Meeting of the Audit and Risk Committee
A meeting of the Audit and Risk Committee was held on Wednesday 21 November
at 10am in the Board room, Denholm House, Livingston.
Present:
1.0
Moi Ali
Anna Boni
Laura Burman
Ruth Brown (External Auditor)
Morag Campsie (External Auditor)
Sir Andrew Cubie (Chair)
Kate Dunlop
Les Henderson (Internal Auditor)
Gillian Howells
Andra Laird
Bill Maxwell
Kenneth Muir
Craig Munro
Iain Nisbet
Gayle Reilly
Stuart Robertson
Welcome and apologies
Noted 1:
Sir Andrew welcomed Craig Munro, Strategic Director, Strategy,
Performance and Corporate Resources to his first meeting of the
Committee and also Gayle Reilly who has taken over the secretariat role.
Noted 2:
Sir Andrew thanked Ruth Brown for her contribution to the Committee
as this is her last meeting as she has decided to retire.
Noted 3:
No apologies were noted.
2.0
Minutes and action log of the meeting held on 22 August 2012
Noted 1:
The Minute of the previous meeting was approved as an accurate
record.
Noted 2:
The actions from 22 August are all complete or on the Agenda for
discussion.
Action 1:
An away day to be organised to plan ahead for the year but also to
discuss risks more widely.
Audit and Risk Committee: Minutes
21 November 2012
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2.1
2.2
3.0
Responsibilities of the Curriculum for Excellence Implementation Group and
Glow project
Noted 1:
Bill Maxwell chairs the CfE Implementation Board which
includes key partners. The Programme office manage the
business but hold Education Scotland accountable.
Noted 2:
It should be noted that Education Scotland has its own internal
governance arrangements as well as continuing to develop and
manage individual plans and risks.
Noted 3:
Craig Munro is a member of the SWAN Programme Board
which is business critical; it deals with the ICT Infrastructure
across Scotland.
Noted 4:
This programme is delivering on 3 projects which lie in our
domain; plans are in place for each. We are working with
RM and Microsoft to take these projects forward.
Inspection policy and code of practice
Noted 1:
Ken Muir presented the group with a draft copy of the Code of
Practice: inspection, review and other evaluative activity.
Noted 2:
The introduction is pending the finalisation of the Framework
Document in order to make clear links between them.
Noted 3:
The consultation with staff will begin in December 2012.
Matters arising
Noted 1:
4.0
No matters arising.
Declarations/register of interests
Noted 1:
No declarations were made.
Items for discussion
5.0
Finance report
Noted 1:
Stuart informed members that money will be re-allocated to cover the
costs of the improvements to the Corporate ICT platform and
investment in accommodation costs for Estates. £1m will be
transferred to cover physical education work.
Noted 2:
The Confucius work has now moved to Strathclyde University.
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21 November 2012
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Noted 3:
Iain Nisbet asked why there had been a decrease spend on staff costs
but an increase in overtime and temporary staff. Stuart informed Iain
that we had reorganisation and a redeployment list of staff and there
were gaps still needing to be filled. Agency staff had been used in the
meantime.
Noted 4:
There were originally 14 people on the redeployment list following the
structural review but this has now reduced to 4. Two out of the 4 have
opted for early retirement / voluntary exit.
6.0
Health and safety report
Noted 1:
The window that was damaged in the Aberdeen Office has now been
repaired. It was noted however, that the Aberdeen staff will be
moving to new accommodation in December which should eliminate
the chances of any further incidents occurring.
Noted 2:
Contingency plans are being put in place in the event of any adverse
weather over the festive period.
Action 1:
The first aid arrangements should be reviewed to consider
whether a defibrillator could be made available. Stuart agreed to
take this forward.
7.0
Audit Scotland
7.1
Learning the Lessons of the public body mergers
Noted 1:
Andra Laird, author of the Learning the Lessons of the public
body mergers joined the meeting to provide a further update on
the report.
Noted 2:
9 case studies were used to baseline the data. At the time of the
study Education Scotland had just been established.
Noted 3:
Follow-up work is planned for the college sector, Care
Inspectorate and Police.
Noted 4:
Audit Scotland indicated that they would increase emphasis on
best value in the coming year.
Action 1:
A Best Value paper to be provided for the next meeting.
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21 November 2012
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8.0
Internal Audit
8.1
Internal Audit Plan 2012/13
9.0
Noted 1:
The risks cannot be aligned due to the Corporate Plan not being
finalised yet. At the February Board meeting, items to be
discussed under Audit will be
 Performance Management System
 Reporting back to Committee
 Responsibilities and Duties / discharge our responsibilities
Glow – Learning Directorate
 Gateway Reviews
Noted 2:
Risk Strategy & Policy – risk maps and assurance maps help
pull things together, highlight issues and good practice.
Action 1:
Iain Nisbet would like to receive a copy of an assurance
map.
Corporate Risk
Noted 1:
The Corporate Level Risks are owned and managed by CMG. There
have been no changes made to the risks since the last meeting 2012.
Noted 2:
There has been 450 applications received for 15 new posts, the risk on
resources will be reduced in due course.
Action 1:
The Committee to see an electronic copy of the Staff Survey
results before the next meeting.
10.0
Corporate Expectations 2012/13
Noted 1:
The Scottish Government’s corporate expectations event took place on
10th October.
Noted 2:
There are 11 Corporate Expectations, we should use existing
mechanisms for reporting alignment, this should be incorporated into
business as usual.
Items for noting
11.0
Framework document
Noted 1:
Members were asked to review the latest version of the Framework
document. This needs to be formally signed-off by the Cabinet
Secretary.
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21 November 2012
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12.0
Revised terms of reference
Noted 1:
The Board were asked to note the revised Terms of Reference for the
Audit and Risk Committee, the language has been aligned with the
Framework document.
Noted 2:
It was discussed that ‘Performance Measurement of the Board’ should
be added to the calendar of discussions.
Noted 3:
The Annual Report will be added to the Agenda for the September
meeting.
Noted 4:
The Audit and Risk Committee dates will be set for February, May,
September and December 2013 with an additional date at the end of
January for an Away day.
13.0
Any other business
Noted 1:
14.0
It was noted that this was Ruth Brown’s last meeting of the Audit and
Risk Committee as she has decided to retire, Sir Andrew expressed his
thanks to Ruth for her involvement and contribution to meetings over
several stints as HMIE / Education Scotland auditor and wished her
well for her future plans.
Date of next meeting
Noted 1:
An away day will take place on Friday 15th February 2013
Noted 2:
The next Audit and Risk Committee will take place on 27 March 2013.
Audit and Risk Committee: Minutes
21 November 2012
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