Recruitment of Chair to Swansea Bay Local University Health Board

Vacancy summary:

Detailed information about the appointment vacancy, including job role criteria and remuneration rate is provided in the information for candidates pack.

Publicity summary:

The Welsh Government circulated details of the appointment through stakeholder lists held by the Public Bodies Unit (PBU) and posted the vacancy on the Welsh Government public appointments website and the UK Cabinet Office website. The vacancy was also posted to the Swansea Bay Local University Health Board website.

The vacancy was promoted by the following Social Media channels and advertised through the media listed below:

Twitter – Minister for Health and Social Services

Twitter – Follower’s of the Swansea Bay Local University Health Board twitter account

Twitter - Follower’s of the NHS Conferederation twitter account

· Fish4Jobs – online only

· Golwg 360 –  online only

· Diversity Jobs Network  - online only

Recruitment process summary:

Assessment advisory panel membership:

· Dr Andrew Goodall CBE, Director General for Health and Social Services / NHS

Wales Chief Executive (Panel Chair)

· Helen Arthur, Director of Workforce and Corporate Business, Health and Social Services Directorate, Welsh Government – Welsh Government Representative

· Dr Ruth Hussey CB OBE, Former Chief Medical Officer for NHS Wales, Health and Social Services Directorate, Welsh Government – Senior Independent Panel Member

· David Jenkins OBE, Former Chair, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board – Independent Panel Member

On 29 March 2019, Welsh Government officials were informed by the Board Secretary of Swansea Bay Local University Health Board that Andrew Davies would stand down as Chair as soon as an individual had been appointed to succeed him. The Minister for Health and Social Services agreed to advertise for a new Chair on this basis. The role was re-advertised on 12 November 2019. The closing date for applications was 13 December 2019. To allow for the role to be advertised, the Commissioner for Public Appointments agreed to appoint Emma Woollett as Interim Chair until 31 December 2019.

The advertisement for the role was originally published on the Welsh Government’s Public Appointments Website on 15 April 2019. The closing date for applications was 10 May 2019. Following the SIFT on 20 May 2019, only one candidate (Emma Woollett) was deemed competent enough to be invited to interview. As only one (1) candidate would be going forward to interview, the Minister for Health and Social Services would not be provided with a pool of appointable candidates for him to consider (Paragraph 3.1, Bullet Point 7 of the “Governance Code on Public Appointments” refers). With this in mind, the Minister agreed to the panel’s recommendation to re-advertise the role.

To allow for the role to be re-advertised, the Commissioner for Public Appointments agreed to re- appoint Emma Woollett as Interim Chair until 31 January 2020. The role was re-advertised on 12 November 2019. The closing date for applications was 13 December 2019.

A total of 5 applications for the re-advertised role were received. The sift meeting took place on 6 January 2020 and 2 candidates were recommended for interview. The Assessment Advisory Panel considered there to be 1 appointable candidate.

Minister for Health and Social Services preferred candidate: Emma Woollett.

Conflict of Interest

The candidate is Director and Owner of Woollett Consulting Ltd through which the candidate has undertaken advisory work for NHS organisations.

Political Activity

The candidate has not declared any political activity.