Health Secretary confirms scrapping of Public Health England and creation of new overarching health protection body

Mr Hancock today announced the formation of a new organisation, the National Institute for Health Protection, to protect the nation’s health “now and in the future”.

He said the new organisation will have a single mission of “protecting people from external threats to this country’s health”.

And he added: “To give ourselves the best chance of beating this virus and spotting and tackling other external health threats now and in the future, we need to bring together the science and the skill into one coherent whole.

“So, today, I am announcing that we are forming a new organisation, the National Institute for Health Protection.

“The National Institute for Health Protection will have a single and relentless mission: protecting people from external threats to this country’s health. External threats like biological weapons, pandemics and, of course, infectious diseases of all kinds.”

The new organisation will, in the interim, be run by Baroness Harding, who has been heading up the NHS Test and Trace programme.

Making a speech at the Policy Exchange think tank Mr Hancock said: “From today, PHE, the JBC (Joint Biosecurity Centre) and NHS Test and Trace will operate under single leadership, reporting to Baroness Dido Harding, who will establish the NIHP and undertake the global search for its future leadership.

“I have no doubt that under Baroness Harding we will found the NIHP as a thriving, mission-driven organisation.

“We have a common mission, the greatest mission of any of our working lives, and we have no time to lose in building the institution of the future.”

He said he had “every confidence” that the new organisation will be “world-renowned”.

He added: “There’s also the question of why now.

“One of the lessons I’ve learned from the crisis is that if something is the right thing to do, then putting off the change is usually the wrong thing to do.

“I hope we have struck a balance between showing exactly where we are going immediately and then having the time to ensure that we build that institution properly.”

The announcement comes after Labour criticised plans to break up PHE in the middle of a pandemic as “irresponsible” and “risky”.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said that structural reorganisation is “time consuming” and “energy sapping”.

In a series of scathing tweets, Mr Ashworth said the Government was trying to “shift the blame”.