Our Constitution Health Education North Central and East London (V.14)

1. Our Constitution Health Education North Central and East London (V.14)

2. Contents Our Geography 2 Introduction 3 Our Mission 4 Our Vision 5 Operating Model and Governance Structure 6 Business Management and Governance 9 Financial Management and Governance 10 Quality Management and Governance 11 Standards of Conducts and Conflicts of Interest 12 Freedom of Information 13 A commitment to Equality and Diversity and the NHS Constitution 14 Appendix 1 – Terms of Reference HE NCEL Board 15 Appendix 2 – Terms of Reference Members and Stakeholder Council 17 Appendix 3 – Terms of Reference Quality Committee 19 Glossary 21

3. Our Geography

4. Introduction Health Education North Central and East London (HE NCEL), the Local Education and Training Board have responsibility for training the next generation of doctors, dentists, nurses and all health professionals who work in the 13 boroughs that make up our area of London (Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Camden, City of London, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Havering, Islington, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest). We are part of a national organisation – Health Education England (HEE) – that has oversight of training and educating the healthcare workforce. Our objective is to ensure that we have compassionate, knowledgeable and highly skilled people who have the education and training they need to keep our population of 3.1 million people well and deliver the best possible clinical outcomes for patients. In practice, this means that we hold the healthcare education budget for this part of London and will commission places on training programmes and courses as well as placements for students and trainees within hospitals, GP practices, health centres and other healthcare settings. This paper and supporting documents set out the current Constitution for HE NCEL. It sets out the role, purpose and governance of the LETB as a committee of HEE.

5. Our Mission To deliver excellence in multi-disciplinary education, training and workforce development in response to current and future needs in order to provide the best possible outcomes and experiences for patients and people.

6. Our Vision In conducting our business, we will Put our members at the heart of decision-making Focus on what really matters and minimise bureaucracy Be lean and efficient Be open and transparent Seek consensus wherever possible

7. Operating Model and Governance Structure HE NCEL Board: is small and skills-based and represents our different constituencies. This includes patient, public health and student representatives Terms of Reference can be found at Appendix 1. Members and Stakeholder Council: meets every six months and is open to stakeholders across the area. The meetings enable engagement and feedback from our stakeholders in relation to workforce commissioning and business plan. Terms of Reference can be found at Appendix 2. • The Quality Committee, which reports directly to the Board, assures the Board that all education commissioned demonstrates continuous improvement in educational outcomes and compliance with the standards as defined by professional regulators. HE NCEL seeks to improve the outcomes year on year, chaired by a member of our Board. Terms of reference can be found at Appendices 3 and 4. A number of Advisory Groups set up to lead decision making and strategic direction in key areas such as primary care. These groups are multi-professional (where appropriate) and representative of a full range or organisations, sectors and members to ensure a system-wide approach to decision-making. We manage London-wide services(facilities, quality, libraries, and leadership) for other London LETBs and vice versa with relevant SLAs in place to support this.

8. Operating Model and Governance Structure This is made up of the following components:

9. Business Management and Governance A Performance Report is taken to the Board on a bi-monthly basis and published on our website. The report provides and update and reassurance to the Board (some areas are reported to HEE) and includes: • Strategic risks • Progress against annual business plan (including mandate priorities) • Finance (forecast over/underspend against allocation) • Engagement • Governance (FOIs, media enquires) • Valuing people (attendance rates, retention rates) • Quality (student feedback, attrition rates) Risks and Issues are reported to the Board (as above) via the performance report. A monthly process is in place with updates and assurance given by HE NCEL Senior Management Team, with key risks escalated to HEE as per their policy. Annually HE NCEL will publish on the website an updated version of the 5-Year Workforce Skills and Development Strategy; Annual Business Plan and Annual Report, which would have been to the Members and Stakeholder Council and the Board for their input.

10. Financial Management and Governance The HE NCEL Board has formally adopted HEE Standing Orders; HEE Standing Financial Instructions and the HEE Scheme of Delegation. Finance follows all Health Education England financial procedures. Staff are clear on how to report Fraud with key individuals attending relevant training. All staff complete the mandatory Information Governance training with any data breaches escalated to IT (awaiting policy from HEE). Business Continuity aligned to the University of London’s policy and localised into business as usual for the LETB, with one scenario day per year to ensure robustness of plan.

