Corporate report

UKHSA annual business plan: 2023 to 2024

Published 14 November 2023

Foreword from the Chief Executive

Welcome to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)’s business plan for April 2023 to March 2024. I have led this organisation since our launch in 2021 and witnessed at first hand the hard work, expertise and dedication of our staff in establishing UKHSA as a new but driving force in the health security landscape.

There has been much to reflect on in the past year. We continue to prepare for, prevent and respond to many public health challenges on a daily basis, ranging from chemical incidents to infectious diseases across multiple transmission routes and in differing geographical and risk locations. The agency responded to more than 25,000 health security incidents last year, with major responses to polio, mpox and avian influenza, requiring rapid and concerted efforts at regional, national, and international levels.

We are developing the UK’s health security capabilities and embedding learning from the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet the pandemic has shone a light on just a small segment of the opportunity that exists. We can make a step change in health protection outcomes through the utilisation of technical data, clinical and scientific capabilities, and assets which the organisation now holds or can build, and we can work with industry to create efficient and effective development, evaluation and delivery pipelines for safe and effective new tests, therapeutics and vaccines. It is critical that we capitalise on specific capabilities bolstered during the last few years in genomics, surveillance and data analytics to embed ourselves as a truly forward-facing agency that is equipped to manage the challenges of the day, whatever they may be, and allows recognition that health protection science and capabilities are both an insurance policy for the nation and an ongoing asset for economic growth.

This business plan is one of a series of documents outlining UKHSA’s strategic vision for health security and how we will deliver against this. Our 3-year strategic plan sets out our overarching vision and near-term priorities, and our science strategy is the first of several documents that will set out a long-term view in important areas – in this case, how we will deliver scientific excellence and technological innovation for the next decade. Planning for and investing in the future ensures that UKHSA will continue to provide a high-quality service in all areas, meeting the needs of those we serve.

There is also much to look forward to, with the active development of many exciting programmes – such as the Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre (VDEC) and the Centre for Climate and Health Security – that I hope will make a lasting contribution to both future policies and most of all the health of our communities in the years to come.

This summer, UKHSA’s London headquarters relocated to Canary Wharf and we now work alongside other government bodies in 10 South Colonnade. This co-location will further strengthen our collaboration across many government departments as well as our partnerships with others specifically working to enable scientific endeavour in support of positive health outcomes. I look forward to continuing to lead the agency on this journey of health protection opportunity and remain proud of UKHSA’s growing contribution to scientific growth and national and global health security.

Introduction

UKHSA’s business plan sets out the agency’s priority activities for the 2023 to 2024 financial year (covering the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024).

The business plan is a summary document, underpinned by comprehensive plans and a performance management framework designed to maximise UKHSA’s ability to deliver the goals and strategic priorities detailed in the agency’s 3-year strategic plan and remit letter. Considered together as a suite of complementary documents, these products enable UKHSA to provide the public and partner organisations with clarity on the outcomes it seeks to achieve and the support it will provide to the UK in delivering the agency’s priorities.

The UKHSA business plan also describes UKHSA’s main deliverables for the coming year, all of which support the agency in achieving 3 broad goals, which are:

1. Prepare – Be ready for, and prevent, future health security hazards.
2. Respond – Save lives and reduce harm through effective response.
3. Build – Develop the UK’s health security capacity.

UKHSA will also work to meet its overarching commitment to health equity and to the achievement of more equitable health security outcomes by maintaining a steadfast focus on health equity across all of UKHSA’s work, recognising that health threats often disproportionately impact the most vulnerable groups. UKHSA will seek to improve the agency’s understanding of the needs of the people and places at greatest risk and address their needs through its activities.

Internal planning and governance at UKHSA group level, along with UKHSA’s performance framework will underpin the delivery of this work throughout the year. These structures will ensure progress made in achieving the goals is tracked and reported to the agency’s executive committee, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the UKHSA Advisory Board, as well as publicly through the agency’s annual report and accounts.

UKHSA’s purpose

UKHSA works to reduce the impact of infectious diseases, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents and other health threats by providing expert advice and guidance and by playing a leading role in preparing for, preventing wherever possible, and responding to health security threats. The agency is made up of a range of multidisciplinary teams that provide intellectual, scientific, and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as on the global stage, to make the nation’s health secure.

