§ 30. Mr. NellistTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to the statement by the right hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Cope),Official Report, 17 January 1989, column 141, what conclusions he has come to on the implications of the judgment in the Derek Cain case for health and safety on YTS schemes; how many families were contacted with regard to compensation following his review; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NichollsI refer the hon. Member to the answers given on 2 February 1989,Official Report, columns 336–37 and 11 April 1989, Official Report, column 809.
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§ 36. Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what resources have been given to the Health and Safety Executive to implement the COSHH regulations; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NichollsI refer the hon. Member to my answer of 6 February 1990,Official Report, column 556.
§ 73. Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment when he last met the chairman of the Health and Safety Executive; and what matters were discussed.
§ Mr. NichollsMy right hon. and learned Friend met the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission and the director general of the Health and Safety Executive on 31 January when a range of matters relating to the responsibilities of the Health and Safety Commission and Executive were discussed.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many custodial sentences were given for Health and Safety offences instigated by the Health and Safety Executive for each year since 1974.
§ Mr. NichollsSince 1974, two cases prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive have resulted in suspended custodial sentences.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many field inspectorate staff there were on 1 March 1987, 1988 and 1989, within the Health and Safety Executive, how many trainee inspectorate staff there were on these dates; and what was the number of workplaces registered with each inspectorate on these dates.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information is not all available for the precise dates requested. On the nearest available dates, the information is given for those factory, agricultural, mines and quarries inspectors working from district or area offices. Field inspectors do not include nuclear installations or specialist inspectors.
Composite Year Inspector Numbers Number of trainees in total1 Number of workplaces as registered at 31 March 1 March 1987 727.5 2117 719,738 1 March 1988 716.0 102 707,444 1 March 1989 729.5 99 3692,078 1 There are no trainee grades for mines and quarries inspectors. 2 This includes figures for the factory inspectorate at 31 March. 3 This includes agricultural premises registered in July 1989.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many inspectors there were in the Health and Safety Executive on 1 March 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990, in the(a) nuclear, (b) mines, (c) quarries, (d) agriculture, (e) factory, (f) industrial air pollution, (g) explosives and (h) specialist inspectorates; and what was the total number of Health and Safety Executive inspectors on each of these dates.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information requested is as follows (1 March figures):
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1987 1988 1989 1990 (a) Nuclear 102 118 131.5 163 (b) Mines 66 63 57 46 (c) Quarries 16 11 12 13
1987 1988 1989 1990 (d) Agriculture 164 151 155 161 (e) Factory 561.5 546 560.5 575.5 (f) Industrial air pollution1 37 — — — (g) Explosives2 16 13 13 11 (h) Specialist2 208.5 201.5 197 194.5 Total HSE inspectors3 1,241 1,170.5 1,188 1,230 1 The industrial air pollution inspectorate transferred to the Department of Environment on 1 April 1987. 2 Explosives inspectors work alongside other specialist inspectors in HSE's technology division. 3 The total number of HSE inspectors includes those working outside inspectorates eg, contributing to policy, standard work etc.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give(a) the number of cases brought to magistrates courts by the Health and Safety Executive between 1974 to 1989 and (b) the number of cases brought to Crown courts between 1974 to 1989.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information requested is not available. Figures available to date for informations laid, are for the year 1988–89. In that year, of the informations laid in England and Wales by the Health and Safety Executive's factory and agricultural inspectorates, 1,990 were heard in the magistrates courts and 66 in the Crown court.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give(a) the number of female inspectors as a proportion of all inspectors within the Health and Safety Executive and (b) the number of ethnic minority groups as a proportion of all inspectors, for 1974 to 1989 inclusive.
§ Mr. NichollsSince 1 August 1975, the total number of inspectors employed by the Health and Safety Executive, the number of female inspectors, and the number of female inspectors expressed as a percentage of the total are as follows. Earlier figures are not available.
Total inspectors in HSE Female inspectors included in total Female inspectors as per cent, of total 11975 1,014 57.5 5.7 21976 1,091.5 67.5 6.2 1977 1,352.5 68 5 1978 1,389.5 79 5.7 1979 1,426.5 98 6.9 1980 1,444.5 108 7.5 1981 1,404 102.5 7.3 1982 1,323.5 85.5 6.5 1983 1,276.5 77 6 1984 1,239 74 6 1985 1,266 84 6.6 1986 1,231.5 87.5 7.1 1987 1,204.5 97.5 8.1 1988 1,165 93.5 8 1989 1,182.5 106 9 1990 1,239 118 9.5 1 (1 August). 2 (1 April). Information on the ethnic origins of inspectors in HSE is available from 1988. Provision of the information by staff is voluntary. Details of those inspectors who responded to ethnic minority surveys are as follows:
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Total respondents Respondents from ethnic minority groups included in total Percentage of respondents in ethnic minority groups 11988 1,076 6 0.6 1989 1,057 6 0.6 1 December.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list for each year from 1974 to 1989, the number of Health and Safety Executive field inspectors(a) appointed, (b) resigning and (c) retiring.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information available is given for those factory, agricultural, mines, quarries and industrial air pollution inspectors working from district or area Offices. Field inspectors do not include installations or specialist inspectors.
