On the same date, Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled a new partnership between Genomics England and the sequencing firm Illumina.

[12] In October 2018, the U.K.'s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, announced that the program had been expanded with a new goal of sequencing five million genomes within five years.

He also announced that starting in 2019, the NHS will offer whole genome sequencing (WGS) to all children suspected of having a rare genetic disease or with cancer.

[19] Genomics England was established in July 2013 as a company fully owned by the UK Department of Health.

[20][21] The company was launched by Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health on 5 July, in an announcement timed to coincide with the 65th birthday of the NHS.