Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) what advice they have given to the NHS about priorities for preventing disease, and (2) what percentage of total health expenditure is devoted to disease prevention.

The 2021-22 Mandate to NHS England and NHS Improvement sets an objective to improve the prevention of ill-health and delivery of public health services. This includes investment in evidence-based programmes on smoking, alcohol and secondary prevention of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and dementia.

While National Health Service spending on prevention is not collected in the format requested, the Office for National Statistics estimates that prevention forms approximately 5% of all public funding on health in the United Kingdom. We have asked NHS England and NHS Improvement to introduce a yearly prevention spend, outcome and trajectory reporting criteria, including for major preventable diseases.