Year Number appointed3 Number resigned3 Number retiring3 11979 n/a 14 3 1980 n/a 21 19 1981 n/a 26 28 1982 n/a 13 21 1983 n/a 9 24 1984 n/a 13 23 1985 36 19 28 1986 72 20 22 11987 44 37 32 1988 52 30 19 1989 74 28 23 1 Figures relate to period July-December only. 2 The industrial air pollution inspectorate transferred to the Department of the Environment on 1 April 1987. 3 Centrally held information is not available for before 1985 (appointments) or July 1979 (resignations and retirements).
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the(a) number of cases brought to court by the Health and Safety Executive and (b) the number of successful prosecutions for 1974 to 1989.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information requested is not available. However, the table shows the number of informations laid and convictions obtained since 1975.
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Informations laid by HSC/enforcing authorities (excluding local authorities), 1975–1988/894 Date of hearing Number of informations laid Of which convictions 11975 2,956 2,732 11976 2,174 2,010 11977 2,814 2,546 11978 2,603 2,364 21979 2,427 2,227 21980 2,624 2,416 31981 1,892 1,654 31982 2,351 2,065 1983 2,238 1,941 1984 2,209 1,944 1985 2,321 1,915 1986–87 2,199 1,771 1987–88 2,337 2,053 41988–89 2,334 2,079 1 Informations laid by Her Majesty's factory inspectorate only. 2 Informations laid by HSE's factory and agricultural inspectorates. 3 Informations laid by HSE's factoryk agricultural and mines and quarries inspectorates.
4 Provisional.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the number of workplaces that last received preventive inspection within(a) the past year, (b) two years, (c) five years and (d) 10 years.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information is not available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The table shows the total number of preventative inspection visits made by the Health and Safety Executive's factory, agricultural, mines, quarries and specialist inspectors for the periods for which information is available:
Period Number of inspections 1 April 1988–31 March 1989 158,860 1 April 1987–31 March 1989 317,964 1 April 1986–31 March 1989 481,641
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the budget for the Health and Safety Committee and Health and Safety Executive for each year from 1974 to 1989; what was the amount as a proportion of total public expenditure in each year; and what was the amount in real terms with 1974–75 = 100.
§ Mr. NichollsThe level of gross financial provision to the Health and Safety Commission and Executive, for each year from 1974 to 1989 is shown in the table, expressed(a) in cash terms (b) at 1974–75 price levels and (c) as a percentage of total public expenditure.
(a) (b) (c) (£) (£) 1974–75 13,320 13,320 0.031 1975–76 27,922 22,701 0.052 1976–77 38,398 26,802 0.064 1977–78 44,413 28,203 0.070 1978–79 47,508 27,555 0.063 1979–80 56,843 27,796 0.063 1980–81 72,063 31,275 0.066 1981–82 81,303 31,257 0.067 1982–83 82,533 30,224 0.062 1983–84 89,361 31,339 0.064 1984–85 91,488 30,566 0.061 1985–86 96,585 30,521 0.061 1986–87 97,808 29,831 0.059 1987–88 102,341 30,395 0.059 1988–89 109,426 30,092 0.061 For consistency, the figures have been adjusted to remove funds provided during 1981–82 to 1984–85 for HSE's dispersal to Bootle; and to remove provision in earlier years for the industrial air pollution inspectorate which transferred to the Department of Environment in 1987.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of doctors leaving the Health and Safety Executive for retirement or resignation reasons in 1988 and 1989.
§ Mr. NichollsIn 1988, four doctors resigned and four retired. In the following year a further three resigned and two retired.
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§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of inspectorate staff(a) retiring and (b) resigning from each Health and Safety Executive inspectorate within the last 12-month period.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information requested for the period 1 April 1989 to 31 March 1990 is as follows:
Inspectors: Inspectorate (a) Retiring (b) Resigning Nuclear 5 2 Mines 7 1 Quarries1 1 1 Agriculture 5 3 Factory 10 27 Specialists2 6 11 1 From 1 October 1989 the quarries inspectorate was amalgamated with the factories and agriculture division. 1 Includes explosives inspectors working in HSE's technology division.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the number of manslaughter charges in respect of health and safety offences for each year since 1974.
§ Mr. NichollsThe offence of manslaughter forms part of general criminal law and consequently the Health and Safety Executive's inspectors are not able themselves to initiate prosecutions for manslaughter. However. when appropriate, cases are passed to the Crown prosecution service for consideration. The Health and Safety Executive does not, therefore, keep the information requested.
§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were the average fines at (a) magistrates courts and (b) Crown courts in cases taken by the Health and Safety Executive in 1974 to 1989 inclusive.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information is available in the form requested only for 1988–89. In that year, provisional figures show that the average fines obtained by HSE's factory and agricultural inspectorates in England and Wales were £505 in a magistrates court and £2,145 in the Crown court.