Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of levels of blindness and low vision are classifiable as preventable.

There is a range of information already available about levels of preventable sight loss. The indicator within the Public Health Outcomes Framework brings this together in a single place. The indicator is made up of four sub-indicators which will measure the crude rates of Age-Related Macular Degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, and of the rate of sight loss certifications per 100,000 population. Data has been collected since 1 April 2013.

Baseline data for 2010/11 was published in November 2012, broken down by local authority and data providing a time series up to 2013/14 has now been published. It is available to search at:

http://www.phoutcomes.info/public-health-outcomes-framework#gid/1000044/par/E12000004