ILF Scotland

20210629 - Board Meeting Minute - 29 June 2021

Type of document: Board Reporting

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Published: June 29, 2021

APPROVED

Independent Living Fund Scotland: Board Meeting

Video-Conference (COVID 19)

Tuesday 29 June 2021 ~ 11:45am – 1:10pm

Present

Susan Douglas-Scott CBE                     Chair, Board Director

Alan Dickson                                         Board Director

Anne-Marie Monaghan                          Board Director

Betty McAtear                                       Board Director

Étienne d’Aboville                                  Board Director

Liz Humphreys                                      Vice Chair, Board Director

Mark Adderley                                       Board Director

Apologies                                            None

In Attendance

Peter Scott                                           Chief Executive Officer (11am-12pm/12:45pm-1:10pm)

Harvey Tilley                                           Chief Operating Officer (11am-12:45pm)

Jim Maguire                                          Finance Director

Paul Hayllor                                          Director of Digital and Information Services

Robert White                                         Director of Self Directed Support

Linda Scott                                           Director of Policy, Improvement and Engagement

Pat Kenny                                             Director, Audit & Assurance, Deloitte LLP

                                                                                          (11am-12noon)

Aileen McNiven                                       Head of Business Services (Secretariat)

Welcome, declarations of interest and apologies

Susan Douglas-Scott (Susan) warmly welcomed everyone to the 23rd ILF Scotland Board Meeting introducing Pat Kenny (Pat), Director from Deloitte.

Declarations of Interest (DoI)

No additional Declarations of Interest were received out with DoI Register.

Chairs Introductory Remarks

On behalf of the Board of Directors Susan formally thanked and acknowledged the hard work, diligence and guidance from Elaine Black, Sponsorship Manager who retired from the Sponsor Team in June.

ACTION 1: Aileen McNiven (Aileen) to pass on formal thank you to Elaine Black.

Work with the Scottish Government in conjunction with Scotland Excel and Self Directed Support Scotland to facilitate the £500 ‘thank you‘ payment to all PA’s in Scotland is underway. Susan noted ILF Scotland is pleased to be able to support SG to implement this important policy. 

Work has continued over the last quarter in the background with our Northern Ireland Sponsor Team to secure finance to reopen the Northern Ireland Fund, and we remain cautiously optimistic.

Feeley Report Recommendations: Preliminary discussions have been held with officials and Susan has written to the new Minister seeking a meeting to discuss SG’s plans to take this work forward.  Jim Elder-Woodward has also written to the new Minister inviting him to the next Advisory Group meeting to discuss implementation of the Feeley recommendations. (See Paper BD 290621/6)

Susan thanked and acknowledged the great effort from our staff and Board over the last quarter which is very much appreciated by all, not least the ILF Scotland recipients.

1.   Minutes of Previous Meeting (refer to paper)

The Board approved the Board Minute of 27 April 2021.

2.  Matters Arising

All matters arising included within the agenda.

3.   Corporate Business Reporting (refer to papers)

Paper 3. Quarterly Corporate Report

Susan invited Harvey to speak to the Quarterly Corporate Report.

Harvey briefly outlined the report and business plan which over the last quarter has again focussed on COVID-19 recovery as the organisation further develops and activates plans.

The Executive Team summarised key areas of the business concentrating briefly on the following:

Review Visits: Robert White (Robert) apprised the Board of the slow and steady plan to recommence non-emergency review visits during July 2021. New H&S protocols are in place with PPE being provided following Scottish Government and NHS guidance. Through the summer extended training to the teams will continue focusing on updated policy and practice which have been reviewed and amended. Robert assured the Board of the readiness to start review visits which will offer further support to our recipients.

COVID Flexibilities: Confirmation was given by Linda Scott (Linda) that the COVID Flexibilities would continue to be operational to end of September 2021. All ILF Scotland policies would also offer further flexibilities to the end of the year. Further flexibilities are expected to be confirmed in the coming days and will be updated to the Board following the normal reporting processes.

Digital Transformation: Paul Hayllor (Paul) updated on the Digital Transformation Project advising the capital funding application process has been extended due to further reporting requirements by the Scottish Government. This reporting work will take approximately 6 months to complete which further extends the wait for the capital funding application to be approved. As a contingency the IT team will continue to add functionality and efficiencies to the current systems. Paul will continue to advise and update the Audit & Risk Committee as work on the project continues.

Harvey confirmed the Board Directors pre-submitted questions/comments have been answered and now circulated via Huddle for reference. 

The Board noted the Quarterly Corporate Report (01 April 2021-30 June 2021).

Paper 3a. Business 2020-21 (refer to paper)

The Board noted the Business Plan acknowledging the detailed Business Plan PowerPoint (in Huddle) recently presented by Paul Hayllor (Paul) at the All Staff Meeting in June 2021.

4. Annual Report & Accounts (refer to papers 4-4b)

Paper 4.

Statutory Accounts & Annual Report 2021-21

Jim Maguire (Jim) introduced the Statutory Accounts and Annual Report stating the Audit & Risk Committee (ARC) had been through the report in fine detail during the June 2021 meeting.

Confirmation was received from Alan Dickson (Alan), Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee of the rigorous inspection of the Annual Report and Accounts.

Paper 4a

Audit Report Findings

Pat Kenny spoke to the paper. Pat advised the Board confirming an “unmodified audit opinion”, further adding Deloitte had again received full support and co-operation throughout the audit process.  The Board thanked and again congratulated the Finance Team, as this is the 6th year in a row the Finance Team have had a clear set of accounts with no qualification and no proposed changes to numbers.

