HC Deb 23 May 1960 vol 624 cc5-9
2. Mr. Prentice

asked the Minister of Labour how many registered factories are now given priority for inspection by the Factory Inspectorate; how many are not given priority; and what percentage of factories, in each category, were actually visited by factory inspectors during 1959.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour (Mr. Peter Thomas)

In 1959, 67,000 factories were given priority in the inspection plans of the district inspectors, and 154,000 were not. 71 per cent. of the factories given this priority were visited during the year, and 34 per cent. of the rest.

Mr. Prentice

Would not the hon. Gentleman agree that it is not at all satisfactory that even those factories which are given priority are not all visited during the course of the year? Is he aware that in 1926 this country supported an I.L.O. Convention which laid down as an objective that there should be annual visits to all factories, and that we ratified the Convention but have not got anywhere near attaining that objective? Should we not now reiterate it and take positive steps to increase the strength of the Factory Inspectorate in order to reach the objective of an annual visit to each factory?

Mr. Thomas

I am not absolutely sure about the Convention in 1926. There was a recommendation in 1923 to the effect mentioned by the hon. Gentleman. However, in 1947 there was a Convention, which was agreed by this country, to the effect that inspections should be as often and as thorough as was necessary to ensure the effective application of the relevant legal provisions. I suggest to the hon. Member that statistics of the number of visits, taken in isolation, are not a satisfactory yardstick of the measure of effectiveness of the Inspectorate's work and that the figures which I have given him show that more than half the factories were visited by the Inspectorate last year.

Mr. Prentice

Can the hon. Gentleman answer the first part of my supplementary question and say whether he considers it satisfactory that even those factories which were classified as priority factories were not all visited during the year?

Mr. Thomas

The priority system was introduced on an experimental basis in 1955. Certain factories which formerly had not been visited for some time were put on a priority basis. However, the percentage of 71 is somewhere near the percentage which has been reached every year since then.

Dr. Stross

Is it not true that the complexity of industrial processes is becoming greater each year, that recent legislation has placed increasing burdens upon the Factory Inspectorate, and that even if we doubled the strength of the Inspectorate we should not have too many inspectors for what now needs to be done?

Mr. Thomas

There has been quite an encouraging increase in the Inspectorate of late. At the moment we are about thirty below the authorised strength, but ten vacancies are due to be filled shortly by newly appointed officers who have not yet taken up their duties.