Foreword by Matt Westmore, Chief Executive
This business plan is the first bold step into the future, our year one delivery plan of the HRA’s new three-year strategy: making it easy to do research people can trust.
In 2021 we both celebrated and reflected on the achievements of the HRA, the HRA community and all of those who worked with us in the first ten years of the HRA. In this time, we have transformed the research and governance landscape, streamlining existing services and reducing duplication in the NHS, improving transparency and growing public involvement. We reflected on the work still to be done, challenges we face today, and new challenges opportunities we will face tomorrow.
And so the first major step into the future in 2022/23 was the publication of the HRA’s new three strategy, making it easy to do research people can trust. It sets out two principles that will guide our work. To include, so that health and social care research is done with and for everyone, and to accelerate, so that research findings improve care faster because the UK is the easiest place in the world to do research people can trust. We also set out how we will make these happen – using digital technology well and always looking for ways to do things better. The golden thread throughout all of our work will be earning and maintaining trust.
Because, if people can’t trust research, they won’t want to get involved in research or use its findings. If researchers can’t trust the UK to be a dependable, agile and enabling environment, they won’t want to do health related research here. Because of our independence and sole focus on ensuring that the interests of people in research are at the forefront of research, the HRA is a keystone organisation for ensuring research is trustworthy.
In this first year we have an ambitious programme of innovation across all four areas that will make significant inroads into ensuring health and social care research is inclusive and making it easier to get research up and running. To deliver that we will be implementing new approaches to innovation and change, guided by a newly formed team focused on organisational development.
This of course is on top of the enormous value we add today, day in day out. Our community advise, improve and approve the UK’s health and social care research. UK research that has been world leading over the past ten years and will remain so in the future. The HRA plays a critical role in enabling high-quality and inclusive research and is pivotal in ensuring the UK remains a leader in a fast moving and highly competitive global research sector.
Dr Matt Westmore, Chief Executive HRA
Contents
HRA 2022/23 business plan – introduction
Our strategy and how we work
Our plans for 2022/23
Business plan by each priority
Financial plan
HRA 2022/23 business plan – introduction
Our vision is for high quality health and social care research today, which improves everyone’s health and wellbeing tomorrow.
We help realise this by making it easy to do research that people can trust.
Over the next three years, we will be guided by two principles. To include, so that health and social care research is done with and for everyone, and to accelerate, so that research findings improve care faster because the UK is the easiest place in the world to do research that people can trust.
About us
The Health Research Authority is an independent arm’s length body of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). We were set up in 2011 with a mission to protect NHS patients, your tissue and your data when you are involved in research.
We have more than 250 staff in England including offices in Bristol, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Nottingham. They’re supported by our community of 850 people who volunteer their time generously to help us deliver our services, and members of the public who advise us on our work. The HRA is run by a Board led by Professor Sir Terence Stephenson. The members of the Board are our Chief Executive, Matt Westmore, two executive directors and four non-executive directors, with two further directors attending. The Board leads the organisation by giving strategic oversight, agreeing high-level policy and ensuring that the HRA is run effectively and efficiently. Find out more about our leadership.
To make it easy to do research that people can trust, the HRA:
- works with people to understand what you want research to look like and acts on this so that you can trust research
- makes sure that people taking part in research are treated ethically and fairly, by reviewing and approving health and social care research studies that involve people, their tissue or their data before they can start
- champions research transparency, so that you can always see when research is taking place, or the results of that research if it has finished
- works with other organisations across the UK to make sure that, wherever you are, research studies can be set up smoothly and are always subject to the same scrutiny before they start
- is one of the gatekeepers of patient data, making sure that your information is protected if it’s used for research
Our role
We make it easy to do research that people can trust. We do this through providing essential services to researchers, patients and the public including:
- making sure research is ethically reviewed and approved
- promoting transparency and public involvement in research
- coordinating and standardising research regulatory practice
- providing independent recommendations on the processing of identifiable patient information where it is not always practical to obtain consent for research and non-research purposes; and
- putting in place the digital platforms supporting research approval in the UK
You can find out more about our work and what we do on this website, in our monthly newsletter HRA Latest and via social media.
We are one of a number of organisations that work together in the UK to regulate different aspects of health and social care research.
Most of our services apply to research undertaken in England, but we also work closely with the other countries in the UK to provide a UK-wide system.
