Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps the Government plans to take to (a) reduce health disparities and (b) improve healthy life expectancy through the levelling up white paper.

The forthcoming levelling up white paper will set out the UK Government’s approach to tackling spatial inequalities across the country in order to improve outcomes in places where they are weakest. Addressing stark disparities in health outcomes between places is an important part of levelling up, because people should have the opportunity to live long, healthy lives wherever they live.

The Government is already taking action to address disparities in health outcomes, including through a £2.3 billion investment in diagnostics over the Spending Review period, which will increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres, expanding diagnostic capacity across the country whilst targeting investment at areas of deprivation.