"Healthy Lives, Healthy People"

Thursday 14th July 2011 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Andrew Lansley)]

Today I am laying before Parliament “Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Update and way forward” (Cm 8132), which sets out the progress we have made in developing our vision for public health, and a timeline for completing the operational design of this work through a series of public health system reform updates.

The White Paper “Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our Strategy for public health in England” (Cm7985), described a new era for public health, with a higher priority and dedicated resources. It set out that local authorities would take new responsibilities for public health, tackling the wider determinants of health, supported by a ring-fenced budget, with directors of public health leading on this work locally. A new integrated public health service, Public Health England, would bring together in one body the diverse range of public health expertise to provide public health advice and support at all levels of the system.

The White Paper generated real enthusiasm for a new approach to public health. We want to maintain this momentum, and by setting out progress to date, and clear next steps, we aim to reduce uncertainty and encourage local authorities and public health professionals to continue to plan and build the local relationships and partnerships that will be key to implementing the new public health system.

This policy statement sets out how we expect the reformed public health system to work and the progress we have made in a number of areas, including the role and functions of Public Health England as an executive agency. It sets out greater clarity about the role of the Director of Public Health within local government, including how public health advice will be provided to help inform NHS commissioning. It provides an update in relation to commissioning routes for public health funded activity and provides greater clarity around roles and responsibilities for preparedness, resilience and response to health protection incidents and emergencies. It also indicates the functions we plan to mandate of local authorities, and what general conditions we intend to place on the ring-fence grant.

The high-quality of consultation responses received also helped us to identify where we need to do further work to address concerns raised around a number of policy and implementation issues. We will continue to engage with key stakeholders to ensure that by the autumn we have developed credible policy and implementation solutions for those issues which need further development. We will produce a series of public health system reform updates to complete the operational design of the public health system including on: the public health outcomes framework; the Public Health England Operating Model, public health in local government and the role of the Director of Public Health; public health funding; and a workforce strategy.

Copies of “Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Update and way forward” are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office and to noble Lords from the Printed Paper Office.

The document is also available at:

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthyliveshealthypeople/index.htm