HC Deb 11 December 2002 vol 396 cc375-6W
Mr. Chope

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the Crown censures which have been issued in respect of breaches of health and safety legislation in the last five years. [85221]

Mr. Nicholas Brown

[holding answer 3 December 2002 ]The Crown censures issued by the Health and Safety Executive during the period 1997–2002 are as follows:

  1. 1. MOD Army (TA), Northampton Balloon Fair—April 1997;
  2. 2. Home Office, Fire Service College, Moreton in Marsh—July 1997;
  3. 3. MOD Royal Hospital Haslar, Gosport—November 1997;
  4. 4. Prison Service Agency, HM Young Offenders Institution Portland—February 1998:
  5. 5. MOD Defence Testing and Evaluation Organisation (DTEO), Shoeburyness—May 1998;
  6. 6. Court Services—December 1998;
  7. 7. MAFF Central Science Laboratory, Weybridge—April 1999;
  8. 8. MOD Army Base Repair Organisation (ABRO), Warminster—February 1999;
  9. 9. MAFF Central Veterinary Laboratory—February 1999;
  10. 10. MOD Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), Porton Down—May 1999;
  11. 11. MOD Central Ammunition Depot, Longtown—October 1999;
  12. 12. MOD Army, Army Cadet Force, Longmoor Camp—July 2000;
  13. 13. MOD Navy, HMS Raleigh—November 2000;
  14. 14. Prison Service Agency, HMP Bristol—July 2001;
  15. 15. MOD Army, Sennybridge Training Area—August 2001; and
  16. 16. Royal Mint, Cardiff—September 2002.

A censure is a term given to the formal recording of a decision by HSE that, but for Crown immunity, the evidence of a Crown body's failure to comply with health and safety law would have been sufficient to provide a realistic prospect of conviction in the courts.