Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the number of health and safety representatives in a workplace on the level of support provided to menopausal employees.

All employers have a legal duty to consult and involve their employees on health and safety matters. For businesses that recognise trade unions, this legal duty will apply under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (as amended) and for non-unionised businesses it will apply under the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 (as amended).

Both sets of regulations provide a legal framework for employers, trade unions and employees to reach agreement on arrangements for health and safety representatives and health and safety committees to operate in their workplace. The regulations do not determine how many safety representatives should be appointed, as this will depend on a number of factors, such as the size of the business and the number of employees.