Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
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 ensure the NHS Long Term Plan will focus on improving the respiratory health of people in (a) Redbridge, (b) Ilford South constituency and (c) England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts the National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country. More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all help people manage their long-term conditions, including respiratory conditions, closer to home. Moving from sickness to prevention will help us reduce the causes of the biggest killers, and provide treatment earlier, rather than only intervening when conditions deteriorate.
In advance of the 10-Year Health Plan, NHS England has established 13 respiratory clinical networks across the country. These have been vital in providing clinical leadership for respiratory services and supporting services in primary care, including restoring spirometry, which is one of the tests used to diagnose pulmonary fibrosis.
As part of the work to develop a 10-Year Health Plan, we have launched a significant public engagement process and we would encourage all those with an interest in respiratory health care services to take part in that process, so that we can fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. More information on the process is available at the following link:
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of palliative care services available (a) Redbridge and (b) Ilford South constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs), including North East London ICB, which covers Redbridge and Ilford South, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.
I recently met with key palliative and end of life care, including hospice, stakeholders to discuss the long-term sustainability of palliative and end of life care, within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care, and £26 million revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of endometriosis services in London.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health and improving the care received by those suffering from gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis. We have taken urgent action to tackle gynaecology waiting lists through the Elective Reform Plan. In gynaecology, the plan supports innovative models offering patients care closer to home, and piloting gynaecology pathways in community diagnostic centres.
We encourage any woman or girl with symptoms of endometriosis to contact their general practitioner (GP). Women’s health hubs also have a key role in shifting care out of hospitals and reducing gynaecology waiting lists and are being rolled out across areas in London. For example, in North East London, there are women’s health hubs based in City and Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and in Redbridge. These can be accessed by all residents from across North East London including Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Newham as the model is developed further.
NHS North East London has also developed clinical management guidelines to support National Health Service trusts and GPs across North East London caring for patients presenting with symptoms related to endometriosis. A new pathway for referring patients experiencing pelvic pain that could be endometriosis is being developed and run by clinicians specialising in the management of endometriosis in North East London.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of funding levels for research into the (a) detection and (b) treatment of heart diseases.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. The NIHR continues to welcome high quality applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including the detection and treatment of cardiovascular and heart diseases.
Over the past five financial years, from 2019/20 to 2023/24, the NIHR has invested £145.4 million on cardiovascular and heart diseases and stroke research directly through NIHR research programmes. Our wider investments in NIHR infrastructure, by strengthening specialist facilities, workforce, and support services to enable research in the health and care system, have enabled significant cardiovascular and heart diseases and stroke research funded by other funders to take place.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential correlation between the number of fast food outlets opening and recent trends in the level of obesity in Ilford South constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an assessment of the potential correlation between the number of fast food outlets opening and recent trends in the level of obesity in the Ilford South constituency. However, children living in the most deprived areas see five times more fast food outlets on their high streets and are also over twice as likely to be living with obesity compared with the least deprived areas
The food environment can influence dietary choices. Meals eaten outside of the home tend to be associated with higher calories, and portion sizes tend to be bigger. In addition, people who eat more food from the out of home sector tend to have a poorer quality diet and a higher weight for height. The food environment is an important modifiable determinant of dietary behaviour and obesity, and the revised National Planning Policy Framework for local government published last December gives stronger, clearer powers to block new fast food outlets near schools and where young people congregate
The Department publishes breakdowns of child and adult obesity prevalence and the number of fast food outlets per 100,000 population at a local authority level. Information is not available for Ilford South, but it is available for the London Borough of Redbridge, which includes Ilford South. In 2024, Redbridge had 127 fast food outlets per 100,000 population, which is an increase from 69.9 per 100,000 in 2017, as per the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ (OHID) 2025 Public Health Profiles. The following table shows the obesity prevalence in the London Borough of Redbridge, from the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) academic year 2006/07 to 2023/24:
NCMP academic year | Obesity prevalence for children in Reception, from age four to five years old | Obesity prevalence for children in Year 6, from age 10 to 11 years old |
2006/07 | 10.6% | 20.4% |
2007/08 | 11.3% | 20.9% |
2008/09 | 11.3% | 21.3% |
2009/10 | 11.8% | 21.3% |
2010/11 | 12.0% | 23.5% |
2011/12 | 11.4% | 23.6% |
2012/13 | 10.1% | 21.5% |
2013/14 | 10.4% | 22.9% |
2014/15 | 10.8% | 23.3% |
2015/16 | 9.8% | 23.5% |
2016/17 | 11.6% | 23.7% |
2017/18 | 11.4% | 25.0% |
2018/19 | 9.9% | 24.1% |
2019/20 | 11.2% | 25.0% |
2020/21 | No data | No data |
2021/22 | 11.5% | 27.9% |
2022/23 | 9.9% | 26.7% |
2023/24 | 8.9% | 24.6% |
Source: National Child Measurement Programme.
