MINUTES
DEPARTMENT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
MANAGEMENT BOARD MEETING
Friday 30th JANUARY 2015
Board Members
Present:
Will Haire (Permanent Secretary)
Andrew Hamilton (Deputy Secretary, Resources & Social Policy Group)
Tommy O’Reilly (Chief Executive, Social Security Agency)
Tracy Meharg (Deputy Secretary, Urban Regeneration and Community
Development Group)
Deep Sagar (Independent Board Member)
Roy Keenan (Independent Board Member)
Attendees
Maeve Walls (Director of Human Resources)
Deborah Brown (Director of Finance)
Dave Wall (Director of Communications, Policy and Strategic Support)
Mick Shine (Secretariat)
Bernie McCafferty (Secretariat)
Presenters
Caron Alexander (Digital Services, Department of Finance and Personnel DFP)
Malcolm McKibbin (Head of Civil Service Northern Ireland)
Stephen Martin (Housing Division)
David Malcolm (Child Maintenance Service)
MINUTES
1. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
The Board agreed the minutes of the DMB meeting of 28th November 2014.
2. MATTERS ARISING
There were no matters arising.
The following action points were carried forward:
Agenda item 13 from 27th September 2013
Agenda item 7 from 31st January 2014
Agenda item 3 from 28th March 2014
Agenda item 8 from 1st August 2014
Agenda item 11 from 1st August 2014
Agenda item 12 from 26th September 2014
3. CHAIR’S UPDATE
The Permanent Secretary briefed the Board on events from the Permanent
Secretaries Group meeting. He also highlighted the challenges that lie ahead
with the Voluntary Exit Scheme (VES) and Welfare Reform. He highlighted
that after the proposed changes to the number of government departments,
this Department will employ about one third of all Civil Servants.
4. WELFARE REFORM – VERBAL UPDATE
Tommy O’Reilly gave a verbal overview of Welfare Reform and informed the
Board that an agreement was reached by the political parties on 19 December
2014. The Executive agreed the Welfare Reform Bill on 22 January 2015 and
the consideration stage is set for 10th February 2015.Tommy added that his
team has a very busy 18 months ahead of them in order to introduce all of the
agreed reforms of the Welfare Bill.
Will thanked Tommy and his staff for all of their efforts and in particular for
their assistance at the Stormont House talks in December.
MINUTES
5. NICS CITIZENS CONTACT STRATEGY-DEPARTMENTAL ACTION PLANS
DMB 01/2015
Tommy O’Reilly presented this paper to the Board. The Board:
 Noted the key findings of the Landscape Review for the Department
and the areas for future consideration;
 Considered and endorsed the Digital Action Plan 2014-2016; and
 Noted the plans for a further review during the 2015/2016 financial
year.
6. URBAN REGENERATION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GROUP –
VERBAL UPDATE
Tracy Meharg gave an overview of the Directorate and informed the Board
that the Regeneration Bill was at its second stage and that a presentation was
being prepared on this matter for the Social Development Committee. Tracy
stressed that all regeneration projects undertaken by the Department would
need to be cleared by the end of the financial year. Tracy added that the
Department had a very good working relationship with the councils.
7. HOUSING REFORM - VERBAL UPDATE
Andrew Hamilton informed the Board that the consultation on Tenant
Participation commenced on 15th January. A briefing on Regulatory
Framework will be made to the Social Development Committee on 12th
February and a further consultation on Regulation is planned in the near
future. Andrew added that work on the Landlord functions was progressing
and that the housing stock condition survey was almost complete.
8. PRESENTATION: THE NORTHERN IRELAND DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME.
This presentation was delivered by Caron Alexander (the Director of Digital
Services DFP). Caron outlined the vision and the services that will be
available by March 2016.The Board thanked Caron for her presentation.
MINUTES
9. STORMONT HOUSE AGREEMENT
Malcolm McKibbin addressed the Board and gave an account of the lead up
to the Stormont House Agreement. He gave a chronological timeline of the
differences/difficulties facing the political parties and the efforts made to
resolve them, this culminated in the signing of the agreement on 23 rd
December 2014.
