Welsh government reshuffle: Mark Drakeford new health minister 14 March 2013 Last updated at 15:49 First Minister Carwyn Jones has appointed a new health minister in a cabinet reshuffle, the Welsh government has announced. Mark Drakeford replaces Lesley Griffiths as health minister, the devolved administration has revealed. She in turn takes over the local government brief from Carl Sargeant. Labour won power at the last assembly election in May 2011, although it fell one seat short of an outright majority. The Welsh government used its Twitter account to break the news that a surprise reshuffle was under way on Thursday afternoon. Mr Drakeford's promotion was the first appointment to be announced. It comes at a time when the NHS in Wales is planning potentially controversial changes to re-organise hospital services. Mrs Griffiths, the AM for Wrexham, has been moved to local government. The health portfolio is one of the biggest jobs in the cabinet with a departmental budget of almost £6bn. Mr Drakeford, elected Labour AM for Cardiff West in 2011, was previously chairman of the assembly's cross-party health and social care committee. A professor of social policy at Cardiff University, he was an adviser to former First Minister Rhodri Morgan, who he succeeded in Cardiff West. Opponents responded to the reshuffle on the social networking site, with the Conservatives' assembly leader Andrew RT Davies saying that "moving the deck chairs on the Titanic spring to mind."