Corporate report

UKHSA Advisory Board: People and Culture Committee minutes

Updated 16 September 2024

Date: 17 September 2024

Sponsor: Sir Gordon Messenger

1. Recommendation

The Advisory Board is asked to note the minutes of 24 April 2024 meeting of the People and Culture Committee. The minutes were agreed on 23 July 2024.

2. Minutes (confirmed), UKHSA People and Culture Committee, 24 April 2024

Present at the meeting were:

• Sir Gordon Messenger – Non-Executive Member of UKHSA Advisory Board (Chair)
• Jac Gardner – Chief People Officer
• Dame Jenny Harries – Chief Executive
• Mark Lloyd – Non-Executive Member of UKHSA Advisory Board
• Cindy Rampersaud – Non-Executive Member of UKHSA Advisory Board

In attendance were:

• 7 attendees had their names and titles redacted

3. Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest

24/042 The Chair welcomed participants to the People and Culture Committee and noted no apologies and declarations of interest.

4. Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising

24/043 The minutes from the previous meeting on 5 February 2024 (enclosure PAAC-24-008) were agreed.

24/044 It was noted that 2 actions or recommendations were completed and 2 were ongoing or work in progress (enclosure PAAC-24-009).

5. Chief People Officer brief

24/045 The Chief People Officer provided an update on organisation-wide people-related activities (enclosure PACC-24-010).

24/046 The People and Culture Committee noted the following key points:

• UKHSA had recently transferred recruitment back to an ‘in-house’ service, away from the outsourced Reed contract put in place last year to cope with the large recruitment demand as UKHSA built its permanent workforce – demand would continue to be monitored against the capacity of the in-house recruitment service and work was underway with the organisation to ensure expectation were managed and appropriate solutions offered
• [this information is redacted in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000]
• the programme of Future Engage Deliver courses had been successfully completed
• the project to deliver the leadership framework was nearing completion – the leadership competencies required further work to align them to UKHSA leadership needs
• the second ‘We are UKHSA Awards’ would be held on 6 June 2024, building on the successful event that was held the previous year
• the UKHSA careers website was being developed to enhance the profile of UKHSA and a phased approach was being adopted – in the short-term, content would be published on the official government webpages; longer term, the ambition was for a dedicated microsite with direct recruitment system access

24/047 The committee asked about the capacity of the recruitment team balanced against the workforce plans of the business. It was clarified that Reed would complete recruitment against existing campaigns that they were managing for UKHSA and any new campaigns would be managed by the in-house team.

24/048 The committee noted that Civil Service line manager standards had been developed and would be launched imminently.

24/049 The committee asked about the tailoring of development training for scientific leaders, especially mid-level early career scientific managers. The development of the leadership offer included inputs from many stakeholders across the business, for example the Head of Radiation Effects Department and UKHSA Deputy Head of Science and Engineering Profession) and the Deputy Director Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals, who will ensure professional and technical requirements are reflected in the development of career paths and leaders. We are also drawing on the knowledge of what had been successfully implemented in other parts of the Civil Service. It was agreed the Committee would be kept updated on the leadership framework developments and how it was being made bespoke for UKHSA.

6. UKHSA People Strategy

24/052 The Deputy Director People Strategy, HR Project Manager and Project Support Officer provided an update on UKHSA’s People Strategy developments and progress to date, including identifying priorities for strategic action planning and actions (enclosure PACC-23-011).

24/053 An emerging People Strategy was introduced to the Advisory Board back in September 2022, with 6 strategic priorities. These pillars had guided the work of the People Group over the last financial year. With the launch of the agency’s overarching 3-year plan in summer 2023, as well as the outputs from the People Experience project, the 6 strategic priorities were being reviewed to ensure alignment and focus for our work over the next 3 years.

24/054 The committee noted the presentation provided.

24/055 The committee recommended that:

• further narrative should be added to explain how the organisation would shift its shape quickly in response to an emergency
• the individual journey of colleagues should be explained further
• further detail should be added on building a single UKHSA identity and colleagues ‘belonging’ to the agency
• in addition to quantified metrics, qualified metrics should be introduced to measure progress – this was linked to defining colleagues as team players, recognising their role and a natural collaborative instinct
• it would be emphasised that successful internal and external collaboration was key for the vision to succeed
• the narrative should address becoming a leader within a profession
• the importance of leadership should be emphasised in all areas of the workforce and there should be a relevant development offer to encourage loyalty
• robust appraisals to measure performance and improve understanding of the workforce – colleagues should be measured not only what they do but also how they act

24/056 The committee endorsed the approach of the plan to frame UKHSA as a category 1 responder which would step up for the UK at times of need. It was explained that the Ready to Respond Programme Board and the People Surge Delivery Framework had mapped out the strategy for these activities, including building volunteers, secondary roles, and the relationship with unions. These would be presented to the People and Culture Committee in future.

