Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in the action for miners' compensation for chest disease, how many claims24W questionnaires have been sent out by his Department's solicitors; and how many of them have been returned by miners' solicitors in each week from 1 January to the present. [121523]
§ Mrs. LiddellIn total, to date, the Department's claim handlers have issued 27,372 claims questionnaires to solicitors in England, Wales and Scotland, and of these 11,722 (42.8 per cent.) have been returned. Detailed weekly statistics separately for Claims Questionnaires back to January are not readily available. But the return of full claims packs (consisting of Claims Questionnaires, Financial and Other Loss Questionnaires and Mandates) is monitored. From levels of 200 a week in the early part of the year, these have now risen to around 700 a week currently. This needs to rise to about 1,000 a week as the Medical Assessment Process becomes fully operational.
Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish for each medical assessment centre set up by Healthcall Services Ltd. for handling miners' compensation claims for chest disease(a) its location and whether it is a hospital, (b) the number of chest consultants employed at the centre in full-time equivalents, (c) the capacity of the centre in terms of the number of medical assessment procedures per month and (d) the total number that have to date undergone medical assessment procedures at the centre. [121522]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe information is as follows:
25W
Centre Centre type Whole time equivalents Capacity of tests per month Enfield Healthcall 0.2 35 Newcastle Healthcall 1.0 156 Nottingham Healthcall 0.6 90 Sheffield Healthcall 0.7 105 Newport Healthcall 1.1 175 Swansea Healthcall 1.1 175 Mountain Ash1 NHS 0.0 272 Mansfield Union 2.6 400 Glasgow Healthcall 1.3 210 Lochore Union 1.3 210 Coventry Healthcall 0.4 60 Deal Union 1.0 160 Chesterfield1 Union 0.0 272 Mexborough NHS 0.4 70 Pontefract NHS 0.4 70 Stoke Union 0.7 105 Manchester Healthcall 0.9 140 Huddersfield Healthcall 0.3 55 Cannock Union 0.3 55 Durham Union 0.8 130 Bristol Healthcall 1.0 160 Barnsley NHS 0.3 55 Edinburgh Healthcall 0.9 140 Wrexham Union 0.6 90 Ayr Other 1.1 175 Unallocated3 — 3.1 413 Floaters/Holidays only4 — 2.8 363 Total 24.9 3,941 1Floating/unallocated consultants will be used here 2Estimate 3Consultants who have agreed to do sessions and will work in their holidays 4Consultants trained or to be trained and will work in their holidays
Total number of MAP assessments completed Number Newport 97 Swansea 83 Mounatain Ash 2 Domiciliary 40 Deceased 26
Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish for each company of solicitors involved in the claims for miners' compensation for chest disease in South Wales(a) the total number of claims questionnaires sent to date, (b) the total number of completed questionnaires returned to date and (c) the percentage of those sent that have been returned. [121524]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe information is as follows:
Solicitors in South Wales Questionnaires issued Questionnaires returned (percentage) Incomplete questionnnaires referred back to the solicitor (percentage) Hugh James 6,542 1,544 (23.6) 149 (9.7) Thompsons 3,158 2,275 (72) 378 (16.6) Randall Saunders 354 77 (21.7) 13 (16.9) Morgan Cole 233 139 (59.6) 7(5) TS Edwards 212 149 (70.2) 15(10.1) Thomas and Company 155 87 (56.1) 6 (6.9) Gabb and Company 23 1(4.3) 0(0) Osborne Jones 2 1(50) 0(0) David W. Harris 2 2(100) 0(0) Leo Abse and Cohen 1 0(0) 0(0) Total 10,682 4,275(40) 568(13.3)