Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the regulatory framework for gas safety; and what estimate she has made of the (a) number of prosecutions made in connection with installations that fail to meet the gas safe engineer rules in each of the last three years and (b) annual cost to consumers of unsafe works.

In 2018 following discussions with stakeholders the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) amended the current regulations, Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR).

HSE continues to work across UK Government and industry to ensure the regulations are effective to maintain the safety of gas users not just today but in the development of future fuels that form part of the wider Net Zero Strategy.

HSE is currently conducting a Post Implementation Review of the specific amendments they made to the regulations in 2018 and will be reporting their conclusions in 2023.

Since the introduction of GSIUR, the number of reported gas-related fatalities has steadily declined from 48 in 1998/99 to 3 in 2020/21. While any number of fatalities is clearly unwanted, this substantive decline is evidence that these regulations have improved the safety of the gas landscape in GB and that they remain effective.

HSE believes in firm but fair enforcement and the number of breaches prosecuted under GSIUR are outlined below:

The annual cost to consumers of unsafe work is not reported to or held by Government.