Consultation
6.On 20 July 2006, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced a number of interim measures to speed up claims handling for people with mesothelioma. He also confirmed that long-term measures would be introduced to improve support for sufferers to ensure that, where possible, they could receive compensation and benefit from it while knowing that their families would be secure in the future. On 1 September 2006, as part of a UK-wide consultation, the Department consulted interested parties in Northern Ireland for their views on improving support to those with mesothelioma.
7.At the UK-wide mesothelioma summit held on 13 March 2007 proposals to provide faster compensation to all those diagnosed with diffuse mesothelioma were announced.