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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of employers dismissing customer-facing staff who refuse to have a covid-19 vaccination.

The UK operates a system of informed consent for vaccinations and uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination has been very high across the UK.

Employers, including those in customer-facing sectors, who propose to introduce a requirement for staff to be vaccinated will need to consider the existing legal framework, including the law on employment, dismissal, equalities and data protection. Employers will need to ensure that they have acted in accordance with their legal obligations when making decisions on requiring evidence of a COVID-19 vaccination, taking account of their particular context and circumstances.