§ Mr. Maddenasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether the 1976 accident statistics were withheld from industry so as not to pre-empt the publication of the annual report of the Health 41W and Safety Executive; and, if so, whether this was done with his authority.
§ Mr. John GrantThe Chairman of the Health and Safety Commission informs me that the Health and Safety Executive traditionally publishes, in theDepartment of Employment Gazette, figures at monthly intervals on fatalities and new cases of industrial disease and quarterly on accidents notified under the Factories Act.
Monthly figures on fatalities and new cases of industrial disease for November and December 1977 were published in the March 1978 Gazette. Factories Act accident figures for the third quarter of 1977 were published in the February 1978 Gazette. Those for the fourth quarter are due to be published in the April 1978 Gazette. Publication in the Gazette of figures relating to Factories Act accidents for the last quarter of 1976 was unduly delayed in 1977 due to an industrial dispute, on account of which certain accident reports were not processed. Final figures for 1976 have had to be specially adjusted for this deficiency.
Detailed figures are published in industrial sector reports with any relevant significant commentary. There is an inevitable time lag in the analysis and interpretation of such data which often have to be related to other published series produced outside the Health and Safety Executive—including in particular the numbers employed by industrial sector—as opposed to the first simple count of reported accidents.
I am assured that there is no question of figures being withheld so as not to pre-empt the publication of the annual report of the Health and Safety Executive.