Mr. Andy Stewartasked the Secretary of State for Energy when he now expects the White Paper in reply to the Waddilove report on "The Repair and Compensation System for Coal Mining Subsidence" to be published.
§ Mr. Michael SpicerThe Government's response to the report of the subsidence compensation review committee, chaired by Mr. Lewis Waddilove CBE JP, has been published and laid before Parliament today by the Secretaries of State for Energy, for the Environment, for Scotland and for Wales.
The Government endorse the view of the Waddilove committee that a balance must be achieved between the justified claims of individuals who have experienced subsidence damage and the need to avoid an undue burden of cost to the British Coal Corporation and, indirectly, to the taxpayer.
The Government also endorse Waddilove's view that it is British Coal's primary duty to repair damage. British Coal has already made a significant number of improvements to the management of its compensation scheme in line with this and other of the committee's recommendations.
BCC has accepted the Government's view that there should be further improvements in line with the committee's recommendations. These include extending the scope of non-statutory compensation to householders and to tenants and owners of agricultural land; and allowing claimants, subject to the agreement of British Coal, to choose their own contractors to carry out repairs.
Information about and monitoring of the compensation system will continue to be improved. British Coal will make an annual report on the operation of the scheme to the Secretary of State for Energy which he will lay before Parliament.
The Government are considering introducing legislation to put on a statutory basis a number of the committee's recommendations, which would provide a single basis for coal mining subsidence compensation. A consultation document will issue early next year.