Structure, Governance and Authority in the Blood Sector

Governance Arrangement

The key governing bodies in the Australian blood sector and their roles and relationships with
each other are set out in the National Blood Agreement and National Blood Authority Act 2003
and are depicted in Figure 3.1.

FIGURE 3.1 Governance and Authority in the Blood Sector

Establishment of the National Blood Authority (NBA)

The National Blood Agreement between all governments outlines the policy framework for the current national blood arrangements. The Agreement outlines the:

• nationally agreed objectives of governments for the blood sector (primary and secondary)
• governance arrangements for the sector
• administrative arrangements for the management of the national blood supply
• financial arrangements for the national blood supply.

The NBA emerged from the 2001 Review of the Australian Blood Banking and Plasma Product Sector undertaken by Sir Ninian Stephen. The Stephen Review noted the need for changes to the inconsistent and fragmented arrangements that applied to the blood sector at that time. More specifically, there were 30 agreements in existence between the governments, the Blood Service and CSL. In addition, supply costs had tripled between 1991 and 1999.

The Stephen Review recommended the strengthening of the arrangements for the coordination and oversight of Australia's blood supply, including the establishment of a National Blood Authority to manage Australia's blood supply at a national level.

Negotiations to develop a national management framework commenced in June 2001 in consultation with the States, Territories and other key interest groups.

Commonwealth legislation allowing for the establishment of the NBA passed through both Houses of Parliament and the new Authority came into existence on 1 July 2003.

The NBA noted that Sir Ninian Stephen died in 2017-18. To acknowledge his significant contribution to the establishment of the NBA, the NBA has named a meeting room in his honour.

NBA Governance Committees

An overview of the NBA Governance structure is shown in Figure 3.2.

FIGURE 3.2 Governance and Authority in the NBA

Five governance committees assist the NBA Chief Executive to plan and manage corporate governance, outcome delivery, strategic projects and stakeholder interests:

• The NBA Business Committee is the primary governance committee for the NBA. It provides strategic oversight and direction for the management of the NBA and its business and finance activities.
  

  The role of the NBA Business Committee is to:

  • support and advise the Chief Executive
  • provide strategic leadership, guidance and direction in relation to all business activities and processes and also in relation to people management, financial management and ICT issues
  • review NBA business plans and activities, and monitor progress regularly against key milestones and deliverables
  • consider NBA investment priorities and review these priorities on a regular basis
  • oversee relevant sub-committees and project boards.

The Committee membership comprises the Chief Executive, Deputy General Manager, Executive Directors, Chief Finance Officer, Executive Manager HR and the Chief Information Officer. The Committee is chaired by the Chief Executive and supported by the Executive Support Office. Other staff may be required to attend meetings for relevant agenda items.

• The ICT Committee, chaired by the NBA Chief Executive, provides strategic direction and oversight of the NBA's information, communications, technology and knowledge management activities, including BloodNet/ABDR development and enhancement and BloodSTAR. Membership of the committee includes senior executive management, the Chief Finance Officer and the Chief Information Officer.
• The Project Governance Committees, chaired by the NBA Chief Executive, provide governance oversight of major strategic projects of material significance. The terms of reference and membership of each board is specific to the project. Project Governance Committees operated in 2017-18 for the following projects:
  • Ig Governance Program
  • National Blood Sector Research and Development Program.
• The NBA Audit Committee provides independent assurance and advice to the Chief Executive on strategies to enhance the organisation's governance control and risk management framework, the planning and conduct of the NBA internal audit program and support financial and legislative compliance. The Committee met six times in 2017-18.
  

  Its membership in 2017-18 was as follows:

  • Mr Ken Barker (Chair)
  • Mr Paul Bedbrook
  • Mrs Roslyn Jackson
  • Representatives from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) and the NBA internal auditors RSM (Australia) also attend meetings as observers for most matters, as do the
    NBA Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer.
    
• The Staff Participation Forum (SPF) - the NBA has an established SPF to consult directly with its employees and representatives about significant decisions that affect their working lives. The SPF is a group comprised of NBA staff representatives, NBA management representatives and a Work Health and Safety representative.

NBA Management

As at 30 June 2018, the NBA Senior Executive Management team comprised the following:

• Chief Executive – Mr John Cahill
• Deputy General Manager/General Counsel – Mr Michael Stone
• Executive Director Fresh Blood, Data & Clinical Development - Ms Sandra Cochrane
• Executive Director Supply Management Plasma & Recombinant Products – Mr Ian Kemp.

As at 30 June 2018, the NBA comprised the following 15 teams/business streams:

• Legal Services
• Executive Support Group
• Secretariat and Communications
• Immunoglobulin Governance
• Research and Development
• Horizon Scanning
• Human Resources
• Blood Operations Centre
• Information Management
• Supply Management - Plasma & Recombinant Products
• Business Support
• Supply Management – Fresh Blood
• Blood Sector Clinical Development
• Data and Information Analysis
• Finance and Risk.

Internal Audit

The NBA's internal audit program, guided by the Audit Committee, plays a key part in risk mitigation. The Audit Committee reviews the risk register on an annual basis as a key input in developing the internal audit program.

RSM (Australia) conducted a range of audits and reviews in line with the work program developed in conjunction with the Audit Committee. The 2017-18 work program encompassed reviews of the NBA's corporate credit cards, Goods Ordering and Receipt Verification (GORV) process, and the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF).

The Audit Committee continued to monitor the implementation of internal audit report recommendations through status reports.