§ Sir Hugh Rossiasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action he proposes to take on the various recommendations that have been submitted to him by the industrial injuries advisory council but not yet implemented.
§ Mr. NewtonI am pleased to say that we can now make resources available to implement the recommendation of the council that the severer forms of vibration white finger should be prescribed as an industrial disease. We propose to lay regulations bringing this into effect early in 1985.
Proposals for widening the terms of prescription for viral hepatitis to cover any employed earner who contracts the disease as a result of his or her occupation have also been accepted. Regulations to implement them will be laid later this year. Meanwhile we are arranging for the report to be published.
We have also accepted the recommendation that epicondylitis of the humerus and rotator cuff syndrome should not be added to the schedule of prescribed diseases.
The council has recently submitted further recommendations on asbestos-related diseases without 329W asbestosis. These modify its earlier report, Cmnd. 8750, and recommend the prescription of bilateral diffuse pleural thickening and of lung cancer when accompanied by asbestosis or by bilateral diffuse pleural thickening. We are arranging for the publication of these revised conclusions, which we will be considering.
We have carefully studied the council's recommendations for a limited system of individual proof to extend the industrial injuries scheme's coverage for occupational diseases. While the concept has obvious attractions there could be considerable practical difficulties of assessment and administration giving rise to disproportionately high costs in relation to the benefit gained; and the resources to launch such a scheme are not available. Neither can we accept the council's recommendation that extensions of benefit coverage should automatically have retrospective effect.