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Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) Bill [HL]

My Lords, as the Written Ministerial Statement states, we, ""decided to make payments of £5,000 to individuals in this limited category under an extra-statutory scheme. The payment broadly reflects the level of compensation likely to have been received if pleural plaques had continued to be compensatable"." So it is based on awards which would typically have been made at the time that the people covered by their scheme commenced their legal claim. As to the noble Lord’s second question, paragraph 10 of the Statement states: ""Detailed arrangements relating to the operation of this extra-statutory scheme will be announced shortly".—[Official Report, Commons, 25/2/10; col. 80WS.]" Obviously those detailed arrangements will assist the noble Lord in his questions being answered. The detailed qualifying criteria and the requirements for proof that an applicant meets those criteria will be published in due course when the scheme is fully established and ready for operation. There is not much more that I can say about the scheme than that.