Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he will accept the recommendations in the report by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council entitled COVID-19 and Occupational Impacts, published on 16 November 2022.

The department is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit can be paid.

Their report ‘COVID-19 and Occupational Impacts’ was published in November 2022, and recommended prescription for health and social care workers with five serious pathological complications following COVID-19 infection. The department is currently carrying out a detailed assessment of the report’s recommendations. Once this work is complete, the department will provide a formal response.

It would be premature therefore, at this stage, to give a view on the Council’s recommendations or their wider applicability to DWP policies.