Oral Answers to Questions

Nic Dakin Excerpts

Tuesday 12th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Anne Milton]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that education, social services and health services need to be brought together. That is exactly why bringing public health into local government is critical. If we add to that list housing and local business services, we have the mix to turn around many people’s fortunes. Some of the 66 indicators in the framework are school-readiness, social connectivity, air pollution and chlamydia, and they will all require local government to work at every level with all agencies to reduce inequalities.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

What steps is the Department of Health taking to address the inequalities in regional health outcomes for pancreatic cancer?

[Anne Milton]

We are doing a number of things, and the most important is devolving responsibility for public health to local areas. It is clear that delivering improvements in diagnosis, outcomes and so on for people with pancreatic cancer relies on different actions in different areas. The important thing is to give local people the power and money to do what they know is right.