§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to require companies to be registered for employers' liability compulsory insurance. [187185]
§ Jane KennedyThe Department will assess the costs and benefits of registering employers on an ELCI database by autumn 2004. This is part of our work to consider how best to tackle the small number of employers who do not have Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) cover, and how best to help claimants trace employers' ELCI insurance policies.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he, has made of(a) the extent of evasion of employers' liability compulsory insurance within the construction and roofing industries and (b) the impact of such evasion on (i) the health and safety of workers and (ii) the profitability of insured employers. [187186]
§ Jane KennedyThere are no figures available to show compliance with the Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance (ELCI) Act 1969 solely within the construction and roofing industries.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out a survey of compliance with ELCI in the autumn of 2003. That survey included small, medium and large firms across all sectors in England, Scotland and Wales and concluded that ELCI compliance was high—nearly 99.5 per cent. of those employers surveyed were ELCI compliant.
The provision of ELCI does not, of itself, impact on the health and safety of workers. ELCI merely ensures that there is some money available to compensate a person who successfully claims against their employer in the event of an injury or ill health arising out of their employment.
The survey found that the most commonly sited response to the increased cost of ELCI has been to "try and improve health and safety performance" (50 per cent. of respondents). In the context of our work to promote a risk-based approach to the setting of ELCI premiums, better Health and Safety performance will enable insurers to better reflect good Health and Safety practices in the terms they can offer.
£ million Actual Forecast outturn Rollout Programme
2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 Total Capital Costs 111 251 195 346 903 Staffing/Running Costs 149 200 381 596 1326 Cumulative Total 260 711 1287 2229 — 1106W
The Jobcentre Plus Implementation project is due to be completed in March 2006. The project has now rolled out over 500 offices and remains within budget.I hope this is helpful.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he intends to implement the recommendations of his Department's second report on employers' liability compulsory insurance. [187187]
§ Jane KennedyThe Department for Work and Pensions, working with stakeholders, has made good progress towards delivering all the recommendations in the Second Stage Report.
Recommendations still to be fully implemented are the Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation, the Health and Safety Executive Management Performance Index for small businesses, and the Claims Pilots to make claims processes more cost effective, quicker and transparent. All of these will be launched by the autumn 2004.