Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the incidence of workplace bullying.

Bullying and harassment have no place in today’s workplace environment and are unacceptable wherever they occur. The UK has a strong safety net of legislation to protect people from harassment in the workplace. This covers harassment on the grounds of sex, race, disability, religion or belief or sexual orientation and age. In addition, harassment is a criminal offence and victims have a right to damages.

The best way to address unacceptable behaviour in the first instance is within the workplace. That’s why my Department’s supports the Health and Safety Executive Management Standards approach for work-related stress which includes a standard for relationships at work that covers unacceptable behaviour such as conflict, bullying and harassment. The Management Standards help organisations manage the causes of work-related stress in a simple and pragmatic way.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) also aims to support better employment relations by offering free impartial advice. Acas operates a nationwide telephone helpline for employers and employees, they can be contacted on: 0300 123 1100. Acas recently published new guidance addressing the need to conduct fair and thorough grievance and disciplinary investigations; and published new research seeking better solutions to deal with bullying.

Acas also offers training and business solutions including free eLearning and advisory booklets explaining how employers and individuals can tackle and prevent bullying, ill treatment and harassment more effectively in Britain’s workplaces - raising employee motivation, attendance and productivity.