Minutes of the VSS Audit and Risk Committee

Wednesday 27th April 2023, 10am

Remote – via Zoom

 

 

ARC Members Present:

                                                

Bertha McDougall (BMCD)        ARC Member

Briege Lafferty (BL)                   ARC Member (Chair)

John Cahill (JC)                        ARC Member

                                                

VSS Officers in Attendance:

Andrew Walker (AW)                Interim Chief Executive Officer

Tara Lewsley (TL)                     Head of Corporate Services

Sarah McKenna (SM)                Governance Officer (Minutes)

 

Others in Attendance:

Catriona McHugh (CMcH)         Cavanagh Kelly (Internal Audit)

Andrew Allen (AA)                    NIAO

Tanya Hamilton (TH)               TEO       

 

 

 

A      Apologies

 

Apologies were received in advance of the meeting from Colm Doran and Sinead Brown.

 

BL acknowledged the death of ARC member Jonathan McCullough.  She conveyed sympathy to his wife, family and friends and recognised his contribution to the Audit and Risk Committee would be missed.

 

B      Minutes of previous meeting held on 17th January 2023 were amended to include attendance of Tanya Hamilton and Sinead Brown.  The minutes were then approved as an accurate record.

       

 

 

C      Action Points

 

A session on risk management is to be arranged.  TL has discussed the scope  with ARC members and will implement. BL suggested to keep this as an action point until resolved.

       

                       

D      Conflict of Interest  

 

        All papers were noted by the Committee and no conflicts of interest were declared.

             

 

 

E      Accounting Officer Update

 

E1        CEO/AO Exception Report

AW provided an update identifying main issues which align to risks and have been previously reported.

In relation to staff pressures, the priority to implement the new staff structure remains. A business case has been prepared, but VSS must show it can afford the structure from Core TEO funding along with provision from the PEACE GAP and then Peace Plus budgets.

VSS plans to move to an apportionment model to clearly reflect the varied workload of staff. Work will continue to progress approval and implement the new staff structure.

In the short term, pressure remains due to the lack of a pay offer to attract and retain staff in a competitive market. Temporary positions at SMT level continue and more recently the flood issue at the office is also impacting the team dynamics with continued working from home.

In respect of the 2023/2024 budget, AW acknowledged that all Departments are facing cuts but a strong case for protection of the Victims & Survivors budget remains due to Ministerial support.

The VSS team has just issued Self Directed Assistance payments of c£4million to 6,000 people. 

As part of the indicative budget allocation for 2023/24, TEO have required that VSS review the budget and look to surrender any identified underspends at the earliest opportunity. However, there is currently a gap in the funding provision for PEACE Gap.

An updated Victims Strategy is required to underpin the new Victim Support Programme.  The original 2017 VSP programme had been anticipated to last three years is now into Year 7.  Commencement of a new Programme in April 2024 would require an open call for new applications in Autumn 2023, so is unlikely to be achieved this year, so VSS expect further extensions to the current programme to 2025. 

AW acknowledged that Consultation and approvals is difficult without Ministers in place.  The timeline is a disappointment to groups, who are aware of the Victim Strategy delays, as budgets were set in 2017 and with inflationary rise in rent/rates etc, Groups have not had an opportunity to recalibrate budgets to deliver on their programmes. 

The Regional Trauma Network (RTN) is now operational offering individuals referrals to HSC and to community partners for support within the community.

Peace Plus funding preparation has identified partners broadly the same as PIV.   SMT are working to develop an application in preparation for the open call in late May to be issued by SEUPB.  The call is expected to close in late June with assessment time of around 6 months.  It is expected the Peace Plus programme will be operational by end of the year or early 2024.

                                                                                        

E2 Budget Report

TL reported that the outcome at year end missed the 1.5% tolerance target.  This was wholly due to ringfenced funding for Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA), Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries, and Workhouses (MBMLW) and Troubles Permanent Disablement Pension Scheme (TPDPS).  The sector had found it difficult to recruit and the underspend through funded organisations was significantly due to vacant positions.

Accounts for year ending 31 March 2023 have been drafted for consolidation to TEO accounts, while these will form the basis of the final annual accounts, figures may move slightly as VSS continue to verify and monitor spend.

