Health Bill

Debate between Lord Mawson and Baroness Hyde of Bemerton

Committee stage
Wednesday 11th November 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Hyde of Bemerton) (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that warm welcome.

With permission, I will address Amendments 48 and 279QF together, which look at the very important relationship between health and work. I agree with the point made by the noble Lords, Lord Mawson and Lord Singh, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Hollins, Lady Bennett and Lady Coffey—possibly all noble Lords who have contributed today—that good work, and I say that advisedly, is good for health, which is why we are already taking action to address the relationship between work and health. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Singh, that work and health are not competing interests. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Kamall, that the responsibility for good health does not sit just within the DHSC.

We already have programmes that bring together health and employment support around the individual, including health and growth accelerators. We are already acting at scale. This month, WorkWell began its national rollout across every ICB in England, building on pilots that have already supported around 25,000 people. Backed by up to £259 million over three years, the expanded service could support up to 250,000 people with health conditions to stay in work—this goes to the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey—or return to work. The 10-year health plan is clear on the critical role that the health system has, alongside local partners, in addressing health-related economic inactivity, especially through prevention and early intervention, which the noble Lord, Lord Singh raised.

Sir Charlie Mayfield’s independent Keep Britain Working review, published a year ago, highlighted the scale of the problem of people falling out of work for reasons of ill health and disability, including mental health conditions, and the vital role employers can play in addressing this. Further, the Government are already taking forward the development of a better model of workplace health provision through the Keep Britain Working programme. This system is intended to improve access to support for employers of all sizes, including the small and medium-sized enterprises referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, and will be supported by a robust, recognised BSI employer standard. We are testing reforms to the fit note process so that the system works much better for patients, employers and GPs. These are aimed at moving from administrative sickness certification to a service focused on getting people the support they need to stay in work or return sustainably.

Finally, we have commissioned the recent Fonagy review and the forthcoming independent Milburn review, given the importance that the Government place on the relationship between work and health. Alongside this, given that several noble Lords mentioned young people, the Government are investing £2.5 billion by 2029 into the youth guarantee and the growth and skills levy. This investment will support young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to learn and earn.

We do not believe that additional statutory duties or reviews are the right approach here. We are happy to offer the noble Lord, Lord Singh, the noble Baronesses, Lady Coffey and Lady Hollins, and other contributors today a meeting with the officials working on the Keep Britain Working thread. The Government are already taking significant action in the health and work space, and I hope that noble Lords are reassured that the Government recognise the importance of this issue.

[Lord Mawson (CB)]

My Lords, this all sounds fine in theory, but people like me are nosy—we go and have a look under the carpet at what is happening, in detail, in the machinery. Often, this machinery means well but the structures and siloed systems prevent the kinds of relationships that need to happen in the modern world.

I will illustrate this. From 2015, for many years I led the Well North programme for Duncan Selbie, which has now evolved into a national programme. It is interesting to talk to the Well Doncaster programme, which the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, will be pleased to hear now has 34 staff and operates across Doncaster —it is a fantastic success story and some great things are happening there. But I was talking to one of our lead colleagues there just a few weeks ago, who was saying that, in Doncaster, the Pride in Place programme is completely disconnected from this programme. I am sharing this with the Minister because there is a desperate need to get under the carpet of these practical issues, otherwise we will say all these wonderful things but—I say this from experience—very little will change.

[Baroness Hyde of Bemerton (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for those points. I recall that I did not answer substantively his point on neighbourhood health, and the further point he has raised cuts to the heart of that. I am very optimistic, as a former lead member in a local authority and now a Minister in this place, about the opportunity of neighbourhood health. It is a great moment to get away from the model of a clinical box and viewpoint and work holistically across a wide range of services. Let us continue to look under that bonnet together, because we are driving at the same aim here: improved health for all our communities, outside the silo of DHSE.