I was fairly sure the health and safety problems that led to the outbreak of foot and mouth in Surrey were mainly from the government laboratory. If the private sector had been to blame,this government would doubtless have made sure we knew all about it, or someone from the public facility would have leaked the information or briefed the press accordingly.

We now hear that
1. The government lab was old and in need of improvement
2. The government had delayed for 3 years before making money available for modernisation
3. The facility then did not spend money to tackle the drains which caused this problem when the first ??31 million of modernisation money was released
4. The lab did not inspect, find and deal with the problem of the drains.

So I repeat my challenge to Ministers. If you are so concerned about health and saefty as you say why have you presided over
1. So many hospital acquired infections in the NHS?
2. So many deaths in custody?
3. In house maintenance at Network Rail which failed in Cumbria?
4. Poor performance from a government lab?

Instead of posturing and claiming that my wish to simplify (and improve) health and safety legislation represents a threat, why don’t you get on with lifting standards in the public sector where you have direct responsibility and power to change things?

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