Dissolution of Public Health England

Thursday 9th March 2023 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Neil O’Brien)]

I am today informing Parliament of the formal dissolution of Public Health England (PHE). This follows the laying before Parliament of the PHE annual report and accounts for 2021 to 2022. The annual report and accounts include half year accounts for PHE covering the final period of its operation between 1 April 2021 and 30 September 2021.

In August 2020 the Government announced their intention to reform the public health system in England. These reforms were driven by lessons learned from the pandemic, and by the need to make sure we have a public health system fit for the future.

Since that announcement, we have established the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA), an organisation dedicated solely to identifying, preventing and managing threats to health. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has been created in the Department of Health and Social Care to put prevention of ill health and the tackling of health disparities at the heart of Government. NHS England’s focus on prevention and population health has been strengthened, and important national disease registries have also moved to NHS England, to more deeply embed prevention across the NHS.

On 30 September 2021, PHE ceased all operations and effectively closed. At this point PHE’s functions and staff transferred to UKHSA, OHID (in DHSC), NHS England and NHS Digital.

From 1 October 2021 the new national public health infrastructure in England was fully operational.

[HCWS621]