§ Mr. Ian McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 13 February,Official Report, column 533, what additional information is available in respect of the nature, number and value of items of Health and Safety Executive equipment lost in (a) 1993–94 and (b) 1995–96 to date. [16712]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordI am able to provide the following information about the nature, number and value of HSE equipment lost in 1993–94 and 1995–96 to date:
Cost £ (purchase price) 1993–94 1995–96 to date Nature of equipment Amount stolen Amount unaccounted for Amount stolen Amount unaccounted for Computer equipment 6,502 43,860 37,352 0 Scientific equipment 6,277 344,271 0 0 Photographic equipment 20,769 526 0 0 Other equipment 6,163 96,138 0 0 Totals 39,711 484,795 37,352 0 Photographic equipment later recovered 17,036 — — — During 1993 and 1994, the HSE mounted special exercises to verify the existence of its assets. These revealed that a number of items had been disposed of over preceding years, many at the end of their lives, without formal documentation, so could not be accounted for. At the time of the loss, these items had little, or no, historic net book value—so the loss suffered was much less than the purchase price shown.