Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the continuation of work relating to (a) obesity and (b) smoking after the dismantling of Public Health England.
Alongside work to establish the National Institute for Health Protection, the Government will continue to focus on health improvement and preventing ill-health with support from the expert teams currently located in Public Health England (PHE), who will continue with their excellent work. We do not envisage any changes to where those responsibilities will sit before spring 2021. We will be engaging with an external stakeholder advisory group to develop options on where PHE’s health improvement functions would be best placed in order to support the public health system and improve the public’s health.