To support delivery of the Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, NHS England has published the “Model ICB Blueprint” and “Strategic Commissioning Framework“; two documents which detail the work required to transform ICBs to become strategic commissioners; focussing on providing system leadership for population health and setting evidence-based and long-term population health strategies. Following publication of these documents, considerable thought and effort is going into translating what this will mean for the ICB in terms of its purpose, people and how it will operate.

We are required to think about EDI in this context. Equality is an ICB statutory function, due to the public sector duties enshrined in the Equality Act 2010 that all NHS organisations must abide by. The UK has robust legislation in place which offers protections to historically discriminated and/or underserved groups (also known as those with ‘protected characteristics’).

The purpose of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is to ensure that public authorities, like the NHS, consider, review and promote equality in all their functions:

• Decision-making
• Internal and external policies
• Procuring goods and services
• Services they commission and provide
• Recruitment, promotion and performance management of employees

In the meantime, whilst work is being undertaken to re-organise the ICB, the EDI team will continue to look at tools and resources which support different functions of the ICB to meet its responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty, align with the Blueprint and support the vision of the 10 Year Health Plan.

Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) as a tool for strategic commissioning

Further thought is being given to how Equality Impact Assessments can be routinely completed to a high standard and to embed this approach within South East London ICB as it becomes a strategic commissioning organisation.

EIAs are a key tool to identify where people and communities face barriers or have poorer experiences and outcomes and therefore become an effective approach to understanding inequalities for different sections of our population, by protected characteristic group, many of whom are well known to be affected by greater levels of deprivation and other social determinants of health across their life course. This is also applicable to our diverse staff and as such should continue to inform the work of the ICB in strategy, service and policy development.

Connected policies and dependencies

Our strategy connects to a wide range of corporate policies and frameworks:

• Equality Act 2010
• Health and Care Act 2022
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)
• Our NHS People Promise
• SEL ICB Values and Behaviours Framework
• NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)
• NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)
• NHS Workforce Sexual Orientation Equality Standard (WSOES)
• Disability Confident scheme
• NHS Six High Impact Actions (see page 7)
• Equality Delivery System 2022 (EDS22)
• Gender Pay Gap
• National Framework on Inclusion Health
• Health and Care LGBTQ+ Health Inclusion Framework
• SEL ICB Workplace Adjustments guidance (internal only)
• SEL ICB Trans and non-binary guidance (internal only)
• SEL ICB Equality Delivery Plan
• The SEL ICS Joint Forward Plan and our Integrated Care Strategy; both of which set out ambitions for EDI and reducing health inequalities
• SEL ICB People and Communities strategic framework

Our strategy informs, and is informed by, the following SEL ICB internal People and Organisational Development (OD) policies:

• Annual Leave and Special Leave Policy (HR07)
• Attendance Management Policy (HR02)
• Bullying and Harassment Policy (HR08)
• Change Management Policy (HR01)
• Disciplinary Policy and Procedure (HR06)
• Flexible Working Policy (HR10)
• Freedom to Speak Up and Whistleblowing Policy (CG02)
• Grievance Policy (HR09)
• Menopause Management and Support in the Workplace Policy (HR16)
• Parental Suite of Policies (HR04)
• Performance Management (HR03)
• Safer Recruitment Policy (QN03)
• Management of Stress and Mental Health in the Workplace Policy (HR11)
• Training and Development Policy (HROD01)