Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of claims made to the Health and Safety Executive that are subsequently referred by the HSE to local authorities for resolution.

The Health and Safety at Work Act establishes a co-regulatory partnership between the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities (LAs). This co-regulatory partnership sees HSE and LAs working closely to ensure consistent enforcement of health and safety legislation.

The Enforcing Authority Regulations (EA Regulations) 1989 determine allocation of enforcement responsibility. LAs are responsible for enforcing health and safety requirements at 65% of business premises in Great Britain, which employ 46% of the national workforce. In general, LAs are the enforcing authority for retail, wholesale distribution and warehousing, hotel and catering premises, offices, and the consumer/leisure industries. HSE has the policy lead for all other sectors, and enforcement responsibilities for those sectors that traditionally have higher hazards/risks, e.g. factories, construction, agriculture, and off-shore industries.

Regulation 5 of the EA Regulations allows enforcement responsibility for any premises or any activity carried on there, to be transferred from HSE to the LA or vice versa. A transfer may be made only by agreement between the two enforcing authorities involved. The number of transfers under Regulation 5 from HSE to LAs show no discernible trend.