Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will undertake a public consultation on amending the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 to require businesses to report long term sickness due to stress as a health and safety issue.

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) are made under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and apply to all sectors and workplaces in Great Britain.

The 2013 regulations clarified and simplified the list of reportable ill-health conditions (occupational diseases), as a result of a recommendation made by Professor Löfstedt in his report “Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety legislation”, published in 2011.

The Health and Safety Executive keeps the regulations, including the specified injuries and reportable diseases under review. The list of current reportable occupational diseases will be considered as part of the next formal post-implementation review of RIDDOR, which is due to report in 2023. Stress is not always work-related but can be connected to many other issues outside of the workplace and as such it would not be appropriate to require stress to be reported under RIDDOR.