Transparency data

SLC Board meeting minutes June 2024

Updated 4 October 2024

1. Attendees

1.1 Present

• Peter Lauener (PL) - Chair

• Chris Larmer (CL) - Chief Executive Officer

• Gary Page (GP) - Non-Executive Director

• Charlotte Moar (CM)- Non-Executive Director

• Stephen Tetlow (ST) - Non-Executive Director

• David Wallace (DW) - Deputy Chief Executive Officer

• Audrey McColl (AMC) - CFO

• Gary Womersley (GW) - Company Secretary

1.2 Also in attendance

• Anne Rimmer (AR) - DfE (by videoconference)

• Victoria Bowman (VB) – Scottish Government (by videoconference)

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

• Martin McCourt (MMCC) – Department for the Economy NI (by videoconference)

• Jason Dunham (JD) – CIO

• Jackie Currie (JC) – Executive Director, Business Operations

• Derek Ross (DR) - Executive Director, HE and FE Reform

• Gillian Brydie (GB) - Executive Director, People

• Helen Bogan (HB) – Head of Governance and Planning

• Stuart Brydson (SB) - Board Secretary (Secretariat)

• Adam Treslove (AT) - Head of Corporate Affairs (for Item 6.1 only) (by videoconference)

• Nicholas McDermott (NMC) – Chief of Staff (for item 6.1 only)

• Margaret McMullen (MMC) – Director of Finance (for item 6.2 only) (by videoconference)

• Alan Balanowski (AB) – Risk Director (for item 6.2 only) (by videoconference)

2. Apologies

• Natasha Toothill (SLC)

• Julia Kinniburgh (DfE)

• Courtney Brightwell (DfE)

• Patrick Curry (DfE)

• Sinead Gallagher (Wales)

• Jonny O’Callaghan (NI)

3. 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.        

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

PL welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies were noted from NT, JK, CB, PC, SG, and JOC.

Declarations of Interest

The were no declarations of interest.

5. Chair Update

5.1 Update from the Chair on relevant matters

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Board Effectiveness Review

PL summarised the Board effectiveness review process, noting that survey returns had evidenced that Board arrangements were strong and working effectively.

CM suggested that at the next planned Board meeting in London, a working lunch with the DfE Student Loans Company Sponsorship Team would be beneficial.

ACTION: PL and HB to discuss the timing of a Board meeting in London which would be hosted in the DfE office in Sanctuary Buildings.

Meeting of the Non-Executive Directors

PL highlighted that the Non-Executive Directors had met on 13 June, and it had been a good opportunity to take stock of the SLC position on risk.  This meeting would be an occasional feature in future. 

6. Strategic items

6.1 CEO Report

NMC and AT joined the meeting.

CL introduced the CEO Report noting that his key areas of focus today were, the Corporate Performance Dashboard (CPD), the risk opinion, Customer, Shareholder, and Colleague.

CPD

CL explained that following feedback from the Chair and NEDs, a revised version of the CPD, containing more management information than proposed in papers for the June Board, would made available to the Board at each meeting.  PL and ST were grateful for the level of engagement in agreeing the new dashboard which was a further improvement on an already sharply focused report. 

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Risk Opinion

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CL highlighted that he had met with the DfE Director General and Permanent Secretary, and the OfS CEO on 12 June to discuss progress since their appearance before the Public Accounts Committee in February. 

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Customer 

Academic Cycle

CL explained that JC and her team had continued to do an excellent job with the academic cycle and when the throughput of applications was measured against the number of days since the cycle was launched, they were ahead. 

PL noted that although there had been success last year in ‘flattening the peak’, the peak this year was due to be higher again.  JC explained that two thirds of applications had been received so far this year and that processing had improved.  JC highlighted the Customer Experience and Technology team who were working in the background; that defects had been remediated; and that there was effective continuous improvement activity.    

Customer Refunds

CL noted that since the launch of the digital service for customers to request a below threshold refund on 16 May, around 57k customers had received a refund, and the robotic automation service been used by 80% of those customers.

