Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which sectors and occupations will be excluded from the general duties of self-employed persons for the purposes of the Deregulation Bill.

The prescribed list will cover undertakings rather than specific sectors or occupations. An undertaking will be prescribed if one of the following four criteria is met:

1. There are high numbers of self-employed in a particular industry, and high rates of injuries and/or fatalities (e.g. agriculture);
2. There is a significant risk to members of the public (e.g. fairgrounds);
3. There is the potential for mass fatalities (e.g. explosives); or
4. There is a European obligation to retain the general duty on self-employed persons (e.g. construction - Council Directive 92/57/EEC imposes duties on the self-employed for safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites).

A consultation on the regulations can be found at:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/consult/condocs/cd273.htm

The definition of construction activities, to which the self employed will continue to have duties, can be found in the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.