Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the employment support provided by his Department on the National Health Service.

The Department has not assessed the overall impact of all DWP employment support on the NHS. However, evidence shows that good work can improve physical and mental health and also the Department has evaluated individual employment programmes to understand their effects on both employment and health outcomes.

For example, the Department published the health-led Employment Trials Evaluation in April 2023. The results showed that the intervention for people with moderate mental and physical health conditions had positive impacts on health and wellbeing as well as improved employment outcomes for some participant groups. These findings demonstrate the benefits of integrating health and employment support and have informed the ongoing development of employment support, such as Connect to Work and WorkWell.