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News

25th February 2020

Call for ‘worrying’ life expectancy trends to spark spending shift

Responding to the launch of the report ‘Health Equity in England: Marmot Review 10 Years On’ Paul Najsarek, Solace’s Community Wellbeing spokesperson, said: “It is worrying that life expectancy has declined for some in society and yet this is avoidable – the clear message about the role of austerity in this trend is striking.

“Local government stands ready to work with the new Government to arrest this decline, and many areas already are working to address these issues and improve our citizens’ life chances.
“But tackling inequality in all of our communities cannot just be about investing in roads and railways, buildings and bridges – we have got to invest in people themselves.

“In particular, without a significant shift in spending being directed towards prevention and early intervention there is a real danger the health inequality gap will continue to widen and life expectancy shorten, and over the long-term the burden on the public purse will become even greater.

“As part of this we are calling on the Government to provide councils with a truly sustainable multi-year funding settlement, as well as the necessary devolved powers to address the challenges we all face, so local government can invest in the services that will bring the most benefits to our people and our places, both now and in the future. In addition, we have called for the Chancellor to use the Budget and Spending Review to create a new fund to support prevention schemes at a significant scale right across the country.”