Minutes of Senior Management Team Meeting held on 21 May 2019
In attendance: K Donnelly, Chair (C&AG), P McCreedy (COO), C Kane (Director), T Wilkinson (Director), N Gray (Director), D Lynn (Director), L Donnelly (Secretary)
Apologies: R Allen (Director)
1 & 2 Minutes of Previous meeting and Matters Arising
Minutes of the previous meeting held on 16 April 2019 were agreed and matters arising updated.
3. Key Corporate Matters
Finance
2018‐19 Finance Position – Members noted the projected year end position for 2018‐19
- 2019‐20 Finance Position – The C&AG will be issuing a letter to the Secretary of State with regard to the budget allocated to NIAO for 2019‐20 and the anticipated impact on subsequent years.
- Charge Out Rates – A terms of reference was agreed to review charge out rates.
- Accommodation ‐ The pre‐qualification questionnaire (PQQ) stage to procure the accommodation design team has begun, these will be assessed by CPD. It is anticipated the successful candidates will be issued with Invitations to tender by the end of June 2019 with the successful design team appointed by October/November 2019. The next Project Board meeting is scheduled for 5 June 2019.
- Premises/facilities The lease with our current ground floor tenants has now been signed. A second additional lease for a short term period to facilitate a decant by another public body has been agreed and the operational and practical implications are currently being considered.
- IT ‐ The contract with IT Assist has been renewed for a further three years 2019‐22. The current IT support assistant will be returning to IT Assist at the beginning of June 2019 and the support functions that he carried out will be transferred to the central support services team. The revised IT support arrangements will be communicated to staff. Following the IT Health check report that was previously reported to SMT, a request has been made to Hallmark (PAMS/ESS) to provide solutions to the issues raised.
- Governance ‐ Training for NEDs was completed on 7 May 2 019. An Audit and Risk Assessment Committee (ARAC) meeting was held on 7 May. The first meeting of the Advisory Board has been scheduled for 30 May 2019.
- Communications ‐ Recent reports have been published on Good Practice Guide (Partnership Working) and Mental Health in Criminal Justice System. An internal briefing for all staff is to be scheduled. Prior to report publication staff briefing is to be incorporated into the Communications Strategy and added as a stage to the template on MKI.
Business Support
- Impacts – A final figure has been calculated but a number of authorisations are still outstanding, a file has been prepared for external audit verification.
- Conference Survey ‐ Following the Office Conference a survey was generated to ascertain staff feedback from the day. A high level overview of the results were presented to SMT for information and a detailed report will be presented to SMT on 11 June 2019. Members expressed thanks to all parties involved with organising the Conference and for their help in making it a success.
HR
- Recruitment Summary
- Two auditors have been appointed and will take up post May/June 2019
- Graduate Trainee accountants have been appointed and are scheduled to start September 2019.
- Further recruitment is planned for 2019 and the development of an apprenticeship scheme is progressing.
- Attendance Management ‐ SMT noted the overall days lost per employee in the rolling period 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2019. Members welcomed the decrease in short term sickness absence and the high rate of staff with no sickness absence days in the past year.
- Staff Survey ‐ The staff survey achieved a response rate of 91%. The preliminary results were shared with staff at the Staff Conference on 12 April with the full report emailed to staff on 14 May 2019. The Operational Management Team (OMT) are developing an action plan of next steps to take and are encouraging staff to participate openly in workshops hosted by Inspire, scheduled for May and June 2019.
4. Business Transformation Programme (BTP)
P McCreedy updated members on the current position of the BTP. Project Initiation Documents (PIDs) for work streams identified in the transformation programme, have been subject to monitoring throughout the period February to the end of April 2019. Four additional work streams have been identified in the BTP but PIDs have yet to be completed.
- Communication and Engagement
- Communication and Engagement Strategy – draft strategy progressing, first draft will be presented to SMT by end of June 2019.
- Collaborative Working – strategy progressing, paragraphs will be drafted for inclusion in 3 year Public Reporting Strategy.
- Digitalisation
- Data Analytics ‐ Completion of the GovTech project through Phase 1 will be achieved by start of July 2019. Phase 2 to commence in October 2019.
- EDRMS ‐ Consideration of EDRMS Business Case scheduled for OMT ‐ 4 June 2019.
- MKI – Continued development with automating public reporting templates onto MKI, planning to train staff and have a timetable in place for all new public reporting audits to use MKI.
- Governance and Audit Practices
- Governance Strategy ‐ Obtain approval of Advisory Board ToR; Revises ToR for SMT, Develop new ToR for OMT and Develop ToR for Remuneration Committee.
- 3 year Public Reporting Work Plan ‐ Continued engagement with stakeholders to develop the programme. A workshop is planned for 24 May 2019 to progress the forward work programme. The Advisory Board will be updated on BTP at their meeting scheduled for 30 May 2019. Staff will be updated at the staff briefing scheduled for the morning of 30 May 2019.
5. Revised draft DAO clearance protocol
SMT were asked to consider a draft DAO circular prepared to streamline the clearance protocol of NIAO value for money reports with NICS Departments. After discussion the circular was agreed by SMT with just some minor amendments suggested. N Gray to liaise with DoF regarding the issuing of the circular and the possible involvement of the C&AG and S Gray in the launch. An information session is to be scheduled for staff when the DAO is issued.
6. Revised draft public reporting peer review
The criteria for carrying out a peer review on published reports has been revised and considered by SMT. The revised criteria and questionnaire was approved by members. The C&AG and the COO are to advise what topics are to be covered by the peer review.
7. AOB
SMT to consider planning requirements for resources in anticipation of the possibility of Assembly and the Public Accounts Committee being reinstated.
Date of next meeting 11 June 2019.