Governance
A number of key PHA staff are instrumental in taking forward governance issues, including a Senior Operations Manager, a Chief Executive Office and Committee Manager and a Governance Manager.
Process for awarding funding
The PHA is obliged to ensure that all funding is allocated in a manner that meets with standards of practice required of a statutory organisation. Below are the processes used by the PHA.
Performance management
The PHA is required to deliver on ministerial priorities and objectives as set out in Priorities for Action.
This section will provide updates on progress being made across the organisation in delivering on the following targets:
- corporate monitoring;
- benefits realisation plan;
- Priorities for Action.
Equality
The PHA is fully committed to equal opportunities and this section focuses on our responsibilities as a public body in Northern Ireland.
Under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 there is a legal requirement for public authorities to consider the possible impact of all their decisions on nine specified equality categories and also how to promote equality of opportunity and good relations in all areas of our work.
Process for authorising payments
The PHA has a standardised process for ensuring that all payments are authorised appropriately, please see the attached documents for further details on the authorisation of payments within the PHA.
Averting an alcohol crisis
- The majority of alcohol-related harm is attributable to excessive or hazardous drinkers and not those with severe alcohol dependence.
- Alcohol is the third most significant risk factor for ill health and premature death in the EU, behind tobacco and high blood pressure.
Highlighting the dangers of emerging drugs
- A legal high is a drug that is not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act and is therefore legal to possess.
- On 16 April 2010, mephedrone was made a Class B illegal drug.
- On 23 July 2010, naphyrone (NRG1) was made a Class B illegal drug.
- On 4 November 2010, the import of a chemical identified in samples of the legal high branded product Ivory Wave was banned.
Stopping smoking
Smoking is the single greatest preventable cause of death in the world today. There are more than one billion smokers worldwide – that’s one quarter of all adults – and it’s killing up to half the people who smoke.