As an executive agency, UKHSA is sponsored by DHSC and works closely with other members of the wider health system (including the NHS) to support the health security agenda at all levels. UKHSA also has responsibility for delivering a range of statutory commitments on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

UKHSA operates in a range of locations, with headquarters in London and additional sites at Colindale, Porton Down, and Chilton. The agency also has 16 regionally dispersed health protection teams, who cover the whole of England and lead incident response, outbreak investigation, containment, and mitigation work. These teams work closely with local authorities, directors of public health, and local NHS services to provide specialist support to reduce the impact of infectious diseases, chemical or radiological incidents and other major emergencies as required.

While UKHSA has some UK-wide responsibilities, issues of health protection are mostly devolved, meaning that the responsibility for almost all health protection matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland rest with the devolved governments. UKHSA is responsible for devolved matters in England and given the cross-border nature of health threats, the agency works in partnership with the devolved governments to respond to shared challenges. UKHSA also has a remit for the whole of the UK relating to some reserved matters of health protection, such as preparing for and responding to the effects of radiation on public health.

UKHSA’s goals and strategic priorities, and the approach to delivering them

UKHSA has established a framework for delivering its activities based on 3 long-term goals, with all programmes of work contributing to achieving one or more of the agency’s goals and providing greater health security for the UK.

The agency’s 3-year strategic plan sets out UKHSA’s mission, vision, goals, and strategic priorities, with each priority detailing how the agency will support health security. Meeting the needs of vulnerable and high-risk populations, places and settings is critical to all aspects of health security, and the strategic plan details how the agency will actively contribute to more equitable health security outcomes through the delivery of its activities and programmes.

UKHSA’s goals	Prepare	Respond	Build
UKHSA’s strategic priorities	Be ready to respond to all hazards to health Improve health outcomes through vaccines	Reduce the impact of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) Protect health from threats in the environment	Improve action on health security through data and insight Develop UKHSA as a high-performing agency

Achieve more equitable health outcomes

This business plan underpins the strategic plan and describes UKHSA’s main activities over the course of the 2023 to 2024 financial year. UKHSA’s statutory responsibilities and priorities are codified in its remit letter from ministers, and the business plan outlines the activities that deliver on these responsibilities and accountabilities.

Also contained in the business plan are the agency’s main deliverables for the financial year. These are underpinned by the outcomes, outputs, and targets UKHSA has set itself in the coming year, and together these are the critical outcomes that will support delivery of the agency’s strategic priorities. Many deliverables represent a combination of more detailed activities that align to a common theme, the details of which are recorded within UKHSA’s internal-facing business documents to ensure their completion over the coming financial year.

Prepare – Be ready for, and prevent, future health security hazards

UKHSA ensures that the country is fully prepared for – and wherever possible can prevent – future health security hazards. UKHSA proactively seeks to understand which threats are on the horizon; develops the right evidence, insight and tools to use to best protect against them; and has the right tested response plans in place to protect the population.

Throughout 2023 to 2024, UKHSA will maintain capabilities to prepare and plan for health security hazards, including pandemics and epidemics spread via the main transmission disease routes: gastrointestinal, respiratory, sexual or blood-borne, touch, and vector-borne. The agency will build resilience by continuously developing a robust evidence base, employing advanced surveillance, modelling, and evaluation of interventions. It will work to better understand the potential impacts of health threats on different population groups by identifying populations and places that are likely to be at highest risk, co-designing targeted interventions wherever practically possible and effective to build their resilience.

UKHSA has a significant role in preparing for, detecting, and responding to new and emerging infectious diseases in a changing climate, as well as protecting the UK from environmental health hazards such as flooding and heat waves. The agency will prepare to mitigate and support the management of the increased risk of diseases associated with vectors (for example, ticks and mosquitoes) and chronic respiratory conditions resulting from poor indoor and outdoor air quality.

UKHSA’s clinical specialists will provide expert leadership, advice, and guidance to support the delivery and evaluation of vaccine and immunisation programmes, surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), and vaccine uptake and effectiveness. They will work to ensure the current schedule of vaccines is clinically effective, and support the development, assessment, and adoption of new vaccines where appropriate, and that vaccination programmes represent value for money. UKHSA will strengthen its preparedness against priority novel and emerging pathogens as well as endemic diseases by establishing the Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre (VDEC). UKHSA will aim to work across government to support the delivery of shared government priorities for the vaccine development pathway. The agency will maintain and develop connections with other nations and consolidate its reputation as a leading contributor in supporting domestic and global health security.

