Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential health effects on the general population of the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecasted rise in unemployment to 7.5 per cent in 2021.

A range of evidence shows that being unemployed can negatively affect an individual’s health. Several studies of the UK recession following the financial crisis in 2008 associated it with a rise in health problems, particularly mental health problems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many factors apart from labour market conditions may affect population health.

The Government has put in place a variety of support to help people stay healthy and to help people who may be experiencing health problems to stay in work or find work. On 23 November, we published our Wellbeing and Mental Health Support plan for COVID-19, which sets out the support available for people in the context of a second wave and the winter months.