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Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) (Payment of Claims) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for explaining the regulations and the background to them so fully. We will spend some time, although at this late hour I hope not too long, discussing welfare payments of various shapes and sizes. We start with an annual uprating for these perfectly horrible dust-borne diseases, leading in many cases to cancer of the lung and, ultimately, death, resulting from employment in principally, but not necessarily, the mining industry. Former employees of firms contracting to remove asbestos, especially blue asbestos, from buildings, even building sites, will also be included. These employees and their dependants can claim on this state scheme only when their former employer has gone out of business and no insurance cover exists. This is particularly the case, as the Minister almost said, given that many years ago asbestos, in particular, was not known to be a particular hazard of the industries in question and so was not insured against. By law, however, insurance companies have to keep records for 60 years, so insurance money can be payable long after a firm ceases to trade, as long as an insurance contract was in force for the employees in question at the time they were employed and it is accepted that one of these prescribed diseases originated at the time of employment. The problem is that the disease in question may take a long time to show itself and, in the past, and indeed again today, Ministers have used the timescale of 40 years as a guide. My first question, therefore, is: has the Minister any idea how many new insurance payouts there have been in the last year, compared with the new payouts under the scheme? I suspect that that is a slightly devious question and that he will have to write to me on that, which of course I would accept. I thought that we knew, because we have been told often enough in past discussions, that the claims on the scheme were expected to peak in 2011, but we have just heard from the Minister that that has been extended to 2015. What evidence is there for that claim? Does he expect 2015 to be the date for a few years, or can we expect Ministers in future to put back the time when payments will peak? This is an important point. At a time when government expenditure, of which I shall have more to say later this afternoon, is under more stringent scrutiny than at any time I can remember in my time in this House, it is important to know exactly when expenditure on pneumoconiosis and the other diseases is expected to peak. On the point of insurance cover, I note that the Explanatory Memorandum states that a full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument, as no impact on the private, public or voluntary sectors is foreseen. The words ““private”” and ““sector”” taken together must surely include insurance companies. Is not it at least likely that insurance companies will base their awards on those payable under this scheme and that, consequently, there will be an effect on them, or will the Minister tell me that I am barking up the wrong tree with this supposition? My next interest arises from paragraph 12.2 of the Explanatory Memorandum, which states: "““An internal review will be conducted on 1st April to ensure the uprating has been successfully implemented””." There are two points. First, these regulations do not come into effect until 1 April. Is not it a bit previous to review them on the very day that they come into force? Secondly, thanks to the Government’s former welfare adviser, David Freud, the whole realm of social security benefits is coming under review, although as far as I know he has not looked at this scheme. Given the plethora of Green and White Papers, to say nothing of reports on the subject of welfare reform, will it be possible to see the results of this review? There are still an awful lot of people with these compensable diseases who would like to know whether the scheme is working properly. Indeed, I had an e-mail some time ago saying that, once assessment had been made, it sometimes took a very long time for the payment to come through. That being said, I congratulate the Government. I am well aware that Ministers and their advisers frequently find my remarks carping. However, I cannot remember an occasion when I have not recognised when credit is due, and it is with these regulations. The Government have lived up to the promise that they made in 2004 to uprate the payments under this scheme by what this Explanatory Memorandum calls, "““the agreed rate of inflation””." However, I am not sure what the word ““agreed”” means in this context. For many years it has been the norm that most benefits should be uprated by the inflation recorded in the previous September. This, as we all know, was 5 per cent, a figure that will be spoken of quite a lot this afternoon. Therefore, these regulations increase the lump sums awardable by that amount. As a part-time horticulturalist, I call that DDT, which stands for ““doing the decent thing””. Many new claimants will be grateful to the Government, as I believe we in Parliament should be—just how many, time will tell, but given the fact that the numbers are expected to peak sometime in 2011, the Minister must have some idea. Will he let us into the secret?