§ John MannTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many compensation claims made by miners suffering from vibration white finger and mining-related lung diseases are still waiting to be processed; and how many of the claimants in this group have received an interim payment, in Bassetlaw constituency.[9881]
§ Mr. WilsonIn the Bassetlaw constituency, with regards to Vibration White Finger, VWF, there have been 4,153 claims registered to date, 1,355 interims have been made and 877 full and final payments have been made. The total amount paid in damages is £14.2 million.
In relation to respiratory disease, 3,602 claims have been initiated in the Bassetlaw constituency. There have been 609 interim payments and 264 full and final payments have been made. The total amount paid in damages is £3.7 million.
Constituency statistics will be available on the www.dti.gov.uk/coalhealth website in the next three to four weeks.
§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many compensation payments to sick miners and their dependants for(a) vibration white finger and (b) respiratory diseases have been made by means of 165W (i) fast track settlements and (ii) full settlements, broken down by parliamentary constituency.[9851]
§ Mr. WilsonThe information is not yet available in the format requested. The Department is working closely with its claims handlers to produce a breakdown of headline statistics by parliamentary constituency for both respiratory diseases and vibration white finger. It is anticipated that the information will be available on the Department's coal health website www.dti.gov.uk/ coalhealth—in the next three to four weeks.
In the meantime breakdowns by postcode and region are currently available on the website.
Regional breakdown as at 30 September 2001 Wales Scotland Nottinghamshire Yorkshire North-east North-west Midlands South Vibration White Finger Number of claims 16,812 8,297 22,377 41,292 19,983 4,232 12,783 1.987 interim payments Number of payments 3,869 2,562 6,642 12,357 7,263 1,204 3,014 488 Value of payments (£ million) 20.3 12.8 36.6 70.8 44.8 5.6 15.2 2.8 Settlements Total number of general damages settlements 5,097 2,619 4,773 7,925 5,222 1,118 2,054 379 Value of settlements (£ million) 24.0 11.5 31.0 43.6 34.2 4.1 9.3 1.6 Respiratory disease Number of claims 34,497 12,837 20,706 43,477 23,615 8,829 15,552 3,942 Interim payments—post spirometry and post MAP Number of payments 8,733 3,280 3,679 8,621 4,906 1,837 4,071 843 Value of payments (£ million) 35.8 13.3 13.2 32.8 20.8 7.0 14.2 3.3 Expedited payments post spirometry Total number of expedited offers made 2,235 1,576 2,033 4,965 2,238 946 1,799 422 Value of payments (£ million) 6.1 5.7 7.4 17.9 6.8 3.5 7.0 12.9 Regional breakdowns are available on the Department's website on www.dti.gov.uk/coalhealth.
§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many claims her Department has received in respect of respiratory disease; in respect of how many claims spirometry has been completed; in how many claims a medical assessment process has been started; and in how many claims a medical assessment process has been completed, in the last four years.[12063]
§ Mr. WilsonThe Handling Agreement was formally signed on 24 September 1999 and claims submitted before would not have begun to be processed until after this date.
IRISC, the Department's claims handlers, have registered 167,559 claims, to date, of which 104,783 are from live claimants. In total, 97,880 appointments have been made and of these, 92,272 claimants have undergone the initial spirometry test.
Both claims from miners and their estates cart proceed through the full Medical Assessment Process, MAP. There have been 123,641 claims questionnaires and mandate packs, which authorise access to claimants' medical records, issued by IRISC to claimants' solicitors, of which 85,591 have been returned. The number of claimants who have undergone the medical assessment is 43,390.
166W
§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many(a) claims were received in respect of respiratory disease, (b) interim and expedited awards were made in respect of respiratory disease broken down by (i) number and (ii) value, (c) claims were received in respect of vibration white finger and (d) interim and general damage awards were made in respect of vibration white finger by (a) number and (b) value, broken down by region.[12065]
§ Mr. WilsonThe breakdown of progress, on a regional basis, for both compensation for respiratory disease and vibration white finger is as follows: