Minutes of Senior Management Team Meeting held on 29 November 2018
In attendance: K Donnelly, Chair (C&AG), P McCreedy (COO), R Allen (Director), D Lynn (Director), T Wilkinson (Director), N Gray (Director), C Kane (Director), R Ross (Audit Manager) – Agenda items 4 and 7, L Hutchinson (Audit Manager) – Agenda Item 5, L Donnelly (Secretary)
1&2 Minutes of Previous meeting and Matters Arising
Minutes of the previous meeting held on 16 October 2018 were agreed and matters arising
updated.
3. Risk Management
Corporate Risk Register
The Corporate Risk Register (CRR) was presented for consideration. C Kane noted only minor changes had been made since the last SMT. These were highlighted for member’s convenience. The Corporate Risk Register Working Group (CRRWG) met on 1 November 2018 and reviewed the risk registers for the accommodation, data analytics and procurement projects. After consideration it was agreed that all risks identified by the project teams were already included in the CRR. Going forward the CRRWG asked project teams to ensure that project risk registers are regularly reviewed and any changes made are passed to the CRRWG.
4. Finance, IT and Facilities
R Ross briefed members on the current financial position following October Monitoring. A meeting will be held with the C&AG and COO to consider a proposal to surrender funds at the next monitoring round. Members were reminded the financial impact of the final tranche of VES will be known by 13 December 2018.
5. Corporate Matters
5.1 Corporate Report
The Corporate Report was presented by R Allen to members and the following points were noted:
· Whistleblowing
C&AG to meet with the Team on 10 December to discuss forward work programme, caseload and correspondence handing. R Allen advised the Whistleblowing Policy was scheduled for review.
· Pay
L Hutchinson briefed members on the proposed two year pay deal. After discussion the C&AG agreed the offer would be forwarded to TUS.
6. European Agricultural Fund Options Analysis
As a result of Brexit there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the immediate future of the European Agricultural Fund (EAF) audit. N Gray briefed members on the potential impact and financial outcomes of Brexit on the audit. The situation will be closely monitored and also kept under consideration in the Office’s risk register.
7. Accommodation Business Case
An outline business case was presented by R Allen setting out a preferred option for the
Accommodation Project. After discussion SMT endorsed the proposal. It was noted the project Board has met three times and following the procurement exercise it is anticipated that the design team will be in place by March/April 2019. Christine Williams will update staff on progress at the staff briefing scheduled for 11 December 2018.
8. Contracting out of Financial Audits (Verbal Update)
R Allen and N Gray left the meeting and D Lynn updated remaining SMT members on several matters including the number of bids received in each sector and advised that the timetable was proceeding to plan and the bid would be evaluated by panels led by R Allen and N Gray.
After discussion R Allen and N Gray re-joined the meeting.
9 Data Analytics
T Wilkinson provided members with a briefing paper detailing GovTech project progress to date. A timetable of key dates was outlined.
10. AOB
· NIAO Access to TRIM – Following on from the RHI Inquiry the C&AG is conscious of staff experiencing difficulty retrieving and accessing information from TRIM. This is an issue he is going to raise with DoF and has asked Directors to consult with Audit Teams and report any issues relating to access to him.
· Next Meeting Wednesday 16 January @ 10am.