§ 5. Mr. EasthamTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he has any plans to increase the staff of the employment medical advisory service, within the Health and Safety Executive.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment (Mr. Eric Forth)Staffing is an operational matter for the Health and Safety Commission and Executive, which are free to deploy their resources as they choose within an overall funding level agreed with my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State. The Commission's plan of work for 1990–91 includes a targeted increase in EMAS staff in post from 134 to 146.
§ Mr. EasthamDuring the past 10 years there have been serious cuts in the employment medical advisory service, considering that an average 8,000 deaths a year are due to occupational diseases. Why were there 79 doctors in 1979 and, in March 1990, only 44? The same applies to nurses in the occupational service: there were 87 in 1979 and only 49 in March 1990. Why do not the Government increase the priority given to this serious matter?
§ Mr. ForthMy Department acknowledges the expertise and independence of the Health and Safety Executive and Commission and I hope that the hon. Gentleman shares that view. If he does, he should approach the executive and ask it why these numbers have changed. He will be told that it appraised the use of its resources and redeployed them in a way that it considered more effective to tackle the problems that the hon. Gentleman rightly mentioned. I ask the hon. Gentleman to look at the matter in that light, to acknowledge the independence and expertise of this excellent body and to understand why the changes have been made.