Minutes and Actions of the 75th Board Meeting of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact

Board Members

Harold Freeman (Commissioner)

Liz Ditchburn (Commissioner)

Attendees

Akua Brew-Abekah (Secretariat)

Andrew Forbes (Secretariat)

Ekpe Attah (Secretariat)

Gemma Roberts-Kinnear (Secretariat)

Goknur Ozer (Secretariat)

Lauren Pett (Agulhas, item 4)

Lisamarie Wood (Secretariat)

Mireille Evagora-Campbell (Secretariat)

Nabila Hameed (Secretariat)

Pauline Worthington (Secretariat)

1. Minutes and Actions from July 2024 Board

Commissioners welcomed everyone to the first Board Meeting of Phase 4 and thanked the secretariat for their help during the induction process.

Commissioners discussed the actions from the last Phase 3 Board Meeting in June 2024 and agreed with the proposal for a parliamentary launch event. Commissioners asked to expand this further into a programme of parliamentary engagement.

Commissioners confirmed they were familiar with Freedom of Information (FOI) requirements and agreed with the previous action that FOI requests relating to live reviews should be drawn to Commissioners’ attention as they were received. Commissioners would welcome a briefing on how ICAI dealt with FOI requests.

Action 1: Head of Communications to engage with parliamentary clerks to plan a launch event and discuss further engagement.

Action 2: Head of Secretariat to review and re-issue FOI briefing to include information on ICAI’s previous FOI requests.

Action 3: Communications and Engagement team to publish substantive FOIs on the website.

2. Business Update

Commissioners discussed the likely programme spend in this financial year.

The Head of Secretariat explained that the 24/25 allocated pay budget had been maintained by FCDO at the 23/24 level. However, FCDO finance systems – and specifically the lack of granularity around its payroll reporting – meant it was difficult to predict if ICAI was likely to overspend on its pay budget (and, if so, where and why).

Commissioners discussed the updated Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Action 4: Head of Delivery to review KPIs and recommend changes from April 2025.

Action 5: Head of Secretariat to write to FCDO on transparency of pay budget and spend, noting the risk to error detection in the existing system.

3. Corporate Risk Register

The Head of Delivery explained that the Corporate Risk Register had been revised to remove Phase 3 risks that were no longer relevant and added new risks for Phase 4.

Commissioners discussed current risks and proposed some changes and additions.

4. Workplan Update

The Head of Reviews confirmed that the Phase 3 workplan had been completed, although the government response to the International Climate Finance review had not yet been received, and that an initial scoping and baselining research project had started. Commissioners had initiated engagement with the Chair (elect) of the International Development Committee (IDC) to discuss the Phase 4 workplan.

Commissioners discussed potential review topics, the timeline for full reviews, possible changes in processes and working practices and maximising stakeholder engagement with ICAI’s publications.

The Service Provider team advised they were ready and keen to commence work on Phase 4 reviews.

5. Follow Up

5.1 Commissioners discussed the existing follow-up process. Discussion included problems created by the practice of grouping follow-up by year, measuring the effectiveness and impact of responses to each recommendation, and the role and responsibilities of government departments in the follow-up process.

5.2 The Head of Reviews advised Commissioners that the comparison project looking at how other scrutiny organisations worked could provide comparisons as to how other organisations followed up on their work. The project was near completion and key messages would be fed back to Commissioners.

Action 7: Head of Reviews to notify Service Provider team that follow-up of 2023/24 reviews will not be the usual process. 

Action 8: Head of Reviews to feedback to Commissioners on the findings of the comparator work by end October.

Action 9: Head of Reviews to look at which Phase 3 reviews are due to be followed up and make recommendations on next steps to Commissioners by end October.

Action 10: Head of Reviews to provide a paper to the December board on options for follow-up in Phase 4.

6. Communications Update

The Communications and Engagement Officer updated Commissioners on current activity. The stakeholder consultation exercise was live until 16^th October and more than 100 responses had been received to date.

Commissioners discussed awareness of ICAI within FCDO, communications methods and style and engagement plan for individual reviews.

Commissioners discussed the need for a refreshed communications and engagement strategy.

Action 11: Commissioners to meet with the communications and engagement team to discuss communication KPIs.

Action 12: Head of Communications to provide a Phase 4 communications strategy to a future board meeting.

7. Transition Update

The Head of Secretariat updated Commissioners on progress with the recruitment of the Phase 4 Chief Commissioner.

8. Internal Audit

The Head of Secretariat advised Commissioners of the annual audit process and Commissioners discussed possible options for this year’s topic.

Action 13: Head of Secretariat to propose the interaction between ICAI and FCDO’s corporate functions (and the way this impacted on ICAI’s control environment) as a topic to IAD. 

9. Any Other Business

The Head of Reviews updated Commissioners on progress with a project looking at internal and external quality assurance of ICAI’s work. Commissioners discussed options including external peer review, reference groups, involvement of subject matter experts for each review and co-ordination with existing service provider internal quality assurance processes.

Action 14: Head of Reviews to provide an external quality assurance options paper to the December board meeting. 

Action 15: Head of Reviews to consult with service provider on establishing a peer reviewer and lead Commissioner call on all new reviews. 

Action Log from 75th Board Meeting September 2024