HC Deb 07 February 2002 vol 379 cc1066-7W
Mr. Evans

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money has been spent via the Miners' Compensation Scheme in every parliamentary constituency in Wales in each of the last seven months. [32848]

Mr. Wilson

The Department is not able to provide a constituency breakdown for each of the last seven months in the time available.

A breakdown of headline statistics for each constituency, as at the end of December 2001, is available on the Department's Coal Health Claims website www.dti.gov.uk/coalhealth. These figures are updated on a monthly basis.

Mr. Evans

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money has been spent via the Miners' Compensation Scheme in Wales in each of the last six months. [32850]

Mr. Wilson

As at 27 January 2002 the Department has paid out £121.6 million in Wales—£66.8 million on respiratory disease and £54.8 million on vibration white finger.

The breakdown for the previous six months is as follows:

£ million
Respiratory disease VWF Total damages paid in Wales
During January 2002 4.8 2.4 7.2
During December 2001 2.8 1.6 4.4
During November 2001 6 2.4 8.4
During October 2001 4.5 3.8 8.3
During September 2001 2.9 2.9 5.8
During August 2001 3.1 2.1 5.2

Mr. Evans

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money in the Miners' Compensation Scheme, allocated to be paid to successful applicants in Wales, was outstanding in each parliamentary constituency in Wales(a) his month and (b) in each of the previous six months. [32849]

Mr. Wilson

The coal compensation schemes do not have specific funds allocated to them. The Government have previously confirmed that they will meet the full cost no matter what the amount.

The Department expects the total cost of the liabilities for respiratory disease and vibration white finger, assumed from British Coal in January 1998, to be about £6 billion.