Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed plans to abolish the “arms-length body” NHS England.

But what is the quango – and why is the prime minister scrapping it?

What is NHS England and how does it work?

NHS England was established in 2013 by former Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley to give the NHS greater independence and autonomy – with an intention for it to operate at arm’s length from the government.

It was set up as a quango – an organisation that is funded by taxpayers, but not controlled directly by central government – and is responsible for delivering high-quality care, supporting staff, and ensuring value for money.

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Its website states that it has a “wide range of statutory functions, responsibilities and regulatory powers”, which include working with the government to agree funding and priorities for the NHS and overseeing the delivery of safe and effective NHS services.

NHS England employs about 13,000 people.

As health is a devolved matter, the equivalent bodies for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland cannot be abolished by the prime minister.

Why has it been scrapped?

The prime minister has said abolishing the body will bring management of the NHS “back into democratic control”.

This move will put the NHS “back at the heart of government where it belongs,” he said during a speech in east Yorkshire on Thursday, “freeing it to focus on patients, less bureaucracy, with more money for nurses”.

He added that the NHS will “refocus” on cutting waiting times at “your hospital”.

When answering a question from a cancer patient on how the decision would improve NHS services, Sir Keir said: “Amongst the reasons we are abolishing it is because of the duplication.

“So, if you can believe it, we’ve got a communications team in NHS England, we’ve got a communications team in the health department of government; we’ve got a strategy team in NHS England, a strategy team in the government department. We are duplicating things that could be done once.”

He said by stripping out the duplication, it allows the government to “free up that money to put it where it needs to be, which is the front line”.

The Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “This is the final nail in the coffin of the disastrous 2012 reorganisation, which led to the longest waiting times, lowest patient satisfaction, and most expensive NHS in history.

“When money is so tight, we can’t justify such a complex bureaucracy with two organisations doing the same jobs. We need more doers, and fewer checkers, which is why I’m devolving resources and responsibilities to the NHS frontline.

“NHS staff are working flat out but the current system sets them up to fail. These changes will support the huge number of capable, innovative and committed people across the NHS to deliver for patients and taxpayers.

“Just because reform is difficult doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. This government will never duck the hard work of reform. We will take on vested interests and change the status quo, so the NHS can once again be there for you when you need it.”

What will happen now?

NHS England will be brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), it was announced, in order to end duplication.

The department said the reforms would reverse the 2012 reorganisation of the NHS “which created burdensome layers of bureaucracy without any clear lines of accountability”.

The government said the changes will also “give more power and autonomy to local leaders and systems – instead of weighing them down in increasing mountains of red tape”.

“Too much centralisation and over-supervision has led to a tangled bureaucracy, which focuses on compliance and box-ticking, rather than patient care, value for money, and innovation,” the government said.

Board members stepped down days before

In the days before Sir Keir’s announcement, NHS England said three leading board members were stepping down at the end of the month.

Chief Financial Officer Julian Kelly, NHS Chief Operating Officer Emily Lawson and Chief Delivery Officer and National Director for Vaccination and Screening Steve Russell will leave their roles in the coming weeks.

At the time, NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard – who is also stepping down – said the board members made their decision based on the upcoming changes to the size and function of the centre.

Sir James Mackey, who will be taking over as transition chief executive of NHS England, said while he knows the announcement will “unsettle staff” it will also bring “welcome clarity” as the NHS focuses on “tackling the significant challenges ahead”.

Incoming NHS chair, Dr Penny Dash, added she will be working to “bring together NHSE and DHSC to reduce duplication and streamline functions”.

Any court showdown between Apple and the Home Office over customer data must be held in public, MPs have demanded.

It comes after the tech giant announced last month that it would no longer offer UK customers its most advanced, end-to-end security encryption feature for cloud data storage following a row with the government.

The dispute was sparked when ministers reportedly decided to issue Apple with a Technical Capability Notice (TCN) demanding the right to see the user data.

Legally, neither of the parties can publicly confirm the existence of the order.

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However, ComputerWeekly and others have reported that Apple has launched an appeal against the TCN, with an initial hearing set to be heard on Friday before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal at the High Court in London.

A court listing document shows a behind-closed-doors application is due to be held before Lord Justice Singh and Mr Justice Johnson.

