Minutes 17/11/10
MANAGEMENT BOARD
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 17 NOVEMBER 2010
CONFERENCE ROOM 1, CROWN OFFICE
Present:
(Chair) Catherine Dyer Crown Agent
Peter Collings Deputy Chief Executive
John Dunn Deputy Crown Agent
Janice Irvine Director of Human Resources
Morag McLaughlin Area Fiscal, Lothian and Borders
Lesley Thomson Area Fiscal, Glasgow
In attendance: Mark Howells Director of Finance
Michelle Macleod Head of Policy
Kevin McArthur Secretary
Tracy Ramsay Secretary
Geri Watt Director of Strategy & Delivery
Apologies : Robert Gordon Non-Executive Director
Welcome
1. Catherine Dyer welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Minutes of Previous Meeting and Matters Arising
2. The minutes of the meeting on 20 October were approved with a minor amendment to paragraph 12.
3. The Crown Agent addressed the actions points from the previous meeting. During discussion:
(a) The meeting identified that further analysis is required on the application of non-court disposals. Geri Watt agreed to send out tables to local managers for suggestions and to look at figures.
Action: Geri Watt
(b) The meeting considered the No Action marking figures and agreed these should be discussed further at AFG.
(c) Geri advised the meeting that Section 76 disposals are included in the High Court figure. It was agreed the Section 76 disposal figure should be kept separate and that this should be included in the Healthcheck table for the December MB meeting.
Corporate Reports
4. The meeting noted the usual Performance and Workload papers MB(10)47 (Healthcheck) and MB(10)48 (Target Summary) which provided MB with an overview of the Service’s performance against targets and workload and an overall view of the main performance targets from April 2010.
5. The meeting were advised that the Savings and Efficiency Programme Report is a work in progress but will be updated monthly. Geri Watt advised this will be discussed further at the Federation Seminars at the end of November and beginning of December.
6. It was agreed that at future meetings all tables within papers will be viewed on screen to prevent unnecessary printing.
Action: Secretariat
Corporate Issues Sub Group (CISG) Update
7. Peter Collings updated the meeting on significant issues arising from the CISG meeting held on Monday 15th November 2010.
8. The meeting were advised that CISG discussed the following items:
(a) Festive Custody Courts – IT Support – there was concern over proposals for cover for the festive period. Peter agreed to discuss this further with ISD.
Action: Peter Collings
(b) ISD Projects Update – to note the secure disclosure website is being rolled out in selected offices and should be rolled out to all offices by the end of January 2011.
(c) Video Conferencing & Voice Call Security – to note that a potential security risk has identified in relation to the access to the COPFS network. CISG have asked ISD to do further work.
Finance Update – Spending Review.
9. Peter Collings updated the meeting on the Spending Review. The Scottish Government Spending Review was announced on 17 November 2010. The meeting noted the COPFS budget for 2011/12 has been reduced by 5% reduction in our running costs and 62.5% in our capital Budget.
10. Mark Howells introduced paper MB(10)50 which advised the meeting of issues arising from this year’s Annual Business Planning Round. During discussion the following points were noted:
(a) The meeting considered the options on how to utilise the potential resource savings identified by Areas and Units at the recent annual business planning round. It was agreed this should be discussed further at next meeting in December.
Action: Peter Collings
(b) Practising Certificates – The meeting considered the annual cost of practising certificates for each legal member of staff and the possibilities in reducing this cost. Michelle MacLeod agreed to discuss this further with the Law Society.
Action: Michelle MacLeod
(c) Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) Gateway – The Glasgow Office have piloted a SPSA gateway since April 2010 which has proved very successful. The meeting noted that Bill Comrie bring a paper to Management Board at the meeting in December 2010 to consider increasing the size of the project and giving it a national remit.
Action: Secretariat.
High Court Noters
11. Peter Collings introduced paper MB(10)51 which advised the meeting of the recent developments of the provision of Juniors and PO Noters in the High Court and sought their views on three options for ensuring that the required level of noting support is made available to Crown Counsel. It was agreed the creation of a High Court Support Team based in Saltmarket and Lawnmarket would provide the best support to cover all court locations, however Management Board requested that further work be done on the resource implications of this option.
Action: Peter Collings
AOB
12. The following were noted under AOB:
(a) Malawi – John Dunn invited MB to agree in principle to a COPFS commitment for a team of officials to travel to Malawi for a total of 10 days to provide training in the improvement of Advocacy skills in the court in Malawi. John informed the meeting that the costs for these trips would be paid by sponsors and therefore will have no financial impact to COPFS. This was agreed by the meeting.
(b) Federation Seminars – The meeting were provided with a draft programme for the three Federation seminars to be held on 25 and 26 November and 2 December 2010.
(c) Joint Board Event – The meeting were advised the Scottish Court Service are hosting a joint board event on 19 January 2010 to which members of the Boards of COPFS and the Scottish Legal Aid Board are to be invited. It was agreed that the Secretariat would canvass Management Board’s availability for this date and reply back to Scottish Courts.
Action: Secretariat.
MB Secretariat
17 November 2010