Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to extend compensation schemes for asbestos-related health problems caused by an individual’s work place environment where the original employer or insurers cannot be traced.

There are already compensation schemes for asbestos-related health problems caused by an individual’s work place environment.

• The Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 (1979 Act Scheme) provides lump sum compensation payments to people who contract, through work, one of five dust-related diseases but who cannot claim civil damages from their employer through the courts. The dust-related diseases that are covered, of which most are directly related to asbestos exposure, are: diffuse mesothelioma; pneumoconiosis (including asbestosis, silicosis and kaolinosis); byssinosis; diffuse pleural thickening and lung cancer if accompanied by asbestosis or diffuse pleural thickening.

Whilst the Scheme ensures that sufferers receive compensation whilst they, themselves, can still benefit from it, the Scheme is also open to dependants where a sufferer has not been able to make a claim before they die. Dependants are paid a lower amount than that for someone who actually has the disease.

There are no plans to extend eligibility to this Scheme.

• The Mesothelioma Act 2014 established the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS). The DMPS makes lump sum payments to people who contract diffuse mesothelioma from negligent exposure to asbestos in the workplace, but are unable to pursue a civil claim because their former employer no longer exists and their former employer’s insurer cannot be traced. The DMPS is funded by a levy paid by insurers who are active in the Employer’s Liability insurance market.

This Scheme makes payments to eligible sufferers of diffuse mesothelioma only. Diffuse mesothelioma is always fatal and always caused by asbestos, therefore, a simple and straightforward payment scheme can be put in place. Other asbestos-related diseases have more uncertainties regarding cause, severity and aggravation by other factors and this complexity is not compatible with a straightforward tariff-based scheme such as the DMPS.

There are no plans to extend eligibility to the DMPS.