Members Present: Martin Pitt (Chair) Noel Hyndman Marie Mallon John Turkington Kieran Donnelly, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Pamela McCreedy, Chief Operating Officer (COO) In Attendance: Rodney Allen (Director) – Agenda item 5 Kate Cassidy (Auditor) – Agenda item 5 Richard Ross (Audit Manager) – Agenda item 5 Louise Donnelly (Board Secretary) The Chair welcomed members to the meeting.
1. Apologies No apologies were noted.
2. Declaration of Conflicts of Interest There were no issues declared by Committee members or attendees.
3. Minutes of Meeting held on 30 May 2019 and Matters Arising The Chair noted the minutes of the meeting held on 30 May 2019 were agreed by all parties concerned. The Matters Arising from the meeting of 30 May 2019 were noted as having been completed.
4. Report from meeting of Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) – 24 September 2019 Draft minutes of the ARAC meeting held on 24 September 2019 were noted as having been circulated to the Chair for consideration and will be forwarded to all parties concerned in due course.
5. NIAO Financial Management and Budgeting - Presentation Rodney Allen, Kate Cassidy and Richard Ross were welcomed to the meeting. Rodney Allen introduced the presentation and provided an overview of the content, he encouraged members to engage and ask questions at any stage of the presentation. The presentation was carried out by Kate Cassidy and Richard Ross, they provided a comprehensive overview of NIAO Budgeting; Estimating and Reporting; and current and future issues for NIAO. 2The financial impact of Brexit on the European Agricultural Fund (EAF) and an update on the timing, resourcing and capital issues around the Accommodation Project were of particular interest to members. The Chair expressed an interest in revisiting the Accommodation Project at a future meeting when the project has further progressed. The Chair thanked the group for the presentation and all agreed they found it informative and worthwhile.
6. Business Transformation Programme (BTP) – Monitoring Report Pamela McCreedy updated members on the current position of the BTP, she advised Project Initiation Documents (PIDs) for work streams have been subject to monitoring throughout the period May to September 2019. Members queried the number of work streams identified across the five pillars and sought assurance on the management and ownership of each of the work streams. Pamela McCreedy reassured members that each pillar had a Director assigned to lead progress and that regular updates and monitoring were carried out by the Operational Management and Senior Management Teams. The following areas were also discussed:
Communication and Engagement Members were advised that the Senior Management Team will reconsider the draft Communications and Engagement Strategy at their meeting scheduled for 19 November 2019. The Chair requested the Strategy is shared with the Advisory Board, when finalised.
Digitalisation The Chair queried the progress update on activities outstanding regarding Digitalisation. Pamela McCreedy advised that projects were progressing in line with agreed delivery dates and that further developments were expected in the coming weeks on Data Analytics. Members were assured that NIAO is keeping abreast of developments in other audit agencies and the COO would discuss this along with other matters at the Audit Agencies COO Group Meeting next week.
7. Remuneration Committee – Terms of Reference (TOR) A draft TOR was considered and approved by members. The C&AG welcomed the positive comments and approval.
8. AOB
Review of Role Profiles - The Chair asked members to note the likelihood of an additional meeting for an update on progress.
Date of next meeting 11 February 2020. ADVISORY BOARD 11 FEBRUARY 2020 @ 10AM Paper 3 3 Advisory Board Matters arising from the meeting ISSUE TARGET DATE RESPONSIBILITY PROGRESS/ OUTCOME Issues arising from meeting of 8 October 2019 Communications and Engagement Strategy - Final Strategy to be shared with the Advisory Board. 11 February 2020 P McCreedy Complete – Agenda item 6 Accommodation Project - The Accommodation Project to be considered at a future meeting when the project has further progressed. 26 May 2020 P McCreedy To be considered at May Advisory Board Meeting