PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Business Premises: Ventilation (19 July 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2021 to Question 30321 on Business Premises: Coronavirus, what budget has been made available for enforcement activities in respect of business premises ventilation in each of the last 10 years; what enforcement action has been taken in respect of ventilation of business premises in each of the last 10 years; and when she most recently discussed ventilation of business premises with national bodies representing businesses.

Asked by:
Ed Miliband (Labour)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) allocates resources based on planned levels of activity to deliver it’s published strategy and plans. It does not allocate budgets by specific risk areas such as business premises ventilation, but inspectors will take action to respond to poor ventilation if identified during regulatory activity.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the risks associated with poor general ventilation in a workplace increased due to the risk of transmitting coronavirus. HSE has carried out more than 300,000 interventions since the start of the pandemic, to check how businesses are implementing measures to reduce transmission of coronavirus at their sites, including whether employees are working in poorly ventilated spaces. Where contraventions are identified, HSE inspectors will take action to secure compliance by providing verbal advice, written correspondence or serving enforcement notices.

HSE has also updated their website guidance to support businesses in addressing the issue of ventilation in businesses www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/equipment-and-machinery/air-conditioning-and-ventilation/index.htm.

HSE does not collate all enforcement action taken specifically in respect of ventilation. However, HSE’s operational database shows that in the last ten years, there have been 7 enforcement notices specifically citing Regulation 6 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (as amended), which imposes general requirements for ensuring workplaces are adequately ventilated. Please see table below for figures:

Year	Number of enforcement notices citing contraventions of Regulation 6 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (as amended)
2011	2
2012	1
2013	0
2014	1
2015	0
2016	0
2017	0
2018	0
2019	3
2020	0
Total	7

This table does not, however, provide a full picture of HSE enforcement in respect of ventilation, for example because enforcement action on coronavirus-related ventilation deficiencies may be taken under the general provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, without reference to the above-mentioned regulation (and in such cases cannot readily be identified on HSE systems). Further, HSE does not collate information to identify how often verbal advice or written correspondence has been provided by inspectors to deal specifically with ventilation deficiencies.

HSE has had numerous recent meetings with national representative groups in which the issue of workplace ventilation was discussed and is involved in scientific activities researching ventilation issues. The Secretary of State has not been involved in these discussions personally.

Answered by:
Mims Davies (Conservative)
22 July 2021