Vacancy -- Independent Member -Health Education and Improvement Wales

Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) is a Special Health Authority 
established in October 2018 is the strategic workforce body for NHS Wales. Its 
functions include:

Workforce intelligence – HEIW is the central, recognised source for 
information and intelligence about the Welsh health workforce;

Workforce planning – HEIW provides strategic leadership for workforce 
planning, working with health boards/trusts and the Welsh Government to 
produce a forward strategy to transform the workforce to deliver new health 
and social models of service delivery;

Education commissioning, planning and delivery – HEIW utilises its 
funding to ensure value for money and the provision of a workforce which 
reflects future healthcare needs;

Quality management – HEIW quality manages education and training 
provision ensuring it meets required standards, and improvements are made 
where required;

Supporting regulation – HEIW plays a key role representing Wales in liaison 
with regulators, working within the policy framework established by the Welsh 
Government. HEIW also undertakes, independently of the Welsh Government, 
specific regulatory support roles;

Leadership development – HEIW establishes the strategic direction and 
delivery of leadership development for staff within NHS Wales at all levels; 
Careers and widening access – HEIW provides the strategic direction for 
health careers and the widening access agenda, delivering an ongoing 
agenda to promote health careers;

Workforce improvement – HEIW provides a strategic leadership role for 
workforce transformation and improvement, and delivers within its functions an 
ongoing programme to meet that role;

Professional support for workforce and organisational development (OD) 
in NHS Wales – HEIW supports the professional workforce and OD 
profession within Wales.

Role and responsibilities

In conjunction with the Chair and Senior Executive Team, the Independent Members 
of the Board are responsible for: 

• establishing and taking forward the strategic aims and objectives of HEIW 
consistent with its overall purpose and within the policy and resources framework 
determined by the Minister for Health and Social Care;

• ensuring that the Minister for Health and Social Care is kept informed of any 
changes that are likely to impact on the strategic direction of HEIW or on the 
attainability of its targets, and of steps needed to deal with such changes; 

• ensuring compliance with any statutory or administrative requirements in respect 
of the use of public funds; that it operates within the limits of its statutory authority 
and any delegated authority agreed with Welsh Government, and in accordance 
with any other conditions relating to the use of public funds; and that, in reaching 
decisions, it takes into account guidance issued by the Welsh Government; 

• ensuring that it receives, reviews and scrutinises regularly, the effectiveness and 
efficiency of the financial information and quality of delivery of HEIW; that it is 
informed in a timely manner about any concerns as to the activities of HEIW; and 
that, where applicable, it provides positive assurance to the Minister for Health
and Social Care that appropriate remedial action has been taken to address any 
such concerns; 

• demonstrating high standards of corporate governance at all times, including by 
using appropriate Committees to help the Board to receive assurance and 
address key financial and other risks; 

• ensuring a positive culture and promote the values and standards of conduct for 
the organisation and staff; 

• appointing the Chief Executive officer to the organisation; and
appointing the Executive Members to the Board.

The Welsh Government acknowledges the importance of developing and growing bilingual capabilities in public appointments in Wales, and welcomes applications from candidates who demonstrate their capability to work in both English and Welsh.  The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the recruiting body of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

Essential Criteria

To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience of at least one of the following areas to meet the essential criteria for the appointment:

- some experience of working at Board level with a willingness to develop these skills further – a package of support will be provided.

In addition you should have: 

• An understanding of the issues and priorities that are important to Health 
Education and Improvement Wales and the ability to understand the role and work of Boards; 

• Ability to hold others to account for their performance whilst maintaining a 
constructive relationship;

• Ability to think strategically and to exercise sound judgement on a range of sensitive and complex issues;

• Ability to analyse and interpret detailed information, for example detailed policy proposals or statistical information. 

• Ability to demonstrate a sound understanding and commitment to the One Wales Public Service Values Good communication skills and the ability to engage and work in partnership with employees, employee representatives and stakeholders. 

• An understanding and commitment to equality, diversity and championing 
inclusive practice.

03/02/2023, 16:00

To apply for this role, click on the ‘Apply’ button below. The first time you apply for a post, you will need to complete a registration form for the Welsh Government’s online application system.  You will only need to register once, and you will be able to keep yourself updated on the progress of your application, and any other applications you make, via your registered account.

Once you’ve registered, you’ll be able to access the application form.  To apply you will need to submit two supporting documents. The first, a document outlining how your knowledge, skills and experiences meet the criteria for the role as outlined in the information for candidates.  This document should be no more than 2 sides of A4.  Your application may be rejected if you exceed this limit.  The second document is a full, up to date CV.  The two documents should be uploaded to the ‘Reasons for applying’ section of the online application form.

In your application, you will also be asked to provide details of any activities which have helped you to develop skills that would be useful in a public appointment role, and list the organisations for which you undertook these activities.  We also need to know about any political activity that you’ve undertaken over the last 5 years. 

It is recommended that you register for an account and access the application form as soon as possible so that you see how the application form is structured, before starting to prepare your evidence.  You don’t have to complete the application form all in one go.  You can save your responses, and log in and out as required, until you’re ready to submit – just follow the guidance in the application form.

If you’d like to apply for this opportunity in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

If you need any further assistance in applying for this role, please contact the Welsh Government’s Public Appointments Team on  PublicAppointments@gov.wales.

For further information about Public Appointments in Wales, please visit www.gov.wales/publicappointments