§ 1. Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if, pursuant to his answer of 28 July, Official Report, column 1043, he will publish in the Official Report the figures on factory inspections contained in the letter.
§ Mr. BennettI congratulate the Minister on trying to hide the figures. Does he accept that the figures show that 20 per cent. of factories and other industrial premises have not been inspected for more than five years? Is that not a disgrace, especially when two people are killed every working day? Under the present Government, the Health and Safety Executive has been cut by about 20 per cent. Is it not high time that the Government gave safety in industry a higher priority, informed management of the existence of the Health and Safety Executive and made the executive really effective?
§ Mr. NichollsFar from being disgraceful, the hon. Gentleman has shown that he does not know the facts which lie behind his supplementary question. He makes the assumption that all premises should be inspected the same number of times. That seems to assume that the dangers inherent in a chemical engineering factory will be same as those in a dressmaking concern. There is a rating system which ensures that inspectors look for trouble to the greatest extent where they are most likely to find it. Far from trying to hide the figures, I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman did not draw attention to the fact that a letter that I sent to him, containing the information which is to be placed in the Library, showed that the number of preventive inspections had risen by about 20 per cent. since 1985–86.
§ Mr. Ian BruceDoes my hon. Friend agree that the best inspectors of any factory are the employees, and that the inspectorate always responds to a complaint by employees at a work place so as to ensure that safety is paramount? Surely the responsibility should be on employees to alert inspectors.
§ Mr. NichollsMy hon. Friend is right. The primary responsibility for ensuring proper health and safety in the work force lies with employers and employees. Just as we could not solve crime by putting a policeman on every corner, there is no evidence that we could eliminate accidents by putting an inspector in every work place.
§ Mr. StrangNow that I have received a letter from the Secretary of State which it took him three months to write, in which he admits that he has failed to keep his promise to the House to increase the factory and agriculture inspectorates by 40 inspectors by 31 March, will the Minister take the opportunity on behalf of the Government to apologise to the House for failing to keep 160 that promise? When will the Government increase the strength of the factory and agriculture inspectorates by the 40 inspectors promised by 31 March?
§ Mr. NichollsThe only apology due to the House arising from the question would be from the hon. Gentleman for the distorted way in which he has presented the figures. The target was 590 factory inspectors in post by April 1990. That has already been achieved, which is hardly surprising as in the past two years the HSE has received all the money for which it bid from central Government. The only point at issue is why the hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friend the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Mr. Bennett) have persisted in choosing not to understand the figures.
§ Mr. StrangDoes the Minister deny what he said?
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder.
Following is the information:—The number of preventive inspection visits paid by the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Factory Inspectorate (FI) to fixed premises in each of the last four planning years is as follows:
Year Numbers of Preventive Inspection Visits 1985–86 50,434 1986–87 54,876 1987–88 59,437 1988–89 60,708 In addition, a substantial number of inspections of transient activities were carried out and visits were also paid to all types of workplaces for other purposes such as accident and complaint investigations, to give advice and to check on shortcomings previously identified.The HSE records show that of the fixed premises registered with FI in April 1989, 36,234 last had a preventive inspection visit five years ago, 47,974 seven years ago, 17,230 nine years ago and 23,606 11 or more years ago.