Lord Warner, the junior health minister, is to retire at the end of the year, Tony Blair's spokesman said today.

The spokesman said that it was a "personal decision" by the 66-year-old peer to stand down.

He strongly denied any suggestion that the minister's departure was connected to the troubled National Health Service IT project which he was overseeing.

"His decision to retire has absolutely nothing to do with that at all," the spokesman said.

"He genuinely wants to spend more time away from his red boxes."

The Labour peer, who was once director of social services at Kent County council, and chairman of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, was considered a competent minister and a safe-pair of hands.

The spokesman said that a successor will be appointed early in the New Year.