Health and Safety Commission and Executive: Review (Hansard, 31 March 1998)

§ Baroness Hayman

As part of the Government's programme of regular five-yearly financial management and policy reviews of non-departmental public bodies, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) has conducted a thorough review of the Health and Safety Commission and Executive. The resulting report is published today, and a copy has been placed in the Library of each House. In accordance with the guidance on such reviews, we have assessed the 25WA extent to which the commission and executive's functions are necessary for the achievement of the Government's policies, and whether there is scope for privatising, contracting out or transferring all or part of its functions to another body.

In carrying out the study, we have consulted widely with relevant organisations with an interest in the commission and executive's work, and held a public consultation. We are grateful for their contribution. The review found that government needs to take responsibility for setting health and safety standards and enforcing compliance with these standards. The public consultation endorsed the importance of the work of the commission and executive and the professionalism with which they carry it out. We considered HSC/E's approach to contracting out, looking in particular at their inspection and permissioning regimes, and concluded that it was not appropriate to ask them to change their current policy.

The review found scope for further work in spreading best practice in consistency of enforcement by local authorities, and for considering extension of the range of work for which the executive charges to the assessment of safety cases and the costs of inspection of those sites and installations which submit safety cases. It also made a number of minor recommendations. Work on these is being taken forward.

This Government attach great importance to maintaining and improving health and safety standards at the workplace. We fully support the vital work carried out by the Health and Safety Commission and Executive in setting and enforcing those standards and in underpinning employers' responsibilities to prevent accidents and ill-health at work. Because good standards of health and safety at the workplace are a higher priority for this Government, we have approved an extra £4.5 million for HSE's work in 1998–99. Funding for HSC/E's work in the longer term is being considered within the Comprehensive Spending Review for all the department's activities. The creation of DETR has brought together a range of responsibilities for safety, particularly in the transport field, which will provide new opportunities to consider how best practice should be shared between the different modes. We are determined not to become complacent about health and safety, and will continue to work with the Commission to ensure that we are prepared for the health and safety challenges which will face us into the new millennium.