Housing: Health
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with the Chief Medical Officer on the effect of (a) becoming cold and (b) living in a cold home on the (i) health, (ii) rate of hospitalisation and (iii) death rates of (A) elderly and (B) disabled people.
Answered by Karin Smyth
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care meets regularly with the Chief Medical Officer to discuss key issues affecting the public’s health, including winter pressures.
The Government is committed to a preventative approach to public health, including support for households living in cold homes. The Government will invest an extra £6.6 billion over this Parliament in clean heat and energy efficiency, upgrading five million homes through solutions like low carbon heating and improved insulation. This will help keep people warm and well in their homes and help reduce pressures on the National Health Service.
The UK Health Security Agency publishes the Adverse Weather and Health Plan for England, which sets out a framework for action to protect the population, including the elderly and disabled people, from harm to their health from adverse weather, including excess cold.
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