Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment the Government has made of trends in the number of routine annual health checks undertaken in the last five years; and what estimate has been made of the effect on the NHS budget of such trends.

The trends in NHS Health Check in England are assessed every quarter, using data submitted by local authorities. These trends are published at:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/nhs-health-check-detailed/data

Cost-benefit modelling estimates the cost of the programme to be £332 million each year at full roll out with the average annual benefit to be £3.678 billion. The estimated savings to the National Health Service budget nationally are around £57 million over four years, rising to £176 million over a 15-year period. The National Institute for Health Research has launched a call for applications to review the health gain and cost effectiveness of the NHS Health Check.