House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 5 May 2004 (pt 43)

5 May 2004 : Column 1640W—continued

Night-shift Work

Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the benefits to residents of Preston of new rights for night-shift workers. [169668]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Working Time Regulations came into force on 1 October 1998. The regulations limit working time to 48 hours per week averaged over a 17-week reference period. For night workers the limit is eight hours per day on average, including overtime where it is part of a night worker's normal hours of work. There is no opt-out from the night working time limit.

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Night workers are entitled to 11 hours rest between working days, one day's rest per week, and a 20-minute in work rest break if the working period is longer than 6 hours.

All night workers should be offered a free health assessment before they start working night and thereafter at regular intervals for as long as they are working nights. The health assessments should take account of the nature of the work and the restrictions on a worker's working time under the regulations. Workers who suffer from problems as a result of working at night, should as far as practicable be offered alternative day work.

All workers are entitled to four weeks paid annual leave. There is no specific data available for night shift workers in Preston.

Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the benefits to residents of Wigan of new rights for night shift workers. [169321]

Night workers are entitled to 11 hours rest between working days, one day's rest per week, and a 20-minute in work rest break if the working period is longer than six hours.

All workers are entitled to four weeks paid annual leave. There is no specific data available for night shift workers in Wigan.

Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the benefits to the residents of Oldham West and Royton of new rights for night-shift workers. [170940]

Night workers are entitled to 11 hours rest between working days, one day's rest per week, and a 20-minute in work rest break if the working period is longer than six hours.

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All night workers should be offered a free health assessment before they start working nights and thereafter at regular intervals for as long as they are working nights. The health assessments should take account of the nature of the work and the restrictions on a worker's working time under the regulations. Workers who suffer from problems as a result of working at night should, as far as practicable, be offered alternative day work.

All workers are entitled to four weeks paid annual leave. There is no specific data available for night shift workers in Oldham West and Royton.

Paid Leave Entitlement

Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many residents of Wigan qualify for paid leave entitlements. [169322]

Mr. Sutcliffe: All workers resident in Wigan qualify for paid annual leave entitlements; at least four weeks as set out in the Working Time Regulations. While all women are entitled to 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave, only those who meet the eligibility criteria will be able to claim statutory maternity pay for that period.

All employees in Wigan who are eligible will be entitled to take statutory paternity leave with pay and statutory adoption leave with pay.

Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many residents of Preston qualify for paid leave entitlement. [169667]

Mr. Sutcliffe: All workers resident in Preston qualify for paid annual leave entitlements; at least 4 weeks as set out in the Working Time Regulations. While all women are entitled to 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave, only those who meet the eligibility criteria will be able to claim statutory maternity pay for that period.

All employees in Preston who are eligible will be entitled to take statutory paternity leave with pay and statutory adoption leave with pay.

Parental Leave

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many men have (a) requested and (b) received paternity leave in connection with the birth or adoption of a child born, matched or placed after 6 April 2003; and if she will make a statement on the success of the take-up of this entitlement; [169298]

(2) how many women have (a) requested and (b) received maternity leave in connection with the birth or adoption of a child born after 6 April 2003; and if she will make a statement on the success of the take-up of this entitlement. [169300]

Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 29 April 2004]: Take-up of paternity, maternity and adoption leave is not recorded centrally. It is possible to make an estimate of the numbers of mothers taking maternity leave based on employer returns to Inland Revenue for payment of Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) which show that around 300,000 women receive SMP each year.

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In addition, there will be some women who will qualify for maternity leave but not SMP (because they do not meet the earnings criteria) and similarly some who qualify for SMP but not leave (because they are employed earners for the purposes of SMP but not employees in order to qualify for leave).

It will similarly be possible to estimate the numbers of parents taking paternity or adoption leave based on employer returns to Inland Revenue for payment of Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) and Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP). Those returns are not due until 19 May 2004 and until the Inland Revenue complete processing them later in the year it will not be possible to provide the figures requested.

Postal Vote

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to introduce measures to ensure that postal vote ballot forms are efficiently despatched and returned to electoral returning officers in Inner London for the European, Mayoral and Greater London Assembly elections on 10 June; and if she will make a statement. [170271]

Phil Hope : I have been asked to reply.

Under the applicable election rules and regulations, the Greater London Returning Officer has overall responsibility for organising and running the GLA elections (which include the Mayoral election) and, in 2004, the European Parliament elections in the London region, and Constituency Returning Officers in London have responsibility for the issue and receipt of postal ballot papers for both the GLA and European Parliament polls.

