The New Economic Contract for Businesses

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 13 February 2019.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:54, 13 February 2019

Can I thank Jack Sargeant for his question? I'd be delighted to meet with him to discuss how we can further utilise the economic contract for this purpose. This is an issue that he and I share a very keen interest in. It's an issue that causes almost £100 billion of damage to the UK economy in terms of lost output per year—the estimate is between £74 billion and £100 billion. Indeed, Llywydd, for businesses themselves, the cost is incredible. An independent study recently suggested an annual cost of between £33 billion and £42 billion to UK employers, because of poor mental health in the workplace. More than half of that figure can be attributed to people coming in to work but not being able to face a day's work without mental health issues. It was one of the reasons why I thought it was so important to include mental health as one of the four criteria in the economic contract, and I have to say that we are already seeing behavioural change within many businesses. We are seeing examples of very best practice such as at GoCompare and Bluestone and Wockhardt. I don't wish to be prescriptive through the economic contract as to how businesses improve well-being and mental health in the workplace because there are a huge number of businesses already showing great creativity and innovation in this field. I'd like to see their best practice diffused and disseminated across the economy.