Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the rates of vaccine confidence in hard-to-reach groups of the population.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes annual surveys of parents and adolescents to understand how knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards immunisation, vaccine safety and disease severity influence vaccine uptake decision-making. The results of these surveys have been included in the National Audit Office’s ‘Investigation into pre-school vaccinations’, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/investigation-into-pre-school-vaccinations/

The National Institute of Health and Care Research’s Health Protection Research Unit for Vaccines also conducts specific research to understand the causes of inequalities in under-served communities in collaboration with the UKHSA. The Department, the UKHSA and NHS England undertake initiatives to improve access to the immunisation programme such as communication with the public, collating data to identify under-served individuals and populations and training for healthcare professionals.