Agency Management Board Minutes 30 November 2006

Mr Keenan  
Mr Boyle  
Ms Cousins
Mr Davis
Mr Sinnamon
Dr Donnelly
Ms Uhlemann (Observer)
Mrs Brereton
Miss Devlin (Observer)
Mr Hickland (Minutes)

Mr Keenan welcomed, Dr Martin Donnelly, Janet Uhlemann, Geraldine Brereton and Kathryn Devlin to the meeting.  

The previous minutes were agreed.

Status of Action Points (AMB131/06)

Mr Keenan referred to the Status of Action Points on AMB 131/06 and noted the items that had been cleared since the previous meeting or were being taken forward through specific Business Areas.  

Financial Report - (AMB 126/06)
Ms Cousins outlined the details of the Financial Report showing the position at October 06.  She reported that the current projection of the Baseline Admin and Other Current funding indicated a £3.1m easement and a £0.6m easement in Capital.  The Modernisation Admin and Other Funding indicated an easement of £0.6m and £0.9m in Capital.  She outlined the explanations for declared easements/pressures, provided detail on the General Reserve outturn figure and reprofiling of the Capital (Modernisation) Budget.  She reported that there were no major concerns and asked the Board to note the recommendations.  

After discussion the Board noted the report and agreed to consider a review of the overtime cap if required.

Manpower Report – (AMB 127/06)
Mr Sinnamon introduced the Manpower paper and reported on the staffing position for all grades as at October 2006.  He stated that vacancies at the SO grade should see a decrease next month with the final placings of the supplementary SO promotion list.  He also added that had been a significant reduction in the AO/SSO2 surplus position during October.  He outlined the progress made to date on the promotion board lists and stated that the main area of concern continued to be the number of outstanding vacancies, particularly at EO2/SSO1 level.  Mr Sinnamon reported that Personnel Branch had been working closely with CPG to resolve the issues and that DFP had written to all Departments to advise them to clear all outstanding promotion lists as a matter of urgency.  He reported that Personnel have also had a number of useful discussions with Operations Directorate to alleviate staffing pressures.  Mr Davis stated that he was pleased to note that AO requirements were being addressed, but expressed concern on the prospect of staffing fluctuations over the coming ’07 financial year and stated that the Board needed to be reassured that the Agency could maintain sufficient staffing levels for business requirements.     

After discussion the Board noted the Manpower Position and the progress made to date with CPG.  Mr Keenan agreed to write to Derek Baker (DFP) to highlight the concerns raised on adequate staffing levels for the Agency.

Action Point 93/06:Mr Keenan

Operational Division Performance Report - (AMB 135/06)
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 July 05 to June 06 and outlined the details on performance against the service delivery targets.  Mr Davis stated that the main areas for concern for performance on the Financial Accuracy targets were:

Income Support, Pension Credit, Incapacity Benefit and Disability Living Allowance.  

The Claims clearance targets missed were in respect of Pension Credit and Disability Living Allowance, all other Service Delivery Operational Targets had been met for October.  He stated that his underlying information indicated improvements in accuracy and outlined the issue with “errors in stock” which was affecting the overall accuracy rating.  Mr Davis stated that concerted efforts were being made to reduce “deemed errors” and additional resources had been allocated to deal with this.  He added that improvement plans which also addressed training; validation and benchmarking were now in place throughout the network and that he expected these to have a positive effect on financial accuracy.  Mr Davis added that a presentation on process development was planned for the December board meeting.  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 had been an overall improvement on performance on the targets for both IS and JSA this month.  He added that whilst priority was being given to clearing new claims, overall performance and heads of work were being adversely affected by the already known issues on CMS, experience levels and sick absence.    

After discussion, the Board noted the performance against the targets.  The Board asked that all managers redouble their efforts to achieve targets and, if necessary, the Board would make resources available to fund overtime.  In particular, the Board expressed concern regarding Pension Credit performance to date.  All managers should also take a more proactive approach to reduce the number of “deemed error” cases.  The Board also requested that the Operational report should now be revised to include a line on ‘Prospects’ against each operational target.  This was agreed.
(Action Point 94/06:Mr Davis)

Progress Against Addirional Key Targets - (AMB 132/06)
The Board noted the progress against the Additional Targets.  

