I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that Intervention, and I shall come on to home information packs later in my remarks.

The duty to manage asbestos was introduced so that the risks from the thousands of tonnes of asbestos still present in non-domestic premises would be consistently managed. Those working on those buildings, such as plumbers, electricians and other maintenance workers, often do not know they are at risk from disturbing the material or if their work is putting others in the building at risk. The principles underlying the approach are evidence-based and proportionate towards compliance.

I shall now cover the specific recommendations of the UCATT report, starting with those that would require a legislative change. The report has made several recommendations with regard to private housing. The first is that the duty to manage should be extended to private households and the second is that it should be made mandatory for asbestos surveys to be undertaken at the point of sale.

My right hon. and hon. Friends will be aware that most residential properties now require a home information pack. That pack may include a home condition report, although that is not mandatory. Voluntary take-up of the report has been low. Although there is clearly a demand for information on the condition of the property, the report in its present format is not seen as the right means of achieving that by the home buyers, sellers or the industry more widely.

I understand from colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government, who have responsibility for the issue, that a working group has been established to explore alternative options for ensuring that consumers have appropriate information about a property's condition. The working group is not specifically looking at environmental matters that might affect homes, such as asbestos. The issue of whether and how the presence of asbestos in a home could be reflected in any new reporting arrangements is a matter for the industry.

The UCATT-commissioned report recommends that the duty to manage regulation is also extended to social housing and that asbestos surveys are also made mandatory for such housing. The Health and Safety Executive is currently evaluating the impact of the duty to manage regulation and that will inform any decision on amending, replacing or extending the scope of the regulations. The UCATT report will form part of the evidence for the HSE's evaluation. We hope that it will be able to conclude that evaluation in the autumn.

The last recommendation of the report that would require legislative change is that warning symbols should be displayed on power tools to alert users to the dangers of working with asbestos, as my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone mentioned. The HSE will reflect on that helpful suggestion, which I believe is aimed at influencing behaviour. It might be that legislation is not the best way to influence the behaviours of workers and do-it-yourself enthusiasts. HSE research has concluded that media campaigns such as the recent hidden killer campaign, to which my hon. Friend referred, are the most effective method to influence behaviour. He mentioned the British Lung Foundation survey and its concern that workers were not aware of the dangers. I would hope that if that survey were carried out now, it would find that the hidden killer campaign has raised awareness and done what we all want to do by changing behaviour.

Follow-up research showed that the campaign was successful in raising awareness of the risks and appropriate precautions. In addition, 71 per cent. of workers also said that they either had taken, or were planning to take, a more precautionary approach to avoid exposure to asbestos at work. I think that we would all welcome that. The HSE is working in partnership with key stakeholders from the supply chain to increase the availability of all essential protective equipment recommended by the HSE to allow workers to work safely with asbestos.

I shall now focus on the report's recommendations on the provision of training and campaign activity. I welcome the recommendation to prioritise asbestos hazards in training provision for maintenance workers. The Government fully agree with the need for improved knowledge about asbestos, where it may be encountered and the appropriate precautions to take. The asbestos at work regulations already require training to be given to those at work who might disturb materials containing asbestos, even inadvertently. There are now many providers of such training. Most are members of the UK Asbestos Training Association, which the HSE helped to establish.

For other workers who might be exposed to asbestos, employers already have a general legal duty to provide training and instruction to allow their general duty of care to be met. Employers who undertake work in demolition or maintenance, or any other work that is liable to expose employees to asbestos, have a separate duty to assess whether asbestos is present or is liable to be present, or to assume that it is present and then to take all the necessary precautions to prevent exposure to asbestos fibres.

On the specific issue raised by UCATT, the training provided for local authority and other staff in the housing sector should already include knowledge of asbestos where that is appropriate to their role. The Government, through the HSE, will continue to promote relevant occupational health and safety training in the context of the risks that employees face. The HSE recognises the importance of maintaining that work and, in partnership with many, including UCATT, will continue to raise awareness.

The UCATT report also calls for a review of the content of all current training provision for maintenance workers. The Government agree that maintenance workers, particularly apprentices and young trainees, need to be aware of the risks of asbestos. The HSE has already recognised that, is working with a major training provider linked to the union UNITE and plans to extend this to other key training and syllabus-setting bodies. The HSE intends to influence national vocational qualification and other course content in this sector, as it has in other sectors. That approach, together with the legal requirements in the asbestos regulations for those already in the workplace, should lead to a much better informed younger work force.

Similarly, as I outlined earlier on the labelling of power tools, any campaign must be based on evidence of what works best and needs to be underpinned by research and impact assessment. It is worth noting that independent research confirmed that the HSE's campaigns targeting the building maintenance work force were effective in reaching and influencing their target audience—maintenance workers. The general public also noticed the campaign messages, and the HSE is planning a smaller campaign to maintain the impetus this year.

In conclusion, I confirm to my hon. Friend that the Government have done much since 1997, as a result of his badgering and hard work, to strengthen the legislation and control mechanisms concerning asbestos. That includes the total ban on the importation and use of asbestos—

House adjourned without Question put (Standing Order No. 9(7)).