§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are employed by the Health and Safety Executive; what its annual budget was for each year since 1997–98; what its projected budget is for next year; and if he will make a statement on its role and terms of reference. [75614]
§ Mr. Nicholas BrownThe number of people employed by the Health and Safety Executive and its annual budget for each year since 1997–98 was:
Year HSC/E settlement (£) Staff in post1 Cash settlements 1997–98 180,957,000 3,932 1998–99 182,228,000 3,880 1999–2000 186,855,000 3,937 2000–01 191,409,000 3,894 Resource settlements from 2001–02 onwards 2001–02 2 198,233,000 4,050 2002–03 3 202,973,000 4,217 1 As at end of year (31 March) 2 Plus AME £12,377,000 3 Plus AME £14,212,000 Notes:
1.All figures include the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL). HSL is an in house agency of HSE.
2.HSC/E settlement figures represent expenditure net of income. Capital budgets are included.
3.From 2001–02 Government Departments moved to a resource based supply as part of the move to full resource accounting and budgeting (RAB). There is however a transitional period for 2001–02 to 2002–03 during which period certain expenditure (e.g. depreciation, notional capital charges) are to be dealt with as Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) and will not appear in the departmental expenditure limit (DEL).
4.The figures above from 1997–98 to 2000–01 are on a cash supply basis; and from 2001–02 on a resource supply basis. Additional budgets for AME budgets are shown separately.
HSE's projected budget (net of income) for 2003–04 is £216,727,000 plus 14,998,000 which would have been recorded against AME in the transitional period (total £231,725,000).
The Health and Safety Executive is empowered to undertake, on behalf of the Health and Safety Commission, any of the functions of the Commission as it is directed. It is also required to give effect to any directions given to it by the Commission. Section 11 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 details the general functions of the Commission, which must be seen in the context of the general purposes outlined in section 1 of the Act. All of these functions may be undertaken by the Executive.