Health Ministerial Team changes

Yvette Cooper has been appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper (MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley) is an experienced Cabinet Minister, previously serving as Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Work and Pensions Secretary. Her first ministerial role was as Public Health Minister.

Responding to news of the appointment, Community Pharmacy England Chief Executive Janet Morrison said:

“We welcome the appointment of Yvette Cooper MP as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. She takes on the role at a pivotal moment for the future of the NHS, with growing recognition of the vital contribution that local pharmacies make to improving patient access to care and delivering it closer to home.

Pharmacies remain under considerable pressure, and maintaining momentum on reform and sector sustainability, as well as building on the investment and sector contributions to date, will be vital. We stand ready to work constructively with the new Secretary of State and her team to help deliver the Government’s health ambitions alongside the support, reform and investment that pharmacies desperately need.”

Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP and Karin Smyth MP have been announced as Ministers of State in the Department, but their briefs have yet to be confirmed. Stephen Kinnock MP, the previous minister with responsibility for pharmacy, has taken up the role of Secretary of State for Wales.

Responding to news of Kinnock’s departure, Janet Morrison said:

“Stephen Kinnock has been an engaged and constructive minister, who has gone into bat for community pharmacy. We thank him for this, and for the time he has taken to understand the challenges and opportunities for community pharmacy and their value to communities.”