Minutes and Actions of the 79th 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)

Anna Wilson (Secretariat)

Ekpe Attah (Secretariat)

Lizzie Palmer (Secretariat)

Pauline Worthington (Secretariat)

1. Introduction and welcome

1.1 The Chief Commissioner welcomed colleagues to the postponed March board meeting and expressed her thanks and appreciation to all staff for their professionalism and hard work during the recent period of uncertainty around the future of ICAI.

2. Minutes and actions from December 2025 Board

2.1 Commissioners noted the minutes commenting that the date for a meeting with the Director of Communications in FCDO was yet to be confirmed and that the delivery date for the work on the comparative cost of reviews needed updating

Action 1: Head of Delivery to update minutes as requested.

3. Governance and compliance update

3.1 Commissioners noted the update and discussed the paper’s format including whether additional corporate management information should be included here.

3.2 The Head of Secretariat advised that the internal audit report had now been received.

3.3 The Head of Secretariat advised that Commissioners Liz Ditchburn and Harold Freeman had been allocated an additional 25 days each for the year to June 2026.

Action 2: Commissioners to review the content of the Governance and Compliance report and advise of required changes.

Action 3: Head of Secretariat to provide the draft management response to the internal audit report to Commissioners in the next week.

4. Programme and admin spend

4.1 The Head of Delivery updated commissioners on programme and admin spend outturn for the financial year (FY) 2025/26 noting that spend was within budget.

4.2 Commissioners discussed the outturn noting that the paper did not address the impact the recruitment challenges and the uncertain future status of ICAI had on the level of spend throughout the last FY.

4.3 Commissioners discussed the presentation of the programme spend figures and the limits that may need to be put on spend in some areas as a result of the reduced budget in FY 26/27.

4.4 The Head of Secretariat advised that in previous years the budget allocation from FCDO had included an indicative allocation for Learning and Development (and other areas of non-pay admin) which was no longer the case from FY 2026/27 and a decision would need to be made internally about the budget allocation for this area.

Action 4: Commissioners to discuss the distribution of the programme budget in 2026/27 and provide steer to the Secretariat about projects to be undertaken in 2026/27.

Action 5: Head of Secretariat to review the distribution of the reduced non-pay administration budget in FY 26/27.

Action 6:  Head of Delivery to review the presentation of all financial information in the board report.

Action 7: Head of Delivery to provide Commissioners with data on the comparative costs of country visits and travel.

5. Communications update

5.1 The Head of Communications updated Commissioners on engagement activity over the last quarter including the work relating to the future of ICAI and performance against the new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Commissioners agreed to maintain the KPIs as they were and review them again at the autumn board meeting.

Action 8: Head of Communications to include additional narrative on reactive vs proactive activity in future board papers.

6. Corporate risk register

6.1 The Head of Delivery advised that the work to revise the risk register and a new scoring methodology was almost complete and this was the last time the board would review the risks in this format. The risk relating to ICAI’s future had been removed and risks relating to internal delivery and ICAI’s ability to effectively scrutinise had increased.

6.2 Commissioners discussed the risks to ICAI’s future ability to deliver meaningful scrutiny and whether the existing risk register accurately captured the internal risks to delivery.

6.3 Commissioners discussed whether the existing risk register captured the risk to staff retention and morale in view of the ongoing changes in both ICAI and FCDO.

Action 9:  Head of Delivery to review the risks relating to ICAI’s delivery of its remit to ensure all risks, including internal, are fully captured.

Action 10: Head of Delivery to provide information on the new risk register and scoring methodology to Commissioners in advance of the next board meeting

Action Log from 79th Board Meeting - March 2026

Action Log from 78th Board Meeting - December 2025

Action Log from 77th Board Meeting - June 2025

Action Log from 76th Board Meeting - September 2024