Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Written Statement of 10 February 2015, HCWS 269, on Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme, what estimate he has made of the (a) additional and (b) total cost of paying awards at 100 per cent of average civil damages in the first year of operation of the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme.

Those diagnosed with diffuse mesothelioma on or after 10 February 2015 will be eligible for a payment at the increased tariff rate of 100% of average civil claims but no payments can be made at that rate until the regulations which will introduce this change come into effect. Given this timing, this means that there will only be a very small number of claims which will be paid at the increased rate within the first year of the Scheme’s operation.