ST highlighted the high customer refund performance and asked that thanks be communicated from the Board to the team.

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Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA)

CL explained that the new DSA service had been running since 26 February and continued to be stable, delivering for customers.  The initial implementation of the service had provided customers with the benefit of a ‘one stop shop’.

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Shareholder

Finance

CL noted that AMC and her team continued to work on the 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts.

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Colleague

Strategic Changes Impacting People

CL highlighted the strategic change projects underway.  These included the creation of the new Customer Operations directorate, led by JC.  JC and GB had shown strong leadership in the work that had been done to plan and implement the changes.  PL noted that this change was the right thing to do for both colleagues, customers and shareholders and the engagement had been extremely well managed.  

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JC reflected on the creation of the new directorate noting that the Repayments team were well established, with a well organised leadership team.  The current priorities were stability of service, and progress with the academic cycle and refunds.  There had been positive feedback from the Operations team to the robotics centre of excellence, and the next stage would be shared understanding. 

In terms of the personnel impact of change on colleagues, JC thanked the People team for their support.  Cultural benefits had been highlighted including having co-located teams, skill development and career pathways, leap of faith opportunities, and a feeling of belonging.

Executive Director, Change and Data

CL noted that, following a comprehensive recruitment exercise, the new Executive Director of Change and Data would start with SLC on 5 August. 

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Executive Development Programme

CL explained that an executive development programme, led by GB, had commenced and would develop not only the individuals but also the team.  A key element would be 360 degree appraisals, and CL would ask the Board to support with this.

GP joined the meeting.

CM left the meeting.

In summary PL noted that the Board took assurance that key issues were being well managed.  PL endorsed the action being taken on DSA, noting that the situation was positive.  PL noted the excellent refund performance.

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VB, NMC and AT left the meeting.

6.2 CFO Report

MMC joined the meeting.

AMC introduced the CFO report noting that both the June ARC and early July Board meetings, related to the review of the Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) had been postponed.  This was due to the extra work caused by the recommendations from the Financial Reporting Council quality audit.  AMC, MMC and their team had been working closely with NAO in a pragmatic way to get the ARA over the line. The June ARC was rescheduled for 9 July 2024.

In terms of the 2024-25 budget process, AMC explained that SLC had provided responses on the draft APRA, however a revised draft would not now be available until after the general election. 

PL commended the presentation of the catalyst update in the paper, and also noted the cost pressures of the Home Office digital evidence removal.  JC highlighted that the Home Office digital evidence removal compliance was not optional. 

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CM joined the meeting.

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In summary PL noted that the Board took assurance from the report

MMC left the meeting.

7. ###Strategic Planning

CL introduced SLC Strategic Planning noting that the presentation today would cover the themes of Why, What, How, and When.

The context for strategic planning was a potential three year Comprehensive Spending Review in the autumn.  SLC would be required to submit a new three year corporate plan.  In line with wider public sector, SLC had year on year flat cash budgets.

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There were three objectives for the planning process to keep front of mind:  maintaining SLC BAU; providing the best day one ministerial briefing; and submitting the best three year plan.  CL confirmed that SLC’s role was to help DfE provide the best policy delivery options and that this included the key areas of paying student finance, paying student fees to HEPs, and the repayment of student finance. 

In terms of the three year plan, CL highlighted that the intention was to build on the excellent foundations of Evolve. 

CL explained that the strategic planning delivery model would leverage existing SLC Governance, including the Board and its Committees.  A new SLC steering committee would be created focussing on the three planning objectives, with an ELT SRO for each, an SMT think tank, and workstream leads. 

In terms of when, HB highlighted that there were a number of unknowns in the timeline.  Although previously it was thought that there would be 18 months to prepare, the announcement of the general election had reduced this to weeks.  There were a number of anchor points, including the Green Book Business Case, the spending review, and the DfE Investment Committee. 

AMC explained that timings for the Spending Review (SR) were indicative but once issued by HMT it would provide the framework required for the business case.  It was recognised that it would be challenging to have the outline business case ready for the end of October. 

