Department for Education: Coronavirus

(asked on 25th February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that his Department and its agencies remove all internal covid-19 related policies, restrictions and mask mandates.


Answered by
Michelle Donelan Portrait
Michelle Donelan
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This question was answered on 9th March 2022

Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, all Civil Service employers have followed government guidance in setting out their internal COVID-19 related policies. This includes complying with the ‘Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19)’ guidance, which sets out the key actions organisations should take to protect employees and customers to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading in workplaces. This guidance was followed along with carrying out health and safety risk assessments that include the ongoing risk from COVID-19. It is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-covid-19.

In line with the government's plans to live with COVID-19, the department does not operate a mask mandate, though to encourage individual liberty, it does support an employee’s individual choice to wear a mask if they would like to. The guidance advises that people continue to wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed settings where they come into contact with people they do not normally meet, when rates of transmission are high. Civil Service employers will continue to follow this guidance and align their policies accordingly.

After two years of working from home and hybrid working, all employees are capable of working from home, and we encourage them to follow the government's common sense guidance to work from home if they have COVID-19 and are exhibiting only mild symptoms.

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