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Health and Safety

Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many guilty verdicts have been recorded, in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available, under health and safety law, following the serious injury of an employee. [1132]

Sir Paul Beresford: The information is not available, or available only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for what reason each of the individuals cited in his answer of 16 October 1996, Official Report, column 1075, were sent to prison following convictions under health and safety at work law; and what was the length of the sentence in each case. [1133]

Sir Paul Beresford: The information requested about the three cases of individuals sent to prison following convictions under health and safety at work law is as follows:

Reason	Length of prison sentence (months)
1. Breaches of the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983 and the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987	3
2. Contravention of a prohibition notice issued under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA)	4
3. Contravention of a prohibition notice issued under HSWA	4

Mental Illness (Stress)

Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps have been taken to reduce instances of mental illness caused at work, following the 1995 court case in which an employee sued his employer for a nervous breakdown brought on by stress. [1140]

Sir Paul Beresford: In May 1995, the Health and Safety Executive published guidance "Stress at Work: A Guide for Employers" which explained that mental illness

1 Nov 1996 : Column: 268

is one ill health condition that has been associated with stress. HSE is carrying out research in order to provide employers with more detailed guidance on this issue.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the rules governing the spending of capital budgets by local authorities during the transitional period to unitary authorities. [1087]

Sir Paul Beresford: Authorities in the transitional period before reorganisation are governed by the same rules on capital spending as other authorities, but in addition are subject to the prudential code of financial management, jointly published in 1994 by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and the local authority associations, and approved by the Audit Commission. I have arranged for a copy of the code to be placed in the Library.

Asbestos

Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the Health and Safety Commission's current review of the legislation on asbestos will be completed; and when its conclusions will be published. [1441]

Sir Paul Beresford: The Health and Safety Commission undertook a wide-ranging review of health and safety legislation including asbestos legislation in 1993-94, the results of which were published in 1994. As a result of the review, HSC published a discussion document in May 1996 on the future of the lead and asbestos regulations and is currently considering the responses received. It is expected that HSC will complete this work in 1997, and will issue a consultative document on any legislative changes it considers are needed as soon as possible thereafter.

Industrial Diseases

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in rank order the 10 most common causes of deaths from industrial diseases and the numbers of deaths from those diseases. [866]

Sir Paul Beresford: The information in the table is limited to those diseases that have a strong occupational link. These are diseases caused by the inhalation or swallowing of various kinds of mineral or organic dusts. The numbers of such deaths reported on death certificates in Great Britain in 1994 were as follows:

	Number
Mesothelioma	1,235
Pneumoconiosis (other than asbestosis)	276
Asbestosis (excluding certificates also mentioning mesothelioma)	174
Farmer's lung and other occupational allergic alveolitis	10
Byssinosis	7

1 Nov 1996 : Column: 269

Asbestos-related Diseases

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for the most recently available date (a) the 10 districts in Great Britain which have the highest rates of death from asbestos-related diseases and (b) the national rate of death from these diseases. [867]

Sir Paul Beresford: The only asbestos-related disease for which the data are available is mesothelioma, and the district breakdown is available only for the period 1976-91. The 10 districts in Great Britain with the highest rates of death from mesothelioma in this period are, in descending order: Clydebank, Barrow in Furness, Plymouth, Barking and Dagenham, Portsmouth, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Southampton, Newham and Gillingham.

The average crude rate of death from mesothelioma in Great Britain in the same period was 11 per million. In 1994, the crude death rate from mesothelioma in Great Britain was 22 per million.

These tragic deaths are because of asbestos exposures of anything between 15 and 60 years ago, before the current stringent controls on asbestos were introduced.

Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what annual death rates from asbestos-related diseases the Health and Safety Executive has forecast over the next 25 years. [868]

Sir Paul Beresford: The estimated number of males dying annually from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in 10 years time could range from between 1,300 and 2,100; in 20 years time between 1,300 and 3,000 and in 30 years time between 1,000 and 3,200. These estimates are based on a paper "The Continuing increase in mesothelioma mortality in Britain" which was published in The Lancet on 3 March 1995. This paper discusses the uncertainties attached to the projections which increase very significantly beyond about 2010. It is therefore inappropriate to forecast a figure for each separate year. Projected figures for females are not available.

Currently, there are estimated to be one or two deaths from asbestos-related lung cancer for each death from mesothelioma. The falling prevalence of smoking is likely to reduce this ratio in the future.

DEFENCE

Departmental Cash Limits

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the changes to the class 1 cash limits and defence operating costs limit for 1996-97.[2375]

Mr. Soames: Subject to parliamentary approval of the winter supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made:

1 Nov 1996 : Column: 270

			£000s
Class 1 vote	Current cash limit	Change	Revised cash limit
1	11,005,788	-10,891	10,994,897
2	4,662,170	25,000	4,687,170
3	5,761,870	288,000	6,049,870

The changes to class 1, votes 2 and 3 reflect the take up of entitlement to end-year flexibility. The reduction on class 1, vote 1 reflects the net effect of transfers to other Government Departments. In addition entitlement to end-year flexibility on class 1, vote 1 has, in accordance with Supply procedure, been funded through the partial appropriation of receipts from the sale of the MOD married quarters estate in England and Wales. The balance of the receipt from the sale will be brought to vote, subject to parliamentary approval, in the 1996-97 spring supplementary estimate.

The final outturn on the Ministry of Defence cash limit in 1995-96 was £21,522 million which was £48 million higher than the provisional outturn announced in Cmnd 3318. The Minister of Defence's entitlement to carry forward provision under the Defence operating costs and capital costs schemes has, therefore, been reduced by £48 million over the totals announced on 12 July, Official Report, columns 326-31. Thus all of the Ministry of Defence's entitlements to end-year flexibility arising the 1994-95 and 1995-96 will have been brought onto vote through the 1996-97 winter supplementary estimate. A total of £142 million of the additional provision on vote 3 in the winter supplementary estimate has been drawn down from provision eligible for carry forward under the Defence operating costs scheme.

The impact of these changes on the Ministry of Defence operating costs limit is as follows:

			£000s
Class 1 vote	Current cash limit	Change	Revised cash limit
1	11,000,243	-10,891	10,989,352
2	4,662,170	25,000	4,687,170
3	806,347	--	806,347

Northern Ireland

Ms Mowlam: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the cost of maintaining the British Army in Northern Ireland in each year since 1969. [1105]

Mr. Soames: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

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