SB(07)1st Conclusions
STRATEGIC BOARD MEETING
THURSDAY, 11 JANUARY 2007
| Present | Sir John Elvidge (chair) | |
| Bill Bound (non executive) | |
| Robert Gordon CB | Head of Justice Department and Head of Legal and Parliamentary Services |
| Nicky Munro CB | Head of Development Department |
| Robert Gordon | |
| Kevin Woods | |
| Apologies | Shonaig MacPherson | Non-executive director |
| David Fisher | Non-executive director |
| In attendance | Sarah Smith | |
| Sarah Davidson | |
| Kate Vincent (agenda item 7) | |
Agenda item 1: Introductory Remarks
1. The Permanent Secretary welcomed everyone to the first meeting of 2007, and reminded members of the significant programme of work they were committed to driving forward between now and May. In this context, he drew members' attention to the headline results of the SE component of the recent Cabinet Office SCS survey. These reiterated some of the Taking Stock and Staff Survey messages, particularly in relation to leadership skills and perceptions of the senior management team. These results underscored the need for the Strategic Board to make a visible and effective impact through its work.
Agenda item 2: Proposed Board Behaviours
2. The Board considered a paper proposing a common set of behaviours for those operating at Board level in the SE, drawing on the aims, vision and values of the Executive and on similar codes used elsewhere in the Civil Service. The Board agreed that this document provided a sound basis on which to work for the corporate good. Subject to an amendment to ensure that the importance of mutual support was given appropriate recognition, it was agreed that the common set of behaviours should be considered by the Leadership Group, circulated to Heads of Department, and proposed for adoption for use in all Sub Groups and DMBs. (Action: Sarah Davidson). Observance by the Strategic Board of the agreed set of behaviours would be largely self-policing, although the non-executive directors had a particular role to play in observing and commenting on members' approach to the management of corporate business. It was agreed that the Board would conduct an informal review of how effectively it was conducting its business in around 3 months time. In the meantime, Nicky Munro's Leadership Group should consider how best to promulgate the behaviours to the whole of the SCS in the context of the leadership development agenda. (Action: Nicky Munro)
Agenda item 3: remit, role and accountabilities
3. The Board considered its proposed remit. Members agreed that it was correct insofar as it located their responsibilities around the change programme for the next five months. However, it should be supplemented to reflect the role of the Board in driving and shaping the vision for the SE in the future, and in ensuring the overall effectiveness of the organisation in supporting Ministers in pursuit of their key objectives. The Board considered how to ensure that its relationship to the rest of the senior management structure was as effective as possible. The following principles were agreed: that the Strategic Board was the ultimate decision making authority on issues of fundamental importance to the organisation; that repetition should be avoided in the handling of business, with value added or refinement always expected from the Board's consideration of an issue or the Board's referral of an issue to Heads of Department collectively; and that the Board should work in an open and collaborative manner with the rest of the senior management team.
4. The question of what business should come to the Board for discussion and/or transaction was ultimately a matter of judgment for those chairing Groups or leading work, in discussion with colleagues and the secretariat. In principle, the Board wished to delegate responsibility for leading debate and taking decisions on matters within the remits of individual Groups and Departments. However, it was agreed that the concept of 'coherence' should be a guiding principle in determining whether the Board had a role: i.e. consideration of whether one person or group could reach a view on a matter without it touching more widely or fundamentally on the Executive's business, existing assumptions or values. The Strategic Board would also expect to engage where its legitimacy and authority would lend weight to the communication or implementation of a decision, and at least to be aware of any issue which put at risk the reputation of the Executive as a whole. The Board agreed that further consideration should be given to ways of formalising working arrangements, including any formal delegation of accountability and/or responsibility. (Action: Permanent Secretary, Sarah Smith and Sarah Davidson).
5. The Board agreed the importance of ensuring that all Heads of Department were appropriately engaged in and aware of corporate business relevant to their interests. The principle should be that actions for individual Heads of Departments which arose from Board discussions should be communicated directly to them; collective Heads of Department discussions should be reserved for those matters where there was an issue of general application to all Departments. It was agreed that the secretariat would consider whether any vehicle, in addition to the minutes, was required to communicate information about decisions taken by the Board, any consequent actions for all Departments, as well as setting out those items which required a collective discussion and/or decision by Heads of Department. (Action: Cabinet Secretariat). This paper would be for information, except where items for discussion and decision were specifically identified. The agendas for the Heads of Department Business meetings would be approved by the Board on a case by case basis in order to ensure that all the relevant ground was covered, and the secretariat would ensure that all Heads of Department were given the opportunity to propose items for these agendas. (Action: Cabinet Secretariat).
