Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the employment rate is for (a) the general population and (b) people experiencing enduring and severe mental health issues who are being supported by specialist mental health services.

The employment rate for 16 to 64 year olds within the UK is 74.1 per cent; this is based on the latest available figures from the Labour Force Survey covering the period of November 2015 to January 2016.

A measure of those people in contact with mental health services who are 'experiencing enduring and severe mental health issues' is not available as a description to identify this group is not currently defined.

On 15 February, the Prime Minister announced that tens of thousands of people with mental health conditions will be supported to find or return to work. Action will be taken across government, the NHS and private companies to treat potentially debilitating mental health conditions early on through improved access to care and to help those already struggling with mental health issues to find or return to work.

The new approach is based on recommendations from the Mental Health Taskforce which set out a comprehensive plan to tackle the problem and which recognised clear links between work and good mental health and the need for more people to be able to access treatment early on so they can avoid long-term unemployment.

DWP secured over £115m, including at least £40 million for a health and work innovation fund to pilot new ways to join up across the health and employment systems, in addition to existing £43m for a range of mental health trials.