Minutes of the Resources Committee – 10 January 2019

Present

Members

• John Logue, Deputy Crown Agent (Operational Support)(Chair)
• Ian Walford, Deputy Chief Executive
• Mark Howells, Finance and Procurement Director
• Catriona Dalrymple, Procurator Fiscal  (Local Court North and East Scotland)
• John Cooper, Non-Executive Director
• Sarah Carter, Head of HR
• Bill Comrie, Head of Business Management (Serious Casework) 
• Evelyn Aitken, Head of Management Accounting and Planning
• Graham Kerr, Director of Support Services/HOBM

In attendance

• Lindsey Miller, Deputy Crown Agent (Serious Casework)
• Steve Scott, Senior Consultant (Contracts and Process Review) 
• June Campbell, Secretariat

Apologies

None

Welcome

1. The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting including Mark Howells in his new role.

Minutes from meetings held on 28 November

2. The minutes were agreed subject to correcting a minor

Actions

3. Actions 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 are ongoing or are scheduled for a future
4. Actions 5 and 6 are

2018-19 Finance Update

5. The committee was asked to note the forecast position as at 31 November 2018. The forecast against budget shows a cash underspend – mainly attributable to Case Related Costs and Staffing. Recruitment is ongoing. The forecast position includes the additional funding that COPFS received from Scottish Government in the Autumn Budget Revision. To date all of this initial tranche has been spent on extra staff.

6. Finance is continuing to work closely with Human Resources and the Business in respect of monitoring the existing and new staff positions and forecasting processes.
7. Information Services (ISD) colleagues have secured additional funding from the Justice Digital Strategy funding and good progress is being made with this work.
8. Following the announcement of COPFS Budget allocation for 2019-20 on 12 December the planning process for 2019-20 is now underway.
9. The Chair reiterated the importance of Functions notifying Finance of any variations to forecasts and the tracking of any potential civil liabilities.
10. The Committee agreed assignment of forecast underspend to several priorities/business cases submitted to Finance including Health & Wellbeing items agreed in principle by Resources Committee in October, and outstanding items of IT expenditure such as dual monitors which will support delivery of the digital strategy. The committee would like to see resulting savings/benefits tracked as a result of additional funding.

COPFS Expansion Plan

11. The Deputy Chief Executive (DCE) provided a progress report in respect of recruitment, induction of new staff and purchase of furniture and IT equipment. The Recruitment Programme is ongoing but the number of new staff planned for may not be wholly achievable by the end of the 2018-19 financial year. Various options are being considered.

Action: The Chair requested that Finance and HR provide an update on the number of new posts filled at each meeting of the Resources Committee.

Pathology & Mortuary Update

12. An audit carried out in respect of Pathology and Mortuary contracts identified charges COPFS are not required to pay. Interim contracts are currently in place. The Deputy Crown Agent Serious Casework and Senior Consultant (Contracts and Process Review) provided a progress report detailing developments in respect of contract negotiations. The Executive Board are supportive of the actions to date and plans for progress and will consider this further at their meeting in March. Projections of indicative savings for 2019-20 remain valid. The Committee asked to be provided with regular reports in respect of progress being made.

Action:    Senior Consultant (Contracts and Process Review) will provide Resources Committee with regular progress reports.

2019/20 Budget/Finance Strategy

13. COPFS received confirmation from Scottish Government of our budget allocation on 12 December 2018. The Deputy Chief Executive provided three options on the way forward in allocating resources across COPFS in 2019-20. Following a detailed discussion it was agreed that a ‘medium staffing’ option should be developed and used as the basis for calculating Function allocations for 2019-20 and the Executive Board advised of this planning strategy at their February meeting.

14. Non-staffing savings continue to be explored with a workshop for appropriate staff being organised in March. Delivery of new efficiencies: eg. CMIC, new Procurement Contracts, Estates and Work Processes will be

Other Business

15. The Chair thanked everyone for their contribution to the meeting.

Date of next meeting 28 January 2019