The way that we work
HRA strategy: Making it easy to do research that people can trust
We have developed enabling priorities to help us achieve our strategy. They set our culture, enabling our people to do their best work as well as ensuring our technology meets the needs of the people who use and benefit from our services.
Digital: Use digital technology well to do our work
We will design, create, and support simple to use, accessible systems that make it easier for researchers to do trusted research and for patients and the public to find out about that research.
We will:
Design our digital systems in a human-centred way
- work with our users to create technology that is easy for them to use and helps them do research people can trust
- create diverse teams that care about making better our users’ entire experience of working with us
- use digital systems and data to help us learn and improve what we do
Automate and join-up processes where this will improve our work
- automate processes where this will improve the experience for our users
- save money and improve consistency by automating repetitive, administrative tasks
- increase compliance and cyber security
Improving ourselves: Always look for ways to do things better
Our people deliver our strategy. We will enable a diverse and inclusive organisation giving our people the tools and support that they need to do so.
We will:
Always learn, improve and innovate
- embed a learning culture where learning opportunities are meaningful and help us deliver our mission
- encourage and support people to develop new ideas improving how we work and get things done
- use a variety of techniques to create, test and put in place improvements
Be a great place to work
- deliver our people strategy where everyone is supported to be their best, is valued, and is proud to be part of the team
- involve our staff in the HRA and take action to support their well-being
- be empowered by a deep understanding of our social mission; to make it easy for researchers to do research people can trust
Commit to environmental sustainability and achieving net zero
- reduce our carbon usage and waste.
- support our people to make changes that reduce their carbon usage and waste
- re-use and repair where possible to support a circular economy
How we will deliver change
There are three key aspects to our approach to change. We will be
- User-centred
- Iterative and agile
- Collaborative
We will work in quarterly change cycles to align activities with the HRA and to provide predictability for external users and stakeholders.
Where some activity will span quarters, we will look for ways to break down the longer-term goal in shorter team outputs and outcomes.
Our response to Covid-19
We adapted our operating model and developed new ways of working to respond to the global pandemic. We are keen to build on these changes to improve the services we offer. Innovations include the UK COVID-19 public involvement matching service, a new service offered to support researchers planning urgent COVID-19 research to access public involvement support. We developed this service after identifying a significant reduction in the number of studies involving the public in their design at the start of the pandemic.
We are also working with the Government and partners to take a system-wide approach to health and social care research in response to the pandemic and its impact on the sector. We are working in partnership to build back a better research system and position the UK as the global leader in clinical trials and investigations that meet the needs of patients, support the NHS, and boost the UK economy. This includes reinstating clinical research activity that was underway pre-COVID-19 as well as maximising opportunities to rebuild a better research ecosystem.
The HRA is also preparing for the UK COVID-19 inquiry, the independent public inquiry to examine, consider and report on preparations and the response to the pandemic in the UK. We are working with other organisations and the Government to consider the lessons learnt from the pandemic to improve how we operate but also strengthen our preparations for future pandemics.
Our plans for 2022/23
Our strategy is delivered in all that we do.
We achieve this by embedding our strategy through our planning, performance, innovation and change, people and risk management processes. These processes help ensure we successfully deliver on our strategic priorities and, importantly, our people understand their role in achieving our strategy.
We are committed to delivering on government priorities as part of our strategy and business plan development. This includes:
HRA in a global context
The UK is a global leader in health research and innovation with our response to the COVID-19 health emergency reinforcing this more than ever. The HRA plays a critical role in enabling high-quality health and social care research and is pivotal in ensuring the UK remains a global leader and capitalises on the opportunities from Brexit as we look to the future. To achieve this, we will:
- ensure the UK offers an even more attractive and competitive environment for clinical trials, building on our well received combined review service with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) by delivering quick and user centric regulatory approvals for the sector
- collaborate with the devolved administrations to deliver a streamlined UK approval service for health and social care research
- ensure the appropriate governance and accountability structures are in place to consider and implement policy and regulatory changes
Senior leaders and teams from the HRA will work closely with DHSC and the research community to support our world-class research sector and enable it to thrive.
Levelling Up agenda: places for growth and addressing health inequalities
The Levelling Up agenda continues to be a core priority for Government, proactively strengthening public sector presence in the Nations, Regions and Communities across the UK to better connect and serve citizens. The HRA operates nationwide through hybrid working arrangements in addition to over one third of staff being remote workers. It has a network of five regional hubs and 64 research ethics committees with over 80% of our staff based outside of the South East, a reduction of 13% since 2018. We are committed to reducing further our London based roles through natural turnover with an emphasis on recruiting roles nationally where possible. In addition, 60% of our Executive Committee roles are based outside of London and 30% based outside of the South East.
