Assembly response to the Mayor's draft health inequalities strategy

The Mayor's vision for tackling health inequalities in the capital is at risk of being sidelined unless he clearly sets out his priorities and the initiatives he will take forward to help achieve them.

While the Health and Public Services Committee welcomes the publication of the Mayor’s draft Health Inequalities Strategy, it warns in its response that partners will find it hard to determine their own priorities when it is unclear what the Mayor and the GLA group will be doing.

The committee says the Mayor should also provide details of how he will bring together local partners and break down organisational ‘silos’ as part of the strategy delivery plan.

The committee makes recommendations to maximise the impact and effectiveness of the draft strategy:

• The Mayor must set firm targets for the GLA and its functional bodies for how they will tackle health inequalities and deliver their proposed actions
• Funding arrangements should take into account the capacity of smaller community groups to bid for money
• The Mayor must raise the profile of work to tackle health inequalities amongst London partners.