Minutes and Actions of the 72nd Board Meeting of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact

Board Members

Tamsyn Barton (Chief Commissioner and Chair)

Hugh Bayley (Commissioner)

Tarek Rouchdy (Commissioner)

Attendees

Akua Brew-Abekah (Secretariat) 

Andrew Forbes (Secretariat)   

Lauren Pett (Agulhas – remotely, item 8)  

Ekpe Attah (Secretariat)  

Goknur Ozer (Secretariat)  

Lena Bheeroo, (Guest Speaker, Engagement and Equity Manager, Bond – remotely, item 7) 

Lisamarie Wood (Secretariat) 

Lizzie Palmer (Secretariat) 

Mireille Evagora-Campbell (Secretariat)   

Nabila Hameed (Secretariat) 

Pauline Worthington (Secretariat – remotely)    

1. Minutes and Actions from September 2023 Board

Commissioners discussed progress on the actions from previous board meetings and agreed the minutes and actions from the September 2023 Board Meeting.

2. Business Update

Commissioners noted the items raised in the Business Update.

Commissioners discussed the programme and administration spend to date and the likely outturn for this financial year.

Commissioners discussed the presentation of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) data in the Business Update.

Commissioners noted that their recent and planned attendance on country visits would have an impact on available days for the remainder of this commission and usage of days would need to be carefully monitored.

Action 1: Business Manager to review presentation of KPI data in future business updates. 

3. Corporate Risk Register

Commissioners discussed the Corporate Risk Register and noted that the highest scoring risks remained unchanged.

Commissioners discussed the handover of the risk register to the new incoming Phase 4 Commissioners in June 2024.

Action 2: Head of Delivery to ensure a meeting is arranged between outgoing Phase 3 and incoming Phase 4 Commissioners to discuss and handover the risk register.

4. Communications Update

The Head of Communications and Engagement updated Commissioners on activity over the last 3 months and advised that monthly meetings were now taking place with the second clerk to the IDC.

The Head of Communications and Engagement advised Commissioners of future events – an IDC public hearing to discuss the Synthesis review was scheduled to take place on 16 January, the Link Team in FCDO had raised the possibility of further all staff events for FCDO colleagues, and an event with BEI in April was being considered for the International Climate Finance (ICF) review.

Approach papers for upcoming reviews were being published at regular intervals.

Commissioners discussed the Afghanistan review and opportunities for further engagement.

Action 3: Head of Communications and Engagement to continue to monitor for opportunities to respond reactively to news events relevant to ICAI’s work.

5. 2024/25 Budget Forecast

The Business Manager provided Commissioners with a draft budget forecast for the 2024/25 financial year. Commissioners discussed the challenges in forecasting spend for the Phase 4 period between July 24 and March 25 before both a supplier and new Commissioners had been identified.

Commissioners discussed the forecast cost of induction/inception activities and the possibility of increased costs for the Phase 3 Ukraine review.

Commissioners confirmed they were broadly content with the current 2024/25 budget forecast.

Action 4: Business Manager to provide Commissioners with further detail on the forecast costs for Phase 4 induction and inception activities.

6. Transition to Phase 4

The Head of Secretariat advised that the names of Phase 4 part-time Commissioners would be announced in the new year.

The recruitment exercise for the new Chief Commissioner continued and the deadline for applications for the post would be extended into the new year.

The Invitation to Tender for the Phase 4 service provider contract had closed on 1 December.

7. Guest Speaker - Lena Bheeroo, Engagement and Equity Manager, Bond

Lena Bheeroo, the Engagement and Equity Manager from Bond spoke to Commissioners about her role leading the anti-racism work at Bond. Lena outlined progress to date and discussed issues with the Commissioners and Secretariat. Commissioners thanked Lena for her input as very useful in informing and challenging ICAI’s thinking about how it can address this agenda.

8. Progress on current workplan

The Head of Reviews updated Commissioners on progress with the current workplan, raising the possibility that the Global Health review emerging findings meeting be delayed by one week.

Commissioners discussed possible topics for the two planned information notes and the options for a new process to follow up on published reviews.

Commissioners discussed options for an end of Phase 3 lessons learned activity.

Action 5: Head of Communications and Engagement to discuss possible information note topics with the IDC clerk.

9. Environmental Duty

The Head of Secretariat outlined the legal duty to have due regard to the Environmental Principles Policy Statement (EPPS) that came into force from 1 November 2023.

Action 6: Head of Secretariat to investigate the options for seeking legal advice as to whether ICAI is in scope of the requirements of the EPPS.

10. ICAI’s Complaints Procedure

The Head of Secretariat presented a draft complaints policy for publication on ICAI’s website.

Action 7: Head of Secretariat to amend the draft complaints policy to incorporate Commissioner feedback and publish on the website.

Action Log from 72nd Board Meeting December 2023

Action Log from 70th Board Meeting June 2023

Action Log from 67th Board Meeting September 2022