§ Ms. QuinTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will make a statement on Government policy towards the proposed Council regulation establishing a European agency for safety and health at work and the location of such an agency.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe United Kingdom believes that the European Community has an important role in disseminating best practice on health and safety in areas such as risk assessment, new health and safety techniques, research and the impact of Community legislation. A wide range of views was expressed at the Labour and Social Affairs Council on 3 December 1992, which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State chaired, as to whether it was desirable to establish a new agency to take this work forward or whether alternatively it could be pursued through existing institutions or bodies, through Community programmes, through intergovernmental co-operation or otherwise. There was no discussion of the location of a possible agency. The Government's view is that the case for such an agency has yet to be clearly demonstrated.