Under-funding has been blamed for some of the UK’s problems in responding to the coronavirus – particularly over the provision of PPE.
But Public Health England’s budget for ‘protection from infectious diseases’ rose from £52 million in 2014/15 to £86.9 million in 2018/19.
In a new briefing for the Institute of Economic Affairs, author Christopher Snowdon questions PHE’s overall spending, saying “the amount of money spent on tenuous, policy-driven research alone is staggering. Public health academics were recently given £400,000 to study the drinking habits of football fans.”
Christopher will take part in a LIVE IEA WEBINAR, tonight at 6pm. Join the debate here or on YouTube.
Or read his report: ‘False Economies: Myths about public health spending’