Corporate report

UKHSA Advisory Board: 13 May 2025 minutes

Updated 4 July 2025

Date: 13 May 2025

Present at the meeting were:

• Ian Peters – Chair of UKHSA Advisory Board
• Dyfed Alsop – Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive
• Jon Friedland – Non-executive member
• Marie Gabriel – Associate non-executive member
• Dame Jenny Harries – Chief Executive
• Graham Hart - Non-executive member
• Luke Heath – Director, Finance, Performance, Risk and Assurance
• Susan Hopkins – Chief Medical Advisor
• Sarah Jensen – Associate non-executive member
• Mark Lloyd – Non-executive member
• Raj Long – Associate non-executive member
• Sir Gordon Messenger – Non-executive member
• Cindy Rampersaud – Non-executive member
• Steven Riley – Chief Data Officer
• Thom Waite – Deputy Chief Medical Officer (England)

Observers at the meeting were:

• Lee Bailey – Director of Communications
• Jon Cocking – Director, People and Workplace
• Catherine Frances – Director General, Global and Public Health (Senior Departmental Sponsor)
• Marc Merel – Director, Scientific Facilities and Performance
• Isabel Oliver – Chief Medical Officer (Wales)
• Sir Gregor Smith – Chief Medical Officer (Scotland)
• Sir Chris Whitty – Chief Medical Officer (England)

In attendance at the meeting were:

• Sarah Collins – Director of Commercial, Vaccines and Countermeasures Delivery
• Lucy Garrod - Director, Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response
• Mary Ramsay - Director, Public Health Infection Programmes
• Hannah Taylor - Director of Strategy and Policy
• 9 attendees had their name and title redacted

Apologies were received from:

• Sir Michael McBride – Chief Medical Officer Northern (Ireland)

Announcements, apologies, and declarations of interest

25/070 The Chair welcome participants to the meeting including Isabel Oliver in her new capacity and Chief Medical Officer (Wales).

25/071 The following announcements were noted:

• the meeting marked the last attendance of Dame Jenny Harries and Chief Executive. She was thanked for outstanding leadership in creating UKHSA during the Covid-19 response, transforming  the agency post the Covid peak, and building its trusted reputation.
• Dyfed Alsop was welcomed as Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive. He would act as interim Chief Executive from June.
• Simon Blagden was thanked for his support to UKHSA since joining in 2022 having ended his contract in April 2025.
• recruitment for the Chief Executive and interim Chief Scientific Officer were progressing well

25/072 Raj Long declared a new interest as Chair of the System Partners Engagement Forum and member of the Scientific Advisory Board with the Office for Life Sciences Neurodegeneration Initiative (Dementia Goals Programme).

Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising

25/073 The Advisory Board noted the minutes of the previous meeting (enclosure AB/25/022) and list of actions (enclosure AB/25/023). The current actions were on track or not yet due with the following comments noted:

• 25/056b) – Steven Riley agreed to share feedback from the HM Treasury meeting and the agreed approach
• 25/061 – a date for the risk appetite workshop was to be agreed, provisional for September.

25/074 The Advisory Board confirmed membership for:

• Sarah Jensen as associate non-executive who was welcomed to her first meeting.
• The Director of Finance, Performance, Risk and Assurance as the senior finance director in the agency.

25/075 The Advisory Board endorsed updated Terms of Reference for the Equalities, Ethics and Communities Committee.

Chief Executive’s update

25/076 The Chief Executive presented her update on UKHSA’s activity (enclosure AB/25/024).

25/077 The Advisory Board noted the update. The main areas of activity included:

• welcoming Dyfed Alsop in his new role and saying farewell to Isabel Oliver who would continue collaborating with UKHSA in her role Chief Medical Officer for Wales;
• the very successful UKHSA conference in Manchester with record attendance from partners. It saw the launch of UKHSA Priority Pathogen Framework, the ‘Infectious Diseases Impacting England’ report, and promising results of the respiratory syncytial virus vaccination programme;
• engaging with Government on the review of arm’s length bodies, highlighting the unique and critical functionalities provided by UKHSA;
• working with DHSC and HM Treasury on the Spending Review process, with particular focus on long term laboratory capacity for UKHSA;
• Covid-19 public inquiry preparation;
• keeping abreast of the impact from economic and global policy changes;
• the launch of the ‘Andi Biotic’ campaign to target antimicrobial resistance with positive traction in the target age group (18-34)

25/078 In her final reflections, Prof Dame Jenny Harries noted the journey of UKHSA as a new organisation to provide a solid base for supporting growth in life sciences and driving excellence in health protection response, with the opportunity to prevent future pandemics.

25/079 Chris Whitty thanked Prof Dame Jenny Harries on behalf of all Chief Medical Officers for her remarkable example of leadership in the public sector in previous years.

Financial report

25/080 The Advisory Board noted the financial update to the end of March 2025 (enclosure AB/25/025) presented by the Director, Finance, Performance, Risk and Assurance.

25/081 The following points were raised in respect to the financial position:

• colleagues were thanked for their support in achieving a provisional underspend of core resource allocation within the Treasury target of 1%;
• the core capital budget was underspent by £11.9million with forecasting accuracy the focus early in FY2025/26;
• delegation letters and budgets were issued for FY2025/26 with early capital indications to address the risk of undrawn spend in the final quarter of the year;
• spending review scenarios were submitted to HM Treasury and varying degrees of efficiency expected;
• an interim audit was completed ahead of laying the accounts in 2025. A 1-2% error rate was identified which indicated significant progress since previous years;
• various projects were reviewed through a value for money lens to ensure appropriate capital spending on maintenance of laboratory estates while a decision was confirmed on long term estate location;
• UKHSA was linked with cross government initiatives on the use of artificial intelligence ensuring value for money across government. These opportunities, especially within the life sciences agenda, were expected to advance quickly once the spending review settlement was confirmed.

Transforming Science Together

25/082 The Director, Scientific Facilities and Performance on the Transforming Science Together programme (enclosure AB/25/026). The programme was in a discovery phase with long term workstreams to modernise UKHSA’s scientific functions and capabilities so they are robust, sustainable and efficient.

25/083 The Advisory Board noted the progress through discovery phase of programme and associated governance.

25/084 Discussion provided the following feedback:

• for the plan to be transformational, it needs to define and agree its target outcomes and ambition.  It then needs the necessary enabling resources and priority
• it was important to ensure the programme was consistent with new government priorities;
• alongside balancing risks, the programme provided valuable opportunity to showcase the impact of UKHSA’s science contributions on policy outcomes and other actions across government;
• UKHSA should consider how the programme aligned with the discussion on the agency’s role in the science ecosystem;
• there was opportunity to ensure UKHSA’s assets were more accessible on a UK wide basis;
• it was important to consider real world settlings outside clinical development stages and how UKHSA could influence vaccine development and uptake.

25/085 It was agreed to provide a further update to the Advisory Board in approximately six months. In the interim, colleagues offered further feedback through informal conversations or the Science and Research Committee. (Action: Marc Merel)

The Vaccine System

25/086 The Chief Medical Advisor introduced a background paper on UKHSA’s role in the vaccine lifecycle and complex national vaccine ecosystem (enclosure AB/25/027). There was a general decline in the uptake of vaccination in the routine immunisation schedule in the last decade. This included notable variation by deprivation group.

25/087 UKHSA aimed to consult and collaborate with the wider ecosystem and to achieve improved health outcomes. In particular, engagement with industry would support supply chain optimisation, distribution and gaps.

25/088 The Advisory Board noted the update.

25/089 The following comments were raised during discussion:

• community working should be part of the standard model to drive uptake with the national to local element identified as a risk area given changes to NHS England and Integrated Care Boards;
• UKHSA was encouraged to consider how it could provide solutions while long term roles of health partners were changing;
• there were substantial opportunities if a national vaccines database could be created which followed individuals through their multiple vaccine journeys;
• UKHSA had expertise in behavioural science which should be used to influence vaccine uptake;
• vaccination uptake in healthcare workers was declining and it is important to address this and other pressures within NHS.
• a general perception that improvement opportunities in the shorter term were greater in the downstream delivery end of the value chain
• a follow up paper should address clarifying accountabilities for end to end delivery and where UKHSA could possibly provide leadership (Action: Susan Hopkins / Mary Ramsay / Sarah Collins);
• DHSC were keen to support joint working across the system;

25/090 It was agreed that the September update should include:

• how health system roles connected in light of institutional change;
• evidence of delivery mechanisms and best practice;
• opportunities for commercial collaboration including the delivery on vaccines;
• recognition of the complex nature of local communities and engagement ;
• an outline of key performance indicators we are aiming for and resource needed to achieve;
• what is the best commissioning model;
• a desire for less complexity.

Major Incident Learnings

25/ 091 The Head of Preparedness Quality, Standards and Improvement presented the annual summary of incident learnings from UKHSA’s major incidents and simulation exercises (enclosure AB/25/028).

25/092 Since the first report in 2023, UKHSA focused on bringing structure to the lessons identified process as a new organisation. 66% of the lessons identified were complete and the remaining actions in progress. The process identified several themes including the need for a health equity toolkit being embedded into routine response processes, business continuity, plans and procedures, leadership in response, and research and data sharing.

25/093 Improvements in the process included:

• the annual preparedness cycle to stress test how lessons were embedded;
• key performance indicators and a Continuous Improvement Plan which routinely checked progress of actions;
• exploring end-to-end lesson management technology and opportunities to utilise artificial intelligence

25/094 The Advisory Board noted the report and welcomed the progress achieved on lessons identified in 2023 and the lessons capture process during 2024.

25/095 The Advisory Board welcomed the process and recommended  further improvement by profiling the high impact areas, not just the time dimension to deliver. Additionally, a thematic review of lessons was able to demonstrate progress between reports through the year.

25/096 UKHSA was exploring how to delineate between incident response and larger scale exercises. The Head of Preparedness Quality, Standards and Improvement and Deputy Director, Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response agreed to discuss the detail outside of meeting with the Deputy Chief Medical Officer. (Action: Thom Waite)

25/097 Parallel workstreams to review lessons with DHSC, NHS and devolved administrations supported assuring the breadth of exercises across the health system.

Advisory Board Effectiveness

25/098 The Chair introduced the paper on effectiveness of the Advisory Board and its Committees (enclosure AB/25/029) which demonstrated continued positive feedback.

25/099 The Advisory Board noted the findings of the UKHSA Advisory Board Effectiveness Review.

25/100 The review indicated possible areas of improvement covering:

• the possibility of greater engagement of non-executives with external partners
• ensuring Committee agendas were strategically focused;
• varying opinions of the appropriate level of challenge. This area would be discussed in the context of the Public Bodies review once the new Permanent Secretary was settled in their post.
• a separate meeting of the non-executive members of the Board.

25/101 It was noted that the next review would be externally facilitated in line with guidance for arm’s length bodies.

Advisory Board Committees

25/102 The Advisory Board noted verbal updates from the latest Committee meetings as below:

• the Audit and Risk Committee March meeting discussed science infrastructure risk, information governance, and challenged cleansing historic internal audit actions;
• the Equalities, Ethics and Communities Committee April meeting discussed the health and justice system, antimicrobial resistance and a public health ethics toolkit.
• the Science and Research Committee May meeting discussed the effectiveness review, UKHSA’s role in the science ecosystem, a framework for integrity of UKHSA’s science and research, waste water surveillance and impact of USAID funding changes;
• the People and Culture Committee May meeting discussed the effectiveness review, directorate update and business planning, alongside a deep dive on leadership.

25/103 The Advisory Board noted the confirmed minutes as below:

• the Audit and Risk Committee meeting on 9 December 2024 (enclosure AB/25/030).
• the Equalities, Ethics and Communities Committee meeting on 28 January 2025 (enclosure AB/25/031).

25/104 The Advisory Board endorsed revised Terms of Reference for the Equalities, Ethics and Communities Committee (enclosure AB/25/032).

Questions from members of the public

25/105 No questions were received from members of the public.

Forward Look

25/106 The Advisory Board noted the forward look (enclosure AB/25/033).

Any other business and close

25/107 The Health Inequalities in health protection report 2025 was published on 2 May 2025 and shared for information ahead of an agenda item at the July Board.

25/108 There being no other business, the meeting closed at 11:53am.