DHSC has committed to ensuring 40% of the total workforce and 33% of its senior leadership roles are based outside London by 2025, increasing to 50% by 2030. The HRA is working towards this target and reports quarterly to Cabinet Office on the progress we are making.
Our strategic priority ‘embedding research for and with everyone’ has a key focus of inclusive and transparent research. We will work in partnership with the research sector and funders to improve access to research particularly increasing diversity in clinical trials and improving public involvement. Research and development investment is planned to target activities that enable levelling up across the country and initiatives aimed at tackling health and socio-economic inequalities.
Health and social care research conducted with and for everybody can help us address health inequalities:
Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty“Reducing health inequalities and keeping people in better health for longer is in everyone’s interest – it is good for the individual, families, society, the economy and NHS.”
How we will deliver our 2022/23 business plan
Strategic priority 1:
Include: Health and social care research is done with and for everyone.
Include everyone in research
Meaningfully involving people in all stages of research and sharing its findings is crucial to learn people’s trust. It helps us do better research that can improve care.
What success will look like: More diverse groups of people with relevant lived experience are involved in all stages of research and are able to take part, with the findings shared publicly so that they can be used to improve care.
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Push for change to increase diversity and inclusion in research | Set clear expectations for the diversity and inclusion of people taking part in research | Deliver guidance with MHRA | March 2023 |
| Increase public involvement in research | Improve awareness of our Best Practice Principles for public involvement and what we expect to see in an application for approval | 20% improvement in proportion of all studies applying to the HRA saying that they have involved the public in the design of their research | March 2023 |
| Increase public involvement in research | Implement new public involvement requirements for clinical trials as required | 20% improvement in proportion of all studies applying to the HRA saying that they have involved the public in the design of their research | March 2023 |
| Increase public involvement in research | Implement new public involvement requirements for participants’ information | 20% improvement in proportion of all studies applying to the HRA saying that they have involved the public in the design of their research | March 2023 |
| Make transparency the norm for research | Help make transparency the norm by celebrating good practice and highlighting poor performance and developing ways to take action where researchers and sponsors do not fulfil their research transparency responsibilities | Publish transparency performance measures | December 2022 to March 2023 |
| Make transparency the norm for research | Help make transparency the norm by celebrating good practice and highlighting poor performance and developing ways to take action where researchers and sponsors do not fulfil their research transparency responsibilities | Consult on sanctions policy | December 2022 to March 2023 |
| Make transparency the norm for research | Champion research transparency | Annual conference and report delivered | Annual conference and report by March 2023 |
Ask you what you want research to look like and act on this
Research must address the issues that matter to you to earn your trust
What success will look like: It is easier to put people first in research
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Champion issues that are important to people in research | Better understand what matters to people in research and what is important to earn their trust | Dialogue with members of the public | September 2022 |
| Champion issues that are important to people in research | Redevelop the HRA website for people in research | Public involvement panel formed | September 2022 |
| Champion issues that are important to people in research | Redevelop the HRA website for people in research | Achieve good user experience assessment prior to launch | January 2023 |
| Create public conversations about issues that matter to people | Create public conversations about issues that matter to people in research | Run a series of events about ethical issues in research | September 2022 to December 2022 |
| Encourage researchers to do a better job of putting people first | Drive change to improve the extent and quality of public involvement in health and social care research so that it is consistently excellent | Promote our shared commitment to public involvement in health and social care research, leading, coordinating and reporting on action | All year |
| Encourage researchers to do a better job of putting people first | Identify how to encourage more people-centred clinical research | Recommendations and implementation plan created | December 2022 |
Involve you in the HRA
What success will look like: We make better decisions, informed by a diverse group of people with lived experience.