UKHSA will work closely with the governments and public health agencies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to respond to shared challenges and identify opportunities for collaboration, including through the UK Health Protection Committee under the Common Framework on Public Health Protection and Health Security.

The agency is committed to supporting the UK COVID-19 inquiry and will seek to incorporate relevant lessons to strengthen future delivery of pandemic preparedness and routine programmes to improve health security.

Prepare: strategic priorities

Be ready to respond to all hazards to health

UKHSA will ensure the right plans, expertise, infrastructure, capabilities and countermeasures are in place to mount agile and resilient responses to health security threats including pandemics, working across the health system to develop capability for scalability and robust planning.

The main deliverables are as follows.

Deliver the ‘Ready to respond’ review within the organisation to learn from responses to previous health hazards and strengthen UKHSA’s ability to respond operationally to the public health threats the country faces. As part of this, the agency will develop plans to further enable systematic response to preparedness and run more exercises on handling concurrent threats.

Enhance UKHSA’s support for the safe use of radiation and chemicals in industry, medicine, research, and other sectors in the UK. Augment response capacity, with a focus on developing an incident reporting system for diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine, and strengthen our radiation protection advisor workforce.

By December 2023, update the incident response system to embed an effective function to proactively identify and prioritise actions to address gaps in evidence at the start of, during, and post-incident management. This will include the coordination of immediate and longer-term research and evaluation activities, linkage with National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and other funders, and mechanisms for early and transparent sharing.

Provide and enhance specialist clinical and technical aspects of emergency preparedness, national outbreak response and countermeasures, tailored for specific populations and places. Main activities will include:

• horizon scanning, epidemiology, and risk assessments of a range of acute infection hazards (such as respiratory and gastrointestinal pathogens)
• enhanced use of surveillance and other tools to inform future policy and response

Deliver leadership and evidence-based quality-assured public health clinical response advice and guidance across UKHSA, government and partner agencies to mitigate against all hazards and threats impacting on health security.

Collaborate with important partners to ensure the provision of national specialist public health functions for acute infectious disease hazards (including emerging, respiratory, tuberculosis (TB), gastrointestinal, travel and healthcare-associated infections). The agency will:

• strengthen international collaboration to understand threats, assuring international secure channels by working with stakeholders like the UK Overseas Territories, EU partners and relevant international public health and/or health security agencies
• optimise investigation of outbreaks with European partners and Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) through improved patient feedback

Deliver elements of the pandemic preparedness portfolio for which UKHSA has lead responsibility, coordinated through the Centre for Pandemic Preparedness. The agency will:

• act as UK secretariat to deliver against the 100 Days Mission recommendations through prioritising, developing proposals and coordinating and catalysing system-wide actions
• build a repository of pandemic lessons identified and turn them into deliverable actions to improve preparedness for future threats
• deliver UKHSA input to support the development of the World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic instrument
• respond to imminent pandemic planning needs, including avian influenza, supporting incident management teams, and providing timely advice to ministers

Deliver high-quality international public health, health security and disaster risk reduction functions that protect the UK population and support other nations. In alignment with, and appropriate support of, DHSC and other cross-government agenda, the agency will:

• represent the UK at WHO, the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) and the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI), working directly alongside DHSC and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)
• provide technical input to the G7 and G20 as required
• develop evidence and guidelines to strengthen global surveillance and health security systems
• provide expert technical assistance to selected countries and regions to improve their compliance with the WHO International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005), including through the DHSC Official Development Assistance (ODA) funded IHR strengthening project
• support the UK Overseas Territories to strengthen their public health systems to ensure continued IHR compliance
• maintain ready experts and specialists proportionately to respond to disease outbreaks around the world before they develop into health emergencies, including through the UK Public Health Rapid Support team

Implement new structures to further strengthen quality and safety functions across UKHSA’s laboratories. Strengthen and improve systems for collating and monitoring actions and recommendations arising from inspections, reviews, audits, and investigations into incidents. This will ensure UKHSA fulfils its statutory requirements for diagnostic, research and evaluation services and as a manufacturer and supplier. As part of this, the agency will:

• strengthen the management of central autoclave facilities on UKHSA’s 2 major microbiology campuses to ensure the safe destruction of hazardous waste
• deliver standards for microbiology investigations (SMI) through the National Standards Group and commercial External Quality Assessment (EQA) services

Co-develop a suite of products to support UKHSA’s delivery of climate science programmes by March 2024. This will be to enhance UKHSA’s understanding of the health impacts of climate and environmental changes and will include:

• a prototype of a virtual climate and health knowledge hub
• launch of phase one of a climate and health training hub
• launch of a 5-year climate change and health security assessment cycle
• deliver commitments within the Adverse Weather and Health Plan to support future response to extreme weather events

Implement and use the diagnostic accelerator capability to work with suppliers to deliver important testing supply chain and outbreak solutions activities.

