Health England - Terms of Reference

1. Establishment

Established by the Department of Health (DH) in line with the commitment in the Government White Paper ‘Our Health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services’ 2006.  Reports to the Secretary for State for Health. 

2. Functions and Responsibilities 

• To oversee the accessibility and use of the evidence base for interventions that support health and well-being and make recommendations to ministers on what interventions are most promising or effective. 

• To agree with ministers a forward programme that best addresses the health and wellbeing agenda and required shifts in investment to health and wellbeing. 

• To provide advice to DH England on priorities for the development of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) in respect of interventions in primary medical care to support health and wellbeing. The development of the QOF will continue to be subject to an agreed negotiation process between the BMA and NHS Employers, supported by the QOF Expert Panel.

• To make recommendations on developing a 10-year programme for preventative spending, based on a comparison with other OECD countries.

• To advise the Department of Health on the development of preventative spending for the 2008 planning round as part of a strategy for the development of preventative services, including setting goals for a shift of resources to prevention and examining the case for setting a target for the percentage shift in the share of PCT resources spent on prevention.

• To provide advice to the Department of Health on the development of a central database on interventions to improve health & well-being as a resource for commissioners.

3. Meetings

To meet three times a year

4. Sub-Committees

Expert Advisory Panel on Preventative Health Spending

Prevention in Social Care sub-group

June 2007