Minister of State for Health (UK)

United Kingdom
Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care
United Kingdom; Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care
	Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
	Incumbent; Andrew Stephenson; since 13 November 2023
	Department of Health and Social Care
Style	Minister
Nominator	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Appointer	The Monarch; on advice of the Prime Minister
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Formation	1970
First holder	Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare
Website	https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/minister-of-state--59

The Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care is a mid-level position in the Department of Health and Social Care in the British government. The position is currently held by Andrew Stephenson MP since 13 November 2023. The minister often deputises for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care alongside the Minister of State for Social Care.^[1]

The office has been in place at least since 1969, with David Ennals as Secretary of State for Health and Social Security.^[2]^[3]

Historically, the role was known as Minister of State for Health and Social Security as part of the Department of Health and Social Security.

Responsibilities

The minister is responsible for the following:^[4]

COVID-19:
- NHS resilience (acute capacity)
- supply (ventilators)
NHS operational performance
Long Term Plan Bill
finance, efficiency and commercial
NHS capital, land and estates
transformation
NHS England mandate
devolved administrations, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories
secondary legislation
departmental management
EU future relationship and trade
sponsorship of:
- NHSE
- NHSI

List of ministers of state for health

Name		Took office	Left office	Political party
Role created out of the Department of Health and Social Security
Minister of State for Health and Social Security
	Morys Bruce 4th Baron Aberdare	23 June 1970	8 January 1974	Conservative	Edward Heath (I)
	Brian O'Malley MP for Rotherham	8 March 1974	6 April 1976	Labour	Harold Wilson (III) + (IV)
	David Owen MP for Plymouth Devonport	26 July 1974	10 September 1976	Labour	Harold Wilson (III) + (IV)
	Stan Orme MP for Salford West	8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Labour	James Callaghan (I)
	Roland Moyle MP for Lewisham East	10 September 1976	4 May 1979	Labour	James Callaghan (I)
Minister of State for Health
	Gerard Vaughan MP for Reading South	7 May 1979	5 March 1982	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher (I)
	Kenneth Clarke MP for Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire	5 March 1982	2 September 1985	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher (I) + (II)
	Barney Hayhoe MP for Brentford and Isleworth	2 September 1985	10 September 1986	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher (II)
	Tony Newton MP for Braintree	10 September 1986	25 July 1988	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher (II) + (III)
	David Mellor MP for Putney	25 July 1988	27 October 1989	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher (III)
	Anthony Trafford Baron Trafford	29 July 1989	16 September 1989	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher (III)
	Virginia Bottomley MP for South West Surrey	28 October 1989	10 April 1992	Conservative	Margaret Thatcher (III) John Major (I)
	Brian Mawhinney MP for Peterborough	14 April 1992	20 July 1994	Conservative	John Major (II)
	Gerry Malone MP for Winchester	20 July 1994	May 1997	Conservative	John Major (II)
Minister of State for Health Services
	Alan Milburn MP for Darlington	May 1997	30 December 1998	Labour	Tony Blair (I)
	John Denham MP for Southampton Itchen	30 December 1998	11 June 2001	Labour	Tony Blair (I)
	Jacqui Smith MP for Redditch	June 2001	June 2003	Labour	Tony Blair (II)
	Rosie Winterton MP for Doncaster Central	June 2003	May 2005	Labour	Tony Blair (II)
	John Hutton MP for Barrow and Furness	June 2003	May 2005	Labour	Tony Blair (II)
Minister of State for Quality and Patient Safety
	Jane Kennedy MP for Liverpool Wavertree	10 May 2005	8 May 2006	Labour	Tony Blair (III)
Minister of State for Health
	Andy Burnham MP for Leigh, Greater Manchester	8 May 2006	28 June 2007	Labour	Tony Blair (III)
	Ben Bradshaw MP for Exeter	28 June 2007	5 June 2009	Labour	Gordon Brown (I)
	Mike O'Brien MP for North Warwickshire	8 June 2009	11 May 2010	Labour	Gordon Brown (I)
	Philip Dunne MP for Ludlow	15 July 2016	9 January 2018	Conservative	Theresa May (I) + (II)
	Steve Barclay MP for North East Cambridgeshire	9 January 2018	16 November 2018	Conservative	Theresa May (II)
	Stephen Hammond MP for Wimbledon	16 November 2018	25 July 2019	Conservative	Theresa May (II) Boris Johnson (I)
	Chris Skidmore MP for Kingswood	24 July 2019	10 September 2019	Conservative	Boris Johnson (I)
	Edward Argar MP for Charnwood	10 September 2019	6 July 2022	Conservative	Boris Johnson (I) + (II)
	Maria Caulfield MP for Lewes	7 July 2022	7 September 2022	Conservative	Boris Johnson (II)
	Will Quince MP for Colchester	8 September 2022	26 October 2022	Conservative	Liz Truss (I)
Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care
	Will Quince MP for Colchester	26 October 2022	13 November 2023	Conservative	Rishi Sunak (I)
	Andrew Stephenson MP for Pendle	13 November 2023	Incumbent	Conservative	Rishi Sunak (I)