Transparency data

SLC Board meeting minutes 7 July 2022

Updated 3 March 2023

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)

• Gary Page (GP) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)

• Charlotte Moar (CM)- Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)

• Stephen Tetlow (ST) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)

• Rona Ruthen (RR) - Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)

• Andrew Wathey (AW) – Non-Executive Director (by videoconference)

• David Wallace (DW) - Deputy Chief Executive Officer

• Audrey McColl (AMC) - CFO

• Gary Womersley (GW) - Company Secretary

1.2 Also in attendance

• Anne Spinali (AS) - DfE (by videoconference)

• Ailsa Harris (AH) - DfE (by videoconference)

• Lauren McNamara (LMC) – Scottish Government (by videoconference)

• Chris Williams (CW) - Welsh Government (by videoconference)

• Stephen Campbell (SC) – CIO (by videoconference)

• Chris Larmer (CL) – Executive Director, Business Operations

• Margaret McMullen (MCM) – Director of (by videoconference)

• Nathan Glancy (NG) - Business Manager to the Office of the CEO (by videoconference)

• David Derrick (DD) – Financial Accounting Manager (by videoconference)

1.3 Apologies

• Paul Kett (DfE)

• Sinead Gallagher (Welsh Government)

• Laura Irvine (NI Government)

• Ronan Murtagh – (NI Government)

• Helen Bogan – (Head of Governance and Planning)

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, which had been convened to review the SLC Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) 2021-22.

Apologies were noted from PK, SG, LI, RM, and HB.

PL noted that the ARA had already been reviewed by the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) on 27 July 2022.

There were no declarations of interest.

4. Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22

AMC introduced the ARA noting that there were additional points to bring to the Board’s attention.

DD explained that a table of ‘Other Administrative Expenditure’ had been added to the ARA at note 4 at the request of the NAO. The corresponding text in the financial review would now be reviewed to ensure it was in alignment with the table.

*

*

PL noted the points of minor and drafting changes and that he and CM would be able to give these final approval.

DD highlighted that this year the audit had gone smoothly and that SLC had worked well with the NAO who had engaged and supported.

CM explained that ARC was happy to recommend the ARA for approval and for PS to sign the letter of representation. The NAO had no outstanding issues and it had been a smooth process. The ARC Annual Report was also attached to the papers, and there would be an ARA lessons learned item at the next ARC meeting.

PL noted that the narrative within the ARA was a proper account of the achievements for 2021-22 and also steered into 2022-23. The Chair and CEO forewords would need to be updated slightly before publication, as they had been written some time ago.

*

MCC noted that the ARA had been a smooth process this year and that she had already provided extensive feedback following the June Board meeting.

ST suggested that for the 2022-23 ARA a summary of trends would be useful, as would a performance outlook for future years, and suggested that there should be consideration of more customer-friendly language.

The Board approved the Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 (subject to any minor and drafting amendments which would be looked at by PL and CM).

5. Any other business

No additional business was raised.

6. Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting was confirmed as being at 10:00 am on Thursday 28 July 2022 by Teams with Executive hosting from the Glasgow Boardroom.

There being no other business the meeting ended at 10:40 am.