Minutes of SMT meeting held on 3 May 2022 at 9.00am via Zoom.
In attendance:
- R Kidd (RK) - Chair and Chief Executive (CEO)
- N Monson (NM) - Deputy Chief Executive
- B Monson (BM) - Deputy Chief Executive
- L Burns (LB) - Deputy Chief Executive
1. Apologies
There were no apologies.
2. Minutes from previous meeting
The minutes from the 8 April meeting were agreed.
3. Action Points
There were no action points not covered by the agenda.
4. Corporate Health, Safety and Welfare
No items to report.
5.(a) Audit, Risk Management and Finance
- the CEO updated SMT on the response form the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) and their appointed external auditor to the comments we had submitted following the most recent Audit Risk Management Committee (ARMC) meeting
- there was a brief discussion on the budgets
5.(b) Emerging Risks
- we discussed the upcoming issues for the board training session including the preparation of presentation for the draft Corporate Plan
- there was also a discussion on the key potential campaigns for the corporate plan based on our analysis of the data
6. Staffing
- SMT noted that the Senior Scientic Officer (SSO) interviews were now underway and the competition initiation meeting for the Higher Scientific Officer (HSO) role is now confirmed
- there was a discussion on other vacancies which have arisen and the potential impact of the external Deputy Principal (DP) board
7. Case and Project Work
- Major Investigation Team (MIT) update – It was noted that MIT continues to run at close to capacity as a result of the number of active cases
- EU Exit/Transition period - It was noted that the new emergency planning contract is to be let shortly and also that the initial training of market surveillance staff is mostly complete, SMT agreed to remove this from the agenda as a standing item and to report by exception in future
8. Business Planning
- it was agreed that the draft Operating Plan would issue to the board as a discussion paper to invite any comments that they might have
- it was noted that the Corporate Plan is well developed for the session on Wednesday with the board and LB had put together a very comprehensive presentation to walk the board through the rationale
- BM highlighted that the Farm Safety Plan expires in March 2023 and that we will need to consider the options going forward - As the pandemic impacted the delivery of the plan for almost two years, one option may be to extend its life with the agreement of all stakeholders to enable it to fulfil its vision
9. Performance Monitoring
BM updated SMT that the end of year stats report would be run today to generate the figures that will be used for the annual report and accounts 2021/22.
10. Board Business
SMT had a brief discussion on the material required for the session with the board on Wednesday and the board meeting on Thursday. It was noted that the end of year reported referred to above would finalise some figures already provided to the board in draft.
11. Any other business (AOB)
There were no AOB items.
12. Date of next meeting
The date of the next meeting will be set for June 2022.
The meeting concluded at 10.15am.