3 Reducing health inequalities
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14848/09
COM(09) 567
+ ADDs 1-2
| Commission Communication on Solidarity in health: reducing health inequalities in the EU
Commission staff working documents: impact assessment and summary of assessment
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| Legal base
| — |
| Department
| Health |
| Basis of consideration
| Letter of 4 March 2010 from the Health Committee
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| Previous Committee Report
| HC 5-ii (2009-10), chapter 4 (25 November 2009)
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| To be discussed in Council
| No date set
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| Committee's assessment
| Politically important
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| Committee's decision
| Cleared |
Previous scrutiny
3.1 Last November, we considered this
Commission Communication on reducing health inequalities in the
EU, such as a five-fold difference between Member States in infant
mortality; a 14 year gap in life expectancy at birth for men;
and an eight year gap for women. The Commission stressed that
health inequalities are not inevitable. It cited action the EU
had already taken to try to help reduce inequalities through,
for example, the Council Recommendation on cancer screening, the
Framework Programmes on R&D and the Structural Programmes.
3.2 But, in the Commission's view,
further action is needed to:
· promote
an equitable distribution of good health as part of overall social
and economic development;
· improve
the data on health inequalities and the mechanisms for measuring,
monitoring, evaluating and reporting on inequalities (for example,
develop a common set of indicators; and disseminate best practice
and the results of relevant research);
· build
a commitment across society to reduce health inequalities (for
example, publicise health inequalities and encourage cooperation
between public bodies, employers, trades unions, and civil society
to tackle them);
· meet
the needs of vulnerable groups such as the Roma, people with disabilities
and children living in poverty; and
· develop
the contribution of EU policies to the reduction of inequalities
(for example, consider how Member States might make better use
of cohesion policy, the Structural Funds and other existing EU
policies and programmes).
The Commission intends to issue a progress
report on health inequalities in 2012.
3.3 In her Explanatory Memorandum of
11 November 2009, the Minister of State for Public Health at the
Department of Health (Gillian Merron) told us that the UK is an
international leader in policies to tackle health inequalities
and that the Communication did not have significant policy implications
for the UK.
3.4 We decided to draw the Communication
to the Health Committee's attention and asked for its Opinion
on the document. Meanwhile, we kept the Communication under scrutiny.
The Health Committee's Opinion
3.5 On 4 March the Health Committee
replied. It notes that the Committee published a report on health
inequalities in March 2008 and invites us to treat that report
as the Committee's Opinion.[8]
3.6 The report says that, during the
course of its inquiry, the Health Committee heard widespread praise
and support, both in this country
and abroad, for the explicit commitment the Government had made
to tackle health inequalities. However, while the health of all
groups in England is improving, over the last ten years health
inequalities between the social classes had increased by 4% among
men, and by 11% among women.
3.7 The
Health Committee also said that the most damning criticisms of
Government policies it had heard during the inquiry had not been
of the policies themselves, but rather of the Government's approach
to designing and introducing new policies which made meaningful
evaluation impossible. In the Committee's view, simple changes
to the design of policies and how they are introduced could make
all the difference.
Conclusion
3.8 We are grateful to the Health
Committee for its Opinion and we clear the Communication from
scrutiny with this short report to the House.
8 HC 286-I (2007-08) 15 March 2008. Back
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