Transparency data

SLC Board Meeting Minutes 30 June 2021

Updated 23 February 2022

1. Attendees

1.1 Present

• Peter Lauener (PL) - Chair (by videoconference)
• Paula Sussex (PS) - Chief Executive Officer
• Mary Curnock Cook (MCC) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)
• Simon Devonshire (SD) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)
• Charlotte Moar (CM) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)
• Gary Page (GP) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)
• Rona Ruthen (RR) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)
• Stephen Tetlow (ST) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)
• Andrew Wathey (AW) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)
• David Wallace (DW) - Deputy Chief Executive Officer
• Gary Womersley (GW) - Company Secretary

1.2 Also in attendance

• Anne Spinali (AS) - DfE (by videoconference)
• Ailsa Harris (AH) - DfE (by videoconference)
• Jo Parry (JP) - DfE (by videoconference)
• Lauren McNamara (LMC) – Scottish Government (by videoconference)
• Chris Williams (CW) - Welsh Government (by videoconference)
• Ian Getgood (IG) - NI Government (by videoconference)
• Stephen Campbell (SC) - CIO (by videoconference)
• Chris Larmer (CL) - Executive Director, Business Operations, Darlington Office (by videoconference)
• Derek Ross (DR) - Executive Director of Operations (by videoconference)
• Bernice McNaught (BMC) - Executive Director of Repayments and Customer Compliance (by videoconference)
• Morven Spalding (MS) - Executive Director, People
• Helen Bogan (HB) – Head of Governance and Planning (by videoconference)
• Stuart Brydson (SB) - Board Secretary (Secretariat)
• Karen Gallagher (KG) – Executive Assistant (by videoconference)
• Adam Treslove (AT) - Head of Corporate Affairs (for Item 5.1 only) (by videoconference)
• Nathan Glancy (NG) - Business Manager to the Office of the CEO (for Item 5.1 only) (by videoconference)
• Angela Donaldson (AD) - Head of Finance (for Item 5.2 only) (by videoconference)
• Jackie Currie (JC) - Head of Operational Delivery (by videoconference for Item 5.1 only)

1.3 Apologies

• Paul Kett (DfE)
• Sinead Gallagher (Welsh Government)

2. FOI Notice

Where asterisks (*) appear, these sections have been excluded from the minutes before placing on the website as the subject under discussion falls within one or more of the exemptions contained in Part II of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and can be reasonably withheld.

3. Chairman’s Opening Remarks / Directors’ Matters / Declarations of Interest

PL welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially CL who was attending his first SLC Board meeting today, and JP who was attending for the first part of the meeting as an observer.

Apologies were noted from PK and SG. The meeting was quorate.

PL noted that this would be the first meeting since the chat bar protocol had been published and that chat bar comments would be noted in the minute if they had been brought into the oral discussion. He also noted that the protocol would be reviewed for effectiveness.

There were no declarations of interest.

4. Chair Update

4.1 Update from the Chair on relevant matters

PL outlined the agenda for the meeting today.

PL noted that sections one to five of the Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) FY 2020-21 were not on the agenda today as they had been in some previous years. PL was keen that the Committees were given the lead role to scrutinise the ARA as relevant to their remit, and so RemCo and ARC had reviewed the Remuneration Report and the full ARA respectively. The Board would see the full ARA for final sign off at the July meeting. He was keen, however, that the Non-Executives had the opportunity to see the Chair and CEO forewords in advance of the July meeting and asked that they be circulated with any comments to go back to SLC Governance by the end of the following week. ACTION: Chair and CEO ARA forewords to be sent to Non-Execs for review. PL noted that aligned to the Board Effectiveness Review (BER) and to greater autonomy for SLC, a new recommendation category of ‘for assurance’ had been added to Board papers. The CEO and CFO reports will routinely be ‘for assurance’ as will the ARC, Remco and Evolve Committee papers to Board.

5. Strategic items

5.1 CEO Report

AT and NG joined the meeting.

PS introduced the CEO Report, noting her key areas of focus.

