Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley has released "Healthy Lives, Healthy People," a public health strategy that calls for a dedicated public health service to be established within the Department of Health in April 2012 and creates the first annual public health budget of £4 billion (US$6.2 billion). The plan aims to improve citizens' health by tackling lifestyle issues including smoking, obesity, excessive drinking, and other causes of premature illness and death, as well as to reduce health inequalities.
Public Health England, to be established within the Department of Health in April 2012, will set the overall public health outcomes framework and support local authorities by providing resources, ideas, and funding. It will also be responsible for national programs, including immunization and screening programs, as well as monitoring and responding to population-wide health threats such as flu pandemics. Local authorities and their individual public health directors are at the center of the strategy and will receive individual, protected budgets, which they will determine how to use for public health interventions in their communities.
The strategy also creates an incentive payment to address health disparities, which will be given to local authorities for health improvement. Disadvantaged areas will receive greater premiums if they make progress, but areas making no progress potentially would not receive funding increases for services where outcomes have not improved.
Sources:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthyliveshealthypeople/index.htm