Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Health and Safety Executive is adequately resourced to tackle the concerns over the rise in covid-19 infections under the protections in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

As part of the Spending Review 2020 process, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was provided with an additional £14m for financial year 2021/22, to continue to support the government in its national response to the global Covid-19 pandemic. This funding is in addition to HSE’s regular government funding to deliver its wide-ranging regulatory functions.

The additional funding has enabled HSE to increase the resource supporting the Working Safely Advice line for businesses and workers, undertake a proactive Spot Check programme and ongoing Spot Check collaboration with local authorities. During April to June 2021, there have been more than 88,000 Covid-19 compliance spot checks.

HSE is funded to deliver its wide-ranging regulatory functions and continues to redirect resource, when required, to ensure transmission of coronavirus is reduced in the workplace.