Minutes and actions of the 76th board meeting of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact

Board members

Jillian Popkins (Chief Commissioner)

Harold Freeman (Commissioner)

Liz Ditchburn (Commissioner)

Attendees

Akua Brew-Abekah (Secretariat)

Andrew Forbes (Secretariat)

Ekpe Attah (Secretariat)

Gemma Roberts-Kinnear (Secretariat)

Goknur Ozer (Secretariat)

Lisamarie Wood (Secretariat)

Lizzie Palmer (Secretariat)

Nabila Hameed (Secretariat)

Pauline Worthington (Secretariat)

Sally Nelson (Secretariat)

Introduction and welcome

• The Chief Commissioner welcomed everyone to her first board meeting.
• Commissioners noted the government’s plans to reduce UK official development assistance (ODA) expenditure to 0.3% of gross national income and that, in the context of increased pressure on budgets, independent scrutiny of ODA to ensure it represented value for money and had the intended impact was all the more important.

ICAI formal update

• Commissioners agreed the minutes of the September 2024 meeting and asked the secretariat to review the target completion dates of the associated actions, in light of the timing of the next Board meeting.
• Commissioners noted the business update without further comment.

Communication update

• The Communications and Engagement Officer updated Commissioners on recent activity, including the Chatham House event launching the report on How UK Aid is spent. Work continued on updating the media contact list and planning a parliamentary launch event.
• The Chief Commissioner thanked the Communications team for their work in planning the successful Chatham House event.
• Commissioners asked that planning commenced on amplifying the Sudan and Energy Transition reviews well in advance of publication.

Action 1: Head of Communications and Engagement to provide further data on the attendance for the Chatham House event.

Action 2: Communications and Engagement Team to publicise the launch of ICAI’s next reviews into ODA Management and Violence against Women.

Corporate risk register

• The Head of Delivery talked through the Risk Register and Commissioners discussed the fact that circumstances had changed since the Risk Register was last updated and the differentiation between strategic and operational risks.
• Commissioners discussed the wording and scoring of risks and proposed changes.

Action 3: Head of Delivery to review the risk register in light of Commissioner feedback to include proposing a decision tree for dealing with risks that have become issues.

Workplan update

• The Head of Reviews updated Commissioners on the progress with the work plan. How UK Aid is Spent was published on 26 February. Work was ongoing on the reviews into Sudan and Energy Transitions with evidence gathering underway and country visits being planned.
• Terms of Reference for the project looking at ODA Management were being drafted by Commissioners Liz Ditchburn and Harold Freeman.
• Work had commenced on the Annual Report, focusing on themes of the year and lessons learned.
• Commissioners had been provided with proposals for this year’s Follow Up review including a recommendation that reviews were not followed up for a minimum of 12 months after publication.

External quality assurance

• Commissioners discussed proposed options for improving Quality Assurance including stakeholder workshops, a strategic advisory group, an additional peer reviewer and external reference groups for each review. Discussion included the robustness of and improvements to existing process, the positive experience of stakeholder workshops in current reviews, strengthening external QA to improve quality and credibility and the time and financial implications of proposals.

Action 4: Head of Reviews to pilot an external reference group.

Action 5: Head of Reviews to set up a strategic advisory group.

Action Log from 76th Board Meeting February 2025

Action Log from 75th Board Meeting September 2024