Alan Milburn

Alan Milburn      (politician, lobbyist)
Born	1958-01-27 Tow Law, County Durham, England
Alma mater	Lancaster University
Party	Labour
Minister for the Cabinet Office  In office 8 September 2004 - 6 May 2005 Succeeded by John Hutton  Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster  In office 8 September 2004 - 6 May 2005 Succeeded by John Hutton  Secretary of State for Health  In office 11 October 1999 - 13 June 2003 Preceded by Frank Dobson Succeeded by John Reid  Chief Secretary to the Treasury  In office 23 December 1998 - 11 October 1999 Preceded by Stephen Byers Succeeded by Andrew Smith  Member of Parliament for Darlington In office 10 April 1992 - 12 April 2010 Preceded by Michael Fallon

Alan Milburn is a British politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He did not seek re-election in the UK/General election/2010.

Milburn is a Director of the Social Mobility Foundation, having previously chaired its forerunner the Social Mobility Commission from 2012 to 2017.

Since 2015, he has been Chancellor of Lancaster University.

In October 2024, Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting appointed Milburn the lead Non-Executive Director of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Lobbyist

In September 2024, The Times reported that Milburn had been given access to Health Department documents without having been assigned an official role in the new Labour governmet.

In October 2024, The Guardian reported:

Wes Streeting is to hand Alan Milburn a lead role in the running of his health ministry, in a move that has reignited the row over Labour figures with private interests having access to government.

The Health Secretary is preparing to appoint Milburn, who was a radical reformer of the NHS in his time in that post under Tony Blair, as the lead non-executive director of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

That will give Milburn an official position after months when he has caused disquiet at the DHSC and NHS England by attending meetings of both organisations despite having no formal role, such as that of a minister or special adviser.

Profiting from the NHS

Labour MP Diane Abbott commented:

"Milburn is an adviser to Bridgepoint Capital owner of Care UK– a large operator of care homes– and PwC’s health practice. He has worked for Centene Corporation, a US healthcare company and Huma, a digital healthcare company."

Profiting from the NHS.

Anti-obesity initiatives

In May 2007 Milburn became an advisor to PepsiCo one of the organisations involved in Business4Life the business consortium behind the Department of Health's Change4Life anti-obesity initiative. PepsiCo and its subsidiary Walkers Crisps are clients of Freud Communications who were hired by the Department of Health to run its anti-obesity campaign.

In December 2003, six months after leaving the post of UK Health Secretary, Milburn made a speech at Magdalen college Oxford at the Oxford Vision 2020 Conference in which he stated: "Specifically an ultimatum needs to be placed before the (food) industry that unless it voluntarily cuts fat, sugar and salt in food within a specified time frame then tough regulatory action will be taken to ensure that it does so. The summit could also discuss how to make greater choice over healthier food available in local communities and local schools. In the meantime I hope Ministers will take swift action to remove fast food, soft drink and confectionery machines from all schools."

PFI initiatives

During his time as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of State for Health, Milburn was instrumental in driving forward the Government's policy of PFI initiatives in the health service.

In 1999 Milburn stated:

"The Government's commitment to partnership between the public and private sector has never been greater. The Government's new guidelines will make PFI work more effectively and more fairly. This will help deliver higher levels of investment to modernise Britain's key public services such as the NHS.

"By providing a platform of certainty, the new guidance will help the PFI continue to grow. Value for money deals go hand in hand with the key test of genuine risk transfer achieved under PFI contracts. This clarity of approach will enable the revised guidance to work in practice."

While in 2007 as Secretary of State for Health, Milburn stated:

"We plan to ... remove the Secretary of State's powers of direction over NHS Foundation Trusts. Instead of being line managed by the Department of Health, they will be held to account through agreements and cash for performance contracts... The expectation must be that the greater freedoms that NHS Foundation Trusts will enjoy will help them exceed national performance targets but that will be a matter for local not national negotiation. Those that perform well will benefit from the system of payment by results and patient choice that we announced in Delivering the NHS Plan."

From January 2007, Milburn has been on the advisory board of Bridgepoint Capital, a venture capital firm heavily involved in financing private health care firms moving into the NHS. He previously worked as an advisor to Bridgepoint between March and September 2004.

Scanner scandal

In 2005 the Labour Party were accused of trying to gag one of its own MPs who strongly criticised a £90 million deal between the NHS and a private health company linked to Milburn.

Kevan Jones, the MP for North Durham, revealed that patients from his constituency were being sent 20 miles for private MRI scans, even though their own local hospital had a machine standing idle. Jones had spoken out in support of John Saxby, the chief executive of the University Hospital of North Durham, who complained about the purchase of scans from Alliance Medical, while his own NHS scanner was "considerably under-employed".

Alliance Medical was owned by Bridgepoint and the £90 million scanner deal was signed while Milburn was working for Bridgepoint. The contract for the scanner was announced by John Hutton, the then health minister who is a friend of Milburn.

According to press reports Jones' comments provoked a telephone call to the MP from a Labour Party official demanding an explanation and warning him that they should not be repeated. Jones himself refused to confirm the claim.

Affiliations

• In November 2006 Milburn set up AM Strategy Limited to undertake media/consultancy work
• Adviser, Bridgepoint Capital
• Adviser, PepsiCo (http://www.pepsico.com/) - American soft drinks giant
• Adviser, Covidien (http://www.covidien.com/) - American health care company
• Adviser, Lloyds Pharmacy (http://www.lloydspharmacy.com/) - UK pharmacy

Resources

• Smithers, Rebecca, "Beyoncé, Britney ... Milburn? Ex-minister takes Pepsi challenge," Guardian, 30 May 2007, accessed 28 November 2008.
• Swaine, Jon, "MPs could face ban on second jobs," Telegraph, 24 July 2008, accessed 28 November 2008.
• They Work For You, Alan Milburn MP, accessed 28 November 2008.
• Ungoed-Thomas, Jon, et al., "Revealed: how minister cashed in on contacts," The Sunday Times, 23 November 2008, accessed 24 November 2008.
• Walker, Tim, "Milburn in the money," Telegraph, 30 April 2008, accessed 28 November 2008.

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