HOME SAFETY

Early day motion 1234, tabled 16 May 2003 by John Austin (Labour). Signed by 36 members.

That this House is concerned that the Department for Trade and Industry intends to cease the Home Accident Surveillance Systems (HASS) despite the estimate by the Chief Medical Officer that the cost to society of home accidents in ú25 billion; notes that HASS has been the only source of data identifying trends in home accidents and has been a valuable tool in designing and monitoring programmes aimed at reducing those accidents; recalls that the Government's task force identified regional and local directors of public health as the lead officers for accident prevention and identified the necessity for reliable data to carry out that work; notes that at last year's RoSPA Conference, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Competition, Consumers and Markets raised the issue of what might be achieved if home safety were to be made mandatory; and believes that there is a strong case for statutory responsibility for home safety to be included at a local level but that for this to be effective it will be necessary to maintain a statistical mechanism such as that provided by HASS.

Signatures by party: Labour 26, Liberal Democrat 7, Labour/Co-operative 2, Plaid Cymru 1.