Patricia Hewitt said the process would be speeded up

However only 2,232 claimants have received their full entitlement and miner's officials say that is a tiny percentage of the 32,700 claims.

During her first official a visit to Wales, Ms Hewitt, insisted that almost �100m had been paid out so far.

At a medical assessment centre in Newport, Ms Hewitt said: "We have been working hard with our contractors, lawyers, MPs and unions in Wales and this co-operation is paying off.

"Every week, we pay out �1m in Wales and across the UK, we complete 1,000 medical assessments - in the last week of September, we hit a record of 1,300 assessments.

"The oldest and sickest men now get seen first and our new claims handling centre in Cardiff means we have a more hands-on approach in Wales."

It has now been four years since the government was ordered to make the compensation payouts.

The National Miners Union (NMU) have raised concerns that many claimants are not receiving as much compensation as they are entitled to.

They say that the majority of claims have been processed through a fast-track scheme - resulting in smaller payouts.

'Alarming death rate'

Solicitor Peter Evans, who is dealing with claims on behalf of miners, said many clients were accepting reduced payouts.

"This is just window dressing," he said. "The scheme is not delivering anywhere near quickly enough for these miners.

They are dying at an alarming rate and still not being compensated

Peter Evans, solicitor

"Unfortunately, many are taking much less than they are entitled to simply because they are worried about their ability to survive this process.

"They are dying at an alarming rate and still not being compensated."

Speed up

Currently, two thirds of former miners are still awaiting payments.

Levi Gould, 87, who retired from 50 years of mining in 1979, has been given an interim payment of �4,083 but is still awaiting full compensation for dust inhalation.

Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy has faced tough questions

"It's not working," he said. "I believe the Labour government is not doing enough for us.

"There is something wrong with the ministers in charge of it.

He said younger miners were receiving their payouts before dying elderly former miners - something Ms Hewitt admitted has happened in the past.

Mr Gould added: "I don't think we've got a lot of time left at our age, after going through what we did in the mines as they were then."

Secretary defence

Ms Hewitt accepted the process was not being handled quickly enough, but said she was "pleased and encouraged" by future plans.

"Things are moving faster than they were last year," she told BBC Radio Wales.

"I share the frustration. This is the biggest compensation scheme of its kind in the world.

Many miners had developed lung diseases

"We've recruited another 500 people in the claims assessment staff."

"There's no doubt at all that we've had younger miners getting their payments faster than a lot of the older miners."

She claimed 4,000 of the lung disease claims had been settled, yet not paid in full.

She has been visiting a centre at Langstone in Newport where miners are tested in order to assess their claims.