Improve health outcomes through vaccines

The agency will harness its strengths across the whole vaccine pathway to unlock innovation in the development of safe and effective vaccines, ensuring reliable procurement and increased uptake among the population, thereby reducing the burden of infectious disease.

The main deliverables are as follows.

Provide public health expertise and advice to support the NHS in improving uptake and reducing inequalities of routine programmes and to optimise the routine schedule, including the adoption of new vaccines, including for COVID-19. Specific activities will include:

• the surveillance of VPDs to monitor uptake, impact, and effectiveness
• responding to and investigating vaccine safety signals
• the development of national professional and public materials to support programme delivery and outbreak response
• supporting the introduction of new vaccine and immunisation programmes such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by generating epidemiological and clinical evidence, including modelling support, assessing public attitudes in prospective cohorts, and conducting clinical and cost-effectiveness assessments to support procurement, deployment and evaluation in real-world settings – relevant evidential support will also inform Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decision-making, with UKHSA continuing to provide a defined secretariat function, as well as NHS England (NHSE) vaccination implementation strategy

Develop laboratory-based assays and models of infection to support policy decisions on the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines.

Ensure the continued supply, storage and distribution of appropriate COVID-19 vaccines for the UK, crown dependencies and overseas territories (CDOT), including agreed contingency inventory.

Strengthen UKHSA’s commercial frameworks and both establish and embed partnerships with strategic suppliers to support the development of vaccines. As part of this, the agency will:

• establish VDEC to deliver laboratory-based studies to develop new vaccines and therapeutics
• support the onshoring and delivery of new investment in vaccines research and development in the UK

Respond – Save lives and reduce harm through effective health security response

UKHSA protects people from health threats on a daily basis. We deliver agile, rapid, evidence-based responses at a local, national and international level. UKHSA responds to infectious disease outbreaks, health security incidents, and ongoing health security threats.

In 2023 to 2024, UKHSA’s clinical and scientific experts will continue to provide expert guidance to the government, significant partners, and the public, with dedicated protocols for incident management and operational response. UKHSA will deploy staff with a range of technical capabilities and ensure those responding to incidents and outbreaks have access to the expertise and tools to respond across different population groups and settings. The agency will use local knowledge, working closely and directly with directors of public health and those in local government with detailed understanding of specific groups (such as directors of social care and of children’s services), to give an immediate advantage in deployment and delivering a more effective and equitable response. UKHSA health protection teams (HPTs) will respond to complex and wide-spread incidents by collaborating across regions, delivering through mutual support protocols, and drawing on national level operational support to provide reliable information quickly to stakeholders.

Where infectious disease outbreaks occur, hazard identification and intervention will be rapidly supported with the provision of advice on infection control mechanisms (both in community and healthcare settings), appropriate treatments and interventions, public and professional education and communication support, and where relevant, contact tracing. For infections with longer-term control opportunities through vaccination, or where new vaccines could be developed, UKHSA will partner with other groups to support the provision and uptake of vaccines and immunisations to mitigate ongoing risk. The agency will continue to develop and provide health protection advice and guidance to the government, professionals, and the public to reduce the impact of a range of diseases, from gastrointestinal infections (such as norovirus) to blood-borne viruses (such as hepatitis C and HIV). The agency will also drive efforts at home and abroad to reduce the burden of AMR in line with the UK AMR National Action Plan, which in turn will strengthen UKHSA’s ability to better control infectious diseases in the future, including advances in infection prevention and control.

UKHSA will enhance its capacity and capability for non-infectious disease incident response working with others to mount a robust and rapid response to both deliberate and accidental chemical, radiological and nuclear (CRN) events, and to mitigate any potential threats, including that subset relating to national security. The agency will also build new capabilities to support national security, further integrating UKHSA into the UK’s national security infrastructure and ensuring delivery against its remit in national security policy development, including contributing to the National Security Risk Assessment.