Benefit Expenditure in the SSA (AMB 128/06)
Ms Cousins introduced this paper and stated that the purpose of the paper was to advise AMB of the revised benefit estimates for the financial year 2006/07as re-submitted for the September ’06 Pre-Budget Report (PBR) exercise.  She added that the information provided the Board with an assurance that the Agency’s benefit estimates adequately covered the anticipated Agency spend for the financial year.

After discussion the Board noted the content of the paper.  Ms Cousins agreed to re-assess tolerance levels and provide a further update to December’s Board meeting, prior to the Agency submission on the Spring Supplementary Estimates.
(Action Point 95/06:Ms Cousins)

Flu Pandemic Contingency Plan (Updated from July 06) (AMB 130/06)
Mr Davis outlined the detail of the report and stated that following October’s Board, the draft contingency plan was revised to take account of:

Mr Davis stated that clarification on Ministers role had now been defined and advised that following the Boards approval of the plan, agreement would then be sought on Ministerial approval.

After discussion the Board approved the paper subject to a more explicitly defined statement/hierarchy of Minister’s approvals and thanked Mr Davis for a very thorough piece of work.
(Action Point 96/06:Mr Davis)

Absence Management Report (AMB 133/06)
Mr Sinnamon introduced the paper and outlined the background information.  He provided an update on the Agency’s sick absence statistics, advised on the current performance against the Agency’s sick absence target and on current sick absence trends.  Mr Sinnamon also reported on the findings of the latest analytical and trend data on reported reasons for sick absences and stated that there were worrying signs that there was an upward trend in absence levels despite the concentrated efforts made to gain improvements throughout the year.  

After discussion the Board noted the paper and the ongoing initiatives to support effective attendance management.

Decision Making Training (AMB 134/06)
Mr Sinnamon introduced this paper and stated the paper was commissioned in response to AMB 135/05 which had been submitted to the Board in October 2005.  He stated that the paper set out proposals for the provision of decision – making training for Agency staff in both local and central operational areas.  He outlined the details of the results of the analysis and scoping work which had been completed in recent months.  Mr Sinnamon stated that following consultation with staff and analysis of information by the focus group, it had been established that there is a lack of central ownership and a pressing need for structured training on decision – making for both SSO2 and SSO1 level in all operational areas.  

Mr Sinnamon outlined a number of high level options and proposals on the way forward.  After discussion, the Board noted the proposals and agreed that a model should be prepared whereby Agency staff would be trained by SSA staff and that this should be implemented by April 2007.
(Action Point 97/06:Mr Sinnamon)

Staffing (Financial Investigation Unit) (AMB 138/06)
Mr Davis introduced this item and stated that the focus of this paper was to brief the Board on the capacity of Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) to continue to process workloads as a result of an increase in the number of overpayments raised due to Benefit Fraud.  He stated that FIU were conducting a comprehensive review which had been commissioned to look at existing workloads, resourcing and the application of a range of referral options based on financial and case criteria.  He stated that due to the increasing number of investigations, further recruitment was now essential.

After discussion the Board noted the paper and agreed to endorse option two.  This was agreed.

Data Cleanse Pension Credit
Mr Davis updated the Board on data cleanse activities and associated resource implications which would be needed to ensure that ‘legacy’ errors were detected and removed from current caseload.

After discussion the Board agreed that a sufficient case had been made to warrant the development of a business case to cost the implementation of a full data cleanse programme. This was agreed.

(Action Point 98/06:Mr Davis)

IP Telephony
Mr Boyle advised the Board that DWP had agreed to include the SSA in the contract run and a final decision would be required by March ’07.

Planning for Devolution
Bryan Davis agreed that Brian Doherty would initiate analysis on the implications of Devolution on the SSA.
(Action Point 99/06:Mr Davis)

SBR Update
Gerry Keenan advised the Board that Minister had responded to the recent Ministerial submission and had agreed to all of the proposals and had requested a further presentation. This has been arranged to take place in early December.

Next Meeting
The next AMB meeting would take place on Thursday 21 December 2006 in the 5th Floor Boardroom at 10.00am.

TDU – 6 Monthly Training Report (AMB 129/06)
The Board noted the TDU – 6 Monthly Training Report.

CJI Inspection – Action Plan Update (AMB 136/06)
The Board noted the CJI inspection – action plan Update.

Decommissioning of DCI
The Board noted the Customer Information System (CIS) Decommissioning of DCI Report.

Ian Hickland

AMB Secretary