Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost saving to the NHS of the proposed generational ban on smoking from 2027 onwards.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. Smoking is one of the most important preventable causes of disparities in health, and a significant contributor to the gap in life expectancy.
Reduced smoking rates lead to fewer people dying from smoking-related diseases and fewer children exposed to second-hand smoke or living in smoking-induced poverty. There are four major diseases that together account for almost 60% of all ill health and early deaths attributable to smoking: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; coronary heart disease; lung cancer; and strokes. By 2075, our modelling suggests that between 48,000 and 115,000 cases of these diseases would be avoided, improving people’s lives and avoiding the pain of loss for families.
Smoking also costs society £21.8 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Our Impact Assessment on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill found that there would be savings of more than £2 billion, in 2019 prices, in reduced healthcare usage costs over 30 years from 2027. Health and economic gains are expected further in the future, saving the health and care system up to £18 billion and boosting the economy by up to £85 billion by 2075, cumulatively and undiscounted. Someone who avoids a smoking-related death can be expected to live eight to nine years longer as a result of this change, as set out in the command paper from October 2023.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the health benefits of the proposed generational ban on smoking.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. Smoking is one of the most important preventable causes of disparities in health, and a significant contributor to the gap in life expectancy.
Reduced smoking rates lead to fewer people dying from smoking-related diseases and fewer children exposed to second-hand smoke or living in smoking-induced poverty. There are four major diseases that together account for almost 60% of all ill health and early deaths attributable to smoking: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; coronary heart disease; lung cancer; and strokes. By 2075, our modelling suggests that between 48,000 and 115,000 cases of these diseases would be avoided, improving people’s lives and avoiding the pain of loss for families.
Smoking also costs society £21.8 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Our Impact Assessment on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill found that there would be savings of more than £2 billion, in 2019 prices, in reduced healthcare usage costs over 30 years from 2027. Health and economic gains are expected further in the future, saving the health and care system up to £18 billion and boosting the economy by up to £85 billion by 2075, cumulatively and undiscounted. Someone who avoids a smoking-related death can be expected to live eight to nine years longer as a result of this change, as set out in the command paper from October 2023.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the two-child benefit cap on child poverty.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is not possible to produce a robust estimate of the effect of the impact of the two-child limit on the number of children in poverty.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people in destitution.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. We expect to spend around £306bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2024/25 including around £138bn on people of working age and children.
From April, working age benefits increased by 6.7% and, Local Housing Allowance rates were raised to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce levels of in-work poverty in (a) Lanark and Hamilton East constituency, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest available statistics show that working age adults living in workless households were around 7 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than working age adults in households where all adults work.
The Government is committed to supporting individuals who are stuck in low paid work to progress, helping them increase their earnings. We have introduced a voluntary In-Work progression offer for low-paid Universal Credit customers which focuses on removing barriers to progression, such as considering skills gaps and overcoming practical barriers such as childcare costs.
To deliver effective progression support to customers, Jobcentres are being supported by a network of 37 District Progression Leads across Great Britain who work with key partners to develop local opportunities.
To help parents on Universal Credit who are moving into work or increasing their hours, the Government is providing additional support with upfront childcare costs and, from April 2024, we will increase the childcare costs that parents on Universal Credit can claim back to over £1,000 a month for one child and to over £1,700 a month for two or more children.
The Government is also increasing the number of people on Universal Credit who receive intensive support to help them earn more by raising the Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET). At the Spring Budget we announced that the AET would increase to the equivalent of 18 hours at the National Living Wage from 13 May.
From April 2024, the Government increased the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of children from single parent households that are in poverty.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our focus is on supporting parents into work as we know that work substantially reduces the chances of poverty. The latest available statistics show that in 2022/23, children in workless lone parent families were nearly 3 times more likely to be in absolute low income after housing costs than children in working lone parent families.
We have consistently set out a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling child poverty based on evidence about the important role of work, particularly where it is full-time. Single parents are better off in work under Universal Credit due to a simple taper system (claimants can keep more of their earnings).
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her policies on health outcomes for children who live in poverty.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department delivers programmes to support the most vulnerable children and families, and reduce health inequalities. The Government published the Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days, in March 2021. This sets out six action areas for improving support for families during the 1,001 critical days, to ensure every baby in England is given the best possible start in life, regardless of background.