Pay Case Resubmission

PS noted that following discussion with DfE, SLC was no longer aligning the Pay Case resubmission with the CSR return

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PL noted that RemCo would see the Pay Case later that week ahead of its formal submission.

Chief Financial Officer and Commercial Director Recruitment

PS noted that preparations were underway for the arrival of the new CFO

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Apply to Pay Performance

CL explained that, in his opinion, the application processing strategy that was in place was the right one.

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PL looked forward to hearing more from CL in his Operations planning item that was scheduled for September.

PL noted the difference between application status levels in England and Wales. JC explained that whilst the SFE launch date was 1 March, the launch date in Wales was not until 26 April. PL noted that a report from JC in the autumn on application processing would be helpful. Post meeting note – Annual Application Cycle Review is scheduled for November.

The Customer Lens

DW explained that from May 2021 survey data was now representative of customers across all products and customer stages, including those in arrears and customers being assessed for DSA and other grant products. The data presented would be a 12-month rolling average with key targets and would help understand what was driving customer calls.

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Overpayment of medical and dental students – lessons learned

JC noted that the work to resolve the overpayment of medical and dental students had been collaborative between the Operations, Technology Group, and Policy, Customer and External Relations directorates. A number of changes had already been implemented as a result of the lessons learned findings.

Board took assurance from the CEO Report.

AT and NG left the meeting.

5.2 Head of Finance Update

AD joined the meeting.

AD introduced the Head of Finance Update noting that in March the Board had approved the SLC Budget with understanding that work to finalise the Shareholders policy priorities and LLE and HE Reform estimates and funding had been ongoing. The work to finalise the policy asks and budgets had been completed in May,

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The final budget position was outlined in table two of the report.

AD noted table five of the report and explained that whilst the expenditure to date is running slightly behind the expected budget profile, some of the initiatives were still being finalised, in particular regarding Change and Evolve. AD noted that this was normal at this point in the cycle but that she and her team would be keeping a close eye on burn rates being mindful of the additional challenges that losing technology and other subject matter expertise was creating in terms of capacity constraints.

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PL noted that the report was well set out.

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PS noted that SLC had made good progress on reducing their use of contractors and building in-house capability.

Board took assurance from the Head of Finance Update.

AD left the meeting.

5.3 SLC Strategy and CSR Update

PS introduced the SLC Strategy and CSR Update noting that SLC were looking at the key determinants of a three-year planning period whilst also looking at the future of Evolve transformation.

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HB explained that there had been a series of workshops with the ELT to discuss SLC strategy

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SLC had agreed with DfE that the three-year corporate plan would be delayed until April 2022. The wording of the SLC Framework Document had been updated to allow for such a delay.

DW noted the detail in the report appendix that showed SLC were staying true to the high-level objectives and priorities that had been agreed with the Board but noted the potential impact of LLE and the possibility that technology strategy may have to pivot as a result.

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PL noted that, in the chat bar, AS had made an offer to discuss policy with Non-Executive colleagues out with the meeting and which colleagues were showing an interest in.

Board noted and approved the delay of the Corp Plan.

JP left the meeting

6. Directors’ Reports

6.1 Reports from Committees

ARC Chair Report and ARC Annual Report

CM introduced the ARC Chair Report and ARC Annual Report noting that at the 24 June ARC meeting the Committee had approved the draft ARA. It was a particularly clean report and had been viewed favourably by NAO.

CM outlined the other items discussed at the 24 June ARC meeting, including the move of the current Head of Internal Audit to another GIAA client. Also, CM confirmed her desire to reconfigure ARC meeting schedules to plan to make best use of the time of members and executive. To that end she was keen to consider how to reduce the number and length of papers that were discussed whilst still ensuing the ARC was an effective committee of the Board.

MCC noted that the final drafting in the APRA letter had assuaged some of her GDPR concerns re shareholder expectations. PL noted that there had been a good discussion on GDPR at ARC and that DW would be bringing a paper to the next ARC meeting on GDPR compliance.

Board took assurance from the ARC Chair Report and the ARC Annual Report.

