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Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the policy of the chief inspector of factories as to whether health and safety at work cases should be prosecuted in magistrates courts or Crown courts.

Mr. Nicholls : It is a decision for magistrates courts whether a case should be committed on indictment to the Crown court. Health and Safety Executive inspectors can make representations asking for committal, and will normally do so where they consider a particularly serious offence has been committed, or where the case seems of national significance.

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the total number of factories and other places of work for which the Health and Safety Executive is responsible for enforcing the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 ; how many of these have been basically inspected by the factory inspectorate in each of the last four years ; and how many have received no inspection in the last (a) five, (b) seven, (c) nine and (d) 11 or more years.

Mr. Nicholls : I shall write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the names of those companies which are currently in breach of the Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards (CIMAH) Regulations 1984 by not having submitted a full safety case under regulation 7 to the Health and Safety Executive by 30 June.

Mr. Nicholls : No. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not make publicly available the names of companies which may not have complied with health and safety and other related legislation unless enforcement notices have been served which have implications for the safety of the public. Details of these are available on the publicly accessible registers kept at HSE's local area offices.

Factory Inspections

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he has any figures which indicate, on a comparable basis, the frequency of factory inspections in each of the European Community countries.

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Mr. Nicholls : Direct comparisons of this kind are very difficult because of differences in enforcement arrangements and statistical systems.

Evidence on these issues was given by the Health and Safety Commission to the Employment Select Committee and this is recorded in the minutes of evidence for 28 January 1987, "The Work of the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive", House of Commons paper 164, part 1, which is available in the House Library.

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if he has any indication of when a common standard and frequency of factory inspection will be established throughout the European Community countries ;

(2) what representations he has received seeking the establishment of a common standard and frequency of factory inspection throughout the European Community countries.

Mr. Nicholls : I am aware of concern about consistency of enforcement standards in the European Community, from various contacts with both sides of United Kingdom industry. I share the view of the Health and Safety Commission, in its latest plan of work, on the need to ensure that Community legislation is implemented and enforced in an even-handed way in all member states. There is no quick or easy solution ; the United Kingdom will take every opportunity--in relevant contacts with the Community institutions and with other member states--to promote greater attention to the issue.

Health and Safety Executive

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) in which newspapers, periodicals and so on, and at what cost, the post of deputy director general of the Health and Safety Executive was advertised ;

(2) who were the members of the interview panel which interviewed candidates for the post of deputy director general of the Health and Safety Executive.

Mr. Nicholls : The Health and Safety Commission did not advertise this appointment and there is no statutory or other obligation on it to do so.

The appointment was made by the commission with the approval of the Secretary of State for Employment, after consultation with the director general of the Health and Safety Executive, and on terms approved by the Minister for the Civil Service, as is the case with any appointment of a member of the executive. The commission is well acquainted with Mr. Eves' qualifications and talents.

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of Health and Safety Executive area directors currently hold formal profes-sional management qualifications.

Mr. Nicholls : A formal professional management qualification is not a prerequisite for appointment to the post of area director. They are all given appropriate training to ensure that they have the management skills necessary to perform their duties. There are currently 20 area directors employed by the Health and Safety Executive ; 20 per cent. hold formal professional management qualifications.

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Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of Health and Safety Executive area directors are currently aged under 50 years.

Mr. Nicholls : Thirty per cent. of area directors employed by the Health and Safety Executive are under the age of 50.

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of the field force of (a) doctors and (b) nurses, employed by the medical division of the Health and Safety Executive are aged 50 years and over.

Mr. Nicholls : Fifty-nine per cent. of the doctors employed in the field force of the Health and Safety Executive medical division, are aged 50 or over. For nurses, the proportion is 48 per cent.

Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the contents of "Health and Safety--an alternative report on the work of the Health and Safety Executive in 1988" produced by the Institution of Professional Civil Servants.

Mr. Nicholls : I have not received a copy of this report.

Unemployment Benefit

Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list for each year since 1979, the numbers of people disqualified from unemployment benefit by (a) occupation, (b) age and (c) length of disqualification both in total and as a percentage of those receiving such benefit.

Mr. Eggar : The information requested is not collected and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Employment Training

Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list those local authorities which are presently participating in the ET scheme.

Mr. Nicholls : Local authorities currently participating in employment training as training managers or training agents are listed at tables 1 and 2.

Table 1

Local authorities participating in employment training as training managers --

County Councils in England

Avon

Bedfordshire

Berkshire

Cambridgeshire

Cheshire

Cleveland

Cornwall

Cumbria

Devon

Dorset

Durham

East Sussex

Essex

Gloucestershire

Hampshire

Isle of Wight

Kent

Lancashire

Leicestershire

Lincolnshire

Northamptonshire

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Northumberland

North Yorkshire

Shropshire

Somerset

Straffordshire

Suffolk

Warwickshire

West Sussex

Wiltshire

London Boroughs

Brent

Enfield

Hammersmith and Fulham

Hounslow

Kingston upon Thames (Royal)

Redbridge

Metropolitan District Councils in England

Barnsley

Birmingham City

Bradford City

Coventry City

Doncaster

Dudley

Gateshead

Halton

Kirklees

Leeds City

Newcastle upon Tyne

Oldham

Rotherham

Salford City

Sefton

Solihull

South Tyneside

Stockport

Sunderland

Tameside

Trafford

Wigan

Wolverhampton

District Councils in England

Allerdale

Alnwick

Ashfield

Bath City

Beverley

Boothferry

Brentwood

Burnley

Cannock Chase

Castle Morpeth

Charnwood

Chester le Street

Chorley

Corby

Derby City

Easington

East Hertfordshire

East Lindsey

East Yorkshire

Epsom and Ewell

Glanford

Great Grimsby

Guildford

Harrogate

Hartlepool

Hastings

Hereford

High Peak

Ipswich

Kettering

Kingston upon Hull

Lancaster City

Leicester City

Lichfield

Macclesfield

Mansfield

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