The Government is investing an additional £300 million to improve support for families though the joint Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. It is implementing many elements of the Best Start for Life Vision, delivering a step change in outcomes for babies, children, and their parents and carers in 75 local authorities in England, including those with high levels of deprivation. The Government has commissioned two in-depth independent evaluations of the programme.
The Healthy Start scheme helps to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children aged under four years old from very low-income households. The latest Healthy Start data was published on 28 March 2024, with an uptake of 66%. Healthy Start now supports approximately 366,000 beneficiaries.
In November 2022, NHS England published Core20PLUS5, an approach to reducing health inequalities for children and young people at both a national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort, and identifies five clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement, which are asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, oral health, and mental health. Where possible, indicators in the Child and Maternal Health Profile provide a breakdown by the index of multiple deprivation, which is available at the following link:
https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to tackle health inequality due to childhood poverty.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department delivers programmes to support the most vulnerable children and families, and reduce health inequalities. The Government published the Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days, in March 2021. This sets out six action areas for improving support for families during the 1,001 critical days, to ensure every baby in England is given the best possible start in life, regardless of background.
The Government is investing an additional £300 million to improve support for families though the joint Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. It is implementing many elements of the Best Start for Life Vision, delivering a step change in outcomes for babies, children, and their parents and carers in 75 local authorities in England, including those with high levels of deprivation. The Government has commissioned two in-depth independent evaluations of the programme.
The Healthy Start scheme helps to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children aged under four years old from very low-income households. The latest Healthy Start data was published on 28 March 2024, with an uptake of 66%. Healthy Start now supports approximately 366,000 beneficiaries.
In November 2022, NHS England published Core20PLUS5, an approach to reducing health inequalities for children and young people at both a national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort, and identifies five clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement, which are asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, oral health, and mental health. Where possible, indicators in the Child and Maternal Health Profile provide a breakdown by the index of multiple deprivation, which is available at the following link:
https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the impact of childhood poverty on longitudinal health outcomes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department delivers programmes to support the most vulnerable children and families, and reduce health inequalities. The Government published the Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days, in March 2021. This sets out six action areas for improving support for families during the 1,001 critical days, to ensure every baby in England is given the best possible start in life, regardless of background.
The Government is investing an additional £300 million to improve support for families though the joint Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. It is implementing many elements of the Best Start for Life Vision, delivering a step change in outcomes for babies, children, and their parents and carers in 75 local authorities in England, including those with high levels of deprivation. The Government has commissioned two in-depth independent evaluations of the programme.
The Healthy Start scheme helps to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children aged under four years old from very low-income households. The latest Healthy Start data was published on 28 March 2024, with an uptake of 66%. Healthy Start now supports approximately 366,000 beneficiaries.
In November 2022, NHS England published Core20PLUS5, an approach to reducing health inequalities for children and young people at both a national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort, and identifies five clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement, which are asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, oral health, and mental health. Where possible, indicators in the Child and Maternal Health Profile provide a breakdown by the index of multiple deprivation, which is available at the following link:
https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how she is targeting health prevention services to support children who live in poverty.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department delivers programmes to support the most vulnerable children and families, and reduce health inequalities. The Government published the Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days, in March 2021. This sets out six action areas for improving support for families during the 1,001 critical days, to ensure every baby in England is given the best possible start in life, regardless of background.
The Government is investing an additional £300 million to improve support for families though the joint Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. It is implementing many elements of the Best Start for Life Vision, delivering a step change in outcomes for babies, children, and their parents and carers in 75 local authorities in England, including those with high levels of deprivation. The Government has commissioned two in-depth independent evaluations of the programme.
The Healthy Start scheme helps to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children aged under four years old from very low-income households. The latest Healthy Start data was published on 28 March 2024, with an uptake of 66%. Healthy Start now supports approximately 366,000 beneficiaries.
In November 2022, NHS England published Core20PLUS5, an approach to reducing health inequalities for children and young people at both a national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort, and identifies five clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement, which are asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, oral health, and mental health. Where possible, indicators in the Child and Maternal Health Profile provide a breakdown by the index of multiple deprivation, which is available at the following link:
https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles