CPS Board meeting minutes - July 2021
Tuesday 27 July, 12:30-16:00
Microsoft Teams Meeting
Members
Monica Burch (C), Max Hill QC, Rebecca Lawrence, Simon Jeffreys, Caroline Wayman, Mark Hammond.
Guests
Steve Buckingham (Item 3, 4, 6), Baljit Ubhey (Item 3, 4, 5), Grace Ononiwu (Item 4), Dawn Brodrick (Item), Graham Ritchie (Item 4, 5, 7), Dave Beaumont (Item 5), Stacey Stanhope (Item 5), Sandra McKay (Item 5), Tanya Murray (Item 5), Mark Gray (Item 6), Amina Ali (Item 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10), Antonia Johnston (Item 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10).
Secretariat
Rebecca Burrow, Lissa Matthews
Item 1: Minutes of the Last Meeting and Matters Arising
1. The Board reviewed and agreed the minutes of the last meeting.
1.1. Progress was noted against outstanding actions, for detail please see updated Action Log.
Item 2: Update from the CEO
2 Rebecca Lawrence, CEO, provided an update on the following:
a. CJS recovery and Ministerial engagement
b. RASSO
c. Return to workplace
Item 3: Spending Review 21 Update
3. Steve Buckingham, Chief Finance Officer provided an update which noted:
a. Expected timescales (including a deadline of 19 August for initial bids, 3 September for a final return to AGO, and 13 Sept for an AGO return to HMT
b. Planned stakeholder engagement
3.1 Planned approach to the bid (There was discussion on:
a. Whether Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) input was required. The Non-Executive Board Members welcomed input, noting tight timescales
3.2. Baljit Ubhey, Director of Strategy and Policy, updated the Board on the plan to provide a bid for the Board’s information by the end of August 2021 out of committee. Baljit thanked the Board for the offer of additional input and noted that further informal input may be requested.
Item 4: Approach we intend to adopt on operational recovery
4. The Board welcomed Amina Ali, reverse mentor to Non-Executive Board Member Caroline Wayman, to the meeting as an observer.
4.1 The Board welcomed Antonia Johnston, reverse mentor to the DPP, to the meeting as an observer.
4.2 Grace Ononiwu, Director of Legal Services, provided an update which included:
a. National caseload and Area variances
b. Establishment of an Operational Recovery and Improvement Project Group
c. Stakeholder engagement
d. Crown Court Working Group
4.3. Grace drew the Board’s attention to the objectives of the 18-month project as outlined in the papers and invited the Board to comment.
4.4 The Board discussed:
a. How oversight and control will be retained whilst applying an Area by Area approach. Grace noted that best practice would be identified and shared through forums
b. Support for the approach outlined in the paper and the importance of identifying and sharing lessons learned
c. How delivery accountability and efficiency had been considered in the project
4.5 Monica welcomed a future update to the Board, Grace agreed to provide a further update at the October 2021 meeting.
Item 5: ICE 2025 Strategy
5 The CEO outlined the item context, underlined Board-level commitment to inclusiveness and invited Chief People Officer Dawn Brodrick and Director of Strategy and Policy Baljit Ubhey to present.
5.1. Dawn noted the stakeholder engagement which had taken place during strategy development and noted the strategy’s focus on holding to account on progress.
5.2. The Board thanked the team for their work and expressed support for the strategy, subject to the comments shared as outlined.
Item 6: Common Platform
6. Mark Gray, Chief Digital and Information Officer, updated the Board that full ministerial approval had been given for the revised approach and that the next steps would be communication of the development, and engagement on the CMS system futures approach.
6.1. The CEO thanked the Board and ARAC for their support throughout.
6.2. Steve confirmed that the funding requirements would be underpinned by the technology element of the SR21 bid.
6.3. There was discussion on:
a. How system interfaces would work in practice. Mark Gray confirmed that a Memorandum of Understanding was being drafted.
6.4. Monica expressed the Board’s thanks to Mark and the team.
Item 7: CPS Governance proposals
7. Dawn took the paper as read and noted that the drivers behind the work were:
a. Reviewing how and when decisions across the organisation are made
b. Involving leaders in corporate decision making
c. Responding to the GIAA Governance review
7.1. The CEO noted the Board’s thanks to Dawn Brodrick for embedding an inclusive approach throughout the proposal.
7.2. There was discussion on:
a. The approach’s value in preparing the organisation for long-term succession planning
b. Support for this first iteration, with acknowledgement that the next stage would likely involve the membership lists being reduced as confidence in the structure grows
c. The value of sharing the proposal with GIAA at an early stage
d. The suggestion of a regular review of the structure
e. The importance of succession planning in the roles
Item 8: Nominations Leadership & Remuneration Committee update
8. Caroline Wayman, chair of the Nominations Leadership & Remuneration Committee (NLRC) provided an update from the July meeting which noted:
a. That the pay and assurance approach was signed-off subject to salary review approval.
b. NLRC was provided with assurance on the appraisal processes
8.1. Caroline welcomed a future item on senior succession planning, including on Board succession.
Item 9: Nominations and Governance Committee Annual Report
9. Caroline Wayman drew the Board’s attention to the committee’s annual report and invited comment, no comments were raised.
Item 10: Audit & Risk Assurance Committee Annual Report
10. Simon Jeffreys, chair of the Audit & Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) drew the Board’s attention to the committee’s annual report and invited comment, no comments were raised.
10.1 Simon updated the Board on the recruitment of 2 independent ARAC members.
Item 11: AOB
11. Meeting observers Amina and Antonia left the meeting, having attended items 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10.
11.1 Monica drew the Board’s attention to the below the line paper on the Governance Terms of Reference (ToR), Monica invited members to provide Secretariat with any detailed comments by close Friday 30 July 2021. The Board confirmed that no substantial updates to the proposed ToR revisions were requested, and the updates as suggested in the papers were agreed.
Secretariat
July 2021