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 reduce the number of measles cases in England.

A multi-agency implementation group was established to take forward the actions outlined in the United Kingdom Measles and Rubella elimination strategy, published in January 2019. The strategy is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-and-rubella-elimination-uk-strategy

NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Department and Public Health England (PHE) are working with a wide range of stakeholders to achieve and sustain high coverage (over 95%) with two doses of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine through the routine childhood immunisation programme for children under five years, and provide opportunities for MMR catch-up for children over five years, young people and adults who missed out on the vaccine when they were younger.

PHE provides information on the benefits and risks of the MMR vaccine to the public using targeted communications and through National Health Service branded leaflets, some of which are available in multiple languages. PHE is also running the Value of Vaccines campaign to help share messages and information on vaccination, which is available at the following link:

https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/94-value-of-vaccines/overview

NHS England and NHS Improvement is running an MMR catch-up programme for ten and 11-year olds through general practices.