United Kingdom Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Royal Arms ofHis Majesty's Government
Incumbent Wes Streeting since 5 July 2024
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 thePrime 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 £86,584MP salary)[2]
Website	www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-health-and-social-care

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v t e

Thesecretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as thehealth secretary, is asecretary of state in theGovernment of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of theDepartment of Health and Social Care.^[3] The incumbent is a member of theCabinet of the United Kingdom.

Sincedevolution in 1999, the position holder's responsibility for the NHS is mainly restricted to thehealth service in England, whilst theCabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in the Scottish Government is responsible forNHS Scotland and theCabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in the Welsh Government is responsible forNHS Wales. 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 titledSecretary of State for Health, beforePrime MinisterTheresa May added "and Social Care" to the designation in the2018 British cabinet reshuffle.^[4]

The officeholder works alongside otherhealth and social care ministers. The correspondingshadow minister is theshadow secretary of state for health and social care, and the secretary of state is also scrutinised by theHealth and Social Care Select Committee.^[5]

The position is currently held byWes Streeting, who has served since 5 July 2024.

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

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

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

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

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

Sincedevolution in 1999, the position holder's responsibility for the NHS is mainly restricted to thehealth service in England, while the holders' counterparts in Scotland and Wales are responsible for the NHS inScotland andWales. Prior to devolution, thesecretaries of state for Scotland andWales had those respective responsibilities, but theDepartment of Health played a larger role than it does now in the coordination of health policy across Great Britain. Health services inNorthern Ireland have always had separate arrangements from the rest of the UK and are currently the responsibility of the health minister in theNorthern Ireland Executive.

A small number of health issues remainreserved matters, meaning they are not devolved.

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

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

President of the Board			Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
AsFirst Commissioner of Woods and Forests							Lord John Russell
		The Earl of Carlisle	1848	17 April 1849	Whig
		Lord Seymour MP forTotnes	17 April 1849	1 August 1851	Whig
AsFirst Commissioner of Works
		Lord Seymour MP forTotnes	1 August 1851	21 February 1852	Whig
		Lord John Manners MP forColchester	4 March 1852	17 December 1852	Conservative		The Earl of Derby
		William Molesworth MP forSouthwark	5 January 1853	14 October 1854	Radical		The Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition)
President of the Board of Health
		Benjamin Hall MP forMarylebone	14 October 1854	13 August 1855	Whig
							The Viscount Palmerston
		William Cowper MP forHertford	13 August 1855	9 February 1857	Whig
		William Monsell MP forCounty Limerick	9 February 1857	24 September 1857	Whig
		William Cowper MP forHertford	24 September 1857	21 February 1858	Whig
		Charles Adderley MP forStaffordshire 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			Term of office		Political party	Ministry
		Christopher Addison MP forShoreditch	24 June 1919	1 April 1921	Liberal	Lloyd George II
		Alfred Mond MP forSwansea West	1 April 1921	19 October 1922	Liberal
		Arthur Griffith-Boscawen MP forTaunton	24 October 1922	7 March 1923 (Lost seat1922)	Conservative	Law
		Neville Chamberlain MP forBirmingham Ladywood	7 March 1923	27 August 1923	Conservative
						Baldwin I
		William Joynson-Hicks MP forTwickenham	27 August 1923	22 January 1924	Conservative
		John Wheatley MP forGlasgow Shettleston	22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour	MacDonald I
		Neville Chamberlain MP forBirmingham Ladywood thenBirmingham Edgbaston	6 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative	Baldwin II
		Arthur Greenwood MP forNelson and Colne	7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour	Macdonald II
		Neville Chamberlain MP forBirmingham Edgbaston	25 August 1931	5 November 1931	Conservative	National I
		Hilton Young MP forSevenoaks	5 November 1931	7 June 1935	Conservative	National II
		Kingsley Wood MP forWoolwich West	7 June 1935	16 May 1938	Conservative	National III
						National IV
		Walter Elliot MP forGlasgow Kelvingrove	16 May 1938	13 May 1940	Unionist
						Chamberlain War
		Malcolm MacDonald MP forRoss and Cromarty	13 May 1940	8 February 1941	National Labour	Churchill War
		Ernest Brown MP forLeith	8 February 1941	11 November 1943	National Liberal
		Henry Willink MP forCroydon North	11 November 1943	26 July 1945	Conservative
						Churchill Caretaker
		Aneurin Bevan MP forEbbw Vale	3 August 1945	17 January 1951	Labour	Attlee I
						Attlee II
		Hilary Marquand MP forMiddlesbrough East	17 January 1951	26 October 1951	Labour
		Harry Crookshank MP forGainsborough	30 October 1951	7 May 1952	Conservative	Churchill III
		Iain Macleod MP forEnfield West	7 May 1952	20 December 1955	Conservative
						Eden
		Robin Turton MP forThirsk and Malton	20 December 1955	16 January 1957	Conservative
		Dennis Vosper MP forRuncorn	16 January 1957	17 September 1957	Conservative	Macmillan I
		Derek Walker-Smith MP forEast Hertfordshire	17 September 1957	27 July 1960	Conservative
						Macmillan II
		Enoch Powell MP forWolverhampton South West	27 July 1960	20 October 1963	Conservative
		Anthony Barber MP forDoncaster thenAltrincham and Sale	20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative	Douglas-Home
		Kenneth Robinson MP forSt. Pancras North	18 October 1964	1 November 1968	Labour	Wilson I
Post merged with Ministry for Social Security in 1968.

