A Highlands MSP says the SNP should follow the UK Government’s lead and launch a new fund to boost workplace health.
At the end of January the UK Government started a £1 million fund for small and medium businesses and those who are self-employed.
Businesses can bid for up to £100,000 from this fund and use it to invest in research and technology to help improve health and wellbeing in their workplace.
Donald Cameron, Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands, says the SNP government in Holyrood should now follow suit and open up a similar fund north of the border.
‘There is a real gap’
Mr Cameron said the Scottish Government needs to take action on dealing with workplace health because of how drastically workplaces have changed since the coronavirus pandemic.
He said: “Big organisations and multinational businesses who have massive HR departments are much more capable at dealing with occupational health.
“But there is a real gap in the supply of occupational health services in small businesses in Scotland.
“People in these workplaces can have ill health at work and there needs to be help there to get people through that.”
Mr Cameron now hopes the Scottish Government will combine “a need that exists” with “innovative thinking around new technology” to help workplaces deal with new post-pandemic challenges.
MSP says money can be found
Given how constrained the SNP say the Scottish Government’s budget is for 2023/24, it is difficult to see where the money for such a fund would come from.
The UK Government fund is being jointly run by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Health and Social Care, and is being supported by UK Research and Innovation.
Mr Cameron, who said he is not trying to make a “party political point”, added that even if there are no funds available for this, a conversation needs to be had about improving occupational health in Scotland.
He said: “A lot of the existing health and innovation budget and the Scottish Government’s general financial budget could be redeployed to try and do this.
“At the very least if they can’t come up with the fund they should be sitting down and thinking about how we do things in the future.”
Mr Cameron added there are economic benefits down the line to investing in this as more people will be able to get back to work quicker after a period of ill health.
Holyrood to consider workplace health
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “While health and safety legislation itself is reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government is using its devolved healthcare powers to support the physical and mental health of the Scottish workforce.
“This includes the Healthy Working Lives service which provides advice and guidance to employers and the services offered by NHS Scotland.
“We will be considering occupational health provision as part of our update of the fair and healthy work for all strategy this year.”
Conversation