Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the White Paper entitled Get Britain Working, published on 26 November 2024, what steps her Department is taking to provide support to small and medium-sized enterprises to improve access to occupational health services.

The Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Health and Social Care are committed to supporting people with their employment journey. Expert-led impartial advice, and interventions such as Occupational Health, can help employers provide appropriate and timely work-based support to manage their employees’ health conditions, and also support business productivity.

The Joint Work Health Directorate Occupational Health reform programme has focused on increasing access and uptake of occupational health. This has included increasing private market coverage of employer led Occupational Health to help businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises, to support disabled employees and those with health conditions to get in and on in work and get back into appropriate work as quickly as possible. Through this programme we have also explored how we enable a sustainable workforce to support good quality provision across all sectors.

The Department for Work and Pensions additionally offers support to small and medium-sized enterprises through a number of programmes, such as the Disability Confident Scheme, which provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence to employ those with a disability or health condition and a digital information service for (Support with Employee Health and Disability), which provides tailored guidance on supporting employees in common workplace scenarios involving health and disability.

Employers, including those from Small and Medium enterprises can also refer to WorkWell pilots which went live from October 2024 in 15 areas across England. Available to people both in and out of work, it provides low intensity holistic support for health-related barriers to employment, and a single joined up gateway to existing local work and health service provision.

Upon publication of our Get Britain Working White Paper, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent Keep Britain Working Review as a part of the plan to Get Britain Working again.

In recognition of the vital role of businesses of all sizes, Sir Charlie Mayfield is considering recommendations to support and enable employers to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence, and recruit and retain more disabled people and people with health conditions.