Vol. 556 No. 4
94 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Defence the reason for the scrapping of the out-of-court settlement schemes for Army deafness claims, particularly having regard to his own description of it as a great success; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20504/02]
On 26 July the Minister for Defence announced the cessation of the early settlement scheme for hearing loss claims received after that date. Claims initiated on or before that date are still eligible for settlement under the scheme. The Minister is happy at the success of the scheme and the results achieved in settling 4,682 claims and he hopes that the vast majority of the outstanding claims will be settled in this way. Early settlement negotiations are ongoing in several hundred of the remaining 2,749 claims of which only 61 were received after July. However, the issue has been in the public domain now for over ten years and it is time it was brought to a conclusion.