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Increase public involvement in how we make decisions | Create more opportunities for people to be involved in our internal decision making | Pilot patient / public membership of decision-making committees | June 2022 |
| Increase public involvement in how we make decisions | Create more opportunities for people to be involved in our internal decision making | Act on lessons learned from pilot | January 2022 |
| Increase public involvement in how we make decisions | Support staff to meaningfully involve people in their work | Guidance available to all staff | December 2022 |
| Increase public involvement in how we make decisions | Support staff to meaningfully involve people in their work | 75% staff attended awareness raising event | March 2023 |
| Increase public involvement in how we make decisions | Increase meaningful public involvement in our work | Determine baseline to measure improvement | January 2023 |
| Increase public involvement in how we make decisions | Increase meaningful public involvement in our work | Year on year, 10% growth in the number of times people are involved in our work | Quarterly reporting from January 2023 |
| Listen to and involve a diverse group of people in our work | Include a more diverse group of people in our regulatory decision-making committees – research ethics committees and confidentiality advisory group | Our Committee membership better reflects broader society | March 2023 |
| Talk in a way that everyone can access and understand | Redevelop the HRA website to help people find out what the HRA is doing and why it matters | Public involvement panel formed | September 2022 |
| Talk in a way that everyone can access and understand | Redevelop the HRA website to help people find out what the HRA is doing and why it matters | Achieve good user experience assessment prior to launch | January 2023 |
Strategic priority 2:
Accelerate: Research findings improve care faster because the UK is the easiest place in the world to do research that people can trust.
Save money and time so that you can focus on doing good research
To earn people’s trust, research projects involving people, their tissue or their data need a number of approvals before they can go ahead.
What success will look like: It is easier for researchers to find out what they need to do and earn the approvals for their research to go ahead.
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Review our fast-track services reflecting on the impact of combined review and funding settlement | Agree affordable delivery approach | June 2022 |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Review our fast-track services reflecting on the impact of combined review and funding settlement | Implement refreshed service offering | September 2022 |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Design and test an ideal user journey including new question sets and workflows for IRAS | Completed user requirements | July 2022 |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Implement an interim cross-border toolkit | Published toolkit | July 2022 |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Design and test site set-up functionality and UK Approval for IRAS | Completed user requirements | August 2022 |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Design and test regulatory sequencing and statuses for IRAS | Completed user requirements | June 2022 |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Design and test new model for bioresource approval | Completed user requirements | December 2022 |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Design combined review for device investigations | Completed user requirements | September 2022 |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Design revised workflows for ethics review | Completed user requirements | January 2023 |
| Join up research approvals across the UK | Work with MHRA and other research regulators to consider charging for our services as part of a system approach to providing value | Options considered and appraised | December 2022 |
| Make it easier to put people first in research | Lead on implementation of collaborative actions to enable people-centred research | Recovery, Resilience & Growth communication | Communications delivered in June, and October 2022 and March 2023 |
| Make it easier to put people first in research | Deliver a pilot with the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres to test radically new site set-up arrangements | Model designed | July 2022 |
| Make it easier to put people first in research | Deliver a pilot with the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres to test radically new site set-up arrangements | Evaluate pilot | February 2023 |
| Make it easier to put people first in research | Update UK-wide HR Good Practice Pack | Guidance published | August 2022 |
| Make it easier to put people first in research | Support introduction of Find, Recruit and Follow up Service | Service launhed | April 2022 |
| Make sure that precious NHS resources are focussed on research that will help Improve care | Support launch of National Contract Value Review Service | Service launched | April 2022 |
| Make sure that precious NHS resources are focussed on research that will help Improve care | Publish 2 model agreements and maintain existing 12 agreements already published | Delivered on time | March 2023 |
| Make sure that precious NHS resources are focussed on research that will help Improve care | Develop and publish guidance on amendments to support the reset | Publish guidance | April 2022 |
| Make sure that precious NHS resources are focussed on research that will help Improve care | Provide expert advice to the research recovery work | Ad hoc advice provided | June 2022 to October 2022 |
Create a new online system to help you make research happen
The approvals that each research project needs come from different organisations depending on what it is trying to do.
What success will look like: A new online system is helping researchers take the steps needed to make their research happen.
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Connect the steps that are part of doing research and make them easy to follow | Publish key findings of our strategic review of the programme | Products produced to time and budget | June 2022 |
| Connect the steps that are part of doing research and make them easy to follow | Confirm refreshed delivery roadmap for our research systems transformation | Governance decision made for refreshed delivery roadmap | June 2022 |
| Connect the steps that are part of doing research and make them easy to follow | Implement roadmap and agreed releases utilising user centric design | Releases deliver benefits on time and budget | September 2022 to December 2024 |
| Connect the steps that are part of doing research and make them easy to follow | Launch IRAS website (public beta) | User satisfaction scores following launch 10% better | November 2022 |
| Work with others so that each step you take informs the next | Implement new UK Approval Service, embracing user centric design and refreshed delivery approach to create workflows across research journey for all regulators, and revised question sets | Quarterly releases as per approved delivery roadmap | September 2022 to December 2024 |
| Work with others so that each step you take informs the next | Deliver digital interfaces with IRAS partners and establish digital data flows across the research journey | Quarterly releases as per approved delivery roadmap | September 2022 to December 2024 |
Support new ways to do research
We will make it possible to do new types of research here in the UK so that we can get better, quicker answers and put people first.
