ENERGY Minister Bri-an Wilson is under fire. Last week, Mr Wilson told the Labour party conference in Brighton that pit widows were set to get top priority in compensation payments for their husbands' chest diseases.

Today the Argus - which has been campaigning for more than two years for payments to be speeded up - can reveal that the prioritisation of widows' claims was part of the handling agreement - signed in 1999 - which spelled out how the compensation process would work.

In a paragraph headed 'For Deceased Mineworkers,' the document states: 'These claims will be processed by a paper-based assessment with priority being given to widows and co-habitees.'

It says that, as with surviving mineworkers, a points-based system would be used to prioritise claims.

And in March, then-energy minister Peter Hain announced that compensation offers totalling £440 million would go out to 37,000 miners suffering lung diseases and vibration white finger, over the next six months.

That meant 19,000 lung disease claimants could benefit from a share of £230 million, said Mr Hain.

He went on to say that faster payouts were the result of improved procedures, extra resources - and the prioritisation of payments to needy groups, including widows, which had been introduced.

Bleddyn Hancock, general secretary of mining union Nacods in South Wales, said: "They agreed a long time ago to prioritise payments to widows, so it appears it was a case of Mr Wilson repeating an old pledge."

But Mr Wilson said: "I don't see what Bleddyn Hancock is complaining about because there had been no formal agreement until now with the solicitors to prioritise widows' payments."

Yet in January, Wales Office junior minister and Islwyn MP Don Touhig, who is now chairman of the Welsh sub-group of the Coal Health Claims Monitoring Group, told the Argus: "I had a very useful meeting at the Department of Trade and Industry with the Claimants Solicitors Group, and they have agreed with the idea we have been pushing to give top priority to the oldest and sickest miners and widows."

Gareth Morgan, a partner with law firm Hugh James Ford Simey, has been dealing with miners' compensation claims since the fight for justice began more than a decade ago. He said: "It is extremely disappointing that Mr Wilson sees the need to say this now. At the time the handling agreement was being negotiated, we - the Claimants Solicitors Group - wanted widows' claims to be dealt with as a priority. That was incorporated into the handling agreement."

Mr Morgan claimed the section of the agreement on widows' payments had simply been ignored, despite numerous assurances it was being implemented.

And he questioned why Mr Wilson had introduced the issue at last week's conference. "If he was aware we had agreed this back in 1999, I would be rather surprised if he would regard it as good news to announce it now," said Mr Morgan. "He is saying, 'We agree this has not been happening for the past two years'."

While the handling agreement states that priority should be given to widows and co-habitees, Mr Morgan said latest figures showed estate claims - claims from a relative who is not the miner's widow - were also being dealt with. As they are not priority, they should wait until all widows' claims are settled, he believed.

He said statistics given at a meeting in London last week involving the Claimants Solicitors Group, the DTI, Healthcall and claims handlers IRISC, showed one-third of deceased claims dealt with so far were estate claims.

"For every estate claim being dealt with, a widow's claim has not been dealt with," said Mr Morgan. "Really the DTI has got to get a grip on its contractors and must not just get the minister to say it is happening, but it is about time they ensure it does happen."

*PICTURED: Brian Wilson takes the lung function test during a visit to Healthcall in June.