WIREDGOV

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Community Wellbeing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, responds to the Government's announcement of annual real-term cuts of 3.9% in councils' public health budgets over the next five years.

"Devolving public health to local government was a positive step, and councils have embraced these new responsibilities. However, the drastic cuts announced today will have a major impact on the many prevention and early intervention services carried out by councils. These include combating the nation's obesity problem, helping people to stop smoking and tackling alcohol and drug abuse.

"Given that much of councils' public health budget goes to pay for NHS services like sexual health, public health nursing, drug and alcohol treatment and health checks, this is a cut to the NHS in all but name. And this cut will put extra pressure on other NHS services.

"At a time when the Government has issued its firm commitment to the NHS Five Year Forward View - with prevention at its core – for it to then cut the public health budget is short-sighted. 

"We need to move away from a focus on treating sickness to actively promoting health. Investing in prevention ultimately saves money for other parts of the public sector by reducing demand for hospital, health and social care services and ultimately improves the public's health."