§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress the Government has made in developing a Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation, as referred to in the Second Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance. [162655]
§ Mr. BrowneGood progress has been made to fulfil the Government's commitment to develop and publish a Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation by late summer 2004. As a next step we intend to consult formally with stakeholders in April.
§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many new underwriters have(a) entered and (b) re-established themselves in the market offering employers' liability compulsory insurance over the last five years; and how many underwriters have left the market over the same period. [162660]
§ Mr. BrowneThis information is not collected centrally. It remains the view of the market that capacity for Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) is increasing at a gradual rate.
741W
§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress the Health and Safety Executive has made in regard to launching a Health and Safety Management Index, as referred to in the Second Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance. [162656]
§ Mr. BrowneThe Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has developed a management index to measure the health and safety management performance of large organisations and has placed the index on the HSE website www.hse.gov.uk/research/chaspi.htm for validation. Validation is scheduled to commence in April and to last four months.
In parallel HSE is developing a similar index for small businesses. A validated version is expected in June. Further work will then be required to convert this into a form that is suited to users, for example, insurers and small businesses.
§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the feasibility of establishing an enforcement database to focus the Health and Safety Executive's enforcement efforts in regard to employers' liability compulsory insurance. [162659]
§ Mr. BrowneWe are re-appraising our approach to an enforcement database in the light of information that the Health and Safety Executive has gathered from 18,000 employers indicating a high level of compliance (over 99 per cent).
In the meantime we are continuing the actions outlined in the second stage report to improve enforcement. These include commitments to prepare and publish new Government procurement guidance to ensure compliance from bodies that contract with the public sector.
§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to monitor the joint code of practice from the Association of British Insurers and British Insurance Brokers' Association, as referred to in the Second Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance. [162661]
§ Mr. BrowneThe Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) have been monitoring the implementation of the Statement of Good Practice on renewal of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) and public liability insurance published on 6 August 2003.
The ABI and BIBA have not received any complaints under the Statement.
In addition the Financial Services Authority (FSA) sent "Good Practice Indicators" to all general Insurance Companies in June 2003 following project run by the FSA looking at risk management, in writing liability insurance, as part of a Dear CEO (Chief Executive Officer) letter. The indicators included guidance on renewals.
742WThe FSA will look at how companies writing liability insurance are adhering to these indicators as part of the risk assessment process, which takes place annually for the larger firms and possibly every two or three years for smaller firms.
§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what role information and advice from the Association of British Insurers plays in the development of his Department's policy on employer's liability insurance. [162662]
§ Mr. BrowneThe Association of British Insurers (ABI) has been open and active in its support for the actions mapped out in the Government's Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI).
The Government continues to work with the ABI in the delivery of this agenda as well as drawing on support from other key representative organisations such as the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance is issued by the Financial Services Authority on good practice indicators to be used in assessing firms writing liability insurance, referred to in the Second Stage Report of the Review of Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance. [162690]
§ Mr. BrowneThe Financial Services Authority (FSA) sent the "Good Practice Indicators" to all General Insurance Companies last June following a project run by the FSA looking at risk management practices within the liability insurance market as part of a Dear CEO (Chief Executive Officer) letter. The indicators were issued to the market to try and raise standards within the market, and did not constitute general guidance. They covered Business Operating Environment and Strategy, Pricing and Reinsurance, Risk Management and Claims Handling. A copy has been placed in the Library.
§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of the Making the Market Work initiative by the Association of British Insurers in relation to the cost of premiums for employers' liability compulsory insurance. [162691]
§ Mr. BrowneThe Association of British Insurers (ABI) is planning to undertake an evaluation of the initiative after one year of its operation, in Autumn 2004. The Government will take a close interest in the outcome.
§ Brian CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many personal injury claims were made to general insurers in specific relation to employers' liability in each of the last five years; what the total value of all costs in relation to such claims was; and what the total value of all settlements in relation to such claims was. [162692]
§ Mr. BrowneFigures for the number of personal injury claims in relation to Employers' Liability for 743W 1999–2000 are not available. The number of personal injury claims in relation to Employers' Liability for 2001 to 2003 are:
£ 2001 219,183 2002 170,554 2003 183,342 Source:
Compensation Recovery UnitSeparate figures for just the total value of costs and just the total value of settlements are not available. However the total value of costs and claims combined for 1999–2002 were:
£million 1999 468 2000 427 2001 639 2002 926 Note:
Figures are not yet available for 2003.Source:Association of British InsurersIt is important to note that because of the long tail nature of certain claims, settlements may accrue for many years to come. The figures in the table only relate to the value of claims thus far settled in each of those years.