Schedule 6
Welfare Reform Bill
9:10 am
Jim Murphy (Minister of State (Work), Department for Work and Pensions; East Renfrewshire, Labour)
My hon. Friend is correct, and we know about Plymouth’s traditional role in the shipbuilding industry. Although I do not recall it, I lived in Plymouth much earlier in my life, because my father worked in the shipyards. I believe that it is the furthest city in the UK from Glasgow—which is an interesting and relevant point. Things got so bad that we had to find the furthest point from home.
My hon. Friend, along with many other right hon. and hon. Friends in the Government, is determined to ensure that there is a fairer deal for mesothelioma sufferers. The time that it takes to apply for, process and receive a payment is still, on average, longer than the post-diagnosis life expectancy for mesothelioma sufferers. No one can tolerate that as the status quo. Certainly we in government do not, and I do not think that it is a matter of party political disagreement.
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. Clapham) for the points that he has raised and the dogged determination that he has shown as chair of the all-party group on coalfield communities and that the other members of that group have shown. Technically, it is an all-party group, but I think that all those I met who represent mining communities were Labour Members of Parliament. However, there is consensus that we must go further in supporting people with mesothelioma to get a fairer deal.
In mesothelioma cases, when all employment with the employer began not more than 15 years before the qualifying date, claims for payments of compensation under the 1979 Act might be turned down in some cases in which an extra-statutory payment is currently made. That is not acceptable to the Government, and I do not believe that it would be acceptable to any member of this Committee.
Let me pick up on the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced in July this year a number of interim measures to ensure faster compensation for those with mesothelioma, as well as his intention to put in place a long-term solution to ensure that, wherever possible, sufferers of mesothelioma receive compensation while alive. He committed to consulting stakeholders on a long-term solution, and the formal consultation period ended on 23 November. We are analysing the responses and next March we will host a mesothelioma summit with stakeholders to discuss the options for action. We have also asked officials to carry out a review of the current industrial injuries disablement benefit scheme, and intend to publish a consultation paper early in 2007.
Finally, I want to make a wider point on the amendment. I have paid tribute previously to the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Stirling (Mrs. McGuire), and I am a close friend of someone who was a colleague of ours, the former Member of Parliament for Clydebank and Milngavie. He played a pivotal role in previous Parliaments on the issue of mesothelioma, and again it is appropriate for me to put on record his determination and the way in which he kept this issue at the forefront of people’s minds in Parliament. Often in Parliament, we think that history began when we arrived in this place. Sometimes we all suffer from that. As I said, we have announced a review of the industrial injuries disablement benefit scheme, and of course there are related issues involving mesothelioma and other matters.
I also want to put on record the continuing admiration of Labour Members for a gentleman by the name of Jim Griffiths, who introduced the first industrial injuries disablement benefit. I think that he was from Carmarthen in Wales.