Agency Management Board Minutes 22 February 2007

Mr Keenan (Chair)
Mr Davis
Mr Boyle
Ms Cousins
Dr Dixon
Mr Sinnamon
Mrs Boyle (Observer)
Mr Sales (Observer)
Mr Hickland (Minutes)

Introduction

Mr Keenan welcomed Margaret Boyle and David Sales to the meeting.  

Previous Minutes

The previous minutes were agreed.

Status of a Action Points – (AMB 09/07)

Mr Keenan referred to the Status of Action Points on AMB 09/07 and the Board noted the items that had been cleared since the previous meeting or were being taken forward through specific Business Areas.  

Financial Report - (AMB 10/07)
Ms Cousins outlined the details of the Financial Report showing the position at January 07.  She reported that following the recent monitoring round, the current projection of the Baseline Admin and Other Current funding indicated a £1.5m easement and a £1.1m easement in Capital.  The Modernisation Admin and Other Funding indicated an easement of £0.6m and £1.5m in Capital.  Ms Cousins outlined the explanations for declared easements and pressures, provided detail on the General Reserve outturn figure and reported that there were no other major concerns.  She asked the Board to consider the bids for additional overtime resources as outlined in the paper and added that Social Fund administration now required a further £15k in addition to the £110k requested in the Finance Report.  Ms Cousins stated that overall Directorates bids for overtime totalled £125k and that if bids were approved it would result in an uncommitted overtime reserve of £0.104m.  After discussion Ms Cousins requested that the Board note the information and approve the bids.  This was agreed.  The Board sought also assurances that mechanisms were sufficiently robust to ensure that underspends in business areas were identified early and surrendered.  Ms Cousins confirmed that this was the case.

After further discussion the Board noted the report and easements to date and approved the overtime bids.

Manpower Report – (AMB 11/07)
Mr Sinnamon introduced the Manpower paper and reported on the current staffing position for all grades.  He provided detail on the limited levels of recruitment that had been undertaken to meet business critical vacancies and stated that the report also included information on recent promotion activity.  He stated that there had been no significant change to the number of EO1 and SO vacancies in the last month.  He added that EO2 vacancies had increased from 100.97 to 109.87 and that this was due to normal turnover.  Mr Sinnamon stated that while there were ongoing concerns at this particular grade, the number of vacancies at the grade should decrease significantly in the coming months as a result of the recently published supplementary EO2 promotion list and other factors.  Mr Sinnamon also reported on factors impacting in particular on the BBC at AO grade following the exhaustion of the AA-AO promotion list, however he confirmed that the Agency’s efforts to import staff from other Department’s continued.

After discussion the Board noted the Manpower position.  Mr Sinnamon agreed to provide AMB colleagues with an update on recruitment processes.   
(Action Point 08/07:Mr Sinnamon)

Operational Division Performance Report - (AMB 20/07)
Mr Davis outlined the details of the Operational Division Report.  He stated that information on financial accuracy performance reflected the position on the rolling year October 05 to September 06, outlined the details on performance against the service delivery targets and advised that these figures reflected the continued underlying improvements in case accuracy.  Mr Davis stated that the main areas of concern for performance on the Financial Accuracy targets were Pension Credit, Incapacity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance and provided detail on the following:  

The Claims clearance targets missed were in respect of Pension Credit, all other Service Delivery Operational Targets had been met for January and Mr Davis provided the following detail:

Mr Davis outlined the Customer Fraud and Error results for the third quarter.  He reported that the Income Support and DLA targets were both within their respective baseline targets and advised that Pension Credit was 2.1% which was outside the baseline target of 1.71%.  Mr Davis also reported on the performance of Belfast Benefit Centre for the two London Districts for which Belfast processed work.  He stated that there were concerns regarding JSA claims clearance and added that IS claims clearances which were being given top priority due to Ministerial Interest, continues to improve and was now well within target.

After discussion, the Board noted the performance against the targets.  After further discussion Mr Davis agreed to collaborate with Ms Cousins to draft response to the impending IR Auditors report on IB.
(Action Point 09/07:Ms Cousins)

Progress Against Additional Key Targets - (AMB 18/07)
The Board noted the progress against the Additional Targets.  

Benefit Uptake - Initial Evaluation (AMB 08/07)
Mr Davis introduced this paper and stated that the purpose of the paper was to advise AMB of the findings of the initial evaluation of the Benefit Uptake programme for 2006-07 and to provide detail on the proposed approach for next year’s programme.  He stated that four Benefit Uptake exercises had been approved to be delivered by external contract offering 20,000 clients a full benefit assessment and an internal exercise was also taken to improve linkages between State Pension and Pension Credit.  He added that while it was too early for a detailed value for money assessment, he could confirm that through improved targeting and filtering, response rates increased from 35% to 42%.  Mr Davis also reported that the estimated claim rate at this stage was 14% (equating to 2,910 clients) which is a 3% increase from the previous year.  He stated that while the increased response and claim rates were encouraging, 57% of clients targeted were still not eligible or willing to take forward a claim.  

