DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION
NHS Property Board: Terms of Reference
System Vision
To ensure that the NHS estate is developed and utilised in a way that supports the local delivery of the best possible care for patients and also achieves maximum value for money for the taxpayer.
System Objectives
- Support the transformation of the NHS estate through the development and delivery of robust, affordable local estates strategies that include delivery of agreed surplus land disposals ambitions across all STP areas.
- Dispose of surplus NHS land sufficient for 26,000 homes by 2020.
- Relatedly, generate £3.3bn of capital receipts over the five years to 2020-21.
- Drive improvements in operational estates efficiency, including increasing utilisation of existing buildings and addressing critical infrastructure risk, in order to drive recurrent savings of £1bn p.a. by 2020.
Role of the NHS Property Board
The NHS Property Board will:
-Provide strategic oversight, leadership and direction setting in pursuit of the system vision and objectives, ensuring that these are fully aligned with government priorities, both specific to health and more widely, and agreeing priorities for delivery in line with this.
-Ensure that there is clarity within the national system, in the NHS and for wider stakeholder organisations regarding the respective roles and responsibilities of different parts of the system.
-Ensure that the system has access to the right type and quantity of capability nationally and locally to deliver, including considering future estates workforce needs.
-Ensure that information is effectively shared and that the appropriate links are made and explained between the Board and other programmes of work and governance.
-Hold to account senior individuals and national organisations in their delivery against agreed outputs and milestones across a range of workstreams in pursuit of the overarching objectives.
-Ensure that there are agreed, shared views on key issues to be able to inform other ministerial fora and similar official level groups and the NHS more widely. As part of this, the NHSPB will surface, resolve or recognise differences of opinion across different organisations.
-Provide a forum for members to raise policy ideas and challenge to improve delivery against system objectives and to ensure that agreed actions are taken forward by members.
Membership
Chaired by Lord O’Shaughnessy, the NHS Property Board will be comprised of senior representatives from:
-Department of Health and Social Care
-NHS England
-NHS Improvement
-NHS Property Services
-Community Health Partnerships
-Strategic Estates Planning team
-Government Property Unit
-HM Treasury
-Department of Communities and Local Government
-Homes and Communities Agency
Ways of working
The NHS Property Board will meet on a monthly basis in closed session. Ad-hoc meetings may be held by agreement of the Chair. Exceptionally, meetings may be cancelled or urgent business conducted via email exchange. Board papers are confidential and will not be made publicly available.
Board members will have a key role in ensuring that the Board is effective in driving forward progress towards its objectives. Board members will:
- ensure appropriate information is being provided to the Board when requested;
- actively participate in the process of monitoring and reporting progress towards meeting the Board’s agreed objectives and workstream deliverables;
- constructively challenge and support other Board members to play their part in delivery of the objectives;
- endeavour to attend all Board meetings and, on the occasions where this is not possible, send an informed deputy who can make decisions on their behalf;
- be accountable for the delivery of the workstreams assigned to them.