The CIEH is calling on all political parties to recognise that the skills and services provided by the environmental health profession are crucial to the advancement of health and well-being in the UK.
So ahead of the General Election the Institute has launched its own 40-point manifesto, Health For Our Future, which will be backed by social media activity, briefings and press releases in the run-up to polling day on 7 May.
Graham Jukes, CIEH chief executive said that the manifesto had been produced following extensive consultation with its members. He commented: ‘Our members are active in all sectors. Whether they work as generalists or are specialists in housing, food safety, occupational health or environmental protection, we know that their actions on preventative health are keeping people out of doctors’ surgeries and hospitals.
He added: ‘Our calls for actions are backed by detailed evidence, proving that not investing in environmental and public health would cost the country more than the money saved. Our work is good for business, both in keeping employees healthy and the public safe and in driving out rogue traders. At a community level if promotes individual wellbeing and social cohesion.’
In the document, the CIEH calls on a new government to ring-fence public health funding for local government beyond 2016 and to strengthen the powers of health and wellbeing boards and Public Health England.
It calls on a new government to maintain local services and council workforces that make food and housing safe and communities sustainable and to ‘stop knocking health and safety’.
Among the manifesto’s other demands are tougher measures to address the role low-price alcohol plays in encouraging antisocial behavior and creating ill health and for a new government to maintain significant resourcing on sustainable international development and climate change.
The full manifesto can be read and downloaded at:
www.cieh.org/policy/election_manifesto