Health Secretary Matt Hancock calls on employers to offer free fruit and bicycle loans to staff in a bid to reduce the burden on the NHS

  • He cites Rodda's, a Cornish dairy firm, as a good example of these practices
  • The former culture secretary will tomorrow announce the new initiative  
  • It comes weeks after he suggested staff get stand-up desks for use at work 

By James Wood For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

The Health Secretary is calling on companies to offer free fruit and bicycle loans to staff in a bid to keep them healthy and reduce the burden on the NHS.

Matt Hancock will tomorrow announce a new initiative urging employers to do more to maintain the health and well-being of their staff.

He cited a Cornish firm as a prime example of a workplace which helps reduce the burden on the NHS - with its own free fruit, counseling and cycle scheme.

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Matt Hancock (pictured outside Downing Street last week) is urging firms to do more to maintain the health and well-being of their employees 

Matt Hancock (pictured outside Downing Street last week) is urging firms to do more to maintain the health and well-being of their employees 

The former culture secretary was speaking in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, and in it also urged firms to do more to help ill employees return to work.

He said: 'The lesson is that employers need to be more engaged when people aren't well, getting them back to work.'

Citing the benefits already in place at the Cornish dairy firm Rodda's, he said: 'It employs 178 staff and places a big emphasis on health and well-being. 

'Initiatives include free fruit, counselling, bereavement and legal services, cycle to work scheme, and a staff volunteer scheme.' 

His comments come as Philip Hammond announced the biggest public-spending splurge since 2010 – including the £20 billion a year extra for the NHS announced by the Prime Minister earlier this year.

Theresa May also today announced that the Conservatives are the 'natural party of the NHS' in an interview with the The Mail on Sunday.

This is certainly not the first time Mr Hancock has mentioned improving health in the workplace. 

Earlier this month he said workers should stand at their desks and hold stand-up meetings to increase their exercise levels.

The Health Secretary is calling on firms to offer free fruit (pictured stock image) to reduce the burden of unhealthy workers on the NHS

The Health Secretary is calling on firms to offer free fruit (pictured stock image) to reduce the burden of unhealthy workers on the NHS

He said he had his own stand-up desk and encouraged standing meetings wherever possible, partly because they did not go on as long.

An average employee burns an extra 50 calories an hour standing at their desk as opposed to sitting or 150 calories if they stand for three hours a day.

This amounts to 750 extra calories a week or 30,000 calories over the course of the year, equivalent to 8lb (3.5 kg) of fat.  

Speaking at the International Society for Physical Activity and Health Congress in London, he said: 'Workplaces can make a difference; encouraging breaks, offering standing desks, having standing meetings – which in my experience tend to finish quicker too.

'Our message should be that movement is medicine.'

His latest initiative, to ask employers to offer a range of healthy benefits - including free fruit - is just the latest in his suggested workplace changes.  

NHS

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