Hansard

Both proposals are too important to be tagged on to a debate on a wider issue. I do not intend to provide a definitive Executive view on them this evening. However, I recognise the significance of the issues and I will say a word or two about them in a few moments.

There is a common agenda in Government at every level on tackling health and safety issues. Employees and trade unions have an interest in that and so, of course, do employers. The point was made that a work force that is unhealthy or unsafe is, by definition, bad for recruitment, bad for morale and bad for business, as well as bad for the work force itself. There is clearly a common interest, with responsible employers, trade unions and others working together on that. I am pleased to say that we work closely with the Health and Safety Executive, the Confederation of British Industry and the STUC in pursuing a safety-at-work agenda. The First Minister recently discussed precisely those matters with the STUC.

The "Securing Health Together" document, which we signed three years ago, constituting a Great Britain-wide occupational health strategy, has laid the basis for the way in which we seek to improve Scotland's health at work. It covers a project to deliver health and safety support to small and medium-sized enterprises, which often do not have the capacity to have those professional skills in house. It provides to employers and employees in the small-business sector confidential, high-quality information, advice and support.

In March 2003, in "Improving Health in Scotland—The Challenge", we confirmed our view that the workplace is one of the core target areas for health improvement. To develop our approach to a healthy-working lifestyle, we have come together with the STUC, employers and the voluntary sector. We have increased substantially the funding to the Scotland's health at work award scheme, which was mentioned in a number of speeches. SHAW is a unique, national awards scheme to address Scotland's poor health record and, by doing so, to improve our business position. The scheme rewards employers who demonstrate a commitment to improving the health of their work force and to reducing sickness absence. I am pleased to say that, just last month at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents conference in Glasgow, the Scottish Executive was congratulated by the chairman of the scheme on achieving its SHAW bronze award this year.

Donald Gorrie and Brian Adam will be interested to know that smoke-free workplaces were part of what qualified the Scottish Executive for that award. I understand that the Scottish Parliament has now registered with SHAW, in pursuit of a similar award and, no doubt, there will be some discussion of how that will best be achieved. I look forward to the outcome of that. Karen Gillon asked how many employees were now covered by SHAW initiatives. In August of this year, just over 726,000 Scottish employees were covered.

The latest health white paper, "Partnership for Care", confirmed our broad view that health in the workplace is important, but it recognised that specific things needed to be done to address the matter. The issue was raised of a Scottish strategic overview—or, in Cathy Peattie's words, a Scottish commission for health and safety. Clearly the Health and Safety Executive has responsibility for that throughout Great Britain and I believe that it is open to discussion on how best its objectives can be met in Scotland. I welcome the suggestion that we take a joined-up approach to those matters and I will ensure that the comments that have been made today are drawn to the HSE's attention.

A number of members raised the issue of prosecutions. We share the view that no one should get away with criminal negligence resulting in death or serious injury at work. As Frances Curran said, there is a different prosecution system in Scotland from that in England and Wales, which explains partly the differences in some of the statistics. There are different evidential requirements in the Scottish and English systems. I give the reassurance that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service takes seriously health and safety cases and will always raise prosecutions if there is sufficient evidence and if it is in the public interest to do so. All fatal accidents at work will result in prosecution where the HSE reports the case to the procurator fiscal and there is sufficient evidence to proceed.

The Parliament will have the opportunity to consider corporate homicide in the future. We acknowledge the commitment of Karen Gillon and others to ensuring that the law in that respect is adequate to meet need. We look forward with great interest to developments in that area.

We in the Scottish Executive are also employers and members will be interested to know that we have a procedure for addressing workplace stress. I do not know whether any elected members want to take advantage of that. That procedure is part of a health and safety management programme that we have implemented across our work force. It might seem surprising, but members of our work force report that their knowledge and understanding of health and safety issues have improved and that, in their experience of their workplace, it is a safer place in which to work than it was a couple of years ago. That improvement has been driven by a health and safety team in the Executive and a network of health and safety liaison officers. I commend that model to others in the public and private sectors.

We hope that our example will be followed. It is for all employers to follow the lead that is given by the best and most responsible employers and to work with their staff and trade unions, which, as a number of members have said, have made a critical contribution on the health and safety agenda for more than 100 years. We look forward to the continuation of that work, so that Scotland will be one of the safest countries in Europe in which to work.