Public Health England - Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 1 Protecting and improving the nation’s health Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 HC 913 Public Health England - Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 3 Public Health England Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 Presented to the House of Commons pursuant to section 7 of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 26 November 2020 HC 913 4 Public Health England - Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 About Public Health England Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. We do this through world-leading science, research, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and the delivery of specialist public health services. We are an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, and a distinct delivery organisation with operational autonomy. We provide government, local government, the NHS, Parliament, industry and the public with evidence-based professional, scientific and delivery expertise and support. Public Health England Wellington House 133-155 Waterloo Road London SE1 8UG Tel: 020 7654 8000 www.gov.uk/phe Twitter: @PHE_uk © Crown copyright 2020 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Duncan Selbie picture, pages 8 and 86 © Guzelian. This publication is available at: www.gov.uk/official-documents. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to [email protected]. ISBN – 978-1-5286-2256-1 CCS – CCS0320288052 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Public Health England supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals Public Health England - Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 5 Contents 1 Performance report Chair’s report .................................................................................................................................... 6 Chief Executive’s review ................................................................................................................... 8 Our purpose ................................................................................................................................... 10 Our role .......................................................................................................................................... 11 Our priorities ................................................................................................................................... 14 People and budgets ....................................................................................................................... 15 Taxpayer value strategy and delivery ............................................................................................... 16 Our national and local presence ...................................................................................................... 17 PHE science campuses .................................................................................................................. 18 Focus area: Our role and response to COVID-19 ........................................................................... 19 Focus area: Mental Health .............................................................................................................. 21 Focus area: Air quality ................................................................................................................... 23 Social marketing ............................................................................................................................. 25 Performance analysis ...................................................................................................................... 32 Our organisation ............................................................................................................................. 47 Financial review .............................................................................................................................. 63 Sustainable development and environmental management ............................................................. 69 2 Accountability report Statement of Accounting Officer’s responsibilities ........................................................................... 81 Governance statement ................................................................................................................... 82 Remuneration and staff report ...................................................................................................... 122 Parliamentary accountability and audit report ................................................................................ 140 The certificate and report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the House of Commons ....... 143 3 Accounts Statement of comprehensive net expenditure ............................................................................... 146 Statement of financial position ...................................................................................................... 147 Statement of cash flows ............................................................................................................... 148 Statement of changes in taxpayers’ equity .................................................................................... 149 Notes to the financial statements .................................................................................................. 150 6 Public Health England - Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 1 Performance report Chair’s report Dame Julia Goodfellow I am writing this report in September 2020 but have to keep reminding myself it is a report about activity from April 2019 to March 2020. However, it is impossible not to focus on the enormous activity that has occurred since January, through the spring and summer and is continuing to occur as we plan for the winter and for the new structure for public health in England. As I write, our thoughts are primarily on COVID-19 and working towards the continued easing of the lockdown measures including the opening of schools and supporting local authorities as they deal with hot spots. COVID-19 is the biggest public health challenge this country has faced in living memory. PHE has provided significant expertise, experience, knowledge and innovation built up over many years to help combat this dreadful disease. As part of the response to the pandemic, PHE has worked with key international partners, designed and delivered the first UK COVID-19 diagnostic test rolling it out faster than any other novel UK test in recent history and ensured NHS designated testing laboratories were able to start testing early on. PHE has been central to the NHS test and trace programme that is helping us to handle the next stages of the pandemic as we come out of lockdown. The last year has been an incredibly challenging period for PHE and I extend my thanks to all staff for their amazing commitment, fully recognising that this heightened level of activity is likely to continue for some time to come. PHE has also been providing guidance and advice to frontline health and care workers, other key workers and the public on all aspects of living and working with this pandemic, involving staff right across the organisation. None of this could have happened without partnership working, and PHE has always recognised the value of this. As well as the national and international relationships that PHE has helped foster as part of the COVID-19 response, many critical interactions take place regionally and locally on a day-to-day basis, particularly with local directors of public health and their staff. I was delighted to visit PHE’s regional and centre offices in Birmingham and in Leeds in January to understand more about these relationships. I was there at the very beginning of the epidemic and saw the excellent work PHE does on testing and tracing contacts. We must not forget how important local knowledge and skills are in combating outbreaks of infectious disease. On Tuesday 18 August 2020, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, announced the establishment of a new organisation called The National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP). NIHP will bring together health protection work combining the health protection elements of PHE with the NHS Test and Trace service and the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC)’s intelligence and analytical capability. NIHP will be established in Spring 2021. The PHE functions and directorates that will transfer to the new organisation are currently being considered, as well as new homes for the rest of the important work that PHE carries out, including its health improvement priorities. But the provision of public health in England whether Public Health England - Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 7 for health protection or health improvement cannot stop. PHE will continue to carry out its duties across the enormous range of activity while at the same time ensuring support for the nascent NIHP. Times like these make us appreciate the importance of the work we have been doing in fields