Vacancy -- Non-Executive Director (Digital & Data) - Public Health Wales

Public Health Wales is the National Public Health Institute in Wales. Its vision is 
Working to achieve a healthier future for Wales and, in delivering this vision, it 
plays a pivotal role in driving improvements in population health and wellbeing, 
reducing health inequalities, improving healthcare outcomes, protecting the public 
and supporting the development of health in all policies across Wales.

The organisation works closely with communities, NHS organisations, local 
authorities, ministers and officials and a wide range of partners including the 
voluntary sector, housing, education and the police and criminal justice system. It 
also has an increasing role in supporting public health internationally as a World 
Health Organization Collaborating Centre and through its many relationships with 
international partners including the International Association of National Public Health 
Institutes.

It is an exciting time for public health in Wales with an innovative and progressive 
policy and legislative context that firmly places health, well-being and sustainability at 
the forefront of public services in Wales. Three significant drivers for this are the
Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, the Programme for Government: Prosperity 
for All the national strategy and A Healthier Wales: our plan for health and social 
care.

Our focus is very clear. In order to achieve improvements in health and well-being at 
scale and pace and reduce health inequalities in Wales, we will need to focus on 
what works, support our own national and local Public Health Wales people in 
thinking, engaging and working with partners differently and manage and deliver
change well. We also need to support our partners including communities, 
workplaces, the NHS, local authorities, the third sector, police, fire and rescue and 
housing agencies in becoming public health advocates and champions within and 
across communities. Additionally, there is a need to modernise how we, and the 
wider public health system, engages, interacts and communicates with the general 
public and communities.

We have established a number of key strategic partnerships and collaborations to 
drive improvements in health, well-being and sustainability across Wales – with a 
particular focus on building resilience and the wider determinants. These include 
CymruWellWales a cross sector strategic partnership leading for Wales on the first 
1000 Days and the Wales Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) Support Hub, the 
Early Action Together national programme with Public Health Wales and the police 
and criminal justice system to embed a public health approach to policing in Wales 
and a strategic Health and Housing Partnership for Wales.

This is an exciting time for Public health Wales as we embark on a new Long Term 
Strategy and is a great opportunity to use your skills and experience to contribute to 
our vision ‘Working to achieve a healthier future for Wales’. 

Role and responsibilities

Non-Executive Directors will, among other things:

 Discharge effective governance of the organisation, in all its integrated forms. 
The Board is a Unitary Board, and Executive and Non-Executive Directors are 
collectively responsible for Board-level decision-making. Non –Executive 
Directors have a scrutiny and oversight role and to bring their experience and 
expertise to bear in support of the Board discussions and decisions.

 Set the tone and culture for the organisation, ensuring that all staff can come to 
work and thrive as their authentic selves, without fear of discrimination or 
disadvantage of any kind.

 To maintain a ‘line of sight’ from the Board to the front line and back again. 

 Contribute to the work of the Board based upon your independence, past 
experience and knowledge, and your ability to stand back from day to day 
operational management. 

 Contribute to a joined up, robust and transparent decision-making process at 
Board level, to ensure openness and accountability for decisions made.

 Be expected to have sufficient working knowledge of Public Health Wales’ 
services and functions to ensure good governance, effective risk assessment and 
management and delivery against approved plans.

 Work closely with other public, private and voluntary bodies, to ensure that all 
relevant views are taken into account during the decision-making process. The 
interests of service users should be paramount in this respect.

 Discharge the role in accordance with the Nolan Principles and the Public Health 
Wales’ Board Etiquette.

 Analyse, and critically review, complex information to ensure that decision
making is as informed as possible. 
 Oversee the effective stewardship of resources, ensuring openness and 
accountability in the allocation and utilisation of resources
 Where NEDs have a specific portfolio, to reflect the views of portfolio 
stakeholders at Board level

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.

You will most likely have, or will have had, substantial experience in working/ having 
worked at a senior level in a Digital and Data environment. Your understanding and 
appreciation of population health related issues in Wales and the how we can better 
exploit digital solutions and the use of data in this context, as part of the wider health 
and care system, is essential. 

To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills 
and experience to meet all the essential criteria for appointment.

To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills 
and experience to meet all the essential criteria for appointment.

Role Specific Criteria

Public Health Wales is developing an ambitious agenda to maximise both our own 
use of digital and data opportunities but also those we publish and share with our 
partners and the Welsh public. We aim for this to help improve our own services and 
the wider public health services in Wales. We are therefore seeking applications from 
people with past or present knowledge and experience of working at a strategic level 
with the digital and data agenda to bring this vital perspective to the Board table.

In your application, you will need to demonstrate:

 A knowledge and understanding of the role of data and digital transformation 
in Wales;

 Ability to apply your knowledge and understanding of digital and data matters 
in a strategic Board environment – this will ideally be from your direct 
experience of leading or managing a large scale organisation in the fields of 
digital and data; 

 An understanding of the data and digital issues affecting the NHS nationally (in 
Wales) and the ability to work strategically to help achieve improved health 
outcomes for the people of Wales; 

 Experience of working at a senior executive or Board level.
Public Health and well-being are important for everyone in Wales and we welcome 
applications from people who reflect the rich diversity of the population.

Desirable criteria

 You will have ideally served in a non-executive or trustee role, at a national level.

09/05/2022, 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