HC Deb 13 July 1992 vol 211 cc501-2W
Miss Emma Nicholson

To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of resources available to the National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies to enable it to respond to the expansion in the certification industry both in Europe and internationally;

(2) in what circumstances Government purchasers and regulatory bodies are willing to accept third party certification in lieu of separate supplier assessments;

(3) what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the measures that were introduced in 1985 to improve the competence of certification bodies;

(4) what is the Government's policy in respect of competition amongst certification bodies;

(5) what restrictions exist on a certification body which has received Government accreditation as attestation of competence for a function from offering a non-accredited service for the same function;

(6) what assessment his Department has made of the sufficiency of information technology expertise in the National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies and supporting industry structures, to ensure continued development and expansion of certification services in the field of information technology.

Mr. Leigh

Since accreditation of certification bodies in the United Kingdom, is confined to United Kingdom bodies or others under United Kingdom jurisdiction, the role of the National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies is limited to providing advice on the suitability or otherwise of such bodies. There is therefore no direct resource implication for the NACCB resulting from the expansion of the certification industry in Europe and internationally. In addition, the NACCB recoups the full economic costs of its assessments through the fees it charges; and increase in its workload which might occur would therefore generally be self-financing.

The NACCB has adequate resources to finance its consequential work to promote the development of and co-operation between national accreditation systems throughout Europe including participation in international discussion of accreditation issues.