7 DEVOLUTION
83. Legislative responsibility for health
and safety is reserved to Westminster. Related areas, such as
health, transport, education and justice are devolved to the Scottish
Executive[143]. The
Welsh Assembly has power to develop and implement policy for health,
education and transport.[144]
The lead organisation in Northern Ireland is the Health and Safety
Executive for Northern Ireland (sponsored by the Department for
Enterprise, Trade and Investment.) and the key piece of legislation
there is the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order
1978.[145]
84. The Committee visited Scotland to look
at how the Health and Safety Executive had responded to devolution.
HSC/E has formalised its relations with the Scottish Parliament,
through a Concordat.[146]
HSE has also established a Scotland Director. This Director has
operational responsibility for the Field Operations Directorate
in Scotland and, more generally, advises on relations with the
Scottish Executive. The health of the nation is one of the Scottish
Parliament's main priorities and HSE is working with the Health
Department in its role of raising the standards of health of the
Scottish population as a whole. The Scottish Executive has recently
established a post of Minister for Health and Safety, currently
held by Lewis Macdonald.[147]
85. HSE considers that the comparative figures
for rates of accident, injury and ill-health for England, Scotland
and Wales reveal anomalies.[148]
Fatal injury rates, for example, are higher in Scotland than for
the rest of Great Britain, although so far, no definitive reasons
have been found for this. On the other hand, rates of self-reported
illness are lower. HSE is exploring these anomalies.[149]
86. The Federation of Small Business (FSB)
in Scotland reported improvements in joined-up working on health
and safety issues since devolution.[150]
Devolution was said to have brought 'focus' to the question of
workplace health in small businesses, resulting in the establishment
of the Safe and Healthy Working pilot. The FSB and the Scottish
Hazards Campaign Group (SHCG) both considered this a very good
example of joint working between a wide range of partners.[151]
FSB was also positive about joint working around the Healthy
Working Lives initiative, considering it a good step forwards
towards focusing on the economic outcomes of improving Scotland's
health. The establishment of the Scottish Centre for Healthy
Working Lives, which will pull together various health initiatives
into a single, integrated organisation, was considered a welcome
integration and rationalisation of organisations as public sector
support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
87. Both the Scottish Trades Union Congress
(STUC) and SHCG argued that more should be done to take advantage
of the opportunities provided by devolution.[152]
STUC argued the HSE Field Operations Directorate should be given
more autonomy in the context of devolution, to allow more constructive
relationships with a range of stakeholders and to take account
of differing economic and industrial trends.[153]
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities reported initial
difficulties in getting key stakeholders around the table. However,
it considered that the naming of Lewis Macdonald as Minister for
Health and Safety provided a positive opportunity to plan a joined-up
approach.[154] It
argued for the 'formation of a formal partnership between local
authorities and HSE Scotland on the basis of joint national resource
planning, risk prioritisation and programme working, against jointly
agreed and fully resourced outcome targets.'[155]
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said it favoured
the idea of setting up new Welsh, Scottish and English Regional
fora to bring together key H&S promoters at this level. However,
experience suggests the need for 'strong leadership, involvement
of HSE staff and adequate resourcing.'[156]
88. The fact that health and safety legislation
is reserved to Westminster while the Scottish Executive and Welsh
Assembly are responsible for health policy and for the funding
of local authorities means that joint planning and working has
become increasingly important. Evidence to the Committee was that
there had been positive developments in Scotland such as the Safe
and Health Working pilot. However, it was also suggested that
there was much to be gained from an increased emphasis on joint
resource planning, risk prioritisation and programme working.
The Committee recommends that this process would be assisted if
HSE actively promote joint resource planning, risk prioritisation
and programme working across the devolved legislatures in Great
Britain.
143 Volume III (No. 37) Back
144
ww.wales.gov.uk/pubinfaboutassembly/content/powers-e.htm Back
145
www.hseni.gov.uk Back
146
Volume III (No. 37) Back
147
Volume II (Ev 93,Q351) Back
148
Volume III (No. 37) Back
149
See Appendix 1 Back
150
Volume III (No. 57) Back
151
Volume II (Ev84, 320); Volume III (No. 57) Back
152
Volume III (Nos. 17 and 11) Back
153
Volume II (Ev 102) Back
154
Volume II (Ev89, Q338) Back
155
COSLA's consultation response to the Review of the Relationship
between Health and Safety Executive and Local Authorities Back
156
Volume III (No. 14) Back
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