Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the number of people that are both economically inactive due to a health condition and on an NHS waiting list.

The department monitors trends in economic inactivity and works closely with other departments and organisations to understand the relationship between health and economic inactivity. There are a number of factors that could be contributing to a rise in economic inactivity. However, these factors are complex and may interact with one another and further work is required to establish whether, and to what extent, there is a relationship between the growth in NHS waiting lists and long-term sickness in the labour market.