In 1998, after a High Court decision declaring the British Coal Corporation negligent in respect of two serious and debilitating mining-related conditions, the newly elected Labour Government took responsibility for these accumulated personal injury liabilities and created the Coal Health compensation schemes for miners suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Vibration White Finger (VWF).  

MP Des Browne and MSP Cathy Jamieson, Scottish Labour & Co-operative Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, welcome the news that as of 31 December 2009 only 2 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) compensation claims remain outstanding in the Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency and no claims are outstanding for Vibration White Finger (VWF).

Des Browne said:

"The newly elected Labour Government in 1998 made a commitment to the miners suffering from these debilitating conditions that compensation would be made available. To date that commitment has been to the tune of more than £4 billion. 760,000 miners or their families throughout the UK have benefited from this compensation. Clearly demonstrating that, unlike some political parties, Labour keeps its promises.

"As of 31 December 2009 there were no compensation cases for Vibration White Finger outstanding in Kilmarnock and Loudoun - a total of 739 miners with VWF or their surviving families benefited in total to the tune of over £10.5 million in damages. Those 2,345 miners suffering from COPD or their families benefited to the tune of over £8 million.

"In 1998 when we took the decision to set up the COPD and VWF schemes we realised we would be dealing with very large numbers of claimants and they had the potential to raise challenging issues with regard to the nature of the diseases and the complexity of the industry. Labour rose to that challenge, which included taking solicitors to court to reduce their exorbitant and unjustifiably expensive legal fees for handling such cases.

"The Department of Energy and Climate Change is making excellent progress towards completion of the Coal Health Compensation schemes with less than 100 cases of VWF out of 170,000, and less than 1,000 COPD cases out of a total of 591,000 remain to be settled in the UK. We will not rest until every suffering miner or their families have been compensated."

Cathy Jamieson said:

"This is great news. Some 11,000 Ayrshire miners or their families have benefited from this scheme which was set up by Labour to compensate miners for damage to their health when producing the coal that supplied our electricity and heated our homes. Scottish Labour, with its roots within the mining communities of Scotland, as deep as the coal seams the miners worked, recognised the duty and huge debt this nation owes these remarkable men and their families some of whom, the people of Ayrshire know only too well, made the ultimate sacrifice. Miners in Scotland, as a whole, have received half a billion pounds in compensation since these schemes were set up."

 More Information:

• COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease affects the lungs, the main symptom being breathlessness. Severity depends on the actual damage to the lungs. Mild COPD is usually chronic bronchitis; severe COPD can be the life-threatening emphysema.
• VFW: Vibration White Finger involves damage to the blood vessels and nerves supplying the fingers, resulting in tingling and numbness. The mild form of VWF the numbness is temporary, in severe cases there is progressive loss of dexterity e.g. picking up pencil and writing or picking up utensils to eat. It can require amputation in extreme cases.
• By May 2009 former miners and their families had been awarded £4 billion in damages, and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) had received over 760,000 claims. (Parliamentary written answer from David Kidney P-u-S DECC, 25 June 2009)
• Breakdown of Statistics: