To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will take steps to add further categories of workers to those who can be assessed for industrial injuries disablement benefits when it is established they suffer from industrial deafness, including those whose industrial deafness arose from work in the coal mining industry.

The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council advises the Secretary of State on the prescription of occupations under the industrial injuries scheme. Work involving the use of pneumatic percussive tools for mining coal and work in the immediate vicinity of these tools when in operation are already prescribed occupations for occupational deafness purposes.