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Public Health (England)

I am sorry that the Minister finds everything so amusing, but I am afraid that cuts are being made in primary care trusts. It is a problem that we are experiencing in Bexley. But we must not go down that path; today we are discussing public health, not primary care trusts. Preventive health care, health education and making healthy choices are important issues. For my constituents, they are vital issues. I was disappointed by the Minister of State’s speech, because I have a good deal of time for her—unfortunately, she is not in the Chamber at the moment—but today she was combative, aggressive and very party-political. I do not think that that helps when we are discussing an issue such as this. The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North (Ms Johnson) was also party-political when commenting on the Liberal Democrats, but I shall not go down that path either. We ought to be working together to establish how we can improve public health. To listen to the Minister, one would think that there were no problems for the public health of our country, but I cannot agree that that is the case. The issues that I want briefly to discuss are smoking, alcohol, obesity and healthy eating. In my part of south-east London, problems are increasing in respect of all those issues. I fundamentally opposed the extension of licensing hours to allow more drinking time. My neighbour, the hon. Member for Dartford, said that everything in Dartford was fine, but in our borough the extension has increased binge drinking and the consequences of antisocial behaviour. I was appalled to learn that about one in 26 NHS bed days could be ascribed to alcohol-related diseases, and that 40 per cent. of accident and emergency admissions were alcohol related. Those are real problems in today’s society. The increase in the rate of deaths from alcoholism among women and in the number of women drinking to excess is worrying. We should be thinking about how we can stop binge drinking and the increase in alcohol abuse. The Government made a mistake in increasing licensing hours and opening times, and the figures that we are seeing are cause for concern. In my patch, I have been involved with Welling Alcohol Service Provision, or WASP, a voluntary organisation based in Welling. Working on the ancient principle that actions speak louder than words, a small group of former alcoholics arranged a meeting and subsequently set up an organisation at a drop-in centre—a pop-in service that would be available 365 days a year for ex-alcoholics who needed a place to meet and socialise. They are doing a wonderful job and I pay tribute to them. Regrettably, funding is a problem. The Government should consider making more funding available for such organisations so that they can do good work in the community to help people who have problems overcoming their alcoholism. The second aspect that concerns me greatly is the problem of obesity and healthy eating issues. I was appalled to see that in my borough, Bexley, 11 per cent. of children are obese when they enter primary school, according to the children and young people’s plan for our borough for 2006-09. That is an extremely worrying trend. I welcome the efforts by Sainsbury to improve food labelling, the efforts by Jamie Oliver to encourage healthy eating and so on, but that is not enough to improve the health of our young people. Too many of them are still going for fast food and still eating all the wrong things, which will have long-term consequences for their health. Education is of course the key—education at home, with the family, and education at school. More publicity and more media attention are vital, or we are storing up public health problems for the future. I am not convinced that the Government have got it right. They cannot do it alone. As I tried to suggest to the Minister in an intervention, it is no good her saying that the Government are doing this or that. There must be a broader-brush approach, with all of us involved, including voluntary and community organisations and parents groups. The Government should take the lead, but that is not enough. It is a matter that we should discuss constructively across the Chamber. That is why I was a little disappointed with the brush-off that I got from the Minister, which was party political. The Government have taken positive steps—on smoking, for example. I voted for the smoking ban. I think it is a good thing—[Interruption.] I am sorry that my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Stuart) does not agree. I have never smoked and I am worried about the youngsters in my borough who smoke. They are ruining their lives and potentially causing damage for the future. We are grateful that the House had the opportunity to vote as it did, and we look forward to the summer, when the ban will be introduced and people will no longer be subjected to passive smoking. I am concerned by the lack of physical activity among our young people. The Olympics will be a tremendous opportunity, which we welcome, although there are other associated issues, such as the problems that we will have in Bexley as a result of paying for the Olympics, and whether the facilities will be completed on time. However, the principle is good and we should be extolling the virtues of sport and physical activity. According to the Office for National Statistics time use survey in 2005, the three main activities of people in Britain were sleeping, working in their main job, and watching TV and videos or listening to music. Although all those are important, one would like to think that, if we aim to encourage people to pursue a healthier lifestyle and if public health is at the top of our agenda, people would also engage in physical activity and sport. The percentage of time spent on sport and outdoor activities has fallen during the Government’s time in office, from 15 per cent. in 2000 to only 10 per cent. in 2005. If we are serious about improving public health, the Government must get people to do more physical activity, especially youngsters, so that their lifestyle includes sport and recreation. This has been a very good debate, albeit that it has been too partisan for those of us who believe that public health is a bigger issue than one for party political knockabout. Education has to be the key target to change people’s lifestyles and ensure that they learn about the consequences of their actions. The Government can do much, but it is limited. Finance is always the key, so what my hon. Friend the Member for Westbury said about ring-fencing needs to be looked at again. I know that primary care trusts in south London are raiding the budgets of the public health sector to meet their shortfalls. In the long term, the consequences will be disastrous. If we had ring-fencing, it would help to keep the public health sector afloat. I hope that the Minister will agree to look again at the proposition made from the Opposition Benches. We need a more co-ordinated approach under local directors of public health, with the local authorities and PCTs working much more closely together. It is a joined-up approach that we need if we are to tackle this growing problem. There is a great opportunity, and I hope that the Government will take that on board.