Matt Hancock announces new public health body to 'protect UK from pandemic and bio weapons'

Health secretary Matt Hancock has said a new public health body is being launched to protect the nation from threats including pandemic and biological weapons.

The minister said the new organisation, the National Institute for Health Protection, will have a single mission of “protecting people from external threats to this country’s health”.

The NIHP will replace current the current body in charge of pandemic response, Public Health England, and play a role across the UK.

It will bring together Public Health England and the beleaguered NHS Test and Trace system, as well as the Joint Biosecurity Centre, under a single leadership team - led by Tory peer Dido Harding as interim executive chairwoman.

The health secretary laid out plans on Tuesday
Sky News

In a speech at the think tank Policy Exchange, Mr Hancock said: "We are making the change now because we must do everything we can to fulfil our responsibilities to the public, to strengthen public health in the UK.

"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 health secretary said that the new body would combine the existing "talent and science infrastructure" of PHE with the other organisations.

He continued: “The National Institute for Health Protection will also work closely with the devolved administrations, taking on existing UK-wide responsibilities and supporting all four chief medical officers with access to the best scientific and analytical advice.

“By bringing these parts of the system together, we can get more than the sum of the parts. And the mission, that mission, is for a purpose, so we have a stronger, more joined-up response to protect people and the communities in which they live.

“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.”

Jonathan Ashworth, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has criticised the move 
REUTERS

He added: "Crucially, this will be a national institution that works very much locally, working with local directors of public health and their teams who are, in my opinion, the unsung heroes of health protection."

The move comes a week after PHE revised its Covid-19 death toll figures.

The demolishing of the body, which was established in 2013 under Conservative health reforms, in the middle of a global pandemic has been seen as controversial.

Ministers have been accused of using PHE as a "scapegoat" for other government failings in the crisis. The announcement on Tuesday came after Labour criticised plans to break up PHE in the middle of a pandemic as "irresponsible" and "risky".

In a series of scathing tweets, shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said the Government was trying to "shift the blame".