Austerity — Health Inequalities — Public Health — 4 Mar 2020 at 18:52

The majority of MPs voted not to call on the Government to end austerity, invest in public health, implement the recommendations of the Marmot review, publish public health allocations for this April as a matter of urgency, and bring forward a world-leading health inequalities strategy to take action on the social determinants of health.

The motion rejected in this vote was:

• That this House
• notes the publication of Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On;
• is concerned by its findings that since 2010 improvements to life expectancy have stalled for the first time in more than 100 years and declined for the poorest women in society, that the health gap between wealthy and deprived areas has grown, and that the amount of time people spend in poor health has increased across England;
• agrees with the review that these avoidable health inequalities have been exacerbated by cuts to public spending and can be reduced with the right policies; and
• calls on the Government to end austerity, invest in public health, implement the recommendations of the review, publish public health allocations for this April as a matter of urgency, and bring forward a world-leading health inequalities strategy to take action on the social determinants of health.

In November 2008, Professor Sir Michael Marmot was asked by the Secretary of State for Health to chair an independent review to propose the most effective evidence-based strategies for reducing health inequalities in England from 2010. The resultant report became known as the Marmot Review^[1].

Marmot Review Recommendation Headings:

• Increased investment in early years
• Supporting families to develop children’s skills
• Quality early years education and childcare
• Reduce the social gradient in educational outcomes
• Reduce the social gradient in life-skills
• Ongoing skills development through lifelong learning
• Active labour market programmes
• The development of good quality work
• Reducing physical and chemical hazards and injuries at work
• Shift work and other work-time factors
• Improving the psychosocial work environment
• Implement a minimum income for healthy living
• Remove ‘cliff edges’ for those moving in and out of work and improve flexibility of employment
• Review and implement systems of taxation, benefits, pensions and tax credits
• Prioritise policies and interventions that reduce both health inequalities and mitigate climate change
• Integrate planning, transport, housing and health policies to address the social determinants of health
• Create and develop communities
• Increased investment in prevention
• Implement evidence-based ill health preventive interventions
• Public health to focus interventions to reduce the social gradient
• [1] The Marmot Review, Institute of Health Equity

Debate in Parliament |