§ Lord Faulkner of Worcesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
How, following the closure of the Home Accident Surveillance System, they plan to compile accidental injury data relating to consumer products; and what measures are in place to ensure a continuity of information relating to injuries involving consumer products. [HL2991]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleEven though no new data will now be collected for HASS, the Government recognise that the existing database will remain a valuable resource for many years which should continue to be freely available for users. They will, therefore, be looking for proposals from other organisations that would be interested in taking it over. The value of the database should be enhanced by the inclusion of the past three years data which has been delayed by IT problems. The Government hope to be able to publish this later this year.
The report of the Accidental Injury Task Force identified a need to strengthen the surveillance of accidental injury at regional and local levels in the NHS. This will be the Government's first priority. However, it is too soon to say whether NHS surveillance will collect data on product involvement in accidental injuries in the sort of detail which HASS has provided. If detailed data is required on product safety issues, this can be collected through targeted surveys.
§ Lord Faulkner of Worcesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What estimates they have made of the cost of home and leisure accidents; and how these compare with the cost of running the Home Accident Surveillance System. [HL2992]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe 1999 HASS report estimated the cost to society of UK home accidents to be in the order of £25 billion per annum. The 121WA Government are not aware of any equivalent estimate for leisure accidents. The annual cost of running HASS varied but was around £1.5 million.
§ Lord Faulkner of Worcesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
How they intend the United Kingdom will contribute to the European Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System following the closure of the Home Accident Surveillance System. [HL2994]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleThe DTI expects to be able to publish HASS data collected during 2000, 2001 and 2002 in the second half of 2003, and to provide data for these years in the appropriate format to the European Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System (EHLASS) on a similar timescale. EHLASS has now been replaced by the Injury Surveillance System (ISS) with the start of the EC's Public Health Programme 2003–08 (PHP) on 1 January 2003.
The PHP embraces a number of health-related work areas, one of which is injury prevention. The scope of injury prevention within the PHP extends beyond accidental injury to incorporate injuries from violence and self-harm. The Government are considering how they might contribute to this in the future.
§ Lord Faulkner of Worcesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What effect the closure of the Home Accident Surveillance System will have on the ability to draft British Standards relating to consumer products. [HL2993]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleIn the short term, as the existing data will still be available, there will probably be little impact on drafting standards relating to product safety. This will be further minimised by the inclusion of the past three years' data which has been delayed by IT problems. The Government hope to be able to publish this later this year.
Regarding the future, my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Competition, Consumers, and Markets has written to the British Standards Institution inviting it to continue to feed its ideas on evidence-based policy making into the National Standardisation Strategic Framework.
§ Lord Faulkner of Worcesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What consultations were carried out with the major users of the Home Accident Surveillance System before it was decided to close it down. [H L2995]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleNo formal consultation was carried out but the Government have been and continue to be in regular contact with the major users of HASS.