§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations(a) he has made to Healthcall Ltd. and (b) he has received from other organisations, concerning the fee paid to consultants by Healthcall Ltd. for the medical assessment of ex-miners. [157581]
§ Mr. HainFollowing discussions with the solicitors representing the miners, and in light of the need to attract more Respiratory Specialists to undertake medical assessments, the Department asked the Medical Reference Panel (MRP), the panel of respiratory specialists that advises the Department and claimants' solicitors on the Coal Health Compensation Scheme, to advise on appropriate rates for the work done. They proposed a rate based on the British Medical Association (BMA) scales. Healthcall has revised its rates accordingly. The rate for centre—based assessments has been increased significantly.
Rates for domiciliary visits and deceased assessments were already in line with the proposed new rates and have not changed. The revised rate, which has been agreed by the MRP, will be effective from 1 April, and will be reviewed in three months' time. Healthcall is also investigating how doctors can be used more flexibly to get greater volumes of MAPs completed.
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§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the waiting list is for ex-miners awaiting first appointments for their assessment for compensation in each assessment centre in Wales; and what was the corresponding figure on 30 October 2000. [155641]
Test centre 28 February 2001 Newport Cardiff Swansea Mountain Ash Wrexham Ammanford1 Claimants mailed 5,425 316 4,698 5,127 570 — Claimants to be mailed 35 33 223 633 11 121 Total appointments made 4,776 221 4,138 4,645 463 — No reply to Healthcall appointment letter 273 22 251 280 9 — Claimants awaiting appointment/to be tested2 684 128 783 1,115 118 121 1Ammanford did not open until 1 March 2001. 2Claimants awaiting appointments = (claimants mailed - total appointments made) + claimants to be mailed. Note:
New claims are currently still being received at over 1,000 per week. For week commencing 5 March 2001, 1,600 new claims were received.
Figures on the numbers of claimants waiting to be mailed are calculated only at the end of each month in a continuously updated format and not stored. Therefore the number of claimants waiting to be mailed on 30 October
Test centre 30 October 2000 Newport Cardiff Swansea Mountain Ash Wrexham Claimants mailed 5,399 305 4,508 4,806 479 Claimants to be mailed — — — — — Total appointments made 4,724 214 3,872 4,083 348 No reply to Healthcall appointment letter 255 28 370 521 121 Claimants awaiting appointment/to be tested1 675 91 636 723 131 1Claimants awaiting appointments = claimants mailed - total appointments made.
§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the performance of the contractor managing British Coal's employment records in relation to mineworkers' compensation claims. [156224]
§ Mr. HainThe Department continually monitors the performance of Hays Information Management, the company contracted to provide copies of miners' employment records.
Getting copies of employment records has proved difficult because British Coal records are stored on very antiquated microfiche and in paper systems. The volumes of records returned have been less than planned and the Department therefore embarked on two major projects to scan the earnings records from microfiche into a database and to scan the whole of the employment records pack.
Unfortunately, there have been problems with scanning but these have now been addressed and the volume of records scanned is rising. Hays will provide an increased level of photocopied records until scanned records hit their required targets.