Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make tackling loneliness and social isolation a public health priority.

We recognise that loneliness and social isolation can affect many people and impact on their health and wellbeing. In October 2018 the Department of Culture, Media and Sport published the world’s first ever cross-government strategy to tackle loneliness ‘A connected society: a strategy for tackling loneliness’.

Social prescribing is a key component of the National Health Service’s Universal Personalised Care and can work well for those who are lonely or socially isolated. Social Prescribing link workers take a holistic approach to people’s health and wellbeing. They connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support. Social prescribing can work well for those who are socially isolated. Social prescribing activities are commissioned locally, utilising community assets often in the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector.