HC Deb 22 December 1981 vol 15 cc854-6
5. Mr. Ray Powell

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects to publish the result of the study being undertaken at Queen Mary college into the relationship between unemployment and health in families.

9. Mr. Joseph Dean

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, from the evidence available to him, there appears to be an association in time between the events of unemployment and a subjective deterioration in health which leads people to ask for help from their general practitioners.

4. Mr. John Evans

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, pursuant to the answers by the Minister for Health in columns 154 to 156 of the Official Report,20 October, if he will now publish the subsequent correspondence of the Minister for Health with Dr. Leonard Fagin.

Dr. Vaughan

A copy of my correspondence with Dr. Fagin has already been placed in the Library, as I said it would be. First results of the Queen Mary college study into possible links between unemployment and mortality rates were published in The Lancet on 26 September. Further results will follow in 1982. On the evidence at present available it is not possible to come to definite general conclusions on the effect of unemployment on health.

Mr. Ray Powell

Is the Minister aware that, almost without exception, and in whatever part of the country research is carried out, unemployment and poverty are, in general, closely associated with family health—both mental and physical? Will he comment on the recent perinatal mortality figures for 1980? What Christmas message of hope has he for the 3 million unemployed sufferers and their families?

Dr. Vaughan

The House is interested in any links between unemployment and health and ill health. Some families develop better health as they take on additional responsibilities. Of course we are concerned about ill health. A good deal of research is taking place and we must await the results.

Mr. Joseph Dean

I have listened with interest to the Minister's remarks. Does he agree that Dr. Fagin, who carried out the study, believes that there is a correlation between unemployment and ill health?

Dr. Vaughan

As the House will know, Dr. Fagin has corresponded with me on that matter. In his letter to me he said that my quotations were accurate: but that they did not cover as much as he would have wished. He said Our interviews with the families revealed close associations in time between changes in health and the experience of unemployment. Health did not necessarily worsen after unemployment. Some families actually reported less health problems. He went on to say that there was a general relationship between unemployment and ill health and that some families suffered worse health following unemployment.

Mr. Paul Dean

Is my hon. Friend saying that the problems are deep-seated and human, and for which there are no immediate political solutions?

Dr. Vaughan

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his remarks. Yes, that is the position.

Mr. Ennals

Is the Minister aware that Dr. Fagin has twice said that the hon. Gentleman has mis-guided the House? Is he further aware of other evidence that shows an increase in suicide, family breakdown and non-accidental injury among the unemployed, and that the longer the period of unemployment, the, greater the likelihood of those eventualities occurring?

Dr. Vaughan

I do not accept that I have mis-guided the House. Dr. Fagin said in his letter to me: I am not saying that you were not accurate in what you said. I suggest that hon. Members wait until we receive the report of the Queen Mary college study, and then we shall know the position.

Mrs. Dunwoody

Is it not true that Dr. Fagin has twice written to the Minister saying that, at best, his representation of the study on the link between unemployment and ill health was unbalanced and, at worst, done to mis-guide the House? Does the Minister accept that there is not only a proven link between ill health and unemployment, but that it is clear that the cost not only to the unemployed but to their families is high and will continue to rise under this heartless Government?

Dr. Vaughan

I do not accept the hon. Lady's remarks. I accept that unemployment can be a tragedy for certain individuals and their families, and also that it can be a blight on the community. No doubt the hon. Lady failed to read The Guardian recently, which pointed out that health spending had risen under the Conservatives faster than at any time since the creation of the NHS in 1948.