§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the annual cost of employing a factory inspector.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe average annual costat 1994–95 prices to the Health and Safety Executive of employing a factory inspector 1B, the main grade deployed on inspection work, is £45,387.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment in how many cases relatives of(a) existing factory inspectors and (b) administrative staff have been recruited in (i) area offices, (ii) HQ Bootle or (iii) London in the administrative executive and clerical grades; if he will issue instructions to prevent this practice; and if he will take appropriate disciplinary action.
§ Mr. OppenheimNo statistics are kept of relatives employed in Health and Safety Executive offices.
The recruitment of all staff in the HSE meets the civil service Order in Council rules dealing with fair and open recruitment. The existing rules about recruitment of relatives are sufficiently clear and stringent and no disciplinary action is needed.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many factory inspectors are due to be recruited in 1995; and when the recruitment will take place.
§ Mr. OppenheimA current recruitment competition aims to recruit approximately 60 factory inspectors.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many premises were inspected by the factory inspectorate(a) in 1992–93 and (b) 1993–94.
§ Mr. OppenheimInformation about the number of premises inspected is not readily available since some premises received more than one visit. The number of planned inspection visits carried out by the field operations division's factory, agriculture and quarries inspectors is shown in the following table:
Year Number of inspections 1992–93 157,426 1993–94 152,014 Visits were also paid for a range of other purposes, such as to follow up complaints and to investigate accidents.