By Civil Service World

23 Sep 2024

Your guide to the department's cast of ministerial characters, and what’s in their in-trays

The new health secretary has quite the back story. Wes Streeting’s grandfather was an armed robber who rubbed shoulders with the Kray Twins, while his grandmother also ended up in jail where she met Christine Keeler, of Profumo Affair notoriety. Growing up in Stepney on a council estate, Streeting has said he felt financial security for the first time when he became an MP aged 32. Fittingly, Streeting’s first frontbench role was as shadow minister for child poverty, before taking on the health portfolio in 2021.

Pay was the immediate priority for the Illford North MP when he was appointed health secretary, after strikes under the previous government led to tens of thousands of appointments being cancelled.
Indeed, industrial action by different NHS workers since December 2022 has led to 1.5 million appointments, procedures and operations being postponed at an estimated cost of more than £3bn.

One of Streeting’s first major actions was to address these issues by meeting with various professional bodies and members of the NHS workforce itself. 

The outcome was an acceptance of the recommendations made from the NHS Pay Review Body, the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration, and the Senior Salaries Review Body, which resulted in a pay rise of 5.5% for 1.5 million-plus NHS staff in England. Streeting also agreed a 22% rise for junior doctors. 

The new health secretary said it is his intention to restore public sector pay after “years of neglect” so further reforms can be expected. DHSC is also likely to work in conjunction with departments such as DSIT to invest in greater use of technology and AI, in line with Labour’s pledge to harness tech as a way of fixing a broken NHS system and cutting waiting lists.

The new health secretary said it is his intention to restore public sector pay after ‘years of neglect’ so further reforms can be expected

In his introductory address to staff, Streeting said it will “be the mission of my department, every member of this government, and the 1.4 million people who work in the NHS to turn our health service around”.

“When we were last in office, we worked hand in hand with NHS staff to deliver the shortest waits and highest patient satisfaction in history,” Streeting added. “We did it before, and together we will do it again.” 

Streeting also quickly commissioned a “warts and all” report into the NHS, appointing surgeon and former-health minister Lord Ara Darzi, who served under Gordon Brown for two years, to steer it. The review, which was published this month, will inform a new 10-year plan to make the NHS “fit for the future”.

From a legislation perspective, the King’s Speech revealed that the department will be spearheading two bills during the next parliamentary session: the mental health bill and the tobacco and vapes bill. The mental health bill will reform the Mental Health Act which Labour described as “woefully out of date.” The tobacco and vapes bill will be picked up from the last government, ensuring that anyone born after 1 January 2009 will never be able to legally buy a cigarette and banning the deliberate advertising of vapes to children. The new government is taking the agenda a step further, by considering whether to introduce tougher rules on outdoor smoking.

Streeting, who has said in the past that he would “maybe one day” like to lead the Labour Party, began his career as president of the National Union of Students, and then worked in several charities before becoming an MP in 2015. 

As shadow health secretary, he argued for fundamental reform of the health service rather than pouring more money into a “leaky bucket”. He also championed using the private sector to support the NHS. Health commitments in Labour’s manifesto included cutting NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments every week, doubling the number of cancer scanners, dentistry reform, the return of the family doctor, and 8,500 additional mental staff.

Streeting is joined by Stephen Kinnock – the son of former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock – who is minister of state for care; Karin Smyth, who is minister of state for health (secondary care); and junior ministers Andrew Gwynne and Baroness Gillian Merron.

Gwynne is responsible for public health and prevention, while Merron’s portfolio is patient safety, women’s health and mental health.

Merron, who was an MP between 1997 and 2010 before joining the House of Lords, was minister of state for public health in the Department of Health between 2009-10. 

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