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Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

I have no doubt that the Minister heard what my right hon. Friend said, and will take his point on board. We may need to discuss the matter with the Ministry of Justice to decide how to take things forward. If we were able to get the provisions in question into the Bill, we would have to look at how we might pay compensation to people with pleural plaques. It has to be recognised that the Bill deals with mesothelioma, and I accept that mesothelioma—cancer caused by asbestos—is much more unremitting and aggressive, and it is terminal. Pleural plaques are not in that category, but they do indicate that a person's situation may worsen. They could develop into asbestosis, which is fibrosis of the lung, or indeed into mesothelioma. In preparation for this debate, along with my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire, North, I met a branch of the GMB union in London—the ““London laggers””. The two officials whom we met, Jim Parish, chairman of the laggers, and Tony Kent, their secretary, told us that they have kept a record of their members from 1989 to the present day. On average, there have been 12 diagnoses of pleural plaques each year since 1989. They say that a number of deaths have occurred as a result of mesothelioma cancer and other cancers, but they could not refer us to a record of those deaths, because many occur when the men have retired and lost contact with the union branch, so they are noted only when someone mentions that one of their colleagues has died or is being buried. There was no correct record of the number who had developed mesothelioma, but the officials were convinced that pleural plaques led directly to a worsening of the situation. The Minister may be aware that some people say that pleural plaques are general throughout the population, but that is untrue. Others will say that pleural plaques are not altogether concerned with exposure to asbestos.