§ Sir Anthony DurantTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the report by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council on bringing the self-employed in construction and agriculture into the industrial injuries scheme will be published; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ScottThe council's report was published today (Cm 2177) and copies are available in the Library. The report recommends that the industrial injuries scheme should be extended to include self-employed earners in the construction and agriculture industries. We have considered the report, which the council submitted to us last November, very carefully, but have not accepted the council's recommendation. Implementing IIAC's recommendation would represent a significant expansion of the scope of the scheme, which we do not consider would be justified in principle, or workable in practice.
The industrial injuries scheme has always been intended for workers employed under a contract of service to an employer. In 1978, the Pearson commission recommended the inclusion of the self-employed in the scheme, but the Government rejected the recommendation on principle and because of the substantial operational difficulties involved. IIAC recently decided to reconsider the position of self-employed workers in the light of the increase in self-employment during the 1980s. The present recommendation to include self-employed construction and agricultural workers in the industrial injuries scheme is seen by the council as a possible first step towards extending the scheme to the self-employed generally.
Those who undertake self-employment do so in the knowledge that provision against industrial injury will be their own responsibility, and that private insurance is available to them. The Government consider that this is right in principle and do not accept the need to alter the present well-established position. We also remain of the view that extending the industrial injuries scheme to self-employed workers would raise significant practical difficulties.