§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will arrange to review, in conjunction with the National Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers, the question of improving compensation provisions for the widows of coal miners who died before 1970.
§ Mr. John MooreThe coal industry's arrangements for paying compensation in respect of coal miners to whose deaths pneumoconiosis contributed are set out in an agreement made in 1974 between the National Coal Board and the three mining unions. In March 1981 this agreement was amended so as to increase the payments made in respect of miners who died before 26 January 1970. Using powers taken under section 7 of the Coal Industry Act 1980, the Government are reimbursing the cost of the increased payments. Any question of further amendments is for the board and the unions to consider in the first instance.