Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to mandate individual risk assessments for all employees in his Department before they return to the workplace following the easing of covid-19 restrictions; and how many individual risk assessments for people returning to work have been conducted by his Department as of 21 February 2022.

All employers are required to conduct a health and safety risk assessment that includes the risks of COVID-19 in the workplace. Within the Civil Service, managers are also encouraged to conduct an individual risk assessment with their employees, ensuring that personal risk factors are considered and, where identified, control measures are put in place to reduce their level of risk when returning to the workplace.

A decision on whether it is safe for an employee to return to the workplace will be based on the outcomes of those risk assessments.

Information concerning the number of individual risk assessments for people returning to work can only be provided at disproportionate cost.