UKHSA will continue to lead the government’s response to COVID-19, working with the NHS to develop a longer-term approach to managing the disease routinely in future. UKHSA will support the most clinically vulnerable through the provision of COVID-19 guidance and testing until most of these services transition to the NHS. After this, UKHSA will continue to monitor local and international cases and vaccine effectiveness and ensure plans are in place to respond to future variants of concern.

Respond: strategic priorities

Reduce the impact of infectious diseases and AMR

UKHSA will harness its scientific, analytical and operational expertise to minimise the impact of all infectious diseases, with a specific focus on achieving significant goals on COVID-19, AMR and making progress towards elimination targets for blood-borne viruses and TB.

The main deliverables are as follows.

Deliver existing regional and border health protection advisory and assurance functions and services, including 24/7 response by working in conjunction with national, regional and local government and other partners to continuously improve and update response capabilities. This will enable the agency to be prepared to respond to all threats swiftly, to deliver UKHSA’s category 1 responder responsibilities and to implement the agency’s strategic approach at a regional level.

Provide expert, specialist public health functions to reduce the harmful impact of AMR, imprudent anti-microbial use (AMU), fungal infections and sepsis, including delivering UKHSA commitments to the government’s AMR National Action Plan. The agency will:

• deliver and analyse national mandatory and enhanced surveillance of surgical site infections (SSIs), healthcare-acquired infections (HCAIs), streptococcal, fungal and AMR linked infections and antimicrobial use
• develop routine services that integrate genomics characterisation and prediction of AMR with phenotype and national surveillance data
• develop rapid, modernised, high throughput assays for the discovery and development of new antimicrobial agents and drug combinations against AMR pathogens
• produce the 2023 to 2024 English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance (ESPAUR) report

Provide leadership to the public health system and support NHS and local authorities to reduce the burden of blood-borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Utilise surveillance and expertise to support the development of guidance and programmes aimed at reducing transmission, and continue progress against our global commitments as detailed in operational plans on:

• elimination of hepatitis B and hepatitis C as public health threats
• elimination of HIV transmission
• control of STIs by 2030

Safely decommission remaining dedicated COVID-19 operational testing services and conclude or transfer contractual arrangements as appropriate to support integrated management of COVID-19 as an endemic disease. This includes the re-purposing, donating, or disposing of residual stock and equipment where required, while ensuring we are capable of responding to future pathogens of pandemic potential.

Further develop plans for scalable response capabilities for a range of health threats, informed by pandemic preparedness and lessons from COVID-19 pandemic capabilities.

Deliver as part of high-quality acute respiratory infection (ARI) surveillance, including COVID-19, research and evaluation, and provide clinical governance and oversight of regulatory assurance functions. Where relevant, ensure important learning is embedded within relevant successor programmes and the wider agency.

Protect those with specified clinical vulnerabilities from the impacts of COVID-19 by providing effective and timely testing services and contact centre services to support early intervention and treatment until transferred to the NHS for specialist clinical condition management of endemic disease.

Transfer mainstream COVID-19 testing services to the NHS as the primary provider of testing within clinical settings and the community from 2024 onwards.

Embed the strategic development and cross-organisational delivery of a pathogen genomics programme, including:

• integrating genomic capabilities developed during the COVID-19 pandemic into the public health and clinical response to health threats
• developing laboratory capabilities to sequence an additional 25,000 genomes per annum in important areas such as AMR, HIV and vaccine-preventable diseases, and wider pandemic preparedness

Provide support, appropriate development and maintenance of digital channels, data services, test supply chain technology and COVID-19 IT infrastructure to support the range of ‘Living with COVID-19’ policy services, including where applicable delivering agreed decommissioning and demobilisation.

Protect health from threats in the environment

UKHSA will protect the population from the health effects of environmental and CRN incidents of any scale by improving planning and preparedness and providing public health expertise to inform policy.

The main deliverables are as follows.

Deliver clear health security and health protection policy and advice to the relevant public health teams and partners on threats, regional and local based approaches and leading UKHSA input into important health security policy discussions within government. This will also involve working with DHSC and other system partners to ensure policy advice is comprehensive, and drawing on appropriate expertise to embed best practice.

