Which MPs and peers raise public health & prevention most in Parliament?

Dr Caroline Johnson, Dr Beccy Cooper, Dr Danny Chambers lead the ranking of MPs and peers on public health & prevention, based on every Hansard contribution since 9 July 2024.

How is the public health & prevention ranking calculated?

Vital Signs ranks MPs and members of the House of Lords by a weighted score of their Hansard contributions on Public health & prevention — speeches, written questions and committee work — over the course of this Parliament (since 9 July 2024). Ministerial statements and debate speeches carry more weight than written answers; every contribution counts at full weight however early in the Parliament it was made. Contributions are matched to this topic on whole-word keyword matching, so "send" is never mistaken for SEND and "career" is never mistaken for care. Ministers and shadow ministers are labelled, because answering on a brief is their job rather than a choice to raise it; their scores are shown as-is, not adjusted.

Vital Signsby Bridgehead

Hansard to 27 October 2026 · 30,804 contributions indexed · 1,439 MPs & peers

01 Topic · Healthcare

Vital Signs: Public health & prevention

Change topic · 29 health and social care topics

Who is shaping the debate on public health & prevention: in Parliament, in the press, and among the experts the press turns to.

See the 11 search terms behind this page ↓

02 Who is talking · pick a lens

03 The signal · Where it is spoken from

678

of 1,439 MPs & peers have spoken on public health & prevention since 9 July 2024 · 1,720 Commons contributions from 422 constituencies · latest sitting indexed 27 October 2026

0Hansard contributions per seat84

Seats shaded by Hansard contributions on this topic. Lines join the 8 MPs in this list to their constituencies; peers have no seat and no line.

#Most activeSignalScore

01—Dr Caroline JohnsonShadowConservative · Sleaford and North Hykeham · Commons · Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)252
02—Dr Beccy CooperLabour · Worthing West · Commons156
03—Dr Danny ChambersSpokespersonLiberal Democrat · Winchester · Commons · Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Mental Health)150
04—Baroness MerronMinisterLabour · House of Lords · Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)142.5
05—Gregory StaffordShadowConservative · Farnham and Bordon · Commons · Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Health and Social Care)111
06—Karin SmythMinisterLabour · Bristol South · Commons · Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)108
07—Baroness Bennett of Manor CastleGreen Party · House of Lords98.5
08—Wes StreetingCabinetLabour · Ilford North · Commons · Secretary of State for Defence93
09—Jack RankinConservative · Windsor · Commons90
10—Jim ShannonDemocratic Unionist Party · Strangford · Commons78

Score is a weighted Hansard contribution score for this topic since 9 July 2024. Portraits: UK Parliament Members API. Rank change (▲/▼) is vs. 7 days ago.

Hansard · weekly mentions

211 mentions in the last 8 sitting weeks, 239 in the 8 before

Recess weeks are not counted: sitting weeks are compared with sitting weeks, and the current week is left off until it is complete. Parliament was in recess 21 Sept to 11 Oct 2026. 2,974 mentions since 9 July 2024.

Press · articles per week

755 articles in 56 weeks, 258 of them in the last five

Source: Guardian archive, trade press and news search: a sample of coverage, not an exhaustive count. Weekly article counts to w/c 19 Oct; weeks not yet ingested are dropped rather than shown as zero.

Parliament · party split

Share of scored contributions

Labour349 members50%
Conservative137 members22%
Liberal Democrat96 members18%
Green Party6 members3%
Others (13 groups)90 members7%

Labour members account for 50% of the scored contributions on this topic, across 17 party groups in both Houses.

Parliament · reach

Members who have spoken

678of 1,439 MPs & peers

47% of the roster has spoken on this topic since 9 July 2024: one square per member, 422 MPs (navy) and 256 peers (cobalt).