24/057 It was confirmed that Talent for Science (a core component in UKHSA’s science strategy) was integrated into the people strategy, to ensure our specialist and scientific communities are reflected.

24/058 The committee discussed how success would be measured (for example employee engagement scores) and the extent to which these were embedded in the appraisal process for leaders across the organisation.

24/059 It was confirmed these measures would be put in place and would form part of the appraisal process.

7. MaPS progress update

24/060 [Title redacted] provided an update regarding the formation of the new MaPS People Programme and Business case and the findings of the Discovery activity (enclosure PACC-24-12).

24/061 The People and Culture Committee noted the closed status of the Phase 1 MaPS implementation, which primarily focused on Oracle Finance module implementation, and that the Phase 2 MaPS People Programme (HR functionality) had now commenced as a new Programme under Senior Responsible Officer Jac Gardner, Chief People Officer.

24/062 The committee discussed whether learnings could be applied from other parts of the Civil Service which also used Oracle Fusion. It was explained the programme is aligning to the Matrix cluster strategy and has had several best practice sharing sessions with the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice. UKHSA were also applying learnings from the Medicines and HealthCare products Regulatory Agency who have implemented Oracle Fusion core and are now progressing with Recruitment.

24/063 The committee noted the request for investment over two years and asked about the workarounds which would be put in place to ensure resilience during this time. It was explained scoping work was taking place looking at interfaces between the current recruitment and payroll systems. If these interfaces proved both feasible and cost effective, they would be taken forward.

24/064 MaPS was currently being used with limited functionality and therefore there were no issues concerning personal data at present. However, the data protocols and information governance would need to be improved before data was imported and the enhanced functionality rolled out.

24/065 The committee discussed the importance of the systems being set up correctly and the culture and change needed for success. These were both of equal importance. It was acknowledged that there was some cultural resistance to new ways of working that the system enabled, however, the module enhancements could be used together with change and transformation methodologies to potentially address organisational problems in the future. Solving business problems and user centric design and engagement is a core part of the programme’s implementation approach.

24/066 The committee asked about the risks of not having the full budget needed to deliver on the plan. It was explained that there was no budget visibility beyond 2024 to 2025 but there was a high level of confidence that MaPS would be an important part of the strategic priorities and would be part of next year’s funding bid.

24/067 The committee welcomed the creation of a clear project plan and milestones and asked to be kept advised of progress.

8. Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard

24/068 The People Analytics and Insights Lead and Inclusion Lead presented a paper which provided an overview of the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Dashboard and the progress towards meeting the D&I strategic objectives supported by data and evidence data (enclosure PACC-24-13).

24/069 The committee noted the progress made on the dashboard and delivery against D&I strategic priorities for 2023 to 2025.

24/070 The committee asked about the areas of greatest concern as shown by the dashboard data. It was explained that as more information was captured from joiners and declaration campaigns, disability representation had been identified as an area of concern at around 10%. Other areas included ethnic minority drop off within the talent pipeline. However, this was a trend seen across the Civil Service, public sector and private sector. The score was above the economically active population, but ethnic minorities tended to be on lower grades indicating a need to review how progression was being supported through the grades. It was agreed to arrange a meeting to provide Cindy Rampersaud with further details on progression.

24/071 The committee noted the D&I Dashboard was now being used as a tool by Senior Civil Servants (SCS), HR Business Partners and Network Chairs and for group level interventions.

24/072 It was noted that to increase SCS representation, UKHSA had developed an in-house positive action scheme called ‘Accelerate’ aimed at staff with a disability and/or from an ethnic minority background. There were 6 colleagues on the pilot last year and this has now been doubled to 12. The scheme was deliberately small and focused with the participants being given high profile work and projects.

9. Forward look and topics for future meetings

24/073 The People and Culture Committee noted the Forward Look and suggested topics for future discussion (enclosure PACC-24-014).

10. Any other business and close

24/074 None at this time.