Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent financial incentives she has introduced to encourage employers to invest in the health and well being of their workforce through the contracting of services designed to facilitate more rapid returns to work by employees at risk of health-related job loss.

The tax incentives available to employers to encourage investment in employee health and wellbeing include relief for employer-funded medical treatment up to £500 where there has been a recommendation from an occupational health professional and the employee has been absent for 28 days.

To inform future policy decisions, the Government is supporting the West Midlands Combined Authority to undertake a pilot study to assess whether and how financial incentives affect SME actions to improve health and wellbeing in the workplace.

The Government will consult this year on measures to encourage and support all employers to reduce health-related job loss, and to improve access to occupational health.