Minutes of Senior Management Team Meeting held on 16 October 2018
In attendance: P McCreedy (Chair) (COO), R Allen (Director), D Lynn (Director), T Wilkinson (Director), N Gray (Director), C Kane (Director), G Currie (Audit Manager) – Agenda Item 6
L Donnelly (Secretary)
Apologies: K Donnelly, Chair (C&AG)
1&2 Minutes of Previous meeting and Matters Arising
Minutes of the previous meeting held on 4 September 2018 were agreed and matters arising updated.
3. Risk Management
Corporate Risk Register (CRR)
C Kane advised there were no significant changes to the CRR since the last SMT meeting. No changes were proposed to the risk ratings and no new risk have been identified.
The Corporate Risk Register Working Group (CRRWG) met on 9 October with a one item agenda to prepare for ARAC’s in depth consideration of Risk 3 at their meeting scheduled for 23 October 2018.
Assurance Statement
An Assurance Statement covering 1 April 2018 to 30 September 2018 was presented for consideration. The statement provides assurance that key risks facing the office are subject to regular review and key controls are in place to address these risks effectively. SMT endorsed the statement for further consideration by ARAC on 23 October.
4. Finance, IT and Facilities
R Allen briefed SMT on the current budget position following October Monitoring. The forecast income from the audits of NDPB/Agency/NS bodies and payments to contracted out auditors will be sent to Directors as Budget Holders to sign off. The accommodation project is progressing and a separate SMT meeting may be scheduled for further discussion. The Project Board has met twice and It is anticipated that the design team will be in place by March 2019. The design team will work with management and staff to develop a proposed design and will oversee the procurement and management of contractors. The main contract work is anticipated to commence in April 2020.
An additional disabled car parking space has been marked out alongside the existing one to comply with best practice. A new charging point for electric vehicles has been installed. A new swipe card system has also been installed and is expected to be activated soon.
A project team managed by Richard Ross, has been re‐established to implement the new central time system. It is expected to be introduced on a phased basis and fully live from April 2019.
5. Corporate Matters
5.1 Corporate Report
The Corporate Report was presented to members and the following points were noted:
- Absence Management
There was a slight increase in the attendance figures but the overall absence position is still positive.
- External Complaints
Members were updated on the current position.
- Whistleblowing
A stocktake of cases is currently being undertaken by Alan McNeill. SMT will be updated on the results. Linda Hutchinson is to meet with members of SMT individually to review the HR management information that is required for the Corporate Report.
6. European Agricultural Fund (EAF)
Garry Currie provided an overview and briefed members on the potential implications for the EAF audit for different Brexit outcomes. SMT agreed that further consideration and discussion was required particularly around the resourcing and financial implications.
7. 7.1 Anti‐Fraud Policy
7.2 Fraud Response Plan
The document were presented to SMT for endorsement. SMT was content and agreed that both should be forwarded to ARAC for the meeting on 23 October.
8. Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
As part of the review process, a meeting was called in July 2018 to test the BCP contents. As a result it was concluded that the BCP is sufficient to meet the needs of the Office if it is activated. SMAT agreed the Plan should be forwarded to ARAC for consideration.
9. Internal Audit Reports
Three reports from internal audit were provided for information. Members were asked to note the satisfactory opinions and recommendations and to forward any comments to Rodney Allen before to the ARAC meeting on 23 October.
10. Recommendations Tracker – Internal and External Audit
A summary paper detailing progress on internal and external audit recommendations was provided to update members. SMT agreed the paper should be forwarded to ARAC for the meeting on 23 October.
11. Contracting out of Financial Audits (Verbal Update)
D Lynn updated SMT on progress. He outlined slippage on the original timetable of four weeks due to more work being required to support the revised procurement approach and that all documents needed to be in place as the competition launched. This date had been pushed back from 24 September to 22 October with the award date revised from 13 December to 11 January. Members agreed that as this could impact on expected planning timetables for some audited bodies we would notify all audited bodies of the revised procurement approach and timetable once the competition had been formally launched.
12. Data Analytics (Verbal Update)
T Wilkinson briefed members on key dates and progress to date. Key points to note are:
- GovTech will be formally launched on 22 November 2018.
- Barry Mitchell and Rebecca Craig will undertake a round of meetings with Directorsto ascertain areas of work to be considered by Data Analytics Team.
- A new server is required to process data.
13. AOB
- Next Meeting Tuesday 4 December @ 10am.