Veteran Tory MP and civil rights campaigner Sir David Davis told Sky News: “If the Home Office wants to have effectively unfettered access to the private data of the (innocent) general public, they should explain their case in front of the public.”

Also speaking to Sky News, Liberal Democrat technology spokesperson Victoria Collins said: “The move by the government endangers people here in the UK and sets a dangerous precedent for authoritarian regimes across the globe…

“I’m proud to add my name to the call for the hearing on this crucial issue to be open to the public. People deserve to know what’s happening to their private personal information.”

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Reform UK chief whip Lee Anderson said: “If the government wishes to pry on its people, they can make that claim in public. This now puts the security and privacy of the British people at risk.

“The government should have as little involvement in our personal lives as possible. Not in our tweets, not in our text messages, and certainly not with full access to our phones.”

Prior to its removal in the UK, Apple‘s Advanced Data Protection service allowed users the ability to encrypt their data in such a way that no one, not even the tech company, would be able to access it.

Critics fear the use of end-to-end encryption – where third-party access is impossible – could help criminals like paedophiles hide their activity from authorities.

However, providing access to encrypted data, whether to a government or a company, provides potential pathways for third parties such as hackers to access information.

Successive governments have said they want to restrict the use of the function.

Apple has never commented on the TCN, but said in a previous statement: “Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before.

“Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom.

“As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”

The Home Office declined to comment.

Rupert Lowe is consulting lawyers about taking possible libel action against Reform UK, Sky News understands.

The Great Yarmouth MP has accused the party of making “untrue and false allegations” about him after he criticised leader Nigel Farage in the media, sparking a bitter public row.

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A day after the 67-year-old questioned whether Mr Farage could make it as prime minister, Reform UK announced on Friday it had referred him to police and suspended him, alleging he made “verbal threats” against chairman Zia Yousaf.

The Met has launched an investigation into these claims, which Mr Lowe has vehemently denied.

Reform has also claimed it has received complaints from two female employees about serious bullying in Mr Lowe’s constituency office.

The now independent MP has strenuously denied these claims as well, saying the allegations do not relate to him and were made by staff who themselves faced disciplinary action.

Mr Lowe believes he is the victim of a “witch hunt” after speaking out against the party’s leadership in an interview with the Daily Mail that was published last week, in which he challenged Mr Farage’s “messianic” tendencies.

He has not ruled out joining the Conservatives or another political party, while Mr Farage has said there is “no way back” for the suspended MP and accused him of being “out to cause maximum damage” to Reform UK.

The feud could deepen still with Mr Lowe now mulling legal action over claims made about him during the ongoing war of words, it is understood.

The former Southampton FC chairman has accused Mr Farage of spreading “outright lies” after he told GB News that he “knows for a fact” Mr Lowe was informed of a parliamentary investigation into bullying allegations on 29 Feb and gave an interview with the Mail “shortly after that”.

According to the Mail, the interview was held on 25 February – days before Mr Lowe received a letter from Reform’s chief whip Lee Anderson informing him of concerns over his conduct.

The letter, seen by Sky News, was from Reform rather than parliament and says the parliamentary party has determined an independent investigation is the best course of action.

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Mr Lowe has urged Mr Farage to “apologise, retract and correct the record,” posting on X: “To suggest I used the interview to deflect from any investigation is factually untrue. I have heard absolutely nothing from parliament about any of this.”

Mr Lowe also denies claims made by Mr Anderson that he has not co-operated with the independent inquiry into his behaviour.

Last night, seven members of his team put their names on a statement coming to Mr Lowe’s defence, saying he is a “good, decent and honest man”, that they have never witnessed “violent or vicious” behaviour and allegations of bullying are “robustly denied by all of us”.

Sky News has contacted Reform UK for comment.

The row poses danger for a party that has its sights on entering government at the next election after a meteoric rise in the polls.

In his interview with the Mail, Mr Lowe said it was “too early to know” if Mr Farage will become prime minister and warned Reform remains a “protest party led by the Messiah” under the Clacton MP.

He also claimed that he was “barely six months into being an MP” himself and “in the betting to be the next prime minister”.

During Mr Farage’s online falling out with Elon Musk, in which he said Reform needed a new leader, Mr Lowe drew praise from the Space X billionaire.

In a move seen as a hint of a new splinter group, another ousted Reform UK politician, former deputy leader Ben Habib, told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Lowe was a “good friend” and he was “constantly in touch with” him.