MEETING OF THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT STRATEGIC BOARD: HELD ON THURSDAY, 15 MAY 2008.
Present
Sir John Elvidge KCB (chair)
Robert Gordon CB
Andrew Goudie
Philip Rycroft
Richard Wakeford
Kevin Woods (Items 1 - 3 only)
Bill Bound
Lesley Fraser for Angiolina Foster (Item 4 - 6 only)
Apologies: David Fisher, Sarah Davidson and Angiolina Foster
In Attendance
Alyson Stafford
Paul Gray
Andrew Watson
Lesley Sheppard
Aileen Wright (For Agenda Item 2 only)
Bridget Campbell (For Agenda Item 3 only)
John Nicholls (For Agenda Item 3 only)
Jamie MacDougall (For Agenda Item 4 only)
Fiona Robertson (For Agenda Item 5 only)
Agenda Item 1: Minutes and Matters Arising
1. The Board noted with one amendment the minutes of the meeting held on 24 April 2008.
2. Under matters arising the Board noted developments since the previous meeting on the review of scrutiny and agreed there should be a process for obtaining further input from those DGs with the closest interest. (Action: Permanent Secretary/Mr Gordon)
Agenda Item 2: International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)(SB(08)22)
3. Alyson Stafford introduced paper SB(08)22, which provided the Board with an overview of work underway to implement International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) within the Scottish Government.
4. The Strategic Board:
(a) Noted the considerable implications that the introduction of IFRS would have for accounting practices and budgetary issues in the Scottish Government and the wider public sector, including the likely impact on the valuation and presentation of certain infrastructure and other assets;
(b) Agreed that Finance should provide DGs with further written background material in preparation for a Strategic Board seminar which will include case studies of how IFRS would apply in the Scottish Government and in other sectors, as well as information about what other countries were doing; (Action: Ms Stafford/MsWright/ Cabinet Secretariat);
(c) Part of the record of discussion under this agenda item is considered exempt from publication at this time and has been redacted;
(d) Welcomed the arrangements being put in place to take forward a range of proposed workstreams and agreed that the programme plan and governance arrangements were sound;
(e) The Board agreed that consideration should be given to (i) extending the proposed membership of the programme board to include a broader set of interests, such as, for example, the Financial Reporting Advisory Board (outwith those members who already represent the Scottish Government or Audit Scotland) or some similar body; a senior representative from an NDPB and a representative from Transport Scotland; and (ii) to ensuring the designated Programme Manager, Terry Holmes, receives the appropriate accreditation for his programme management role. (Action: Ms Stafford / Ms Wright);
(f) Agreed that although the implementation of IFRS was being led by the UK Government, and there were currently a number of uncertainties, it would nevertheless be helpful to develop a clear narrative around the potential benefits of the change and as rigorous an assessment as possible of any risks, in the context of the tight financial perspective (Action: Ms Stafford); and
(g) Agreed that the Strategic Board should receive regular progress updates from the Programme Board. (Action: Cabinet Secreteriat/Ms Stafford).
Agenda Item 3: Building Scotland's Resilience (SB(08)23)
5. John Nicholls introduced paper SB(08)23, which provided the first regular update on resilience and business continuity management, as agreed at the Strategic Board meeting of 6 December 2007. The paper reflected lessons learned from, and Ministers' views in the light of, the activity connected with the recent Grangemouth industrial dispute.
6. The Strategic Board:
(a) Congratulated everyone involved in providing an effective Government response to the Grangemouth dispute;
(b) Agreed proposed plans for follow-up risk assessment work across portfolios (Action: Mr Nicholls);
(c) Agreed that Directors should continue to take a close interest in resilience in their Directorates and that Directors General had a role to play in communicating the priority the Board attaches to the risk assessment work; (Action: Directors General);
(d) Noted that an important feature of the recent dispute was the need to quickly access information from stakeholders, which highlighted the value of this dimension of senior managers' stakeholder relationships. The Board agreed that the experience of Grangemouth should be fed into work Sarah Davidson was already undertaking on building corporate understanding of the characteristics of excellent stakeholder relations within Scottish Government and with external stakeholders. (Action: Ms Davidson);
(e) Agreed that there were lessons to be learned on the role of the media and their impact on public understanding of emergency situations, and on the Government's engagement with media stakeholders (Action: Ms Davidson); and
(f) Agreed that it would be helpful to consider what scope exists for expanding further current arrangements for mobilising staff in support of SEER (now re-named Scottish Government Resilience Room - SGoRR) and EAT during emergency situations without adversely affecting other time-critical work (Action: Mr Nicholls/Mr Gray).
Agenda Item 4: Business Management in the Scottish Government (SB(08)24)
7. Philip Rycroft introduced paper SB(08)24, which provided an update on work to develop a fresh business management framework and sought agreement to next steps.
8. The Strategic Board:
(a) Welcomed the development of business management tools as described in the paper;
(b) Agreed that, below Board level, consideration of business, performance and risk management issues should be consolidated and assimilated at DG command level and agreed the proposals in the paper around the important role of Audit Committees;
(c) Agreed that Strategy and Performance Division should give over-arching consideration to information flowing from all of these processes and provide the Strategic Board with consolidated reports on key corporate issues, so that the Board considers the right business management information in the most effective format at the right time. (Action: Mr Rycroft/Ms Fraser); and
(d) Agreed that one way of testing the proposed business management framework would be to consider a case study from the past (for example, how the framework would have supported senior management in the handling of issues relating to the e-HR project during 2005). (Action: Mr Gray/Ms Fraser)
Agenda Item 5: Developing the Strategic Narrative: Mapping National Outcomes and Purpose Targets (SB(08)25)
9. Fiona Robertson introduced paper SB(08)25, which mapped out the relationships between the national outcomes and the Purpose targets and sought the Board's views on how the mapping work could be used moving forward.
10. The Strategic Board:
(a) Agreed that the paper should be shared with Directors. (Action: Ms Robertson);
(b) Agreed that the work represented an excellent starting point and should continue to be developed and refined over coming months (Action: Ms Robertson);
(c) Agreed it should be used as a tool to assist with work on better policy making. A scoping paper should be prepared for the Board that captures the links between the mapping work and the range of other current workstreams either linked to it or which could be informed by it, to help ensure that the Board can maximise the collective benefit of these areas of work. (Action: Mr Rycroft);
(d) Agreed that consideration should be given to what the Board might usefully discuss at an early stage in terms of strong correspondence or potential risks of conflict between different targets and outcomes. (Action: Ms Robertson/Ms Fraser);
(e) Agreed that, as work on mapping, monitoring and analysing progress towards delivering the purpose targets moved forward, there would be a need to consider how best to seek evidence from policy areas to demonstrate how their work is contributing to delivery of the targets, without adding unnecessary burdens (Action: Ms Robertson/ Ms Fraser).
Agenda Item 6: Any Other Business
11. The Board received a brief update on the Forth Replacement Crossing project from Board members who had a role in the project and agreed that it would be helpful to have a more detailed discussion later in the month.
12. The Board received an update on the development of an action plan following the recent Fairmont event.
Date of Next Meeting
13. The next meetings of the Strategic Board will be held on 29 May 2008 at 9.30 and on 26 June 2008 in Victoria Quay.
Cabinet and Corporate Business Secretariat
May 2008