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 improve childhood vaccination coverage rates in (a) Bedfordshire, (b) the East of England and (c) the UK.

Together with the National Health Service and UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), we are taking action to improve uptake of childhood immunisation rates in Bedfordshire, the East of England and across England.

We have set out actions to improve uptake across England in our 10-Year Health Plan as well as our strategy for Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life. Putting these plans into action, we have recently launched a campaign to promote awareness and confidence in vaccination. This will run throughout the year. We are also exploring new ways of delivering vaccinations including health visits and community pharmacy, with pilots for administering vaccinations as part of health visits starting from January 2026. We are also working with families and schools to improve the consent process to help children get vaccines at school and, during 2026-27, we will give parents access to their child’s vaccination health record via the My Vaccines hub on the NHS App.

Regions and local areas are taking tailored and targeted action to improve immunisation rates and ensure that vaccination services best meet the diverse needs of their local populations.

In the East of England, further measures include a trailblazing community and school age immunisation service in which the school vaccination provider also delivers catch-up in community clinics for all childhood vaccines; a dedicated call / recall telephone call centre focussed on measles, mumps and rubella vaccines; and regular training sessions for primary care nurses as well as a local enquiries inbox.

In Bedford and Central Bedfordshire, more local activity includes a new community vaccinations hub at Bury Park, Luton; a new initiative at Bedfordshire Hospitals Foundation Trusts to invite children attending hospital appointments for vaccination if needed; work with specialist health inclusion health visitor teams to improve uptake in the Gypsy Roma Traveller community; home visits for some families who require vaccines delivered at home; work with SEND schools where pupils may have missed childhood vaccinations; and monthly monitoring of individual GP practice uptake rate with targeted support to practices with lower uptake.