§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are his Department's estimates of the likely cost of compensation payments to the victims of asbestos who will be able to claim benefit for the first time from April.
§ Mr. NewtonThe latest estimate places the cost at £75,000 for 1985–86 and £170,000 for 1986–87. These estimates can be only rough approximations due to the lack of comprehensive statistics on workers suffering from the diseases and the difficulty of predicting how many of those eligible will actually claim benefit.