Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on health inequalities in Stockport.

The Regional Director of the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) in the North West has published a ‘state of the region’ report, which highlights a range of disparities which have widened during the pandemic. The OHID’s Health Inequalities Monitoring for England Tool, the Wider Impact of COVID-19 on Health Monitoring Tool and a local Joint Strategic Needs Assessment indicate that the pandemic has had an impact on the health of the Stockport population. At least 90,000 people in Stockport have been diagnosed with COVID-19, more than 3,600 people have been admitted to hospital and more than 900 people have died.

Work in the North West region continues to increase vaccination rates and address the longer-term and indirect impacts of COVID-19, such as the effect on mental health and the economy.