Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will assess the merits of extending the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme to allow compensation to be paid to non-dependent children in the event of there being no dependent children or spouse to receive the payment.

The Scheme makes payments to eligible sufferers of diffuse mesothelioma, or, where that person has died, an eligible spouse, civil partner or other dependant, as defined in the Mesothelioma Act 2014.

This is because the purpose of making payments to people who would have been dependent on the deceased at the time of death is to recognise the loss of financial support caused by their death.

We are not considering extending the Scheme to those who were not dependent on a deceased sufferer of diffuse mesothelioma.