Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Royal Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent Sajid Javid since 26 June 2021
Department of Health and Social Care
Style	Health Secretary (informal) The Right Honourable (UK and the Commonwealth)
Status	Secretary of State Minister of the Crown
Member of	Cabinet Privy Council
Reports to	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Appointer	The Crown on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At Her Majesty's pleasure
Formation	14 October 1854
First holder	Sir Benjamin Hall
Salary	£143,552 (including salary as MP)
Website	www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-health-and-social-care

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v t e

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.^[1] The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, eighth in the ministerial ranking.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

The current secretary of state for health and social care is Sajid Javid, who was appointed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in June 2021.

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
  • Financial management^[5]
• 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^[6] 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.

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)[edit]
Name		Portrait	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
	Sir William Molesworth, Bt MP for Southwark		5 January 1853	14 October 1854	Radical		The Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition)
President of the Board of Health
	Sir Benjamin Hall, Bt 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)[edit]
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Dr Christopher Addison MP for Shoreditch		24 June 1919	1 April 1921	Liberal		David Lloyd George (Coalition)
	Sir Alfred Mond, Bt MP for Swansea West		1 April 1921	19 October 1922	Liberal
	Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen MP for Taunton		24 October 1922	7 March 1923 (Lost seat 1922)	Conservative		Bonar Law
	Neville Chamberlain MP for Birmingham Ladywood		7 March 1923	27 August 1923	Conservative
							Stanley Baldwin
	Sir William Joynson-Hicks, Bt MP for Twickenham		27 August 1923	22 January 1924	Conservative
	John Wheatley MP for Glasgow Shettleston		22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	Neville Chamberlain MP for Birmingham Ladywood then Birmingham Edgbaston		6 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
	Arthur Greenwood MP for Nelson and Colne		7 June 1929	24 August 1931	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	Neville Chamberlain MP for Birmingham Edgbaston		25 August 1931	5 November 1931	Conservative		Ramsay MacDonald (1st National Min.; 2nd National Min.)
	Sir Hilton Young MP for Sevenoaks		5 November 1931	7 June 1935	Conservative
	Sir Kingsley Wood MP for Woolwich West		7 June 1935	16 May 1938	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin (3rd National Min.)
							Neville Chamberlain (4th National Min.; War Coalition)
	Dr Walter Elliot MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove		16 May 1938	13 May 1940	Unionist
	Malcolm MacDonald MP for Ross and Cromarty		13 May 1940	8 February 1941	National Labour		Winston Churchill (War Coalition; Caretaker Min.)
	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
	Aneurin Bevan MP for Ebbw Vale		3 August 1945	17 January 1951	Labour		Clement Attlee
	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		Sir Winston Churchill
	Iain Macleod MP for Enfield West		7 May 1952	20 December 1955	Conservative
							Sir Anthony 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		Harold Macmillan
	Derek Walker-Smith MP for East Hertfordshire		17 September 1957	27 July 1960	Conservative
	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		Sir Alec Douglas-Home
	Kenneth Robinson MP for St. Pancras North		18 October 1964	1 November 1968	Labour		Harold Wilson
Post merged with Ministry for Social Security in 1968.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Services (1968–1988)[edit]
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Richard Crossman MP for Coventry East		1 November 1968	19 June 1970	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Sir Keith Joseph MP for Leeds North East		20 June 1970	4 March 1974	Conservative		Edward Heath
	Barbara Castle MP for Blackburn		5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour		Harold Wilson
	David Ennals MP for Norwich North		8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Labour		James Callaghan
	Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford		5 May 1979	14 September 1981	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	Norman Fowler MP for Sutton Coldfield		14 September 1981	13 June 1987	Conservative
	John Moore MP for Croydon Central		13 June 1987	25 July 1988	Conservative
Post split into Secretary of State for Social Security and Secretary of State for Health in 1988.
Secretary of State for Health (1988–2018)[edit]
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Kenneth Clarke MP for Rushcliffe		25 July 1988	2 November 1990	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	William Waldegrave MP for Bristol West		2 November 1990	10 April 1992	Conservative
							John Major
	Virginia Bottomley MP for South West Surrey		10 April 1992	5 July 1995	Conservative
	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		Tony Blair
	Alan Milburn MP for Darlington		11 October 1999	13 June 2003	Labour
	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
	Alan Johnson MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle		28 June 2007	5 June 2009	Labour		Gordon 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		David Cameron (Coalition)
	Jeremy Hunt MP for South West Surrey		4 September 2012	8 January 2018	Conservative
							David Cameron (II)
							Theresa May (I·II)
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (2018–present)[edit]
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Jeremy Hunt MP for South West Surrey		8 January 2018	9 July 2018	Conservative		Theresa May (II)
	Matt Hancock MP for West Suffolk		9 July 2018	26 June 2021	Conservative
							Boris Johnson (I·II)
	Sajid Javid MP for Bromsgrove		26 June 2021	Incumbent	Conservative		Boris Johnson (II)