CONSUMER SCOTLAND
STRATEGIC BOARD MEETING
Tuesday 11 February
10:00-13:00
By MS Teams
Minute
Board Members present:
David Wilson, Chair
Nick Martin, Member (NM)
Angela Morgan, Member (AM)
James Walker, Member (JW)
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
Jill Rosie, Assistant Director of Strategic Partnerships (items 1-3)
Craig McClue, Head of Investigations (item 6)
Paul Smith, Investigations Manager (item 6)
Polly Mazurkiewicz, Secretariat
External attendee:
Sue Kearns, Deputy Director for, Scottish Government (items 1-3 and item 6)
Apologies:
Lesley Halliday, Member (LH)
Welcome and Declaration of Interest
1. The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting at Thistle House, including Sue Kearns (SK), Scottish Government Deputy Director for Heat and Buildings Policy and Regulation, who joined part of the meeting.
2. Apologies were recorded for LH.
3. No conflicts of interest were declared.
Minutes from the Previous Meeting
4. The Board approved the minutes of the previous Board meeting held on 10th December 2024.
Action Tracker
5. The Director of Operations and Partnerships updated members on outstanding actions recorded in the action tracker.
6. The outstanding action to provide an update following on from the Consumer Scotland (CS) Staff Survey was discussed. It was noted that while CS as an organisation is too small to meaningfully use the wider Civil Service people survey, CS mirrored the questions from the wider survey and therefore is able to benchmark results against other public sector organisations including the Scottish Government (SG).
7. The sharing of results between the SG liaison team and CS was raised. It was agreed that this could present an opportunity learn from each other’s successes and challenges, and an action was taken to share anonymised CS survey results with SK.
General Update and Q&A
8. The Chair introduced SK to members and invited SK to reflect on her experience in the setup and oversight of CS.
9. SK shared her key reflections including the importance of building positive and trustworthy relationships, working within budget constraints, public sector reform, and culture, particularly in relation to resilience and the Civil Service Code.
10. The Board shared their own comments and reflections.
11. The Chief Executive summarised key points by providing a short update, noting that:
- CS was operating across the range of its strategic functions, though faced resource constraints that limited its activities in some areas including investigations, general markets and the provision of information to consumers
- Supporting guidance for the Consumer Duty would be published later this week, following a significant engagement process with relevant public bodies and stakeholders
12. The Chair thanked SK for her personal contribution to the development of consumer policy in Scotland.
Leading the Consumer Landscape
13. The Chair invited the Assistant Director of Strategic Partnerships to present an update on Consumer Scotland’s approach to strategic leadership.
14. The Assistant Director presented an overview of her team’s responsibilities including grant management, strategic relationship building and leadership, and the setup of the Heat Networks function.
15. It was noted that as a small team with a large remit, an in-year prioritisation of work exercise may have to take place and this did impose risks.
16. In the consumer landscape it was noted that the approach taken to prioritise stakeholder engagement at executive and second tier management level was proving to be very successful.
17. The Board highlighted:
- the need to move into being assured and satisfied at the effectiveness of grant funding, with a systematic information flow. It was noted that this was already in train, and that internal audit colleagues have been asked to look at this area given it is a newly emerging function. The Assistant Director took an action to look at how a snapshot of this can be made available to the Board
- Trust and cooperation with partners is important and effective relationship management needs constant attention and resource
- Board engagement with this process should be considered and intentional
- The more we can acknowledge the skill of our partners, the more positive a relationship we can build
- Our endorsement of stakeholder activity should carry weight and importance
18. The Board then agreed the proposal on approval of grant funding that would achieve consistency with the Standing Orders on procurement spending. This meant that Board approval was necessary for grant funding above £50k. An action was taken to include this point at the next review of the Standing Orders. It was noted that in addition to Board approval of the annual budget, this meant that there should be specific Board approval for grant funding above £50k.
19. The Board agreed that in any situations where a material variation to budgeted grant spend happens in year, the Board should have visibility and scrutiny.
