Cabinet Office
15 January 2025
Application to establish an independent consultancy
under the Business Appointment Rules from Professor Dame Jenny Harries DBE DL,
former Chief Executive, UK Health Security Agency at the Department of Health
and Social Care.
Thank you for submitting an application for advice under the
Business Appointment Rules (the Rules) to the Civil Service Commission (the
Commission) on behalf of Dame Jenny Harries DBE DL, formerly Chief
Executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), an arm’s length body of the
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). The application is to establish an
independent consultancy. Further detail on the content of the
application is in the Annex. The Commission’s advice is required as Dame Jenny
is a civil servant at SCS Pay Band 4. Her last day of service was 31 May 2025.
The purpose of the Rules is to
protect the integrity of the government. They aim to avoid any reasonable
concerns that: a civil servant may be influenced in their official duties by
the risk of reward; a civil servant may improperly exploit access to
information; and an organisation may gain an improper influence through the
employment of a civil servant.
The Commission’s advice[1] is that this
application to establish an independent consultancy should be subject to the
following conditions:
- Privileged information – Dame Jenny should not draw on (disclose or use for the
benefit of herself the persons or organisations to which this advice
refers) any privileged information available to her from her time in office.
- Lobbying – For two years from her last day in office,
until 31 May 2027, Dame Jenny should not become personally involved in
lobbying the UK government or its arm’s length bodies on behalf of her
independent consultancy (including parent companies, subsidiaries,
partners and clients). She should also not use, directly or indirectly,
her contacts in the government and/or civil service to influence policy,
secure business/funding or otherwise unfairly advantage her independent
consultancy (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and
clients).
- Bids and contracts – For two years from her last day in
the civil service, until 31 May 2027, Dame Jenny should not provide advice
to any company or organisation on behalf of her independent consultancy on
a bid or contract relating to the UK government or its arm’s length
bodies.
- Independent
consultancy – For two years from her last day in civil service, until 31
May 2027, before accepting any work for her independent consultancy and
or/before extending or otherwise changing the nature of her work, she
should seek advice from the Commission. The Commission will decide whether
each piece of work is consistent with the terms of the consultancy and
consider any relevant factors under the Rules. This excludes work that
falls into the following categories: unpaid roles; non-executive charitable
roles; academic roles (such as teaching, research or peer review);
journalism and media appearances (excluding corporate or management roles
in media organisations); or one-off speaking engagements. In these cases,
the other conditions outlined in this letter will still apply.
The Rules set out that civil servants must abide by the
Commission’s advice. It is Dame Jenny’s personal responsibility to manage the
propriety of any appointment and to understand any other rules and regulations
she may be subject to in parallel with the Commission’s advice.
Dame Jenny must seek advice if she proposed to extend or
otherwise change her consultancy work. Once this appointment has been publicly
announced or taken up, the letter will be published on the Civil Service
Commission’s website.
Yours sincerely,
Gisela Stuart
First Civil Service Commissioner
Annex A: The application
Applicant
assessment
- Dame Jenny stated that she will be setting up her own
consulting service. She said this work will be both on a paid and unpaid
basis. Dame Jenny stated that the new consultancy company will initially
offer services based on her existing skills and expertise and will provide
professional consultancy with a focus on public health including
population health, health protection, international health and health
economics.
- Dame Jenny stated that the skills and knowledge offered
by her independent consultancy will come from her academic qualifications
earned before civil service roles and her long career in medicine and
public health, including work in local and central government,
universities, and health services across the UK and internationally.
- Dame Jenny stated she may consult on a wide range of
public health areas, including health improvement and promotion; strategic
planning for health services; public sector commissioning; clinical
epidemiology, pharmacology, and infectious disease management; health
protection and emergency response; environmental health risks; leadership,
training, and promoting STEM careers (especially for women and for gender
equality/diversity); and general and executive management.
- Dame Jenny stated specific contracts will be negotiated
individually as they arise. To comply with the two-year period she is
subject to the Rules, which started on 31 May 2025 (the last day of her
civil service employment), she stated the following activities of her
consulting work will be rejected or limited:
● Direct lobbying of Ministers in areas
where she has relevant senior civil service experience or information.
● Personal work on products or services
where a contract with the government has or could be enacted (for example,
specific drugs or vaccines).