What success will look like: The UK is a destination to do new types of research that people can trust.
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen |
Convene a cross-sector group to coordinate delivery of initiatives that support: • decentralised trials • virtual trials • novel designs • digitally-enabled clinical research |
Group established | May 2022 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen |
Convene a cross-sector group to coordinate delivery of initiatives that support: • decentralised trials • virtual trials • novel designs • digitally-enabled clinical research |
Mapping and gap analysis of existing work | July 2022 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen |
Convene a cross-sector group to coordinate delivery of initiatives that support: • decentralised trials • virtual trials • novel designs • digitally-enabled clinical research |
Identification and allocation of new initiatives | June 2022 to March 2023 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen |
Convene a cross-sector group to coordinate delivery of initiatives that support: • decentralised trials • virtual trials • novel designs • digitally-enabled clinical research |
Coordination and dissemination | June 2022 to March 2023 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen | Encourage decentralisation of clinical research | Publish guidance on oversight of non-interventional research | September 2022 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen | Encourage decentralisation of clinical research | Publish guidance to support research patient pathways across Integrated Care Systems | December 2022 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen | Design and implement a case management service for innovative studies | Develop design for service | June 2022 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen | Design and implement a case management service for innovative studies | Pilot service | October 2022 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen | Design and implement a case management service for innovative studies | Align queries line service | December 2022 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen | Design and implement a case management service for innovative studies | Publish joint updates on service | June to December 2022 |
| Work with research teams to explore new ways to do research and make them happen | Support MHRA’s Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) service | ||
| Learn together to make sure regulation keeps up with research so you can trust our decisions | Introduce a streamlined service for reviewing data-driven research studies and supporting applicants through the process | Enhanced application process with clear guidance for applicants | September 2022 |
| Learn together to make sure regulation keeps up with research so you can trust our decisions | Consult on new, more proportionate pathways for research ethics review | Evidence on stakeholder attitudes and implications of introducing more proportionate ethics review pathways | October 2022 |
| Learn together to make sure regulation keeps up with research so you can trust our decisions | Support implementation of new Clinical Trials Regulations, including guidance | Publish guidance | November 2022 |
| Learn together to make sure regulation keeps up with research so you can trust our decisions | Implement a new approach to developing and reviewing information for potential participants in research in collaboration with the UK nations | Introduce new quality standards, design principles and standardised ethics committee review framework | December 2022 |
Enabling priority 1
Digital: Use digital technology well to do our work
We will design, create and support simple to use, accessible systems that make it easier for researchers to do trusted research and for patients and the public to find out about that research.
User experience and engagement is at the heart of digital design
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Work with our users to create technology that is easy for them to use and helps them do research people can trust | Embrace agile product development mindsets, approaches and behaviours, and Human Centred Design principles will be embedded into the heart of the programme | Human-centred design will be driving product decisions. | September 2022 |
| Work with our users to create technology that is easy for them to use and helps them do research people can trust | Conduct development sprints that have goals and deliver increments of deployable software | Designed and implemented | August to September 2022 |
| Work with all research systems teams in aligned sprints, with consistency in ceremonies, definitions, and tooling | Designed and implemented | August to September 2022 | |
| Create diverse teams that care about making better our users’ entire experience of working with us | Create and maintain a well-articulated, regularly groomed, estimated, and prioritised backlog of requirements | Designed and implemented | August to September 2022 |
| Use digital systems and data to help us learn and improve what we do | Put in place functioning feedback loops to allow metrics at all levels to be generated to ensure we are making progress, in the right direction | Designed and implemented | August to September 2022 |
Process automation and integration improves our work
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Automate processes where this will improve the experience for our users | Procure and implement digital service management allowing HRA to create great user experiences and unlock productivity through digital workflows and accessing diverse expertise to resolve IRAS support calls | Business case finalisation | October 2022 |