20. The Chief Executive noted the timetabling for this will need to be worked through to suit all parties.
21. The Chair thanked SK for joining the meeting and for her reflections, and SK left the meeting.
Key Issues Update and General Discussion
22. The Chief Executive provided a key issues update to the Board.
23. Work to reach a shared understanding with the Scottish Government liaison team on aspects of NMO governance was progressing with a view to updating the Framework Agreement between the two organisations.
24. CS and ESS had convened a meeting of small NMOs to share experience and best practice with organisations operating within similar governance and corporate contexts. The first meeting was positive and highlighted that the potential benefits of collaboration and sharing best practice, both for the organisations and the wider public sector.
25. The CEO had written to the Convenor of the Economy and Fair Work Committee setting out our budget position as contained within the Budget Bill. This is intended to give the Committee, in the context of our accountability to Parliament, greater insight into our budget. Environmental Standards Scotland are taking a similar approach.
26. The Chief Executive set out the context of the policy debate around Locational Marginal Pricing (Zonal Pricing) in the energy sector and the potential implications for consumers. The UK Government Review of Electricity Market arrangements (REMA) is consulting on changing how the electricity market is structured with the aim to make the system fairer and more efficient, with one key idea being zonal pricing, where pricing would be set locally based on supply and demand. In practice, areas like Scotland with high outputs of renewable energy and lower usage may benefit from lower prices under a zonal pricing system. The Chief Executive noted that this was a complex issue and that the objective needs to be achieving lower electricity prices, and the consumer benefits that brings, whilst protecting investment. Consumer Scotland had a role to play in ensuring the consumer voice is part of the debate.
27. An action was taken to arrange a follow up session on the substance of zonal pricing.
28. The Chair thanked the Chief Executive for his update.
Investigations Update
29. The Head of Investigations and Investigations Manager joined the meeting to present the findings of Consumer Scotland’s first investigation, which looked at the challenges facing consumers in converting their home heating systems using low carbon technologies and energy efficient measures. SK rejoined the meeting as an observer for this item.
30. In summary, the findings of the investigation showed that consumers face significant challenges in this area.
31. The Head of Investigations summarised findings and recommendations in relation to EPC reforms, access to trusted information, safeguarding of consumers and accreditation of traders.
32. The Investigations Manager discussed the forward look for future investigation topics.
33. The Chair invited reactions from the Board:
- A detailed discussion on some of the issues raised would be useful in the future
- This is a robust investigation with powerful conclusions and impact
- The final report should be clear on who or which organisation each recommendations relate to
- It will be important to have a strategy for engaging effectively in debate that may follow publication of the report
- The Board considered the findings were presented with crispness and professionalism
- While the detail of the final report would be for the investigations team, it was important it would be fully endorsed by the Board
34. The Chair thanked the Head of Investigations and Investigations Manager for their update, who then left the meeting alongside SK.
Board and Consumer Scotland staff – meet the team
35. The Chair invited Board members to meet with internal CS colleagues for an informal engagement session. Members and colleagues shared their skills and experience, and discussed what led them to work at Consumer Scotland.
AOB
36. NM raised under AOB:
- Audit and Risk Committee self-assessment questionnaire had been sent to members mailboxes, seeking feedback on the control environment within CS
- Internal Audit will soon be agreeing their priorities for the next year. Members were invited to submit suggestions for areas of focus
37. The Director of Operations and Partnerships raised:
· Members are required to complete a mandatory online learning course on public sector governance. Instructions would be sent to members following the meeting
- Consumer Scotland had created a number of internal champion groups, to focus on key areas such as Cyber, Equality and Sustainability. It was proposed that each group would have a Board sponsor. The Director of Operations and Partnerships would follow up with members individually on allocation
- The Head of Energy would be moving on to a new external role in February and that recruitment was underway to appoint new Head of Energy roles plus a research officer role. Further staffing updates would be included in the HR Dashboard paper at the next Board meeting
38. It was noted that the Chief Executive and Chair would be attending a Ministerial summit on Public Services Reform later in the month.
39. The Chief Executive updated members that he had been invited to sit on the UK Government’s independent panel on the review of Ofgem, and that he was pleased to accept the invitation.
40. The Chair suggested that the Board consider developments in postal services at a future Board meeting.
41. There being no other business the meeting closed.