§ 22. Mr. Gordon Walkerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will introduce legislation to enable him to prevent the sale to the public of dangerous domestic oil burners.
§ 25 and 26. Mr. Fletcherasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many portable drip-feed radiant oil heaters have been imported into this country since 7th March; and whether British manufacturers are still releasing heaters of the class he described for sale to the public;
(2) if he will announce the results of his consultations with the manufacturers of portable drip-feed radiant oil heaters with a view to their adopting safety precautions.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerThe result of my discussions with the manufacturers of portable drip-feed radiant oil heaters are announced in the Answer that I gave on Tuesday to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Dr. D. Johnson). The House may agree that the prompt action taken by the manufacturers deals as effectively as possible with most aspects of the immediate situation.
As regards legislation, a Bill is already before the House as a result of the initiative of my hon. Friend the Member for Kidderminster (Mr. Nabarro). It may, however, be desirable to consider this question in a wider context and to take account of those matters which have been referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection.
I regret that information is not available about the number of these heaters imported since 7th March.
§ Mr. Gordon WalkerIs it the intention of the right hon. Gentleman to convey that he is considering introducing legislation? Is he aware that many people are worried that this should be left wholly to voluntary agreement; that new manufacturers might enter the market and produce these things and, of course, that imports have to be dealt with? Imports cannot be dealt with by voluntary arrangements between our own manufacturers in this country.
§ Mr. ButlerThe consideration I have in mind is that there are, so to speak. certain gaps. One is the import question I have examined reports and, on the advice I have received, they seem to be very small at present, although that is one point which we ought to bear in mind. Another is that although a standard may be set up, not everyone will be a member of an association. In answering the right hon. Gentleman I had in mind that we have asked the Committee on Consumer Protection to look at other physical hazards in the home not confined to these oil heaters. If we contemplate legislation, I hope for an early report from the Committee as to whether there are other aspects which ought to be considered.
§ Mr. FletcherCould the Home Secretary give an assurance that none of the 500,000 oil heaters which are at present in the pipeline between manufacturers and the public will be sold to the public until they have been modified to make them safe? Will he bear in mind that 900 fires were caused last year by imported oil heaters from Holland? Could he give the House an assurance that in future any imported oil heaters will be clearly marked as imported before they are sold to the public, because obviously the difficulty of modifying them is greater?
§ Mr. ButlerThat latter point will need consideration with my colleagues principally concerned, and I undertake to give it consideration. The undertakings given by the trade are that it will ensure that all heaters manufactured in future will conform with the new British standard and, secondly, that, with the distributive trade, it will modify unsold heaters to bring them up to the new standard of draught performance.
§ Mr. FletcherWould the right hon. Gentleman say whether he is satisfied that adequate gadgets will be made available to enable the 3 million oil heaters now in the hands of the public to be converted to make them safe in future?
§ Mr. ButlerThe trade has offered facilities to the public, where required, so to modify their heaters. It is up to the public who are in possession of drip-feed heaters of this type to approach manufacturers with a view to getting those facilities.