SPC/Enforcement/66
This SPC advises HID staff of the arrangements for seeking significant parts of general legal and enforcement advice that is provided by FOD. It describes such advice and, in the Appendices, summarises arrangements for dealing with other legal / enforcement queries relating to technical topics and specific Regulations.
1 To bring about a more effective legal advice network within the Operations Group (OG), FOD has agreed to take the lead on the provision of general legal and enforcement advice. This Circular provides details of this arrangement and of other sources of legal advice within HID and elsewhere in HSE.
2 This guidance does not include matters concerning specific-sector or topic-based Regulations and issues. Further details of the topics and HID contact points are given in Appendix 1. Inspectors are reminded that Services, Transportation and Safety Unit, Health and Work Division (and some other Units) provide a HSE-wide service for their respective topics: more information is given in Appendix 2.
3 Guidance is provided as to when, and how, inspectors should contact directly the Legal Advisers Office.
4 General enforcement policy, and provision of advice on general legal and enforcement matters, is allocated to FOD NWHQ Legal and Enforcement team which will provide advice to all HID staff on these issues including enforcement action, notice and court procedures, and legal interpretation.
5 Examples of issues on which FOD NWHQ Legal & Enforcement team will provide advice include:
6 Before seeking legal / enforcement advice from FOD NWHQ Legal & Enforcement team, staff should:
7 In some cases it may be necessary to telephone FOD NWHQ Legal & Enforcement team. Any telephone request should be made by B2 inspectors, who should confirm that appropriate information sources have been checked by their staff. All initial requests will be handled and prioritised in NWHQ Legal & Enforcement team.
8 FOD NWHQ Legal & Enforcement team will attempt to accommodate emergency requests for telephone advice, eg if an unexpected problem occurs in Court and has to be answered immediately. Such direct requests should arise only occasionally and must be restricted to those that are truly urgent and which need FOD NWHQ Legal & Enforcement team input.
9 Current arrangements continue in place for HID staff to liaise with Legal Advisers Office (through their B2 inspector, unless otherwise agreed) on queries arising from operational work. The details of when and how this is required are described in the Enforcement Guide for England and Wales (or Enforcement Handbook for Scotland) and in other OG instructions, eg for processing prosecution reports.
10 HID HQ retains HID responsibility for a number of cross cutting legal issues - these are listed in Appendix 1. Queries, in relation to those issues, should be sent to David Bosworth (VPN 523 4778).
11 FOD NWHQ Legal & Enforcement team have agreed also to take forward some other related legal and enforcement work on behalf of HID, although developments in the following areas may not affect HID field staff directly:
12 Queries concerning enforcement policy and interpretation of legal requirements should be referred to the appropriate section - either FOD NWHQ Legal & Enforcement team or elsewhere in HID / HSE as described in the Appendices.
13 Inspectors seeking legal advice should continue to refer initially to published guidance (for example, the HSE Enforcement Guide) and use local sources before referring legal queries to FOD NWHQ Legal & Enforcement team or others.
Further information can be obtained from HID HQ (VPN 523 - 4778).
1 Some important elements of technical, legal and enforcement advice remain in HID. For example, the arrangements for provision of sector-specific legal advice continue in the respective parts of HID e.g. OSD, MI, ExI. This Appendix sets out the responsibilities of the legal and technical sections in CI / SI / OSD / HID HQ and the arrangements for HID staff to obtain advice from them.
2 HID HQ will continue to provide enforcement advice as follows:
3 OSD1 (Peter Mills): advice to HID Inspectors on the application of legislation in Scotland.
4 FoI information officers and decision makers can advise inspectors who are dealing with, formal requests by members of the public for disclosure of operational information ("disclosure") ie:
5 Requests should be forwarded to the unit FoI Information Officer.
6 OSD 3: Ahsan Saleem. Advice to all HID staff on:
7 The following sections retain responsibility for relevant enforcement policy in their particular technical topic area and for providing interpretation of specific Regulations.
8 CI4: (Head of Unit: John Murray) provides operational advice on chemical and downstream oil industry sector issues.
9 CI4A: Tim Beals:
10 CI4B: Sally Hawkins:
11 SI1: Ian Waugh
Mansel Williams
12 SI2: Neil Morton
13 SI3: Steve Wing
14 SI 4 Karen Clayton
15 OSD1: Peter Mills & OSD1.5 James Munro
16 OSD3: Ahsan Saleem
1 Sectors provide HSE-wide operational policy and legal / enforcement advice for their sector / topic / regime. Examples include CDM (Construction sector), Docks Regulations (STSU), nuclear licensing law (ND) and the Asbestos Licensing Unit (FOD).
2 Following the Change Programme's review of sectors, all such units were encouraged to take on cross-HSE roles where it was appropriate for them to have the topic lead..
3 HSE Services, Transportation and Safety Unit (Head of Unit: Tim Galloway) provides legal / enforcement advice on HSE's operational policy and strategy on cross-sector safety issues.
4 Health and Work Division (Head: Rosalind Roberts) provides legal / enforcement advice on HSE's operational policy and strategy on cross-sector health issues.
5 OSD1.5: James Mason
6 HID CI Inspectors provide advice informally to other HSE staff as part of the cooperative framework in HSE for dealing with practical and enforcement queries relating to the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002 (CHIP 3).
