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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will require employers to publish comprehensive covid-19 risk assessments in advance of the return of their employees to work after the covid-19 lockdown.

The Government has published guidance developed with industry experts, unions, business organisations, local Government, and other stakeholders, requiring employers to carry out risk assessments as part of normal health and safety practice in order to get employees back to work safely.

Employers need to develop their risk assessments with input from unions and workers, as they do under normal circumstance. All businesses should share the results of their risk assessment with their employees. We are asking employers to publish the results of these assessments whenever possible.

The Government expects larger organisations – those with over 50 workers – to publish the results of their risk assessments. We think businesses will want to do this to help build the confidence of their workers and their customers. In order to help with this, the Government has provided a new notice which employers can display on their website to show they have followed the guidance on managing the risks of COVID-19.