To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the fall in healthy life expectancy over the last decade in England; and what plans they have to address this.
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and I declare an interest as founder and trustee of the charity Health Equality Foundation.
My Lords, the fall in healthy life expectancy over the last decade is unacceptable and underlines the scale and complexity of the challenges we face. Through the 10-year health plan, we are taking action to tackle the drivers of ill health and inequality, including reviewing the Carr-Hill funding formula, to better match resources to need, and creating a smoke-free UK.
I thank my noble friend the Minister for that response. The Health Foundation’s report, Healthy Life Expectancy Trends in the UK: AWatershed Moment, published in April this year, makes it clear that healthy life expectancy is a key measure of our population’s health. The gap between the most deprived and the most affluent areas has grown, with those in the wealthiest areas now living up to 20 years longer. Social determinants of health affect healthy life expectancy—
I am coming to that. What plans do the Government have to address the social determinants of health across all government departments, because a single department cannot handle this? How can we close this gap?
My noble friend’s assessment of the situation is right. That is why we are working across government on the wider determinants of health, including matters such as the Warm Homes Plan and the homelessness strategy. Alongside that, the 10-year health plan focuses on prevention and narrowing inequalities. The aim is to improve all conditions that will support longer, healthier lives across the whole country.
My Lords, the Minister will be aware that one of the key determinants of healthy life expectancy is diet. In the 10-year health plan, the Government have a welcome section on improving the dietary health of the nation. It was therefore disturbing to note in the Telegraph a few days ago a report that said the Government are going to pull back on these commitments. Can the Minister please confirm to the House that the Government have no intention of pulling back on the commitments to improve dietary health?
It is an important area of government activity and I certainly do not recognise the comments that were in the Telegraph. I can confirm to noble Lords that we have a whole package of measures to tackle obesity, including restricting junk food advertising on TV and online aimed at children and giving local councils stronger powers to block new fast food outlets. That is still the case.
My Lords, is the Minister aware that there are scientists who are propagating nonsense that nothing can be done about the obesity epidemic because it is all genetic? These people are saying that the individual cannot be relied upon to take action and that it must be the Government who do it. It is complete nonsense, because the individual can take responsibility—and, indeed, millions are taking injections to do that very thing.
I recognise the noble Lord’s point. We are certainly seeking to give individuals the ability to grasp the opportunity to live well for longer and to support them in their choices. For example, in addition to the points I made to the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, we are working on restricting volume price promotions such as “buy three for the price of two” offers on less healthy food and drink.
My Lords, given that the UK is an outlier compared to similar countries, what work are the Government doing to introduce proactive, preventive health measures, such as routine health MOTs for people, to try to reverse this trend?
I welcome the noble Baroness to her Front Bench on the important matter of health and social care. I am most grateful for her question. We have to be ambitious, which is what the 10-year health plan is doing, in transforming how we tackle the biggest causes of ill health. We are going to take a whole-society approach and a whole-person approach, rather than dealing just with conditions. To the points made earlier, we will be working with individuals—as in the public—and in partnership with business and civil society.
My Lords, ever since the Marmot report, we have known that poor-quality employment is a key driver of lower healthy life expectancy. The Employment Rights Act is a big step forward, but does my noble friend the Minister agree that we need action on asbestos removal from workplaces and public places, more boots on the ground in the shape of health and safety inspectors, and a boost to occupational health services in the UK?
My noble friend is right. I very much welcome the provisions in the Employment Rights Act and in other areas; it is a good example of cross-government working. We are pursuing this through Keep Britain Working, which will reduce economic inactivity and focus on workplace health provision, as my noble friend says. I believe that will help address poverty and support healthy working. All those measures will help healthy life expectancy.
My Lords, my succinct question is this. Given that healthy life expectancy has fallen despite record levels of NHS spending, with obesity, diabetes and poor mental health continuing to rise, can the Minister explain what specifically will be different in the Government’s approach, beyond simply increasing treatment capacity to prevent more people spending longer periods of their lives in ill health?