Payment Scheme (Mesothelioma)

Elfyn Llwyd Excerpts

Monday 17th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East (Mr Brown) who made, as usual, a very thought-provoking, good and balanced contribution. I would also like to associate myself sincerely with all the genuine and heartfelt tributes to our late friend and colleague Paul Goggins, who worked tirelessly on this issue—as I know he did on many others, but he was particularly involved with this issue for many years. As the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch) said, this is a fitting tribute to him as well.

The scheme we are debating today is of course a step forward for victims of this disease, many of whom will for the first time be given recourse to compensation if the insurers of their former employers cannot be traced. There are, however, problems with this scheme which were highlighted in part from the outset, and indeed from the Second Reading of the Mesothelioma Bill onwards, and some of these problems are still with us. The hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) detailed several of them.

First, the scheme, which was established under the Mesothelioma Act 2014, will apply only to the victims suffering from mesothelioma and will do nothing for those with other asbestos-related conditions, such as asbestosis. That seems fundamentally unfair. I hope that the Government will consider implementing similar schemes for all victims of asbestos-related diseases who are unable to trace the insurers of their former employers.

Secondly, it seems to me to be equally unfair that the victims who are eligible for compensation under this scheme will be able to claim not 100% of the average compensation claim but, rather, 80%. The individuals who will find themselves in a position to make a claim for compensation through this scheme will not only have been exposed to asbestos, but will also have had to go through the rigmarole of attempting to trace the employers’ insurers only to find that it cannot be done, thus they are being penalised for others’ negligence.

I also remind the Government that an individual is not usually alive for very long after being diagnosed with this awful disease. Yet still, dependants will be left with only 80% of the average value of a compensation claim after their loved one has passed away. Of course, until very recently the Government were determined that the victim should be able to gain only 75%. We heard that the Minister recently sent a letter stating that the figure has been raised to 80%, and we are grateful for that. We are grateful that he has moved on the issue, having heard representations, as the right hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East said. I also understand that the letter specifies that applicants can now expect to receive average payments of about £123,000 prior to benefit recovery, as well as £7,000 towards legal fees.

We have heard from several Members this evening about the £7,000 for legal fees and the fact that people presume that lawyers will just take the money and do as little as they can. Speaking as a lawyer—I have been a solicitor and I am a barrister—I remind those who will have to claim that they are entitled to have the lawyer’s bill evaluated independently by a professional body and if it is found to be too much, the lawyer will pay it back. It is a straightforward procedure and will cost the applicant nothing. More often than not, these professional bodies are very strict in not allowing huge, unwarranted fees to go unchallenged.

I would argue that claimants should be entitled to 100% compensation, but it is easy to say that. I know the Government have worked hard and that the dead hand of the Treasury floats above us all, day in, day out, particularly those on the Treasury Bench. However, the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979—which I am proud to say my party, Plaid Cymru, was instrumental in introducing—did introduce 100% compensation. Indeed, Dafydd Wigley, then a Member of Parliament, together with another colleague, drove it through and had an understanding with the Labour Government that it should be introduced. My friend the noble Lord Wigley, as he now is, was instrumental in introducing the legislation before us in the other place, and I am pleased to say that it is coming to fruition. However, at the very least the scheme should follow the model of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which pays out 90% of the value of civil compensation claims to individuals exposed to asbestos before employer’s liability insurance was made compulsory in 1972.

Finally, the fact that claimants will be eligible for compensation under this scheme only if they were diagnosed on or before 25 July 2012 is arbitrary and will be desperately unfair on many. However, as was argued in both Houses in debates on the Mesothelioma Bill, it would surely make far more sense to allow all claimants to claim compensation if they were diagnosed during or before February 2010, when an initial draft of this scheme was first proposed, or when the consultation was proposed, as the right hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East said. Just before the 2010 general election, the then Government began a consultation proposing that an employer’s liability insurance bureau should compensate all individuals with industrial diseases who were unable to trace their employer’s insurers. I am pleased that, in any event, that is now coming through. However, individuals diagnosed between these two dates are being left out of the scheme through no fault of their own, but simply because the Government did not perhaps expedite the scheme sufficiently.

I find it difficult to be hyper-critical, because I know that this measure will make a huge difference to many people, and broadly speaking we all appreciate that. However, the insurance industry could surely afford also to compensate those falling between the two dates, not least since the industry’s costs will be lowered, as it will not be entering into negotiations on a case-by-case basis, but awarding average compensation to claimants. I hope we can build on the progress thus far, in order, somehow or other, to compensate these people, who, as I have said, are being dealt with detrimentally for no good reason and through no fault of their own. After that long diatribe, I can say that there is no doubt that this scheme will assist many people, and I am sure we are all very grateful for that.