/CKWCB-12-166_Board_meetings_and

DATE OF MEETING: 3 July 2012

Agenda Item: 18 Enclosure: CKWCB/12/166 Category of Paper Tick()

Paper Title:

Decision and Approval

Board Meetings and Formal Workplan

Position statement

Responsible Director:

Discussion

Gill Galdins, Director of Corporate Development and Transition

Information

Paper Author: Gill Galdins, Director of Corporate development and Transition

FOI Status: Open

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Andrea McCourt, Head of Corporate Governance Executive Summary:

This paper proposes a revised schedule of Board meetings and Board development sessions up to March 2013 for discussion.

It also proposes a formal workplan up to March 2013.

Outcome of Equality Impact Assessment: Sub Group/Committee: Recommendation (s):

None required All Board Committees.

To discuss the options proposed for Board meetings and agree a revised set of public Board meeting dates and other Board business meeting dates.

To ensure that all Board members review and update the revised Board workplan (Appendix 1) to ensure the effective planning of Board meetings.

1.0

Purpose of Report This report proposes options to amend the existing schedule of NHS Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield District Board meetings and Board business meetings until March 2013 and describes the rationale for this to inform a discussion at the Board meeting. It also presents the Board workplan.

2.0

Background As progress towards the new NHS architecture progresses, with nine months until PCTs cease to exist on 31 March 2013, and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and the NHS Commissioning Board come into being as statutory bodies, it is timely to review the scheduling of Board meetings and items on the formal workplan. This is to ensure that Board meetings take place at the appropriate times to enable business to be conducted in a timely way and to review the items for discussion at both informal sessions and formal Board meetings.

3.0

Proposed Changes 3.1 Rationale for Change The rationale for changing the current Board meeting schedule is: as the three PCTs that comprise the cluster are statutory organisations until their closedown, public accountability remains with the NHS Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield District Board until 31 March 2013. At present the only Board meeting in public is the Cluster Board and in this interim period it is important that the Board continues to discharge its public accountability by holding public meetings.

The Cluster Board need to satisfy itself that CCGs are publicly accountable, with each CCG depending on their stage of authorisation, holding at least one Public Board meeting before December 2013 and one before March 2013. as noted in the Governance and Risk report the role of the Governance Committee is currently being reviewed in light of the increasing responsibility given to CCGs - governance arrangements in CCGs continue to develop, with the Board sighted on governance and risk issues from each CCG through structured reporting arrangements to the Board, with regular reports by Shadow Accountable Officers and receipt of minutes from Clinical Commissioning Executive Committees, which in turn receive minutes from the CCG sub groups covering audit and governance, finance and performance and quality and safety The Cluster Board wishes to achieve effective transition to the new NHS architecture with minimal risk. During a time of change and in anticipation of closedown of the PCT, it is proposed in Option 1 that the development sessions are refocused to allow a review of whole system working within the new NHS architecture a pragmatic approach to Board meeting arrangements is required, so that meetings and staff time can be used as effectively as possible, with items scheduled for discussion at the appropriate time

the current timing of Board meetings, at the start of the month, does not fit with the business of the Board – for example the final Board meeting is scheduled for 5 March 2013 and it is highly likely that a number of papers will require Board sign off at the end of the month. flexibility regarding Board dates is required as we move through a transitional period - should there be a need for an additional Board meeting due to an item not being able to be dealt with within the agreed schedule, an additional meeting may be called in line with Standing Orders 3.2 Options Option 1 Option one proposes four public Board meetings (with meeting dates re-scheduled to the month end) and two business meetings, the latter to take place prior to the year end, as the cluster will focus on closedown in its last three months. It is therefore proposed that the following changes are made to the Board meeting schedule:

Meeting Date

Meeting Type

Proposal

7 August 2012

Development session Public meeting Public Meeting

Cancel

4 September 2012 2 October 2012 6 November 2012 4 December 2012 15 January 2013 5 February 2013 5 March 2013

Development session Public Meeting Public Meeting Development session Public Meeting Development session Public Meeting Development session Public Meeting Public Meeting

Public Meeting Re-schedule to late September Business meeting Re-scheduled in October Public Meeting Re-schedule to late November Business meeting Re-scheduled to mid – December Public Meeting Re-schedule to late January Cancel Public Meeting Re-schedule to late March

Annual General Meetings for each PCT area also need to be scheduled during September 2012.

This would mean that the Board meeting schedule would be as follows: Meeting Type

2012

2013

Public Meetings

September (late) November (late)

January (late) March (late)

Business Meetings

October (late) December (mid)

Option 2 Option 2 is to hold a maximum of three further Board meetings, of which one will be March 2013, with each CCG holding meetings in public before 31 March 2013, for example first wave CCGs meeting in public before December 2012 and again by March 2013. This will be dependent on the stage of authorisation of each CCG. 3.2 Board Workplan The Board workplan needs refreshing, to ensure that all items are captured and planned in a timely way into Board meeting agendas. Attached at Appendix 1 is the current workplan. All Board members are asked to review this to ensure that an up to date workplan is in place to ensure effective forward planning of Board agendas.

4.0

Next Steps Once a revised schedule of dates is agreed the details will be confirmed to members.

Board members are requested to ensure that they refresh the attached Board workplan.

5.0

Recommendations It is recommended that the Board: i) discuss the options proposed for future Board meetings and agree a revised set of public Board meeting dates and other Board Business meeting dates. ii) ensure that all Board members update the revised Board workplan, so that this accurately captures all Board items that can be scheduled in advance.

6.0

Appendices The Board workplan for updating is attached at Appendix 1.