§ Mr. Brothertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what are the activities of the risk appraisals group of the Health and Safety Executive; what are its powers; to whom it is accountable; and under what legislation it was established.
§ Mr. MayhewInformal arrangements have existed since 1972 whereby planning authorities are asked before granting566W planning permission for developments at or in the vicinity of "major hazard" sites to consult the Health and Safety Executive. The request to planning authorities is contained in DOE circular 1/1972. A major hazard is defined for this purpose, and not very elegantly, as a situation where, if any incident occurred, there might be substantial loss of life or serious injury outside the confines of the workplace.
The major hazards risk appraisal group is a committee of inspectors in the Health and Safety Executive with expertise in explosives, fires and chemical hazards. The group meets each week to advise on proposed developments referred to it by planning authorities. The group's role is purely advisory and it has no power to enforce its recommendations. The group was not established under legislation but was set up following discussions between the Secretaries of State for Employment, Environment, Wales and Scotland.
§ Mr. Brothertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many planning applications were referred to the risk appraisals group of the Health and Safety Executive in 1979; and what was the average time taken for the group to come to a decision on an application.
§ Mr. Mayhew469 planning applications were referred to the major hazards risk appraisal group in 1979. It would involve disproportionate cost to calculate the average time required by the group to make a recommendation in all 469 cases, but an estimate has been obtained using as a sample the 30 cases received during December 1979. Two of these planning applications are still outstanding—the median time needed to reach a decision in the remaining cases was 35 days.