11 June 2020

Those present:            

• Mostaque Ahmed, Finance Director and Managing Director, Finance, Portfolio and Performance  
• Ian Ailles, Director General of the House of Commons (Chair)  
• John Benger, Clerk of the House 
• Isabel Coman, Managing Director of In-House Services and Strategic Estates  
• Sarah Davies, Clerk Assistant and Managing Director of Chamber & Committees  
• Mandy Eddolls, Managing Director of HR and Diversity  
• Eric Hepburn, Director of Security for Parliament  
• Tracey Jessup, Chief Information Officer and Managing Director of the Parliamentary Digital Service [items 1-3] 
• Edge Watchorn, Acting Managing Director of Participation  
• Penny Young, Librarian and Managing Director of Research & Information  

In attendance:   

• Maxine Albert, Acting Head of Diversity & Inclusion [items 2-3] 
• Marianne Cwynarski, Head of Governance and Central Services and Secretary to the Commission  
• Rhiannon Hollis, Secretary to the Commons Executive Board  
• Clare Jennings, Director of Communications      
• Markos Koumaditis, Human Resources Director 
• William Newing, Business Change Manager 
• Sarah Petit, Director of Cultural Transformation 
• Patsy Richards, Decant Director [item 5] 
• Hannah Rumney, Cultural Transformation Officer [item 4] 
• Charlotte Simmonds, Restoration & Renewal Director, House of Commons, [item 6] 
• Katharine Williams, Governance and Compliance Manager  

Meeting

1. Updates and culture reflection

The Commons Executive Board noted the following updates:

• Actions arising from its previous meetings and the work of its sub-groups. 
• Culture reflection: the fact that teams had been working overtime had led to unreasonable expectations from customers, in some cases, that this level of service would continue. The Director General would make a formal reply to a complaint that had been made about the level of service. Further to this the Board noted the need to give teams a rest even when this might mean delays.

2. Covid-19 update

The Commons Executive Board noted an update on the House Service’s response to Covid-19 and considered questions put to it.

The emergency operational groups set up to respond to Covid-19 would now evolve to be able to deliver longer-term planning. The House Service continued to work closely with Public Health England and to plan for any changes to advice. The Board noted the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on the BAME community and discussed what more it should do for those colleagues. Further to this the Board agreed to develop and better communicate the ‘care package’ to support colleagues when on the Estate and commuting. The Board also noted that there would be another opportunity to sell leave before the end of the leave year and that guidance on this and carryover arrangements had been issued.

3. Diversity and Inclusion

The Commons Executive Board held a discussion with the Acting Head of D&I on what it would do to tackle racism at Parliament, remove barriers and better reduce inequality for the future. In the course of the discussion the Board:

• reflected on the recent Town Hall meeting and communications from the Clerk on Black Lives Matter, which had fallen short of the level of support the Clerk and wider Board wanted to express.
• reflected that it was very positive that colleagues were using their voices and the Board recognised that it had an opportunity and a responsibility to listen and react.
• noted a report from D&I that substantial progress had already been made against the existing action plan, while acknowledging that more needed to be done, and more quickly. It was suggested that the new Head of D&I should be asked to review the strategy and action plans with a view to prioritising work.
• agreed that further actions should be informed by ongoing and future consultation so that these were on the right track.
• endorsed the Clerk’s decision, based on feedback on the existing D&I Steering Group, to create ‘the Clerk’s BAME Advisory Group’; this would have diverse membership and a role in steering and monitoring progress. The Board suggested some initial questions for the group:
  • what demonstrable actions would help to change the lived experience of BAME colleagues,
  • how Parliament’s new and redesigned spaces could be made to feel inclusive in terms of art and design,
  • how best to advise and support all colleagues to talk about race.
• considered the intersectionality of race with other protected characteristics and agreed to focus on the BAME lens as a priority.
• suggested that teams be asked to discuss the matter locally and come up with actions
• On communications:
  • noted the creation of a ‘Black Lives Matter’ microsite.
  • noted a ‘Black Lives Matter’ communications plan that included events and external speakers.
  • noted that communications did not reach non-desk based staff as effectively as desk-based staff and that the former group should become the priority

4. Cultural transformation update

The Commons Executive Board reflected on the impact and handling of the Black Lives Matter movement in the context of Cultural Transformation. The Board agreed that it needed to trust and support D&I as a professional team and encourage close collaboration with teams, particularly Communications and Chamber & Committees; that the Board should make time to discuss the matter of impartiality in greater detail; that a real focus was needed on improving the experience of non-desk-based staff, whose feedback gave a consistently below-average picture, and that it needed to find ways to be more sensitive to problems before they escalated, whether by discussing these during reflection time or by another means.

On the impact and handling of Covid-19 the Board noted that the message ‘Everyone has a voice’ might create unrealistic expectations leaving colleagues feeling that their voices had been disregarded. For example, while colleagues’ concerns about returning to work on-site had been heard, and colleagues’ safety was protected in line with Public Health England’s advice as the priority, the decision for the House to return and the level of service to provide rested with the Government and Commission and was based on a number of factors.

The Board also received its quarterly update on the Cultural Transformation Programme and noted that significant improvements had been made. Specifically, the Board reviewed progress made against the phase two values implementation plan, considered the second quarterly update of the Cultural Transformation Dashboard, alongside qualitative feedback, and noted the summary of the key risks and mitigating actions.

5. Covid-19 impact survey results

The Commons Executive Board discussed the results of the recent staff survey on the impact of Covid-19 regarding wellbeing and working arrangements. Notably, the results showed that there was an appetite for more flexibility to work from home, although a significant minority did not want to work from home. The Board agreed that there should be a second survey further down the line to verify the results, and agreed that the findings would be used to inform the design of the occupation strategy. There would be a further discussion of accommodation options and working arrangements at the Board workshop on 18 June.

6. Performance reports

The Commons Executive Board noted the latest Performance Report and Portfolio Performance Report. Following a Finance Committee decision, there would be no Financial Monitoring Reports for P1 and P2 while the team prioritised providing a new plan to report against.

7. Internal audit

The Commons Executive Board noted papers on the Head of Internal Audit’s opinion for 2019-2020, the Internal audit plan for 2020-2021 and an audit report on Payroll. Board members were also reminded to complete any outstanding audit actions; henceforward a list of outstanding actions would be brought to the Board one month before the Audit Committee was due to meet.