Present
Susan Douglas-Scott - Chair, Board Director
Liz Humphreys - Vice Chair, Board Director
Alan Dickson - Board Director
Betty McAtear - Board Director
Fiona O’Donnell - Board Director
Twimukye Mushaka - Board Director
Apologies
Bridget Sly - Board Director
In Attendance
Peter Scott - CEO
Harvey Tilley - Chief Operating Officer
Jim Maguire - Finance Director
Robert White (from Item 3) - Head of Social Work
Jamie MacDougall (from Item 3) - Scottish Government Deputy Director, Care, Support & Rights
Paul Ingram - Scottish Government, Sponsorship Manager
Aileen McNiven - Executive Business Manager (Secretariat)
Welcome, declarations of interest and apologies
The Chair welcomed everyone to the ILF Scotland Board meeting, introducing Paul Ingram, who was appointed to the post of Sponsorship Manager in early April 2018.
The Board Directors and Executive Team congratulated the Chair, Susan Douglas-Scott (Susan) on her recent appointment as Chair of the Board at NHS Golden Jubilee National Hospital.
There were no declarations of interest expressed.
Apologies were noted.
1. Minutes of Previous Meeting
The ILF Scotland Board approved the Board Minute of 29 January 2018 as an accurate account of the meeting with the following amendment.
Pg. 2, Item 2,
Replace ‘statuary’ at Line 11 with ‘statutory’.
2. Matters Arising
The following points were noted:
From Minute of 29th January 2018
Change of Status (refer to paper BD.300418/10)
Peter Scott (Peter) spoke briefly to the paper directing the Board to the process outlined in the paper with a proposed implementation start date of 1st May 2018 to move to a Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB) – this process will be completed over the next couple of years.
Pension Risk
Harvey Tilley (Harvey) updated the Board of the current proposal to align ILF Scotland staff pensions to either the Civil Service or NHS pensions. This would ensure fairness and equity.
Harvey informed the Board that there is no information yet to quantify the financial or reputational risk. Once further information is available from meetings with the Public Pensions Authority the Audit & Risk Committee (ARC) and Remuneration Committee will be informed and the Risk Register updated.
Cyber Paper
Following submission to the Audit & Risk Committee, this paper will be resubmitted with further detail and amendment before final approval being requested from the Board.
Harvey reassured the Board that ILF Scotland will be GDPR compliant in all areas by the deadline date of 25th May 2018.
Framework Agreement
Concerns were raised again that the Framework Agreement (going back to 2016) is yet to be agreed and signed off. The Board requested this piece of work is completed as a matter of urgency by the Sponsor Team.
The action from minute of 29 January 2018 to be carried forward and amended to ‘immediate’ completion.
Paul Ingram (Paul) assured the Board he will investigate and ensure the Sponsor Team complete and sign off the Framework Agreement as soon as possible.
3. Corporate Report
(Refer to paper)
Peter introduced the paper with a focus on the Transition Fund (TF) applications and offers of funding.
The Board requested clarification on the appeals process for the TF, to ensure fairness and equity. Peter advised the Board of the interim appeals process ahead of the appointment of a new Head of Policy.
The Board discussed the administration costs of operating the TF. The Board were advised that costs had been separated from the 2015 Fund in the accounts and available to view in the accounts, as previously requested.
Discussions ensued regarding the policy changes submitted to the Minister of Public Health and Sport for approval. Currently, within the 2015 Fund, 1 in 4 of ILF recipients is at the maximum threshold. Should the policy changes be approved, this would have a positive financial effect on the lives of disabled people who receive ILF funding.
Jamie MacDougall (Jamie) advised the Board that the Minister is minded to change the maximum threshold as per the policy change submission, however further fuller discussions were expected before a final decision can be taken. Jamie acknowledged it was a complex issue and Scottish Government (SG) need to ensure there are no unintended consequences of implementing the changes. The Board noted the meeting with the Minister of Public Health and Sport on 1st May at St Andrews House with Susan, Peter and ILF Scotland stakeholders, when the above will be discussed.
The Board congratulated the Executive team on winning the following awards:
- Best Public Sector Award from Family Friendly Awards Scotland
- Finance Team of the Year at the Public Finance Innovation Awards 2018
- Top 30 Employers – from Working Families Benchmarking 2017
Pg. 17, 6th Bullet- The Board requested clarification to be made in the report that Board Directors attended recipient’s assessments individually and not all together.
ACTION 1: Change Annual Corporate Report: Pg. 17, 6th Bullet- as above.
The Board were satisfied with the Annual Corporate Report and noted its content subject to the above change.
4. Audit & Risk Committee (ARC) Report incl:
Draft Minute of 09 April 2018
Risk Register (RR)
Cyber Essential paper
(Refer to papers)
Alan Dickson (Alan) introduced the papers and informed the Board of discussions at the recent ARC. (also included in the Draft Minute of 09 April 2018) (NB: ARC members requested changes to Draft Minute be made during the next ARC on 11 June 2018).
The Board discussed the Audit plan and were content with the current strategy. The ARC requested to review and agree the Audit Plan 2018/19 before it is implemented.
Alan reported how useful the ARC self-assessment and subsequent Action Plan has been in supporting the positive governance of the ARC going forward.
Risk Register
The Board were reassured to note Risk 3PW was the key focus of the paper with regard to policy changes submitted to the Minister for approval. (as per previous discussions referred to in Item 3.)
