Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her Department’s policies of a call from over 250 members of the Inequalities in Health Alliance (IHA) for a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities.

The Government is committed to its levelling up mission to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030, and increase healthy life expectancy by five years, by 2035. We are supporting people in living healthier lives, helping the National Health Service and social care provide the best treatment and care for patients, and tackling health disparities through national and system interventions such as the NHS’s Core20PLUS5 programme.

The Government continues to work together, through the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)-led Levelling Up Inter-Ministerial Group, to progress the wider levelling up agenda. The levelling up missions are mutually reinforcing, and we are exploring new and existing opportunities for cross-Government action on the drivers of health, to support progress on the health mission and our wider common interests.

We are also working with the DLUHC to maximise opportunities to develop partnerships through English devolution and the Levelling Up Partnerships programme. These provide opportunities to test what works at a local and regional level, to support the health mission.