Written questions by Foxcroft.

What steps his Department plans to take to include people with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions in the development of employment support programmes.

Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million of investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November and will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group, so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions, with their employment journey. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.Measures include support from work coaches and disability employment advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through employment advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, individual placement and support in primary care, and WorkWell.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the use of body mass index criteria as a means to accessing treatment such as joint replacement surgery.

The Department has made no specific assessment of this criterion alone.As with all surgery, body mass index would be considered as part of a holistic, personalised, perioperative evaluation of the risks versus the clinical need for joint replacement surgery of an individual patient. However, body mass index should not be considered in isolation and in and of itself should not act as a barrier to surgery.For example, blanket body mass index thresholds for surgery should not be in place or used as a means of determining eligibility for surgery.As part of the NHS Elective Reform Plan there is a commitment to expand access to the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme for patients waiting for hip and knee surgery.

How the upcoming NHS Workforce plan will ensure recruitment and retention of the rheumatology workforce.

The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure that the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. To support this, the Department and NHS England will be engaging with key stakeholders to ensure that the particular needs of different patient groups and relevant health professionals are reflected in this work.