Written question asked by Lord Lofthouse of Pontefract (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour) on Tuesday, 3 March 2009.

British Coal Compensation

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total expenditure incurred to date in respect of the British Coal respiratory disease litigation, broken down between payments made to (a) Capita and its predecessors; (b) medical service providers; (c) all other contractors; (d) the Solicitors' Co-ordinating Group; (e) individual claimants' solicitors; (f) the Union of Democratic Mineworkers and its claims handling company, Vendside Limited; and (g) defendants' solicitors and counsel; and what amount of compensation has been paid to the claimants.

Answer: The total expenditure under the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is broken down as requested above. These costs are actuals as at 31 January 2009: (a) capita: £490 million (this is a total figure and cannot be broken down by scheme); (b) medical services: £405 million; (c) all other contractors: £106 million (this includes records management, consultants, technical costs and medical records collection); (d) Solicitors Co-ordinating Group: these costs are not recorded separately and are shown as part of the claimants' solicitors costs (see e); (e) claimants' solicitors costs: £l billion; f) UDM and Vendside Limited: These costs are not recorded separately and are shown as part of the claimants' solicitors costs (see e); g) defendants' solicitors costs and counsel: £47 million (this is a total figure and cannot be broken down by scheme); and h) compensation paid (including CRU*): £2.3 billion. "* CRU: Compensation Recovery Unit—certificate from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which is a legal requirement to ensure that a claimant is not compensated twice for the same injury, once by the relevant state benefit from the DWP and once by the current coal health scheme run by this department."

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 1484; 708 c132WA
Session: 2008-09
Subjects: Compensation Coal British Coal Corporation Health services Expenditure Legal costs Industrial diseases Mining Solicitors Capita Union of Democratic Mineworkers Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Vendside
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk