Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of measles have been reported in (a) Preston, (b) Lancashire, and (c) the North West in each of the last five years.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes routine data on laboratory confirmed measles. As provided in the latest published data between 1 January 2023 and 30 November 2023, there have been eight laboratory confirmed cases in the North West.

UKHSA does not routinely publish measles case data at local authority level, due to the risk of deductive disclosure. However, the total number of laboratory confirmed cases of measles for the North West in the past five years is:

- eight cases in 2023;

- three cases in 2022;

- zero cases in 2021;

- nine cases in 2020; and

- 51 cases in 2019.

Data on monthly cases by age and region is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-epidemiology-2023/confirmed-cases-of-measles-in-england-by-month-age-and-region-2023

Data over the last five years is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-confirmed-cases/confirmed-cases-of-measles-in-england-and-wales-by-region-and-age-2012-to-2014