Work and pensions minister backs evidence that work is good for health

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Minister Lord McKenzie has met with organisations involved in promoting healthy working and safety in Scottish workplaces, to help highlight that being in work can be better for your health, as reported by Workplace Law on 10 September:

Lord McKenzie said:

“The recognition that there is evidence that work is good for people's health is, I believe, powerful. It means that staying in work or returning to work, far from being seen as part of the problem, could actually be part of the solution to ill-health.

In Hamilton, Scotland, he visited the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives (SCHWL) to find out more about the work of the centre and the benefits of the services it offers.

The centre was set up in April 2005 and its aim is to ensure healthier and safer workplaces, promote healthier lifestyles, and to develop the field of employability throughout Scotland.

Promoting health, work and wellbeing in the workplace, is a key feature of the DWP Green Paper 'In work, better off: next steps to full employment', published on 18 July. It sets out five key areas aimed at helping people back into sustainable work, they are:

• more partnership working with employers;
• a more personalised, flexible and responsive new deal, delivering support which is right for the individual;
• an integrated employment and skills agenda;
• greater utilisation of expertise across the private and third sectors, allowing Jobcentre Plus to focus on where it adds the greatest value; and
• in the context of this improved support, a strengthening of the rights and responsibility agenda, particularly for lone parents.

Lord McKenzie said:

“Our vision is no less than full employment in this generation by extending the opportunity of work to all. To make this happen we have set out clear measures in our 'In work, Better Off' consultation paper to help disadvantaged people break out of benefit dependency and find sustainable work. I invite businesses from across Scotland to let us have their views on these proposals."

The 'In work, better off: next steps to full employment' Green Paper is at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/welfarereform/in-work-better-off/ The Government is seeking views before the consultation closes on 31 October 2007.