- The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is the UK's lead
body responsible for protecting the population from infectious diseases
and external health threats. Its functions include nationwide disease
surveillance, managing public health emergencies and providing scientific
leadership to guide government strategy on health protection, ensuring the
country is resilient against future health crises. The Secretary of State
for Health and Social Care sets the strategic priorities for the UKHSA and
holds its Chief Executive accountable for its performance. The Department
for Health and Social Care (DHSC) provides the funding and policy
framework within which the UKHSA operates. As Chief Executive, Dame Jenny was responsible
for leading the agency. She was accountable for its strategy, operations
and the effective and efficient use of public funds.
- These responsibilities included finance, personnel,
operations, science delivery, research, emergency response, clinical and
public health advice, and support for policy development on health
protection issues (including infectious diseases, chemical, radiation,
environmental, and climate threats).
- Separate from her consulting work, Dame Jenny noted that
she may continue to provide professional expertise on public health or
science issues relevant to government at its request, as she has done
previously.
Departmental assessment
- Whilst Dame Jenny had broad oversight of decisions
impacting broader biotechnology, life sciences and various health policy
areas, the Cabinet Office and DHSC do not consider her to have had any
involvement in decisions specifically relevant to the establishment of her
consulting business.
- The Cabinet Office noted that while Dame Jenny had
access to commercially sensitive information, the Cabinet Office and DHSC
is satisfied that this information is no longer relevant or nearly so,
given that more than six months have passed since she left the role.
- The Cabinet Office stated that Dame Jenny's consulting
work is unlikely to attract criticism, reasoning that it is a new company
established to provide services that draw on her extensive clinical and
academic expertise spanning a lifetime career in medicine and public
health. In a similar vein, DHSC does not believe this work provides her
with an unfair advantage. Both departments noted that Dame Jenny's prior
and long-standing background in clinical, academic, and public health
further reduces the likelihood that her consulting work will be perceived
as a result of actions she took while in the civil service.
- The departments did not have concerns with the
establishment of her independent consultancy as described and recommended
the standard conditions.
CSC analysis
- Risk of reward. As Dame Jenny is establishing a new company, the risk
of reward for decisions or actions taken in office is likely to be low.
- Access to information. Dame Jenny will have had access to a wide range
of information, which could provide an unfair advantage to future clients
of her independent consultancy. This risk is reduced by the six months
which have passed since leaving the civil service and the fact that the
departments are unaware of any sensitive information she may possess that
could offer an unfair advantage. Significantly, the Commission noted:
● Dame Jenny’s role was focused on
national health protections and strategy, not commercial work with start-ups.
The exception of Moderna in the early stages of the pandemic was now a number
of years ago.
● Though she had oversight of contracts
impacting the biotech sector, as well as strategic interactions and involvement
with the wider biotechnology and life sciences communities, the UKHSA’s direct
contractual and commercial links are handled by a dedicated commercial team and
she had no direct involvement in the work.
● The government has now published ‘The
UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025’[2]
which sets out its ten year plan and places the government’s high-level
priorities for the Life Sciences in the public domain. It has also published
the Autumn Budget 2025[3],
setting out strategic information related to the priorities of DHSC and UKHSA,
including funding.
- Improper influence. As a senior official, there is a risk that Dame Jenny’s
government contacts may present an unfair advantage to potential clients
of her consulting work. Given the lobbying ban that applies to all former
senior civil servants, Dame Jenny cannot have contact with ministers or
officials that could reasonably be seen as seeking to influence
government. It is significant to note that Dame Jenny stated she would not
have contact with government as part of her consulting work. The risks
relating to lobbying and/or involvement in government bids and contracts are
mitigated by the standard conditions.
- Dame Jenny noted that she may continue to provide her
professional expertise on public health or science to government. The
Commission’s view is that providing this input at government's request
would not be considered improper under the lobbying ban, especially as
this will sit separate from her proposed consulting work.
- Independent consultancy. This advice provides Dame
Jenny consent only to set up a consultancy, subject to a number of
conditions. The proposed scope of her consultancy overlaps with the
substance of her time in office. As advised by the government’s BARs
guidance, before accepting any work for her independent consultancy and
or/before extending or otherwise changing the nature of her work, she should
seek advice from the Commission. However in this instance, this will
exclude work that falls under the following categories: unpaid roles;
non-executive charitable roles; academic roles (such as teaching, research
or peer review); journalism and media appearances (excluding corporate or
management roles in media organisations); or one-off speaking engagements.
In these cases, the other conditions outlined in this letter will still
apply.
- Waiting period. As a former SCS Pay Band 4 official, Dame Jenny is
subject to a three month waiting period upon leaving government service in
taking up any appointments or establishing an independent consultancy. As
Dame Jenny left the civil service over six months ago, this period has
elapsed.