In the first report of its kind, Public Health England (PHE) has revealed the impact of women’s reproductive health issues on the nation’s physical, mental and social wellbeing. The report combines women’s experiences, as reported in a new survey, with existing data to define reproductive health as a public health issue.

The report shows for the first time the extent of the impact these issues have on women’s ability to work and go about their daily lives and will form the basis of a cross-governmental 5-year action plan on reproductive health.

The survey of 7,367 women reveals that 31% had experienced severe reproductive health symptoms in the last 12 months, ranging from heavy menstrual bleeding to menopause, incontinence to infertility.

The hidden burden of reproductive health was particularly evident in the workplace. Focus groups undertaken as part of the study revealed that reproductive symptoms often affect women’s ability to carry out daily activities, but many conceal their symptoms from work colleagues.

Existing studies show that 12% of women have taken a day off work due to menopause symptoms and 59% have lied to their boss about the reasons for their absence. In addition, the PHE survey revealed that 35% of women have experienced heavy menstrual bleeding, which previous evidence shows is associated with higher unemployment and absence from work. Stigma surrounding reproductive health was a key concern for women taking part in the survey, with less than half of women seeking help for their symptoms, regardless of severity.

Overall, the report highlighted that women would like reproductive health issues to be normalised so that they can be discussed openly and self-managed where possible. It also underlines the need for more openness and support in the workplace around these issues.

Angela Kilcoyne, 44 and lives in Derbyshire, took part in a PHE focus group, said:

Since I was 13, I have felt embarrassed about having heavy menstrual bleeding – a health issue which has caused me debilitating pain and nausea.

I worked for years in banking, which was a very male dominated environment, and I never told my managers that I was off due to horrendous period pain. They would not have understood at all, so I would have to invent reasons month after month and soldier on. Or I would dose myself up and try and get through the day best I could, then collapse when I got home.

Reproductive health should be spoken about in the workplace in the same way as sickness or flu.

Dr Sue Mann, Public Health Consultant in Reproductive Health, from PHE said:

Women’s reproductive health concerns can fundamentally influence physical and mental well-being throughout their whole life course. Our research has highlighted that while individual reproductive health issues and concerns change throughout a woman’s life, the feelings of stigmatisation and embarrassment were almost universal.

The report reveals the need for an open and supportive approach in the workplace and in the health system. We encourage women to seek support from their workplace, and for workplace management to be aware of how reproductive health symptoms can affect women’s daily life.

A new consensus statement, which brings together 18 healthcare bodies, including Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the Royal College of GPs, has positioned reproductive health as a public health issue that needs to be addressed. Working with partners, PHE will create an integrated cross-governmental five-year action plan, informed by the best available data and women’s real life experiences of reproductive health symptoms.

1. World Health Organisation defines good reproductive health as ‘A state of physical, mental, and social well-being in all matters relating to the reproductive system. It addresses the reproductive processes, functions and system at all stages of life and implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so.’
2. This report was launched after Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer, called on ‘increased awareness, dissemination of information and person-centred care’ around reproductive health in her 2014 annual report The Health of the 51%: Women.

A multi-billion pound boost to social housing across England was confirmed today (26 June 2018) by Secretary of State for Communities, The Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, as part of the drive to build the homes communities need.

Around 23,000 new affordable homes will be delivered through a £1.67 billion government investment deal. This will include at least 12,500 social rent homes in high cost areas in a move to support families struggling to pay their rent.

This is part of the government’s £9 billion investment in affordable homes, £1.67 billion of which was announced in March 2018 for London. This latest funding will deliver homes across the rest of the country.

The Communities Secretary also heralded a new generation of council housing by inviting local authorities to bid for a share of £1 billion extra borrowing to build much-needed homes. This £1 billion borrowing cap raise will be split equally between London and the rest of England.

Local authorities have requested this extra financial flexibility, which will be allocated to those in areas with the highest affordability pressures to ensure homes are built where they are needed most.

These new measures are part of the government’s ambitious plans to build 1.5 million new homes by 2022 through planning reform and targeted investment.

The Rt. Hon James Brokenshire MP, Secretary of State for Communities, said:

The government has ambitious plans to fix the broken housing market and build the homes our communities need.

Today’s announcement is a further milestone. It will secure the delivery of an additional 23,000 much-needed affordable homes as well as paving the way for a new generation of council houses.

