Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Accepted
Absence of UKHSA governance led to inadequate scrutiny and minimal departmental support and oversight.
Conclusion
The absence of governance arrangements at UKHSA, during a time of significant change and operational challenge, meant that there was inadequate scrutiny and oversight over UKHSA. We asked the Department what it had done to support UKHSA to help mitigate the risks associated with the absence of governance arrangements. The Department said that it has done this in a very light-tough way.32 When we asked for detail on this light touch involvement, the Department said that its own Audit and Risk Committee had discussions on two occasions about the risks facing UKHSA in its establishment.33 Financial management and control
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states that UKHSA has already implemented a full suite of corporate governance arrangements, including completing non-executive recruitment, establishing committees by September 2022, and completing a GIAA review with actions by March 2023.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 3.2 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. 3.3 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. 3.4 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.