Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of whether the Government is on target to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020.

The indicator within the Public Health Outcomes Framework brings together the range of information on levels of preventable sight loss in a single place.

The indicator is made up of four sub-indicators which are measuring the crude rates of Age-Related Macular Degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, and of the rate of sight loss certifications per 100,000 population.

The latest data published by the Public Health Outcomes framework show that there were the following new certifications of visual impairment in 2013/14:

- 11,055 for age related macular degeneration, a decrease of 90 from 2012/13;

- 3,432 for glaucoma, an increase of 141 from 2012/13;

- 1,563 for diabetic eye disease, a decrease of 29 from 2012/13; and

- 22,911 overall new certifications (all causes), an increase of 264 from 2012/13.

Early detection is essential to tackling preventable sight loss. A range of treatment and services are in place in the National Health Service to deal with the key causes of preventable sight loss.