§ Mr. Eric ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if Scottish miners will be compensated for exposure to coal dust from 1947 onwards in any handling agreement concluded in respect of Scottish cases; [78758]
(2) by what date he expects that a handling agreement will be concluded in respect of bronchitis and emphysema care involving Scottish miners; [78759]
(3) if he will ensure that exposure to coal dust in the period before 1954 is not discounted for the purposes of compensation in any handling agreement concluded in respect of claims for compensation by Scottish miners for bronchitis and emphysema. [78757]
§ Mr. Battle[holding answer 26 March 1999]: Officials held constructive and positive talks with Scottish solicitors on 30 March, and are due to meet in April, to discuss handling arrangements for the 5,000 or so claims from Scottish miners. Although we offered the handling arrangements that were agreed on 26 March for England and Wales, we recognise that there are differences in Scottish law and we discussed with the Solicitors how 821W those differences might best be dealt with in any Scottish handling arrangements. We hope to finalise the arrangements for handling Scottish claims shortly.