Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Jordan (Labour). It was answered on Monday, 31 October 2011.

Accidents: Costs

Question: I thank the noble Earl for his reply. Will he acknowledge that in contrast to other priorities in public health, accident prevention is the only topic that still does not have a lead body? Does he accept that that is a massive gap, considering that accident prevention and home and leisure accidents cost the National Health Service £5 billion a year? Will he give an assurance that the Government will treat this as a matter of urgency by directing Public Health England to a programme of national strategic accident prevention as a mandatory feature in all local public health plans?

Answer: My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Lord’s work as president of RoSPA and, indeed, to the work of RoSPA itself. He may recall that the public health White Paper that we issued some months ago—Healthy Lives, Healthy People—as well as the update that we issued, specifically lists accident prevention as one of the key areas of responsibility. That to my mind is par excellence an area where local authorities will be able to make a difference with their new public health responsibilities under the Health and Social Care Bill. They will be able to work with organisations like RoSPA and professional groups such as health visitors to improve safety in their areas. We look forward to working with them on those programmes, should they choose to prioritise them.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 731 c969
Session: 2010-12
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Accidents Leisure Domestic accidents Safety measures Public health
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk