Written question asked by Martin Caton (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 November 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 7 November 2002. It was answered by Nicholas Brown (Labour) on Thursday, 7 November 2002 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Dept for Work and Pensions

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of the recent change in the annual number of Health and Safety Executive inspections. - Includes figures.

Answer: Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of the recent change in the annual number of Health and Safety Executive inspections. [80244] Mr. Nicholas Brown: There was a fall in the number of preventative inspections between 1996-97 to 2001-02 from 116,652 to 75,237. Over the same period, there was a 35 per cent increase in the number of investigations. Investigations take much longer than inspections and so it is inevitable that more investigations mean fewer inspections. HSE has also taken action to increase their other preventive work including seminars, conferences and awareness days.

Secondary information