Constitution and Governance Handbook

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are established under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. They are statutory bodies that have the function of commissioning services for the purposes of the health service in England.

CCGs are clinically-led membership organisations made up of general practices. CCGs' members are responsible for determining the governance arrangements of their CCG, which they are required to set out in a constitution.

Introduction

This handbook is designed to give easy access to key governance information to support the executive team, senior managers and all staff to apply the CCG's governance arrangements in practice and to give insight to patients and the public on our arrangements. This handbook will provide detail on committee governance, standing orders and financial policies, standards of business conduct, as well as other areas of corporate governance.

Who's who

We would like to introduce you to our Executive Team, Governing Body members and membership practices.

Our Executive Team are:

• Julia Ross - Chief Executive Officer
• Sarah Truelove - Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer
• Lisa Manson - Director of Commissioning
• Deborah El-Sayed - Director of Transformation
• David Jarrett - Area Director of South Gloucestershire
• Colin Bradbury - Area Director of North Somerset
• Peter Brindle - Director of Clinical Effectiveness
• Rosi Shepherd - Director of Nursing and Quality
  

View the CCG's Governing Body members

View the CCG's membership

Committee dates

Committee dates are set well in advance and as a rule papers are due seven working days before the meeting and are published five working days before the meeting. The CCG shares papers with colleagues via Boardpacks software and, for meetings held in public, such as  Governing Body meetings and Primary care Commissioning Committee meetings, open session papers are also shared on the CCG's website. Please note that whilst not expected, dates are subject to change.

View dates and details of our Governing Body meetings

View dates and details of our Primary Care Commissioning Group meetings

Committee Terms of Reference

Each committee has set Terms of Reference (ToR). These contain detail relating to the committee under a number of different headings including: the remit and responsibilities of the committee, the membership, attendance, quoracy, voting arrangements, administration and reporting arrangements.

Scheme of Reservation and Delegation

The CCG’s Scheme of Reservation and Delegation sets out decisions that are reserved for the membership and decisions that are the responsibilities of its governing body (and its committees), the CCG’s committees and sub-committees, individual members and employees. It should be noted that the CCG remains accountable for all of its functions, including those that it has delegated. The scheme of Reservation and Delegation can be found appended to the CCG's Constitution.

Standing Financial Instructions

The Standing Financial Instructions (formerly known as Detailed Financial Polices) identify the financial responsibilities that apply to everyone working for the CCG, including staff on temporary or honorary contracts, staff from member practices acting on behalf of the CCG, and any external organisations acting on behalf of the CCG, such as a Commissioning Support Unit.

The Standing Financial Instructions explain the financial responsibilities, policies and procedures adopted by the CCG. They are designed to ensure that the CCG's financial transactions are carried out in accordance with the law, generally accepted accounting practices and with Government policy in order to achieve probity, accuracy, economy, efficiency and effectiveness. They should be used in conjunction with the Schedule of Decisions Reserved to the Governing Body and the Scheme of Reservation and Delegation adopted by the CCG.

Information Governance Handbook

The Information Governance Handbook is designed to provide a central place for all staff to access the Information Governance Policies and Procedures that ensure compliance with Information Governance legislation and national and local guidance.

Risk Management Framework

This framework describes the arrangements that the CCG has in place to manage risk. The framework provides a structure for the systematic identification, assessment, treatment, and monitoring of risks.

It is a long and well established principle that public sector organisations must be impartial and honest in their business and that their officers must act with integrity. As a publicly funded organisation, we have a duty to set and maintain the highest standards of conduct and integrity. All CCG staff, regardless of their role, are expected to act in the spirit set out in the seven principles of public life: the ‘Nolan Principles’.

Standards of business conduct (Conflicts of Interest Policy and Gifts and Hospitality Policy)

It is a long and well established principle that public sector organisations must be impartial and honest in the conduct of their business and do not place themselves in a position of conflict or potential conflict. To support this, the CCG has in place policies for the management of conflicts of interest and gifts and hospitality.

As set out in the Conflicts of Interest Policy, all staff are required to make a declaration of interest and this includes a nil declaration. Declarations must be completed at the start of employment and annually as requested by the organisation. Declarations should be made at the earliest opportunity and in any case within 28 days.

All Gifts over the value of £50 should only be accepted on behalf of the CCG and not in a personal capacity and must be declared to the Corporate Team as described in the policy. Multiple gifts from the same source over a 12 month period should be treated in the same way as gifts over £50 where the cumulative value exceeds £50.

Hospitality should be declared as per the guidance set out in the policy. When accepting or providing hospitality, staff should be able to demonstrate that the acceptance or provision of hospitality would benefit the NHS or CCG. Hospitality must only be accepted when there is a legitimate business reason and it is proportionate to the nature and purpose of the event.

The CCG is required to submit a Governance Statement as part of the CCG Annual Report and Accounts. The purpose of the Governance Statement is to provide the NHS England Chief Executive with assurance about the stewardship of the CCG. In preparing the Governance Statement the Accountable Officer should reflect on the circumstances of the organisation. The Governance Statement is based on evidence on governance, risk management and control. The annual Governance Statement can be found from page 47 of the of the Annual Report for 2018-19.