Tories to give councils extra powers and funds to tackle health issues

Local authorities will be given the powers and budget to bring about real improvements in local public health, the Conservatives have vowed.

The promise was contained in a green paper on public health – A Healthier Nation – published this week. The paper said: “Local authorities have already been assigned statutory duties to work towards improving public health, and some work well in partnership with primary care trusts. But these duties are not enough.”

The move would be part of a drive to decentralise responsibility for improving public health as far as possible away from central government control and out to local communities.

“We need a system in which local communities – working with other institutions (employers, charities, social entrepreneurs, private providers, schools and local doctors and nurses) – can identify local needs and provide rigorous solutions that are tailored to local circumstances,” the green paper said.

The Conservatives added that it would not dictate to local communities how they achieve better public health outcomes, and would reward them for the results they achieve “when they make serious savings for the NHS and the taxpayer”.

The party proposed taking “immediate action” if it wins the election, including:

• Localised funding: the public health budget will be separated from the budget for NHS services and much more of it devolved to local authorities and their health service partners. This will include public health success payments for tackling problems such as infant mortality, childhood obesity and sexually transmitted infections, and financial rewards for reducing the future burden of disease and cost
• Freedom to innovate: local directors of public health will manage budgets and will be obliged to commission local bodies, like schools, businesses, councils and GPs, to promote healthy living
• Local action to tackle inequalities: a new ‘health premium’ will be introduced to target resources towards areas with the poorest health to reduce chronic health inequalities
• New roles for GPs and local pharmacists in promoting better public health locally.

Other measures include a tougher licensing regime to tackle problem venues which encourage irresponsible drinking, a ban on cheap alcohol being used as a loss leader in shops and supermarkets, and a clearer system of alcohol labelling.

The role of the Department of Health would also be redefined “completely”, with a new name – the Department of Public Health – and a greater focus on prevention than cure of disease.

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “Much greater responsibility for tackling problems like obesity, drug use and teenage pregnancy will be devolved to communities on a new payment-by-results basis, with extra rewards for improving the public health of the poorest.”