RemCo Chair Report and RPODC Annual Report

AW introduced the RemCo Chair Report and RPODC Annual Report noting that RPODC had changed its name to revert back to Remuneration Committee (RemCo), while maintaining its wide scope and that the minutes for the 5 May meeting were part of the June Board papers.

AW noted highlights from the 5 May RemCo meeting

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HB explained that the RemCo terms of reference would be reviewed at the RemCo meeting taking place tomorrow and would then come to the Board in July.

RR noted that the report gave assurance but would benefit from calling out relevant strategic risks to ensure the Board were sighted on these. AW agreed that this would be covered in future reports and PL asked that this be replicated across all Committee reports. ACTION: Future Committee Annual Reports to include strategic risks, to offer the Board a calibrated assurance

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Board took assurance from the RemCo Chair Report and the RPODC Annual Report.

April Evolve Oversight Committee Minutes

SD introduced the April Evolve Oversight Committee (EOC) minutes noting that there had also been other Evolve meetings in May and June.

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Board took assurance from the April Evolve Oversight Committee minutes.

7. Deep Dive

7.1 Evolve – Excellence in Data

BMC presented the slides from the Evolve – Excellence in Data deep dive noting highlights including the development of the Excellence in Data programme,

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RR noted the timeline sprints and asked for more detail on how much had been spent to date

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ST noted that more detail on business value would be helpful. BMC explained that the values shown on slide four were all cashable benefits.

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ST noted that work in securing the resilience of the infrastructure and spending on delivery was important. BMC explained that she and SC spent a lot of time on this subject. SC agreed that he was aligned with BMC on this subject and that the longer-term work would include an understanding of data sources.

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PL asked BMC to bring this item back to the Board when the new Head of Data had formed some impressions. ACTION: Excellence in Data to come back to a future Board meeting with input from Head of Data.

Board noted the Evolve – Excellence in Data Deep Dive.

##Governance

7.2 Board Effectiveness Review Action Plan and Terms of Reference Review

HB introduced the Board Effectiveness Review (BER) Action Plan and Terms of Reference Review noting that some of the actions that could deliver immediate benefits had already been adopted, and example of this being the new ‘for assurance’ recommendation. HB agreed to regularly updated the Board on progress.

MCC noted that SLC had previously taken part in the Apprentice Board Member scheme. PL agreed that this was a worthwhile scheme and was currently on his ‘to do’ list.

HB explained that any changes to the ToR were noted on the attached document and had evolved from the BER review, consideration of best practice, whilst also taking account of the Chairman’s views.

ST noted that the ToR would benefit from mention of vision and values, mention of the sustainability agenda, and of the diversity and wellbeing of SLC colleagues. PL noted that some of this was already in the Corporate Plan. PS agreed that these points could be cross-referenced and also supported more balance towards sustainability

Board approved the Board Effectiveness Review Action Plan and Terms of Reference Review.

7.3 Minutes of meeting held on 30 April

SD noted that the Board minutes would benefit from stating that the meeting was quorate and, additionally, it was deemed important that the minutes were signed by the Chair. PL explained that while he was aware that some Boards still physically sign Board minutes, that he was content with them being formally approved by email with no need for a ‘wet’ signature.

The minutes of the SLC Board meeting held on 30 April 2021 were approved as a true and accurate record.

7.4 Matters arising from previous meeting

HB confirmed that her team tracked matters arising out with the Board meeting to ensure they are progressed.

The matters arising document was approved as accurate.

7.5 Board Schedule forward look

HB introduced the Board Schedule forward look noting that items were indicative and may be subject to change if the need arose.

PL noted the invitees listed on the document and agreed that it would be useful to gauge if they should attend the entire meeting or just for their own item. DW suggested that duration of attendance might also be dependent on the meeting being physical or virtual.

PL explained that planning was underway for a potential face to face, in person meeting for the Board in September but this would depend on COVID-19 restrictions at that point.

Board noted the Board Schedule forward look.

8. Any other business

SD noted his apologies for the July Board meeting.

9. Date of the next meeting

10:00 am, Friday 30 July 2021 The Boardroom, 100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 7JD and remotely.

There being no other business the meeting ended at 1.20 pm.