Oral Answers to Questions

Judith Cummins Excerpts

Tuesday 7th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

My right hon. Friend’s question was so good that I was eager to answer it early. He is right to highlight this issue, which is being dealt with as part of a wider thrust within Government work on prevention, which is how we can empower the patient. That means getting more data to patients and using genomics and screening to ensure that they are better informed and can therefore opt to take decisions on healthy eating, rather than the state trying to impose those decisions on them in a top-down manner.

[Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab)]

T4. I chair the all-party parliamentary group on osteoporosis and bone health. Our recent report, supported by the Royal Osteoporosis Society, showed that an investment of just £27 million pounds a year in fracture liaison services would deliver more than £600 million pounds of savings for the NHS over five years. Will the Minister meet me and the ROS to discuss our report, and will he commit himself to ending the postcode lottery by providing 100% coverage for FLS for over-50s in England?

[Steve Barclay]

I am happy for a member of the ministerial team to meet the hon. Lady, who has made a compelling case about the return on investment. We will obviously need to scrutinise it in more detail, and I am sure that my colleagues will look forward to doing so.