Women’s Health Plan Implementation Programme Board: terms of reference

This paper sets out the terms of reference for the Women’s Health Plan Implementation Programme Board and details the purpose and functions of the board, which were agreed by members at the first meeting of the Board on 25 January 2022.

Purpose and scope

The Women’s Health Plan Implementation Programme Board (WHPIPB) has been established to provide direction and oversight for the implementation of the Women’s Health Plan published by Scottish Government in August 2021.

Its roles and responsibilities include:

• define and agree the scope of the Women’s Health Plan programme
• provide leadership and expert advice to the programme, ensuring the programme remains viable and within any specified constraints at a programme and/or project level
• set out an achievement framework setting out the benefits, outputs and outcomes of the programme, ensuring they are clearly defined with sufficient resources aligned to enable successful and sustainable delivery
• approve the objectives, deliverables of the programme and authorise movement from one programme stage to another
• review and approve all programme and documentation and products, including the programme plans and any deviations from them
• report progress to the appropriate governance groups
• to resolve or escalate any risks or issues which need the input and agreement of senior stakeholders to ensure the progress of the programme streams
• approve any changes to the programme scope and outputs
• ensure effective communications with stakeholders are maintained
• ensure all necessary resources are provided, engaged and supported to ensure successful programme delivery
• ensure that programme risks are being tracked and managed effectively
• invite stakeholders or other interested parties to provide evidence or views where appropriate
• authorise submission of the deliverables and programme closure

Membership

A list of members is available on the Women’s Health Plan Implementation Programme Board page. The board membership may be modified during the course of the programme, as appropriate.

Working method 

The working methods for the Board will be as follows:

• members are expected to send representative(s) to all meetings and actively participate in discussions
• organisations’ can choose to send different representative(s) with appropriate knowledge and skills to meetings, depending on matters on agenda
• attendees should be of an appropriate decision-making level
• members will communicate and consult with colleagues in their organisations prior to and following meetings of the board
• members will be responsible for timely completion of actions allocated to them

Frequency of meetings 

The Board will meet twice annually. The secretariat will be provided by the Scottish Government. Additional meetings and any sub-group meetings will be convened as required.

Duration

The board will meet until the Women’s Health Plan has been delivered – i.e. until at least 2024.

Governance 

The board will be accountable to the Minister for Public Health, Women's Health and Sport and Chief Medical Officer, in line with the governance structure.