§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a list of all correspondence sent by his Department to the Health and Safety Commission or from the Health and Safety Commission to his Department containing suggested regulations to be considered for revocation as part of the deregulation initiative, the dates on which correspondence was sent and the dates on which each of the seven Health and Safety Commission's sectoral task groups for deregulation were established, have met and plan to complete their consideration.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThere has been no correspondence between the Department and the Health and Safety Commission on this issue.
The Health and Safety Commission established seven sectoral task groups to help it to undertake its review of health and safety regulation. The appointment of the chairmen and members of each of the seven groups runs from 1 July 1993 to 30 April 1994.
The following table gives the dates on which each of the seven sector task groups have met:
whether it is suggested that the regulations be (i) amended, (ii) abolished, (iii) replaced with self-regulation or (iv) replaced with other regulation; whether, for each regulation, revocation without replacement or with self-regulation would require amendment of section 1(1), 1(2) and 15(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythAll health and safety legislation for which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment is responsible is being reviewed as part of the Health and Safety Commission's review of regulation. If, during the course of that review or at its conclusion, the Health and Safety Commission takes the view that reform of parts of the legislation would be desirable, the Health and Safety Commission will publish a consultative document containing its proposals. At the end of the 337W consultation period the Health and Safety Commission will put forward its proposals to us in accordance with section 11 of the Health and Safety at Work etc, Act 1974.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a list of all regulations submitted by his Department for inclusion in the deregulation unit's list of regulations affecting business together with the estimated enforcement costs and compliance costs for each separate regulation and, for those regulations for which such costs are not yet available, the target date by which he intends to submit such costs to the deregulation unit.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythDetails of all regulations for which the Department, including the Health and Safety Executive, is responsible, were forwarded to the deregulation unit and incorporated in the baseline-document placed in the Library on 20 April. As part of the Government's deregulation initiative, the Department is currently undertaking reviews of all its regulations. As part of these reviews we aim to assess compliance costs. The reviews will be completed by April 1994.