Scottish ILF Project Board – 3rd Minutes
SCOTTISH INDEPENDENT LIVING FUND, PROJECT BOARD
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD AT NORTON PARK CONFERENCE CENTRE, ON
THURSDAY 15 JANUARY 2015
Those attending:
Members
Maureen Bruce (Joint Chair)
Head of Care, Support & Rights Division,
Scottish Government
Florence Garabedian (Joint Chair) Chair, Self-Directed Support Scotland
Margaret Petherbridge
Falkirk Council - on behalf of Social Work
Scotland
Beth Hall (in place of Garrick Smyth) COSLA
Etienne d’Aboville
GCiL
Susan Forrest (in place of Andy SCLD
Miller)
Julie Taylor
PAMIS
Jan Savage (in place of Peter Scott)
ENABLE
Ludinda Godfrey
Dundee Carers Centre
In Attendance
Helen Sykes
Lisel Porch
Jack Blaik
Gemma Pettie
Scottish ILF Development Manager
Scottish ILF Delivery Group
Scottish ILF Social Work Adviser
Scottish ILF Communications Officer
Apologies
Peter Scott
Garrick Smyth
Dr Sally Witcher, OBE
Susan Grasekamp
Jackie Maceira
Margaret Simpson MBE
Rhona Dubery
Andy Miller
ENABLE
COSLA
Inclusion Scotland
SDEF
SDEF
Scottish Borders Social Enterprise Chamber
Scottish ILF Policy Lead
SCLD
Welcome, introductions and apologies
1.
Maureen Bruce and Florence Garabedian welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies noted as above due to extreme weather conditions.
Minutes of previous meeting and matters arising
2.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and agreed by the Board
members.
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Scottish ILF Project Board – 3rd Minutes
Update on ILF meetings and events held/attended
3.
Helen Sykes updated the board on events she had attended linked to the
Scottish ILF. It was explained that December had been a quiet period for events due
to the festive period. Future events included: Attendance at the SILC event w/c
19 January, a GCiL event in February and the subgroup of Social Work Scotland in
March. Helen asked that if anyone knew of any up and coming events or meetings
where engagement on the establishment of the Scottish ILF would be helpful, to
please let her know.
Approach to the Options Appraisal for Corporate Governance (Paper: PB11(2014))
4.
Helen Sykes introduced this paper which provided a background note on the
development of the destination model for the new Scottish ILF organisation. The
decision taken in December was that the first corporate governance should be
provided initially by the Scottish Government acting as employer and contracting and
commissioning body; with a new company limited by guarantee quickly established
thereafter, and any staff and contracts transferring to the new body as necessary.
This transitional arrangement would allow the first phase of work to continue,
transferring all existing Scottish users to the new Scottish Fund within the tight
timescales. At the same time, work could begin and due and proper consideration
be given to shaping the destination model for corporate governance in the longerterm.
5.
It was suggested that a small working group could be established to begin
work now in drawing together options and framing advice to the Project Board, which
would assist in the timely development and appraisal of options and ultimately inform
recommendations to Scottish Ministers on the destination model for the Scottish ILF.
This approach was agreed by Project Board members. Helen Sykes invited all
members to nominate an attendee if they felt it appropriate. It was noted that due to
the fast pace of work anticipated, those nominated would have to be able to commit
time on a monthly basis to the work of the group.
6.
In terms of timescales for the work, the initial view was that the Options
Appraisal Working Group should be aiming to provide the Project Board with an
interim report on its findings by May 2015 and a final report on the outcome of its
work by September 2015.
In discussion the following points were made:
7.1
A question was raised as to whether the working group should be considering
the development of the new Scottish ILF structure. It was noted that as yet, there
was no firm answer to this. It seemed very likely that structure would come up in the
deliberations but that was something that could be considered in the working group’s
Terms of Reference.
7.2
A further point was raised as to whether the working group would be expected
to offer only one option or a number of options for consideration. It was noted that
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Scottish ILF Project Board – 3rd Minutes
given the complexities and wide range of considerations, it seemed likely that more
than one option would be framed.
Project Board Risk Register (Paper: PB-12(2014))
8.
Helen Sykes introduced the Risk register to the Board, advising that this was
now amended slightly as an overall Risk Register for the Project.
In discussion the following points were made:
8.1
Management Resources (resource funding related to the development and
start-up of the Scottish ILF) was in place and at the moment there were no reported
issues.
