The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive. It oversees the English National Health Service (NHS). The department is led by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care with three ministers of state and three parliamentary under-secretaries of state.
Alistair James Hendrie Burt is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Bedfordshire from 2001 until 2019. He was previously MP for his native Bury North in Greater Manchester from 1983 until 1997. Burt was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State then Minister of State at the Department of Social Security from 1992 to 1997, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2010 to 2013. Burt was also Minister of State at the Department of Health from May 2015 to July 2016.
The parliamentary under-secretary of state is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister of State, which is itself junior to a Secretary of State.
George William Freeman is a British Conservative Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Norfolk since 2010, he previously served as Minister for Science, Research and Innovation from September 2021 until his resignation in July 2022, and again from October 2022 until November 2023.
Dame Jennifer Margaret Harries is a British public health physician who has been the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and head of NHS Test and Trace since May 2021. She was previously a regional director at Public Health England, and then Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England from June 2019 until her UKHSA appointment in 2021.
NHS COVID-19 was a voluntary contact tracing app for monitoring the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in England and Wales, in use from 24 September 2020 until 27 April 2023. It was available for Android and iOS smartphones, and could be used by anyone aged 16 or over.
NHS Test and Trace was a government-funded service in England, established in 2020 to track and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The programme is part of the UK Health Security Agency; the service and the agency are headed by Jenny Harries.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a government agency in the United Kingdom, responsible since April 2021 for England-wide public health protection and infectious disease capability and replacing Public Health England. It is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Operation Moonshot was a UK government programme to introduce same-day mass testing for COVID-19 in England as a way of enabling large gatherings of people to take place in that country while maintaining control over the virus. According to the British Medical Journal, the programme aimed to deliver 10 million tests per day by 2021.
The Vaccine Taskforce in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was set up in April 2020 by the Second Johnson ministry, in collaboration with Chief Scientific Advisor Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, in order to facilitate the path towards the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK and its global distribution. The taskforce coordinated the research efforts of government with industry, academics and funding agencies in order to expedite vaccine development and deployment.
The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) is a scientific body which seeks to advise United Kingdom government policy as part of the response to outbreaks of COVID-19, such as on testing deployment, international travel, and the UK 'COVID-19 alert level'. Its existence was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in May 2020. The body has been part of the UK Health Security Agency since the establishment of that agency on 1 April 2021.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Women's Health Strategy is a ministerial position within the Government of the United Kingdom, in charge of mental health and women's health policy.
A minister of state is a mid-tier minister of the Crown in the UK government.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Technology, Innovation and Life Sciences was a junior position in the Department of Health and Social Care in the British government. It is currently vacant since 20 September 2022.
The parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Future Digital Economy and Online Safety is a junior position in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in the British government.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water and Rural Growth was a junior position in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the British government. The office was merged with the Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs in 2024.
The Office for Life Sciences (OLS) is part of the British government. The organisation supports the delivery of the UK Government's life sciences and innovation policy by connecting decision making across government. Informed by productive engagement with industry, the OLS promotes research, innovation, and technology within government for the improvement of healthcare.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care is a position in the Department of Health and Social Care in the Government of the United Kingdom. The role has previously been known as the Minister of State for Public Health.
The Minister of State for Care and Mental Health was a ministerial position within the Government of the United Kingdom, in charge of mental health and social care policy.
