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 to help tackle rickets.

Rickets is a condition that affects bone development in children. Cases of rickets are rare in the United Kingdom, and have been relatively consistent over recent years. The most common cause of rickets is a lack of vitamin D and calcium, although in rare cases, children can be born with a genetic form of the condition.

Since it is difficult for people to get enough vitamin D from food alone, the Government advises that everyone should consider taking a daily 10-microgram vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter. People at high risk of not getting enough vitamin D, pregnant and breastfeeding women, all children aged one to four years old, and all babies, unless they're having more than 500 millilitre of infant formula a day, should take a daily supplement throughout the year. People at high risk of not getting enough vitamin D include:

⎯ those who are not often outdoors, for example if they're frail or housebound;

⎯ are in an institution like a care home;

⎯ usually wear clothes that cover up most of their skin when outdoors; and

⎯ those who have dark skin, such as people with an African, African-Caribbean or south Asian background.

Government advice on vitamin D is communicated via the NHS.UK website and the social marketing campaigns Start4Life, Better Health, and Healthier Families. Through our Healthy Food Schemes, like Healthy Start, Nursery Milk, and the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, the Government provides a nutritional safety net to those who need it the most. Beneficiaries of our food scheme Healthy Start are eligible for free Healthy Start vitamins, which include vitamin C and D. The law also requires the addition of vitamin D to all infant formula.