§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will send a letter to every applicant for compensation under the Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979, who has applied for compensation more than three 113W months ago but has not heard the outcome of their application, to inform them as to when they can expect to be told of their position in relation to the Act.
§ Mr. Mayhew[pursuant to his reply, 3 March 1980]; Not at present, because we hope to clear many of the applications outstanding from 1979 within the next few weeks. I shall consider again at the end of this month whether a letter should then be sent to the remaining outstanding 1979 applicants. To send substantial numbers of such letters would, however, necessarily delay the making of payments; and in many cases it will only be possible to say that the application is still under consideration.