There are some helpful moves in this direction. For example, in December 2020 the Treasury revised the Green Book to help ensure investment decisions are better aligned with strategic government objectives -including those relating to 'levelling up'. This included putting more weight on environmental, social and place-based impacts as part of business cases put forward to the Treasury for public investment (House of Lords Library, Government investment programmes: the 'green book'; March 2021 (https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/ government-investment-programmes-the-green-book).Briefing: The government's levelling up agenda 4Box 1: The four capitals Human capital: Encompasses people's skills, knowledge and physical and mental health. These factors enable people to participate fully in work, study, recreation and in society more broadly. Social capital:The norms and values that underpin society, including levels of trust, the rule of law, cultural identity, and the connections between people and communities.Natural capital: All aspects of the natural environment needed to support life and human activity including land, soil, water, plants and animals, as well as minerals and energy resources.Financial/physical capital: All the things that make up the country's physical and financial assets, which have a direct role in supporting incomes and material living conditions. This could include, for example, new houses, roads, buildings, hospitals, factories and equipment.

Smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity and harmful alcohol use are leading risk factors driving the UK’s high burden of preventable ill health and premature mortality. All are socioeconomically patterned and contribute significantly to widening health inequalities. This Health Foundation report summarises recent trends for each of these risk factors and looks at national-level policies for England, introduced or proposed by the UK government between 2016 and 2021. The report reviews the government’s approach and finds a heavy reliance on policies aimed at changing individual behaviour and an uneven approach across risk factors, with particularly weak action on alcohol. The report also identifies that decision making across departments has been disjointed, undermining health improvement targets.