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Alan Milburn, portrait

Photo: Rathfelder at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0

Regulator

Alan Milburn

Lead Non-Executive Director, Department of Health and Social Care

Department of Health and Social Care is based in Cities of London and Westminster — the organisation’s base, not a personal address.

Press citations

2

Topics

2

Mental health

Last quoted

Aug 2026

Alan Milburn: key facts

Kind of voice
Regulator
Role
Lead Non-Executive Director
Organisation
Department of Health and Social Care
Organisation based in
Cities of London and Westminster
Quoted on
Mental health, Adult social care & reform
Tracked press citations
2
Most recently quoted
27 Aug 2026

Who Alan Milburn is

The Rt Hon Alan Milburn is Lead Non-Executive Director on the board of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), appointed on 8 November 2024, where he chairs the departmental board and provides support to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. He previously served as Labour MP for Darlington (1992–2010), holding Cabinet posts including Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1998–1999) and Secretary of State for Health (1999–2003), a tenure associated with reductions in NHS waiting times and the introduction of the NHS Plan 2000. Since leaving Parliament he has chaired the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (2012–2017), served as Chancellor of Lancaster University (from January 2015), and chairs the Social Mobility Foundation. In 2025, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions commissioned him to lead the independent 'Young People and Work' review into the rise in young people not in education, employment or training (NEET); the diagnostic report, published in May 2026, warned that nearly one million young people are locked out of work or education and that the number could reach 1.25 million within five years without reform. He has argued publicly that the NHS is in the worst state he has witnessed in three decades of working in health policy and that big reforms are needed to make it fit for the future.

“The system is trapping people in worklessness rather than enabling them into work. We're at a risk of just writing a whole generation off. This is a bedroom generation. They are sort of living in their bedrooms. They are on all the time, they're never off. [Social media] is leading to some evidence of functional impairment, changing their sleep patterns, concentration levels. That is having an impact on their ability to work. They are not snowflakes. People say it's a soft generation. My view unequivocally is that it isn't. It is an anxious generation.”

References for this biography

  1. 1.Former Health Secretary to help government fix health and care – GOV.UK press release — Confirms appointment as Lead Non-Executive Member of the DHSC board, November 2024
  2. 2.Young people and work: interim report – GOV.UK — Confirms Milburn authored the government-commissioned diagnostic report on NEET young people, published 28 May 2026
  3. 3.DHSC register of board members' interests 2025–2026 – GOV.UK — Establishes Milburn's declared interests including Chair of Social Mobility Foundation, Chancellor of Lancaster University, and adviser to PwC
  4. 4.DHSC governance – GOV.UK — Lists Milburn as Lead Non-Executive Director on the current DHSC board
  5. 5.Alan Milburn joins Department of Health board – Healthcare Leader — Details his appointment to chair the DHSC board and support Wes Streeting; includes his public statements on NHS reform
  6. 6.Milburn Review: Young People and Work Diagnostic Report Released (A Summary) – Youth Employment UK — Summarises the 2026 report findings, including rising NEET rates driven by mental and physical health conditions among young people
  7. 7.Chancellor – Lancaster University — Confirms Milburn has been Chancellor of Lancaster University since 1 January 2015
  8. 8.Hansard Written Answer, 3 March 2025 – TheyWorkForYou — Parliamentary confirmation that Milburn was appointed Lead Non-Executive Member to the DHSC board on 8 November 2024

Notable achievements

  • Appointed Lead Non-Executive Director of the DHSC board on 8 November 2024 to support the government's NHS reform agenda, chairing the departmental board. Source ↗
  • Authored the independent 'Young People and Work' diagnostic report (May 2026), commissioned by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, finding nearly one million young people are NEET and warning of a 'generational fault line'. Source ↗
  • Served as Secretary of State for Health from 1999 to 2003, during which period NHS waiting times fell and patient satisfaction rose, and introduced the NHS Plan 2000. Source ↗
  • Chaired the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission from July 2012 to December 2017, having previously chaired the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions in 2009. Source ↗
  • Appointed Chancellor of Lancaster University from 1 January 2015, his alma mater, a post he continues to hold. Source ↗

What Alan Milburn has said

Where Alan Milburn has been quoted

  1. UK’s ‘anxious generation’ of young people struggling to adapt to workplacetheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
  2. The Guardian view on the care system: support for teens must go beyond reunions with old friends | Editorialtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

Contact & links

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.

Named officials of regulators, arms-length bodies and public agencies such as the CQC, NHS England or a local authority association. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.