Agenda item 4: external support
6. The Board considered whether it would benefit from any specialised advice or guidance in undertaking its new role at this stage. Members agreed that there might be opportunities to harness some external support for, or challenge to, their thinking in the future, but in the meantime they wanted to focus on establishing effective working arrangements for themselves, with support and comment from the non-executive directors as required.
Agenda item 5: interaction and communication
7. The Board recognised that internal communications, and communication about the work of the Executive itself, were each areas which the Taking Stock Review and the Staff Survey had identified as priorities for improvement. It was important to give these the urgent attention they required, and to improve the transparency and visibility of the Board itself as part of that overall strategy. In order to achieve this, the Board agreed that Owen Kelly's current remit as Head of International and Communications Group should be extended with immediate effect to include internal and strategic communications. (Action: Permanent Secretary and Dr Goudie).
8. The Board noted that the previous practice of communicating with staff primarily through promoting the minutes of MG meetings was not effective. While minutes of Strategic Board meetings would continue to be available on the intranet, alternative methods of sharing and explaining the Board's business should be explored with communications colleagues with a view to making recommendations to the Board. (Action: Sarah Davidson and Owen Kelly). Consideration of the key information and messages to be communicated from each Board meeting should be a standing item on each meeting agenda. (Action: Cabinet Secretariat).
Agenda item 6: Groups
9. The Board noted that each of the new Groups would be meeting shortly, and agreed that all overlaps and duplications in remit appeared to have been satisfactorily resolved in advance of these meetings. Noting that the Delivery Group and People and Innovation Group would be taking on work previously handled by Delivery Sub Group and CISG respectively, the Board agreed that the chairs of these groups should determine the appropriate balance between delivering the Action Plan and addressing other corporate priorities, while ensuring that the latter did not consume more than about a third of the total time available. The Board agreed that, pending the outcome of the review of the function of central teams, including Finance, the corporate home of financial discussions should be with the People and Innovation Group.
Agenda item 7: SE Change Programme Implementation Plan
10. Kate Vincent presented paper SB07(1) which provided information on the implementation of the Taking Stock action plan and related issues, and highlighted short term actions for the Strategic Board to consider. It was recognised that the current plan needed to be given coherence by an underpinning set of consistent key messages about the kind of organisation that the change programme was designed to deliver. The Board agreed that this set of messages should be drawn up and used as the foundation for defining and communicating the change programme (Action: Permanent Secretary).
11. The Board agreed that the issues identified in the paper were the correct ones for attention, but that in the first instance they were for the relevant Groups to consider in refining their section of the implementation plan. It was agreed that each Group should give feedback to Delivery Division on the sequencing and prioritising of actions, taking into account the capacity of the organisation to absorb and respond to the various elements of the programme. Once the final plan had been agreed by the individual Groups, and reviewed by the Board for overall coherence, it should be made available for all staff to access. Monitoring and evaluation of progress would be undertaken by Delivery Division, working closely with the Group secretariats and chairs of Groups, the last of which would take responsibility for monthly reporting to the Strategic Board, assisted by a paper prepared for this purpose by Delivery Division. In addition, the Board requested a set of priority milestones to track, which would be agreed at a collective Board discussion, following the initial Group meetings (Action: Delivery Division and Cabinet Secretariat).
12. The Board:
- Confirmed that the format of the draft implementation plan met its requirements;
- Agreed that Alasdair McIntosh and another individual should be appointed to review the function of the central teams, including Analytical Services, Strategy, Delivery and Finance, reporting on progress no later than mid-February;
- Agreed the approach to risk management regarding Taking Stock set out in para 14 of paper SB07(1);
- Agreed that the Permanent Secretary should select a name for the Change Programme in discussion with Delivery Division;
- Agreed that the implementation plan should be made accessible to all staff, once complete and approved by; and
- Thanked Delivery Division for the work which had gone into producing such a comprehensive draft plan in a very short space of time
Agenda item 8: communication with staff
13. The Board agreed that a message should issue to all staff by the end of the week, setting out in a clear and accessible format the key business which been discussed. (Action: Sarah Davidson).
Date of next meeting
14. Thursday 25 January at 08.30.
Cabinet Secretariat
January 2007