Public Health England will be replaced with new organisation

THE Government is to press ahead with controversial plans to scrap Public Health England (PHE), the Health Secretary has announced.

Matt Hancock has launched the new National Institute for Health Protection, a new body which will respond to health threats including infectious diseases, pandemics and biologic weapons.

The new organisation, headed up by Tory peer Dido Harding, will begin work immediately but will become formally operational next spring to reduce disruption during the pandemic, it was announced.

It will merge the Covid response work of PHE, NHS Test and Trace and Joint Biosecurity Centre in the “first step towards becoming a single organisation”, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.

The Government has faced criticism over the prospect of breaking up the PHE, which was established in 2013 under Conservative health reforms, in the middle of a pandemic.

Ministers have also been accused of using PHE as a “scapegoat” for other failings in the crisis.

And commentators have called into question the appointment of former Talk Talk boss Baroness Harding.

Speaking at the Policy Exchange think-tank, Mr Hancock said: “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.”

Mr Hancock said the new institute will play a role across the UK and be dedicated “to the investigation and prevention of infectious diseases and external health threats”.

He added: “It will be dedicated to the investigation and prevention of infectious diseases and external health threats, that’ll be its mission.

“It’s conceived amid crisis but it will help maintain vigilance for years to come.”