PM creates health and Africa committees

Gordon Brown has created two new cabinet committees, one to help prevent ill-health in the UK and the other to look at the British approach to Africa.

 

The ministerial sub-committee on health and well-being will be chaired by Cabinet Office minister Ed Miliband and will focus on issues such as promoting healthy lifestyles and reducing health inequalities.

 

Its creation is a sign of the increased emphasis being placed by the prime minister on keeping British people fit and healthy, to improve quality of life and reduce the burden on the NHS.

 

In a New Year message to health staff, he floated proposals for a new NHS constitution which would set out the responsibility individuals have for their own health in return for the right to treatment.

 

And he has announced plans for the NHS to carry out screening for a range of potentially fatal conditions, in order to spot and treat them at an early stage.

 

The prime minister's spokesman said further announcements on measures to tackle obesity are expected within the next few weeks.

 

"The preventative health agenda is something the prime minister takes very seriously. The fact that there has been a new committee created is a reflection of that," the spokesman added.

 

Brown also announced the creation of a ministerial sub-committee on Africa, to be chaired by international development secretary Douglas Alexander.