§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the new obligations he is imposing on managing agents and sponsors under the youth training scheme with regard to trainees' safety, as a result of the change under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act brought in on 11 January, which gave trainees the status of employees under the Act.
§ Mr. Gummer[pursuant to his reply, 15 June 1984, c. 600]: The effect of the Health and Safety (Youth Training Scheme) Regulations 1983 is to impose on the immediate providers of training the duties of employers towards all their trainees on the youth training scheme, for the purposes of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and related health and safety provisions.
The most significant of these duties are those contained in section 2 of the 1974 Act, which require employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees and sets out some specific matters to which that duty extends. Among the other related provisions, those most likely to be relevant are the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 and various provisions for the protection of employees in agriculture.