HC Deb 06 June 1978 vol 951 cc34-7W
Mr. Greville Janner

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many prohibition notices and how many improvement notices, respectively, have been served in each year for which records are available and during those months of 1978 for which records are available; in how many and what percentage of cases those served with such notices have appealed against them to industrial tribunals; and what has been the outcome of such appeals.

Mr. John Grant

The Chairman of the Health and Safety Commission informs me that numbers of prohibition notices and improvement notices served in the years 1975 to 1977 and January-March 1978 were as follows:

Year HSE Prohibition Local Authorities Total HSE Improvement Local Authorities Total HSE Total Local Authorities Total
1975 2,238 212 2,450 4,382 767 5,149 6,620 979 7,599
1976 2,194 340 2,534 5,002 2,497 7,499 7,196† 2,837 10,033
1977* 2,665 430 3,095 6,233 2,681 8,914 8,898 3,111 12,009
1978—
January-March* 643 ֵ ֵ 1,852 ֵ ֵ 2,495 ֵ ֵ
ֵ Not available.
* Provisional.
† An estimated 195 notices are included to cover the period in late 1976 when returns were not processed because of an industrial dispute.
The results of appeals against notices were as stated in the attached table (information in this form is not available for 1975). Appeals heard or withdrawn in a specified period do not necessarily relate to the notices issued during that period and therefore to express the numbers of appeals heard as a percentage of notices issued would not be valid. In addition, an appeal may relate to more than one notice.

Appeal withdrawn Notice upheld with modification Appeal dismissed Appeal upheld Total
Year HSE Local Authorities Total HSE Local Authorities Total HSE Local Authorities Total HSE Local Authorities Total HSE Local Authorities Total
1976 33 4 37 3 3 6 8 8 1 1 44 8 52
1977 42 9 51 5 3 8 3 7 10 5 3 8 55 22 77
1978—January-March 8 12 20 1 1 2 2 2 4 2 2 11 20* 31*
* Includes three notices withdrawn.

Note: Only limited information is available on local authority appeals.

Mr. Greville Janner

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many prosecutions have been initiated as a result of alleged failure to comply with prohibition and improvement notices, respectively; and what have been the results thereof.

1975 1976 1977
Prohibition Improvement Total Prohibition Improvement Total* Prohibition Improvement Total*
Number of cases 8 35 43 3 85 89 9 102 123
Of which:
Convicted 8 35 43 3 79 83 8 99 117
Dismissed 1 1 2
Withdrawn 5 5 1 3 4
* Includes prosecutions by the Agricultural Inspectorate for which it is not possible to distinguish the type of notice.
Information in the form requested is not available for prosecutions initiated by local authority inspectors.