Agenda and minutes
Venue: Conference Room 4B - Tŷ Hywel. View directions
Contact: Liz Jardine
No. | Item |
---|---|
Introductions, apologies and declarations of interest Minutes: Apologies
were received from Elisabeth Jones (Chief Legal Adviser) and Lowri Williams
(Head of HR). There were no declarations
of interest. |
|
Communication note to staff Anna
Daniel Minutes: Anna
Daniel would draft a note of the Management Board discussion for the staff news
page. |
|
Minutes of the Previous Meeting Minutes: The
minutes of 10 October Management Board meeting were agreed as a correct record. |
|
Mental Health Oral
item Minutes: Siân
Wilkins introduced the discussion as Mental Health Champion, explaining that
her role was to work with HR to promote and facilitate policies and activities,
and to be a sounding board, keeping a strategic view of the direction of
travel. Mental
Health related issues constituted a third of staff sickness absence records in
the past year. It was important to build on the positive response to
activities, sessions and advice provided by staff and invited external
organisations for Mental Health Awareness Week held at the Assembly in October,
in order to support those suffering mental health issues and those line
managing them. Management
Board discussed the next steps, agreeing that the workshop sessions had been
powerful in instigating conversations but noting they should address issues
that were relevant to staff, such as long working hours, with effective support
in place to manage issues that might arise. The Board also recognised the
importance of addressing contributing factors that could create stress, for
example, responding to emails out of hours. HR
had talked to the mental health charity, MIND, who offered training for line
management, and general awareness and resilience training. The Assembly also
had a Mental Health and Wellbeing network in place. Action: the Board agreed that
workshop sessions would be helpful but that a holistic approach was needed to
equip the organisation to manage such situations effectively. Siân Wilkins to
work with HR to progress. |
|
Capacity Planning Minutes: The
Board continued its discussion from the meeting on 10 October, revisiting the
posts not agreed at that meeting in order to explore further and consider
timing and prioritisation. An updated spreadsheet was provided showing in-year
and year-on-year costs to 2020 for the approved proposals and those to be
revisited, to ascertain the impact of the proposals on the budget. To
add context, Nia Morgan provided an outline of the latest financial management
report for October, following adjustments to the forecasts received from
Service areas. Taking into account the effect of the capacity plans that had
been approved on the committed expenditure, Nia asked Heads to provide accurate
forecasts, early intelligence on commitments and a reduction in the occurrence
of retrospective orders, to help manage the increased costs and mitigate any
risk of overspend. Heads should let Nia know if any extra support was needed
from the Finance team. Craig
had considered each plan and whether there had been sufficient consideration of
bilingual capacity to deliver our services.
While he was content that all capacity planning documents had provided
some focus on this, it would be important for Service Heads to consider
regularly their bilingual capacity in the light of the ambitions in the draft
Official Languages Scheme. Dave
Tosh provided the Board with an overview of the Security proposals having
prioritised the requirements. In line with the aspiration to be world class but
with a growing demand on the existing security team and the necessity for
greater flexibility around the working day, the review had identified the need
for a revised structure and additional posts, the cost of which would be offset
to an extent by reduced overtime and agency costs. The Board supported the
proposal and agreed that it should go to the Investment and Resourcing Board
(IRB). The
Board also discussed ways to help the security team feel more a part of the
organisation, for example, through secondments to other service areas and Heads
arranging visits to their team meetings, in such a way to fit with the
constraints of the security rotas, to update them on projects and activities.
It was noted that the Welsh Language Tutor Manager was already considering meet
and greet training for them ‘in situ’. The
remaining proposals were considered and it was agreed that the ICT, Strategic
Transformation, Communications, Coordination Unit and Policy and Legislation
Committee Service proposals would be taken forward to IRB for further scrutiny.
Furthermore, the Board agreed that: ·
Sulafa
Thomas would liaise with Non Gwilym, Lowri Williams and Anna Daniel to explore
further the function and location of the internal communications proposal; ·
The
agreed TS role in Coordination unit would be deployed wherever needed to
provide support to other service areas; ·
Non
Gwilym and Nia Morgan would look at the Communications requirements to assess
the budget implications; Non to provide a structure chart with the request to
IRB; and ·
Chris
Warner and Siân Wilkins would attend IRB to discuss the requirements for
support to committees. The
remaining posts were not required imminently and so put on hold to review as
projects and anticipated activity progresses. The Board agreed there was no
need to review the proposals that were not approved at the previous meeting. The
Board also briefly discussed: ·
the
MySenedd programme and the support that would be needed to take ideas forward
into deliverable projects. It was agreed to extend a marker around project
management for the future; ·
the
implications and pressures on teams who have people who are seconded; and ·
what
was needed in terms of HR and accommodation to support the proposals. Action: Heads to review the
2016-17 costs and confirm, or advise if anything could be delayed or needed to
be added. Claire
Clancy thanked the Management Board members for the well-prepared work that
underpinned the capacity planning process, which meant that full account, based
on sound evidence, was being taken of the challenges that the Assembly was
facing. |
|
Any other business Minutes: Gareth
Watts would circulate the new risk policy for comment ahead of it being
presented to Audit and Risk Assurance Committee on 21 November. The
next Management Board meeting would be held on 12 December. |