Head of information governance

Band 8a · Information governance officer · 560 job evaluation points

Leads information governance for the organisation, setting its policy and strategy and advising senior leaders on information risk and compliance.

Responsibilities

Set the information governance strategy, policies, and framework for the organisation.
Lead the information governance and records services and develop their staff.
Advise the executive lead for information risk, the board, and its committees on information risk and compliance.
Make the final decisions on complex disclosure, sharing, and breach notification questions.
Represent the organisation with regulators, auditors, and partner organisations.
Make sure new digital services, data uses, and AI are designed with privacy and transparency from the start.

Skills

Skill	Expected level	What this level means
Information governance and data protectionThis reference	Expert (4)	You can: set information governance policy and strategy advise the board on information risk and compliance represent the organisation with regulators and partners
Information governance assurance and auditThis reference	Expert (4)	You can: own the organisation's information governance assurance framework report assurance and compliance to the board and its committees set improvement priorities based on risk
Confidentiality and information sharingThis reference	Expert (4)	You can: act as the senior adviser on confidentiality for the organisation resolve the most difficult disclosure decisions set the framework for sharing information with partners
Data protection impact assessmentThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: review and advise on data protection impact assessments for complex systems judge whether risks are acceptable and recommend controls decide when to escalate high risks for senior or regulator review
Health records managementThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: manage a records service and its procedures audit record-keeping and train staff
Organisational risk managementThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: run the risk process for a directorate or programme assess risks against the risk appetite and escalate them report on risks to committees
People managementThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: line manage a team, setting objectives and running appraisals support wellbeing and manage attendance, performance, and conduct plan the team's development and succession
Data ethics and privacyUK GDaD PCF	Expert (4)	You can: oversee compliance with data ethics standards and legislation across the organisation develop, manage and continuously improve an ethical framework within your area develop a data ethics culture, influencing others to act on it ensure data ethics is applied appropriately when formulating, implementing and evaluating organisational policies and programmes
Leadership and guidanceUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: make decisions characterised by medium levels of risk and complexity and recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase build consensus between services or independent stakeholders identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them engage in varying types of feedback, choosing the right type at the appropriate time and ensuring the discussion and decision stick bring people together to form a motivated team and help create the right environment for a team to work in facilitate the best team makeup depending on the situation

Typical qualifications and experience

A recognised professional qualification in data protection or information governance, or equivalent experience.
Extensive experience of leading information governance in health or care.

Band 8a outline

Knowledge: Expert knowledge of a discipline and its management.
Autonomy: Interprets organisational policy for a service; sets the team's direction.
Scope: A service area or a discipline across the organisation.
Leadership: Manages a team, or leads a discipline without line management.
Accountability: A service area, its staff, and its budget.

Job evaluation (illustrative)

Factor	Level	Level summary	Points
Communication and relationship skills	5	Gives highly complex or contentious information needing developed persuasion and negotiation, presents to large groups, or communicates where there are significant barriers to acceptance.	45
Knowledge, training, and experience	7	Highly developed specialist knowledge across the range of the specialism (master's level or equivalent).	196
Analytical and judgemental skills	5	Judgements on highly complex facts or situations needing analysis, interpretation, and comparison of options.	60
Planning and organisational skills	4	Plans a broad range of complex activities or strategies, adjusting them as needed.	42
Physical skills	2	Skills gained through practice, such as standard keyboard use or driving.	15
Responsibility for patient and client care	1	Helps patients, clients, or relatives during incidental contact.	4
Responsibility for policy and service development	4	Implements policy and develops policy or services for a service or several areas.	32
Responsibility for financial and physical resources	3	Authorises payments, buys some assets or supplies, monitors or holds a delegated budget, or maintains assets.	21
Responsibility for people	3	Manages a group of staff day to day, teaches core or specialist training, or gives core HR advice.	21
Responsibility for information resources	5	Designs and develops major information systems, or runs information systems for several services as the main duty.	34
Responsibility for research and development	2	Regularly does research, development, trials, or equipment and system testing as part of the job.	12
Freedom to act	5	Works within general policies, and in most cases decides how to interpret them.	45
Physical effort	1	Sitting, standing, and walking, with little physical effort.	3
Mental effort	3	Frequent concentration on unpredictable work, or occasional prolonged concentration.	12
Emotional effort	2	Occasional exposure, or frequent indirect exposure, to distressing circumstances.	11
Working conditions	2	Occasional unpleasant conditions, frequent travel or outdoor work, or near-continuous screen use on most days.	7
Total (Band 8a: 540 to 584)			560