Alan MilburnRegulator

Biography

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.

References

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.

Expertise

Cited on

• Mental health
• Adult social care & reform

Stated areas of expertise

• NHS reform and waiting-time reduction
• Youth economic inactivity and NEET policy
• Social mobility and child poverty
• Health and welfare system integration
• Patient choice and NHS governance
• Provider sustainability and reform

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 they’ve said

• “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.”

  former Labour health secretary · Mental health · 27 Aug 2026 · UK’s ‘anxious generation’ of young people struggling to adapt to workplace ↗

• “In his recent report on young people and work, Alan Milburn referred to care leavers being 'set up to fail' by a system that strips away support at the moment they reach adulthood, when most young people are still living with parents.”

  Author of recent report on young people and work · Adult social care & reform · 27 Aug 2026 · The Guardian view on the care system: support for teens must go beyond reunions with old friends | Editorial ↗

Source references

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

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care/about/our-governance
• Websitehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-register-of-board-members-interests-2025-to-2026/dhsc-register-of-board-members-interests-2025-to-2026

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