Immigration is responsible for a 30-year high in the number of cases of tuberculosis in the UK, the Government has said. Skip related content

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said that under his health reforms, local councils would play a major role in dealing with the problem, which is concentrated in the country's major cities.

There were 8,286 cases of TB in England last year, up 4.3% on 2008, he told the House of Commons.

Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and London were particularly affected by the contagious lung disease, which spreads by sneezing and coughing. The disease often takes months or even years to show symptoms but left untreated it can prove fatal.

Mr Lansley said he welcomed the Health Protection Agency's report on TB.

"The rise has occurred mainly in people infected in countries where TB is common who go on to develop active TB later in life," he said.

Questioned by Liberal Democrat Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) about how the Government's NHS reforms would impact on the treatment of TB, mr Lansley said councils working as public health authorities would be better placed to prevent outbreaks.

The Health Secretary added: "The treatment services for individual patients will be commissioned through GP consortia but the identification and preventative work is a public health responsibility so to that extent I think we will be better placed to deal with that in future.

"many of these local authorities in Birmingham or Manchester or Leeds will be well placed as cities to respond to any incidences of TB or outbreaks of TB on a preventative basis using their powers as public health authorities."