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

Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Ministry
		Kenneth Clarke MP forRushcliffe	25 July 1988	2 November 1990	Conservative	Thatcher III
		William Waldegrave MP forBristol West	2 November 1990	10 April 1992	Conservative
						Major I
		Virginia Bottomley MP forSouth West Surrey	10 April 1992	5 July 1995	Conservative	Major II
		Stephen Dorrell MP forLoughborough thenCharnwood	5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative
		Frank Dobson MP forHolborn and St. Pancras	3 May 1997	11 October 1999	Labour	Blair I
		Alan Milburn MP forDarlington	11 October 1999	13 June 2003	Labour
						Blair II
		John Reid MP forHamilton North and Bellshill thenAirdrie and Shotts	13 June 2003	6 May 2005	Labour
		Patricia Hewitt MP forLeicester West	6 May 2005	28 June 2007	Labour	Blair III
		Alan Johnson MP forKingston upon Hull West and Hessle	28 June 2007	5 June 2009	Labour	Brown
		Andy Burnham MP forLeigh	5 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour
		Andrew Lansley MP forSouth Cambridgeshire	11 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative	Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.)
		Jeremy Hunt MP forSouth West Surrey	4 September 2012	8 January 2018	Conservative
						Cameron II
						May I
						May II

Secretary of State			Term of office		Political party	Ministry
		Jeremy Hunt MP forSouth West Surrey	8 January 2018	9 July 2018	Conservative	May II
		Matt Hancock MP forWest Suffolk	9 July 2018	26 June 2021	Conservative
						Johnson I
						Johnson II
		Sajid Javid MP forBromsgrove	26 June 2021	5 July 2022	Conservative
		Steve Barclay MP forNorth East Cambridgeshire	5 July 2022	6 September 2022	Conservative
		Thérèse Coffey MP forSuffolk Coastal	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	Conservative	Truss
		Steve Barclay MP forNorth East Cambridgeshire	25 October 2022	13 November 2023	Conservative	Sunak
		Victoria Atkins MP forLouth and Horncastle	13 November 2023	5 July 2024	Conservative
		Wes Streeting MP forIlford North	5 July 2024	Incumbent	Labour	Starmer

• Health and Social Care minister
• Minister of Health

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