Irwin Mitchell Solicitors

Mr. Hoban
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what payments his Department has made to Irwin Mitchell solicitors for services provided to coal health claimants in the last 10 years.

Malcolm Wicks
The payments made to Irwin Mitchell solicitors for representing claimants under the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and vibration white finger claims under the Coal Health Compensation schemes is shown in the following table as at 15 June 2008.

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|     |Costs paid to Irwin Mitchell|
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|COPD |11.8                        |
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|VWF  |3.5                         |
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|Total|15.3                        |
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Irwin Mitchell solicitors were also paid £7.9 million for their role on the co-ordinating group of claimants' solicitors including trial costs.