Meeting of the Management Advisory Board
A Meeting of the Management Advisory Board was held on Thursday 28 March
2013 at 2pm in the Board Room, Denholm House, Livingston
Present:
Alan Armstrong
Anna Boni
Alastair Delaney
Kate Dunlop
Michael Ewart
Bill Maxwell (Chair)
Kenneth Muir
Craig Munro
Graeme Ogilvy
Gayle Reilly
Apologies:
Sir Andrew Cubie
Stuart Robinson
1.0
Welcome and Apologies
Noted 1:
2.0
Minute of the previous meeting held on 18 December 2012 and
Action Grid
Noted 1:
3.0
Bill welcomed everyone to the meeting. The above
apologies were noted.
The Minute of the previous meeting of Education
Scotland’s Management Board was approved with all
actions having been progressed or completed.
Matters arising
Noted 1:
Bill informed the Board that the Framework document
has been signed off and published on the internet.
Noted 2:
A letter from Lesley Evans has been received which sets
out her engagement with Education Scotland. Lesley will
attend an Audit and Risk Committee and a Management
Board meeting and has also requested a meeting directly
with the non executives.
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28 March 2013
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4.0
Declarations of Interest
Noted 1:
Mike Ewart declared that he has been asked by Jim
Conroy and John Haldane to attend seminars exploring
the policy focus across the 4 UK constituents. The
seminars will take place in Belfast, St Andrews and
Glasgow.
Items for discussion
5.0
Corporate Plan
5.1
Engagement around Corporate Plan
Noted 1:
Craig informed the Board that an extensive
consultation exercise had taken place focused on
the development of the Corporate plan. Education
Scotland had engaged in a variety of activities to
capture the views of stakeholders including,
conferences, away days, face to face dialogue with
key stakeholders, electronic surveys. Over 85
separate focus groups and discussions were held.
Noted 2:
Thank you letters have been issued to all
stakeholders who took part in the consultation
exercise.
Noted 3:
YoungScot was commissioned to undertake a
detailed consultation about the Corporate Plan
with young people This has resulted in a full report
which will be uploaded onto our website
Noted 4:
Further engagement will also take place with all
staff before the final version is published.
Action 1:
Anna to circulate a copy of the YoungScot
report to Non-Executives colleagues.
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28 March 2013
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5.2
Vision/Mission/Values
Noted 1:
5.3
The publication of the Corporate Plan was
discussed. The vision, mission and values are
clearly expressed and there is clear alignment with
the 7 National outcomes that Education Scotland’s
work supports. It also upholds the key messages
from the Christie Commission.
Partnership Goals – Improvement Challenge
Noted 1:
Section nine of the corporate plan is about the
improvement challenge and how well the
education system is currently performing. This is
looked at through PISA (OECD) research; there is
scope for improvement & learning from other
countries.
Noted 2:
The Cabinet Secretary delivered a speech at
Glasgow University on March 27 where he outlined
a number of approaches to further support
Scotland on the ‘good to great’ journey. One
aspect related to an Improvement Partnership
Programme which outlines a collaborative
approach to improvement, working closely with
local authorities to identify two or three key priority
areas. The Cabinet Secretary will hold a further
joint meeting with Education Convenors and
Directors in May or June at to agree on the focus
of the partnership
Noted 3:
In his speech, he also noted that a portal would be
developed for parents containing information about
individual schools. This could also link with the
Scottish Schools Online and Parentzone website.
Action 1:
Anna to circulate a copy of the Cabinet
Secretary’s speech to the board members
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28 March 2013
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5.4
5.5
5.6
Strategy for promoting improvement
Noted 1:
In order to promote improvement, we will
strengthen the quality of our workforce through
focused career long professional learning. This
work will be supported through the People
Strategy.
Noted 2:
Following on from the Risk Management Away
day, it was discussed that the Strategic objectives
should be reduced from seven to six.
Noted 3:
Work is underway in finalising the programmes,
projects and work streams linked to the now six
strategic objectives.
Noted 4:
We intend to include a model of the Scottish
approach to improvement within the Corporate
Plan. We are working with publishers to develop a
diagram to support this methodology.
Strategic Objectives
Noted 1:
Each Strategic Director gave a brief update on the
Strategic Objectives for which they are
responsible. Each of the six objectives will be
presented in two sections in the Corporate plan a
‘we will’ section and ‘how will we know if we have
made a difference’ section. This work is being
finalised in discussion with the Strategic and
Assistant Directors.
Noted 2:
The Strategic Objectives will be subject to further
change and refinement before they are finalised
and published.
Next Steps
Noted 1:
The current Corporate plan publication date is in
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May but there is scope for this date to be revised.
Items for noting
6.0
Corporate Risk
Noted 1:
7.0
Audit and Risk Committee Away Day – 15 February
Noted 1:
8.0
9.0
Colleagues reported positively on the focus of the away
day and its impact (see agenda item 6)
Report from Audit and Risk Committee – 27 March (verbal update)
Noted 1:
In Sir Andrew’s absence, Kate provided the Board with a
overview of the agenda items which had been discussed
at the Audit and Risk Committee including that the
finance budget was on plan and that the redesign of the
Optima is progressing well. Alastair Craik was introduced
at the meeting as the new Senior Auditor.
Noted 2:
The Internal and External Auditors will meet with the
Non-Executives before the next Audit and Risk
Committee.
Finance Report
Noted 1:
10.0
It was noted that at a future meeting, a revised Policy
and Strategy on Risk would be discussed as well as a
revised risk register covering high level risks aligned to
the Strategic Objectives. The Audit and Risk Committee
will take this forward first.
The Finance Report for February was noted.
AOB
10.1
Cabinet Secretary’s Speech
Noted 1:
See agenda item 5.3
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10.2
Commission on School Reform
Noted 1:
11.0
Bill informed the Board that the Commission on
School Reform report had been written
independently by Keir Bloomer. The Board were
informed that there are no major issues arising from
the report for the organisation.
Date of Next Meeting
Noted 1:
The next meeting is scheduled to take place at 10.30am
on Wednesday 29 May in Denholm House, Livingston.
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28 March 2013
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