Corporate report

UKHSA Advisory Board: People and Culture Committee minutes

Updated 28 January 2025

Title of paper: People and Culture Committee minutes

Sponsor: Sir Gordon Messenger

1. Recommendation

The Advisory Board is asked to note the minutes of 23 July 2024 meeting of the People and Culture Committee. The minutes were agreed on 26 November 2024.

2. Minutes (confirmed), UKHSA People and Culture Committee, 23 July 2024

Present at the meeting were:

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

In attendance were:

• 9 attendees had their names and titles redacted

3. Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest

24/076 The Chair welcomed participants to the People and Culture Committee. No apologies or declarations of interest were noted.

4. Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising

24/077 The minutes from the previous meeting on 23 April 2024 (enclosure PAAC-24-015) were agreed.

24/078 It was noted that two actions/recommendations were completed and two were ongoing/work in progress (enclosure PAAC-24-016). It was agreed to close action 24/020 as all recommendations relating the Civil Service People Survey were in progress.

5. Annual Report and Effectiveness Review

24/079 The People and Culture Committee noted the Annual Report for 2023/24 and results of the Effectiveness Review (enclosure PACC/24/017).The Committee’s strategic advice was welcomed as the People Group established as a function.

24/080 The People and Culture Committee agreed the suggested recommendations with the following points raised:

• understanding the impact and value of conversations was the right focus without adding to workload of teams
• the Chief People Officer and People Private Office provided feedback before meetings to develop skills in writing papers
• outputs of meetings were often shared with presenters by the Chief People Officer and via the People Group All Hands
• the Chief People Officer would consider opportunities for sharing outputs more widely across UKHSA
• non-executives were ready to support outside of Committee meetings where they could add value
• it was acknowledged that the Committee provided important assurance to staff on setting expectations for people and culture in UKHSA

24/081 The Committee noted interest in the following areas for future meetings:

• freedom to speak up and types of conversations in grievance process
• progress of retention, recruiting and establishment statistics
• building team culture across disparate parts of the organisation; and
• ensuring staff felt support, valued, trained and connected to the achievements of UKHSA

6. Chief People Officer Brief

24/082 The Chief People Officer provided an update on organisation-wide people-related activities (enclosure PACC-24-018).

24/083 The People and Culture Committee noted the update which demonstrated maturing functionality of the People Group. The following points were raised during discussion:

• the SCS leadership review continued at pace with collective consultation beginning from 25 July 2024. It was noted that realignment was expected below SCS but no specific reduction at present
• the position of Chief Operating Officer was approved by the previous Secretary of State and was in the process of confirmation with new administration
• a ‘spans and layers’ exercise could support understanding of progression challenges within the organisation, especially within scientific positions
• recruitment was solely reliant on the in house team (based on average of 50 campaigns per month)
• recruitment to positions had occurred faster than anticipated leading to over forecast people budgets; although Month 2 finance reports showed that recruitment was slowing down and turnover figures reducing
• the 9-box grid would be used to drive performance conversations at senior level alongside and an ‘Own Your Talent’ tool for lower grades. It was important to maintain accountability of executive  populating the 9-box grid and creating shared understanding of expectations and variety of strengths needed in senior leadership
• 24-25 pay remit guidance was delayed until summer, although AA-G6 awards would be backdated to 1 August upon implementation
• UKHSA was exploring ways to raise awareness of the total reward package including pension contributions and flexible working; and
• a design and delivery partner would be onboarded in 4-6weeks to design future functionality of MaPS modules; a recent announcement by Central Government of an intended move to a standardised Civil Service recruitment and learning system would likely descope recruitment and skills modules for MaPS; we are actively reviewing

24/084 The Committee queried the number of vacancies against the % turnover of workforce changing grade or group. It was clarified that turnover figure was based on permanent UKHSA roles. The current value of 600 vacancies relates to the total resource/workforce requirements and could therefore also represent other worker types such as temporary roles or honorary contracts.

24/085 The Committee challenged UKHSA to consider how the same outcomes could be achieved for reallocating any investment based on descoping MaPS modules but requiring system integrations as a consequence. It was noted that DAS and Technology colleagues were fully involved with the project team and would explore integration opportunities with MaPS.

24/086 The Committee emphasised the need for establishment figures on number of staff, positions and skillsets as building blocks for future advice and should integrate with financial data. (Action: Jac Gardner)

7. Talent for Science

24/087 [Title redacted] outlined the current status of the ‘Talent for Science’ people enabler of the UKHSA Science Strategy (enclosure PACC-24-019).