11. Quality Management and Governance • Diagram A: HE NCEL is focusing on delivering the Quality Strategy until 2015. This includes: The Quality Strategy is in place to enhance professional education through robust, developmental and multi-professional education systems (see diagram A for included areas). Our Board made a commitment to support the Education Outcomes Framework which directly links to our strategy around education and learning improvements in patients’ outcomes, with further details that can be found here: From Design to Delivery The Quality Committee assures the Board of appropriate quality of commissioning and education outcomes are being monitored, maintained and improved by HE NCEL. (See Appendix 4 for Terms for Reference)

12. Standards of Conducts and Conflicts of Interest The HE NCEL Board has formally adopted the HEE Code of Conducts for NHS Boards (including the Code of Accountability for NHS Boards). These put Accountability, Probity and Openness at the heart of the LETB. In addition, we have formally endorsed the Nolan Principles of Public Life. The HE NCEL Board has also formally adopted the HEE Conflicts of Interest Policy, owing to the importance of managing such conflicts in light of the fact that members of the LETB include providers of NHS commissioned services and Higher Education Institutes, both of whom receive HEE (via the LETB) funding. HE NCEL maintain a register of interests which is open to public inspection and published in the NCEL website annually. The register contains any interests that may produce a real or perceived conflict of interest for any member of the Board and will be updated on a rolling basis. Any members of the Board are asked to declare a conflict: • On appointment • At each Board meeting • As changes occur Actions will be taken depending on the conflict in question: conflict declared but participant continues to partake in the discussion; participant declares conflict and abstains from discussion; in an extreme case the participant resigns from the Board.

13. Freedom of Information • Diagram B: How we proactively share information with our stakeholders: HE NCEL fully complies with the approach of HEE in making information freely available to the public about the business that the LETB undertakes and ensures compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. We are fully committed to operating as an open and transparent organisation. See Diagram B on how we’ll proactively share with our members. We have and maintain a Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Strategy that sets our various means through which we will proactively seek to share information about its business.

14. A commitment to Equality and Diversity and the NHS Constitution Equality and Diversity HE NCEL will embed equality and diversity into business as usual through: The NHS Constitution The NHS Constitution was published and adopted by the Government in 2009, following extensive consultation. The NHS constitution establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. It sets out the rights to which staff and patients are entitled and pledges what the NHS is committed to achieve, together with the responsibilities, which public, patients and staff owe to one another to ensure that the NHS operates fairly and effectively. The HE NCEL Board made a commitment to upholding the NHS Constitution in undertaking its business.

15. Appendix 1 – Terms of ReferenceHE NCEL Board Overall aim and purpose: To deliver excellence in multi-disciplinary education, training and workforce development in response to current and future needs in order to provide the best possible outcomes and experiences for patients and people. Ensure effective and efficient investment of education funds, to ensure security of supply of the workforce for North Central and East London, acting within the NHS Constitution at all times. Key responsibilities and scope

16. Appendix 1 – Terms of ReferenceHE NCEL Board (cont.)

17. Appendix 2 – Terms of ReferenceMembers and Stakeholder Council • Overall aim and purpose: To ensure a transparent process to engagement and representation from across the area, with the council inputting into the workforce plans and annual business plan. Key responsibilities and scope

18. Appendix 2 – Terms of ReferenceMembers and Stakeholder Council (cont.)

19. Appendix 3 – Terms of ReferenceQuality Committee Overall aim and purpose: To assure the Board of appropriate quality of education commissioning and education outcomes are being monitored, maintained and improved by HE NCEL and that findings are fed into future strategy and planning as appropriate. Key responsibilities and scope

20. Appendix 3 – Terms of ReferenceQuality Committee (cont.)

21. Glossary CCGs Clinical Commissioning Groups are NHS organisations set up by the Health and Social care Act to organise the delivery of NHS services in England HEE Heath Education England LETB Local Education and Training Board Mandate A mandate from the government setting out plans for the education and training of NHS staff SLA Service Level Agreement HE NCEL Health Education North Central and East London FOI Freedom of Information