Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help workplaces adapt to rising temperatures.

The Government is committed to ensuring workplaces are safe in the modern world, and in ‘Next Steps to Make Work Pay’ we committed to look at how to modernise health and safety guidance for extreme temperatures.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Great Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety and provides guidance for employers to manage the risk to workers, including from extreme heat. HSE issued a press release on Friday 19 June to raise awareness of the workplace risks to workers in the hot weather. This year, HSE will also be launching a public consultation on proposed changes to the Approved Code of Practice for the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, including those relating to workplace temperature.