Minutes and actions of the 53rd Board Meeting held on 11 March 2019

Board

Tamsyn Barton (Chair)

Richard Gledhill

Apologies were received from Tina Fahm

Attendees

Andrew Forbes (Secretariat)

Chloe Lawson-Duffy (Secretariat)

Ekpe Attah (Secretariat)

Goknur Ozer (Secretariat)

Marcus Cox (Agulhas item 4 and 5 only)

Mark Kelleher (Agulhas item 4 and 5 only)

Miriam McCarthy (Secretariat)

Nigel Thornton (Agulhas item 4 and 5 only)

Pallu Modi (Secretariat)

Rebecca Lefort (Secretariat)

1. ICAI formal update

Minutes and Actions from December 2018 Board

The minutes of the December 2018 ICAI Board meeting were agreed as an accurate record. The action points from the previous meeting were reviewed and Commissioners were updated about the actions that had yet to be completed.

Action 1: Secretariat to add the actions from the March Board and circulate with the minutes 

Business Update including GDPR and Safeguarding Update

The Secretariat updated Commissioners on spend to end of January 2019 of this financial year and the current forecast for total spend over the four years of ICAI Phase 2.

Commissioners noted the financial spend to date and forecasts for the remainder of the year.

Commissioners discussed staff costs and the budget setting process for reviews, confirming that the profile of anticipated spend for Phase 3 Year 1 reviews was broadly appropriate.

Action 2: Richard Gledhill to confirm the number of days he would need to spend on ICAI work until the end of June 2019. Head of Secretariat to confirm position with DFID on any extra days required. 

Action 3: Secretariat to ensure consistency of working titles used for forthcoming reviews in all ICAI documents.

Corporate Risk Register

Commissioners reviewed the Corporate Risk Register, noting good progress with transition, new supplier contract and Commissioner recruitment.

Commissioners discussed emerging risks such as the impact of Brexit-related redeployments on ICAI’s work schedule.

Head of Secretariat confirmed DFID’s assurance that DFID did not regard ICAI staff as being within the pool who could potentially be redeployed.

Commissioners noted the work Head of Engagement is doing on the public consultation. Head of Engagement provided update on positive relations with the IDC.

Action 4: Secretariat to simplify risk register and move change indicators to net risk column.

Action 5: ICAI to keep impact of Brexit redeployments under review and retain the option of undertaking a review of the impact of Brexit on aid.

Action 6: Secretariat to discuss with DFID Link team critical review timelines and any risks to those due to Brexit redeployments.

2. Corporate KPI update

Commissioners reviewed the Corporate KPIs and noted the continued progress made to January 2019.

The Commissioners discussed engagement activities and the requirements for an index that monitored engagement and measured ICAI impact.

Action 7: Secretariat to prepare proposal for monitoring ICAI engagement and measuring impact.

3. Transition verbal update

Head of Secretariat updated Commissioners on the recruitment process for the part time Commissioners and the plans to review the Framework Agreement with DFID.

The Board noted the good progress made on managing transition and discussed the activity underway with the Service Provider to deliver Year 1 of Phase 3.  

4. Workplan update – joint session with Agulhas

The Secretariat advised Commissioners on the current position of Phase 2 reviews taking place. Commissioners agreed that, overall, good progress was being made.

Commissioners requested that IDC be formally informed of the proposed subjects for the 2019/20 workplan.

Commissioners noted the risks around country visits for Sexual Violence in Conflict review

Commissioners noted the need to start planning Year 2 topics but agreed this would require the input from the new Phase 3 Board once appointed.

Commissioners discussed the importance of engaging with Whitehall at this time of Brexit-related demands and agreed to introduce the How UK Aid learns review in their meetings with departments.

Action 8: Head of Engagement to inform IDC of total 2019/20 workplan.

Action 9: Secretariat to have conversations with Chief Commissioner on the specification of new products and the related profiles of cost.

Action 10: Taking into account the feedback from the consultations and the work on impact of Phase 2 reviews, Secretariat to develop a long-list of options for subjects for 2020/21 for new Commissioners’ input.

5. Public Consultation Verbal Update

The Secretariat updated the Board on the ongoing public consultation on ICAI future priorities which closes on 23 April 2019.

The Board noted there were a range of engagement events planned, including round table events as part of the Synthesis Review, which will be useful in promoting the consultation.

Commissioners thanked the Secretariat for their hard work and agreed to keep promoting the consultation through their networks until the consultation closes on 23 April 2019.

Action 11: Secretariat to Update the Board on the feedback from consultation exercise after 23 April 2019.

6. FOI information note and update

The Board noted the paper setting out the obligations under the Freedom of Information Act and reviewed the requests that ICAI has received to date.

7. Internal audit update

The Board noted the proposed terms of reference for the internal audit and the audit interviews which had started to take place. The Board noted that internal audit was working to ICAI as the client (i.e. not DFID) in conducting this review.

 Commissioners thanked the Secretariat for progress and getting scope on topics narrowed down to priority areas.

Action 12: Head of Secretariat arrange for IAD to speak to a representative from the Review Team, Service Provider and DFID link team as part of review.

8. Measuring ICAI's impact verbal update

The Secretariat updated the Board on progress on recording evidence of ICAI’s impact and producing a metric that could be tracked over time. The Board discussed the merits of different types of evidence of impact.

Action 13: Secretariat to share a ToR with Commissioners and consider contracting a supplier to lead on this piece of work.

9. Third party SEA protocol

The Secretariat provided the Board with a draft protocol for handling and reporting SEA concerns that emerged during the course of ICAI gathering evidence for its reviews. The Board decided that all instances of allegations that ICAI discovered in the course of its work should be reported to DFID, and took the view that DFID should communicate with other aid-spending departments on the role of its Safeguarding Unit in relation to such allegations, and keep ICAI informed on the progress of such discussions.

Action 14 Secretariat to discuss further with DFID Safeguarding Unit, and recirculate draft protocol and covering paper to reflect Board’s comments.

10. AOB

The Board confirmed the date of the next Board Meeting to be 3 June 2019 and discussed the plans for the annual report.

Action 15: Rearrange next Board Meeting time to start later and, subject to rest of agenda, look to complete meeting within a half day.

Action 16: Secretariat to investigate options for having a guest speaker attend.

Action 17: Secretariat to share the plan for producing the annual report with Commissioners

Action Log from 53rd Board Meeting March 2019

Actions Log from 52nd Board Meeting January 2019