§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the names and full costs of all consultants currently used by the Health and Safety Executive and those used in 1993–94.
§ Mr. OppenheimAvailable information for 1993–94 is given in the following table. A similar list for the current year is not yet available.
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Names and costs of consultants—1993–94 Consultant Cost (£) P. A. Consulting Group 22,424.72 MaST Western Ltd. 1,796.20 Dr. Fitzgerald 141.00 Elintech 64,918.75 Easesystems Ltd. 13,236.94 R. M. Consultants 2,806.75 Dr. P. Knight 194.95 W. L. Pugh Mining Engineer 1,044.00 Strata Control Technology Pty Ltd. 13,612.89 Mr. Essery 10,000.00 Mr. Sibson 10,000.00 Mr. Hiles 15,928.00 Miss Caws QC 2,931.25 Mr. Burgess 238.60 Disc Europe 60,000.00 Compel plc 1,890.00 Retix UK Ltd. 700.00 Amtec Consulting 870.00 Level 7 Ltd. 16,218.65 Admiral Software Ltd. 1,000.20 Uden Computer Consultants 33,929.37 Mica Computing Services 772.40 Sensory Systems 125.00 Yale Consulting 38,315.00 E2E Systems 8,510.64 SiSL 34,042.55 Hoskyns Group 13,846.74 Cognos Ltd. 29,594.31 Triad Special Systems 490.95 Comtex (UK) Ltd. 4,815.00 Kinesis Computing Ltd. 149,398.12 Professor Sir William Wade QC 5,581.25 Patrick Thomas 455.49 Keisley Harris 7,167.50 Capita 42,881.00 Denham-Nash Ltd. 18,926.80 W. S. Atkins 42,955.66 Ernst and Young 15,000.00 Allan H. Webb 5,922.01 Hunterskill 31,114.05 Turner Williams 28,107.34 ROSPA 19,470.58 University of Nottingham 4,200.00 John Enderby 502.26 Shreeveport 2,440.00 KPMG 27,672.14 Ian Sharland Ltd. 7,680.00 Institute of Occupational Medicine Ltd. 125.00 BMRB International 3,466.00 TQM International Ltd. 34,771.46 Pointing Consulting Services Ltd. 15,537.47 Business Planning and Research International 13,899.74 Taylor Nelson AGB plc 18,623.75 Dr. P. Buley 4,857.69 Mr. A. B. Martin 16,817.62 Mr. A. J. Linehan 6,511.36 Dr. J. Patrick 1,552.17 Mr. J. Hannaford 3,074.82 Dr. D. Hicks 2,044.61 Sir Alan Cottrell 10,000.00 Professor E. Smith 13,747.50 Mr. G. L. Potts 21,072.00 Dr. R. E. Long 11,944.97 Mr. D. Stallard 4,999.62 Total 996,914.84
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment when the Health and Safety Executive will open the files held in area offices on individual firms' inspection history to members of the public on demand without payment of any fees.
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§ Mr. OppenheimUnder the code of practice on access to government information and the Environmental Information Regulations 1992, the Health and Safety Executive will make available, on request information about inspections it has carried out at particular premises, subject to the exempted categories of information in the code and the regulations.
Where the HSE uses significant resources to make information available, it will make reasonable charges for such information as it is entitled to do under both the code and the regulations.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many premises liable to inspection by the Health and Safety Executive have not had a full basic inspection by the Health and Safety Executive in the last(a) five, (b) seven, (c) nine, (d) 11 and (e) more years; and what will be the inspection backlog for 1994–95.
