Oral Answers to Questions

Debbie Abrahams Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

From the roundtable discussions, and from subsequent discussions we have been having with the sector, it is clear that we need to look at the long-term funding issue. We faced a cliff edge towards the end of last year. That is not the right way to do things. We must start getting the funding discussions moving so that, well in advance of the end of this financial year, the funding situation for the palliative and hospice sector is much clearer.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

8. What steps he is taking to reduce inequalities in healthcare.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)]

Lord Darzi’s report laid bare the shocking health inequalities in our country. It is completely unacceptable that in Britain in 2025, maternal mortality rates for black women are more than double those of white women and life expectancy at birth for females in Blackpool is eight years less than in Kensington and Chelsea. Reducing inequalities in elective care was identified as a key priority in the planning guidance and mandate that the NHS published last month, and further measures to address these inequalities in our country will be at the heart of our 10-year health plan, which will be published in the spring.

[Debbie Abrahams]

In 2013, the then coalition Government reduced the health inequalities weighting in the NHS formula, with the result that less money went to deprived areas. That was despite evidence that between 2001 and 2011, every £10 million invested in such areas resulted in four fewer men and two fewer women dying early. Can my hon. Friend reassure Government Members that that health inequalities weighting will be reinstated so that we can ensure that deprived areas get the funding they need and that lives are saved?

[Ashley Dalton]

The Government mandate to NHS England was published on 30 January and makes the importance of tackling health inequalities clear. NHS England has an existing programme that targets the most deprived 20% of the population, with the aim of reducing health inequalities. I can reassure my hon. Friend, who has been a determined campaigner on inequalities, that the health inequalities weighting has not been withdrawn. The funding in question, which amounted to £200 million, has been incorporated into the main integrated care board allocation. The weighting of that health inequalities adjustment has been increased from 10% to 10.2%, so that the ICBs still benefit from that extra investment, with funding redistributed to areas with the poorest health outcomes, based on measures of avoidable mortality provided by the Office for National Statistics.