Conservative Party: Government plans for better public health

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has unveiled the Government's Public Health White Paper, designed to help people adopt a healthier lifestyle.

The new approach to public health will encourage people to make healthy decisions without regulation and pressure from Whitehall. The Government will set aside a ringfenced pot of NHS money to help - the first time that the public health budget has been protected since the 1800s.

Under the plans councils are to be put in charge of encouraging healthier lifestyles and local public health directors will be moved out of the NHS and into local government. Ministers believe the wider remit of councils in areas such as housing, transport and leisure puts them in a stronger position to tackle smoking, drinking and obesity in England.

Andrew Lansley said: "Too often in the past, public health budgets have been raided by the NHS to tackle deficits. Not any more. The money will be ringfenced to be used as it should be - for preventing ill health."

And he added, "People's health and wellbeing will be at the heart of everything local councils do. It's nonsense to think that health can be tackled on its own. Directors of Public Health will be able to champion local cooperation so that health issues are considered alongside housing, transport, and education."