Agenda and minutes

A welcome was given to Lowri Williams, who was attending the meeting to continue discussions on the future HR strategy and plans.

Apologies were received from Gareth Watts (Acting Head of Governance and Audit).

There were no declarations of interest.

Bedwyr Jones would draft a note of the Management Board discussion for the news page.

The minutes of 9 March meeting were agreed as a correct record.

Following the last Management Board meeting, which had been focussed on the HR agenda for the next few years, Lowri Williams had met with each Management Board member to discuss the proposed work streams in more detail. The Board were asked to select four individual top priorities that needed urgent attention, over and above the four key priorities already identified. These were grouped with the most requested priorities being Values; Management development; change management; and capacity planning.

There was a need for consistent management development underpinned by and based on values, so it was important to get the values right first. However, it was the responsibility of Management Board to take the lead in driving this, and it was agreed that a new set of corporate values should be developed that were clear and concise.

Lowri outlined ideas for incorporating a management development system within the new corporate induction programme, which would provide training for current staff as well as new. The system would also link with the PMDR process so that upcoming managers could be identified and training provided before taking on management responsibilities.

Action: Claire Clancy, Anna Daniel and Lowri Williams to work on a new set of values.

Following discussions on whether there were any activities in the work streams that were not priorities, the Board agreed that it was important to tackle them in the right order and timescale. Having received the input needed, Lowri would revise the plan and manage the workload, keeping the approach simple and maintaining what was in place where it was already good enough.

Dave Tosh outlined the purpose of the framework, which was to bring together the responsibilities, structures, policies, procedural guidance and governance processes required to manage Assembly information.

The framework had been reviewed by the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee who were content with it. Management Board agreed that it was clear and accessible, but it would be useful to include FAQs to aid understanding and to clarify timescales for implementation.

The Board discussed the plans for raising staff awareness. Alison Rutherford (Information Governance Manager) would meet with Heads and work with teams to assist them in adopting and applying the requirements. Elisabeth Jones advised that Sue Morgan and Jon Tomkinson (Legal Advisers) could assist in this work. Dave Tosh also advised that Jan Koziel (Head of Procurement) was building information governance requirements into the terms and conditions for contractors to the Assembly.

Actions: Management Board members to raise any particular concerns with Alison Rutherford so that she can assist.

The Board carried out their periodic review of the Corporate Risk Register and whether there were any emerging risks of corporate significance.

The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee would be looking at the risk around constitutional change at its meeting on 20 April. Also, given the current threat level, the Committee questioned whether security risks should be managed at a corporate level and would be considering this further at its 8 June meeting.

Management Board considered the risk of reputational damage from the St David’s Day announcements made on constitutional change and agreed that the risk had passed and, as a result of the preparation work done, the outcome had been good for the reputation of the Presiding Officer and Assembly. It was agreed that constitutional change did not need to be on the corporate register at this point.

The security issues had been responded to and changes made to mitigate the risks, including a programme of vetting and the Stay Safe video sessions for staff.  It was agreed that it was not currently a corporate risk, although the issue should be reviewed regularly to consider whether anything had changed.

It was agreed that constitutional change would nonetheless be an appropriate topic for the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee to examine, covering the work that had been done to achieve the outcomes in the St David’s Day announcements and to ensure that everything possible is being done to prepare for future changes. Anna Daniel would prepare a brief for this and attend the meeting.

Nicola Callow advised that a draft budget strategy was being considered by the Investment and Resourcing Board.

This budget would be the first year of the Fifth Assembly and would need to have sufficient financial flexibility to ensure the new Commissioners would be able to pursue their goals and priorities. The strategy set out a relatively prudent approach and highlighted the financial options available.

Following the Commission’s investment strategy, it had been agreed that the remaining budgets for this Commission would reflect the movement in the Welsh Block. However, without indicative budget figures from the Welsh Government, there was minimal information to model the Commission’s budget on. The proposal, therefore, was for the Commission’s 2016-17 operating budget to reflect a 1.1% cut in real terms compared to 2015-16 but for the financial decisions of the Remuneration Board to be fully funded.

Significant exceptional costs would continue to be treated as additional funding, including the ring-fenced budget for election related expenditure and costs of dissolution. Any surplus would be returned to the Welsh Consolidated Fund.

The Investment and Resourcing Board would be considering the draft budget strategy on 26 March, before being presented to the Commission on 23 April.

Annual Report and Accounts - Kathryn Potter and Nicola Callow were preparing the Annual Report and Accounts for 2014-15. An initial draft was being prepared with themes around continual improvement, change and efficient services.

Action: Management Board to provide priority headlines for what should be included by end of week.

Security update – Following the Stay Safe sessions, Security and Estates and Facilities Management have explored safe exit routes etc. for service areas. Further sessions have been held with some teams to talk about issues raised by the Stay Safe session, with more to follow.

Welsh MyView – the Welsh version of MyView would be launched on Friday 27 March. The Assembly was the first in Wales to have a bilingual Northgate system.

Project and change management resourcing – Dave Tosh had circulated proposals and asked for comments on whether it made sense, did what was needed and what were the next steps.

Action: Management Board to provide feedback as soon as possible.

Corporate Performance report preparation –The next set of information and data on Key Performance Indicators for the Corporate Performance Report needed to be returned to Kathryn Hughes by 17 April 2015. Dave Tosh asked Heads of Service to assure themselves of the accuracy and ‘sense’ of these returns before sending to Kathryn.

End of year forecast – Nicola Callow advised that there had been little movement in forecasts since 12 March and anticipated a small underspend at the end of the year. Management Board were asked to advise as soon as possible if there were any changes to their forecasts.

The next meeting of the Management Board would be held on 27 April.