Corporate report

UKHSA Advisory Board: People and Culture Committee minutes

Updated 17 July 2023

Date: Wednesday 19 July 2023

Sponsor: Sir Gordon Messenger

Recommendation

The Advisory Board is asked to note the minutes of the 20 April 2023 meeting of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) People and Culture Committee. The minutes were agreed on 11 July 2023.

Minutes, UKHSA People and Culture Committee, Thursday 20 April 2023

Present at the meeting were:

• Sir Gordon Messenger – non-executive Chair
• Jon Friedland – non-executive member
• Jac Gardner – Chief People Officer (CPO)
• Mark Lloyd – non-executive member

In attendance were:

• 5 attendees with names and titles redacted
• 1 attendee with name and title redacted (minutes)

Apologies from:

• Professor Dame Jenny Harries – Chief Executive (CEO)

Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest

23/018 The Chair welcomed participants to the People and Culture Committee with apologies noted above.

Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

23/019 The minutes from the previous meeting on 12 January 2023 (enclosure PAAC/23/006) were agreed. All actions were complete (enclosure PAAC/23/007).

Introduction and CPO brief

23/020 The CPO provided an update on organisation-wide people-related activities (enclosure PAAC/23/008).

In line with the core budget settlement of £395 million, and £45 million ringfenced for specific initiatives, UKHSA was developing its workforce plans to enable it to build a more stable and enduring workforce.

Following the Science Pay Review, phase 1 of implementation – the transfer of eligible posts to the clinical ringfence – had begun. Phases 2 and 3, which involve developing a fit-for-purpose science pay framework, are next. There was good progress on submitting the business case for a Digital, Data and Technology Framework.

Following the recent publication of the Civil Service Pay Remit for delegated grades (4.5% average and additional 0.5% for lowest pay bands) HR was determining how to apply it to UKHSA.

The first UKHSA People Awards to celebrate the talents and successes of staff was scheduled for 18 May 2023.

Members of the Executive Committee were sponsoring 3 main themes highlighted in the People Survey:

• addressing bullying, harassment, and discrimination
• getting the basics right
• managing change

Potential business impacts resulting from strike action were being monitored and contingency planning maintained.

23/021 to 23/022 Information withheld in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

23/023 The Committee noted the content of the CPO brief and supported the ongoing work, requesting a full update on activities relating to workforce development, specialist pay, response to the 2022 People Survey, and impacts of any strike action at the next committee meeting in July 2023.

(Jac Gardner)

Bullying and harassment

23/024 [Title redacted] provided an overview of the Freedom To Speak Up (FTSU) service, including ongoing work to address bullying, harassment, and discrimination (PAAC/23/009).

The FTSU service arose from a recommendation of the Sir Robert Francis Report 2015 that all NHS trusts appoint a FTSU Guardian, which, in 2019, was extended to Civil Service departments.

Through providing an impartial and confidential service, the FTSU Guardian supports employees to speak up when they feel that they are unable to do so by other routes, and liaises with HR and line managers, where appropriate, to resolve concerns and take action.

In 2022 to 2023, the FTSU Guardian dealt with 104​ cases, of which the majority related to reports of poor behaviour and bullying.

Ongoing and planned activities included:

• CEO deep dive meetings with employees on bullying, harassment, and discrimination
• Working Better Together workshops focusing on culture and behaviours across UKHSA
• development of early resolution routes to resolve conflict through facilitated conversations and mediation​

23/025 Discussion took place on the activities focusing on embedding better standards of behaviour across UKHSA.

It was explained that interactive Working Better Together workshops, led by the FTSU Guardian, were being delivered to individual teams across the organisation to help them set their own values and ways of working. This, coupled with CEO meetings with teams across groups scoring high on bullying, harassment, and discrimination in the People Survey, would provide additional insight into root causes of such behaviour, and, therefore, enable appropriate interventions to be developed.

It was noted that work on culture and behaviours was happening at pace so the effects of training and new structures would be apparent with a short timeline. The Committee agreed that organisation-wide training on culture and behaviours was fundamental to enable sustained cultural change.

