Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of cases of TB in (a) London and (b) England. [203049]
Jane Ellison: In 2012 in the United Kingdom, a total of 8,751 cases of tuberculosis (TB) were reported, a rate of 13.9 cases per 100,000 population. In 2011, 8,899 TB cases were reported in the UK (rate: 14.1/100,000 population), and 8,397 TB cases were reported in 2010, a rate of 13.5 per 100,000 population.
<> In the UK, the main burden of TB is concentrated in large urban areas; in 2012, London had the highest proportion of cases (39%) followed by West Midlands (12%).
The Department recognises the public health importance of TB, particularly among groups at higher risk of TB, such as migrants from high incidence countries and persons with social risk factors, such as homelessness, imprisonment and drug and alcohol use in England and within large metropolitan areas, like London.
We also recognise the contribution that latent TB infection (LTBI) makes to the overall TB disease burden. Systematic LTBI testing and treatment is part of the recommendation in the current TB guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2011) and are a key intervention in the draft collaborative TB strategy for England, being led by Public Health England (PHE).
The Department is also concerned about the high TB rates in persons with social risk factors, which is why it commissioned NICE to produce a short clinical guidance on TB services for underserved groups. The guidance makes clear recommendations for active case finding and other interventions in these groups (published in March 2012). The Department is funding research projects on identifying latent TB in relation to the effectiveness of testing for latent TB and on the prognostic value of these tests to predict the progression from latent to active TB.
PHE has made TB one of its main priorities, and is leading a coalition of key stakeholders, including the Department, NHS England, Local Government and other key public and voluntary organisations, to develop a national TB strategy.
The strategy aims to bring together best practice in clinical care, social support and public health to strengthen TB control, leading to a year on year decrease in incidence, a reduction in health inequalities associated with TB, and to contribute to the eventual elimination of the disease. The consultation process for the formulation of the strategy started in March 2014 and ended in June 2014. The strategy will be launched sometime in the autumn 2014.
The following link is for the TB Strategy consultation, which provides useful information on introducing TB controls in England:
www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317140970182
In London, a London TB Control Board has been constituted with representation from all agencies involved in preventing, controlling and treating TB, to try and replicate the progress made in other major international cities such as New York and Paris.