§ 11.15 a.m.
§ Lord AucklandMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children's toys and electrical appliances have been imported into this country since 1980; how many accidents and injuries due to faults in imported toys and electrical appliances have been reported; and whether they are satisfied that the relevant safety regulations currently in force are adequate.
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, the total value of imports of domestic electrical appliances from 1st January 1981 to 31st March 1984 was £1,651 million. The total value of imports of toys was £694 million for the same period.
The accident figures collected by the Home Accident Surveillance System of the Department of Trade and Industry do not separately identify accidents involving imported products. The total number of accidents reported on a sample basis to that unit between November 1980 and November 1983 involving electrically powered appliances was 9,681, and the number involving toys was 3,033. From these figures it has been estimated that in the one year, 1982, some 42,000 accidents involving electrically powered products and some 13,000 accidents involving toys occurred in England and Wales. The Government are not wholly satisfied with the adequacy of safety legislation at present, and we have just published a White Paper (Cmnd. 9302) with proposals for improving the safety of consumer goods.
§ Lord AucklandMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for that helpful reply, which will need very careful and serious study. First, I declare my interest as a non-executive vice-president of RoSPA, and I should like to ask my noble friend whether his attention has been drawn to page 3 of the June edition of Care in the Home, published by RoSPA, which shows an Autobang car made in Spain which has a mousetrap-like mechanism and which, if a child catches his fingers in the trap, can severely damage them? Also, has my noble friend's attention been drawn to last Sunday's "That's Life" programme, where rubber rings were displayed—made, I think, in the Far East—which overturned in the sea and which, unless there was some adult close at hand, the child had no hope whatever of righting? Finally, is my noble friend aware that in paragraph 28 of the White Paper there is an indication that Her Majesty's Customs have no 1743 power of seizure of these imported toys? Will my noble friend give an assurance that these matters will be very carefully looked into?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for his reference to RoSPA, and, of course, I am glad to confirm his interest in their work. I am sorry I have no knowledge of the page 3 item to which he referred, but I shall look into it. But I do have some knowledge of the rubber ring which was the subject of the "That's Life" programme last weekend. The department's safety unit has looked into this matter and we feel that there is no case here for banning that particular item. However, as regards all children's toys, particularly beach toys or toys that are used in swimming baths or in the sea, one would look for a great deal of parental supervision.
As regards my noble friend's last question, on paragraph 28 of the White Paper, I would point out that the Customs and Excise do not have powers to seize goods of this kind, and that is precisely why the White Paper has been produced—to seek the views of all interested parties in order that adequate and proper controls can be formulated for the future.
§ Baroness GaitskellMy Lords, I should like very briefly to support the noble Lord, Lord Auckland, on this most important question. Would it not be a good idea if we started to deal with imported bad toys, and then went on to deal with our own toys, some of which are no good at all and whose manufacture definitely ought to be stopped?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, toys and other electrical products come from countries right across the world. It would be difficult to single out any particular one. But the safety unit in the department is made aware of such cases and acts very quickly, as of course do the trading standards officers who have the responsibility under the various consumer protection Acts.
§ Lord MulleyMy Lords, while not wishing to underrate the importance of safety, does not the noble Minister's answer reflect another serious problem—namely, that as a manufacturing country we are importing such a vast amount of toys? Can he give us figures for the toys that we export? Is not the lack of our manufacturing capacity and our ability to pay our way a cause for further concern?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, I take the point that the noble Lord, Lord Mulley, makes but I very much regret that I do not have those figures, as the subject of the export of toys is rather wide of the original Question.
§ Lord EnnalsMy Lords, bearing in mind the safety standards that are supposedly required for home-produced toys, should not these same standards apply to toys imported from abroad, particularly in view of the fact that quite obviously there has been a substantial increase in the number of dangerous toys being imported into this country? Is not this a rather urgent problem?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, of course the problem is urgent but, as the noble Lord, Lord Ennals, will know, only a number of goods are regulated. Most of the goods to which my noble friend's Question refers are non-regulated goods. Therefore, until we alter our regulations—and that is the whole purpose of the White Paper—it is difficult to impose controls at the point of entry, as distinct from the selling point, which is the responsibility of the trading standards officers.
§ Lord LeatherlandMy Lords, does the noble Lord the Minister have any evidence to show whether there is any danger in the use of electric razors? I appreciate that he has no interest to declare.
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Leatherland, will observe, I have no knowledge of razors.
§ Baroness Masham of IlionMy Lords. to bring this discussion back go a more serious topic, is the Minister aware that in Peterlee, which is one of our new towns, there is a splendid Fisher Price toy factory which is giving excellent employment facilities to many of our people, and that the toys are of very good quality and very safe?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords. I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for that information. I did not know of that particular factory, but I am very glad to hear what she says about British produced toys.