The Programme for Action was unique because it
proposed to achieve its goals by involving most
ARTICLE IN PRESS
750 D. Nutbeam, A-M. Boxall
government departments. The Government started
its ‘whole-of-government’ approach to tackling
health inequalities in 2002 when it established a
Treasury-led cross-cutting review (CCR). This
review, run jointly by the Treasury and Department
of Health, assessed the Government’s progress on
tackling health inequalities up to that point, and
was the basis of a cross-government plan for
tackling health inequalities. The CCR aimed to:
put ‘responsibility for tackling health inequalities
at the heart of every key public service’ so that
‘billions of pounds of extra Government funding’
could be harnessed (p. i); ‘consider how better to
match existing resources to health need’; and
‘develop a long-term strategy to narrow the health
gap’