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Management Board | Development Committee | Audit Committee | Human Resources Committee

DFID Management Board

Membership | Terms of Reference | Minutes of Meetings

Meeting on 14 March 2008

In working towards the delivery of the Public Service Agreement the Management Board will aim to:

• A. communicate the vision, role, direction and priorities of DFID to staff and other stakeholders;
• B. consider the strategic challenges and risks to the organisation;
• C. ensure effective allocation and management of DFID's staff and financial resources; and
• D. monitor and improve DFID's performance.

10.30-12.30 - Location: PS 3W13 and AH280 

1. Minouche Shafik opened the meeting with thanks and a farewell to Bill Griffiths and Liz Davis.

2. Liz Davis introduced the Strategic Workforce Plan. The Management Board thanked Liz and her team for the report, noting its strong narrative. They agreed that:

i) a summary of the Strategic Workforce Plan should be published, including the overall number of posts that will be cut and replaced over the next three years;

ii) a corporate project will be commissioned to look at the costs and trade-offs of further relocation of posts from Palace Street to Abercrombie House, and

iii) comments from the Management Board on the People Strategy will be solicited by e-mail.

3. Liz Davis introduced the annual report on DFID’s Diversity Strategy. The Management Board thanked Lesley McGarvie and her team for an excellent report, commenting on its rigour and comprehensiveness. They agreed that:

i) Sue Owen will take on the role of Diversity Champion, and

ii) future reports could usefully be shorter and focused more on problem areas.

4. Paul Mylrea gave an update on communications. The Management Board:

i) endorsed the focus and approach taken in the Communications Update paper, and the ‘white coats’ initiative;

ii) agreed that we need more evidence – both anecdotal and statistical, and that current work on results and evidence should assist with this, and

iii) requested a further update from Communications Division in June, to include:

a) an update on the Web Transformation process;

b) an outline of the internal communications plan for our Communications Strategy (due in early September), and

c) a skeleton forward plan for the next six months’ activities.

5. Sue Owen presented the forward look for the new Investment Committee. The Management Board agreed that:

i) Sue should come back to the Board with a recommendation on whether or not a separate Capital Investment Committee should be formed, and

ii) that the IC forward work plan should be circulated before the next Management Board meeting.

6. Bill Griffiths presented the annual review of the Audit Committee. The Management Board agreed that more attention is needed to the induction and ongoing briefing of non-executive members of the Audit Committee.

7. Sue Owen presented the final review of the CATALYST Board, and thanked the team for their work. The Management Board agreed that the CATALYST Board should be disbanded by the end of March.

8. Sue Owen presented the annual review of the Human Resources Strategy Committee. The Management Board agreed to clarify to all the Board sub-committees that committee reviews must include an equality impact assessment.

9. Sue Owen and Martin Dinham presented the review of the new Security Committee, which the Management Board noted.

10. Minouche Shafik presented the annual review of the Management Board. The Board agreed that:

i) next year’s Board review should include feedback from a focus group drawn from across DFID as well as past observers;

ii) in order to address the information gap that can sometimes emerge between sub-committees and the Board:

a) one-page summaries of sub-committee conclusions should be appended to future Management Board papers if sub-committee chairs consider it necessary, and

b) the Management Board secretariat should undertake a review of how the Board and its sub-committees fit together, and then make recommendations to address any structural failings;

iii) an away-day or half-day should be set up for the Management Board within the next couple of months, in order to allow for thinking on wider strategic issues. FCPD should propose a new model of performance measurement, in consultation with Board members, and suggest an agenda for the away day;

iv) the Board agreed the review’s recommendations on:

a) improvement of the audio connection to Board meetings;

b) a monthly financial expenditure statement to the Board;

c) appointing the Finance Director as a quorate member of the Board, and

d) production of a paper on relationships between the Board and its sub-committees. This should include an assessment of whether the Senior Civil Service Management and Pay Committee should also report annually to the Board, and

v) the Board also noted the reconfiguration of the Management Board Office to include an APS Management Post at B1 level, and agreed that a new forward agenda should be circulated.

11. The Management Board noted the annual review of the Development Committee, and agreed to ask Andrew Steer to consider reducing the size of the Committee.

12. Finally, the Board agreed that FCPD should put up a recommendation as to whether a new sub-committee on fraud should be set up. This should be informed by the recommendations in the paper commissioned at 10 iv) d).

Emma Williams
Management Board Assistant Secretary