Health: Pneumoconiosis

Lord Wigley Excerpts

Wednesday 29th February 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Wigley]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many payments of compensation were made, in the most recent year for which figures are available, under the provisions of the Pneumoconiosis Etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979, and how many of these were made to former slate quarrymen.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud)]

In the year from April 2010 to March 2011, 2,820 payments were made in total under the Pneumoconiosis Etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979. We are not able to identify how many payments were made specifically in respect of former slate quarrymen.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Wigley]

My Lords, the Minister will clearly be aware that, while the 1979 pneumoconiosis Act was primarily triggered by the plight of slate quarrymen who were unable otherwise to secure compensation for industrial lung diseases they suffered, most of the beneficiaries have, quite fairly, been from other industries. Is he aware that while some coal-miners suffering emphysema and chronic bronchitis have secured compensation under the 1979 Act, former slate quarrymen suffering emphysema and chronic bronchitis—which are equally endemic in slate quarrying as in coal-mining—cannot be compensated under the Act? Will he discuss this with fellow Ministers so that this small but long-suffering group of slate quarrymen can achieve the justice to which they are equally entitled?

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, I was not aware of this discrepancy, so I will go back and have a look at exactly what is behind it, because I just do not know.