23/026 The Committee raised that of the large number of FTSU cases in 2022 to 2023, some of which, for example, related to procedures and processes, and recruitment and selection, could have been resolved directly with HR or line managers. They felt that this demonstrated a lack of effective grievance resolution processes in place at UKHSA, and the FTSU Guardian’s role was to support those reporting bullying, harassment and discrimination and other serious cases.

It was explained that the Total Resolution Framework was being developed to enable early resolution to complaints and that the training of line managers was a crucial component of this embedding this framework across UKHSA.

23/027 Discussion took place on the role of line managers in tackling poor behaviours and conflict in teams. It was acknowledged that while UKHSA overall had excellent line managers, some themselves fell short of appropriate behaviours. Therefore, the FTSU service and a formal grievance resolution process would still be available for complaints that could not be resolved informally through the Total Resolution Framework.

23/028 It was further discussed that the responsibilities of line managers needed to be clearly articulated– both in terms of professional qualification or achievements and people-management skills.

23/029 The Committee raised that bullying and harassment needed to be distinguished from discrimination as the causes and solutions may be different. It was clarified that the Civil Service People Survey groups bullying and harassment with discrimination in its question bank and acknowledged that these issues should be differentiated. It was noted that UKHSA-run Pulse surveys may be a tool to assist with this.

23/030 The Committee noted the Freedom to Speak Up Report for 2022 to 2023 and supported ongoing initiatives led by the FTSU Guardian, requesting an update of activities and progress made at the committee meeting in October 2023.

People Experience Project and Employee Value Proposition

23/031 [2 titles redacted] gave an overview of the UKHSA People Experience Project (PAAC/23/010).

Phase 1 collected insights on employee experience over a 6-week period to develop a package to make UKHSA a great place to work and stand out as an employer of choice.

Insights showed that there were 5 overarching themes that were most important to employees:

• pay and benefits
• job security and progression
• mission and purpose
• process and bureaucracy
• culture and community

Phase 2 is planned to commence in May 2023 with a focus on developing an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) and ideas for experience improvement.

Phase 3 would implement the new EVP and experience improvements while also measuring their impact and success.

23/032 Discussion focused on the need to clearly articulate the objectives of the People Experience and EVP project, for example, whether this was having a motivated and collegiate workforce and/or improving staff retention. Additionally, development of success measures to monitor progress against the key objectives was also suggested.

23/033 It was raised that high employee turnover should not necessarily be seen as a concern if they are open to returning to UKHSA or act as ambassadors, speaking well of their experience and encouraging others to apply. Therefore, any EVP should take into account how every current and former employee would be a valued contributor to achieving UKHSA’s mission.

23/034 There was concern that the questions asked to participants through the People Experience Project were not focused enough, rendering the insights too broad. It was suggested that the People Experience Team delve further into the broad themes highlighted and explore the significant number of ‘somewhat satisfied’ responses received. It was clarified that due to the levels of data collected we were able to segment in a number of different ways.

23/035 It was suggested that any branding focus on 2 or 3 key messages and repeating these key messages through different forms and methods of communication to ensure this branding becomes synonymous with UKHSA. One such message could be that working at UKHSA enables employees to make an impact and save lives.

23/036 The Committee suggested capitalising on the insights which showed some staff citing working at a new organisation as a highlight to address cohesion in the organisation. As such, a key message as part of any branding would be that UKHSA is a new organisation with a new remit which gives its employees the opportunity to help build a new identity and culture for UKHSA.

23/037 The Committee noted the scope and progress to date of the People Experience Project and EVP, requesting an update to return to the committee meeting in July 2023.

Forward look and topics for future meetings

23/038 Suggested discussions for future meetings included (PAAC/23/011):

• People Experience Project phase 2 and EVP
• equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) dashboard
• leadership and line managers; defining their role and what is expected
• update on initiatives led by the FTSU guardian
• senior Civil Service pay

Any other business and close

23/039 No other business was recorded. The meeting closed at 12:30pm.