UKHSA Advisory Board: 13 September 2023 meeting minutes
Updated 13 December 2023
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Date: Wednesday 13 September 2023
Present at the meeting were:
- Ian Peters – Chair of UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Advisory Board
- Simon Blagden – associate non-executive member
- Jon Friedland – non-executive member
- Marie Gabriel – associate non-executive member
- Professor Dame Jenny Harries – Chief Executive
- Graham Hart – non-executive member
- Susan Hopkins – Chief Medical Advisor
- Mark Lloyd – non-executive member
- Jennifer Dixon – non-executive member
- Sir Gordon Messenger – non-executive member
- Isabel Oliver – Director General, Science and Research and Chief Scientific Officer
- Cindy Rampersaud – non-executive member
- Andrew Sanderson – Director General, Finance, Commercial and Corporate Services
- Thom Waite – Deputy Chief Medical Officer (England)
Observers at the meeting were:
- Sir Frank Atherton – Chief Medical Officer (Wales)
- Lee Bailey – Director of Communications
- Oliver Munn – Director General, Health Protection Operations and Chief Operating Officer, Testing
- Steven Riley – Director General, Data, Analytics and Surveillance
- Sir Gregor Smith – Chief Medical Officer (Scotland)
- Clara Swinson – Director General, Global Public Health (DHSC)
In attendance were:
- Lucinda Eggleton – Director, All Hazards Intelligence
- Colin Brown – Director (Interim): Clinical and Emerging Infections
- Hannah Taylor – Director, COVID-19 and Pandemic Policy
- 12 attendees who had their names and titles redacted
Apologies were received from:
- Professor Sir Chris Whitty – Chief Medical Officer (England)
- Raj Long – associate non-executive member
- Scott McPherson – Director General, Strategy, Policy and Programmes
Announcements, apologies and declarations of interest
23/134 The Chair welcomed participants to the meeting and noted apologies.
Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising
23/135 The Advisory Board agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 19 July 2023 (enclosure AB/23/048) as an accurate record.
23/136 The Advisory Board noted the list of actions from the previous meeting (enclosure AB/23/049).
Chief Executive’s update
23/137 The Advisory Board noted the update from the Chief Executive (enclosure AB/23/050). Main areas of activity are listed below.
The publication of the UKHSA strategic plan was an important moment for UKHSA. Along with the data strategy and science strategy, it supported UKHSA in sharing its vision.
UKHSA had formally moved to its new headquarters in Canary Wharf. The Advisory Board recorded its thanks to the team who had overseen and implemented the move. It was recognised that the benefits of the move had already started to be realised, particularly supporting collaborative working across teams. The move was part of a wider estates strategy for UKHSA that was in development.
Looking to the future, UKHSA worked with partners across the health system to prepare for winter challenges. This included the start of the autumn to winter COVID-19 and flu booster campaign being brought forward to September in light of the BA.2.86 variant.
A community surveillance programme would run over the winter period, working closely with the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
UKHSA was developing a next-generation public data dashboard, to replace the award-winning COVID-19 dashboard. Ensuring the timely access to robust data was central to UKHSA’s mission and had been identified as one of the ambitions in the strategic plan. The dashboard would focus on respiratory viruses with a soft launch planned for later in the month.
The UKHSA Conference would again take place in Leeds in November, focusing on 4 core themes:
- innovation and life sciences partnership
- reflections on public health responses
- delivering prosperity and equity through health security
- building a successful health protection system
UKHSA would shortly publish the Health Effects of Climate Change (HECC) report.
Module 2 of the COVID-19 Public Inquiry hearings would begin in October 2023. This module covered core UK decision making and political governance, and therefore had a wide scope. A witness statement had been submitted to the inquiry in preparation.
23/138 A discussion followed on UKHSA’s global work. A recent visit to Pakistan had been an opportunity to experience critical global health work first hand and was hosted by UKHSA’s local International Health Regulations (IHR) Strengthening Project team. This team oversee delivery of peer to peer technical expertise to support and enable public health partners to prepare, prevent, detect, and respond to global health threats. This was one example of UKHSA’s global work, and a full briefing of activities and articulation of UKHSA’s developing global health strategy would be added for a future Advisory Board. (Action: Oliver Munn and Scott McPherson)
23/139 It was recognised that climate change was a significant and broad piece of work for the organisation in respect to health. A discussion on UKHSA’s remit and role in respect to this work would be added to a future Advisory Board agenda. (Acton: Isabel Oliver)
23/140 Health inequalities was important when considering vaccination campaigns, particularly as part of winter preparations and it was reported that UKHSA works with communities in developing its communication materials.
Antimicrobial resistance
23/141 The Chief Medical Advisor and Director (Interim): Clinical and Emerging Infections presented the priority activity in addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) health threats and development of National Action Plan 2024 to 2029 (enclosure AB/23/052). The Advisory Board noted the activities underway in UKHSA to tackle AMR. This was a multi-year programme with a number of priority internal and external interdependencies.
