Health Inequalities

Debate between Jonathan Ashworth and Olivia Blake

Wednesday 4th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Ashworth]

My hon. Friend makes that point very well. Not only are there inequalities in health outcomes, but inequalities are opening up in access to health services.

I said that I understood why the Secretary of State cannot be here, but he has now joined his colleagues on the Front Bench. I will state, just for the record so that he can be reassured, that I did not criticise him for not being here—I said that I entirely understood why he could not be here. But he is always welcome to listen to my pearls of wisdom, of course.

Michael Marmot’s analysis was shocking, and his conclusions devastating. Let me remind the House of what Professor Marmot found: for the first time in more than 100 years, life expectancy has essentially flattened overall since 2010, and has actually declined for women in the poorest areas of England. In last week’s Opposition day debate, the Health Secretary told Opposition Members that we must debate these issues based on the facts. In fairness, he said that there were life expectancy differences between, for example, Blackpool and Buckingham. [Interruption.] Indeed—gulfs. The Secretary of State made that point. If I may say so, however, I do not believe that he was as clear as he could have been in presenting the full picture for the benefit of Members. When we look at the figures, we see that for more than 100 years, life expectancy has been increasing by about one year every four years. More recently, from 2001 to 2010, the increase was 0.3 years for each calendar year for men and 0.23 years for women. Between 2011 and 2018, the average rate of increase was 0.07 years for males and 0.04 years for women. By any standards, that is a truly dramatic lowering in the rate of improvement in life expectancy between 2011 and 2018.

[Olivia Blake (Sheffield, Hallam) (Lab)]

The latest figures for my city of Sheffield show that life expectancy is nearly nine years more for women from the least deprived decile than the most deprived, and that gap has widened significantly since 2010. Does my hon. Friend agree that, as we approach International Women’s Day and the Budget, we must be mindful of the toll that austerity has taken on our cities and across the country, especially in relation to life expectancy and quality of life?

[Jonathan Ashworth]

I welcome my hon. Friend to her place. She is already an eloquent and passionate fighter for her constituents in Sheffield, and the point she makes is spot on: the reality is that 10 years of austerity has hit women hardest.