Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

·        Minutes of the meeting on 27 September 2012 – Paper 1a

·        Minutes of the meeting on 12 July 2012 (amended for agreement) – Paper 1b

The minutes from the 27 September and 22 October were agreed by Commissioners.

Commissioners agreed to make the following amendment to the minutes of 12 July to record a decision taken at the meeting:

The Commission then went into private session and agreed a proposal on a confidential staffing matter put to them by the Chief Executive in accordance with the Delegation.

Paper 2

The Commission’s budget for 2013-14 sets out the financial resources required to deliver the Assembly Services’ priority work as well as the budget required to fund the Remuneration Board’s Determination for Assembly Members. 

Since the last meeting the Commission’s draft budget for 2013-14 had been laid. Angela Burns AM, Claire Clancy and Steve O’Donoghue appeared before the Finance Committee on 3 October and the Committee’s report recommended:

·        Publishing annual performance indicators;

·        There be no increase to commission budgets at the end of the current three-year investment programme;

·        That more detail be provided with regards to savings and investments.

Commissioners agreed to the recommendations of the Committee and agreed that the Budget be laid on 7 November.  The plenary debate on the budget is scheduled for 14 November.

It was agreed that the paper would not be published.

Action: Officials to lay the budget 2013-14 document before the Assembly on 7 November.

Paper 3

The Merlin Contract, under which ICT services are provided to the Assembly, is due to expire in 2014. The Commission is required to give notice to the Welsh Government and Atos by April 2013 of its decision in respect of the future provision of ICT services to the Assembly. The Commission agreed in November 2011 to assess two options: the extension of the Merlin contract; or a move to a mixed in-house provision.

Representatives from Atos attended the meeting to provide Commissioners with a briefing on their proposed future ICT provision.

It was agreed that the paper would not be published due to its commercial content.

Commissioners requested further meetings to allow further detailed discussion of future ICT service provision. There meetings will be held on 12 November and 3 December.

There was no other business.

Secretariat

November 2012