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UK Parliament

24 September 2020

Decisions of the Commons Executive Board meeting, 24 September 2020.

Attendees        

Those present:           

  • Mostaque Ahmed, Finance Director and Managing Director, Finance, Portfolio and Performance 
  • John Benger, Clerk of the House (Chair) 
  • Isabel Coman, Managing Director of In-House Services and Estates
  • Marianne Cwynarski, Managing Director of Governance and Strategic Business Resilience 
  • Sarah Davies, Clerk Assistant and Managing Director of Chamber & Committees 
  • Mandy Eddolls, Managing Director of HR and Diversity 
  • Tracey Jessup, Chief Information Officer and Managing Director of the Parliamentary Digital Service  
  • Edge Watchorn, Acting Managing Director of Participation 
  • Penny Young, Librarian and Managing Director of Research & Information 

Apologies: 

  • Ian Ailles, Director General of the House of Commons

In attendance:  

  • Claire Harvey, Head of Diversity and Inclusion
  • Eric Hepburn, Director of Security for Parliament 
  • Rhiannon Hollis, Secretary to the Commons Executive Board 
  • Clare Jennings, Director of Communications     
  • Markos Koumaditis, Human Resources Director
  • Will Newing, Business Change Manager
  • Tim Parkin, Programme Manager, Strategic Estates
  • Sarah Petit, Cultural Transformation Director
  • Katharine Williams, Governance and Compliance Manager 
  • Jo Willows, Director of the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme

Meeting

  1. Monthly updates

Finance                   

The Board took note of:

  • The financial position on Resource and Capital budgets as at the end of August 2020 (Period 5 of financial year 2020-21);
  • Movements in the budget between the capital budget (down £7.85m) and resource budget (up £7.85m)
  • The fact that further movements in the estimate were due between the House of Commons and the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body.
  • The fact that the central contingency had now been exhausted and all new pressures would need to be funded from further in-year savings.

Mostaque briefed CEB on the discussion that had been held at Commission on options for savings.

It was agreed that the Clerk as Accounting Officer would approve any new or existing roles at A2 or above before they were advertised.

Mostaque updated the CEB on outstanding audit actions. The Clerk reminded the CEB of the importance of full and timely management responses to audit reports.

Parliamentary business

The CEB took note of an update from the Clerk Assistant.

Major projects

The CEB took note of an update from the Managing Director of In-House Services and Estates.             

Sub-boards

The CEB took note of an update from the Managing Director of Governance and Strategic Business Resilience, reviewing the output of recent sub-board meetings.

Security                                       

The CEB took note of an update from the Parliamentary Security Director, and from the Managing Director of Parliamentary Digital Services.

  1. Quarterly theme: People

HR Strategic Delivery Plan

The Board endorsed

(1) five proposed HR outcomes

(2) An approach to steering and tracking these outcomes, including the role proposed for team-level People Boards or equivalent groups

(3) An approach to agreeing the future direction for learning and organisation development, in collaboration with colleagues across the business.

The HR team would circulate a People Board information pack in October giving further guidance on how they would operate

The HR team would circulate a detailed one-year plan of the actions it would undertake to deliver the HR strategy, to a similar timescale.

Cultural Transformation update

The Commons Executive Board considered an update from the Cultural Transformation Director and:

  • reviewed progress made to deliver the actions in the values implementation plan
  • considered the impact this activity was having on culture, via the Cultural Transformation Dashboard and qualitative feedback;
  • agreed key actions to drive cultural transformation over the next six months and to manage the associated risks

It was agreed that the Clerk and the Managing Director of Research & Information would circulate terms of reference for a group to work on defining and communicating impartiality.

Workplace Equality Networks (WENs)

The CEB heard an update from the Head of Diversity and Inclusion.

It was agreed that the CEB would hear a regular update from all D&I and the WENs presented by the D&I team and rotating WEN chairs. In addition, the CEB would invite WENs to discuss specific strategic themes.

It was agreed that a clear set of rights and responsibilities would be communicated to the WENs.

ICGS 18-month review and update

The Board took note of an update from the ICGS Director.

  1. Reflections, updates and AOB

Culture reflection

A communication would shortly be sent out relating to the review which the Clerk was undertaking at the request of the Commission.

  1. Take note papers

The CEB took note of the following updates:

  1. CEB decision and action log / minutes
  2. Reports from the Administration and Finance Committees
  3. Sub-board agendas and minutes
  4. Portfolio performance report
  5. R&R programme quarterly report (Q1 2020-21)
  6. CEB response to R&R initial findings – sent to the R&R Sponsor Body
  7. Out of hours working - update