Vaccine Damages Payments

HC Deb 01 April 2004 vol 419 cc1640-1W

Ross Cranston

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 12 February 2004,Official Report, column 1608W, which of the 571 cases identified involved (a) an extension of time limits for claiming and (b)the reduction of the disability threshold; and how many claims in each of these categories have been (i) successful and (ii) unsuccessful. [164716]

Maria Eagle

The 571 cases identified under the Regulatory Reform Order (RRO), break down into the following208 were originally disallowed because they were out of time; 363 were below the original disability threshold.

Of the 571 cases identified, 337 further claims have so far been received. Of these: 150 were originally disallowed on time limit grounds. Two of these have been successful, 143¹ have been unsuccessful and five are pending; 187 were originally disallowed on disablement grounds. Six of these have been successful, 173² have been unsuccessful and eight are pending.

Notes: ^1,2 Of these 316 subsequent disallowances, 275 have been disallowed on the grounds that causation has not been accepted, while 41 have been disallowed where causation has been accepted but the vaccinated person is deemed not to be over 60 per cent. disabled. ³ Causation is accepted where on the balance of probability, it is determined that a person is, or was immediately before their death, severely disabled due to vaccination against any of the specified diseases.