1997 | Labour landslide victory in parliamentary elections | After 18 years of Conservative government, a Labour government led by Tony Blair comes into power |
1998 | ‘Independent Inquiry into Inequalities in Health’3 | Committee chaired by Sir Donald Acheson reviews scientific evidence and proposes wide range of policy measures |
1999 | ‘Reducing Health Inequalities: an Action Report’8 | Government's response to the Independent Inquiry, setting out comprehensive programme of work |
2002 | ‘Tackling Health Inequalities: Cross-Cutting Review’9 | Interdepartmental review of progress in tackling health inequalities, proposing more focused efforts |
2003 | ‘Tackling health inequalities: a Program for Action’10 | Government's revised strategy, organised around two outcome targets, 12 ‘headline indicators,’ 82 ‘departmental commitments’ |
2007 | ‘Tackling health inequalities: 2007 Status Report’11 | First of a series of reports by Department of Health to assess progress in achieving strategy's targets |
2009 | ‘Tackling Health Inequalities: 10 Years On’12 | Independent evaluation commissioned by Department of Health to assess progress in achieving strategy's targets |
2009 | House of Commons Health Inequalities Review13 | Health Committee of lower house of parliament evaluates why strategy's targets are not being achieved |
2010 | ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives (the Marmot review)’14 | Independent evaluation commissioned by Department of Health to draw lessons from WHO Commission on Social Determinants |
2010 | ‘Tackling Inequalities in Life expectancy’15 | Independent evaluation by National Audit Office to assess why strategy's targets are not being achieved |
2010 | Labour loses parliamentary elections | After 13 years of Labour government, a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government takes over |