Public Advisory and Accountability Group

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The Public Advisory and Accountability Group (PAAG) will support the North West SDE’s programme development. This is to ensure the North West SDE uses public health data in ways that benefit you.

The PAAG will support research management, regulation, leadership and decision making. Public inclusion in research governance is central to improving transparency and trust.

What is PAAG?

The PAAG is a group of people from the North West of England who help to make sure the North West SDE uses health data in a way that benefits everyone.

This group meets regularly to monitor the North West SDE’s work and give advice based on members’ lived experiences. These meetings are also attended by senior members of the North West SDE team, so this feedback is delivered directly.

What does PAAG do?

  • Give advice: the group helps decide what is important for the project to focus on. 
  • ​Share ideas: the group helps create materials like posters and information for the public. 
  • ​Check language: the group makes sure that information is easy to understand. 
  • ​Ask questions: the group makes sure that the project is using people’s data safely and correctly. 
  • Support outreach: help us develop outreach sessions and public content.

Who is in the group?

  • 18 residents: six from each area of the North West
    • Cheshire and Merseyside
    • Greater Manchester
    • Lancashire, and South Cumbria 
  • Public members have one-two-year terms. This enables us to regularly bring in new voices.
  • ​We also include people and public representatives from other organisations, including the National Institute for Health Research and Healthwatch. 

Diversity 

We aim to ensure the group aims to include people from different backgrounds and communities. This is important to make sure everyone’s voice is heard. 

How does the group work? 

  • ​Meetings: the group meets online every month for two hours. Sometimes they meet in person. 
  • ​Leadership: the group has a Chair (leader) and a Deputy Chair. They help run the meetings. 
  • ​Reporting: the group reports to the Programme Board, which is responsible for making big decisions.

How do I join the group or get more involved?

We are regularly recruiting new members. If you would be interested, please email nw.sde@lthtr.nhs.uk. We will send a questionnaire to explore your interest and understand your background.

What if there are conflicts of interest? 

Group members must tell the group if they have any conflicts of interest. This means if they have any other job or role that might affect their decisions in the group.

​Are people paid?

In line with research best practices as laid out by the National Institute for Health Research, we do provide a gift in recognition of people’s time. Members get £50 for each meeting they attend.

​​Training 

​New members will receive training to understand the project better.

How do the meetings work?

Meetings will focus on different aspects of the ‘Five Safes Framework’, which is a set of standards to enable safe and effective access to data for research.

  • Find out more about the Five Safes Framework on our How data is protected page.

Read the PAAG terms of reference in this Word document.

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