§ Mr. OppenheimInformation about the elapsed years since full basic inspections were carried out by the Health and Safety Executive to premises for which the HSE has inspection responsibilities, can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Although elapsed years is one consideration in determining inspection priorities, more account is taken of the degree of hazard and risk posed to employees and the public. Inspection programmes are selected each year to match the resources available, and there is no inspection backlog.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the target number of basic field inspections for 1995–96 in the field operations division of the Health and Safety Executive; and how many premises in total the Health and Safety Executive is now responsible for inspecting.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe 1995–96 plan of work for the field operations division of the Health and Safety Executive is still in preparation and the target number of inspections is not yet known. HSE inspectors are responsible for enforcing health and safety legislation in over 650,000 establishments.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how the Health and Safety Executive is alleviating the problem of work-related stress among its staff.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe Health and Safety Executive's safety policy is clear in establishing divisional management responsibilities for dealing with issues such as stress at work. Guidance to divisional line managers is currently provided in the Employment Department group personnel handbook. This guidance augments the high level of awareness within the HSE's divisions of the risks associated with work-induced stress. While recognising the difficulties posed by non-work stresses, it sets out a practical approach to identifying and combating workplace stress. The HSE's 1995 staff attitudes survey will provide monitoring of its effectiveness in managing this issue.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what changes in the complement of principal inspectors of factories is being planned for the Health and Safety Executive area offices; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe complement of principal inspectors—factory, agriculture and quarries—in area offices is being reduced for 1995–96 by approximately 34, as part of the process of restructuring some parts of 181W the Health ad Safety Executive in order to allow the executive to recruit more inspectors for front-line activities. The HSE has agreed to the recruitment of some 60 of the latter during 1995–96.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the ratio of managers to managed grades in the Health and Safety Executive.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe Health and Safety Executive has many staff whose work involves a mixture of supervisory and personal work. The ratio of those staff whose work is entirely or mainly managerial to other staff at 1 January 1995 was 1:18.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what personnel policies the Health and Safety Executive has to deal with husbands and wives working in the same office of the Health and Safety Executive; and what consideration he has given to making a formal statement banning such arrangements.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe Employment Department group policy on partners working with each other is set out in the ED group personnel handbook. This broadly ensures that partners should not have line management responsibilities, should not have a disciplinary role and should not act directly over the other in financial matters.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many staff were made redundant following market testing in the Health and Safety Executive in 1993–94.
§ Mr. OppenheimNone.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to reduce the Health and Safety Executive front-line services; and what is the consequence for 1995–96 and 1996–97 of the recent public expenditure round for the Health and Safety Executive front-line services in area offices.
§ Mr. OppenheimFollowing the reduction in its financial provision, I have asked the Health and Safety Commission to safeguard the front-line work of the executive, including inspection, guidance, advice and enforcement, by building on the executive's record of continuing efficiency improvements.
The commission will be announcing details of its planned deployment of resources in its plan of work for 1995–96, due to be published in the early summer.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many of the employees of the Health and Safety Executive have had their child care costs met by the executive; what is the grade of staff involved; and on what basis this assistance is made available.
§ Mr. OppenheimNo Health and Safety Executive staff have their child care costs full met by the executive. Currently, a total of 25 people have a place at one of HSE's two workplace nurseries on Merseyside at a subsidy of £45 per week—pro rata for part-time use—which is around 50 per cent. of the full weekly cost.
The grades involved are two grade 7s, two senior information officers, one inspector, two higher executive officers, one scientific officer, five executive officers, 11 administrative officers and one administrative assistant. Additionally, there are currently 14 holiday play schemes at various locations throughout the country which assist parents with child care during school holidays. The numbers of staff assisted, their grades and the degree to which they are financially assisted varies from scheme to scheme but, in the main, the HSE's contribution is in the 182W form of some basis set-up and running costs depending on the scheme.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if the Health and Safety Executive has been seeking volunteers for early retirement from factory inspectors; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe Health and Safety Executive has been seeking volunteers for early retirement from a wide range of senior staff within the HSE, including at principal inspector level and above. This exercise, which is resulting in the early retirement of 85 staff in March 1995, was caused by the need to restructure some parts of the HSE in order to allow the HSE to recruit more inspectors for front-line inspection.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what resources were available to the field consultant group of the Health and Safety Executive,(a) in 1993–94 and (b) 1994–95; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe following staffing resources were available to the field consultant groups of the Health and Safety Executive in 1993–94 and 1994–95.
