Agenda item

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services that presents information to enable the Scrutiny Board to consider and provide feedback on the draft constitution of the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICS).

Further to minutes 11, 15 and 35 of the previous meetings held 27th July, 7th September and 16th November 2021 respectively, the Head of Democratic Services submitted a report presenting a briefing paper provided by the Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group to give further context and detail surrounding the draft constitution of the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), including a copy of the draft constitution document.

Members were invited to consider and provide feedback on the draft constitution as part of the consultation process on the development of the ICB constitution.

The following were in attendance:

·  Cllr Fiona Venner - Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Cath Roff - Director of Adults and Health

·  Victoria Eaton - Director of Public Health

·  Tim Ryley - Chief Executive of NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and also Chair of the ICS Governance Working Group.

The Chief Executive of NHS Leeds CCG introduced the report and also referenced the recent operational planning guidance published by NHS England and NHS Improvement which stated that a new target date of 1^st July 2022 has been agreed for statutory arrangements to take effect and ICBs to be legally and operationally established.

It was highlighted that the consultation on the draft West Yorkshire ICB constitution would close on 14^th January 2022, after which a summary report highlighting any changes made to the draft constitution following the consultation would be produced.

It was reported that West Yorkshire had been leading the way with advanced partnership working arrangements for some time and it was expected that the ICS will replicate those arrangements. Additionally, the draft ICB constitution:

·  Recognised the importance of delegating a substantial amount of decision making to the five “Places” within the West Yorkshire ICS. Each Place will have a committee of the ICB with considerable decision- making power – directed by the priorities of the West Yorkshire ICB and Health and Wellbeing Boards.

·  Reflected the range, diversity and size of the area to be covered by the West Yorkshire ICS, therefore the proposed Board membership is larger than that suggested by NHS England.

·  Set out the accountability and transparency of decision making. The committees at Place and ICB level will meet in public with arrangements for independent challenge and scrutiny engagement at place level.

Discussions covered a number of key issues, including:

Consultation and the level of involvement of partners in drafting the constitution – It was highlighted that extensive consultation had already been undertaken during the development of the constitution involving various stakeholders including the Race Equality Advisory Group, local Clinical Commissioning Groups and local Scrutiny Boards, including the West Yorkshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Delivering on the Integrated Care Strategy – Members welcomed that the constitution document makes it explicit that the ICB will work to deliver the integrated care strategy that is to be set by the Integrated Care Partnership, particularly as one of the agreed guiding principles of the Partnership is to tackle the wide range of issues which have an impact on health inequalities and people’s health and wellbeing.

The adoption of the ten principles set out by NHS England for working with people and communities – The Board supported and welcomed the ten principles set out by NHS England for working with people and communities, which are reflected within the constitution document. In particular, Members recognised the vital importance of putting the voices of people and communities at the centre of decision-making and governance, at every level of the ICS.

The composition of the ICB – It was reported that each of the major networks will have a mechanism to choose their own representative on the ICB. Linked to this, it was reported that no private healthcare providers were envisaged being part of the Board membership, except for General Practice representatives. In the absence of any requirement set within the Health and Care Bill to include the perspective of Healthwatch and Public Health in the composition of an ICB, the Board commended West Yorkshire’s approach in leading the way and recognising the value that these appointments will bring to the membership of the local ICB.

Having robust arrangements to manage any actual and potential conflicts of interest – Members emphasised the importance of ensuring that decisions made by the ICB will be taken and seen to be taken without being unduly influenced by external or private interest and do not affect the integrity of the ICB’s decision-making processes.  It was noted that, as a high-level document, the constitution sets out the overarching principles for ensuring accountability and transparency of the ICB decision-making processes, with further detail to be provided in an accompanying Governance Handbook and separate policy documents, including policies for managing conflicts and standards of business conduct. It was noted that these remain under development but could be shared once available.

The ongoing development of place-based arrangements-  It was acknowledged that place-based working will remain critical, with the constitution creating the framework for the ICB to delegate much decision-making authority and resources to the five place-based partnerships in West Yorkshire.

The Chair thanked everyone for their contributions and also acknowledged that moving forward, once the broad constitutional principles are in place, the Board will be continuing to monitor the ongoing development of the Leeds Place Based Partnership ICB Committee.

RESOLVED - That the contents of the report and the draft ICB constitution be noted along with Members comments, which will be provided as feedback to the consultation on the draft constitution of the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).