Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of including sarcoidosis in the list of prescribed industrial injuries for ex coal miners.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) provides non-contributory, “no-fault” benefit for disablement because of an accident at work or one of over 70 ‘prescribed’ diseases known to be a risk from certain jobs. The department is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which IIDB can be paid. A disease can only be recommended for prescription by IIAC if:

a) the risk to workers in a certain occupation is substantially greater than the risk to the general population, and

b) the link between the disease and the occupation can be established or presumed with reasonable certainty.

The question of whether sarcoidosis should be added to the list of prescribed diseases for which IIDB can be paid will be referred to IIAC. If recommendations are made by IIAC on this matter, they will be carefully considered by the department.