Meeting Venue:
Conference Room 4B - Tŷ Hywel
Meeting date: Thursday, 12 January 2017
Meeting
time: 10. -
12.30
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Category |
Names |
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Management Board Members: |
Claire Clancy, Chief Executive & Clerk of the Assembly Adrian Crompton, Director of Assembly Business Anna Daniel, Head of Strategic Transformation Non Gwilym, Head of Communications Mark Neilson, Head of ICT and Broadcasting Kathryn Potter, Head of Research Service Matthew Richards, Head of Legal Services Craig Stephenson, Director of Commission Services Sulafa Thomas, Head of Commission and Member Support Dave Tosh, Director of Resources Christopher Warner, Head of Policy and Legislation Committee Service Gareth Watts, Acting Head of Governance and Audit Siân Wilkins, Head of Chamber and Committee Service Lowri Williams, Head of Human Resources |
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Management Board Staff: |
Liz Jardine (Secretariat)
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Others in attendance: |
Apologies were received from Nia Morgan, Finance Director and Mair Parry-Jones, Translation and Reporting Service.
Lowri Williams would draft a note of the Management Board discussion for the staff news page.
The minutes of 12 December Management Board meeting were agreed as a correct record. The Board clarified the corporate risk action in relation to preparation of a plan for emerging risks.
Anna Daniel and James Griffin gave an update following the establishment and early work of the MySenedd Board, on the programme to create a world class digital parliament, its vision to make engagement easier and faster and the roadmap to deliver the vision.
Management Board was asked to consider how the key challenges affecting delivery of the programme might be faced, the implications for services areas and level of ambition and pace of change the Board was willing to support; and the role MySenedd might play in future of a reformed Assembly.
The programme was working to deliver practical improvements with pace and was having to respond to the Assembly’s ever-changing context and the evolving priorities of the Commission. Service areas were feeling the pressure of delivering with pace and although the responsibility remained with Service areas to integrate and implement the relevant aspects of the programme, the Strategic Transformation team could need additional skilled project managers in future. The Board agreed that this should be kept under review and a case brought to the Investment and Resources Board if necessary.
It was important that the MySenedd Board matched the ambition of the programme to the resources and ability to deliver, but bearing in mind the expectations of the Commission and Chief Executive to progress with pace.
The use of the Agile project management method was proving effective and would help to deliver that pace, but staff needed a better understanding of the way it worked.
The programme would be discussed at the Commission meeting on 27 February along with the Public Engagement Strategy and the Board commented that it was important that both described the ambitions of the Assembly consistently.
ACTIONS:
· Non Gwilym to join the MySenedd Board to support effective communications.
· Dave Tosh and Gareth Watts to raise awareness and understanding across the organisation of the way Agile project management works, including the need to pay attention to governance matters, ahead of staff becoming involved.
· Dave Tosh to ensure that the support services, in particular HR and Estates and Facilities Management, are prepared for the consequential work that flows from the programme.
· All Service areas to consider the resources required to support and deliver the programme and build into service and team plans and staff objectives.
· An update on the programme to be published internally, with the table ‘translating our vision into practical improvements’ and the ‘personalised portal view’, to help staff understand the practical benefits.
· Service Heads to arrange communication to staff through team meetings or with reference to the online update.
Claire Clancy congratulated the team on the very good work so far.
Kevin Davies was welcomed to the meeting and, with Non Gwilym, outlined the new framework to deliver the Commission’s public engagement strategic goal of the Fifth Assembly, with activities and initiatives to build on the success achieved during the Fourth Assembly. Over the past year work has been undertaken to benchmark with other organisation that have expertise in this area, as other parliaments have not yet done this.
The strategy was due to be presented to the Commissioners and Management Board were asked to comment and consider any high level activity not yet captured by the paper.
The Board considered activities relating to corporate social responsibilities (CSR) and how ambitious the Assembly might be in offering reciprocal benefit to external organisations that contribute through committee evidence sessions, network talks, etc. It was recognised that the contribution of the Assembly was in achieving better public services and legislation through scrutinising.
The Board’s recommendations are included:
· adding further context in terms of strengths and weaknesses, trends to respond to and also outlining levels;
· including the clear linkages with the MySenedd programme;
· rearranging the content to highlight how much has already been done;
· establishing some qualitative methods of evaluation to determine effectiveness; and
· as there were consequences for the way committees operated, that it was important to work with the committee chairs to ensure that strategy would be delivered.
ACTIONS
· Anna Daniel and Non Gwilym to provide more detail on the link with the MySenedd programme.
· Lowri Williams to consider current CSR offerings and how to better align with the Assembly’s work
The Board thanked Non and Kevin for the good work undertaken so far.
Claire Clancy outlined the current financial position and that the Investment and Resources Board were looking at pressures for this and the next financial year. It is the tightest year due to large scale works and additional resourcing requirements identified from the capacity planning process.
The Board were asked to ensure the Finance team were provided with accurate and up to date forecasts from their service areas and to do some early thinking on capacity plans, and early identifications of any new initiatives on the horizon.
The work on accommodating the committee structure was on track.
The next Management Board meeting would be held on 2 February.