Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that the current occupational qualification to receive industrial injuries disablement benefit for prescribed disease D12 reflects current research into the industrial causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

I am advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) which is a non-Departmental public body made up of independent experts, representatives of employers and employees on matters relating to the Industrial Injuries Scheme.

The Council’s primary role is to make recommendations about which diseases should be included in the list of diseases covered by the Industrial Injuries Scheme and the prescription criteria for those diseases.

The legal framework underpinning the Industrial Injuries Scheme makes it clear that compensation should not be paid for a disease unless a link between a particular occupation and the disease can be established or presumed with reasonable certainty. A link is presumed where there is evidence that, on the balance of probabilities, work in the prescribed job or occupational exposure doubles the risk of developing the disease.

The Council keeps all occupational diseases under continuous review to ensure they are in line with current scientific evidence, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and is always prepared to receive and consider new robust evidence from any source.