Briefing · Parliament

Parliament debates how to fund and deliver prevention, from smoke-free ambitions to vaccination and the Health Bill

In the Commons Smoke-free UK debate on 15 October, Mary Kelly Foy (Labour) and Bob Blackman (Conservative), co-chairs of the all-party group on smoking and health, led a largely consensual discussion. Gregory Stafford (Conservative) set out the previous Government's record, while Blackman said the generational policy does little for the 4.9 million people who still smoke.
In the same debate, Euan Stainbank and Mary Glindon (both Labour) argued for vaping as an off-ramp for smokers, and Glindon named the illicit market as the biggest threat to the goal. Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat) said legislation alone is not enough. Public Health Minister Dame Diana Johnson offered to attend a session of the all-party group.
In the Lords Health Bill second reading on 13 October, peers pressed on prevention funding. Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative) said the removal of ring-fenced smoking cessation funding is already leading to services being decommissioned. Lord Rennard (Liberal Democrat) urged a smoke-free road map with a levy on tobacco industry profits, and Lord Babudu (Labour) said the Bill places no duty on prevention.
Other peers in that debate raised health inequalities and local variation. Baroness Janke (Liberal Democrat) cited widening gaps in healthy life expectancy and cuts to local public health services. Lord Smith of Ranmoor said locally commissioned prevention could create new variation in access to obesity services. In the Commons on 7 September, Danny Beales and Apsana Begum (both Labour) discussed the place of local authorities and public health in commissioning, with Beales welcoming Government amendment 60.
In the vaccination rates debate on 3 September, members from several parties pointed to uptake below the World Health Organisation's 95% target. Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat) stressed online disinformation, whereas Lizzi Collinge (Labour) said that focusing only on it risks mistaking the loudest part of the problem for the largest. In the water sector debate on 14 September, Dr Peter Prinsley and Emma Hardy (both Labour) argued that public health should be central to reform.

Verbatim

However, it does not do much for the 4.9 million people who currently continue to smoke.
Bob Blackman · Conservative, Harrow East · Smoke-free UK · 15 Oct 2026
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)
However, funding that was previously ring-fenced at ICB level is now going to be part of a baseline budget and under threat.
Lord Young of Cookham · Conservative, House of Lords · Health Bill · 13 Oct 2026
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)
Prevention has no equivalent duty, and this House has no good way to see whether money is moving towards it.
Lord Babudu · Labour, House of Lords · Health Bill · 13 Oct 2026
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)
Most parents who miss vaccinations are simply exhausted, overstretched or unable to get an appointment that fits around their lives.
Lizzi Collinge · Labour, Morecambe and Lunesdale · Vaccination Rates: England · 3 Sept 2026
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)
What should be at the centre of a discussion about public ownership of water? I think it should be public health.
Dr Peter Prinsley · Labour, Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket · Water Sector: Public Ownership · 14 Sept 2026
Read in Hansard (opens in a new tab)

AI-drafted from 110 Hansard contributions over 22 sitting days · 1 September 2026 to 22 October 2026 · No sittings were recorded between 18 September 2026 and 11 October 2026. · quotes are exact copies of the Hansard record, speakers taken from the record · generated 26 Oct 2026 · how briefings are made

Expert voices · press citations

The most quoted voices on this topic

40 of 396 expert voices, 84 citations across 6 groups. Click a group to open it as a lens on the map.

Clinicians

6 · 13 citationsOpen lens ↑

Professor Victoria Tzortziou BrownRoyal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)6
Dr Steve TaylorGP and co-lead of the Doctors' Association UK2
Dr Steven LuChief Medical Officer of Everlab2
Professor Azeem MajeedGP and head of the department of primary care and public health at Imperial College London1
Dr Helen StewartOfficer for Health Improvement at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, UK1
Dr David Shaferplastic surgeon in New York1

