Strategic Board minutes: March 2015

The Scottish Government’s strategic board is chaired by the permanent secretary and meets quarterly.


Attendees and apologies

Present

Peter Housden (chair), Alyson Stafford, Leslie Evans, Graeme Dickson, Sarah Davidson, Catherine Dyer, Alex Smith, Christina Allon, Linda McKay, Gary Gillespie, Carol Tannahill

Apologies

Paul Gray, Ken Thomson

In attendance

Barbara Allison, Helen Cameron, John Connaghan, David Wilson, James Hynd, Colin McKay, Jess Roscoe

Items and actions

Agenda

13:00 Minutes of SB(14)4th Meeting and Action Tracker

13:05 Audit & Risk

  • Scottish Government’s Strategic Risk Register
  • Scottish Government’s Audit and Risk Committee Report

13:35 Scottish Government Finance Report

13:50 Women in Government

14:35 Priorities of Government

15:05 Business Strategy and Corporate Board Reports

  • Business Strategy Progress Report (including updates from the People, Resources, Improvement Boards): 15th Quarterly Report
  • Corporate Board Reports
  • report on Deliverables of the Constitutional, Economy and Finance Boards
  • reports
  • report of Chief Economist
  • DG reports

15:30 AOB

Minutes

Please note that parts of the record of discussion are considered exempt from publication and have been redacted.

Welcome and introduction

The Permanent Secretary welcomed all to this Strategic Board (SB) meeting.

Minutes of the SB(14)4th meeting and action tracker

SB approved the minutes of SB meeting on 4 December 2014.

The terms of the Action Tracker were noted.

A paper detailing the progress that has been made on the recommendations and actions outlined in 'Developing the Science and Engineering Profession within the Scottish Government’s' (Annex A in the December 2014 Action Tracker) will be produced after April.

Audit and risk

The Scottish Government's Strategic Risk Register (SB(15)01)

Alyson Stafford presented the Risk Register.

Sarah Davidson and Anne Moises provided an update on risk number 5.

The Scottish Government’s Audit and Risk Committee (SGARC) Report (SB(15)02)

Alex Smith updated SB on SGARC’s work.

Scottish Government Finance Report (SB(15)03)

SB noted the forecast and the need for Directors General to actively manage their financial position and alerting Finance Directorate on a timely basis of any changes to the current forecast that emerge.

Women in Government

SB used this session to examine the progress being made to bring gender balance to the boardroom, senior roles in government and throughout the public, private and third sector, and also to identify ways that SG can support this agenda.

Priorities of Government (SB(15)04)

Sarah Davidson updated SB on the priorities of Government meetings, being used to enhance effective integration of policy across Government.

Business Strategy and Corporate Board Reports

Business Strategy Progress Report (including updates from the People, Resources, Improvement Boards), 15th Quarterly Report (SB(15)05)

SB agreed that it would be useful to move all Board Reports into this single format.

Corporate Board Reports (SB(15)06)

SB noted the remaining Corporate Board Reports.

Report of Chief Economist (SB(15)07)

Gary Gillespie introduced the Report of Chief Economist.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of SB is on 4 June 2015 and will take place in James Watt A, Atlantic Quay.

More information

The Strategic Board oversee's the governance of the civil service, and is chaired by the Permanent Secretary. It includes:

  • six Director-Generals (DGs)
  • the Chief Scientific Advisor
  • the Chief Economic Advisor
  • the Chief Executive of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
  • three Non Executive Directors.

Minutes are published quarterly.

march15minutes.pdf

Contact

Email: ceu@gov.scot

Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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