Baroness Thornton (Baronesses in Waiting, HM Household; Labour)

In October 2004, in response to an increase in tuberculosis (TB), the Chief Medical Officer published an action plan, "Stopping Tuberculosis in England", a copy of which has already been placed in the Library. Work is underway to implement the 10 actions considered essential to bring TB under control.

The plan outlined four measures of success:

a progressive decline in rates of TB in population groups born in England. Data from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) indicate that while rates in these groups have not decreased, they have remained stable at four per 100,000 population between 2002-07 (latest data);a reduction in the incidence of disease among people who entered the country and became resident here within the previous five years. TB data collected by the HPA report only rates of TB among non-United Kingdom born people, and those rates for the years 2002-07 have been 88, 92, 96, 102, 94 and 87 per 100,000 population. The department did not expect an immediate decline in rates because of improved TB detection following implementation of the TB action plan; no more than 7 per cent of new cases resistant to the anti-TB drug isoniazid and two per cent multidrug resistant. HPA data show 6.8 per cent of cases were resistant to isoniazid, and 1.2 per cent were multidrug resistant; anda reduction in the number of human cases of bovine TB in people under age of 35 years born in the UK. HPA data from 2002-07 show the numbers of case per year in England as 17, 15, 14, 24, 26, and 23, with the peak in 2005-06 due to an unusual cluster outbreak in the West Midlands.

The strategy to effective TB control is awareness and early detection and completion of treatment, and key actions taken by the department to provide the National Health Service with the tools to improve services include: local awareness raising through funding to TB Alert; the TB Toolkit for commissioners; the Find and Treat pilot in London to actively find cases among hard to reach groups; the provision of free TB drugs for all patients and a more targeted Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination programme.