Thérèse Coffey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thérèse Coffey on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the performance of Public Health England in reducing inequalities of health outcomes by making improvements in (a) housing conditions and (b) employment capability.

Jane Ellison

Housing and work are two areas that influence health outcomes. In his strategic review of health inequalities, Professor Sir Michael Marmot reminded us all of the link between people’s health and “the conditions in which they are born, grow, live, work and age”.

Public Health England (PHE) has a key role in highlighting the health impact of these issues on health outcomes and health inequalities. It is undertaking a range of work on housing, homelessness and health issues to support and inform national and local stakeholders, including its National Conversation on Health Inequalities, which will help focus future work in this area.

PHE also launched the Healthy People, Healthy Places programme in November 2013 – helping to improve the nation’s health through better planning and design to reduce the impact of a poor physical and natural environment is a PHE priority.