§ Mr. Evennettasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any plans to introduce legislation to amend section 28 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 relating to restrictions on disclosure of information.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyWe have asked the Health and Safety Commission to advise whether the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 present any obstacles to the disclosure of information the public may reasonably need. In March the Commission published a364W industry who were without a paid job and seeking work. The corresponding estimate from the 1984 survey was 233,000.
§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many new jobs have been created in each of the last five years; how this compares with other European Economic Community countries; and if he will make a statement as to the trend.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkInformation about numbers of new jobs created is not available from official statistics, but information on net changes in civilian employment is available. The following table gives these changes for the United Kingdom and other European Community countries for each of the last five years. It shows that the rise in employment in the Community between 1983 and 1984 was the first since 1980. This rise was more than accounted for by employment growth in the United Kingdom.
discussion document "Access to health and safety information by members of the public" and will be giving its advice when it has studied the responses to the document. On the basis of that advice we shall consider the need for the Act to be amended.