24/088 UKHSA scientists were passionate about their work and essential to the delivery of our responsibilities. To ensure success of the agency, UKHSA needed to attract, retain and develop its scientific leaders. Issues on progression, conditions and pay impacted the ability to retain skill and experienced scientists. UKHSA faced particular challenge on pay that was not competitive with NHS or other government departments.

24/089 The People and Culture Committee noted the collaborative cross-Group programme of work. Discussion queried the following points:

• the use of tools to predict skill shortages before they were critical. Teams were using data to understand the needs of the business and backcasting to incorporate formal horizon scanning and the process for attracting required skillsets
• the extent that specialist scientists were supported to develop leadership skills. UKHSA had been defining scientific leadership to ensure staff were motivated by personal growth alongside needs of the business
• the use of apprenticeships which formed part of the learning and development base of the scientific career framework
• thinking beyond restraints of civil service pay to attract scientific staff. The strength of UKHSA’s science culture was fundamental offering opportunities to publish papers, attend conferences and see scientific work developed into national policy
• long term thinking was needed on laboratory location strategy to attract the right talent pool
• partnership was a wider enabler of the Science Strategy and could be utilised for progression routes where challenges were national rather than UKHSA specific
• benchmarking gender pay gaps with other organisations could support a strong business case to address pay gap and progression issues. It was agreed to share the latest pay gap information and action plan with the Committee. (Action: Jac Gardner / [Name redacted])

Leadership, Talent and Performance

24/090 The UKHSA People Development Lead presented the paper on a holistic approach to leadership, talent and performance for UKHSA (PACC-24-020).

24/091 The People and Culture Committee noted the SCS 2023/24 performance distribution and subsequent actions to improve and enhance approach to assessing performance which included:

• ensuring ratings reflected genuine performance and were not used to inflate pay at SCS level
• reinforcing ‘Achieving’ as a positive rating indicating senior leaders were performing as expected
• clarity on criteria for each rating and how it was achieved

24/092 Discussion noted that giving ratings was an important behavioural issue for assessors rather than detail in stretch objectives. While UKHSA acknowledged difficulty in attracting SCS talent compared to other sectors, the performance awards should be maintained for genuine high performance to avoid risk of inflation to compensate lower pay. 

24/093 Ian Peters and Sir Gordon Messenger, as Chairs of the Advisory Board and People and Culture Committee had provided oversight of the SCS performance review. It was agreed that the non-executives would have more input into overseeing the SCS pay process next year under revised Director General and senior leadership structure. (Action: Jac Gardner (Governance team))

24/094 The committee noted the work underway to develop the performance approach for delegated grades, with individuals taking ownership of their performance and development. It was acknowledged that UKHSA did not yet have systems to collect oversight data on development conversations. The Committee agreed with the need for embedding consistent performance at all levels and encouraged:

• use of a toolkit to support difficult performance conversations and develop skills of leaders
• using case studies to build consistency on interpreting 9-box grid; and
• aligning approach to delegated grades with SCS performance conversations

8. Performance Monitoring

24/095 [Title redacted] presented the update on proposed metrics for a People Performance dashboard (enclosure PACC-24-021). It was expected to be updated each quarter and piloted in People Group, with ambition to expand across the organisation. The dashboard could provide insights on performance and recruitment metrics beyond the people profile of UKHSA. Usage of the dashboard would be monitored to support business intelligence and data informed decisions.

24/096 The People and Culture Committee welcomed the dashboard and metrics. Discussion noted the following recommendations:

• the dashboard should include a bold front page covering the 6 strategic objectives from the People Strategy with RAG ratings and signposting to further detail
• the Executive Committee should regularly review the dashboard and triangulate with employee engagement survey data
• sickness reasons captured stress and anxiety; a further deep dive on tracking days lost for mental health would be useful
• it was important to follow up data with informal people conversations (e.g. 1-step removed from managers)
• data must be owned by managers and leaders in the organisation to take action where needed
• the ‘always on’ Pulse Surveys from staff were preferred alongside leadership dashboard information

9. Forward look and topics for future meetings

24/097 The People and Culture Committee noted the Forward Look and suggested topics for future discussion (enclosure PACC-24-022). The following point were agreed:

• the October meeting would prioritise the deep dive on internal communications and links with culture, as well as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• the pay and reward update would be summarised within the Chief People Officer update
• the February meeting would prioritise Freedom to Speak Up and Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination topics

10. Any other business and Close

24/098 There being no further business, the meeting closed at 4:01pm