§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he is taking to improve(a) the effectiveness of the Health and Safety Executive and (b) its responsiveness to the public. [130220]
§ Mr. MeacherI place very high priority on improving, with the help of the Health and Safety Commission and Executive (HSC\E), standards of health and safety. I am particularly keen that the procedures to reach those standards should be carried through in the most open, transparent and accountable manner feasible.
The Government will be looking to HSE to deliver improvements in health and safety not only through their Public Service Agreement targets, but also through meeting the challenging targets set out in the Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy Statement.
Since coming to office this Government have significantly increased the resources available to health and safety—additional resources of some £63 million were made available to the Health and Safety Commission and Executive (HSC\E) in the three year Comprehensive Spending Review in 1998. These additional resources are enabling HSE to recruit and train more inspectors. As a result of the additional funding the HSE has agreed to increase the number of its regulatory contacts with employers and duty holders (including inspections) to 200,000 by 2001–02. The number of prosecutions for health and safety offences has been rising each year, as have the number of investigations into complaints from employees and members of the public. We have also been arguing strongly for extra resources through the SR2000 process.