§ Mr. Cryerasked the Secretary of State for Employment on how many occasions in the 12 months before 21 November 1978 Her Majesty's inspectors of mines and quarries visited Bentley colliery; on how many occasions in the three months prior to that date they visited the bottom 99W of the DO4 incline in the Dunsil seam and passed over or by the Godwin Warren arrester; and what was the date of the last visit immediately before the accident.
§ Mr. MayhewIn the 12 months prior to the accident, Her Majesty's inspectors of mines and quarries visited the mine 50 times; 31 of those visits were underground inspections. In the three months prior to the accident they passed through the bottom of the DO4 incline on three occasions. The last visit to the mine before the accident was on 16 November 1978.
§ Mr. Cryerasked the Secretary of State for Employment why no reference has been made in the report into the accident at Bentley colliery on 21 November 1978 to the frequency of visits paid by Her Majesty's Mines and Quarries Inspectorate to the colliery prior to the accident; and why the breaches of statutory duty referred to in that report were not observed by the inspectorate before the accident.
Number of registered quarries at beginning of each year Number of inspections Prosecutions Prohibition notices Improvement notices 1975 … 3,651 7,245 — — 1 1976 … 3,257 6,550 — — 2 1977 … 3,548 6,540 2 1 — 1978 … 3,507 6,343 1 3 — 1979(to date) … 3,489 Not yet available 1 2 2