Meeting Venue:
Hybrid – Conference Room A and Microsoft Teams
Meeting date: Thursday, 13 February 2025
Meeting time: 09:00-14:00
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Category |
Names |
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Board Members:
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Dr Elizabeth Haywood (Chair) Dame Jane Roberts Hugh Widdis (Virtual) |
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Secretariat: |
Daniel Hurford, Clerk Martha Da Gama Howells, Second Clerk Huw Gapper, Second Clerk Max Bonar-Law, Senior Researcher Ruth Hatton, Deputy Clerk Angharad Coupar, Deputy Clerk (Virtual) Gwenno Day , Support to the Board |
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Officials Present: |
Anna Daniel, Senior Adviser to the Board, Head of Strategic Transformation Service Kate Rabaiotti, Legal Adviser Gareth Howells, Legal Adviser Craig Griffiths, Head of Members’ Business Support Rebeca Jones, Management Accountant (Virtual) Donna Davies, Head of Pensions – Item 5 (Virtual) |
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Others in Attendance (Item 3 only): |
Trudy Steadman, Beamans Richard Whalley, Beamans |
§ The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.
§ The Chair paid tribute to Mike Redhouse following his death and reflected on his time with the Board. The Board agreed that he will be deeply missed and noted that a statement of tribute had been posted to the Board’s website.
§ The Board agreed the minutes of the November and December meetings.
Action:
§ Secretariat to publish the minutes for the meeting held on 28 November and 12 December 2024.
§ The Board considered the responses to the Part One consultation on office costs, overnight accommodation and support for political groups. The Board was minded to proceed with the majority of its original proposals, subject to final decisions in the summer term following its Part Two consultation.
Decision:
§ The Board agreed that a post-consultation report, summarising consultation responses and outlining the Board’s intended approach, will be published by the end of March.
Action:
§ The Board agreed to write to the Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd on the virement proposals.
§ The Board received a presentation from Beamans and agreed the draft Job Family classification framework, subject to some minor amendments. The general feedback from Members and support staff during the testing phase had been mainly constructive.
§ The Board considered the initial pay benchmarking analysis of support staff salaries by Beamans, this will be discussed further in the March Board meeting.
Decision:
§ The Board agreed to receive updated information and provide further views ahead of 13 March Board meeting, via an online meeting or through email.
Action:
§ Secretariat to arrange additional meeting if required.
§ The Board discussed a variety of proposals for consultation on Members’ pay for the Seventh Senedd, including the level of pay, and benchmarking with other roles, the annual indexation options and additional office holders’ pay.
Decision:
§ The agreed Members’ pay and support proposals to include in the Part Two consultation to be issued in March.
§ The Board considered the latest position with regards to the McCloud remedy for Members.
Decision:
§ The Board agreed to write to the Pension Board confirming that it would provide up to £250 to affected Members towards the costs of obtaining independent financial advice.
§ The Board noted updates on various matters relevant to its work and its forward work programme.
§ The Board noted the Senedd Commission’s internal audit of Members’ expenses for the financial year 2023/24 confirmed that there was ‘substantial’ level of assurance. The Board considered the internal audit proposal to strengthen the policy by specifying a list of admissible expenditure.
Decision:
Action:
§ The Board to respond to Business Committee re consultation on Members’ Bills.
§ Secretariat to inform the Board when the Senedd Commission has approved the appointment of new Board members.
§ The Board noted the intention to amend the Board’s privacy policy.