Corporate Governance

Each NHS Foundation Trust has the freedom to design its own Constitution in accordance with the legislation that creates NHS Foundation Trusts as Public Benefit Corporations. The Constitution forms part of the terms of a Foundation Trust’s provider licence, the main tool used by NHS England and Improvement for regulating providers of NHS services.

The Constitution deals with, among other things:

• The name, purpose and powers of the Foundation Trust
• How the Governors and Board of Directors will work together
• How the Trust will be accountable to local people
• Who is eligible to be a member or a Governor
• The composition of the Council of Governors and Board of Directors
• How Governors and Directors will be appointed.

Trust Board self-certification: NHS Provider Licence compliance; Continuity of Services Condition 7

In relation to the NHS Provider Licence, the Trust Board is required by its regulator NHS England to self-certify as to the statement to be included with regard to ‘Continuity of Services Condition 7’.

The Trust Board approved the self-certification for 2024/25 on 31 May 2024.  The self-certification regarding Continuity of Services Condition 7 can be accessed here.

• Constitution
• Audit Committee Terms of Reference
• Board of Directors Nominations & Remunerations Committee Terms of Reference
• Charitable Funds Terms of Reference
• People Academy Terms of Reference
• Finance and Performance Academy Terms of Reference
• Quality and Patient Safety Academy Term of Reference
• Reservations of the Powers of the Board and Scheme of Delegation
• Standing Orders of the Board of Directors
• Standing Financial Instructions
• Council of Governors Terms of Reference
• Governors Nominations & Remunerations Committee Terms of Reference
• Standing Orders of the Council of Governors
• Council of Governors Engagement Policy
• Your Statutory Duties: A reference guide for NHS Foundation Trust Governors
• Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

• Conflicts of Interest Policy
• Declarations of Interests

Decision-makers at BTHFT (see our Conflicts of Interest Policy), are required to make an annual declaration of any actual /potential conflicts that they may have; i.e. outside employment; or provide a nil declaration return.

As part of our contractual requirements with NHS England, and as set out in the NHS Standard Contract, we are required to publish all declarations made by decision makers, which includes the following information:

• Full name
• Job title
• Date and time the declaration was submitted
• All details entered into the Declare System relating to the declaration

In addition to the above; from 1st April 2022, we are now also required to publish the name and position of any ‘Decision-Making Staff’ who have not completed a declaration of interest or submitted a nil return in respect of that contract year, as required under ‘Managing Conflicts of Interest in the NHS’.

Decision-Maker declarations will be published for a period of 6 months (unless open-ended), unless they can demonstrate a real danger of harm should the declaration go into the public domain.

A list of Decision makers that did not make a declaration during 2023/24 will be listed shortly.