Sale Of Fireworks To Children Under Sixteen

EDM number 1523 in 1994-95, proposed by Richard Burden on 26/10/1995.

That this House, whilst welcoming the Government campaign on the issue of firework safety, especially given that the 1994 figures showed another unwelcome increase of 48 per cent. on the previous year, in the number of reported firework injuries, expresses its concern that there is such confusion over which body enforces the law governing the sale of fireworks to children under 16 years, despite the fact that a third of the injuries were due to illegal misuse, often by children; notes with regret that trading standards authorities in metropolitan areas had their responsibility for the enforcement of this law removed by the revocation in March 1995 of the Firework (Safety) Regulations 1986 as part of the Government's obsession with deregulation; acknowledges the view expressed by the trading standards professions who regard as unworkable the proposition that the General Product Safety Regulations 1994 should be used by them instead to enforce age of purchase legislation; agrees with the assessment of the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Police Federation that trading standards remain a more effective and appropriate enforcement authority than the police force who do not welcome the extra responsibility; and shares the opinion expressed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents that this reduction in controls governing the sale of fireworks to children under 16 years will lead to an increase the number of injuries.

This motion has been signed by a total of 40 MPs.