§ Mr. Coombsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what additional funding has ben made available to the Health Education Council for the prevention of heart disease, following the publication of the Canterbury and COMA reports;
(2) what plans he has to make specific funding available to regional and district health authorities to develop strategies for the prevention of heart disease, following the publication of the Canterbury and COMA reports.
§ Mr. John PattenA major programme aimed at attacking the problem of cardiovascula disease through concerted local action is being undertaken in Wales by the Health Education Council, which is directly funded by the Government. This is intended as a pilot for future programmes in the rest of the country. Regional health authorities have identified cardiovascular disease as a 293W priority in their 10-year forward planning, and we expect to see them reflecting this in their allocations in future years.
§ Mr. Coombsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the cost to industry in the latest available year of forgone output due to premature mortality and sickness absence from work resulting from coronary heart disease,. ICD 410–414, in males and females in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. John PattenThis information is not readily available. The cost to industry of premature mortality and sickness must rest on wide-ranging assumptions which cannot easily be validated. However, in England and Wales in 1982 there were about 26,100 deaths from coronary heart disease among men aged 25 to 64 and about 3,300 among women aged 25 to 59; sickness and invalidity benefit was paid in 1981–82 for about 23 million days for men and about 1 million days for women.