Leading social scientists suggest practical local policies to reduce health inequalities.

The British Academy has published a collection of nine proposals from leading social scientists setting out ways that local authorities in the UK could improve the health of their communities and reduce health inequalities.

Released within a year of the responsibility for public health being transferred from the NHS to local authorities, this report, If You Could Do One Thing, presents valuable and robust research from the social sciences to help local policy makers address health inequalities.

This explores what The Marmot Review confirmed: that socio-economic inequalities affect health outcomes and that there is a social gradient in health.

Those who are best off financially do best on health outcomes too, with the converse true for the poorest.

The case for action is clear, and the move of public health responsibilities to local government offers the opportunity for locally led, joined-up responses.

Each of the authors proposed one policy intervention that local policy makers could adopt to help reduce health inequality.

Suggested policies range from lowering speed limits to improving further education and introducing a living wage.

The report highlights successful case studies, as well as encouraging councils to collaborate, share information, and build good relationships with local academics from the social sciences.

It aims to embolden local policy makers to broaden the range of policy approaches used to reduce health inequalities and tackle some of the trickier structural and economic issues such as planning, worklessness and income inequality, as well as behavioural issues such as smoking and alcohol abuse.

Recent analysis has suggested that as little as 20 per cent of the influences on health are to do with clinical care. Health behaviours account for 30 per cent of influences and the physical environment for 10 per cent, with socioeconomic factors having the largest impact on health at 40 per cent.

Dame Jane Roberts, a psychiatrist, former leader of Camden Council and a member of the steering group that produced the report, said: “These nine proposals suggest concrete approaches policy makers can adopt to reduce health inequalities.

“A tough ask, especially in the academic world. But we wanted to concentrate minds turning academic understanding into local action.”

The authors represent a variety of approaches and areas of expertise and show the contribution that a wide range of social science research and ideas can make to reducing health inequalities.

The nine policy suggestions are:

Implementing a living wage, proposed by Kate Pickett, Professor of Epidemiology, at the University of York;

Increasing early childhood education, proposed by Edward Melhuish, Professor of Human Development at Birkbeck University;

Implementing 20mph speed limits for cars in residential areas, by shops and schools, proposed by Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, at the University of Oxford;

Tackling health-related ‘worklessness’: a ‘health first’ approach, proposed by Clare Bambra, Professor of Public Health Policy at Durham University;

Building ‘age-friendly’ communities and cities, proposed by Hal Kendig, Professor of Ageing and Public Policy, at the Australian National University, and Chris Phillipson, Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology, at the University of Manchester;

Using participatory budgeting to improve mental capital, proposed by Kwame McKenzie, Medical Director at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada;

Improving the employment conditions of public sector workers, proposed by James Y. Nazroo, Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester and director of the Cathie Marsh Centre and the ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicit);

Increasing the scope of adult and further education, proposed by Tarani Chandola, Professor of Medical Sociology at the University of Manchester and Andrew Jenkins, Senior Research Officer at the Institute of Education at the University of London;

Evaluating policies for evidence of cost effectiveness, proposed by Alan Maynard, Professor of Health Economics at the University of York.

Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health said: “There is a huge potential in the bringing together of different disciplines to help develop appropriate solutions and interventions and we fully support the opening of this dialogue.

“Shared learning provides an opportunity to expand knowledge and approach problems from a different perspective and could be a big step towards tackling health inequalities.”