HC Deb 17 January 1989 vol 145 c146W
115. Mr. Wall

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he intends to take to control lump labour in the construction industry.

116. Mr. Sedgemore

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he intends to take to control lump labour in the construction industry and to reduce the number of fatal accidents among self-employed construction workers.

Mr. Trippier

In construction, the use of self-employed labour is often appropriate because of the industry's fluctuating work loads and the increasing specialisms within it. Contractors and self-employed workers should generally be free to agree on the contractual arrangements that best suit their particular circumstances. Due to the itinerant nature of much of the work force, there have always been special difficulties in collecting the tax properly due from all those engaged in the industry. There is at present a special scheme for collecting tax from self-employed operatives, and this was the subject of an efficiency scrutiny in 1988. Several recommendations have been made for improving the current scheme, and these are now under consideration.

The Government are concerned about the high level of fatalities and serious injuries occurring in the industry. New regulations are being prepared which provide for the management and co-ordination of health and safety on multi-contractor sites, increase the number of safety supervisors in smaller companies and amend the site notification procedure to identify sites where there are high-risk activities. The introduction of regulations to make the wearing of safety helmets compulsory on construction sites is also planned. Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive will be paying more attention to the quality of site management and its ability to manage health and safety. They will pursue their inquiries and any enforcement action to the highest levels in companies which do not measure up to the standards expected of them. The Government have also provided the Health and Safety Executive with an additional £6.7 million in 1988–89, which will allow an increase in the number of inspectors and raise the number of inspections carried out.