1 Minutes of Senior Management Team Meeting held on 10 January 2020 at 2pm In attendance: Kieran Donnelly, Chair (C&AG) Pamela McCreedy (COO) Rodney Allen (Director) Colette Kane (Director) Tomas Wilkinson (Director) Louise Donnelly (Secretary) Apologies: Neil Gray (Director) 1. Apologies Apologies were noted on behalf of Neil Gray. 2. Declaration of Conflicts of Interest There were no issues declared by members. 3. Minutes of Previous meeting and Matters Arising Minutes of the previous meeting held on 19 November 2019 were agreed and matters arising updated. 4. Business Transformation Programme (BTP) – Update Pamela McCreedy updated members on the current position of the BTP. Project Initiation Documents (PIDs) for work streams have been subject to monitoring throughout the period. The following points were discussed: Communication and Engagement - Communication and Engagement Strategy – the final draft was presented and approved by SMT pending a few minor amendments. - Parliamentary Commitee Training - training for management is scheduled in February and March 2020. Digitalisation - Data Analytics – Phase 1 of the GovTech project is complete. A meeting about the possible progression to Phase 2 has been scheduled for next week. - EDRMS – A presentation on the utilisation and development of MKI and inhouse databases is scheduled for the February SMT meeting. - MKI – template for public reporting has now been rolled out to staff after training. People - HR Strategy - Draft to be available for SMT consideration in March 2020. - Staff Survey – Action plan is scheduled for discussion at the February SMT meeting. Governance and Audit Practices - Governance Strategy – Draft strategy to be available for SMT to consider in March 2020. - Financial Audit Methodology - SMT acknowledged and commended the input of the Technical Team and other staff for refreshing the financial audit manual and associated training. Working Environment 2 - Accommodation project - The design contract has been awarded and signed, meetings with user groups will continue. Milestones for the next three months were noted. The Advisory Board will be updated on BTP at their meeting scheduled for 11 February 2020. Staff will be updated at the staff briefing to be scheduled for February. 5. Risk Management Corporate Risk Register (CRR) Colette Kane advised the Corporate Risk Register had been updated to reflect comments made at the November SMT and continued to brief members on the changes made. All changes to the CRR were highlighted in red for members’ convenience. The CRR will be presented to the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) at the meeting scheduled for 28 January 2020. The Corporate Risk Management Working Group (CRMWG) met on 9 January 2020. Three new members have joined the Group. 6. Finance Report 2019-20 Rodney Allen briefed members on the budget position following the December monitoring return and he advised there was currently no change to the year-end financial projection. SMT noted the submission Of the Spring Supplementary Estimate and the continuing uncertainty around European Agricultural Funding. 7. Corporate Report Rodney Allen briefed SMT members on the following key points: HR Recruitment Recruitment is ongoing for the Auditor and the Digital Communications Officer posts. Interviews are currently underway for the Director posts. Attendance Management Members noted the overall days absence per employee in the rolling period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 and the continuing positive position. Employee Engagement Role Profiles – a presentation was made to all staff on 16 December regarding the next steps in the review and completion is expected later in January. Business Support Procurement – A procurement exercise was successfully completed to obtain media training for management. Tenders are currently being progressed regarding an External QCR review and the appointment of a media adviser. Internal Audit – we are currently waiting on the audit briefs on two reviews. These will be conducted in the first quarter of 2020. Communications - Draft Communications and Engagement Strategy – A revised Strategy was presented to SMT following the feedback and input received from members at the last meeting on 19 November 2019. SMT endorsed the Strategy. The new Strategy will be made available for all staff to access. 8. Auditee Survey – Action Plan 3 A report summarising the main actions resulting from the Survey of Audit Bodies was presented for discussion. Members welcomed the report. 9. Data Analytics and Govtech Agenda item already discussed under Agenda Item 4 - BTP. 10. AOB Reinstatement of the Assembly - Members considered and discussed the possibility of the reinstatement of the Assembly and the impact of the re-establishment of the Public Accounts Committee and the Assembly Audit Committee. Date of next meeting – the next meeting will held at 10am on 18 February 2020.
