Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential economic impact of sight loss.

No recent assessment has been made.

In August 2021, Deloitte Access Economics estimated that in 2019, the total economic cost of sight loss was £36 billion per year in England. This included an estimated £3.4 billion in healthcare system costs, £7.8 billion in productivity losses and other financial costs, and £24.8 billion in reduced wellbeing.

Local authorities maintain information on individuals registered with a visual impairment and have an obligation to assess them promptly and provide support. There are also more than 300 eye charities in the United Kingdom which provide support for those with sight loss and many hospital eye clinics have liaison officers and optometrists specialising in low vision. The development of integrated care systems and the National Ophthalmic Eye Care Recovery and Transformation Programme is ensuring coordinated social and clinical care from prevention and screening to accessible treatment and support for visual impairment.