§ Mr. StrangTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many prosecutions were brought in a magistrates court for health and safety offences for each year since 1974; and how many of these resulted in a conviction.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information is available in the form requested only for 1988–89. In that year, provisional figures show that in England and Wales HSE's factory and agricultural inspectorates laid a total of 1,990 informations in magistrates courts and that 1,798 of these resulted in a conviction.
§ Mr. StrangTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many prosecutions were brought in courts other than a magistrates court for health and safety offences for each year since 1974; how many of those 447W resulted in a conviction; what was the average fine in each year; and how many custodial sentences were awarded in each year.
§ Mr. NichollsThe information about courts other than magistrates courts in England and Wales is available in the form requested only for the year 1988–89. For Scotland, separation of summary and solemn procedure hearings could be done only at disproportionate cost. Factory and agricultural inspectorates are given in the table. Since 1974 two HSE prosecutions have resulted in suspended custodial sentences.
Type of court Informations laid Convictions Average fine per conviction £ Crown 66 56 2,145
§ Mr. StrangTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the maximum fine available to magistrates for health and safety offences in each year since 1974; on how many occasions each year the maximum was, awarded; and what was the average fine each year.
§ Mr. NichollsThe vast majority of health and safety offences can attract the maximum fine specified in section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA). The remainder (which are of a minor nature) attract a variety of lesser maxima.
The maximum fine available to magistrates for offences described in section 33 of HSWA was initially £400. The Criminal Law Act 1977 raised it to £1,000. In 1984 it was further increased to £2,000 by the Criminal Penalties Increase Order.
Provisional figures from HSE's factory and agricultural inspectorates show that in 1988–89 45 informations attracted the maximum fine of £2,000 from magistrates. For the same year the average fine for convictions in magistrates courts was £505. In earlier years it is not possible to distinguish the level of fine in magistrates courts from that in all courts. The table shows the average level of fine in all courts since 1975:
Prosecution action taken by HSC/E Enforcing Authorities (excluding local authorities), 1975–1988–891 Date of hearing Average fine per conviction (£) 1975 281 1976 294 1977 2105 1978 2134 1979 3184 1980 3180 1981 3189 1982 4233 1983 252 1984 313 1985 436 1986–87 410 1987–88 5792 11988–89 547 1 Provisional 2 Her Majesty's Factory Inspectorate only 3 HSE's Factory and Agricultural Inspectorates only 4 HSE's Factory, Agricultural and Mines and Quarries Inspectorate only 5 Includes fines totalling £750,000 imposed against BP. If these convictions are excluded the average fine for 1987–88 would be £427