Steering group minutes May 2024

Date: 22 May 2024

Time: 10am to 12pm

Location: MS Teams

Chair: Dr Nicola Byrne, National Data Guardian

Dr Nicola Byrne welcomed members to the meeting.

Apologies were made for Matt Hennessey (NHS Greater Manchester), Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown (RCGP) and Andrew Davies (ABHI).

Sam Smith (Med Confidential) and Dr Adrian Hayter (RCGP) were welcomed as new members to the Steering Group.

No conflicts of interest were raised by members.

Thinks Insight facilitated this item.

Thinks gave an update on Cohort 1:

Tier 1 fieldwork was completed, and Thinks were analysing the findings. The summary findings would be shared at the next Steering Group meeting.

Tier 2 materials were signed off with fieldwork underway.

For Tier 3, the survey questions are in development, with fieldwork due to take place in late June.

Thinks emphasised that this was a taste of emerging findings from Tier 1 and would not be detailed. Those who attended from the Steering Group to speak or observe were invited to give their own reflections throughout the meeting.

Colleagues from Thinks took attendees through interim findings of Cohort 1, focusing specifically on deliberative engagement. The discussion was primarily focused on the three main policy areas discussed – the value of data, governance of the SDE network and the Data Pact.

Thinks Insight facilitated this agenda item.

Thinks thanked all members for the thoughtful and constructive feedback on the Tier 2 materials. Notes around additional context, user-friendly language and the need for facilitators to elaborate on the complexity of some issues were especially useful.

Thinks reiterated that the inclusive engagement was designed to enable accessible conversations and to ensure the programme is informed by a range of experiences and voices.

The first workshops and in-depth interviews would be taking place this week. Alongside, recruitment was continuing for the other audiences and was going well. The engagement would be accessible through being flexible (organisation and participant preferences were most important), and adaptable (materials were being tailored to the workshop or depth interview).

Steering Group members were interested in finding out if there was much dissent from the majority views, how facilitators had been clear about scope, and if the project team had differentiated between different types of research. Another member was interested to see how the ‘wider benefits’ would be analysed in the full report.

One Steering Group member asked if there were interim updates being published? Thinks explained there were some comms plans due in the upcoming weeks.

Another member questioned if there a risk of 'group think' and what plans were to mitigate this? Thinks explained there were steps in place to manage this possibility, facilitation skills would also prevent it.

The Senior Policy Advisor facilitated this item.

The planned process was explained for publishing the terms of reference and minutes for the group. Members were asked how they wished to be identified on a planned webpage, this could either be through their name or by organisation.

Steering Group members responded in the chat that they had no issue with either approach. Any questions around the approach could be directed to DHSC via email.

DHSC flagged the planned dates for Cohort 2 Tier 1 fieldwork.

Dr Nicola Byrne concluded the meeting.