Minutes and Actions of the 70th Board Meeting of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact

Board Members

Tamsyn Barton (Chief Commissioner and Chair)

Hugh Bayley (Commissioner)

Tarek Rouchdy (Commissioner)

Attendees

Andrew Forbes (Secretariat)

Anne Hammerstad (Agulhas – item 5, remotely)

Ekpe Attah (Secretariat)

Gemma Roberts-Kinnear (Secretariat – remotely)

Goknur Ozer (Secretariat)

Mireille Evagora-Campbell (Secretariat)

Pauline Worthington (Secretariat)

Raphael Gabriel (Secretariat – remotely)

1. Minutes and Actions from March 2023 Board

Commissioners discussed progress on the actions from previous board meetings and agreed the minutes and actions from the March 2023 Board Meeting. The Chief Commissioner thanked Sir Hugh Bayley and the communications team for their engagement with the House of Commons and House of Lords libraries.

Action 1: Communications and Engagement Officer to discuss the outstanding action relating to capturing all engagement with ICAI reviews with the Head of Communications and Engagement.

Action 2: Communications and Engagement Officer to contact the House of Commons library for updates on their quarterly future workplan.

2. Business Update

Commissioners noted the items raised in the Business Update.

Commissioners discussed the forecast total spend during this phase of ICAI.

Commissioners discussed the recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request and the Head of Secretariat provided further guidance on the FOI rules and process.

The Head of Secretariat updated Commissioners on progress with recruitment, noting two Review Managers and a Head of Reviews candidate had now accepted job offers, with start dates to be confirmed.

Action 3: Head of Delivery to ensure FOI training is provided for incoming Phase 4 Commissioners as part of their induction, as it had been in Phase 3.

Action 4: Head of Secretariat to consider engaging an external supplier to review citizen engagement activities during this phase.

3. Corporate Risk Register

Commissioners discussed the Corporate Risk Register. The risks relating to ICAI’s Phase 3 budget no longer applied and the risk relating to recruitment required updating.

Commissioners discussed the impact of the difficulties recruiting and onboarding staff using FCDO systems and processes and discussed whether alternative processes were feasible.

Action 5: Head of Delivery to review and update the risk register to incorporate Commissioners’ comments including,

• Risks 9 and 13 relating to budget to be deleted.
• Risk 4 relating to recruitment to be reworded to reflect the changed situation.

Action 6: Head of Delivery to review the risk relating to a gap in publication during the transition between Phase 3 and 4 and propose mitigations to Commissioners.

Action 7: Head of Secretariat to investigate greater flexibility with recruitment.

4. Communications Update

The Communications and Engagement Officer updated Commissioners on planned briefings, learning events and stakeholder engagement events. Commissioners discussed their preferred options for these events and the options and importance of events supporting the Synthesis review publication in September. Commissioners confirmed their agreement with current proposals.

Commissioners discussed the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to the reach of ICAI’s publications.

Action 8: Head of Communications and Engagement to investigate possibility of an external event on the India review.

Action 9: Communications and Engagement Officer to confirm dates and attendees for the briefing on the Follow-up review planned for July.

5. Transition to Phase 4 – verbal update from Head of Secretariat

The Head of Secretariat updated Commissioners on the recruitment of the Phase 4 Commissioners. Interviews had taken place for the Chief Commissioner role and names had been passed to the Minister for consideration. The plan was for the pre-appointment scrutiny hearing with the International Development Committee (IDC) to take place on 27 June 2023. Applications for the part time Commissioner roles had been sifted and names of potential interviewees were with the Minister.

The Head of Secretariat provided an update on progress with the procurement of a supplier for Phase 4, noting that the invitation to tender was now live with a first-round closing date of 7 July 2023. There would then be technical and commercial assessments of potential suppliers.

6. Guest Speaker – Marcus Manuel, Policy Advisor to Minister Andrew Mitchell

Commissioners and Marcus discussed issues relevant to ICAI, including the Minister’s priorities, FCDO’s engagement with ICAI, including quarterly meetings, progress on the merger of DFID and FCO, ICAI support and the value of ICAI’s work to the department.

7. Future workplan – Agulhas in attendance

A Review Manager updated Commissioners on progress with the workplan to the end of the Commission which had now been extended to 30 September 2023.

Action 10: Review Team to provide more information to enable choice from the longlist of potential reviews at the September board.

8. Internal Audit update

The Head of Secretariat advised that the draft Internal Audit report had now been received. Factual comments on the report were due by 9 June and a management response by 30 June.

Action 11: Head of Secretariat to circulate draft management response for Commissioners’ comments.

Action Log from 70th Board Meeting June 2023

Action Log from 68th Board Meeting December 2022

Action Log from 67th Board Meeting September 2022