Scottish Government

SB(07)2nd Conclusions

STRATEGIC BOARD MEETING

THURSDAY, 25 JANUARY 2007

Agenda item 1: Minutes

1. The minutes of the previous meeting (SB(07)1st conclusions) were formally agreed for publication. Members noted the importance of ensuring that the information contained in the minutes of Board meetings was accessible by those with an immediate interest as soon as possible. It was therefore agreed that the Permanent Secretary would approve a draft version of the minutes for issue to the SCS within 2 working days of each meeting, with publication on the intranet following formal approval of the minutes at the next Board meeting. (Action: Permanent Secretary and secretariat).

2. A number of matters arising were discussed or noted as follows:

• (paragraph 4) It was agreed that the question of formalising working arrangements, including any formal delegation of accountability and/or responsibility should be remitted to the Leadership Group to consider in the wider context of examining the various options for longer term leadership structures. Existing formal accountabilities would of course remain in place at present;
• (paragraph 5) It was noted that the secretariat would work with the internal communications team to identify what, if any, additional vehicles were required to ensure that information about the work of the Board and its associated Groups was fully and properly communicated. This exercise would be informed by the experience of the early weeks of operation of the new structures, and would take into account the views of Heads of Departments and others about what they would find helpful in this regard;
• (paragraph 7) It was noted that Owen Kelly had agreed to take on the role of Director of Communications and, reflecting the discussion at the previous Board meeting, he was already focussing on how best to join up internal and external communications and identifying the professional resource he required to support him in this task;
• (paragraph 9) It was noted and agreed that the actions in the implementation plan which did not fall into the remit of any of the new Groups, (largely those connected with Public Service Reform and the Strategic Platform/SR07) would be reported to the Board in the same way as those being monitored through the Groups.

3. Board members reported on the first meetings of their Groups. All the meetings had been very successful in terms of understanding the task and getting down to business. Key points were as follows:

• People and Business Innovation Group (PBIG): There had been a useful discussion reflecting on Skills for Success, and the importance of ensuring that the skills and development component of the performance round was fit for purpose. Good progress had also been reported on the changes to the performance management system. The Group had also discussed some of Owen Kelly's ideas on internal communications; the work being led by Philip Rycroft on business planning, and proposals for developing financial management skills as part of the finance modernisation agenda.
• Delivery Group (DG): A number of issues had been identified which would be developed in more detail by Group members working in smaller teams.
• Leadership Group (LG): The more straightforward actions had been delegated to individuals or small groups to pursue, and the Group would be reserving its collective energy to focus on the key issue of examining options for leadership structures and accountabilities. A common analytical framework had been agreed which would enable emerging models to be tested rigorously.
• Strategic Spending Review Group (SSRG): The Group now had a clearer view of the process to be followed between now and the autumn, albeit that some assumptions would have to be made about what incoming Ministers would choose to do.
  
  4. The Board noted work underway in HR on talent development and management in the context of the people strategy. While there would no doubt be opportunities for PBIG and LG to engage with this work, the Board agreed that it would expect to be involved in the development of proposals which related to senior management. In the context of SSRG's work, the Board noted that work is still underway in Departments to identify potential headroom available in portfolios and that this exercise is due to be complete in February.
  
  5. The Board considered paper SB(07)02, which proposed a number of actions from the Taking Stock implementation plan in which it might wish to take a particular interest. The list included actions of particular importance to staff; actions where success or failure would be particularly visible; actions where the risk of delivery on time was high, and actions which had particular strategic significance for the organisation. The Board agreed that the proposed list was an accurate reflection of those issues which it would want to make time to review and discuss with the relevant Group chair. Responsibility for regular monitoring of progress against all the actions lay with the Groups, and the onus would be firmly on the Group chairs to bring to the Board's attention those issues which merited a strategic discussion. Reporting to the Board would therefore be on an exception basis and reports would be co-ordinated by the Secretariat and Delivery Division. As a matter of practice, Board members should always give advance notice of issues they wished to raise in order to give colleagues time to prepare for the discussion.
  
  6. It was also agreed that Delivery Division had a key role to play in maintaining an overview of the implementation plan as a whole and identifying any linkage issues, blockages or over-stretched resources, and would continue to focus its resources on supporting the advance of work in PBIG and DG.

Agenda item 4: the Change Programme

7. The Board considered paper SB(07)03, which proposed a number of questions about the narrative of the change programme, and paper SB(07)04 which suggested the foundations of this story by relating it to the kind of organisation that the SE is aiming to be. This was to be an initial and wide discussion, designed to steer the thinking of the internal communications team with a view to developing more detailed propositions for examination at a later stage.

8. In discussion, it was suggested that the communications task was to articulate the journey that the SE was on in a manner which was accessible and intelligible to a range of audiences, as well as being motivational to everyone working in the organisation. It had to be grounded in the vision and values of the organisation, and capture the desire for continuous improvement and a corporate restlessness to solve Scotland's remaining problems. It needed to stress the professional aspect of our work, describe the distinctive role for the civil service in the political environment in which we operate and stress the many successes that people throughout the Executive have already had. The story was one which had to be developed and owned by the Board, but its delivery needed to be shaped and professionalized by the communications specialists.

9. The Board agreed that the internal communications team should reflect on this discussion when working up proposals for consideration at its next meeting, ( Action: Owen Kelly), and that it would assist the process of developing good communications if the Director of Communications were in attendance at subsequent Board meetings. Discussion of the style and nature of regular communications from the Board to all staff was deferred to the next meeting.

Date of next meeting

10. Thursday 8 February at 08.30.

Cabinet Secretariat

January 2007