Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with pre-existing health conditions living in an area under Tier (a) One and (b) Two covid-19 restrictions do not have to go to a workplace environment that is not covid-secure.

The Government has provided employers with comprehensive guidance on safer working which complements the Department of Health and Social Care’s guidance to clinically extremely vulnerable people. The safer working guidance is clear that employers must be mindful of their responsibilities. We highlight that failure to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and put in place sufficient control measures to manage the risk may be considered a breach of health and safety law. Any issues identified by a worker can be escalated according to the steps in the guidance.