CONSUMER SCOTLAND GOVERNANCE BOARD MEETING
Tuesday 10 December 2024
13:00 – 15:00
Virtual, Via Teams
Minute
Board Members present:
David Wilson, Chair
Angela Morgan, Member (AM)
Nick Martin, Member (NM)
James Walker, Member (JW)
Lesley Halliday, Member (LH)
Also in attendance:
Sam Ghibaldan, Chief Executive
Sue Bomphray, Director of Operations and Partnerships
David Eiser, Director of Research and Analysis
Douglas White, Director of Policy and Advocacy
Eleanor Mullan, Head of Analysis (item 5 only)
Catriona Kirk, Governance and Corporate Services Officer (item 5 only)
Polly Mazurkiewicz, Governance, Digital and Communications Officer (secretariat)
Welcome and Declaration of Interest
1. The Chair welcomed attendees to the meeting.
2. No formal declarations were made in relation to the meeting. It was noted that transparency statements were recorded where required.
Minutes from the Previous Board Meeting
3. The minutes of the previous Board meeting held on 12 November 2024 were agreed.
Minutes from the Previous Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) Meeting
4. The Board noted the minutes of the ARC meeting held on 24th September 2024. These were approved at the preceding ARC meeting.
5. NM, Chair of the ARC provided a summary of discussions from the latest ARC meeting.
6. The Chair thanked NM for his update.
Action Tracker
7. The Director of Operations and Partnerships updated the Board on actions recorded on the Action Tracker.
8. The Chair raised that there were two Board meetings left in the financial year, and given the volume of work taking place it was likely that additional time would be required to conduct Board business. An action was taken to consider arrangements.
Chief Executive Update
9. The Chief Executive provided an update on the budget allocation process for the next financial year.
- The new process adopted this year had worked well, with constructive engagement achieving essentially a stand-still budget, which was satisfactory given the public funding context
- Work is underway to ensure better consistency across small NMOs and how government engages with them on budget allocation. A meeting with other organisations has been arranged in January.
- Consumer Scotland and other NMOs plan to write to the Parliamentary Committees as part of the budget finalisation process moving forward, setting out their agreed budget positions, given NMO’s accountability to the Parliament.
- The increase in Employer National Insurance and how this will be funded was still under discussion
10. The Chair concluded that it was a satisfactory process and outcome which we can utilise in future.
11. The Chief Executive then updated members on the significant volume of work underway across the organisation.
- Work on water affordability, disability, housing, and the McClures legal firm had recently been undertaken
- The Chair, Chief Executive, and Director of Operations had appeared in front of the Economy and Fair Work Committee for Consumer Scotland’s annual accountability session in November
- A MoU had been signed with the National Energy System Operator (NESO), which had already began to bear fruit, with NESO likely to second someone to our energy team in the near future
- The Chief Executive chaired the first Consumer Strategic Leadership Group meeting on the 9th December, which brings together Chief Executives from across the consumer advice landscape in Scotland. There was good high level discussion and an opportunity to create a powerful vision for consumers in Scotland
12. The Board reflected on the Committee appearance and noted that there was an opportunity to utilise the members and their interest in consumer issues when progressing future advocacy and outreach.
13. The Board thanked the Chief Executive for his update.
Management Accounts
14. Following discussion at the preceding ARC, the Director of Operations and Partnerships provided a brief overview of Consumer Scotland’s Management Accounts and Outturn for Quarter 2.
15. The Director fed back on the transition to the Oracle financial management system and noted frustrations with the new system and the amount of resource it required. This sentiment was shared by other organisations. The transition however was successful and the team were delivering.
16. The Board noted the financial update.
Staff Survey
17. The Chair welcomed the Head of Analysis, and the Governance and Corporate Services Officer to the meeting.
18. The Director of Operations provided an overview of how Consumer Scotland collects staff feedback. Feedback has been collected to date holistically through staff engagement and focus groups, and most recently by a Staff Survey, which largely replicated the wider Civil Service People Survey.
19. The Head of Analysis presented the key findings of the Staff Survey noting in particular that:
- Our engagement score was favourable when benchmarked against other organisations
- Results were overall positive, particularly in relation to the my team, my manager, and levels of interest in work sections.
- Areas for improvement identified were learning and development, and colleagues’ understanding of our strategic vision
20. The Governance and Corporate Services officer shared the actions taken to date and in train, and next steps.
21. The Board discussed the findings further and an action was taken to table a stocktake update in 3-4 months.
22. The Head of Analysis and Governance and Corporate Services Officer left the meeting.
Risk
23. The Strategic Risk Register was scrutinised at the preceding ARC meeting and the Director of Operations and Partnerships noted there was nothing for escalation from the ARC to the Board.
Advisory Committee on Consumers in Vulnerable Circumstances stocktake
24. AM, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Consumers in Vulnerable Circumstances (CCVC), presented an update to the Board on Committee activity.
25. Following the setup phase NM would formally step down as a member of the CCVC, and the Director of Policy and Advocacy would now formally report to the Committee and act as substitute chair when required. The Terms of Reference would be updated accordingly.
26. The valuable experience of external members of the group was highlighted and it was noted that members would be offered extensions to their initial 18 month appointments, in line with public sector best practice.
27. The Committee was discussed in the context of the wider organisation’s focus on vulnerability. The Committee has highlighted the multiple factors of vulnerability and complexity of support mechanisms, and provided additional perspective from credible, real world sources. Members provided constructive challenge and criticism, and had provided helpful introductions.
28. AM thanked internal colleagues for their support to the CCVC, and the chair noted his thanks to AM for her leadership.
29. The Chair thanked AM for her update and noted the success of the CCVC to date.
Draft Work Programme
30. The Director of Policy and Advocacy presented the latest version of the Draft Work Programme for 2025-26 to the Board and asked for feedback.
31. The Board was supportive of the format of the latest draft of the work programme. It was noted that it was a very readable document. The Board offered suggestions for refinement:
- language regarding deliverables could be strengthened to better reflect our advocacy position
- additional consideration should be given to if we can deliver on the volume of workstreams
- wording of the Outlook for Scotland section to be reviewed to be future focused
- explore adding in examples of lived experience to relevant section
- wording on vulnerability to be refined
- promotion and communication of the draft Work Programme should be considered
32. The Chair thanked the Director for discussions and it was noted that the final draft would be circulated, taking on board feedback, for Board approval via correspondence.
AOB
33. The Chief Executive raised under AOB:
- Consumer Scotland had expanded its social media presence and had joined BlueSky
- Formal thanks were given to the Communications Team for recent media coverage. An action was taken to share recent coverage with the Board
- The Head of Energy was to move on from the organisation. Formal thanks were recorded by the Chief Executive and the Board to the Head of Energy
34. The Chair formally recorded his thanks to colleagues for their hard work over the last year, and his best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.
35. There being no other business, the meeting closed.