Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent to limit excess winter deaths in each of the last five years.

No single figure can identify the funding available for limiting excess winter deaths, much of the work of the National Health Service and Public Health England (PHE) contributes to ensuring the wellbeing of the most vulnerable.

The Stay Well This Winter campaign aims to ease winter pressures on the NHS by, for example, encouraging at-risk groups to adopt behaviours that will help them to stay well – e.g. getting the flu vaccine, getting advice at the first sign of respiratory illness. Stay Well This Winter is delivered in partnership between NHS England and PHE. The campaign is now in its second year and will play a role in limiting excess winter deaths.

PHE funds the first phase of Stay Well This Winter which encourages uptake of the flu vaccine amongst priority groups. The table below shows the media spend for flu for last five years and winter for the last three years.

PHE is also responsible for expenditure on certain elements of the annual flu immunisation programme which reduces winter deaths through the prevention of flu. The most significant expenditure is the procurement of vaccine for the children’s flu immunisation programme (general practitioners purchase flu vaccine directly from vaccine suppliers for the other elements of the programme). The cost PHE pays for the vaccine is commercially sensitive and cannot be provided as it is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the vaccine supplier.

In addition, PHE has a direct spend of approximately £50,000 per annum to coordinate and implement the Cold Weather Plan for England. This pays for the Cold Weather Alert service provided by the Meteorological Office, design and publication costs of the plan and the supporting documents, and an annual stakeholder seminar to share new evidence and best practice. The Department also spent £250,000 on independently evaluating the Cold Weather Plan between 2012-14. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidance in March 2015 on ‘Excess winter deaths and illness and the health risks associated with cold homes’, which was funded from NICE’s core funding from the Department.