United Kingdom Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Incumbent Victoria Atkins since 13 November 2023
Department of Health and Social Care
Style	Health Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth)
Type	Minister of the Crown
Status	Secretary of State
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Seat	Westminster
Nominator	The Prime Minister
Appointer	The Monarch (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Formation	14 October 1854: (as President of the Board of Health) 8 January 2018: (as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care)
First holder	Benjamin Hall (as President of the Board of Health)
Salary	£159,038 per annum (2022)[1] (including £86,584 MP salary)[2]
Website	www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-health-and-social-care

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The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care.^[3] The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

The position can trace its roots back to the nineteenth century, and has been a secretary of state position since 1968. For 30 years, from 1988 to 2018, the position was titled Secretary of State for Health, before Prime Minister Theresa May added "and Social Care" to the designation in the 2018 British cabinet reshuffle.^[4]

The office holder works alongside the other health and social care ministers. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow secretary of state for health and social care, and the secretary of state is also scrutinised by the Health and Social Care Select Committee.^[5]

The position is currently held by Victoria Atkins since 13 November 2023.

Responsibilities

Corresponding to what is generally known as a health minister in many other countries, the health secretary's remit includes the following:

• Oversight of England's National Health Service, including:
  • Delivery of care
  • Performance
  • Fiscal consolidation
  • Financial management^[6]
• Matters concerning England's social care policy (although responsibility is shared with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government in respect of adult social care, and the Department for Education in respect of children's social care).
• Matters concerning England's national public health
• Relations with international health partnerships (WHO)

History

The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November and 21 November 1831. In 1848, a General Board of Health was created with lay members as its leadership^[7] and the first commissioner of woods and forests as its president. In 1854, this board was reconstituted and the president appointed separately. However, the board was abolished in 1858 and its function of overseeing the local boards was transferred to a new Local Government Act Office within the Home Office. From 1871, that function was transferred to the new Local Government Board.

The Ministry of Health was created in by the Ministry of Health Act 1919 as a reconstruction of the Local Government Board. Local government functions were eventually transferred to the minister of housing and local government, leaving the Health Ministry in charge of Health proper.

From 1968, it was amalgamated with the Ministry of Social Security under the secretary of state for social services, until a de-merger of the Department of Health and Social Security on 25 July 1988.

Since devolution in 1999, the position holder's responsibility for the NHS is mainly restricted to the health service in England, with the holder's counterparts in Scotland and Wales responsible for the NHS in Scotland and Wales. Prior to devolution, the secretaries of state for Scotland and Wales had those respective responsibilities, but the Department of Health had a larger role than now in the co-ordination of health policy across Great Britain. Health services in Northern Ireland have always had separate arrangements from the rest of the UK, and are currently the responsibility of the health minister in the Northern Ireland Executive.

A small number of health issues remain reserved matters, that is, they are not devolved.

According to Jeremy Hunt the department receives more letters than any other government department and there are 50 officials in the correspondence unit.^[8]

List of ministers

Colour key (for political parties):
   Whig    Conservative    Radical    Peelite    Liberal    Labour    Unionist    National Labour    National Liberal

President of the Board of Health (1848-1858)

President of the Board			Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
As First Commissioner of Woods and Forests							Lord John Russell
		The Earl of Carlisle	1848	17 April 1849	Whig
		Lord Seymour MP for Totnes	17 April 1849	1 August 1851	Whig
As First Commissioner of Works
		Lord Seymour MP for Totnes	1 August 1851	21 February 1852	Whig
		Lord John Manners MP for Colchester	4 March 1852	17 December 1852	Conservative		The Earl of Derby
		William Molesworth MP for Southwark	5 January 1853	14 October 1854	Radical		The Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition)
President of the Board of Health
		Benjamin Hall MP for Marylebone	14 October 1854	13 August 1855	Whig
							The Viscount Palmerston
		William Cowper MP for Hertford	13 August 1855	9 February 1857	Whig
		William Monsell MP for County Limerick	9 February 1857	24 September 1857	Whig
		William Cowper MP for Hertford	24 September 1857	21 February 1858	Whig
		Charles Adderley MP for Staffordshire Northern	8 March 1858	1 September 1858	Conservative		The Earl of Derby
Board of Health abolished in 1858; responsibilities transferred to the Privy Council (1858–1871), then the Local Government Board (1871–1919).