Academics

23 · 45 citationsOpen lens ↑

Prof Naveed SattarUniversity of Glasgow – School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health5
Prof Becky Freemanprofessor of public health at the University of Sydney4
Professor Adam BriggsKeynote speaker3
Dr Danielle McMullenAMA federal president2
Professor Steve Turnerpresident of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health2
Dr Marie SpreckleyMRC Epidemiology Unit / IMS Epidemiology, University of Cambridge2
Caroline Temminkdirector of vaccinations at NHS England2
Professor Liam SmeethDirector of LSHTM2
Dr Andrew Barnfieldsenior lecturer in public health at UEL2
Dr Geoff BatesInstitute for Policy Research, University of Bath2
Dr Harry Tattan-BirchLead author, UCL's institute of epidemiology and health care2
Ihor PerehinetsHealth Security and Regional Emergency Director at WHO Europe2
Patty KostkovaDirector of the UCL Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies2
Professor Sarah AyresSchool for Policy Studies, University of Bristol2
Professor Sir Stephen Holgate CBERCP's special adviser on air quality2
Sam JanesInterim Dean of the Faculty of Population Health Sciences at UCL2
Dr Amanda DoyleNHS England primary care director1
Professor Lucy ChappellChief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care and Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR1
Professor Bryan Williamschief scientific and medical officer of the British Heart Foundation1
Sir Michael MarmotUCL Institute of Health Equity, University College London1
Professor Matt AshtonDirector of Public Health for Liverpool City Council1
Dr Jamie Hartmann-Boyceassistant professor of health policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and co-author of a recent Cochrane Review on interventions to help people quit vaping1
Dr Marty Makaryformer Trump FDA commissioner1

Sector leaders

5 · 14 citationsOpen lens ↑

Tedros Adhanom GhebreyesusDirector-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)8
Katharine JennerObesity Health Alliance2
John Dunnehead of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA)2
Dr Layla McCayNHS Confederation1
Alison MortonChief Executive of the Institute of Health Visiting1

Think tanks

1 · 1 citationOpen lens ↑

Sarah WoolnoughThe King's Fund1

Regulators & officials

2 · 8 citationsOpen lens ↑

Sir Chris WhittyDepartment of Health and Social Care7
Prof Susan HopkinsUK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)1

Unions

3 · 3 citationsOpen lens ↑

Prof Nicola RangerRoyal College of Nursing1
Dr Katie BramallBritish Medical Association1
Dr Clare BannonBritish Medical Association (BMA)1

Methodology

How Vital Signs ranks

Parliament. Every Hansard contribution on a topic since 9 July 2024 is scored by type and summed per member; the map colours each constituency by how often its MP has raised the topic. Peers sit in no constituency and are ranked but not mapped.

Press. Bylines rank journalists and quotations rank expert voices, across the Guardian archive and trade press Vital Signs has read. A voice’s pin marks its organisation’s base, never the person’s home.

Briefings. Drafted by an AI model from the underlying Hansard text or articles. Every quotation in a Parliament briefing is an exact copy of the Hansard record and linked to it; press quotations are as the linked articles reported them. The speaker is always taken from the record, not the model.

Search terms for Public health & prevention. These are the exact terms used to find what appears on this page.

Parliament: 11 terms

A Hansard contribution counts toward this topic when it contains any of these, matched as whole words.

public health
preventative healthcare
prevention agenda
health prevention
obesity strategy
childhood obesity
smoking cessation
smoke-free
vaccination uptake
immunisation programme
health screening programme

News search: 8 terms, run each week

Each term is searched separately on Google News. Where a term only extends an earlier one (“cancer treatment” after “cancer”), it is skipped.

public health
preventative healthcare
prevention agenda
health prevention
obesity strategy
childhood obesity
smoking cessation
smoke-free

Guardian: 2 editor tags

The Guardian archive is read by its editors’ tags, not by keyword, so an article only counts if a Guardian editor filed it under one of these.

society/obesity
society/smoking

Trade press: 1 outlet

Read by each outlet’s own category for this topic, not by keyword.

Pulse Today

Read the full methodology →Check your MP’s record →

Profiles