Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the extent of the incidence of tuberculosis in the UK. [155016]

Anna Soubry, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health: The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the United Kingdom over time is assessed through systematic analysis of notification data obtained from the Enhanced Tuberculosis Surveillance System, run by Public Health England. In 2011 in the UK, a total of 8,963 cases of TB were reported, a rate of 14.4 cases per 100,000 population. This information is contained in Tuberculosis case reports and rates, UK, 2000-11 which has been placed in the Library. TB notifications and rates increased from 2000 until 2005, and have remained high but relatively stable since.

A brief summary of key surveillance data for 2011 is given as follows:

The main burden of TB was concentrated in large urban areas, with 39% of all cases reported from London.

Over half of TB cases had pulmonary disease (52%).

The majority of cases (74%) were born outside the UK, with the rate of TB among the non-UK-born population being 20 times the rate in the UK-born.

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