Minister of Health (1919–1968)

Minister			Term of office		Political party	Ministry
		Christopher Addison MP for Shoreditch	24 June 1919	1 April 1921	Liberal	Lloyd George II
		Alfred Mond MP for Swansea West	1 April 1921	19 October 1922	Liberal
		Arthur Griffith-Boscawen MP for Taunton	24 October 1922	7 March 1923 (Lost seat 1922)	Conservative	Law
		Neville Chamberlain MP for Birmingham Ladywood	7 March 1923	27 August 1923	Conservative
						Baldwin I
		William Joynson-Hicks MP for Twickenham	27 August 1923	22 January 1924	Conservative
		John Wheatley MP for Glasgow Shettleston	22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour	MacDonald I
		Neville Chamberlain MP for Birmingham Ladywood then Birmingham Edgbaston	6 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative	Baldwin II
		Arthur Greenwood MP for Nelson and Colne	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour	Macdonald II
		Neville Chamberlain MP for Birmingham Edgbaston	25 August 1931	5 November 1931	Conservative	National I
		Hilton Young MP for Sevenoaks	5 November 1931	7 June 1935	Conservative	National II
		Kingsley Wood MP for Woolwich West	7 June 1935	16 May 1938	Conservative	National III
						National IV
		Walter Elliot MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove	16 May 1938	13 May 1940	Unionist
						Chamberlain War
		Malcolm MacDonald MP for Ross and Cromarty	13 May 1940	8 February 1941	National Labour	Churchill War
		Ernest Brown MP for Leith	8 February 1941	11 November 1943	National Liberal
		Henry Willink MP for Croydon North	11 November 1943	26 July 1945	Conservative
						Churchill Caretaker
		Aneurin Bevan MP for Ebbw Vale	3 August 1945	17 January 1951	Labour	Attlee I
						Attlee II
		Hilary Marquand MP for Middlesbrough East	17 January 1951	26 October 1951	Labour
		Harry Crookshank MP for Gainsborough	30 October 1951	7 May 1952	Conservative	Churchill III
		Iain Macleod MP for Enfield West	7 May 1952	20 December 1955	Conservative
						Eden
		Robin Turton MP for Thirsk and Malton	20 December 1955	16 January 1957	Conservative
		Dennis Vosper MP for Runcorn	16 January 1957	17 September 1957	Conservative	Macmillan I
		Derek Walker-Smith MP for East Hertfordshire	17 September 1957	27 July 1960	Conservative
						Macmillan II
		Enoch Powell MP for Wolverhampton South West	27 July 1960	20 October 1963	Conservative
		Anthony Barber MP for Doncaster then Altrincham and Sale	20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative	Douglas-Home
		Kenneth Robinson MP for St. Pancras North	18 October 1964	1 November 1968	Labour	Wilson I
Post merged with Ministry for Social Security in 1968.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Services (1968–1988)

Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Ministry
		Richard Crossman MP for Coventry East	1 November 1968	19 June 1970	Labour	Wilson II
		Keith Joseph MP for Leeds North East	20 June 1970	4 March 1974	Conservative	Heath
		Barbara Castle MP for Blackburn	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour	Wilson III
		David Ennals MP for Norwich North	8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Labour	Callaghan
		Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford	5 May 1979	14 September 1981	Conservative	Thatcher I
		Norman Fowler MP for Sutton Coldfield	14 September 1981	13 June 1987	Conservative
						Thatcher II
		John Moore MP for Croydon Central	13 June 1987	25 July 1988	Conservative	Thatcher III
Post split into Secretary of State for Social Security and Secretary of State for Health in 1988.

Secretary of State for Health (1988–2018)

Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Ministry
		Kenneth Clarke MP for Rushcliffe	25 July 1988	2 November 1990	Conservative	Thatcher III
		William Waldegrave MP for Bristol West	2 November 1990	10 April 1992	Conservative
						Major I
		Virginia Bottomley MP for South West Surrey	10 April 1992	5 July 1995	Conservative	Major II
		Stephen Dorrell MP for Loughborough then Charnwood	5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
		Frank Dobson MP for Holborn and St. Pancras	3 May 1997	11 October 1999	Labour	Blair I
		Alan Milburn MP for Darlington	11 October 1999	13 June 2003	Labour
						Blair II
		John Reid MP for Hamilton North and Bellshill then Airdrie and Shotts	13 June 2003	6 May 2005	Labour
		Patricia Hewitt MP for Leicester West	6 May 2005	28 June 2007	Labour	Blair III
		Alan Johnson MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle	28 June 2007	5 June 2009	Labour	Brown
		Andy Burnham MP for Leigh	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour
		Andrew Lansley MP for South Cambridgeshire	11 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative	Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.)
		Jeremy Hunt MP for South West Surrey	4 September 2012	8 January 2018	Conservative
						Cameron II
						May I
						May II

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (2018–present)

Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Ministry
		Jeremy Hunt MP for South West Surrey	8 January 2018	9 July 2018	Conservative	May II
		Matt Hancock MP for West Suffolk	9 July 2018	26 June 2021	Conservative
						Johnson I
						Johnson II
		Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove	26 June 2021	5 July 2022	Conservative
		Steve Barclay MP for North East Cambridgeshire	5 July 2022	6 September 2022	Conservative
		Thérèse Coffey MP for Suffolk Coastal	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	Conservative	Truss
		Steve Barclay MP for North East Cambridgeshire	25 October 2022	13 November 2023	Conservative	Sunak
		Victoria Atkins MP for Louth and Horncastle	13 November 2023	Incumbent	Conservative

See also

• Health and Social Care minister
• Minister of Health

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Secretaries of State for Health of the United Kingdom.

• Official website