Minutes and actions of the 78th board meeting of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact

Board members

Jillian Popkins (Chief Commissioner) 

Harold Freeman (Commissioner)  

Liz Ditchburn (Commissioner)  

Attendees

Andrew Forbes (Secretariat)

Ekpe Attah (Secretariat)

Lisamarie Wood (Secretariat) remotely for item 4

Lizzie Palmer (Secretariat) for item 7

Pauline Worthington (Secretariat)

Introduction and welcome

• The Chief Commissioner noted that it had been a productive period for ICAI and thanked everyone for their work. This was a time of internal and external change and uncertainty, given that ICAI’s budget for 2026/27 onwards might not be confirmed until the New Year.

Minutes and actions from June 2025 Board

• Commissioners discussed and approved the minutes and actions of the June board subject to the requested updates to the action log.

Action 1: Head of Delivery to update the action log, ensuring changes to target delivery dates of actions are highlighted in future logs and a narrative explanation for any changes is provided.

Governance and compliance update

• Commissioners noted the update and discussed the paper’s format.

Action 2: Business Manager to revise future updates to cover activity over the whole of the previous quarter.

Workplan

• Commissioners discussed the current workplan, review typologies, secretariat capacity, working days available to Commissioners and gaps in the publication schedule. They approved the publication schedule and would remain alert to opportunities to fill any gaps.
• Commissioners discussed the ongoing work on ICAI’s planning processes and tools and noted this would help understanding of which issues needed to be escalated to the board for decision.

Action 3: Head of Reviews to meet with the relevant Commissioners to discuss the 4 shifts and non-grant instruments reviews.

Action 4: Head of Reviews to meet with Commissioners to finalise the 2026 workplan.

Programme spend and budget

• FCDO had asked that ICAI identify forecast programme underspend in this financial year (FY) with an expectation of surrendering any identified underspends.
• The Head of Delivery explained the current forecast and identified ongoing areas of risk to spend.
• Commissioners agreed the forecast to be provided to FCDO and noted the associated risks.

Action 5: Head of Secretariat to communicate board decision on programme forecast to FCDO.

Action 6: Head of Delivery to provide a paper to a future board on the comparative cost of reviews.

Admin spend and budget

• Commissioners noted the forecast underspend in non-pay administration costs, which had already been communicated to FCDO, and discussed the current pay forecast, noting that FCDO was also awaiting a response on this issue.
• Commissioners agreed to respond to FCDO, noting that ICAI continued to operate within its agreed headcount and that it still awaited a response from FCDO as to how – as an independent arm’s length body – it might be afforded more flexibility in the use of its budget to maximise efficiency while delivering its remit.

Action 7: Head of Secretariat to respond to FCDO communicating the Board’s position.

Communications update

• The Chief Commissioner thanked the communications team for their recent work including a strong level of engagement with the IDC. They noted the communications update and the new communications strategy, which had been approved.
• The Head of Communications provided an update on work in progress including the review of the communications Key Performance Indicators, capacity of the team, investigations into additional support with external events and current work on engaging interested stakeholders at an early stage of new reviews.
• Commissioners discussed the level of external interest and engagement with individual reviews and noted that the volume and timelines of engagement were very dependent on the topic and external context.

Action 8: Chief Commissioner to request meeting with FCDO Director of Communications in the new year.

Action 9: Commissioners to review the communications strategy at the Autumn 2026 board meeting.

Corporate risk register

• Commissioners noted the risk register and discussed the new risk relating to ICAI’s current change management initiative. They also discussed the cumulative level of risk to ICAI operations from various internal and external factors.

Action 10: Head of Delivery to update the Risk Register based on Commissioners’ steers including pulling together more explicitly the risks relating to ICAI’s workplan delivery.

Action 11: Chief Commissioner to raise the increasing risks to ICAI’s workplan and independence from developments in FCDO at the appropriate level within the department.

Action log from 78th Board meeting December 2025

Action log from 77th Board meeting June 2025

Action log from 76th Board meeting September 2024