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 reduce antibiotic use among babies and children.

Public Health England’s (PHE’s) English surveillance programme for antimicrobial utilisation and resistance (ESPAUR) has worked with the National Health Service and across sectors, to improve surveillance and feedback of antimicrobial use to raise awareness among healthcare professionals and the public of antibiotic prescribing in adults and children. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-surveillance-programme-antimicrobial-utilisation-and-resistance-espaur-report

PHE collaborates with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to develop evidence based antimicrobial guidelines that can be used when managing common infections and thereby promoting prudent use of antibiotics in key patient groups, including infants and children. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/about/what-we-do/our-programmes/nice-guidance/antimicrobial-prescribing-guidelines