§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence she has on which groups of people have experienced(a) an improvement and (b) a deterioration of health since 1979; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe available data indicate that there have been improvements since 1979 for almost all groups. Examples are life expectancy, which has increased from 70 to 74 in males and from 76 to 79 for females, between 1979 and 1992 in England and Wales; and infant mortality rates which have almost halved in this period, falling from 12.8 to 6.5 per 1,000 live births in England.
There are, however, some instances of negative trends: for example, the general household survey shows an increasing percentage of people reporting longstanding illness—from 27 per cent. of persons questioned in 1979 to 32 per cent. in 1992—although slightly fewer said that their activities were restricted by illness in the previous two weeks—13 per cent. compared with 12 per cent. in 1979.
Such trends are reported in the first chapter of the chief medical officer's annual report "On the State of the Public Health", copies of which are available in the Library.
The strategy for health launched by the Government in July 1992 has the overall aim of further continuing improvement in the health of the nation. This requires better monitoring of the health of the population, and we have initiated a major new health survey for England. Its expansion to 17,000 subjects in 1993 will, when the results are available, greatly increase the information about groups within the population, including regional variations and trends over time.