Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many cases of measles there were in England in (1) 2016, and (2) 2017; whether there was a drop in vaccination rates in the UK in 2017; what action they are taking to maintain World Health Organisation measles elimination status; and how they are working with European partners to tackle the recent surge in measles cases in Europe.

The total number of measles cases in England was 531 in 2016 and figures for 2017 will be published in April 2018.

Annual vaccine coverage statistics for England for 2016/17 indicate uptake of the first dose measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine at two years of age was 91.6%, a 0.3% decrease from 2015/16; the first dose MMR at five years of age reached the 95% World Health Organization (WHO) target, a 0.2% increase from 2015/16; and the second dose MMR at five years was 87.6%, a 0.6% decrease from 2015/16.

In adopting the European Vaccine Action Plan 2015–2020, the United Kingdom, along with all 53 Member States of the WHO European Region, has committed to eliminating measles and rubella as one of the Region’s priority immunisation goals. In 2017, Public Health England convened a multi-stakeholder measles and rubella elimination group, to develop a UK-wide strategy with key recommendations for action, to ensure elimination will be sustained.