Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024, who the specialist work and health professionals are that will be responsible for issuing fit notes; and whether his Department plans to provide training to those professionals on the range of health conditions relevant to the issuing of fit notes.

The trailblazers announced at Autumn Statement 2023 will recruit clinical and non-clinical professionals into roles where they will be provided with additional training and support to conduct robust and in-depth work and health conversations with people, who in turn will be provided with advice and guidance on how they might be able to stay in, or return to, work with the support of their employer.

Our ambition is to co-develop a new fit note process delivered through multi-disciplinary teams, bringing together the issuing of fit notes with health and work advice to support people who are at risk of falling out of work or who have already fallen out of work due to ill health.