The following has been supplied by the TUC:
The new employment minister Esther McVey has been stripped of health and safety responsibilities after it emerged she had been the director of a demolition firm linked to criminal safety breaches. Esther McVey, who was switched on 9 October from disabilities minister to employment minister, was a director of her father’s firm JG McVey & Co Ltd from February 2003 to March 2006. In July 2003 safety inspectors ordered work to stop at a demolition site in Liverpool after they spotted McVey employees working on scaffolding without any edge protection.
In September of the same year inspectors again halted work at the firm’s demolition site as two employees were caught working at on scaffolding without edge protection. Inspectors also found a worker using a chainsaw without suitable personal protective equipment. In both cases inspectors served immediate prohibition notices, which are only issued when there is a ‘risk of serious personal injury’. McVey was expect to take on the safety brief - the employment minister portfolio was given the health and safety role in 2010.
Both the former incumbents - Chris Grayling and Mark Hoban - had responsibility for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
After Environmental Health News raised concerns with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) about criminal safety breaches identified during the minister’s tenure as a director of the company, the DWP amended its website, switching responsibility for the HSE from McVey to the disability minister Mike Penning.
In comments on his appointment, Penning made no mention of the workplace or safety. As of 17 October, over a week after the reshuffle, Esther McVey was still listed as the responsible minister on DWP’s safety webpages.