Comments from the Advisory Board noted:
- a substantial investment was potentially needed in areas such as genomics to fully understand transmission
- public engagement would be crucial in the success of the programme
- an ongoing challenge was ensuring that the necessary data was available across the system
23/142 The Advisory Board discussed the private use of antibiotics, and the impact of COVID-19 on UK’s ambitions to tackle AMR, as efforts and resources were redeployed to contain the pandemic and healthcare delivery was altered.
23/143 UKHSA was also involved in a research application to evaluate the implementation and impact of Pharmacy First (PF), a new initiative for participating pharmacies to supply prescription-only NHS medicines.
23/144 The Advisory Board acknowledged and welcomed progress that had been made. The National Action Plan would continue to consider health inequalities as part of the multi-year programme, and this would be scheduled for detailed discussions at the Equalities, Ethics and Communities Committee. Progress on the overall programme would be reported in 12 months to the Advisory Board. (Action: Susan Hopkins and Colin Brown)
Financial report
23/146 The Advisory Board noted the financial update to end of July 2023 (enclosure AB/23/051).
23/147 The following points were raised in respect to the current financial position:
- current forecasts highlighted a potential risk of being underspent on the overall budget, however this is being reviewed and mitigated through reprioritisation on resource spend across UKHSA, which was agreed with the Executive Committee
- work was ongoing to assess the potential impact of the new COVID-19 variant 2.86 on budgets including the decision to bring forward the vaccination programme
- the 2022 to 2023 accounts were under review by the National Audit Office; good progress was being made supported by the ongoing work by the finance and control improvement programme
Technology strategy
23/148 The Deputy Director, Enterprise Architecture and Innovation presented the update on the main pillars of the UKHSA’s proposed technology strategy (enclosure AB/23/053). Technology was a critical enabler across UKHSA and there had been a focus on integrating, rationalising and strengthening the technology estate.
23/149 The technology strategy had been developed with both internal and external partners, including DHSC and the Central Digital and Data Office with seven underpinning pillars. These were:
- prioritising cloud technologies
- adopting a product centric approach
- ensuring convergence
- data sharing, innovation
- operational excellence
- building an enduring capability
23/150 The Advisory Board noted there would be a detailed review of the approach to the technology strategy, and once finalised the Executive Committee would consider the technology strategy when making investment, policy, commercial and service decisions.
23/151 The Advisory Board welcomed the update and raised the following points.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and the capability within health security should be considered in more detail. There were a number of partners with expert knowledge who could support UKHSA in this work, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was holding a conference on the topic later this year.
Addressing the number of different systems across the organisation was crucial.
UKHSA is currently working jointly across government with areas such as Cabinet Office to ensure there were economies of scale and to avoid duplication across government.
Work to ensure alignment was ongoing across UKHSA’s technology strategy and cyber security.
23/152 The opportunities presented by AI were recognised, and it was proposed that a specific paper covering UKHSA’s work and ambitions in this area be considered at a future Advisory Board meeting. (Action: Steven Riley)
23/153 There were broader technology and cyber issues currently being worked through by UKHSA. It was noted that the Audit and Risk Committee had been reviewing cyber risk at its meetings in detail. It was proposed that the IT Big Rocks programme which comprised of 4 main strategic projects to ensure future robustness to UKHSA’s technology arrangements would be considered in detail by the Audit and Risk Committee as to its business case, implementation plan and delivery, benefits realisation and risk profile. (Action: Chris Coupland.)
The Committee would also review the risks around shadow IT infrastructure and the technology strategy update will be added to the Advisory Board agenda for 2024.
Update on UKHSA’s strategic work
23/154 The Deputy Director, UKHSA strategy presented next steps needed for implementing the UKHSA strategic plan (enclosure AB/23/054).
23/155 Executive Committee strategic priority leads had been appointed by the Chief Executive. These leads would provide strategic oversight and challenge across UKHSA, ensuring that UKHSA remained on track to achieve its priorities. The Advisory Board noted the plans for implementing the UKHSA strategic plan.
23/156 The Board discussed how best to measure success against the strategic aims reflecting on how to strike the balance between quantitative measures and qualitative judgements. This would be particularly important in order to demonstrate impact.
23/157 The development of metrics would continue, and it was recognised that some specific metrics needed to be developed in respect to chemical, radiological and nuclear health threats but would not be published. The final metrics would be developed for finalisation in November 2023. The Advisory Board Committees offered to support this work by reviewing in detail those specific metrics relevant to their work.
23/158 It was also recommended that the Advisory Board consider at a future meeting the UKHSA approach to public communications. (Action: Lee Bailey) This work would be crucial in supporting UKHSA develop as a high performing agency.
23/159 The Advisory Board noted the principles of the paper with an update on progress to be presented to November board meeting.
Advisory board committees
Audit and risk committee
23/160 The Advisory Board noted the minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee meeting on 6 June 2023 (enclosure AB/23/055). The most recent committee had discussed good progress with 2022-23 Annual Report and Accounts preparation.
Science and research committee
23/161 The Advisory Board noted the minutes of the Science and Research Committee meeting on 3 May 2023 (enclosure AB/23/056).
Questions from members of the public
23/162 No questions were received from members of the public.
Forward look
23/163 The Advisory Board noted the topics for future meetings (enclosure AB/23/057).
Any other business and close
23/164 There being no other business, the meeting closed at 12pm.