Oral Answers to Questions

Joe Powell Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) (Lab)]

20. What steps his Department is taking to tackle health inequalities across the country.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

The driving force behind this Government’s approach to health is the principle that whoever a person is and whatever their background, they should receive the same world-class services as everyone else, based on need and not the ability to pay. That is why at its core, our 10-year plan for health looks to stamp out health inequalities, freeing up billions to move critical resources such as medicines and equipment to the regions and patients that need them most. Only a Labour Government will protect the NHS as a service free at the point of use, rebuild it, and make it fit for the future for everyone in our country.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wes Streeting]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that commitment. The damage that was wreaked by the previous Government, not just across our health service but across every other part of Government, means that the gap between the health of the poorest parts of our country and that of the wealthiest has widened enormously. We have seen real challenges in general practice, which is why there are 300 more patients per GP in the poorest communities compared with the richest, and that particularly affects rural and coastal communities with higher levels of deprivation. We are going to carry out a review of the Carr-Hill formula. That formula has to work for general practice, and I would be delighted to come and see the work that the team at Carn to Coast are doing.

[Joe Powell]

In Kensington and Bayswater, there is now a staggering 19-year gap in life expectancy between men living in Notting Dale and those living in Holland Park—which are just hundreds of metres apart—and that gap has grown in recent years. The Minister knows that this is a whole-of-society issue to do with housing, employment and education, but can he outline what steps the Department are taking to help inner-city areas with very high levels of health inequality, such as that experienced by my constituents in Kensington?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for pointing out those stark differences in healthy life expectancy within a single inner London borough that contains some of the richest people on earth, as well as some of the poorest in our country. As for what we are doing as a Government, in addition to making sure that funding follows need and that we are tackling deprivation, our approach to neighbourhood health should make sure that we are working proactively in those communities that have the highest level of need, including pockets of deprivation within areas of higher affluence. Of course, as our plan recognises and as our mission-driven approach addresses, there are so many social determinants of ill health, including poverty, a lack of good work, damp housing, dirty air, and an inability to access culture and leisure opportunities that are affordable for everyone, not just the privileged few. Those are the issues that this Government are addressing, consistent with the Labour values that got us elected.