Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2010

My Lords, I thank both noble Lords for participating in this discussion and their support for these regulations. It is a great sadness to hear of the personal experience of the noble Lord, Lord Freud, and his understanding of the impact of mesothelioma on individuals and their families. The noble Lord asked about the working group on the processing and the time in which claims may be paid. With regard to the 1979 Act, claims are processed within six weeks, and claims under the 2008 scheme within nine days on average. Previous debates have recognised that. As for the working group on process to which the noble Lord referred, that refers to the processing of civil claims, which was mentioned in Jack Straw’s pleural plaque Statement. It says: ""We will therefore establish a working group composed of claimant solicitors, trade unions, insurers, the judiciary, and civil servants to examine litigation practices and procedures for compensation claims relating to mesothelioma, and identify options for streamlining them in order to reduce the time taken to conclude cases. In particular the working group will consider … the operation of the Practice Direction for court proceedings introduced in April 2008 to ensure that it is working effectively … possible solutions to difficulties arising from delays in obtaining medical reports because of the shortage of medical experts in this area … why more claims don’t settle, and whether any provisions in relation to pre-action behaviour would be helpful in reducing the time taken to establish liability without the need for court proceedings … We also intend to consider changes to the substantive law to … resolve difficulties experienced by mesothelioma sufferers as a result of differences in the value of claims which are settled before or after the death of the person concerned and to clarify the limitation period for bringing a claim … clarify that the limitation period for bringing a claim runs from the date that the claimant becomes aware that he or she has mesothelioma rather than from the date they became aware of the original exposure to asbestos"." That is a relatively new statement. I hope that that puts the matter into context. The noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, gave her support to these regulations, and I am grateful for that. She made reference to the fact that the instance of mesothelioma has yet to peak. One challenge of this terrible condition is its long latency period. That raises all sorts of issues. The noble Baroness praised the HSE, which I was pleased to hear, as that does not happen often enough. It does lots of work at the moment trying to spot what might be the long-term latency issues of other modern practices—for example, nanotechnologies—and what that might mean in future. The noble Baroness said that asbestos is banned in the UK but not in the developing world. I regret that asbestos is still commonly used in the third world; my understanding is that it is commonly used in India, both in processing and uncontrolled environments, such as ship-breaking. The HSE works closely with colleagues abroad, and I shall certainly ask them to continue to share their expert surveillance. The noble Baroness asked about Armed Forces personnel; they are not covered by these regulations, but they are covered by separate arrangements provided by the Ministry of Defence.