Mr Alan Milburn, Member of Parliament for Darlington, has been appointed Secretary of State for Health in a cabinet reshuffle this week.
He replaces Mr Frank Dobson, who has left the cabinet to concentrate on his campaign for election as mayor of London.
Mr Milburn already has experience of the Department of Health, having been Minister of State for Health from 1997-98. He has been Chief Secretary to the Treasury for the past six months.
Also replaced at the Department is Ms Tessa Jowell, who was Minister of State for Public Health. She has been replaced by Ms Yvette Cooper (Pontefract and Castleford), who will be Under-Secretary of State for Public Health.
Ms Cooper was elected to Parliament in the 1997 general election. She has been a member of the Commons Select Committees for education and employment and the Intelligence and Security Committee. Last year she declined a position as a Parliamentary Private Secretary.
Mr John Hutton has been promoted within the Department of Health to Minister of State. He was previously a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have both welcomed Mr Milburn's return to the Department.
Miss Ann Lewis (the Society's Secretary and Registrar ) said on October 12: "As a health minister, Alan Milburn demonstrated an inclusive vision and way of working, which we hope to build upon."
Writing to welcome Mr Milburn's return, the PSNC drew his attention to many issues it wanted to see resolved.