Date: Tuesday 16 January

Location: London (Bunhill Row) and by video conference

Date of next Board meeting: Tuesday 27 February 2024

John Pullinger, Chair
Elan Closs Stephens
Alex Attwood
Sarah Chambers
Roseanna Cunningham
Katy Radford
Sue Bruce
Stephen Gilbert
Carole Mills

In attendance:

Rob Vincent, Interim Chief Executive
Craig Westwood, Director, Communications Policy and Research
David Moran, Interim Director, Finance
Binnie Goh, Director, Legal Services and Reform and General Counsel
Zena Khan, Senior Adviser, Governance
Carol Sweetenham, Head, Project Management Office [item 2]
Monika Chwiedz, Interim Planning and Performance Manager [item 2]
Shumina Faruk, Senior Adviser, Planning and Performance [item 2]
Ben Mills, Senior Adviser, Programme Support [item 2]
Iain Bell, Senior Adviser, Planning and Performance [item 2]
Anesa Beasley, Project Support Officer [item 2]
Evan Smith, Project Support Officer [item 2]
Orla Hennessy, Media, Relations and Communications Manager [items 8 and 12]
Katy Knock, Head, Legislation, Strategy and Coordination [item 12]

Closed session of the Board

(Commissioners only, 9.00 – 9.30am)

Welcomes and apologies

The Board Chair welcomed all to the meeting, particularly Carole Mills, who joined her first meeting following her formal appointment as a Commission Board member. The Board noted that no apologies were received.  

The Board acknowledged that this would be Commissioner Alex Attwood’s last Board meeting as he completes his appointment on the Board. The Board thanked Alex for his work and wished him well.

The Head of the Projects Management Office (PMO), joined by colleagues from the PMO Team, provided the Board with an overview of their work on overseeing the planning and delivery of corporate projects across the Commission and maintaining the project management methodology, tracking progress and reporting on them through Pentana in the Monthly Management Report (MMR) and Quarterly Performance Report (QPR).

Discussions were held on risks relating to major projects overrunning, budget and expertise. The Board requested that a dashboard of projects should be brought to the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee on a quarterly basis to provide line of sight, clarity and responsibility.  

The Board thanked the Head of PMO and the team for their presentation and ongoing valuable work.

Declarations of interests

Resolved: That the Board noted further declarations of interests, that would be provided to the Governance team for updating on the register and publication on the website.

Minutes (EC 248/24)

Resolved: That the Board agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2023. 

Forward Plan of Board business 2023/24 and 2024-25 (EC 250/24)

Resolved: That the Board noted the Forward Plan of Board business for 2023/24 and 2024/25.

Key messages for the Annual Report 2023-24 (EC 251/24

The Director, Communications, Policy and Research introduced the report, and the key messages and activities that the Commission want to reflect in the annual report. The Board noted that for each of the five strategic objectives in the Corporate Plan, relevant activity had been chosen to reflect the Commission’s work.

8.2 The Board discussed that the report should not only showcase the Commission’s highlights but the challenges it had faced.

Resolved: That the Board agreed the approach on key messages and activities with the above caveats.

Commission Board action tracker (EC 249/24)

Resolved: That the Board noted actions requested by the Board and for updates to be included on the action tracker.

Chief Executive’s quarterly update (Oral)

The Chief Executive provided an oral update on budget preparations and presentations, the Corporate Plan, preparations for the 2024 polls, staffing, the Political Finance Online project and the People Survey.

Further updates included key messages for the Annual Report 2023/24, a Budget update on 2023/24 and our Main Estimate for 2024/25 with further discussions taking place with the Senedd next week.

The Board discussed having observers from the Board at by-elections, receiving regular reports on responses to the People Survey, information on when the Staff Awards are taking place and, updates on the Strategy and Policy Statement parliamentary briefings.

Resolved: That the Board noted the oral updates on operations and matters arising.

Performance indicators and targets 2024-25 (EC 252/24)

This item was deferred to the next meeting of the Commission Board.

Risk appetite statement 2024-25 (EC 253/24)

This item was deferred to the next meeting of the Commission Board.

Budget update: 2023-24 Supplementary Estimate and 2024-25 Main Estimate (EC 254/24)

Resolved: That the Board agreed the contents within the report, agreeing to delegate authority to the Commission Board Chair, Audit and Risk Assurance Committee Chair and the Accounting Officer, to make any changes to the budget submission that emerge as its completed.

Delivery of the next UKPGE – review of strategic risks (Presentation)

The Director, Regulation and Digital Transformation and the Head, Legislation, Strategy and Coordination, introduced a presentation which covered strategic risks to the next UK parliamentary general election and how the Commission may respond along with its partners.

The Board discussed the presentation, the range and severity of risks identified and potential mitigations. Some Board members argued that Elections Act measures such as Voter ID should be paused until after the general election. The Board noted that engagement with the Elections Minister and Security Minister was important and that a meeting was taking place early in February.  

The Board thanked the Director, Regulation and Digital Transformation and, the Head, Legislation, Strategy and Coordination for their presentation.

Resolved: That the Board noted the presentation on the strategic risks for the delivery of the next UKPGE and supported the actions proposed in the presentation.    

Update from the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee Chair (Oral)

This item was deferred to the next meeting of the Commission Board.

Update from the Remuneration and Human Resources Committee Chair (Oral)

This item was deferred to the next meeting of the Commission Board.

Update from the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Chair (Oral)

This item was deferred to the next meeting of the Commission Board.

Annual review of schedule of policies and codes (EC 255/24)

This item was deferred to the next meeting of the Commission Board.