How evidence based is English public health policy?

Use of robust evidence to inform public health policy is likely to ensure the greatest and most equitable population health gains.1 In the United Kingdom and elsewhere there has been prominent support for an “evidence based” policy approach from senior policy makers over the past two decades,2 and the current coalition government has maintained this stance. In his speech to the Faculty of Public Health conference in July 2010, Andrew Lansley, the secretary of state for health, stated: “Our new approach across public health services must meet tougher tests of evidence and evaluation . . . We must only support effective interventions that deliver proven benefits.”3

But how well is the government following its own advice? We examine the quality of evidence that underpins proposed actions in the white paper Healthy Lives, Healthy People.4 This white paper includes organisational reforms that aim to change the structure of the public health workforce, several measures relating to delivery of English NHS services (that are interlinked to the white paper on the NHS5), and an outline of proposals for actions to improve population health.