As at 31 March 1994 As at 1 November 1994 Specialist inspector grades 99.50 96.75 Scientific grades 28.50 29.50 Total 128.00 126.25
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many factory inspectors in the area offices of the Health and Safety Executive are suffering from work-related stress; and whether the Health and Safety Executive has a contingency budget for legal claims against the executive for any of its staff suffering work-related stress.
§ Mr. OppenheimIt is not possible to say how many factory inspectors are under stress currently, or whether that is causing them suffering. It is also very difficult to separate work-related stress from non-work-related stress or to measure it accurately because stress-related illness can manifest itself in a variety of ways. There is no Health and Safety Executive budget for claims of this kind.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what will be the cost of the regional tier of field management in the field operations division of the Health and Safety Executive in 1995–96.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe regional tier of field management in the field operations division of the Health and Safety Executive in 1995–96 is expected to be unchanged from that in the current year. The 1995–96 payroll cost of the regional directors, their support managers and secretarial services is £496,000.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many relatives of existing employed staff have been recruited at Health and Safety Executive headquarters, Bootle; and whether such recruitments are within civil service personnel rules.
§ Mr. OppenheimNo statistics are kept on the recruitment of relatives within Health and Safety Executive headquarters, Bootle. All recruitment meet civil service Order in Council regulations about fair and open recruitment.
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§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the current hourly rate of security and messengerial staff at the Health and Safety Executive headquarters at Bootle, Merseyside.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe security staff at the Health and Safety Executive headquarters at Bootle are employed by a private contractor, and I am unaware of their wage rates.
The current hourly rate for messengerial staff employed at HSE HQ at Bootle is £4.71 per hour.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what further contracted-out operations the Health and Safety Executive plans in 1994–95.
§ Mr. OppenheimThe Health and Safety Executive has no further contracted out operations planned for the financial year 1994–95.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what legal provisions allow the Health and Safety Executive to exclude premises from its future inspection programmes; what classes of premises are being excluded; and what procedures are in place to allow challenges to this practice.
§ Mr. OppenheimThere are no legal provisions concerning the exclusion by the Health and Safety Executive of premises from its future inspection programmes.
§ Mr. ChidgeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what steps his Department intends to take to inform speakers of Bengali, Gujerati, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu of the availability of the Health and Safety Executive leaflet "Your Health and Safety-a guide for workers";
(2) what steps his Department intends to lake to publicise the availability of the Health and Safety Executive leaflet "Your Health and Safety—a guide for workers".
§ Mr. OppenheimThis leaflet was published in English and five Asian languages in November 1994. The Health and Safety Executive initially distributed a package including an advertising poster and copies of the leaflet in each language to around 3,000 organisations including community centres, citizens advice bureaux, legal advice centres and ethnic minority libraries. Copies of the leaflet were sent, with a press release, to the ethnic minority press and all local radio stations broadcasting in ethnic minority languages. The leaflets are available free of charge from HSE books. Demand so far has been high: over 180,000 copies of the leaflet have now been distributed.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what commercial involvement Ernst and Young has with the information technology division of the Health and Safety Executive; and what steps have been taken by him or by the commission to avoid conflicts of interest in the case of commissioners who have other dealings with Ernst and Young.
§ Mr. OppenheimErnst and Young is nearing the end of an assignment to assist the in-house bid for the market test of the Health and Safety Executive's information technology services. Their appointment followed a competitive tendering exercise in which four consultancy firms submitted tenders and were interviewed by a panel. To avoid any conflicts of interest, tenderers were required to provide CVs of staff who would be involved in the work. The decision to use Ernst and Young was taken by184W the executive in accordance with civil service rules. The commission was not involved in the decision.