Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the recent report from the all-party parliamentary group on occupational safety and health entitled Occupational medical workforce crisis, what steps he plans to take to ensure the occupational medicine workforce meets future demands for effective occupational health services.

Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for ensuring that there is sufficient future supply of staff to meet the workforce requirements of the English health system, taking in to account issues such as demographic changes.

In arriving at its annual workforce plan for England, HEE consults with local employers, professional bodies and stakeholders. As part of this work it will consider reports such as the one produced by the all-party parliamentary group on occupational safety and health.

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of employers to ensure they have sufficient staff to provide safe and effective care.