NHSCFA Board meeting 27th March 2023

Date: 27/03/23

Meeting time 14:00 – 15:00 (Teams)

Meeting title: NHSCFA Board Meeting

Members:

• (JS) Jayne Scott (Non-Executive Director – Chair, NHSCFA)
• (AC) Alyson Coates (Non-Executive Director, NHSCFA)
• (AF) Andrew Flanagan (Non-Executive Director, NHSCFA
• (GH) Gaon Hart (Non-Executive Director, NHSCFA)
• (AR) Alex Rothwell (Chief Executive Officer, NHSCFA)
• (MJB) Matt Jordan-Boyd (Director of Finance & Corporate Governance, NHSCFA)
• (TM) Tricia Morrison (Director of Performance & Improvement, NHSCFA)

Attendees:

• (JR) Jane Robinson (Policy Manager, DHSC AFU)
• (AS) Ann Sturgess (Head of Business Support & Board Secretary, NHSCFA)
• (KS) Kathryn Strachan (Board Apprentice, NHSCFA)
• (RH) Richard Hampton ((Head of Intelligence & Fraud Prevention, NHSCFA) for AP147/ 165 only
• (SS) Sonia Sousa (Governance & Assurance Assistant, NHSCFA) note taker

Observer:

• Michele Smith (Senior Communications Officer, NHSCFA)

Welcome

JS welcomed all to the meeting.

Apologies

Apologies were received from Tom Taylor and Martin Spencer.

Declarations of interest

JS informed she has been appointed as joint audit panel member for the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime. No other new declarations of interest were made.

Minutes of Board Meetings 20.02.23

The Board agreed the minutes as a true and accurate record with the exception of a small amendment to para 9.3: to amend “cloud expenditure” to “DFU hardware expenditure”.

Action log

The Board reviewed the action log:

Action Point 147 & 165, RH to circulate paper (by email) to the Board on outcome of activities undertaken by local health bodies before next Board meeting on 20.02.23, add to agenda to note – RH has dashboard visuals and will circulate report offline by 30/03/2023

Action Point 166, SB to continue to pursue opportunities to meet with Lord Markham – meeting with Lord Markham held on 16th March, update given by AR later in the meeting.

Action Point 170, GH and RR to meet in order to discuss/ review specific retention periods – GH informed discussions were held; it was agreed to consider this AP closed.

Action Points 171, 172, 173, 174 & 175 have been completed and considered closed.

Meeting with Lord Markham update

AR briefed the Board on the recent meeting he had with Lord Markham to present our organisational position to him and his team. Although all the necessary preparation work was incredibly time-consuming, AR felt it was a very positive discussion and, at the same time, an incredibly useful exercise for us as an organisation, to consider our future aspirations.

AR informed there will be a follow up meeting on the18th April attended by MJB and Tom Taylor.

AR reiterated his commitment to data analytical work as a priority for the organisation and how he is pushing for an investment in this area.

Proposed budget for 2023-24 (Paper 1)

MJB confirmed the proposed budget has been submitted to DHSC but the allocation of revenue and capital has not yet been formally confirmed.

The proposed provisional revenue budget is based on the new operating model. MJB highlighted the budget includes the following:

• Incremental drift (increment applied to each individual salary)
• 5% Pay award increase (yet to be agreed)
• Travel & Subsistence – based on 2022/23 usage and 10% inflationary uplift
• Vacancy factor based on the latest attrition estimate (2%)
• DFU environment and data communication line
• Estates budget in line with current and new lease agreements for 10SC and Citygate as agreed

Non-pay (including contracted costs and inflationary increases where applicable)

In terms of the Capital Programme, funding levels for 2023/24 are yet to be confirmed as mentioned previously. MJB highlighted the Estates rationalisation, related to the likelihood of having to move out of the Coventry office and potential looking to move into another estate.

A short discussion ensued. GH pointed out the Coventry address will need to be changed as a principal place of business in the Standing Orders document. The Board queried the figure for the change from the current operating model to the new one and mentioned the need to demonstrate the value we are getting from that investment. MJB agreed to bring something back to the Board to this effect later in the year.

Regarding the capital programme, JS queried the level of confidence that we will be able to spend the money throughout the year as planned. MJB provided assurance the capital programme has identified the key expenditure areas.

The proposed budget was formally approved by the Board as the starting point for 2023/24 subject to any further changes.

Annual review of documents (Papers 3 – 3e)

AS briefly highlighted the changes in the various documents subject to review where applicable. The alterations to the Standing Financial Orders (SFO’s) and the Standing Financial Instructions (SFI’s) were discussed to confirm the alignment of the two documents, sign off levels and confirmed the alteration of the address.

The Board formally approved the following documents:

• REMCO ToR
• Matters Reserved to the Board
• Standing Financial Orders and Standing Financial Instructions – subject to final amendments as discussed, with the final version to come back to the Board.

AP176 - SFI’s and SFO’s to be reviewed following discussions and final version to be presented at the next Board meeting for sign off.

Forward Planner (Paper 4)

The Board reviewed the forward planner. There was nothing to add at this point in time until there is confirmation regarding the NEDs reappointment.

There was a discussion regarding the upcoming launch of the Fraud Hub. GH noted the Board should be made aware of and approve the marketing and communications relating to the project as it is a reputationally important event. This will allow the NEDs to better support and promote the event. GH also suggested utilising the expertise of the Board apprentice (KS) who is an experienced marketer. KS declared she would be happy to assist.

AS informed the Comms team have already engaged with the Head of Operations in relation to this. JS suggested that some time should be reserved in the next meeting to discuss this rather than book an extra meeting. KS pointed out the importance of working out a timeline to avoid extra pressure. An offline discussion regarding dates was agreed.

Review of the effectiveness of the meeting

It was agreed that the meeting had been conducted effectively and covered a wide range of matters.

AOB

AS thanked AF for his involvement and contribution on the Technology Transformation project and confirmed the report will be concluded and presented to the Evolution Project Board and to SMT to review the recommendations. AS suggested a workshop should be arranged in order to bring the Board up to speed and also go through the recommendations to be taking forward.

The Board agreed that they would find this useful and interesting. A discussion on possible dates will happen offline.

GH, in name of the Board, thanked everyone who ran the internal conference making it a brilliant event.