Minutes of the Executive Board – 14 November 2018

Present:

• David Harvie, Crown Agent
• John Logue, Deputy Crown Agent, Operational Support
• Stephen McGowan, Deputy Crown Agent, Local Court
• Lindsey Miller, Deputy Crown Agent, Serious Casework
• Ian Walford, Deputy Chief Executive
• Rob Tinlin, Non-executive director
• John Cooper, Non-executive director
• Lesslie Young, Non-executive director
• Fiona McLean, Non-executive director

In attendance:

• Maria Kicinski, Legal Assistant to Crown Agent
• Ann Marie Henderson, Personal Assistant to Crown Agent
• Andrew Shanks, Procurator Fiscal, Grampian, Highlands & Islands
• Nicola Broadfoot, Assistant Business Manager, Grampian, Highlands & Island

Apologies:

• None

1. The Crown Agent opened the meeting and welcomed all colleagues.

2. Members confirmed that there were no conflicts of interest.

3. The minutes of 10 October 2018 were agreed and can be published.

4. Action 3 – DCA Serious Casework confirmed that monthly reports on KPIs will be prepared on a monthly basis. Action now closed.

5. Gillian Woolman, Audit Director or Audit Scotland introduced paper EB18/19(51) and provided the Board with an update on the work of external audit.

6. Audit appointments are made every five years. The in-house team from Audit Scotland Audit Services were re-appointed in 2016/17.

7. The Crown Agent provided the Board with an update on the Justice Committee pre-budget meeting.

8. The Scottish Budget is to be announced on 12 December.

9. DCE introduced paper EB18/19(52) which reports an overspend which is expected to decline.

10. The forecast figure includes the additional funding that we expect to receive in the Autumn Budget Revision.

11. Staffing is forecast to come in under budget.

12. Planning for the 19/20 budget is underway.

13. DCE provided an update to the Board on the progress being made in relation to the recruitment exercise.

14. The Board noted that the overtime figure is currently higher than normal, this being partly due to vacancies.

15. The Board noted the minutes of the Resources Committee Meeting which was held on 25 October.

16. The Committee are to consider the overtime budget, which was devolved to Functions at their November meeting, and consider whether this should remain devolved to Functions. A further update will be provided to the Board thereafter.

17. The Committee agreed that the DCE should consult with the Business Process Improvement Committee and the Operational  Performance Committee to begin to establish a project on alternative/flexible/remote working.

18. DCA Local Court introduced paper EB18/19(54) and provided the Board with an update on the progress of the work of the Committee.

19. The Board noted that since we have now secured funding from Scottish Government, ISD are now able to proceed with the development of 3 key projects, namely the Witness Portal Website, the Police/COPFS Data Exchange and the Secure Disclosure Website upgrade.

20. DCA Operational Support introduced paper EB18/19(55) and provided the Board with an update of the meeting held on 24 October.

21. The Board noted that obtaining full engagement from all functions to inform meetings about the new KPI’s had been challenging, but recognised that a lot of work had been carried out so far.

22. DCE introduced paper EB18/19(56) and provided the Board with an update on the progress with the Fair Futures project.

23. The Board agreed that Fair Futures should explore extending the life of the project into mid 2019 to ensure delivery and implementation of all the key elements.

24. Staff are now beginning to see the impact of what the Fair Futures project is trying to achieve.

25. Case Management in Court is progressing well. 

Crown Agent’s Office
November 201