Strengthen staffing and laboratory capabilities and further develop the evidence base and guidance required to provide expert advice for public health risk management of, and response to, CRN incidents where these occur.

Undertake a rapid review of existing guidance on the health impacts of damp and mould in homes and work with partners to develop new guidance tailored to the rented housing sector.

Build – Develop the UK’s health security capacity

UKHSA continues to build and invest in the scientific, public health and operational capabilities needed to protect the country’s health now and in the future. UKHSA is modernising approaches and technology, ensuring it is truly a high-performing and efficient agency.

Developing UKHSA as a high-performing agency is a critical milestone at this point in the organisation’s lifecycle, and in the coming financial year the agency will continue to build a diverse, skilled and flexible workforce, prepared for and ready to respond to the health security challenges that lie ahead. UKHSA will endeavour to attract, develop, and retain high-calibre people across its fields of expertise and continue providing an engaging environment in which they can succeed. UKHSA staff have continued to demonstrate their world-leading expertise and resilience in response to multiple health incidents over the last year, and the agency will remain steadfast in its support of their wellbeing and development now and in the future. UKHSA will provide opportunities for staff to work internationally where appropriate, necessary, and safe, including through delivery of ODA funded projects.

UKHSA will further strengthen its frontline health protection capabilities across a range of threat categories. The agency’s core health protection teams play a critical role in delivering responses to community outbreaks and incident management, and UKHSA will continue to provide system leadership for a collaborative, partnership-driven health protection system in England, focused on improving the agility and impact of health protection activities and delivering more equitable health outcomes. UKHSA will continue to work closely with national and regional partners including directors of public health, to ensure the system is responsive to the needs of local communities. This will involve evaluating the impact of incidents and interventions on different populations and applying this learning to enable more equitable health outcomes.

The use of real-time data and analysis was crucial in informing the government’s response to COVID-19. UKHSA will continue to generate vital data and information on health and disease across all population groups to plan its response to emergencies, inform public health decision-making and develop targeted prevention and intervention strategies wherever possible. UKHSA will extract the greatest value from all relevant data sources, including through improving the quality and accessibility of data sets, in turn enabling greater data linkage and sharing with important partners such as the NHS and local authorities. The agency will also strengthen its role in international technical collaboration through relevant representation at global fora.

The agency will build on its ability to develop positive, enduring partnerships for the future with a range of external stakeholders to maximise UKHSA’s impact, the value for money the agency delivers and to improve the delivery of equitable health security outcomes. UKHSA will optimise and secure the national assets and critical infrastructure for which the agency is responsible on the nation’s behalf, including specialist and high-containment laboratories. UKHSA will continue to develop its core health infrastructure, including high quality functioning of all its laboratories that are fundamental to the agency’s ability to provide critical diagnostic and research functions including pathogen genomics, surveillance programmes and extensive research and innovation activities.

Build: strategic priorities

Improve action on health security through data and insight

UKHSA will maintain its role as a leader in public health data, analytics and surveillance, working with external partners across the health system to maximise the value of the data, evidence and insight the agency holds.

The main deliverables are as follows.

Deliver strategic health security assessments, situational awareness and insights into current and emerging domestic and global threats by using surveillance data and expert clinical and behavioural knowledge, to inform and support agency and ministerial decision-making.

Develop a sustainability plan for a pathogen agnostic future function for the New Variant Assessment Platform (NVAP) by the end of December 2023, drawing on evaluation of current processes to inform the future approach. NVAP will continue to support the UK’s contribution to the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN).

Build on and transform UKHSA’s approach to surveillance including through the development of the National Biosecurity Network as part of the government’s UK Biological Security Strategy, to support the agency and wider government understanding and enhance timely and consistent response to health threats.

Deliver the initial phase of work to modernise UKHSA’s legacy technology estate, to provide the foundational technology and data-sharing capabilities that will equip UKHSA teams with secure, reliable, resilient, and scalable technology.

Manage, maintain, and optimise UKHSA’s data platforms, tooling, and analytical capabilities to support the use of data, models, and advanced analytics to identify, track and predict health security threats. Support transparency and bolster UKHSA’s reputation as a provider of trustworthy information through the publication of clear and timely statistical and technical publications relating to COVID-19 and other health threats.

Develop UKHSA as a high-performing agency

UKHSA will be prepared for health security challenges and be ready to respond to those that occur by investing in its people and culture, partnerships, and systems and technology.

