§ Mr. Alan Clarkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements exist for the oversight of general standards of safety at fair grounds.
§ Mr. WhitelawThe Home Office has traditionally accepted responsibility for miscellaneous safety matters in which no other Government Department has a major interest. It was on this basis, and also because of the Home Secretary's responsibility for the confirmation of pleasure fair byelaws, that this Department took the lead on fairground safety in England and Wales after the Battersea accident in 1972 in which five people were killed. Comparable steps were 255W taken by the Scottish Home and Health Department in Scotland.
But since the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive were set up in 1974 with responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974 for investigating accidents and issuing guidance in relation, inter alia, to safety at places where people work (including the safety of members of the public frequenting those places), it has investigated fairground accidents and has taken any necessary follow-up action including prosecutions in cases of negligence.
For most of its activities in relation to the safety of people at work, the Health and Safety Commission is responsible to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment who will now assume ministerial responsibility for this subject, though he will continue to look to my Department and the Scottish Home and Health Department for advice on fire safety and, if necessary, on law and order matters. The responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and myself for confirming pleasure fair byelaws will remain unaffected, but the Health and Safety Executive will, of course, be prepared to give specialist advice on fairground safety matters as required.