§ Mr. WareingTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many appeals have been made to the north west of England pensions appeal tribunal involving cases arising from the Bari harbour mustard gas disaster in 1943; and how many of them have been successful;
(2) pursuant to his reply of 4 February, Official Report, col. 63–64, what gave rise to the special exercise in 1986–87 to trace cases of casualties caused by the Bari harbour mustard gas disaster in 1943; how this exercise was carried out; how many new cases arose from the exercise; how many of these were successful; and if he has any plans to conduct a similar special exercise;
(3) pursuant to his reply of 4 February, Official Report, column 63, when the first claim for a war pension arising out of the Bari harbour incident in 1943 was made; and when the last one was made.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe special exercise was undertaken following the exceptional decision to backdate the payment of war disablement pension to an individual who had been exposed to mustard gas whilst serving in the Royal Navy at Bari harbour in 1943. He claimed a war pension in 1983 and contended that he would have claimed earlier had he been aware of the precise nature of the substance with which he had been contaminated.
The purpose of the special exercise was to identify other casualties of the incident in order to establish whether similar action was appropriate. The names of the casualties of the Bari harbour incident were obtained from Ministry of Defence and Department of Health and Social Security records. A press notice announcing the exercise was issued and as a result of this 87 new claims for war pension were received of which 33 were successful, bringing the total number of claims arising from the incident to 185, of which 106 have been successful. All awards for exposure to mustard gas at Bari harbour were 587W reviewed to see whether backdating was appropriate. The exercise confirmed that all but one of those traced were aware at the time of the incident that they had been exposed to mustard gas. Little purpose would therefore be served by conducting a similar exercise.
The first claim for war pension as a result of the Bari harbour incident was made in 1943. Information is not available regarding the date on which the last claim was made nor on the number of appeals that have been made to the north-west of England pensions appeal tribunal.