole character and purpose of the industrial injuries scheme. It is, however, among the questions being considered in a general review of the scheme which officials are carrying out, following the report of the Royal Commission on civil liability and compensation for personal injury—the Pearson Commission. My right hon. Friend will make an announcement about that review in due course but meanwhile we have no plans to amend the relevant legislation.
I wrote to the secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers on 18 September setting out in detail my response to the report submitted by the union.
§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, in view of 437W the number of occasions when members of the pneumoconiosis panel have stated that there has been no damage due to dust in the working conditions and yet the pathologists conducting post mortems on such victims have found a substantial presence of dust damage, whether he will improve the machinery for compensation and alter the composition and procedure of the panel.
§ Mr. PrenticeNo. I have every confidence in the expertise of the doctors of the pneumoconiosis medical panel, who have the great advantage of being able to correlate their findings in life with those at post mortem. Their experience indicates that there are very few cases where the disease has failed to be diagnosed
Piece Nos. Class and Title 1000–1219 AST 7 General Files—Unemployment Assistance Board, Pre-1948 1–109 AST 18 Polish Resettlement—NAB Files 735–826 MH 51 Lunacy Commissioners and Board of Control: Correspondence and Papers 1056–1084 MH 66 Public Health Survey Reports 2657–2687 MH 102 Home Office Childrens Department Files 357–533 MH 108 Superannuation Division Files 1–20 MH 115 Hospital Endowments Fund 55–124 PIN 9 War Pensions Committees 3045–3444 PIN 15 War Pensions 1–40 PIN 31 Registered Files L and C Series (Social Security) (Legal Cases) 1–300 PIN 38 Disablement Service Branch Records 301–492 PIN 38 Disablement Service Branch Records 1–56 PIN 44 Adjudication Policy and Procedure: AP Series