Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to promote greater recognition of the health benefits of work.

The Government recognises that good quality employment is an important determinant of good health.

Safe and accommodating work can:

• Be therapeutic and reverse adverse health effects of unemployment;
• Meet important psychosocial needs in societies where employment is the norm; and
• Be central to individual identity, social roles and social status.

The joint DWP and DHSC Work & Health Unit (now Directorate) was set up in 2015 in recognition of the significant link between work and health. The existence of the Joint Work and Health Directorate reflects the importance of the shared agenda on employment for disabled people and people with health conditions and work as a wider determinant of health.