HC Deb 10 January 2002 vol 377 cc987-9W
Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what countries ban white asbestos. [25757]

Dr. Whitehead

This information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Under the European Commission Directive 1999/77/EC white asbestos is due to be banned throughout the European Union by 1 January 2005. Many member states, including the UK, have introduced the ban in advance of that date.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the relative risks of(a) white and (b) blue asbestos. [25753]

Dr. Whitehead

In line with most scientific opinion, the Government have always taken the view that white asbestos presented a lower risk per unit of exposure than blue asbestos. However white asbestos still represents a risk and is classified as a Category 1 carcinogen by the European Union.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment his Department has made of the cost of implementing the register of asbestos conditions from 2002 to(a) British businesses and (b) public buildings. [25755]

Dr. Whitehead

The total compliance costs for the proposed new duty to manage the risk from asbestos are estimated to be £350 million for public buildings and £2.9 billion for British businesses from 2000 over the next 50 years.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many prosecutions there have been in the UK in each of the last 10 years by the Health and Safety Executive, involving use of white asbestos. [25759]

Dr. Whitehead

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE)'s prosecution statistics are based on the information laid by health and safety inspectors before the courts in England and Wales and on the charges preferred in Scottish courts. Each information laid or charge preferred relates to a breach of an individual legal requirement and a duty holder may be prosecuted for more than one of these breaches.

The table sets out proceedings taken over the last five years by HSE under the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987, the main regulations applying to asbestos activities. Access to older data is not readily available and would require restoration of archived databases. HSE's system for recording prosecutions does not differentiate between the different types of asbestos. In this table, figures for informations laid include charges preferred in Scotland.

Informations laid
1996–97 37
1997–98 45
1998–99 40
1999–2000 120
2000–011 82
1provisional

Note:

Data is from HSE's Field Operations Directorate (FOD), Hazardous Installations Directorate (HID) Land Divisions (excluding Mines, Pipelines and Explosives) and Nuclear Safety Division (NSD) (conventional safety only)

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what records his Department has of asbestos-related illness linked to encapsulated asbestos cement in the last 50 years. [25756]

Dr. Whitehead

The available records of asbestos-related disease are not sufficiently detailed to identify the separate effect of asbestos released from different kinds of asbestos products such as encapsulated asbestos cement.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what proposals he has for increasing restrictions on white asbestos use. [25758]

Dr. Whitehead

The Government have no plans to increase the current restrictions on the use of white asbestos and of products containing it, apart from the derogations contained in the Asbestos (Prohibitions) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 that will cease to have effect after 1 January 2005.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will publish the scientific advice to the Health and Safety Executive on which it has based its risk assessment of white asbestos. [25754]

Dr. Whitehead

The Health and Safety Executive has over the years taken account of a range of scientific evidence in reaching its view on the proper control of health risks from white asbestos exposure. Important recent elements of this evidence have been the 1985 Doll and Peto paper on the effects on health of exposure to asbestos, the Institute of Environmental Health's 1997 report on fibrous materials in the environment, and the 2000 Hodgson and Darnton paper on the quantitative risks of mesothelioma and lung cancer in relation to asbestos exposure. All have been published and copies are available in the Libraries of the House.

Tim Loughton

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what meetings his Department has had with representatives of building product companies or trade bodies to discuss the hazards of white asbestos. [25760]

Dr. Whitehead

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) held a number of meetings with representatives of the Asbestos Information Centre, prior to formal consultation on the proposals to ban the marketing, supply and use of white asbestos in 1998. The HSE held further meetings with them following consultation. At none of the meetings were the hazards of white asbestos specifically discussed. HSE has also met a representative of the Asbestos Cement Product Producers Association in 2000 to discuss their concerns about the white asbestos ban.