§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, when they advise miners and widows who miss the cut-off date of 31 March 2004 in the British Coal respiratory disease litigation that claims can still be made at common law, they will also advise them that unsuccessful claimants would be liable for all legal costs. [HL2244]
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§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe DTI will continue to provide a freephone helpline, which will give claimants details of the claims process. Claimants will be advised to contact a solicitor to process a claim and they will be informed that they need to raise the issue of costs with their solicitor.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why they have taken six years to settle 117,000 claims under the British Coal respiratory disease litigation; why three-quarters of claims remain outstanding, and when they expect the final settlement of all claims. [HL2245]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleDelays have been caused by, among other reasons, duplicate claims and solicitors and clients not accepting initial offers. Claims are prioritised to ensure payment to miners who are living and of the 520,000 claims received to date, 227,000 were received in the past six months.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
What has been the total administrative and legal expenditure under the British Coal respiratory disease litigation as at 31 March 2004 broken down into payments made to (a) claims handlers; (b) medical service providers; (c) Coal Health Claims Unit; Department of Trade and Industry; (d) Nabarro Nathanson, the department's solicitors; (e) the Solicitors Co-ordinating Group: and (f) solicitors representing individual claimants. [HL2247]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleTo date, the total administrative cost of the British Coal respiratory disease litigation liabilities for claim handlers and medical services is £323 million. It is not possible to break this figure down into separate diseases or individual contractors, as the information remains commercial in confidence. To date, we have paid £275.2 million to solicitors with regard to British Coal disease work. The administrative cost of the coal health claims unit is estimated to be £1.7 million for the financial year 2003–04.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why, under the British Coal vibration white finger litigation, they now require elderly miners and widows to produce witness statements from former colleagues, when successive Ministers have given assurances that the miners' word would be taken. [HL2246]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe assurances my noble friend is referring to relate to claims in respect of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), whereby if a claimant submits his work history and other documentation supporting his claim, then his word would be taken. This is subject to the claimant's legal representative explaining what steps they had taken to obtain corroborating witness statements and that there is no contradiction in the evidence. This applies to claims submitted by elderly miners and widows.
209WAVibration white finger claims are handled on the basis of the claims handling arrangement (CHA), agreed between the DTI and the claimants' solicitors group. The CHA includes an occupational group procedure, which sets out the requirement for corroborating witness statements to be provided for the claim to be considered. Discretion in this respect can be exercised for elderly and deceased claimants.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they are taking, following the recent ruling by the Law Society, to require solicitors who have double charged to make full repayment, with judgment rate interest, of all fees unlawfully deducted from compensation awarded to miners and widows under the High Court schemes for vibration white finger and respiratory disease. [HL2248]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleMy honourable friend the Member for Edinburgh South, as the Minister responsible for coal health claims, has written to solicitors asking them to repay any fees taken from clients on top of the fee they received from the DTI. Those who have failed to reply to my honourable friend's letter have been removed from the DTI's list of solicitors and have been referred to the Law Society.
The Government welcome the decision taken by the Law Society, as the solicitors regulator, that it was against their code of practice for solicitors to charge clients for making compensation claims where the DTI is meeting solicitors' costs. DTI officials continue to meet with the Law Society to progress matters.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in connection with the British Coal respiratory disease and vibration white finger litigation, they will now instruct their claims handlers that cheques be drawn in favour of the miner or widow claimant, thereby preventing solicitors double charging and others deducting unlawful fees from awards of compensation. [HL2249]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleAs a matter of course cheques issued by IRISC, the department's claims handlers, are drawn in the name of the claimant. Cheques are issued in the name of another individual or organisation only where signed authority from the claimant has been received.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will now refer the conduct of solicitors who have double-charged in the British Coal vibration white finger and respiratory disease litigation to the Serious Fraud Office; and, if not, why not. [HL2264]
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§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleConduct of solicitors is being dealt with by their regulator, the Law Society. Those firms of solicitors who have failed to confirm that they are not double charging have been referred to the Law Society.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many common law vibration white finger claims have been lodged with the Department of Trade and Industry in respect of living miners since 31 October 2002, the cut-off date in the British Coal litigation; how many of those claims were settled by payment; and what was the total compensation paid. [HL2265]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleAs at 28 March 2004, 1,785 claims have been submitted since the vibration white finger scheme was closed to live claimants on 31 October 2002. 1,547 were from live claimants and 238 from the families of former miners. Of the 1,785, 840 have been denied, the remainder have not been settled because they are being investigated at present.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will cancel the exclusive handling agreement for miners' respiratory claims between the Department of Trade and Industry and the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (Nottingham Section), given that such claims are marketed for profit through Vendside Limited. [HL2266]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe agreements with the UDM/Vendside ceased with the closure of the schemes.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether compliance with Department of Trade and Industry guidelines has had an adverse effect on the performance of their claims handlers in respect of miners' and widows' respiratory and vibration white finger claims; and when those guidelines will be made available for scrutiny, as agreed by the Minister responsible for coal health claims.[HL2267]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleClaims under both schemes are processed in accordance with the claims handling agreements, agreed with the miners' solicitors.
My honourable friend the member for Edinburgh South, the Minister responsible for coal health claims, circulated to members of the Coal Health National Monitoring Group copies of the vibration white finger group 3 guidelines earlier this year. He agreed to provide members with copies of previous copies of the guidelines shortly. The guidelines have led to a uniform and consistent approach to the handling of group 3 claims and the number of claims being reviewed per month has increased since the beginning of this year.
211WAThere are no similar guidelines for processing respiratory disease claims.
§ Lord Lofthouse of Pontefractasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Department of Trade and Industry entered into an exclusive handling agreement for mining claims with Vendside Limited, as claimed by that company; if not, whether the department approved the assignment of any such handling agreement entered into with the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (Nottingham Section) to Vendside Limited; and whether they will make all relevant documentation available for inspection. [HL2268]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe claims handling agreements entered into with the UDM/Vendside Ltd are identical to those reached with the claimants solicitors group in all aspects except the costs tariff, which is lower under the UDM/Vendside Ltd agreements.