Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to help ensure that sickness absences caused by bullying at work are tackled in good time.

Any form of bullying and harassment is unacceptable and has no place in today’s workplace.

The Government has published guidance on the steps that employees can take if they are experiencing bullying or harassment at work, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/workplace-bullying-and-harassment.

Acas provides free and impartial advice for employers and employees on a variety of employment matters, including managing sickness absence and the return to work. Acas has recently updated its guidance on how to deal with bullying in the workplace. This includes how to best support an employee’s mental health and wellbeing, and is available at: https://www.acas.org.uk/bullying-at-work