Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Communities and Local Government about measures to implement a public health approach to musculo-skeletal health.

In supporting a public health approach to musculo-skeletal (MSK) health, the key measures discussed with local government and the Department for Communities and Local Government are those within the Public Health Outcomes Framework. The key relevant measures are:

- Physical Activity measures, which come from the Active People Survey

- Obesity; Excess weight in children (4-5s and 10-11s) and excess weight in adults

- Smoking prevalence

- Alcohol

- Hip Fractures (65-79s and 80+)

- Sickness absence

Public Health England (PHE) has limited data on the prevalence of MSK diseases in England although Arthritis Research UK (AR-UK) prevalence calculator will provide estimates of the prevalence of the commonest groupings of MSK disease when it is launched and available for local authority (LA) use.

PHE has contributed to LA based briefings which AR-UK has produced.