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 tackle health inequalities.

This Government has been clear that it will address the needs of those communities which have been left behind - where too many people lose their independence through ill-health and disability. We are taking action to improve access and outcomes from health services, supporting people to lead healthy lives and working across Government to address the wider determinants of health.

Prevention is a priority for this Government. We set out in our Prevention Green paper our ambition to deliver five extra years of healthy independent life and to close the gap between richest and poorest. We will publish our response in due course.