The majority of these new homes will be in high cost areas helping to ease the burden of rent on hard working families and delivering stronger communities.

A bidding process will now begin for both programmes, with successful bids for the affordable homes funding notified throughout the year. A list of successful councils who have had their borrowing caps increased will be announced in due course.

Since 2010 over 378,000 affordable homes been built.

An area of affordability pressure would be defined as an area where there is a difference of £50 more per week between average private sector rents and social sector rents.

This funding will include homes let at social rent, alongside other tenures such as affordable rent and shared ownership. All 12,500 of the homes for social rent will be delivered in areas of high affordability pressure.

Registered providers of social housing are invited to bid through Homes England’s Continuous Market Engagement process. See further details.

Local authorities outside London are invited to bid through Homes England’s bidding process. See the bidding prospectus detailing who can bid and how bids will be judged.

• new fund will help more small businesses adopt tried and tested technologies to unlock £100 billion of untapped benefit to our economy
• The fund forms part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, building an environment that makes Britain the best place in the world to do business

In a speech to the CBI today (Tuesday 26 June) Small Business Minister Andrew Griffiths will unveil a new £8 million fund to boost the productivity and performance of small businesses in England.

Boosting national productivity and increasing workers’ earning power forms a key part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy and the Business Basics Fund, run by BEIS in partnership with Innovate UK, will help businesses, charities, trade organisations and public sector organisations support small businesses in adopting tried and tested technologies and management techniques.

Once the projects are launched, the government will then work with leading experts to evaluate the effectiveness of each project in boosting productivity, helping to inform future policies.

Research from the CBI suggests that by encouraging more businesses to take advantage of leading technologies, management practices and business support services – such as cloud computing, mobile technology and e-purchasing – the UK economy could receive a £100 billion boost and see a 5% reduction in income inequality.

Small Business Minister Andrew Griffiths said:

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, with more than 1,000 new businesses starting up every day, and it is vital that we support them to grow through our modern Industrial Strategy.

The Business Basics Fund will test new and innovative ways of supporting small businesses to take advantage of technologies and management practices – giving small business leaders the tools and support they need to continue to thrive.

Matthew Fell, CBI UK Chief Policy Director, said:

Put simply, UK businesses must do more to improve their productivity to get themselves match fit to compete globally in the years ahead. Low uptake of the nuts and bolts technologies of today is a key feature of the productivity puzzle that can, and must, be tackled.

UK business technology adoption levels are close to the EU average but far behind the front runners, lagging nearly a decade behind the Danes.

The new Industrial Strategy can be the perfect vehicle to get to grips with this missing piece of the jigsaw.

Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive of innovation foundation Nesta, said:

I welcome the launch of the Business Basics Fund, and the commitment to using experiments. Nesta has advocated and run experiments in business support across the world through our Innovation Growth Lab which has worked with a dozen governments.

With this move, the UK is taking a lead in applying experimental methods to boosting productivity – much the best way of ensuring that in the long run public money goes on programmes that really do work.

The launch of the fund is the latest in a number of new measures introduced by the government to boost business productivity, including a review launched last month on how best to raise business productivity.

The Business Productivity Review call for evidence is open until 6 July 2018 and the government is encouraging workers, businesses, trade associations and other interested parties to contribute their views to it.

In 2017 Be the Business, an industry-led initiative backed by government, launched to help businesses across the UK benchmark their current level of productivity, access advice and utilise smart management training.

1. Details about the funding available, the application process and further guidance is available from the Innovation Funding Service. There will be a total of £2 million available in this first call under Business Basics Fund.
2. To address the UK’s productivity challenge, the government’s Industrial Strategy focuses on the 5 foundations of productivity:

• ideas
• people
• infrastructure
• business environment
• place

As part of our approach to improving the business environment, the government’s recently launched a review of the actions that could be most effective in improving the productivity and growth of small and medium-sized businesses. The call for evidence closes on 6 July and can be responded to on GOV.UK .

3. Productivity is frequently defined as output per worker, or alternatively output per hour worked.

4. The UK has a strong business environment upon which we can build:

• 1,100 businesses start every day in Britain and we are ranked as one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business
• we have more than 31,000 Scale Up businesses
• between 2012 and 2016 London attracted more tech investment than Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam combined