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By Bethany Dawson
Yvette Cooper is to set up a ‘Department for Health and Social Care North’ to be based in Leeds, LBC can reveal.
The move is part of the prime minister’s pledge to move power away from Whitehall and into local communities.
Last week Andy Burnham officially opened ‘No10 North’ in central Manchester, describing it as the “best day of his life”.
Downing Street says he’ll be there at least one day a week.
A source close to the new Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said this “will help bring decision-making closer to the communities we serve and strengthen our ability to improve health outcomes across the country.”
They added: “She has asked the Department to draw up plans that would complement the plans for Number 10 North on the other side of the Pennines, allowing Ministers to work from Quarry House in the North, and strengthening DHSC operations in other parts of the country.”
It’s understood that it will build on the Department’s existing offices in Leeds.
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And it will aim to ensure that policies are informed by communities across England – including those with some of the greatest challenges.
Insiders hope it will help support closer working with NHS organisations, local government, and other departments.
The department’s northern hub will be based in existing Leeds offices, and aims to ensure policy development is informed by communities across England.
The news comes after the launch of the Manchester-based Number 10 North last week.
Opening the offices on Friday, Burnham said that it was about “putting power in every postcode,” adding it has “felt a little at times that local government’s just been a bit forgotten and places aren’t able to do what they want to do. But then at the sort of city level, or the regional level, sometimes it’s felt like an argument with people in the centre of government and people having a to and from all of the time.”
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The new DHSC North is part of the government mission on devolution, with health and social care one of the critical issues in Mr Burnham’s in-tray.
The new Prime Minister will set out his plans for reforming social care later this week, having told the BBC he does not want to leave office without having brought in “substantial change” to the social care system.
He warned that without major reforms, “the NHS will collapse.”
In 2009, when the now-Makerfield MP was Health Secretary, Burnham proposed a universal system of social care in England, and a year later pursued the idea of a compulsory levy to fund it.
