Commentary on Sections Arrangements for provision of health services Section 11 - The Secretary of State’s duty as to protection of public health
125.This section places a new duty on the Secretary of State for Health to protect public health through the insertion of a new section 2A into the NHS Act.
126.Subsection (1) of new section 2A requires the Secretary of State to take appropriate steps to protect the public in England from disease or other dangers to health. ‘Other dangers to health’ might include contamination, radiation (ionising or non-ionising), chemicals, poisons and the health effects of climate change (such as flooding and heat waves). The approach taken in the Act is an ‘all hazards’ approach in that the Act does not exhaustively list the dangers to health from which the Secretary of State must protect the public. This is to ensure that provision will continue to be effective as new threats to health emerge.
127.Subsection (2) of new section 2A lists some of the steps that the Secretary of State might take to protect public health. These include carrying out research into disease, providing laboratory services, providing information and advice to the public about dangers to health and providing national vaccination and screening programmes. As well as vaccination and screening, the Secretary of State would also be able to provide other services – for example, the provision of treatment for tuberculosis – for the prevention, treatment or diagnosis of illness, if the Secretary of State considered it an appropriate step to protect public health. Many of the activities falling within this provision are currently carried out by the Health Protection Agency, which is abolished in Part 2.
128.Subsections (3) and (4) of new section 2A require the Secretary of State to consult the Health and Safety Executive, and have regard to its policies, when taking steps to protect public health under subsection (1) in relation to a radiation matter in respect of which the Health and Safety Executive also has a function. This ensures consistency of action, for instance in a radiation incident.