The rules stipulate that instructions to the voter should be included on the back of the Declaration of Identity form accompanying each ballot paper sent to postal voters in the GLA and European Parliament elections. Voters will receive a postage paid envelope for the return of their ballot papers by post. They are instructed to return ballot papers to the returning officer without delay by no later than the close of the poll, and have the option of delivering them instead to certain polling stations on polling day.

Product Recalls/Safety

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many consumer product recalls there were in each year since 1994, broken down by (a) item, (b) manufacturer or retailer, (c) product category, (d) cause of recall and (e) cost of product; [168977]

(2) how many product recalls in each year since 1994 were a result of (a) customer complaints to (i) manufacturers, (ii) trading standards and (iii) other, (b) accidents to consumers, (c) manufacturers' or retailers' decisions other than in the circumstances of (a) and (b) and (d) other circumstances; [168978]

(3) what estimate she has made of (a) the number of companies with recall policies and (b) the cost to business of recalling a product. [168979]

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Mr. Sutcliffe: This information has not been collected on a regular basis. However research commissioned by my Department into product recall (URN 99/125) estimated that in the period 1990 to 1996 there was an average of 42 consumer product recalls per annum. Over the period electrical goods accounted for 47 per cent. of recalls, non-electrical toys 17 per cent, childcare articles seven per cent., clothing seven per cent., houseware four per cent., furniture four per cent., gas appliances three per cent., personal care products three per cent. and others nine per cent. The main hazards for which recalls were made were electrical 25per cent, choking 15 per cent., fire/overheating 15 per cent., loosening or collapse 13 per cent., fracture nine per cent., electric shock six per cent., sharp object four per cent. and others 14 per cent. There is no corresponding information available about the names of the manufacturers or retailers involved or on the cost of the product.

Customer complaints were the main trigger for 71 per cent. of product recalls, while eight per cent. resulted from contacts made by trading standards officers following complaints made to them by consumers.

The research also shows that two thirds of the companies interviewed had recall policies.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on (a) the effectiveness of product recalls and (b) what her Department is doing to increase that effectiveness. [168980]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The effectiveness of a product recall depends on a number of factors including the type of product, its value and the way in which the recall is communicated to consumers. In November 1999 the Department, in conjunction with the Confederation of British Industry and the British Retail Consortium, published a guide ("Consumer Product Recall—A Good Practice Guide" URN 99/1172) aimed at helping businesses take prompt action to recall unsafe products from consumers.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many companies have been (a) investigated for manufacturing or selling unsafe products and (b) prosecuted since 1994; if she will state the (i) manufacturer or retailer and (ii) product in each instance; and how many companies have been prosecuted for failing to withdraw a product, stating the (A) manufacturer or retailer and (B) product in each instance, since 1994. [169148]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The number of prosecutions for breaches of consumer product safety legislation in the period 1 April 1993 to 31 March 2003 totalled 2,184 ¹ .

Further information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost by polling each of the 220 individual local authority trading standards departments.

¹ Source:

Consumer Safety Reports laid under S42 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on implementation of the General Product Safety Directive. [169150]

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Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department is in the process of transposing the General Product Safety Directive 2001. This is a difficult process, which we need to get right. It is taking time because of the complexity of some of the new provisions, especially the wording of the last resort power to order product recall. Here we are seeking to ensure that the provision is implemented in a way that is responsive to the needs of consumers while remaining balanced and proportionate to the risk. There have also been delays at the European Commission in providing guidance to support some important practical aspects of the Directive.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions since 1994 a manufacturer has appealed against a decision to recall a product; and in each instance if she will state the (a) outcome and (b) costs to her Department. [169151]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Recalls in the UK are currently undertaken on a voluntary basis, so the decision whether to recall a product is one for the manufacturer or distributor. The legislation that transposes the revised General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EC) will introduce a mandatory recall power in the UK for the first time. Following transposition producers will continue to be encouraged to act voluntarily where necessary. There are already powers for enforcement authorities to require companies to withdraw unsafe products from sale.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on what occasions her Department has (a) given information to other countries regarding a product being recalled in the UK, stating the (i) product, (ii) manufacturer or retailer and (iii) the countries notified and (b) received information from other countries regarding a product recall, stating the (A) product, (B) manufacturer or retailer and (C) action taken by her Department. [169152]

Mr. Sutcliffe: There are no historic records available on when and whether the UK has notified other countries of a voluntary recall undertaken by producers here or of recalls undertaken overseas and notified to us. However since January 2004 when the revised GPSD (2001/95) requires notification of both voluntary and compulsory measures the UK has received one notification from Germany about a voluntary recall. This concerned a children's jigsaw puzzle presenting a choking hazard. The Department has circulated the alert to the local authority trading standards departments.

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