§ Lord AVEBURYasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many cases have been referred to Pneumoconiosis Medical Panels by coroners' pathologists to obtain the Panel's agreement that asbestosis materially accelerated death, during the period 1st March to 30th June this year, in accordance with the guidance in the Home Office Circular of February 1980; in how many of those cases the panel disagreed with the preliminary finding of the coroner's pathologist, and in how many the coroner revised his opinion to bring it into line with that of the PMP.
§ Lord CULLEN of ASHBOURNEI regret that the information requested on the number of cases referred to Pneumoconiosis Medical Panels by coroners' pathologists from 1st March to 30th June 1980, and the number of those in which the panel disagreed with the pathologists' preliminary findings could not be obtained 379WA without disproportionate expenditure. It is not possible to say in how many of these cases the coroner may have revised his opinion in the light of the panel's findings.