8.2
Award Resources (to meet the cost of existing and future award packages)
had been transferred by DWP and HM Treasury and would be in place for the
commencement of payments to Scottish ILF recipients in July.
8.3
Reputational Risk was a risk to all around the table. If there were any failure
on developing the Scottish ILF for users, this would impact on all organisations
involved in its progress. However, Helen noted that overall progress was on target
at this point and therefore operational risk was at a comfortable level.
8.4
The potential risk to current Local Authority award levels and whether there
was a mechanism in place to ensure that payments to disabled people were not
adversely affected by pressure on those budgets was raised. It was agreed that
further discussion would take place between Etienne and Florence to consider what
action may be appropriate to recommend to the project board in this respect.
Engagement Plan (Paper: PB-13(2014)
9.0
Gemma Pettie introduced the first draft of the Scottish ILF Engagement plan
which had been produced following the Board’s earlier discussion of the
Communications Plan. It is a “live” document, which was expected to continually
develop and build over coming months, and it sets out the events and meetings
identified to-date which offered an opportunity for the Scottish ILF to engage with
users, stakeholder groups and organisations about what was changing, how and
when the transition to a national Scottish body would take place and a chance to
build relationships and connections.
Gemma also pointed out the importance of work to create a Scottish ILF website to
the communications and engagement work streams. She said that a Scottish ILF
domain name had been purchased and that she hoped to use the established
webpages from the UK ILF, or at least some of them, to give a degree of continuity
to look and layout for service users. She aimed to have the Scottish ILF website
ready for testing by the end of April and completed and in place by May/June, in time
for the new Scottish ILF “opening for business” on 1 July 2015.
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Scottish ILF Project Board – 3rd Minutes
In discussions the following points were made:
9.1
It was agreed that the UK ILF communications letter should be shared with
Margaret to allow her to pass this on to the ILF officers. It was also agreed that
Lucinda Godfrey would speak to Carers Centres locally and report back to Gemma.
9.2
The effectiveness of events and communications would be monitored and
analysed to identify if there was a particular group that should be more specifically
targeted with information. The data transfer of current users would also offer a wider
audience for communications as necessary.
9.3
Maureen Bruce gave thanks to those who noted interest in joining a small
working group to be established to work on the Communications and Engagement
Strategy (early work had begun within the Delivery Group) and this broader group
would now work together going forward as the communications workstream grew.
Update Report
10.
Helen Sykes offered a general rundown on progress with a number of the
other project workstreams in train and of work that would be starting soon.
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There were currently 20 different workstreams ongoing
There were 2 options for location of the new Scottish ILF and work was
progressing well on that front, with a decision expected soon
There was a further Assessors’ meeting planned for the end of January to ensure
they were closely engaged as plans developed
Work was continuing on establishing all policies for the new Scottish ILF, with the
42 UK policies reviewed and areas for legal clarification flagged The IT aspect of
the project was its highest risk and currently assessed as “red” in the risk register.
Work was continuing a pace and additional resource identified to mitigate risk
and to secure the progress that would be required if installation of the business
application were to be made in time to allow testing to begin in April as planned.
The first phase of recruitment was commencing with adverts and interviews for
the CEO and other members of the senior staff team planned for February/early
March.
A small knowledge Transfer and Training Team had been drawn together and
would be engaged in an intensive period of work with ILF Nottingham in
February. Its work would be vitally important in the acquisition of information,
processes and practice from existing teams who were winding down towards
closure and the process mapping work and training of new Scottish ILF case
workers and other staff.
Any other business
11.
No other business was discussed.
Summary of actions and close
16
A summary of all actions agreed is set out below.
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Scottish ILF Project Board – 3rd Minutes
ACTION POINTS:
Action
To be actioned
by
All
Project
Board Lisel Porch
members contacted and
asked
to
give
nominations
for
representatives on the
Options
appraisal
working group
Further
discussion Etienne
regarding LA payments
d’Aboville
–
Florence
Garabedian
Identify
and
inform All
Project
Gemma Pettie of any Board members
events that would be
beneficial for a Scottish
ILF delivery group to
attend
UK ILF communications Gemma Pettie
letter would be shared
with Margaret and would
allow her to pass this on
to the ILF officers
5
Timescale
Wednesday
January
Actioned?
21 Completed
TBC
Ongoing
Friday
January
30