| Automate processes where this will improve the experience for our users | Procure and implement digital service management allowing HRA to create great user experiences and unlock productivity through digital workflows and accessing diverse expertise to resolve IRAS support calls | Digital service management implementation measured monthly through progress reporting to governance board | February 2023 |
| Automate processes where this will improve the experience for our users | Procure and implement digital service management allowing HRA to create great user experiences and unlock productivity through digital workflows and accessing diverse expertise to resolve IRAS support calls | Logging and tracking of calls will be much easier, and insight into call types, volumes and resolution times will be much simpler | February 2023 |
| Save money and improve consistency by automating repetitive, administrative tasks | Develop and implement a data warehouse to automate transformation and cleanse of research approval process data. This will ensure HRA decision making is informed, ensuring we are focussed on our user needs. | Data warehouse business case written and approved. | September 2022 |
| Save money and improve consistency by automating repetitive, administrative tasks | Develop and implement a data warehouse to automate transformation and cleanse of research approval process data. This will ensure HRA decision making is informed, ensuring we are focussed on our user needs. | Data warehouse implementation measured monthly through progress reporting | January 2023 |
| Save money and improve consistency by automating repetitive, administrative tasks | Embrace MS Office 365, improving knowledge sharing and automation of day to day processes | Five forms per quarter developed. 20 for the full year. | June 0222 to March 2023 |
| Increase compliance and cyber security | Put in place (if not already) and monitor extensive strategies to manage cyber risk in line with best practice | Monitored and reported quarterly | Reported in June, September, and December 2022 and March 2023 |
Enabling priority 2:
Improve: Ensuring we have the right culture and capability to deliver our strategy
Our people deliver our strategy. We will enable a diverse and inclusive organisation giving our people the tools and support that they need to do so. We will:
Continuously learn, improve and innovate
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Embed a learning culture where learning opportunities are meaningful and help us deliver our mission | Deliver an inclusive leadership competencies, values and behaviours framework | Draft consultation | September 2022 |
| Embed a learning culture where learning opportunities are meaningful and help us deliver our mission | Deliver an inclusive leadership competencies, values and behaviours framework | Finalise | October 2022 |
| Embed a learning culture where learning opportunities are meaningful and help us deliver our mission | Promote a consistent 70:20:10 blended learning approach enabling staff to be responsible self-directed learners | Delivery of two modules | July 2022 |
| Embed a learning culture where learning opportunities are meaningful and help us deliver our mission | Make a decision on the platform(s) to deliver learning for staff, members and researchers | Governance decision taken | October 2022 |
| Embed a learning culture where learning opportunities are meaningful and help us deliver our mission | Build organisational confidence to have inclusive conversations | 4 ‘Let’s talk sessions’ delivered | May 2022 to February 2023 |
| Embed a learning culture where learning opportunities are meaningful and help us deliver our mission | Build an online EDI resource hub | Resources published to the hub quarterly | May 2022 to February 2023 |
| Embed a learning culture where learning opportunities are meaningful and help us deliver our mission | Embed EDI considerations into policy and project design | Increase in number of completed initial Equality Impact Assessments by 25% | May 2022 to March 2023 |
| Encourage and support people to develop new ideas improving how we work and get things done | Set up an idea and innovation hive to encourage and capture staff’s ideas for innovation and change | Set up and work with staff and the organisation to have this in place | March 2023 |
| Encourage and support people to develop new ideas improving how we work and get things done | Director confirmed by Executive Committee | Director confirmed by Executive Committee | July 2022 |
| Encourage and support people to develop new ideas improving how we work and get things done | Support staff to participate in staff-led groups | Publicise the guidance to support staff to get involved | October 2022 |
| Use a variety of techniques to create, test and put in place improvements | Develop and implement an innovation and change delivery framework, learning from our experiences and best practice to create a model that works for our community and the sector we serve | Propose delivery framework with and for consultation | December 2022 |
| Use a variety of techniques to create, test and put in place improvements | Develop and implement an innovation and change delivery framework, learning from our experiences and best practice to create a model that works for our community and the sector we serve | Implement agreed model | March 2023 |
Be a great place to get involved and work
