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Public Health (England)

I agree with my hon. Friend. I hope that we shall hear some positive noises from the Minister about expenditure on sexual health education, because it has been deplorable. The figures speak for themselves. Many criticisms have been made suggesting that we have not produced any policies in this area, which is totally untrue. Our point is that if we are trying to plan for public health in the longer term—and if we are serious about getting to grips with this growing problem, nothing but a long-term strategy will do—ring-fenced funds are essential. The CMO concludes his report with the comment:"““There is strong anecdotal information from within the NHS which tells a consistent story for public health of poor morale, declining numbers and inadequate recruitment, and budgets being raided to solve financial deficits in the acute sector.””" That has got to be the wrong way to go about things. How can we get to grips with worsening trends if budgets are continually raided to correct short-term financial difficulties at PCT level? I appreciate the Minister’s honesty in saying that she has given the issue serious thought, but I ask her to reconsider her position. Without ring-fenced budgets, things can only get worse. On the issue of funding for sexual health, in November 2004 the then Secretary of State for Health announced £300 million of funding for sexual health services. However, in August 2006 the Department’s independent advisory group on sexual health and HIV reported that too little of the extra money had reached front-line services. It said that funds were not getting through because local health care providers were using the money in other areas. That is not Conservative Front Benchers speaking, but the Department’s own independent advisory group. In 2004, the then Secretary of State also announced £50 million for a sexual health campaign, but that shrank to £4 million when it was announced by the present Minister. Where is the remaining £46 million, and why has it not been used? According to an answer given in the other place, it is simply sitting in NHS coffers. It will not do much good there. The low priority accorded to sexual health is again reflected in the fact that the hon. Lady had to admit last year that the Government do not even collect data on the number of tests for sexually transmitted infections, rendering meaningless their promise in the 2001 sexual health strategy that by the end of 2007, 60 per cent. of genito-urinary medicine clinic attendees would have an HIV test. Of course, in the case of cancer and other conditions, early identification of signs and symptoms is a vital weapon in our armoury against disease. That is why screening programmes are so essential to the future health of the nation, and to the NHS. Once again, the Government’s record is poor. Despite furious lobbying by the relevant charities, they were three months late in launching the new bowel cancer screening programme. The scheme had the potential to screen 500,000 by the end of its first year, but by November the number of people screened had reached only 100,000. Meanwhile, recently published research by the cancer screening programme shows that the number of young women who attended for cervical screening last year was down to 69 per cent., compared with 79 per cent. 10 years ago. Charities such as Breakthrough Breast Cancer continue to express their concerns about the accessibility of breast screening. The Government failed last year to meet their own target for 80 per cent. of people with diabetes to receive retinopathy screening. On abdominal aortic aneurysms, we support the introduction of AAA screening for men aged 65 and over, which is predicted to save perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 lives a year at a cost of around £25 million. The Government have been dragging their heels on this issue for far too long, and should now establish a number of centres around the country where understanding of the programme can be dispersed. Finally, on obesity—another area where the Department of Health has proved unfit for purpose—the Treasury set a public service agreement target in July 2004 to halt the year-on-year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010. However, up to 15 per cent. of children in the UK are currently overweight or obese. It is estimated that by 2010 there will be more than a million obese children. Of course, the Government have failed to give a clear and straightforward lead on the question of food labelling, investing £2 million in the traffic light system, while the food industry is developing an alternative model. We have consistently argued that traffic lights on their own are too simplistic and do not help consumers and parents to plan healthy living for themselves and their families. Meanwhile in just five years from 2000, the proportion of adults spending some of their time on sport and outdoor activities dropped from 15 per cent. of the population to only 10 per cent. in 2005. That may cause little surprise when one considers the fact that the share of national lottery funding going to sport has fallen from 20 per cent. in 1998 to only 16 per cent. now. Where has that left public health in this country? We come back, I am afraid—much as the right hon. Member for Rother Valley will not like it—to the fact that health inequalities have widened under this Government. They have missed their public service agreement target of reducing inequalities in health outcomes by 10 per cent. by 2010, and health inequalities are now at their widest for a very long time indeed. The goal of our public health policy must be to deliver messages about healthy lifestyles in a way that engages with the public and changes attitudes, but there is also a vital second level of public health—secondary prevention, awareness of symptoms and early diagnosis. In each of those key areas, Labour’s record has been very poor. I now look forward to hearing from the Minister exactly what the Government are going to do to put it right.