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6. Any proceedings on consideration and proceedings on Third Reading shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the moment of interruption on the second day.
Programming committees
7. Standing Order No. 83B (Programming committees) shall not apply to proceedings in Committee and on consideration and Third Reading.
Other proceedings
8. Any other proceedings on the Bill (including any proceedings on consideration of Lords Amendments or on any further messages from the Lords) may be programmed. (Mark Tami.)
Queens recommendation signified.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 52)(1)(a)) ,
That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Parliamentary Standards Bill, it is expedient to authorise the payment out of money provided by Parliament of
(1) any expenditure incurred under or by virtue of the Act by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, and
(2) any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable under any other Act out of money so provided. ( Mark Tami .)
Mr. Speaker: With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 4 to 6 together.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 118(6)),
That the draft Companies House Trading Fund (Amendment) Order 2009, which was laid before this House on 7 May, be approved.
That the draft Transfer of Functions of the Charity Tribunal Order 2009, which was laid before this House on 1 June, be approved.
That the draft Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003 (Designation of Participating Countries) (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Order 2009, which was laid before this House on 6 May, be approved. ( Mark Tami.)
Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 18(1)),
That the draft Legislative Reform (Limited Partnerships) Order 2009, which was laid before this House on 2 June, be approved. ( Mark Tami.)
Mr. Speaker: With the leave of the House, we shall take motions 8 to 10 together.
That Mr John Heppell be discharged from the Children, Schools and Families Committee and Helen Southworth be added.
That Mr Mark Prisk be discharged from the Regulatory Reform Committee and John Penrose be added.
That John Penrose be discharged from the Work and Pensions Committee and Mr Mark Harper be added. (Mr. McAvoy, on behalf of the Committee of Selection.)
Mr. Parmjit Dhanda (Gloucester) (Lab): I have a petition from more than 160 residents and others in my constituency. The names were collected on the streets of Gloucester by a former member of the armed forces.
The Petition of those concerned about bullying in the Armed Forces,
Declares that bullying in the British Army should be stopped once and for all.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Secretary of State for Defence to take firm and positive action to ensure that bullying in the British Army is once and for all put a stop to now.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn. (Mr. Watts.)
Mr. Michael Clapham (Barnsley, West and Penistone) (Lab): I am grateful to have secured this debate, because it is on an important and complex issue, and I believe that there is a common-sense way to deal with it. I am also pleased to see the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Jonathan Shaw), in his place, because he has some knowledge about asbestos in relation to social housing, which is what the debate is about.
The debate centres on a report that was recently compiled for the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians by two ladies, Linda Waldman and Heather Williams, who have brought to the attention of UCATT a number of important issues. I want to talk about three of them tonight. First, I want to draw to the Ministers attention the size of the problem. Secondly, I want to refer to the research in the paper, because it relates to a great deal of the current research and gives us an opportunity to consider the recommendations that have been made. Thirdly, I want to suggest to the Minister that he might think about taking some of the recommendations on board, as they would bring about the changes required without a prohibitive capital outlay.
The Minister will be aware that asbestos causes a range of diseases: asbestosis, pleural plaques, pleural thickening, lung cancer and mesothelioma. The latter two diseases are unrelated to dosage, and it is thought that just a small exposure can lead to mesothelioma. I want to bring his attention to a study done by the British Lung Foundation in January last year, which set out to explore how wide peoples knowledge of the dangers of asbestos was. It commissioned a survey of 399 tradespeople in January 2008, and the respondents were made up of plumbers, builders, carpenters, electricians, joiners and gas fitters of varying ages. The results showed that a third of tradespeople admitted to not being well informed about asbestos, and three in 10 incorrectly believed that asbestos had now been removed from all UK buildings. There is great ignorance about asbestos. Last year, there were more than 2,000 mesothelioma deaths in the UK, which has led some to suggest that the UK has a mesothelioma epidemic.
The TUC argues that there are at least twice as many deaths from lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos as there are mesothelioma deaths. Therefore, perhaps 6,000 to 8,000 deaths per year are caused by exposure to asbestos.
John Battle (Leeds, West) (Lab): The work done by my hon. Friend on this issue is incredible, but does he agree that we need to step up the campaign, as some people think that because asbestos has been banned, and some buildings have been stripped out, the problem is declining? However, there is a time lag with mesothelioma, so the number of cases will increase in the next 10 years, which people do not yet appreciate.
Mr. Clapham:
I agree entirely with my right hon. Friend. We will see the number of cases increase until about 2015, then plateau and fall way by 2050. Tradespeople
working on maintenance jobs who are exposed to asbestos are likely to develop mesothelioma, so it is important to consider what action might be taken on asbestos in houses.
As the Minister will know, asbestos was a common house building material from the 1930s until the 1980s. It was famed for its insulation and fire-proofing qualities. During that period, all forms of asbestos will have been used in house building: blue, brown and white. Blue and brown were banned in this country in 1985, and white was banned in November 1999. However, it is estimated that asbestos is in 90 per cent. of public sector housing, and the Health and Safety Executive estimates that 1.5 million workplaces contain asbestos.
There is ample evidencethis point is taken up by Waldman and Williamsthat white asbestos is clearly associated with mesothelioma cancer. In that respect, I refer to a quote, which the two researchers used, from McCulloch and Tweedales book, Defending the Indefensible: The Global Asbestos Industry and its Fight for Survival:
In reviewing the science, it is important to remember that asbestos is such a toxic material that even relatively trivial exposure can result in serious or fatal injury. For that reason, one might have expected physicians and allied scientists to have led the campaigns against the mineral and against the companies that produced it.
Yet...not only was the medical professions reaction to the asbestos hazard often feeble, but scientists have been among the industrys most strident defenders. There are two reasons why that was so: corporate suppression and intimidation meant that criticism of the industry came at a price.
Another factor was the convergence of the economic, political, and social interests of the scientific establishment and commerce. Careers could be made from industry-sponsored research. No-one commissioned research on behalf of asbestos workers.
I think that that sums up clearly what we face when we talk about asbestos in the housing industry.
Many of the people who will be exposed to asbestos are repairs and maintenance workers. As the Minister will be aware, local authorities, arms length management organisations and housing associations provide secure tenancies, covered by the Housing Act 1985, which set out landlords duties and tenants responsibilities. Repairs are undertaken when a property is vacated and designated as void, but because local authorities need to turn these vacant houses over very quickly, very little has been done to monitor those houses and either to remove asbestos or to ensure that its location is recorded. There are some exceptions, one notable example of which is the London borough of Havering. Its ALMO set out to work with residents and rather than trying to sweep the issue of asbestos under the carpet, it has engaged with residents in dealing with the management of asbestos in its property portfolio.
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