Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on businesses of inactivity in the labour market among people who have a (a) disability and (b) chronic mental health condition.

In October 2016, my department in conjunction with the Department of Health, published, Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper which included a range of data of the impact of inactivity on the labour market, including our estimate that ill health among working age people which prevents them from working, costs the economy around £100 billion a year and related sickness absence costs employers £9 billion a year.

This Government is committed to building a country that works for everyone. The package of initiatives announced in Improving Lives aims to improve the employment prospects of those with disabilities and health conditions; helping them to realise their potential and enabling employers’ to benefit from a large, valuable and under-used section of the labour market.