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Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the recent publication, "The Widening Gap", byBristol University, on inequalities in health provision. [101689]Yvette Cooper: I was interested to see this report which suggests that there are a number of key determinants which impact on healthand health inequalities.The former Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson), appointed Sir DonaldAcheson to carry out an inquiry into health inequalities. Sir Donald's report, published in November 1998, described thesocio-economic determinants of health inequalities and made recommendations which contributed to the development of our healthstrategy, "Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation". A key aim of our strategy is to reduce health inequalities and narrow the healthgap.In "Reducing Health Inequalities: An action report" published with "Saving Lives" we identified some of the key actions we aretaking across Government to tackle health inequalities. |