§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if the same criteria regarding the issue of improvement and prohibition notices are applied by the Health and Safety Executive to (a) Crown and (b) non-Crown workplaces.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyYes.
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§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many employees work in (a) Crown and (b) non-Crown workplaces which are under the jurisdiction of the Health and Safety Executive.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyIn 1983, the latest year for which an estimate can be made, it is estimated that 1.7 million employees worked in Crown workplaces and 12.8 million employees worked in non-Crown workplaces under the jurisdiction of the Health and Safety Executive.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment which organisations have made representations to him that immunity from health and safety legislation should be removed from Crown workplaces.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyI met the right hon. Member and others with a deputation from the General Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union on 17 April to discuss their representation on exemption of the Crown from prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and from the provisions in that Act relating to improvement and prohibition notices.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment on how many occasions and in what context he has formally reviewed the question of removing immunity from Crown workplaces in respect of health and safety legislation.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyMinisterial consideration was given in 1983 to whether there was any shortfall in health and safety at work standards in Crown employment due to the Crown's exemption from prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and from the provisions in that Act relating to prohibition and improvement notices. This was in response to a point raised during a debate in the House on health and safety at work on 11 March 1983.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will now seek to remove the immunity in respect of health and safety requirements from all Crown workplaces.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyThe Crown is already bound by the general duties of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and is bound to comply with regulations made under the Act unless specific exemptions are made. We have no plans at present to seek to remove the Crown's exemption from the provisions of the Act relating to improvement and prohibition notices and from prosecution in the courts. However, we have undertaken to look carefully at the dossier of evidence on the effects of Crown immunity which the right hon. Member has promised to send me.
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