Public Health White Paper

Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Excerpts

Tuesday 30th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

Last year, Birmingham had about 500 confirmed cases of tuberculosis and there were calls for the city council to have compulsory city-wide inoculation programmes. Under the Secretary of State’s newly conferred powers, is that something that local authorities could now do?

[Mr Lansley]

No; the response to infectious diseases will continue to be the responsibility of the Department of Health, with a more integrated Public Health England incorporating the responsibilities of the Health Protection Agency and recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and others. There was a lot of important debate about the discontinuation of the BCG inoculation. My view is that targeted action in areas with high prevalence of TB—as there is in a small number of places—is more appropriate than the introduction of any generalised inoculation at this stage.