Wes Streeting is to give Alan Milburn a leading role in running his Department of Health, a move that has reignited the row over Labor figures with private interests having access to the government.
The Health Secretary is preparing to appoint Milburn, who was a radical reformer of the NHS during his time in that post under Tony Blair, as lead non-executive director of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
That will give Milburn an official position after months of causing unrest at both the DHSC and NHS England by attending meetings of both organisations, despite having no formal role such as that of minister or special adviser.
It will formalize the former health secretary’s long-standing status as a key adviser to Streeting as he tries to implement his promised “three big shifts” in the way the NHS operates.
But the Conservatives criticized the move as ‘jobs for the boys’ and said it showed Labor sees government business as ‘a gravy train for your friends’.
Milburn’s strong belief in using private healthcare to tackle the NHS treatment backlog and the fact that he is a consultant for several companies could lead to claims that his role at the DHSC puts him at risk of exposed to conflicts of interest between its public and private sectors. activities.
Streeting is expected to soon unveil Milburn as one of three new non-executive directors (NEDs) join the board of his department, to “de collective strategic and operational leadership from DHSC”.
Interviews for the positions – which require working two or three days a month and are paid £15,000 a year – will take place on Friday, October 25.
‘Alan Milburn is keen to join the DHSC board. He will be in charge of the NED. It’s going to happen. It just hasn’t happened yet,” said a Whitehall source with knowledge of the impending appointment.
Milburn has used his long experience in healthcare to advise Streeting since Labor was in opposition. But he has not played an official role since Keir Starmer won the election in July and has since operated as what one Conservative source called “an unregulated adviser”.
In his informal post-election advisory role he has also had access to DHSC documents, the Sunday Times reported last month.
A health policy expert, who used to work at the DHSC, said: “There is recognition that they need to formalize Milburn’s role so that he can act more directly, particularly in the area of the new strategy function that parts of the DHSC and bringing the NHSE together to work together. about the (upcoming NHS) 10 year plan and three shifts.
“A NED or leading NED role at DHSC is an obvious route for this.”
Milburn’s appointment will revive concerns about the access to government given to people closely associated with Labor who also have private interests. Since taking power, Starmer’s government has faced controversy for briefly giving a No 10 pass to Labor donor Waheed Alli, a businessman with media interests who also personally funded clothing and accommodation for Starmer.
The Treasury was also criticized for giving a government job to Ian Corfield, a Labor donor and businessman, who was subsequently appointed an unpaid political adviser after an outcry.
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Tory MP Saqib Bhatti, a shadow health minister, said: “Government business is not a gravy train for your friends. It is a shame that Wes Streeting is more focused on handing out jobs to the boys than on the millions of pensioners who will suffer this winter under this Labor government.”
Milburn and his family have earned more than £5 million in dividends since 2017 from AM Strategy, his consultancy. And the latest available accounts show it had net assets of around £4m in 2023.
Companies House documents do not reveal who its clients are. But Milburn has been a long-time adviser to Bridgepoint Capital, which owns Care UK – a major care home operator – and also PwC’s healthcare practice. He has also worked for Mars Incorporated, the chocolate maker, and Centene Corporation, an American healthcare company. Until last year he was also on the board of Huma, a digital healthcare company.
While still an MP until 2010, he declared payments of at least £25,000 a year to sit on the board of LloydsPharmacy. He also served on the advisory board of soft drink manufacturer PepsiCo UK and was paid around £20,000 per year from 2005 to 2012.
Keep Our NHS Public, a campaign group, said giving Milburn a key role in developing policy around the NHS would show that Labor intends to follow the Tories in “undermining it” by giving private healthcare a major role in delivering NHS care and reducing delays. which Streeting supports, as happened when Milburn was Health Secretary. Private hospitals already carry out up to 20% of all planned operations on NHS patients in some parts of England.
“Wes Streeting has made it clear that he intends to promote a two-tiered healthcare service by sending patients to the private sector. This is an imitation of Alan Milburn’s approach under New Labor, when he expanded outsourcing of services and sought to build a healthcare market,” said Dr. John Puntis, co-chair of the group.
“Milburn now returning to a key position of influence indicates that Labor is seeking to repeat the mistakes of the past, no doubt at the behest of the companies that will benefit, and continue the Conservatives’ strategy to undermine the NHS through underfunding, as they fly the famous banner of ‘reform’.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “As this government has inherited a broken NHS with some of the longest waiting lists and the lowest patient satisfaction ever, we make no apologies for seeking advice from people who have turned it around before and we thank them for their time in doing so.”