Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what measures her Department has in place to support those of its staff who have mental health problems.

Mental wellbeing forms a key theme in Defra’s employee Wellbeing Framework. The framework provides a structure for the Department to actively promote staff wellbeing, with a particular focus on reducing the incidence of stress and mental ill-health, while increasing awareness and empowering individuals to raise issues at an early stage. Our proactive approach to supporting staff with mental ill-health includes:

• reducing stigma around mental health and stress
• offering a wide range of e-learning packages and classroom training for managers and employees on mental health related topics
• promoting our Employee Assistance Provider
• empowering and providing budget for our employee-led staff network called Break the Stigma to support colleagues with stress or mental-ill health
• ensuring Line Managers have the resources, capability and skills to support individuals with mental ill-health. This includes robust attendance management guidance which advises early referral to Occupational Health.