Minutes of SLT Meeting - Monday 20 January 2025

Monday 20 January 2025, 10am

Board Room, University Street, Belfast

 

 

Members Present: 

Dorinnia Carville, Chair (C&AG) – left the meeting at agenda item 5

Rodney Allen (COO) Chair from item 5 

Patrick Barr (Director)

Suzanne Jones (Director)

Colette Kane (Director)

Seamus Wade (Director)

Tomas Wilkinson (Director) – joined the meeting at agenda item 5

 

In Attendance: 

Jill Aicken (Head of People and OD) – agenda item 1.1, 1.2 and 2.2

Kyle Bingham (Senior Auditor) – agenda item 3.7

Francis Casey (Lead Communications Officer) – agenda item 7.1

Louise Halligan (Secretariat Support)

Barry Mitchell (Audit Manager) – agenda item 11

 

Apologies

Brian O’Neill (Director)

 

Apologies

Apologies were recorded from Brian O’Neill

 

Declaration of Conflicts of Interest

There were no conflicts declared by members.

 

Minutes of previous meeting

Minutes of the previous meeting held on 16 December 2024 were agreed. 

 


 

 

  1. People and OD

     

    1.1     People and OD Monthly Report

    Jill Aicken presented a report to update members, highlighting the following key areas: recruitment, sickness absence statistics and annual leave uptake.  Jill advised that a procurement exercise to provide health assessments for staff was underway with bids being sought from various providers.

     

    Diversity Mark Accreditation

    The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee submitted a paper detailing three targets for consideration by SLT relating to the accreditation process.  After discussion SLT agreed targets one and two and asked for further consultation with Diversity Mark regarding target three.

     

 

  1. Strategic Projects

     

    2.1     Accommodation Project

    Rodney Allen advised the lease with the new tenant should be finalised soon and will take effect from 1 February 2025. Comms will be issued to staff. Rodney also provided assurance to members that work to resolve the recent issues with the heating/cooling system was ongoing.

 

  1. Workforce Planning

    Seamus Wade provided a verbal update and advised that the workforce planning group were scheduled to meet this week. An update from this meeting will be provided to SLT at their next scheduled meeting.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    

  2. Strategic Performance

 

3.1&   Management information Report

  1. Public Reporting Monitoring Report

    Members were advised that a combined report will be presented at the February 2025 meeting, the revised report will provide details on both costs and the timing for completing public reports.

     

    3.2     Position re Backlog Accounts

    Members provided the C&AG and the COO with a comprehensive update on the current position regarding the number of backlog audits, advising the reasons for any backlog and target certification dates in the coming weeks/months.

 

3.3     Audit Costs

Members noted the paper presented and agreed action was required to improve the quality of information presented in this report. 

Each director was asked to undertake a critical review and ensure complete and accurate information is available. 

 

  1. SLT Annual Programme of Work 2025-26

    The Annual Programme of work was considered and endorsed by members subject to minor amendment.

 

3.6     SLT Terms of Reference (ToR)

              Members considered the ToR presented and after discussion agreed that additional information relating to the interaction/relationship between SLT and the Corporate Management Team (CMT) should be added.  A revised ToR will be presented at the February 2025 SLT meeting.

 

  1. Net Zero Action Plan – Quarterly Update

Kyle Bingham joined the meeting and provided a verbal update on progress on the action plan to date, highlighting the following key areas:

  • Travel Survey – a survey to gauge how staff travel to work will be conducted later in the year.
  • Energy Consultant – a report on energy saving initiatives/exercises is due and will be shared with SLT when received.

  • Solar Panels – Members discussed the implications and potential cost of installing solar panels.  It was agreed there was merit in considering a business case for this.

     

SLT thanked Kyle for the information provided and requested that a written report be presented at the next scheduled SLT update on 14 April 2025. 

 

  1. Quality Report

 

4.1     Technical Team Update

Suzanne Jones provided an update on the following key areas:

  • Audit Quality 
  • All QCR reviews have been undertaken by ICAEW and queries provided to individual teams. Responses have been requested for various dates (24 January – 3 February 2025), depending on the reviewer.  SLT will be updated accordingly.
  • ISA 600 - New workbooks in relation to group engagements have been released for audit planning. The technical team will host a presentation for those directly working on group audits and all Lead Auditors are encouraged to attend.

  • Data Analytics Update

    Work is continuing regarding the potential set-up of a data warehouse. A paper will be presented to brief SLT on the benefits of a data warehouse and options on how to progress a potential project.

     

 

Tomas Wilkinson joined the meeting.

Dorinnia Carville left the meeting.

 


 

 

  1. Financial Management

     

    5.1     Corporate Services Report

              Members noted the report presented with no significant issues raised. 

 

  1. Corporate Governance

 

  1.  Business Support Services Report

A report to update members on Complaints, Procurement, Legal Advice, Information Management, Governance and Assembly Liaison was presented.  No significant issues were raised.

 

 

  1. Communications and Engagement 

 

7.1     Communications and Engagement Report
Francis Casey joined the meeting.  Members noted the social media statistics presented. Francis provided an update on the following key areas:

  • A three-month pilot scheme for the political monitoring service has commenced. Francis advised that any feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

  • Office Conference –The agenda for the day has been finalised and arranging the key speakers is ongoing. 

          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

8        Risk Management

 

8.1     Corporate Risk Register (CRR)

The Corporate Risk Register was presented by Colette Kane. No significant issues were raised. The risk register will be reviewed by the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) at their meeting on 27 January 2025.

 

 

9.       Papers noted:

 

9.1     ARAC Draft Agenda – meeting 27 January 2025

  1. Financial Statements - judgements / financial estimates

    9.3     Internal Audit Strategy

     

 

10.    Matters for Escalation to Advisory Board, ARAC, RemCom

 

  • Next meeting dates:

  • ARAC – 27 January 2025

  • Advisory Board – 24 February 2025

  • For escalation to ARAC:

  • Financial Statements - judgements / financial estimates

  • Internal Audit Strategy

 

  1. Corporate Management Team (CMT) Briefing

     

    Barry Mitchell joined the meeting and provided an update on the following key areas discussed at the recent CMT meeting:

    • Welcomed Technical Team update provided to CMT;
      • Charge out rates briefing by Corporate Services Manager;
        • Impacts for staff when the new tenants move into the building;
        • Resourcing – portfolio of work from recent staff changes;
  • Communication and engagement around recent staff rotation/moves;
  • Recruitment – ongoing liaison with HR regarding job titles and the auditor job specification; and
  • Working principles for hybrid working.

 

Members thanked Barry for the comprehensive update provided. 

 

 

  1. AOB 

     

    No AOB to note.

 

 

13.     Date of next meeting

 

The next meeting will be held on 17 February 2025.