My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Anne McGuire) has made the following Statement.

I chaired the first meeting of the gas safety and carbon monoxide (CO) awareness ministerial group on 14 June.  The group agreed to support a co-ordinated approach to raising awareness and reducing deaths and ill health caused by CO poisoning. It also intends to meet representatives of the gas industry  and others  in the autumn to review their progress in delivering a programme of renewed action on raising CO awareness.

The members of the group are:

Lord McKenzie—Department for Work and Pensions (chair);

Lord Adonis—Department for Education and Skills;

Andrew Davies—Welsh Assembly Government;

Nigel Dodds—Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Northern Ireland;

Caroline Flint—Department of Health;

Ian Pearson—Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;

Angela Smith—Communities and Local Government;

Lord Truscott—Department of Trade and Industry; and

Alistair Buchanan—OFGEM 

A Minister for Scotland is about to be invited to join the group following the recent elections in Scotland.