The main deliverables are as follows.

Deliver recruitment and strategic workforce plan to allow the organisation to reach full strength to deliver on UKHSA’s remit and strategic priorities. The agency will:

• establish professional development and career paths across all disciplines
• further establish mechanisms for exchanges and secondments with external partners
• provide opportunities for training to support staff to excel in their roles
• strengthen professional networks to grow talent pools in the organisation

Deliver a new case and incident management system to modernise UKHSA’s approach to frontline case and incident management across health protection teams, field services, clinical and public health teams and other colleagues involved in incident response.

Develop long-term site plans for each of the main scientific campus sites (Porton Down, Colindale and Chilton) within the context of the wider UKHSA estates strategy.

Strengthen behavioural science and evaluation functions, developing a collaborative work programme for the next 2 years, by the end of March 2024. These functions will:

• provide data and insights to main partners including NHSE, Cabinet Office, and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) to help improve understanding of barriers, attitudes, and drivers of behaviour in relation to public health – this includes COVID-19 testing and vaccination, and understanding of guidance and policy
• provide behavioural and social science support, collaboration and advice to the Centre for Climate and Health Security and the Centre for Pandemic Preparedness and in support of the actions arising from the health equity and science strategies
• deliver regular survey tracker outputs on COVID-19 and winter pressures, and ad-hoc research on priority topics, particularly rapid research in support of enhanced incident response

Deliver the commercial strategy by refining commercial processes and tools. Maintain engagement with the government-wide Commercial Continuous Improvement Assessment Framework (CCIAF) for assurance and embed this capability within the commercial function.

Design, deliver, support and maintain critical software products in line with the technology strategy and operating model. Utilise agency expertise to bolster and develop the capabilities of important partner organisations.

Achieving more equitable health security outcomes

Understanding and addressing the needs of the people and places at greatest risk

Achieving more equitable health security outcomes is woven through UKHSA’s 3-year strategic plan as a commitment that underpins how the agency will deliver against its goals to prepare, respond and build.

Health threats affect different people in different ways, in terms of risk of exposure and susceptibility to poor outcomes when exposed to hazards. This emphasises the need to use UKHSA’s science, technology, and data capabilities to focus the agency’s health protection efforts on the people and places most at risk.

UKHSA has launched the health equity for health security strategy for 2023 to 2026 and will deliver this through an annual strategic action plan to ensure health equity continues to be embedded across the agency’s work. A series of milestones for the 2023 to 2024 financial year will track UKHSA’s progress in deepening the agency’s knowledge and understanding of high-risk and disproportionately affected groups, including by strengthening the data UKHSA holds on these groups. The agency will also work to further develop partnerships with health agencies, communities, and government departments to co-design effective approaches to mitigating risk across multiple health hazards.

To achieve more equitable health security outcomes, UKHSA will continue to work with a range of partners including OHID and NHSE to provide evidence and advice on a range of health hazards and help to deliver programmes that support the agency’s ambition. All of UKHSA’s main deliverables have been developed in a way that ensures health equity is embedded across the agency’s work and that UKHSA contributes to more equitable health outcomes and meets its legal duties.

Main deliverable:

• deliver the health equity strategic action plan and optimise the mechanisms for embedding and monitoring adherence to health equity legal duties across our programme

UKHSA’s 2023 to 2024 budget

UKHSA receives the majority of its funding in the form of a delegated budget from DHSC. It also receives external income through grants, royalties from its intellectual property assets and the provision of commercial services which the agency estimates could generate up to £159M in the coming financial year.

UKHSA 2023 to 2024 allocation

	Core (£m)	Capital (£m)	COVID-19 (£m)	CVU (£m)
Clinical and Public Health group	51.1		52.3
Commercial group	12.9		1.2
COVID Vaccine Unit				939.0
COVID-19 testing			127.5
Data Analytics and Surveillance group	65.2	19.0	3.5
Finance and Corporate Services group	29.5	4.0	6.3
Health Protection Operations	95.1	9.0	3.8
People group	16.3		4.9
Science group	121.8	37.2	14.7
Strategy, Policy, Programmes group	22.7	15.0	16.0
Technology group	44.7	10.0	63.0
Central allocation (inc. Dysport)	-               64.5	-                      8.0	156.6
Total UKHSA (£m)	395.0	86.2	449.8	939.0