MINUTES
HMIE Management Board
Wednesday 22 December 2010 at 1:30pm
Boardroom, Denholm House, Livingston
Present:
Bill Maxwell, HMIE (WSM) Chair
Kenneth Muir, HMIE (KBM)
Gill Robinson, HMIE (GNR)
Neil McKechnie, HMIE (NMM)
Stuart Robinson, HMIE (SAR)
Frank Crawford HMIE (FC1)
Chris McIlroy HMIE (CM1)
Sir Andrew Cubie (AC)
Chris Webb HMIE (CW)
Gary Kildare (GK)
Moi Ali (MA)
Eileen Quigley HMIE (EQ)
Apologies for absence:
Shirley Young (SY)
Alastair Delaney, HMIE (AGD)
1.0
Minutes of meeting held on 3 June 2010
1.1
The minutes were accepted as accurate
2.0
Matters arising
2.1
Frank Clark has been appointed as the Chair of SCSWIS and Jacquie
Roberts will be the acting Chief Executive for one year. NMM and HMIE staff
had a positive meeting with both on 21 December to discuss the business
plan and the matching process for transferring staff.
2.2
HMIE has been reviewing the draft joint inspection regulations and
transitional regulations. There are a few minor queries that have been
highlighted to the legal department and the regulation drafters. SCISWIS
have been given the child protection inspection programme from 1 April 2011.
2.3
All action points were completed.
3.0
Update on SEQIA
3.1
The Board were advised that HMIE is focussing on safe running while
transforming. We do not expect the SEQIA announcement to result in a loss
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of staff that would put the delivery of HMIE’s business plan at risk. A
Programme Board for the agency creation project is in place, chaired by
Jamie Hume and also comprising Maureen Verrall, Bill Maxwell and Bernard
McLeary. Murray McVicar and Sandra Campbell also attend to support the
Programme Board. This group meets weekly and issues a weekly update to
staff. A high level assurance and challenge forum has been agreed and this
may include a trade union representative as well as AC (note trade unions
subsequently declined the offer). A set of project teams have been created
within the overall programme; SG, LTS and HMIE will have representatives on
each team. A risk register is being developed to provide assurance and a
priority task is to agree the remit, scope and functions of the new organisation.
The draft remit is due to go to staff in early January and this is due to be
signed of by Ministers by the end of January. High level organisational design
will follow agreement of the remit and functions. It is likely that an external
consultant will be employed to help in this aspect of the set up of the new
agency. Indications are that the new organisation will be part of SG main with
regard to terms and conditions. (subsequently confirmed)
GK suggested that the Non-Executive board members would be happy to
have dialogue with the Programme Board to provide an independent view.
MA highlighted the importance of ensuring the continued independence of the
evaluative functions of HM Inspectors.
It was agreed that HMIE would use the experiences gained with the SCSWIS
transfer to inform development of the new agency.
Action 3.1 WSM will contact Jamie Hume, Agency Creation and
Development Director to propose a meeting with HMIEs Non- Executive board
members.
4.0
Finance
4.1
SAR gave the Board an overview of the paper highlighting a change in
disclosure requested by HM Treasury. This deals with how details of senior
staff salaries are to be reported in future.
4.2
SAR asked the Board to note the budget outturn report. He highlighted
that suspending inspections, in favour of support for Curriculum for
Excellence, has resulted in significant savings in non-staff costs. These
savings will help fund a small number of staff early retirements and Scottish
Government has also been advised that HMIE can contribute £300k in
2010-11 to help fund SEQIA start- up costs.
5.0
Annual report to SFC on the findings of HMIE evaluative activity in
Scotland’s colleges 1 August – 31 July 2010
5.1
KBM advised the Board that this was the second annual report in less
than a year due to a change in the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) annual
report timeframe. The highlights of the report are that it now makes
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comparators between colleges inspection findings, there is a section on
equality and diversity, it is a sector that delivers well for learners,
self - evaluation is good however there are some issues over learning and
teaching and learner engagement. Issues for HMIE to consider include:
budget cuts in colleges; principals being interested in college league tables;
how the next model of review process will be effected by ongoing economic
issues; and clarity on HMIE’s independence to the SFC.
6.0
Report on equalities work and update on Equality Act 2010
6.1
The Board was invited to note the detailed paper on an important and
positive aspect of our work.
6.2
The Board was invited to note that the HMIE Equality and Diversity
Group were recently recognised in the Civil Service Awards.
Action 6.1 Board Members to pass any comments on the paper to CM1.
7.0
Conflicts of interest policy
7.1
Management Board was invited to note the paper which is in line with
current SG HR policy. This was followed by a discussion on how potential
conflicts should be indentified and by whom. The policy will be updated in
light of the discussion, but the Board agreed there was no need for it to return
for final clearance.
8.0
Update on HMIE Audit and Risk Committee
8.1
AC updated the Board on the key points of the Audit and Risk
Committee meeting which included: a paper on budget scenario planning; a
presentation on the Audit Scotland report on the Role of Boards
(concentrating on the membership and use of non-executive members); how
risks surrounding the establishment of SEQIA are being managed; and
confirmation that HMIE corporate level risks are being well managed.
9.0
School Inspection Framework Review- update
9.1
The Board was advised that the SIFR programme is going well. There
have been 1800 consultation responses. Various workstreams/potential
changes are being trialled in a small number of inspections and there has
been good involvement by parents. The high level messages of the
consultation will be given by George Street Research consultants to SMG on
12 January. Representatives of all local authorities responded to the
consultation as did a range of other key stakeholder groups. Early analysis of
the findings is encouraging.
10.0
Principles of inspection and review
10.1 The Board was asked to note the report that has been updated in light
of previous discussions. GK highlighted that there is nothing in the report
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about the quality of inspectors. The Board agreed that this would be a good
addition to the report.
Action 10.1 FMMC to consider the point raised by GK and possibly adding to
the report by way of an appendix.
11.0
Quarterly report / HMIE Performs and publications
10.1 The Board was asked to note the quarterly reports. MA suggested that
it may be a good idea to provide a one page summary at the beginning of the
report.
Action: SAR to prepare a summary of the quarterly report in future.
12.0
Additional support for Curriculum for Excellence
12.1 GNR gave an overview of the paper summarising progress on ASCFE
activities. Some activities had been delayed due to the severe weather, but
overall visits are going well and there are positive responses in evaluations.
Next steps are to try to reschedule the delayed visits and plan the longer term
strategy to maintain the momentum and impact of this initiative.
13.0
The Role of Boards
13.1
The Board noted the summary of the Audit Scotland report.
14.0
Any other business
14.1 Staff survey
CM1 noted that the SCI notice provided gives a high level overview of the
findings of the staff survey. Response rates were once again high and
responses were generally positive. SMG would be undertaking a more
detailed consideration of the findings with a view to identifying actions to take
forward further improvement.
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