Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Accepted
Assess, rectify, and urgently resolve governance arrangement vacancies within UK Health Security Agency
Conclusion
There was a fundamental absence of formal governance arrangements at UKHSA and the Department failed to respond to the heightened risks of setting up a new and complex organisation at pace. UKHSA was created on 1 April 2021 with unsatisfactory governance arrangements. Although the Non-executive Chair and Chief Executive were in post from 1 April 2021, no more non-executive directors were appointed until April 2022, one month after its first year-end. The lack of governance resulted in inadequate scrutiny and assurance of UKHSA’s operations. The Chief Executive was appointed into a role, as Accounting Officer and Chief Executive, of which she had no previous experience and relied heavily on the Non- executive Chair for support stepping into this position. The Non-executive Chair’s role therefore shifted from one which should have been scrutinising management to one of an executive member of the organisation. The Department failed to support UKHSA, taking a light touch approach to the governance arrangements in place, identifying risks but failing to make any arrangements to mitigate these issues. In addition, the Department did not provide UKHSA with a budget until after the year end. UKHSA’s Non-executive Chair told us that this meant that the function of the new organisation remained uncertain and that the mandate of any non-executives would not have been sufficiently clear. Recommendation 3: The Department must work with UKHSA to ensure that the governance arrangements at UKHSA are assessed, rectified and that the remaining vacancies within its governance structure are resolved as a matter of urgency.
Government Response Summary
The government states UKHSA completed non-executive recruitment by April 2022, established corporate governance and committees by September 2022, and appointed an Audit and Risk Committee Chair in April 2023. A GIAA review was completed, and identified actions to improve governance were completed by March 2023 and confirmed by a follow-up audit.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented On 1 April 2021, the government announced the establishment of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) as this country’s permanent standing capacity to prepare for, prevent and respond to threats to health. From 1 October 2021, the department and the newly formed UKHSA prioritised significant efforts on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The operational focus in winter 2021-22 was the response to the Omicron variant and then the implementation of the Living with Covid Strategy from February 2022. As a new organisation, the Chair and CEO of UKHSA were centred on the need for effective governance from UKHSA’s inception. Once the non-executive member recruitment which started in spring 2021 was completed in April 2022, UKHSA swiftly moved to establishing a fully functioning suite of corporate governance, including the advisory board, and holding four distinct committee meetings by September 2022. The Audit and Risk Committee appointed in April 2023 a non-executive as Chair who is a qualified accountant, with the department chairing the appointing panel and facilitating the approvals process. The Chair and CEO engaged the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) to assist in a review of the corporate governance, which was completed in May 2022. This helped identify detailed actions to improve the governance framework from the advisory board through the executive line. These were completed by March 2023, which a follow-up GIAA audit confirmed. The department contributed to GIAA’s review and met regularly with UKHSA to support progress and commissioned a GIAA review of sponsorship to better support and oversee UKHSA. UKHSA and the department continue to work closely to further strengthen governance arrangements.