Health evidence in United Kingdom House of Commons Select Committee inquiries

Abstract

ObjectivesThe objective of the study was to explore how health evidence is submitted to national policymakers in the United Kingdom outside of the health sector. Study designThe study design used is document review. MethodsThe parliament.uk website was searched for House of Commons Select Committee inquiries relevant to health but not undertaken by the Health and Social Care Committee between 2015 and 2019. The written and oral evidence used in these inquiries were searched for submissions by health sources. ResultsTwenty-two inquiries were found, covering a range of determinants of health. A median of 10 pieces of written evidence (interquartile range [IQR] 5–16) and 16% of the oral evidence (IQR 6–32%) was provided by health sources, per inquiry. Health researchers contributed written evidence to 19 and oral evidence to 13 inquires. National public health organisations contributed written evidence to 11 and oral evidence to nine inquiries. ConclusionsA significant number of inquiries relating to the determinants of health were not carried out by the Health and Social Care Committee. Health sources variably contributed evidence to these inquiries. There is an opportunity to submit more evidence to national policymakers to advocate for healthy policies across sectors.