Present Paul Douglas (Non Executive Member - Chair) Kieran Donnelly (Comptroller & Auditor General) Pat Cumiskey (Non Executive Director) Louise Mason (AAG) Janet Sides (AAG) Apologies Áine Gallagher (Non Executive Member) In Attendance Caoimhe Whinnery (HR Manager) Joe Campbell (Secretary)
1. Preliminary/Administration Declaration of Interest - There were no issues declared by members which would be in conflict with the agenda for the meeting. Minutes of meeting held 2 March 2017 –The minutes were considered and agreed. Matters Arising – There were no matters arising.
2. Staff Performance Management System In introducing the discussion around Staff Performance Management System, C&AG wished to acknowledge that this was within a context where staff were continuing to deliver the Office’s work programme to both time and quality within a reducing resource and should be commended for this. C Whinnery briefed members on the latest Office Staff Performance Management System, including the completion statistics for 2016 and the outcome of the evaluation of the first year1 . From the subsequent discussions, concerns were highlighted around the quality of information recorded, in some instances, and the need to tackle personal development. Members came to the conclusion that personal development needed to be tackled with vigour as there was a sense that lip service was being paid to this in completion of the staff performance management papers. As a result, the following high level actions were agreed: Views were sought from a cross section of the workforce including the directorate, trade union side and the Involve to Evolve forum open and transparent support for personal development by writing this into the Corporate Plan as a key objective for every line manager to address in their direct reports in a meaningful way; improvement in both the workforce planning and resource allocation process, including the factoring in of PDPs; and cultural change around difficult conversations.
3. AOB Members discussed the request from NIPSA to meet with the NEMs of the Group to discuss the findings of the recent staff survey conducted by the union. It was agreed that the Chair would meet with the Union and other NEMs, if available, would attend. However, he would not be seeking a presentation as proposed, but rather a round table discussion, incorporating not only the survey but the roles, responsibilities and terms of reference of the Group. The next meeting will be held on Thursday 22nd June 2017 in the NI Audit Office Conference Room, starting at 11:30AM.