Department of Health and Social Care: Advisory Bodies and Committees

(asked on 30th September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of covid-19 on the functioning capacity of his Department’s advisory groups and committees.


Answered by
Edward Argar Portrait
Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 17th November 2020

Departmental support of advisory non-departmental public bodies (ANDPBs) and committees and their respective functioning capacity, has been largely unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic and meetings have been successfully operating online. For example, of the 13 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) staff providing secretariat support to the British Pharmacopoeia Commission and the Commission on Human Medicines, only one was redeployed to the COVID-19 taskforce. Similarly, out of four staff supporting the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards, one was seconded to the taskforce but the vacancy has since been filled.

With regard to expert/advisory committees, these operate like ANDPBs but as part of the Department, with some sponsored through Public Health England or the MHRA. Dedicated secretariat support ranges from one full time equivalent (FTE), such as the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO), up to nine FTE, such as the UK National Screening Committee. Their functioning capacity and Departmental support has been largely unaffected. Meetings have generally continued after a short pause, and in some cases meeting frequency has increased, such as with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, SaBTO, and the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group.

An exception is the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling. It is now supported by nine analysts due to evolving from a planning and preparedness advisory committee that met three to four times a year, to a fully operational subgroup of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies that meets at least weekly, with additional specialised subgroups of its own.

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