Acknowledgment was made by Pat and noted by the Board that ILF Scotland are the only client to have a full set of ‘green’ audit markers. This is noted as exceptional.

Alan Dickson (Alan) – Chair of ARC, confirmed he was happy with the controls in place.

Brief discussion and consideration of the accounts and audit findings report ensued with the Board concluding and noting there is a clear understanding of the audit findings to year end 31 March 2021.

The Board noted the Audit Findings Report.

The Board approved and signed off the Statutory Accounts and Annual Report 2020-21 with Susan thanking Jim and the Finance team for again producing such a robust set of accounts.

Paper 4b.

Letter of Representation

Pat offered the Board assurance that the full audit process had produced a ‘clean’ audit with no changes to the numbers.

The Board approved and Peter Scott (Peter) signed off the Letter of Representation as the Accountable Officer.

5.  Audit Committee Report

Audit Committee Meeting –June 2021 (verbal report)

(Alan left the meeting for a short period. In Alan’s absence Susan invited Liz Humphreys (Liz) to present the verbal report for the Audit Committee)

Liz gave feedback from the recent Audit & Risk Committee held during June 2021 stating there had been detailed scrutiny of the Annual Report and Accounts, Internal and External reporting and the Risk Management of the organisation.

Jim advised the 12 month contract extension clause to Henderson Loggie (internal auditors) has been activated with Henderson Loggie appointed for a further 12 month period. The contract formally ends in June 2022. The tender process to formally procure a new contract for Internal Auditors from June 2022 will take place in a timely manner with a view to be formally appointed June 2022.

Liz offered assurance to the Board that the Audit & risk Committee were comfortable with the checks and balances in place.

The Board noted the Audit & Risk Committee verbal report.

Paper 5

Management Accounts (May 2021) (Refer to paper)

The Board noted the Management Accounts to May 2021 which were presented by Jim.

Paper 5a

Risk Register Summary (Refer to paper)

Risk 9S: Attention was drawn to the one elevated risk (Risk 9S) regarding the Local Authority threshold sums.  It was noted that Peter has written to all Chief Social Work Officers about this matter, and Paul explained that the organisation will have a more cognisant view of the risk once the review visits are underway and rebalancing conversations take place.

Risk 12CLR: Following recent policy reviews and amendments this risk will be reviewed with a view to downgrading the risk following normal protocols.

The Risk register will continue to be scrutinised in detail at the Audit Committee meetings and will consider the changes as appropriate.

The Board noted the Risk Register Summary.

Paper 5b

Risk & Resilience Update (R&R) (Refer to Paper)

Following 6 months working with risk leads across the organisation Paul updated the Board on the R&R project. The next steps will be to work on the detailed risk plans and solutions The Board confirmed they will meet on the 20th September 2021 to review and set the levels of risk appetite and tolerance for the organisation.

The Board noted the Risk & Resilience Update.

Paper 5c

Grant in Aid 2021-22 (Refer to Paper)

Grant in Aid 2021-22 was confirmed as in line with expectations.

The following was noted:

 - no allowance included for Capital Funding

 - no further funding for Available Income. This will be reviewed throughout the year with Jim giving assurances that existing funds are available from the reserves to support the reduction in Available Income contributions for a limited time. The Sponsor Team have confirmed they are committed to looking at this with the Executive Team during 2021-22.

The Board noted the Grant in Aid 2021-22 paper.

6. MiCase & PQ’s (refer to paper)

Susan spoke to the paper outlining the content of two letters from Susan and Jim Elder Woodward, Chair of the Advisory Group to Kevin Stewart, Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care. Both letters included an invitation to Mr Stewart to meet to discuss the recommendations from the Feeley report.

ACTION 2: Susan to feedback content of response to letter in due course.

7. Health & Safety Report (refer to paper)

The Board noted the Health & Safety Report acknowledging the extent of the Health & Safety work during the pandemic.

AOB

8. Draft Committee Meeting Schedule (refer to paper)

Approved with no amended Board & Committee dates for 2022.

9.   Future Board Hybrid Model (verbal)

During the pandemic the Board have met effectively online via ZOOM. As the organisation moves through the pandemic further consideration by Susan has been given to the future model for Board meetings to ensure effective good governance and decision making.

The rationale for considering moving to a new hybrid model are:

  1. Environmental efficiencies to reduce carbon footprint
  2. Virtual meetings : Focuses effectively on critical business decision making the meetings more effective for non-executives (Board Meetings & Sub Committee Meetings)
  3. Face to Face : To reconnect and build relationships (Development Days)

The Board approved the move to a new hybrid model, when safe to do so, with board meetings continuing to take place via Teams/Zoom, and meeting twice per year face to face for Development Days. One of these meetings should be held in Denholm House, Livingston, where Board Directors will have the opportunity to meet with the wider staff group.

The Board noted the Board Schedule model for 2022.

12. Close of Meeting

Important Board Dates:

Next: Development Day & Risk Workshop: ZOOM: 1:00pm, 20th September 2021

Next: Audit & Risk Committee: ZOOM, 10:30am, 11th October 2021

Next: Board Meeting: ZOOM: 11:00am, Tuesday 19th October 2021

Next: Remuneration Committee: ZOOM: 11:00am, Monday 20th September 2021

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