Health and Safety Executive

HC Deb 14 December 1983 vol 50 cc454-5W

Mr. Alfred Morris

asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will increase the staff of the Health and Safety Executive.

Mr. Gummer

Detailed decisions on the staffing of the Health and Safety Executive are a matter for the executive itself, working within the overall financial allocation made to the Health and Safety Commission by the Government and subject to a staff ceiling which is at present above the current staffing level of the executive. I am advised that the executive intends to recruit, in the near future, up to 25 general factory inspectors and up to 10 agricultural inspectors.

Mr. Alfred Morris

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many factory inspectors there will be on 1 April 1984; and how this compares with the number planned for 1984 in 1979.

Mr. Gummer

On 1 December 1983 there were 832 factory inspectors in post in the Health and Safety Executive. Little change is expected in this figure by 1 April 1984, though it is not possible at this time to make an exact estimate. While a further expansion of the HSE was planned in 1979 for the following period no firm allocation was made within that plan to the factory inspectorate.