In addition, the following table shows adult, those aged 18 years old and over, obesity prevalence in the London Borough of Redbridge, from 2015/16 to 2022/23:
Year | Adult obesity prevalence |
2015/16 | 18.1% |
2016/17 | 20.4% |
2017/18 | 20.9% |
2018/19 | 23.9% |
2019/20 | 18.3% |
2020/21 | 22.6% |
2021/22 | 24.1% |
2022/23 | 25.3% |
Source: Active Lives adult survey, OHID analysis of data from Sport England.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the level of obesity in the (a) richest and (b) poorest areas of Ilford South constituency; and if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the impact of poverty on obesity.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data is not available in the format requested. Prevalence of obesity for children aged four to five years old and 10 to 11 years old is available from the National Child Measurement Programme. The Department publish breakdowns of obesity prevalence by Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) quintile at a local authority level. Information is not available for Ilford South, but it is available for the London Borough of Redbridge, which includes Ilford South. The following table shows the obesity prevalence by IMD quintile and school year for the London Borough of Redbridge:
IMD quintile | Obesity prevalence for children in Reception, aged four to five years old | Obesity prevalence for children in Year 6, aged 10 to 11 years old |
Most deprived quintile 1 | 15.4% | 30.6% |
2 | 12.1% | 28.9% |
3 | 10.8% | 26.2% |
4 | 8.1% | 23.1% |
Least deprived quintile 5 | 5.4% | 17.4% |
Source: National Child Measurement Programme, five years of data combined for academic years ending 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024.
The prevalence of obesity in adults by local authority or parliamentary constituency and deprivation is not available.
Poverty is wide determinant of health. Although poverty is not a direct cause of specific health conditions, poverty can be a risk factor for malnutrition, obesity, ill mental health, and tooth decay. The Department is working closely with the Child Poverty Taskforce to develop and deliver an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start in life. An important part of this will be alleviating the negative experiences of living in poverty through supporting families and enhancing public services.
Under the Health Mission, the Government is committed to prevention and to tackling obesity, creating a fairer, healthier food environment. This will contribute to the mission goals of fewer lives lost to the biggest killers and a fairer Britain where everyone lives well for longer.
The Government has already laid secondary legislation to restrict the advertisement of less healthy food and drink to children on television and online from 1 October 2025, announced changes to the planning framework for fast food outlets near schools, and is committed to banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16 year olds.
Existing initiatives such as the Healthy Start scheme, introduced in 2006, encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from very low-income households. Pregnant women and families with children aged over one years old and under four years old each receive £4.25 every week, and families with children under one years old each receive £8.50 every week. Healthy Start can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried and tinned pulses, milk and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries also have access to free Healthy Start vitamins.
Disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools, as well as 16 to 18-year-old students in further education, are entitled to receive free meals on the basis of low income. In addition, all children in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 in England's state-funded schools are entitled to universal infant free school meals. The Government also supports families through the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides free childcare places, enriching activities, and healthy meals to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing, and learning throughout the school holidays.
At a local level, officials in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ regional teams work closely with local partners, including local authorities and the National Health Service, to support them with local initiatives to promote a healthy lifestyle and tackle obesity. All of our polices and their impacts are kept under review.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the difference in diabetes rates amongst the (a) white and (b) BAME population in Ilford South constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has given £3 million of funding to systems to provide clinical leadership to ensure that clinical diabetes metrics, such as the eight key diabetes care processes and treatment targets, are reviewed at an integrated care board level and unwarranted variation identified. A resource hub of materials has been set up on Future NHS, including examples of innovation and best practice for improvement of care process delivery, and achievement of treatment targets.
NHS England has established a focused engagement campaign, using social media and more traditional approaches, to raise awareness and boost uptake from these groups as part of its approach to address the poorer outcomes for those of south Asian and black ethnicity.
NHS England is aware that standard approaches to diabetes prevention and care can miss high risk individuals or be less effective for those who do not fit the demographic profile that these interventions were originally designed for. Redbridge Place Partnership, near Ilford, is an example of the local National Health Service taking a culturally sensitive and tailored approach to improve outreach in communities that have historically shown lower engagement with mainstream health services.
Redbridge Place is collaborating with system-wide partners, including the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector, to identify South Asian residents and other high-risk groups vulnerable to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and renal conditions. The aim is to reduce risk factors and ensure early intervention through optimised care pathways and national prevention programmes by improving access, integrating community engagement, and creating culturally sensitive health promotion strategies that reduce the diabetes gap.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the link between life expectancy and trends in the level of poverty.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health inequalities in the United Kingdom are stark, with life expectancy differing dramatically between and within communities. People living in the most deprived areas are likely to die earlier and spend more years in ill health than those living in the least deprived areas.
We are taking a cross-Government mission-led approach to tackle the root causes of health inequalities, including addressing the social determinants of health, which include housing, poverty, fair opportunities, and education.