Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment the Government has made of the benefit to businesses of a healthy workforce.

There is a good evidence base for the benefits to business of a healthy workforce, for example, workers who are in good health can be up to three times as productive as those in poor health. Conversely there are high costs to business from ill health: ‘Health at Work – an independent review of sickness absence’ found that the costs to employers of sick pay were £9bn per year.