Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies. Chris Warner declared an interest on the diversity and inclusion item due to his trustee and non-executive director role with Chwarae Teg, a national charity that works for a Wales where women achieve and prosper.

Mair Parry-Jones would draft a note of the Management Board discussion for the staff news page.

The minutes of 3 November Management Board meeting were agreed as a correct record.

The Board welcomed Holly Pembridge, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, to present the Annual Equality Report 2015-2016 which said that, overall, progress on equalities had been good, giving a strong platform to progress further during the Fifth Assembly.

Due to concerns at the concentration of BME employees within lower graded posts changes had been made, for example, with more posts being advertised externally allowing for a wider audience to be reached, and the Diversity and Inclusion team working closely with the REACH network to identify opportunities to support existing BME colleagues in reaching their potential. Disability statistics had not improved and, therefore, it was necessary to implement an action plan to address the issue through advertising and recruitment practices and the support networks.

Holly also introduced the new Draft Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2016-21, which was more strategically aligned with the Assembly Commission Strategy than previous schemes, also reflecting emerging priorities, e.g. the Digital Taskforce and Youth Parliament.

Feedback on the strategy had been received from Management Board, the equality networks, TUS and external ‘critical friends’, with a general survey on access to the Assembly that would inform the development of an Action Plan. The Assembly Commissioner for equalities, Joyce Watson, had sought views from party groups and AMSS had also been consulted.

The Strategy would be presented to the Commission at their meeting on 5 December and, once agreed, Holly would work with Heads of Service to agree how Service areas will meet the obligations set out in the Strategy through their service plans, ensuring a holistic approach was taken in relation to the other emerging priorities.

The Board thanked Holly for the work done, welcoming the Strategy and the more strategic nature of the document, and the emphasis on Equalities Impact Assessments so that equalities would be embedded into working practices. The Board recommended more narrative up front on how the organisation was doing on equality. The Remuneration Board’s interest in capturing Member and AMSS data was raised and Holly advised that the matter of how the data would be used was being considered.

The Board agreed that it would be useful to have periodic updates on the Action Plan.

Actions: Holly Pembridge would bring an Action Plan, developed with Heads of services, back to Management Board in the New Year. 

Jan Koziel was welcomed to the meeting and provided the Board with an outline of a paper to be presented to the Commission on 5 December to inform Commissioners of the Assembly’s strategic approach to procurement. This included having the right procurement structure; contract delivery and procurement savings; the Assembly’s engagement with Small to Medium Enterprises [SMEs]; the National Procurement Service [NPS]; and the impact of Brexit on public sector procurement. The Commission had expressed an interest in knowing whether the Assembly had contracts with companies outside the United Kingdom.

Reflecting on the previous item on Equalities, the Board was reassured that the Procurement team worked closely with contractors in sharing Commission values, including assessing their equalities and diversity policies and ensuring equalities were embedded into contractors’ Terms and Conditions. The Procurement team were encouraged to work collaboratively with the Diversity and Inclusion team.

It was noted that the NPS did not always meet the Assembly’s needs and, although the Assembly used many of the frameworks, contractors that had worked well for the Assembly were not always successful in getting onto the service. The principle of giving opportunities to Welsh suppliers had been reiterated.

The Board made some recommendations to enhance the information provided in the paper, including asking for more examples of procurement savings.

Non Gwilym confirmed that Dippy the Diplodocus, the UK’s most famous dinosaur currently housed at the Natural History Museum, London, would be going on tour from January 2016, and would be installed in the Senedd in 2019.

The Board were informed that the deadline for applications to the Chief Executive post had now passed and Penna, the recruiting agency, would be providing a long list pack for the panel to review on 21 November.