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 reduce the number of cases of tuberculosis in Non-UK born individuals (a) visiting and (b) migrating to the UK.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England’s collaborative Tuberculosis (TB): action plan for England, 2021 to 2026 aims to reduce the numbers of cases of TB in non-United Kingdom born individuals migrating to the UK. The plan is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tuberculosis-tb-action-plan-for-england/tuberculosis-tb-action-plan-for-england-2021-to-2026

The UK pre-entry TB screening programme operates in 102 countries and is intended to reduce the importation of TB by screening applicants for long term visas, those greater than six months, from high TB incidence countries, those with more than 40 cases per 100,000 people. People are screened in line with the UK Technical Instructions, which are available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5cd18ae5e5274a34ee7f0275/UK_tuberculosis_technical_instructions_version_7.pdf

Identifying the contacts of people with active TB allows people who would be at high risk of developing the disease to be treated before they become ill. Enhancing contact tracing is a key pillar of the national action plan.

There is also NHS England’s Latent Tuberculosis Infection Testing and Treatment programme, for migrants from high TB burden countries within five years of entry to the UK. In 2023, 34,680 people were tested, an increase of over 100% compared with the pre- pandemic year of 2019.