Cyber Essential Paper
Following a formal request from Liz Humphreys (LH) to Harvey to present the above paper, discussion followed. The Board requested to approve any contractual changes ( if there are any) to current job roles which may be modified and referenced through this paper.
LH (Board Cyber Security Champion) informed the Board that ILF Scotland is still on track to become fully accredited by October 2018. The Board were reassured by this statement.
The Board noted the Business Continuity Exercise (Cyber related) which the senior team conducted last week. Further discussion ensued regarding future exercises and the importance of informing and including the ARC.
It was agreed the ARC and Board should also receive GDPR training which will be rolled out by the NHS Counter Fraud team over the next 6-9 months.
ACTION 2: ARC/Board to be informed and included in future BCP exercises / GDPR training.
5. Administration Budget
(Refer to paper)
Jim Maguire (Jim) spoke to the Administration Budget 2018/19 detailing the ARC discussions. The ARC recommends the Administration Budget 2018/19 to the Board for approval.
Detailed and robust dialogue followed, encompassing all aspects of the papers presented.
The Board were encouraged to be informed of the timely agreement with SG of the 2018/19 budget following recent years when this process took longer to complete. Thanks were extended to Beatriz Sanchez (Sponsor Manager) for the resulting good governance.
The Board approved the Administration Budget 2018/19 following the recommendation of the ARC.
6. Management Accounts to February 2018 (tabled presentation to March 2018 (Year-end))
(Refer to paper)
The Management Accounts to February 2018 were taken as read and Jim Maguire introduced and appraised the Board of the Management Accounts to March 2018 (year-end).
Year to date recipient payments made to March ‘18 amount to £49,780,857 and Grant Funding ended the year at £50,450,000
Grant Income – Surplus
Based on the actual Grant in Aid (GiA) income received from SG and Northern Ireland (NI), and subsequent award payments, ILF Scotland have an award surplus year to date of £669,143.
Administration
Administration Costs 2017/18
As can be seen from the summary of administration costs, there are costs year to date of £1,846,737 which are approximately £9k less than budget.
The administration costs deficit compared to SG funding amounts to £441,737 which falls within the SG authorisation to utilise prior year reserves set at £450k
Net Position
The Grant Surplus noted above of £669,143 less the Administration deficit of £441,737 leads to a net addition to Reserves of £227,406
Transition Fund
The Transition Fund ended the year with both Income and Payments amounting to £350k. Administration costs were £100k.
Financial Position 2017/18
A substantive discussion developed around all areas of the management accounts with
Alan Dickson (Alan) commenting that he was reassured of the healthy finance position of ILF Scotland to date.
The Board noted the Management Accounts to March 2018 and were reassured by the current healthy position. It was also noted that the Statutory Accounts had been completed well ahead of schedule.
7. Remuneration Committee Report: incl. Draft Minute of 06 March 2018
(Refer to paper)
Fiona O’Donnell spoke to the Draft Minute of 06 March 2018.
FO’D focussed on the Staff Pay Settlement/CEO Settlement/Board Directors fees/Staff Survey and Pension Scheme.
Jamie advised the Board that Pay Settlement- for staff is close to being finalised with the Unions, and thereafter, if agreed, should be implemented with due process. Following that, the SCS settlement (which includes the CEO settlement) will be implemented following SG protocols.
The Board noted the process of Board Directors fee approval via the Sponsor Team. The Chair advocated the Chair’s fee should be considered as an annual remuneration rather than a day rate. It was agreed Harvey should prepare a paper to propose this approach which will be submitted to the Sponsor team for further discussion and approval.
ACTION 3: Harvey to enquire to the Sponsor Team ref Board Chair fee change proposal.
Pension Scheme
Harvey informed the Board of a meeting he will attend to discuss the change to the current ILF Scotland defined contributions pension scheme with Scottish Public Pensions Authority on Thursday 3rd May.
The proposal would detail a change to a defined benefits scheme in alignment with the Civil Service. Two options may be available – to join either Civil Service Pension Scheme or NHS Pension Scheme. Harvey agreed to update the Remuneration Committee with detailed information as soon as it becomes available; however Harvey does not expect to have further information until the beginning of 2019.
Staff Survey
Harvey briefly apprised the Board of the recent positive Staff Survey (sent to Board Directors) and the positive feedback, which improved on the 2016 staff survey.
8. Business Plan 2018
(Refer to paper)
The Board approved the new reporting framework of the Business Plan, looking forward to the inclusion of, and receiving appropriate up- to-date metrics and reporting of the strategic KPI’s.
9. MACC & PQQ
(Refer to paper)
The Board noted there were no MACC’s or PQQ’s submitted to the Sponsor Team in this period
10. Health & Safety Report
(Refer to paper)
The Board discussed the Lone Working Alarms and were encouraged by the strategy of implementing the Lone Working protocol to ensure the safety of the Assessor team particularly with regard to new TF assessments.
The Board noted and were assured by the Health & Safety Report.
AOB
Board Development Day – Monday 17th September (p.m. – following Remuneration Committee meeting - Glasgow)
Agenda: (details and information to be circulated ahead of the Development Day (circa end August))
ACTION 4: Circulate Self-Assessment Effectiveness Tool ahead of Development Day on Monday 17 September.
17. Close.
Next Board Meeting Date:
Monday 25th June, Denholm House, Livingston.
NB. October Board Meeting – changed to Monday 15th October 2018.
