HSC Issues Response to the Hampton Report

HSC press release C007:05 - 16 March 2005

Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission, today welcomed publication of the final Hampton report 'Reducing administrative burdens: effective inspection and enforcement'.

He said: "The report has a wide ranging set of recommendations, many of which align with the Commission's strategy published last February which was warmly endorsed by Philip Hampton in his interim report.

" For example, the Commission has for some time wanted higher penalties for health and safety offences. So we strongly welcome the recommendations to increase penalties, and to augment the range of sanctions available to our inspectors by using administrative penalties and to explore the use of restorative justice orders - issues which we already have under consideration.

" I am glad too that the report has recognised the legitimacy of our partnership approach with Local Authorities. We have been working hard with our Local Authority fellow regulators to make effective partnerships deliver the health and safety targets agreed by Government.

"We will need to work through the detail of these recommendations to establish exactly what changes we may need to introduce. And we will continue with other strands of our work in support of achieving the Revitalising targets - particularly those initiatives which involve trade unions, their health and safety representatives and workers."

Timothy Walker, Director General of the Health and Safety Executive, also welcomed the report.

"The report is a vote of confidence in our work and the way we go about our business. The addition to our remit of the inspection role of the Coal Authority, the Engineering Inspectorate, the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority will allow us to build on the synergies between us and the work of these regulatory bodies. We will be working hard to secure a seamless and timely transfer of this work from other government departments to the HSE.

" The report has many recommendations that we will need to examine in some detail, but our initial assessment is that they dovetail well with much of what we currently do or work already in hand. For example, the report recognises that there is a judgement to be made on the right balance between inspection and the provision of advice - although the Commission's response to the Hampton Interim Report made clear that we thought we had the balance just about right. We have done much to promote better regulation - for example we were the first body to enunciate the five principles of good regulation. And we have consulted recently on whether, and if so how, we might incentivise good health and safety performance.

" We look forward to carrying this agenda forward both internally and with our fellow regulators, especially in terms of doing more joint working with these other regulators."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Commission's strategy was launched on 23 February 2004, with the publication of A strategy for workplace health and safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond. This can be viewed at http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/strategiesandplans/strategy.htm

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