After discussion Mr Davis confirmed that a further update to the Board would be provided in May 2007 which will both clarify any additional lessons learned and provide both an update on the outstanding claims and a comprehensive value for money assessment.
(Action Point 10/07:Mr Davis)

Mr Davis also agreed to commission some research into why customers we contacted did not want to follow through with a claim.  Mr Davis stated that this would take place in the second half of next year.
(Action Point 11/07:Mr Davis)

Sessional Doctor's Fees (AMB 12/07)
Dr Dixon introduced this item and stated that the majority of medical assessments were provided for the Agency by a group of medical practitioners called EMPs.  

After discussion the Board agreed to implement the recommendations.  Dr Dixon and Ms Cousins agreed to liaise to draft a memo to Brian Dunn (BMA) regarding future provisions.
(Action Point 12/07:Ms Cousins)

Fees for Factual Reports for DLA (AMB 13/07)
Dr Dixon introduced this paper.  He stated that there was a requirement for DLA to request factual reports from a GP and that such reports can assist decision-making and may circumvent the need for medical examination.  Dr Dixon recommended that parity with GB was necessary and outlined the financial projection based on the numbers received/requested last year.

After discussion the Board agreed to implement the recommendations that the Agency maintain parity with DWP and increase the fee for reports effective from 1 April 2007.

Pension Credit – Case Cleansing Business Case (AMB 16/07)
Mr Davis outlined the details of the report and advised that November’s AMB was advised of data cleanse activities and associated resource requirements to ensure that legacy errors were detected and removed from the current Pension Credit live load.  Mr Davis provided the analytical background to the preferred option and outlined the associated costs.

Before coming to a decision the Board required some further work to examine:

Preparation for Devolved Administration (AMB 17/07)
Mr Davis introduced this paper and stated that in November 2006 the Departmental Management Board established a Working Group to consider the Departments needs to be in a position to operate as effectively as possible with a Devolved Administration.  He confirmed that the Agency was fully engaged with the group led by Barney McGahan.  Mr Davis stated that the Agency had a good record in responding to MLA/MP enquiries in terms of turnaround and quality of output.  Given the increased workloads expected from a Devolved Assembly, consideration has been given to how the Agency could build upon this.  Mr Davis proposed to increase the current staffing levels in the Chief Executives office by 1 EO2 and 1 AO with oversight of the office by a Grade 7 to ensure that managers gave due attention to requests and that responses were provided in a timely and complete fashion.  He added that this would be reviewed during the summer recess.

After discussion the Board noted the paper.

SBR – Project Funding (AMB 19/07)
Mr Boyle introduced this paper and stated that retrospective approval for funding of £75k previously allocated to the SBR project in September 2006 was sought in order to complete an audit trail for the project.

This was noted and approved by the Board.  After discussion Mr Boyle agreed to table the paper to the next Modernisation Board.
(Action Point 14/07:Mr Boyle)

Mr Sinnamon also agreed to liaise with Mr Boyle regarding any additional HR resource bids for SBR.
(Action Point 15/07:Mr Sinnamon & Mr Boyle)

Central Payments System (AMB 21/07)
Ms Cousins introduced this paper and stated that the purpose of the paper was to advise the Board of the establishment of a SSA Central Payment System (CPS) Project Team.  Ms Cousins provided background to CPS and stated that in June 2008, the Department for Work and Pensions intend to commence implementation of the CPS in order to modernize and replace the Central Payment Packages which is linked to the Heritage Benefits System.  She added that it was now imperative that NISSA engaged more fully with DWP CPS Programme with a view to maintaining parity.  Ms Cousins provided detail on resourcing required and other indicative costs with the work as outlined in the paper.

After discussion the Board approved, subject to grading and loading advice, the establishment of the CPS project team.  Ms Cousins agreed to approach the SSA/DEL modernization Board for funding to cover the initial project costs.
(Action Point 15/07:Ms Cousins)

Winter Willow
Mr Sinnamon reported on the recent Winter Willow – Stage 2 exercise which took place on 19 and 20 February.  He stated that the aim of the exercise was to enhance the UK’s ability to manage the effects of an Influenza Pandemic by practising and validating response policies and the decision making process at National, Regional and Local Levels.  Mr Sinnamon reported on lessons learned from the exercise and advised that a report was being prepared for DMB.

Report by President by President of appeals Tribunals
Mr Davis introduced this item and stated that it was a report to the Department on the standards of the Social Security Agency in the making of decisions against which an appeal lies to an appeal tribunal.  He stated that the Report applied to the 2004/2005 year and in the interim a number of local, directorate and Agency wide initiatives have been introduced since including:

The Board agreed that this was a comprehensive response to the issues raised.

Training for Decision Making
The Board agreed to remit this paper to March AMB.
(Action Point 16/07:Mr Sinnamon)

Date of Next Meeting
The next AMB meeting would take place on Thursday 29 March 2007 in the 5^th Floor Boardroom at 10.00am.

Attendance Management Update Report (AMB 14/07)
The Board noted the Attendance Management Update Report.

NI Action on Fraud & Error(AMB 22/07)
The Board noted the NI Action on Fraud & Error.