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Deliver our people strategy where everyone is supported to be their best, is valued, and is proud to be part of the team | Focus on fairness and inclusivity in HRA Recruitment | Update and publish recruitment policy and guidance | August 2022 |
| Deliver our people strategy where everyone is supported to be their best, is valued, and is proud to be part of the team | Focus on fairness and inclusivity in HRA Recruitment | Training package developed | October 2022 |
| Deliver our people strategy where everyone is supported to be their best, is valued, and is proud to be part of the team | Focus on fairness and inclusivity in HRA Recruitment | Resources published to the website | December 2022 |
| Deliver our people strategy where everyone is supported to be their best, is valued, and is proud to be part of the team | Deliver Stepping into leadership programmes of learning to support BAME colleagues and those with protected characteristics | Gaining places for the cohort on the NHS Leadership Academy Edward Jenner programme | May 2022 |
| Deliver our people strategy where everyone is supported to be their best, is valued, and is proud to be part of the team | Deliver Stepping into leadership programmes of learning to support BAME colleagues and those with protected characteristics | Additional tailored learning packages | September 2022 |
| Deliver our people strategy where everyone is supported to be their best, is valued, and is proud to be part of the team | Develop and publish HRA’s modern slavery statement | Statement published on website | October 2022 |
| Involve our staff in the HRA and take action to support their wellbeing | Appoint a Non-Executive Director as a Wellbeing guardian | Director appointed | September 2022 |
| Involve our staff in the HRA and take action to support their wellbeing | Expand our Mental Health First Aider support, increasing the number and diversity of mental health first aiders, promoting the support they can offer | An active network utilised by staff – track numbers of calls for support | April, July, and October 2022 and January 2023 |
| Involve our staff in the HRA and take action to support their wellbeing | Develop well-being related learning – personal resilience, building resilience in your team, building assertiveness, personal effectiveness, new starter pack | Deliver learning packages | June and October 2022 |
| Involve our staff in the HRA and take action to support their wellbeing | Pay transparency guidance | Publish guidance | June 2022 |
| Involve our staff in the HRA and take action to support their wellbeing | Grow systematic and organic opportunities to engage the employee voice | Review and refocus staff forum purpose and terms of reference | December 2022 |
| Be empowered by a deep understanding of our social mission; to make it easier to do research people can trust | Redesign our recruitment process | Develop and publish recruitment process guidance | December 2022 |
| Be empowered by a deep understanding of our social mission; to make it easier to do research people can trust | Enhance our strategic people planning | Set the baseline and set up the process for people planning | September 2022 |
| Be empowered by a deep understanding of our social mission; to make it easier to do research people can trust | Implement our commercial processes including social value and sustainability objectives | Launch first tranche of new commercial process | June 2022 |
| Be empowered by a deep understanding of our social mission; to make it easier to do research people can trust | Implement our commercial processes including social value and sustainability objectives | New records management policy | July 2022 |
Be committed to environmental sustainability and achieving net zero
In 2022/23 we will embed environmentally sustainable practices into our daily business, making sustainability the norm.
| Focus | In 2022/23, we will | Progress measurement | Month |
| Reduce our carbon usage and waste | Reduce and maintain business travel at significantly lower levels than pre-pandemic rates by 2025 |
Baseline: 2017/18 2022/23: 60% reduction |
March 2023 |
| Reduce our carbon usage and waste | Limit all domestic flights to essential travel to and from Northern Ireland only | 100% reduction in domestic flights to mainland UK | March 2023 |
| Support our people to make changes that reduce their carbon usage and waste | Raise awareness of ways in which staff can be more sustainable, reduce their carbon emissions and waste | Agreed timetable of awareness sessions | October 2022 |
| Support our people to make changes that reduce their carbon usage and waste | Provide tools for staff and HRA Community to undertake a personal carbon assessment | Signposting implemented | January 2023 |
| Re-use and repair where possible to support a circulate economy | Collaborate with our landlords to introduce five different types of recycling collection in each of our offices as standard. As a minimum this should include paper, cardboard, plastics and aluminium can recycling | Five offices | Two offices in Jun 2022, four offices in December 2022, five offices in March 2023 |
| Re-use and repair where possible to support a circulate economy | Remove single use plastics from our procurement options for each new contract procured | Signposting implemented | January 2023 |
Financial plan
Our total funding anticipated for this year is £24.3M (2021/22: £27.0M). We receive most of this directly from the Department of Health and Social Care. In 2022/23 this funding, known as grant-in-aid (GIA), will be £18.9M (2021/22: £20.3M) to fund revenue activities, £2.6M (2021/22: £2.8M) to fund capital investment and £1.7M (2021/22: £1.6M) to fund non-cash revenue (for example, depreciation).
