HC Deb 29 May 1956 vol 553 cc63-6
Mr. Nugent

I beg to move, in page 5, line 31, at the end to insert: (2) Regulations may be made for requiring the provision, at such places on an agricultural unit on which workers are employed in agriculture as may be prescribed by the regulations, and either at all times or at such times as may be so prescribed, of containers containing first-aid requisites and appliances of such descriptions and in such quantities as may be so prescribed, being containers complying with such requirements (if any) as may be so prescribed with respect to the form thereof and the marking thereof for the purpose of indicating the nature of the contents thereof, but nothing in any such regulation shall be construed as derogating from subsection (1) of this section. (3) Regulations under this section may make different provision to meet different circumstances. This Amendment implements an undertaking given during the Committee stage and will have the effect of making this Clause with regard to first aid requirements more flexible and at the same time retain the mandatory features of the Clause as drafted.

Hon. Members will see that it runs to some length in subsection (2), but the effect is simply to make it more flexible in regard to place, time, contents, form and marking of first aid provisions, while ensuring, by retaining the mandatory provisions in the earlier part of the Clause, that every holding shall have at least one first aid appliance on it.

5.0 p.m.

Mr. Gooch

When providing under the Clause for the availability of first-aid facilities on farms, one of the main considerations is to ensure that these requisites and facilities shall be readily available wherever a workman happens to be engaged. This aspect was emphasised in Committee, when, although the Clause was all right as far as it went, it was hoped that the Minister would extend its provisions so that he would have power to make regulations to require first-aid boxes to be fixed to machines or vehicles operating at such a distance from the farm buildings that the normal first-aid requisites would not be readily at hand. I hoped very much that the Minister would have given a little more thought to this aspect with a view to ensuring that wherever an accident happened a first-aid box would be available.

Mr. Nugent

We felt that by the Amendment we had gone a long way towards meeting the general wish of hon. and right hon. Members in Committee. The Amendment contains the words: at such places on an agricultural unit on which workers are employed in agriculture as may be prescribed by the regulations, and either at all times or at such times as may be so prescribed … We have gone quite a distance in widening the scope of the original Clause, and we felt that we had made a reasonably flexible and generous provision to meet all necessities. I agree that it does not specifically include the fixing of first-aid appliances to machines, but I would hope that it has gone far enough to meet the practical news of the case.

Mr. Gooch

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary knows very well that in my part of the country some of the farms are very extensive, up to 5,000 and 10,000 acres in area. When men are working great distances from the farm, they will be miles away from the first-aid box. Will the hon. Gentleman look at this matter again and see whether it is not possible to arrange that the first-aid box should be fixed to the machines which are sent out to work?

Mr. G. Jeger

This matter was raised in extenso in Committee, and I was under the impression that the Minister promised to reconsider it before bringing it back to us in the House. I am glad that he has made what he calls a flexible contribution, and certainly we welcome it. The word "flexibility" was used greatly during our discussions in Committee. The Minister has not, however. dealt with the very important point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Norfolk, North (Mr. Gooch), which concerned us a great deal during our Committee discussions. I hope he has not neglected to consider the matter and that he will have a word to say about it before we allow the Amendment to go through.

A further suggestion was made in Committee concerning the training of people in the use of first-aid appliances. Nothing complicated or elaborate would be necessary. We all paid tribute to the classes in villages and elsewhere held by the St. John Ambulance Brigade. It was hoped that the Brigade would be called in in this connection and that assistance on its side would be given towards training small units in agricultural communities in elementary first-aid.

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary said in Committee that, whilst the Government would not make regulations to cover the matter, they certainly intended to cover it by other means. I was rather hoping that the hon. Gentleman would say a word at this stage so that we would know that he had considered the matter and had something definite in mind as to the form that training or the approach to the St. John Ambulance Brigade would take.

Mr. Nugent

In reply to the first point raised by the hon. Member for Goole (Mr. Jeger), we felt we had substantially met the problem of the large farm which would probably need more than one first-aid box in a central position. The Amendment makes it possible for my right hon. Friend to make regulations which would require the fixing of boxes elsewhere according to the size of a farm and the general circumstances. This would in practice go a long way to meet the point raised by the hon. Member for Norfolk, North (Mr. Gooch) and by the hon. Member for Goole.

On the second point, our intention was to deal with the matter rather by way of advisory leaflets to farmers and such other publicity of that kind as we find will be effective, believing, as we do, that in this rather difficult matter, and dealing with farms of such varying size, it would not be suitable to deal with them by regulation. We certainly intend to do all that we can to encourage and advise farmers as to how they might make themselves acquainted at least with the first principles of first-aid in order to make these provisions effective.

Amendment agreed to.

Further Amendments made: In page 5, line 32, after third "of", insert "subsection (1) of".

In line 34, at end insert:

and a person who contravenes any provision of regulations under subsection (2) of this section shall be guilty of an offence"—[Mr. Nugent.]