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  • 2021-06-22 (xsd:date)
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  • All health secretaries become a shareholder of Genomics England (en)
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  • Matt Hancock is the shareholder of Genomics England which is a conflict of interest. Anybody who becomes the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care automatically becomes the sole shareholder of Genomics England. This is not unique to Matt Hancock, and he will lose this role when he is no longer in office. In a widely shared video on social media, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, is recorded saying that he is the proud shareholder of Genomics England. This has prompted users to raise concerns of a conflict of interest. Mr Hancock was speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual conference, known as Davos in 2019 to discuss genome sequencing and genomic health data. Genomics England was set up in 2013 with the aim of enabling faster, deeper genomic research and bringing genomic healthcare to all who need it. It is a company owned and funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, although some of its key projects such as the 100,000 Genomes Project are funded by a number of partner organisations. Genomics England is a private limited company, and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is the only shareholder. Although that does mean Matt Hancock is the current sole shareholder, this will shift to any Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that comes after him. Therefore being a shareholder of Genomics England is a part of the job of being Health Secretary. He does not personally benefit from any profit Genomics England might make. Incidentally, any surplus made through Genomics England has been documented as being invested back into improving health. This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because being the sole shareholder of Genomics England is an automatic part of being Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. (en)
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