BAKERS' ASTHMA

That this House notes with concern that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports that levels of work-related asthma could be ten times as prevalent as official figures would suggest; notes that for nearly a decade, bakers and flour confectioners, together with vehicle sprayers, have consistently been the occupations recording the highest number of newly-recorded cases each year; regrets that due to HSE funding cuts, regular inspections of small independent and craft bakeries do not take place; further notes the research of Professor Paul Cullinan of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London which suggests that incidence of unreported bakers' asthma is particularly high in supermarket scratch bakeries; believes that major employers like supermarkets have a responsibility to work with experts in occupational health and trade union representatives to develop best practice in limiting exposure to flour, enzymes and other dusts; and calls on the Government to reverse cuts to the HSE's budget so that regular inspections can take place to ensure that workers are properly protected.