He then outlined some of the main reforms of the agreement such as the
reduction in Government Departments to nine, the number of MLAs to 90, a
reduction in the size of the Civil service and agreements on finance and
welfare reform.
Malcolm then outlined the challenges facing all departments especially in view
of the budget reductions. He informed the Board that the Voluntary Exit
Scheme would affect all departments and that it would be published shortly.
He thanked officials for all of their hard work over the past year and he made
special mention to SSA officials for their assistance, during the Stormont
House Agreement negotiations. The Board thanked Malcolm for taking time
out of his busy schedule to address the Board.
10. FINANCE PAPER DMB 02/2015
The Board noted:
 the December /January monitoring outcome;
 the current financial position;
 the position on 2015-2016 budget work; and
 the latest prompt payment performance figures and that the NIHE
position will also be reported in future.
11. CORPORATE RISK REGISTER DMB 03/2015
The Board:
 agreed the revisions to the Corporate Risk Register and Issues Log;
 agreed that CR8 is not moved to the Issues Log; and
 agreed the Issues Log update.
 Risks will be updated to reflect restructuring of departments
MINUTES
12. DRAFT BUSINESS PLAN—VERBAL UPDATE
Deborah Brown gave the Board a verbal update on progress with the draft
Business Plan; she informed the Board that the Strategic Planning Group will
be meeting on Thursday 5th February and that their proposals will be
presented to the senior management team on February 23 rd.
13. MINUTES OF THE DEPARTMENTAL AUDIT AND RISK ASSURANCE
COMMITTEE DMB 04/2015
The Board noted the draft minutes of the departmental Audit and Risk
Assurance Committee meeting held on 9 December 2014.
14. DEPARTMENTAL INTERACTION WITH PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR AND
OF HOUSING IN PRIVATE SECTOR DMB 05/2015
Tracy Meharg declared a potential conflict of interest, given family
involvement in private rented sector.
Stephen Martin presented this paper on behalf of Housing Division. He
outlined the review of private rented sector regulation and the review of the
statutory housing fitness standard across all tenures. The Board thanked
Stephen for his presentation and noted the contents of the paper.
15. HUMAN RESOURCES—VERBAL UPDATE
Maeve Walls gave the Board a verbal overview of the main challenges facing
HR at the moment. Maeve stated that HR were to the fore in dealing with the
effects of the VES scheme, the possible redeployment of staff and the
reduction in the numbers of staff. She informed the Board that there were
regular forums with TUS. Maeve also informed the Board that a settlement
had been agreed with lawyers representing tribunal staff and that this
agreement would have far reaching affects across the NICS.
16. BUSINESS CASE ON SECURITY AND ANCILLARY SERVICES DMB
06/2015
The Board noted:
 the content of the paper.
MINUTES
17. ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT DMB 07/2015
Maeve informed the Board that it is highly unlikely that the Department would
achieve its target for Attendance Management. She however highlighted that
DSD and DFP were still the best performers among the 12 government
departments in terms of Managing Attendance statistics. The department is
currently showing an average absence figure of 11 days as opposed to a
target of 10.7 days.
The Board noted the content of this report.
18. ACCOMMODATION STRATEGIES AND ACTION PLANS DMB 08/2015
The Board noted the content of the paper: and
 endorsed the need to develop an estate strategy for DSD;
 noted the plan to bring a positional report to the Board by the end of
March 2015; and
 noted the plan to bring a first iteration of a new Strategy and Asset
Management Plan to the Board in May 2015.
19. CHILD MAINTENANCE SERVICE-PERFORMANCE UPDATE DMB 09/2015
David Malcolm presented this paper and informed the Board about the Fees
and Case Closure Regulations, CMS performance highlights and the creation
of 70 new temporary jobs from DWP. The Board noted the performance of
CMS for October and November.
20. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
As this is the Permanent Secretary’s final Board meeting before his
retirement, the Board thanked him for his leadership and support over the past
four years and wished him every success for the future. Will thanked the
Board and expressed his gratitude for their support and assistance over the
past few years.
21. DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
The date of the next meeting is Friday 27 March 2015.