The rest of our revenue comes from two other sources:
- £0.7M from NHSX to fund regulatory work supporting data driven technologies (2021/22: £2.3M)
- £0.4M from the devolved administrations as part of cost sharing arrangements for ethics review and UK wide research governance (2021/22: £0.4M)
The HRA is committed to providing value to the public purse. We achieve this in two ways:
- Streamlining the research approval process, driving economies and efficiencies to the research sector
- Achieving ‘more for less’ in our services and policy work, by continuously improving our processes, reducing duplication and using technology to add value and reduce costs
We have planned for a balanced income and expenditure position for 2022/23 on our core services and activities. The financial plan table sets out our sources of revenue funds for 2022/23. It also shows how these compare with our 2021/22 financial plan.
Capital funding
Our total capital funding is £2.6M (2021/22: £2.8M). This funding supports the HRA core infrastructure (estates and technology) as well as research systems transformation investment classified as capital costs, based on accounting best practice. The following table shows how capital funding will be invested.
|
2022/23 (£000) |
2021/22 (£000) |
|
| Research systems transformation programme | 2,448 | 2,565 |
| HRA infrastructure (estates and technology) | 160 | 200 |
| Total capital expenditure | 2,608 | 2,765 |
Research systems transformation
The HRA gained approval for our research systems transformation programme from DHSC Investment Committee in December 2020. Funding and activity related to this programme are included within this business plan for 2022/23 with comparatives from 2021/22. Some reprofiling of costs have been incorporated into our plans following a strategic review of the programme in early 2022.
Financial plan 2022/23
| Pay £000 |
2022-23 Non Pay £000 |
Total £000 | Pay £000 |
2021-22 Non Pay £000 |
Total £000 | |
| Regulatory Services | ||||||
| Integrated approval service | 6,179 | 435 | 6,614 | 5,810 | 505 | 6,315 |
| Confidentiality advice service | 358 | 47 | 405 | 311 | 48 | 359 |
| Guidance and learning | 393 | 133 | 527 | 378 | 155 | 533 |
| Quality assurance | 128 | 12 | 140 | 120 | 13 | 133 |
| Approvals support | 533 | 425 | 959 | 502 | 409 | 911 |
| Innovation and improvement | 538 | 0 | 538 | 961 | 229 | 1,190 |
| 8,130 | 1,054 | 9,183 | 8,082 | 1,359 | 9,441 | |
| Strategy, governance, and policy | ||||||
| Corporate governance & chief executive | 729 | 147 | 876 | 622 | 189 | 811 |
| Policy and engagement | 922 | 95 | 1,018 | 688 | 94 | 782 |
| Communications | 203 | 148 | 351 | 234 | 53 | 287 |
| Public involvement | 197 | 30 | ||||
| Streamlining data driven research | 276 | 425 | 701 | 330 | 1,926 | 2,256 |
| Strategic activities | 688 | 70 | 757 | 750 | 1,533 | 2,283 |
| 3,014 | 915 | 3,929 | 2,766 | 3,809 | 6,575 | |
| Digital | ||||||
| Research systems | 2,741 | 1,966 | 4,741 | 2,741 | 1,937 | 4,678 |
| Infrastructure | 144 | 437 | 580 | 123 | 560 | 683 |
| 2,885 | 2,403 | 5,287 | 2,864 | 2,497 | 5,361 | |
| Corporate functions | ||||||
| Corporate services | 455 | 49 | 504 | 547 | 36 | 583 |
| People, diversity, inclusion & learning | 373 | 290 | 663 | 327 | 267 | 594 |
| Finance, commercial & estates | 630 | 378 | 1,008 | 491 | 299 | 790 |
| 1,458 | 717 | 2,175 | 1,365 | 602 | 1,967 | |
| Total before depreciation and efficiency | 15,487 | 5,088 | 20,547 | 15,077 | 8,267 | 23,344 |
| Efficiency savings & inflationary pressures | -540 | -27 | -567 | -338 | -200 | -538 |
| Total (before Depreciation) | 14,947 | 5,060 | 20,007 | 14,739 | 8,067 | 22,806 |
| Depreciation | 0 | 1,700 | 1,700 | 0 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| Total (after Depreciation) | 14,947 | 6,760 | 21,707 | 14,739 | 9,667 | 24,406 |
| Funded by | 2022/23 | 2021/22 |
| DHSC grant in aid | 18,936 | 20,270 |
| NHS AI Lab | 701 | 2,256 |
| Non-cash revenue (depreciation funding) | 1,700 | 1,600 |
| Other income (unconfirmed) | 370 | 208 |
| Total | 21,707 | 24,406 |