Cabinet reshuffle brings new faces to care

After the cabinet reshuffle, Jeremy Hunt has been confirmed as the new health secretary, and Norman Lamb as the minister for care services.

Mr Hunt takes over from Andrew Lansley, whilst Mr Lamb, who from 2006 to 2010 was Liberal Democrat shadow health secretary, takes over from Paul Burstow.

Paul Burstow said: “I am sad to be leaving the Government.

“Ever since I took on my dream job as Care Services Minister I have had the opportunity to make a difference in a policy area I care deeply about.

“Having dedicated most of my political career to improving the health and care of others it has been an absolute privilege to be directly involved in framing a new social care law and working closely with colleagues in the sector to set out a reform agenda in the Care and Support White Paper.

“In the last two years or so I have been able to introduce policies that will improve the mental health of adults and children, the care of older people and the diagnosis of dementia.

“I am confident my successor will now take on the challenge to ensure these reforms improve the lives of people in receipt of care up and down the country.

“Finally, I would like to pay tribute to those professionals across the care sector who dedicate their lives to caring for others. I'd also like to assure these people, and others, that I remain committed to reforming the social care system in the long-term.”

In response to the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s shadow health secretary said: "The NHS was supposed to be the Prime Minister’s number one priority. Swapping one failed Minister with poor judgment for another is a strange way to show that.

"Right now, the NHS needs somebody who believes in its values and is ready to stand up for it. Instead, the Prime Minister has given it the man who reportedly tried to remove the NHS tribute from the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games.

"NHS staff fearful of the Government’s drive to open up the NHS to full competition will take no comfort whatsoever to find a man in charge who, in his last job, bent over backwards to promote powerful private-sector interests.

"Andrew Lansley’s crime was supposed to be his failure to communicate his reforms. What the Prime Minister doesn’t understand is it is the NHS policies that are wrong, not the way he is selling them. Appointing a ‘yes-man’ to run the NHS will not bring the change of direction in health policy that patients and staff are desperately hoping for. Judging by his record, it may make matters worse.

"I welcome the new Secretary of State to his role but I serve notice to him today that, unless he removes the threat to the NHS from his Government’s policies, he will face the same opposition as his predecessor."

Michael Dugher MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, responding to the Government’s reshuffle, said: "This is the no-change reshuffle. "No move for a failing Chancellor in charge of a failing economic plan that has delivered a double-dip recession, who gave a tax cut for millionaires and who refuses to tax bank bonuses.

"And there are no moves across almost all of the most senior cabinet jobs.

"On Sunday David Cameron promised to 'cut through the dither', but today he was too weak to move Iain Duncan Smith from the Department of Work and Pensions and was forced to back down.

"Jeremy Hunt, the man who broke the ministerial code and failed to stand up to News Corporation, is now in charge of the NHS, our most cherished national institution. This won't change David Cameron's policy of continuing with a massive top-down NHS reorganisation.

"This reshuffle isn't a fresh start - it's more of the same from an out of touch and failing Government that stands up for the wrong people."

Jeremy Hughes, Alzheimer’s Society chief executive said: “The Prime Minister has made dementia a particular challenge for this government.

“We look forward to Jeremy Hunt and Norman Lamb working with us to deliver on that challenge, changing lives and attitudes to make communities more dementia friendly.

“There are 800,000 people living with dementia in the UK, and one in three people over the age of 65 will develop the condition. We must act now.”

Image: Care Services Minister, Paul Burstow; courtesy of Liberal Democrats' photostream