DW highlighted that the day one letter would flag both the risks and the opportunities.  In the meantime, it was possible to start working on ‘policy agnostic’ basis

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AR explained that DfE were trying to be as joined up as possible with SLC, including the recent strategy meeting.  It had been necessary to start work prior to the HMT announcement, and CB, HB, and AMC had been discussing the potential team required.  Engagement with HMT had been positive so far.

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In summary PL noted that this was an important part of executive work and also for the shareholders, being important for all nations, not just for DfE.  SLC would drive ahead on the ‘policy agnostic’ business case, and it was agreed that the day one message should highlight the potential returns on investment.  It would be important to produce figures for the Spending Review bid that SLC could be confident about, alongside the right language. 

ACTION: SB to issue the Strategic Planning slides on ibabs.

ACTION: PL and HB to consider the timing of the annual Strategy Session.

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8. Reports from Committees

8.1 RemCo Chair Report

May RemCo Chair Report

GP introduced the RemCo Chair Report noting that the meeting on 31 May had covered the end of year completion rates, including a clear picture of the path to quarterly reviews; the volume of strategic change projects; the good progress on headcount reduction; and the 2023-24 Remuneration Report.  The Committee had supported the proposed Employee Engagement target of 6.2, with different methodology used on the engagement index.  RemCo had approved the revised ToR, with the main change being that people risks would go to ARC.

The Board noted the RemCo Chair Report.

2023-24 RemCo Annual Report

The Board approved the 2023-24 RemCo Annual Report.

RemCo ToR

The Board approved the RemCo ToR.

8.2 ARC Chair Report

AB joined the meeting.

May ARC Chair Report

CM introduced the ARC Chair Report from the 22 May meeting noting that the Head of Internal Audit opinion had been Moderate.  There had been a lot of positives within the report.

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CM explained that there had been a long discussion around risks.  It had been agreed that the long term mitigation would be within the Spending Review bid.   

The Board noted the ARC Chair Report.

2023-24 ARC Annual Report

The Board approved the 2023-24 ARC Annual Report.

ARC ToR

The Board approved the ARC ToR.

ERC Policy and Risk Appetite Policy

AB introduced the ERC Policy and Risk Appetite Policy noting that significant strides had been made of late on Risk Appetite, JD and GB were reviewing the categories they owned, with a more cautious approach overall. 

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AB explained that the ERC Policy was now used in every day decision making and that the GRC tool was in a mature position.  There had been minor changes to the policy. 

The Board approved the ERC Policy and Risk Appetite Policy.

AB left the meeting.

8.3 TOC Chair Report

ST introduced the TOC Chair Report from the 14 June meeting noting that LLE had been covered in detail, with a programme update including culture and agile governance.  The Committee had taken assurance that the right action was being taken in programme governance and that further agility would be considered in discussions with DfE. 

VB joined the meeting.

ST explained that the Committee had considered the risks in making LLE decisions in the short term that could have negative impacts in the long term. 

ST highlighted the Change Operating Model Update.  JD had noted that TG would align with lessons learned from the Change Delivery Review, and that the approach meant a move to agile delivery. 

ST noted that discussions over the TOC ToR were in abeyance due to the potential changes in the focus of the Committee. 

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The Board noted the TOC Chair Report.

9. Governance

9.1 Minutes of meeting held on 1 December

The minutes of the 30 April meeting was approved as an accurate record.

9.2 Matters arising from previous meetings

The matters arising document was approved as accurate.

10. Any other business

VB noted that, following an announcement on Tuesday, the Scottish Government had launched a consultation into post school education and reform, which looked at both skills and student support.  The consultation would run until 20 September and once the options had been considered it would likely require legislation that would introduce a bill for completion prior to the 2026 Scottish Parliamentary elections. 

10.1 Date of Next Meeting

The next formal meeting was confirmed as being at 4.00 p.m. on Tuesday 16 July by Teams with Executive hosting from the Glasgow Boardroom.

There being no other business the meeting ended at 1.25 pm.