Employers have a legal ‘duty of care’ to ensure the health of all employees is looked after, under the The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 [external site]. The policy drivers in Scotland for mental health improvement include: Better Health, Better Care: Action Plan [external site] (2007) Viewed in the workplace as providing ‘an ideal opportunity for the primary prevention of ill health and the promotion of wellbeing’. In it, the Scottish Government expresses determination ‘to re-energise Scotland’s healthy working lives agenda, working in partnership with employers, unions, local authorities and other stakeholders such as Health and Safety Executive Scotland’, and gave a commitment to support employers to ensure safe and health promoting environments. equally well [external site] (2008) The Ministerial Task Force on health inequalities was set up to tackle the inequalities in health that will otherwise prevent Scotland from achieving the Government's overall purpose of sustainable economic growth, supported by increased life expectancy. The report referred to ‘strong evidence that work is generally good for physical and mental health and wellbeing and that worklessness is associated with poorer physical and mental health and wellbeing’. Health Warning: Being Out Of Work Seriously Damages People's Health [PDF: 62kb] (2008) Information for healthcare professionals on the effects of unemployment. Health Works: A Review of the Scottish Government’s Healthy Working Lives Strategy [PDF: 304kb] (2009) A review of the Scottish Government's Healthy Working Lives Strategy. Healthy Working Lives: a plan for action [PDF: 1.38mb] (2005) A policy developed to take forward the workplace strand of the Health Improvement Challenge. No-one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility [external site] (2008) This Green Paper sets out plans aimed to ensure that the majority of people of working age and their families will no longer be on benefits for life. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) [external link] This Green Paper on Welfare Reform recognises the importance of mental health improvement. It has announced a doubling of the Access to Work budget to provide supported moves into employment for 48,000 people with disabilities (including approximately 40 percent of this number with mental health problems) by 2013/14, compared with the existing 24,000 people. Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives [external link] The centre helps employers, employees and partner agencies come together to create a much healthier and more motivated workforce in Scotland. Scottish Development Centre for Mental Health (SDCMH) [external site] The centre was commissioned to support Workforce Plus partnerships, locally and nationally, in achieving its objectives. The Scottish Mental Health and Employability Network [external site] The Network comprises partners involved in mental health and employability services. It will be taking forward work on how more people with mental health problems who want to work can be effectively supported. SUPPORT Project: Mentally healthy workplaces [external site] The European Pact for Mental Health and Well-being covers five thematic areas in mental health. Within these, common horizontal threads ensure comparability and compatibility between actions. Towards a Mentally Flourishing Scotland (TAMFS): Policy and Action Plan 2009-2011 [PDF 5.84mb] TAMFS identified ‘Mentally Healthy Employment and Working Life’ as one of its six priorities. It stated that paid or unpaid employment or voluntary work is generally better for mental health than unemployment, but that its value depends on both the work itself and culture in relation to the workplace. Workforce Plus: an Employability Framework for Scotland [PDF: 1.49mb] (2006) Workforce Plus, Scotland’s employability framework, sets out actions needed at local and national levels to increase the numbers of people into work. It focuses on those who are furthest away from the labour market and face additional barriers that need to be overcome, such as those with learning disabilities and mental health problems.