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 effect of covid-19 national lockdown restrictions on the mental health of (a) business owners and (b) employees.

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic, whether directly or indirectly, is having a significant impact on the mental health of individuals. The percentage (and number) of employees with mental health conditions has been going up steadily since 2013, the earliest comparable year. This has continued over the latest year. It is therefore difficult to make a robust assessment of the degree to which this increase is as a direct or indirect result of the pandemic. We will continue to monitor this from the range of data sources available. We do not have data available to assess the mental health conditions amongst business owners.