National Accident Prevention Strategy
Debate between Joe Morris and Lilian Greenwood(1 day, 14 hours ago)
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Lilian Greenwood
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We think of all those who have lost their life at work; I think that about 120 people each year are killed in the course of their work. There is also a much more widespread problem of people suffering ill health, particularly relating to work-related stress and mental health. The best employers work really hard on those issues, often in consultation with their trade union health and safety reps.
The Health and Safety Executive is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It delivers a combination of proportionate enforcement, targeted regulatory work engagement and the development of standards and guidance. That includes public awareness activity to promote the safe use of ladders and power tools through guidance, surveillance work and campaigns.
The hon. Member for Strangford, who is no longer in his place, rightly spoke about the risks in agriculture. HSE works extensively with the Farm Safety Partnership to ensure that industry is aware of risks. We think about similar things in relation to construction and other high-risk environments.
Dr Andrew Murrison (in the Chair)
With a huge sense of trepidation, as he was not here for the openings—or at least not until the very end of them.
Joe Morris
I apologise for my tardiness, Dr Murrison. I just want to pick up on the point about agriculture. As we are talking about national accident prevention, it is important to recognise that accidents in rural areas require a different level of promotion and public engagement. Will the Minister therefore join me in urging everyone involved in accident prevention to recognise the unique challenges that rural areas face and to take appropriate steps where possible, whether that is in road safety or in workplace safety?
Lilian Greenwood
My hon. Friend makes an important point. In addressing all these things, we must think about who is most at risk and what the appropriate way is to intervene. A point was made earlier about how rural areas are particularly at risk. We know that those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds—the people in the poorest neighbourhoods—are most at risk of being involved in serious incidents. That is true for road safety, as it is for other things, but my hon. Friend is right to raise the issue of rurality, because rural roads are among the most dangerous.
To address accidents in educational settings, the Department for Education has worked with the Food Standards Agency to develop a food safety advice webpage, including a section on choking prevention. The Department already works with the Department for Business and Trade to ensure that safety alerts for products related to early years and childcare, including the five-step safety message for parents and carers, are communicated to the sector to minimise the risk of serious injury from toys.
Finally, the Office for Product Safety and Standards, which sits within the Department for Business and Trade, and local authority trading standards has powers to tackle the supply of unsafe or non-compliant consumer products and remove them from the market. The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 introduced various measures to reduce the risk of fires, including the risk of e-bike and e-scooter battery fires. Secondary legislation will regulate battery design, compatibility and safety information for consumers. The office also works with a variety of stakeholders, including fire and rescue services, other regulators, consumer bodies and safety charities, to gather information about incidents that may be linked to product safety issues.
I pay tribute to all the charities in the sector, which do such vital work, and to the volunteers, without whom they would not function. I know that many campaigners across the country do valuable work to raise awareness of accident prevention and shine a light on areas where improvement is needed. Like the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield, I note the work of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to campaign for a reduction in accidents at home, on the road, at work and at leisure. I particularly note its recently published annual review, which followed its 2024 report calling for a national accident prevention strategy. It has powerfully highlighted the human and economic costs of accidents to individuals and to society.
We recognise that coherent action is an important factor in tackling issues that may have many dimensions and owners. I regret that I am not in a position today to commit the Government to a national strategy, but I hope that right hon. and hon. Members can be reassured of two things. First, individual Departments take seriously their responsibilities for safety, security and accident prevention; I hope that the House will recognise my passion for road safety as just one example. Secondly, we will continue to work across Government to ensure that our approach to accident prevention is the right one. That includes a focus on prevention, such as rolling out a range of measures to tackle health inequalities and stop health problems at source. It also includes better use of data, such as the establishment of a data-led road safety investigation branch covering the whole of Great Britain, which will draw on data to carry out thematic investigations and make recommendations.
Once again, I thank the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield for securing this debate. I am grateful to you, for overseeing us this afternoon, Dr Murrison, and I thank all right hon. and hon. Members who have spoken.
Horse and Rider Road Safety
Debate between Joe Morris and Lilian Greenwood(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Lilian Greenwood)
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Dowd; I know you have a deep personal commitment to road safety. I congratulate the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon) on securing this debate and thank him for raising the vital issue of road safety and vulnerable users, specifically horse riders. It is clear that this concern is widely shared across the House. I do not know how I am going to do justice to it in the next eight minutes. This debate is aptly timed, as we published our new road safety strategy last week.
I stress the importance of road safety around animals. I know how vital horses are to rural areas, such as West Berkshire, and I have been very sorry to hear about collisions involving horses and riders. I pass on my condolences to all those who have been affected by these tragic incidents, including the death of the racehorse Knockalla in Lambourn. We also heard about Laura, who lost her horse Angel, Katie, who lost her horse George and Maddy, who lost her horse Blaze. We were all horrified to hear the description by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy) of what happened to his constituent, Susi. I recognise how horrible it must be to lose an animal in that way, and stress the importance of keeping our roads safe for all road users.
As has been noted, the highway code was updated in 2022 to improve safety, particularly for the most vulnerable road users. The Department for Transport introduced the hierarchy of road users, which sets out that those who can cause the greatest harm in the event of a collision bear the greatest responsibility to reduce the potential threat that they pose to others. The highway code changes included strengthening the guidance on safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking horse riders. I encourage everyone in the country, especially drivers, to look at the “Rules about animals” section of the highway code.
Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)
The highway code needs proper signage to remind drivers of their obligations. Does the Minister agree that it is important the council maintains signage properly, warning users of where there are likely to be horses—such as in Heddon in my constituency, where unfortunately the county council is dragging its feet on getting appropriate signage in place?
Lilian Greenwood
My hon. Friend makes an important point, and I agree with him.
As has already been noted, despite the investment of £2.4 million in paid advertising raising road users’ awareness of the changes to the code, it is clear that more action is needed. As set out in the strategy, we are considering options to improve the safety of both riders and their horses. We will work with stakeholders such as the British Horse Society as we undertake that work.