Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle health disparities amongst people who live in the most deprived areas.

It is a priority for the Government is to increase the amount of time people spend in good health and prevent premature deaths, with a vision of ensuring that all individuals, regardless of background or location, live longer, healthier lives. 

Our 10-Year Health Plan for the National Health Service in England sets out a reimagined service designed to tackle inequalities in both access and outcomes, as well as to give everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, the means to engage with it on their own terms. Delivering the plan is a cross-Government effort.

For example, we know that the Carr-Hill formula is considered outdated, and evidence suggests that general practices (GPs) serving in deprived parts of England receive on average 9.8% less funding per needs-adjusted patient than those in less deprived communities, despite having greater health needs and significantly higher patient-to-GP ratios. This is why we are currently reviewing the formula to ensure that resources are targeted where they are most needed.

We also recognise that much of what determines of health and wellbeing in influenced by factors other than health services. Recent cross-Government action has included the introduction of Awaab’s Law and reform of the Decent Homes Standard for the social and private rented sector, the English Devolution Bill, and a new statutory heath inequalities duty for strategic authorities.