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

DFID Management Board

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Meeting on 16 May 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.

12.30 – 15:30 - Location: PS 3W13, AH280, DFID Southern Africa

Time	Topic	Attending	Purpose	MB Obj	Papers
12:30 [closed session]	Location and Accommodation Strategy	Victoria Billing	How to ensure decisions on location of staff take into account DFID’s strategic needs as an organisation.	B C	Closed session
13.05 – 13.15 [closed session]	Action Matrix	Lucy Livings		D	Action matrix
13.15 – 14.00 [closed session]	Financial Statement	Sam Sharpe	Finance Update	C	Finance update
14.00 – 15.30	Capability Review	Sir Gus O’Donnell Jo Yvon	Capability Review One Year On	A, B, C, D	1 Year on Self-assessment 12 month status report

Attendees

Nemat Shafik (Chair), Sue Owen, Mark Lowcock, Martin Dinham, Andrew Steer, Sam Sharpe, David MacLeod (Non-Executive Director), Doreen Langston (Non-Executive Director)

Observers

In PS: Jo Yvon; Julia Bunting; Katie Fawkner-Corbett; Peter Taylor; Tamsyn Barton; Ian Barry (Audit Committee Non-Executive Director); Lizzie Smith; Roli Asthana
From AH 280: Jane Shute; Liz Scott; Grace Robertson
Overseas via v/c: Simon Jones (South Africa)

1. The first agenda item, on DFID’s location and accommodation strategy, took place in closed session.

2. Lucy Livings introduced the updated Action Matrix. The Board:

i) agreed that this is a useful means of tracking progress against actions agreed at the Management Board, and that it should feature at future Board meetings as an information item;

ii) asked for the Board Secretary to liaise with CPPG to ensure that the future Management work plan and its reporting is centred on the DFID Making it Happen framework, and

iii) recommended that the action matrix be grouped by theme as opposed to date.

3. Sam Sharpe introduced the financial statement. The Board:

i) voiced their concern over the scale of the 2007/08 administration budget underspend, but agreed with FCPD’s analysis of its causes;

ii) requested a forward plan to ensure this does not happen again;

iii) observed that financial forecasting training is needed, and that this is partly a question of behavioural change – managers need to stop holding onto resources until it’s too late;

iv) requested revised supporting tables, to include updated 2007/08 baselines reflecting recent changes in Divisional composition;

v) agreed to preserve contingency funding for GFDD legal costs, and allocate resources for the website, Change Unit and e-library as requested at paragraph 9; and

vi) agreed to let Sam Sharpe have any comments on the content and / or format of the prototype monthly financial report.

4. The Capability Review team presented the results of the Capability Review - One Year On assessment of the Department. The Board:

i) thanked them for their recognition of the progress DFID has made in implementing the recommendations of the Capability Review, and

ii) agreed with the team’s diagnosis of areas where the pace of change needs to be sustained or picked up.

Emma Williams
Management Board Assistant Secretary