BL praised VSS for fitting into the TEO Review of Financial Processes so quickly and referring to the underspends in ringfenced areas acknowledged it was difficult with the labour market as it is.

TL advised that most TPDPS Welfare Advisor posts were now filled following innovative approaches to recruit including training schemes and mentoring, and HIA was now moving towards full staff complement.  In relation to the Mother & Baby, Magdalene Laundry and Workhouse (MBMLW) 12-month pilot programme, this has also experienced difficulties in recruiting specialist staff and as a result the programme timeframe has been extended and spend is expected to pick up this year.

There were no questions from the Committee on the Budget Report.

AW added that the MBMLW is a unique service, set up mid-year and it wasn’t known how much time it would take to get up and running, and given it is a needs led service will require analysis of trends, but acknowledged it will be easier to model going forward.

AW thanked TL and the finance team for their hard work in completing draft accounts to meet the 28th April ROFL deadline, given the usual date is September.

BMcD asked if VSS was likely to have underspends next year.  TL reported that TEO has been supportive and enabled VSS to issue Letters of Offer to funded organisations and would continue to work on maximising delivery.

 

E3 Strategic Risk Register

The strategic risk register was discussed.  AW reported that four risks have been closed to include:

 

1.    Legacy re Advocacy targets in Peace IV – passed as funding is complete.

2.    Termination of Funding – a residual medium risk, closed due to time lapse.

3.    Safeguarding, all in order bar one, but there are no concerns in respect of the one pending review.

4.    22/23 Funding risk has now passed.

 

 New risks had been identified to include:

1.    23/24 Budget Risk – risk reduced now due to receipt of indicative budget.

2.    Premises Risk

 

BL invited questions on risk.  There were no questions, but BL raised an issue on staff, SMT and finance acknowledging priorities and allocation of resources and asked what if there is not enough funding to move to the new structure.

AW acknowledged the risk that staff are covering too much, and with temporary promotions at SMT, there is a lack of stability at that level.  However, a new permanent Finance Manager is starting the following week and is confident the new structure will be more efficient.

 

F      Quarterly Reports   

       

        The Committee noted all four quarterly reports.

         

 

G     Internal Audit

 

CMcH referred members to the Cavanagh Kelly Review of Data Protection (GDPR) and directed members to two concerns and risks highlighted in the Executive Summary on page 3 of the report which noted two priority 3 recommendations, both of which have been accepted by management.

 

The committee noted the report.

 

CMcH acknowledged that VSS had comprehensive policies and all aspects were working. CMcH reported that Internal Audit continues on Programmes, Peace IV and MIS and Cavanagh Kelly hope to have 3 reports ready for the next ARC meeting.

 

                                      

H      External Audit Update

               

AA provided an update on External Audit.

 

The 21/22 Accounts were certified in February 2023 and Members were directed to the final NIAO report to those charged with governance with Management Comments. AA reported that all recommendations were accepted bar one.  Finding 4 on Verification of Delivery of Goods/Services to Individuals.  This has been discussed and NIAO agree with the VSS assessment in this area. NIAO are content with the VSS response in relation to Education and Training.

 

AA presented the 2022/23 audit strategy. Members were referred to Key Messages on Page 2, with AA advising that materiality is set at 2% and highlighted the risk based audit approach. 

 

Finally, AA explained that the fee had increased by around 10% and this was applied across all sectors due to rising costs.  In relation to timing, AA is confident accounts would be complete pre-Christmas as 9 months of grant testing has been completed.

 

BL thanked AA for his update.

 

 

I       Standing Agenda Items

 

       

        I1     2020/21 ARC Self-Assessment Report - Action Plan       

               

    TL had been in touch with members via Zoom to agree next actions for a session on risk management.                                                                                                                                                                             

 

       

        I2     ARC Training Update and Requirements

               

                Members confirmed there were no inaccuracies in the report.

 

         

        I3     Audit recommendations

 

The Audit Recommendations Register was shared and members referred to the Summary Report tab which showed 39 recommendations remain open.  Of these there are no priority 1 recommendations, 16 are Priority 2 and 11 of those are closed internally.

 

Audit recommendation, AR271 re Board Vacancies is outside of VSS control, but it is hoped to fill appointments later in the year from a Merit List.

 

BL commented the summary was useful and acknowledged the vulnerability of the Board with 3 Members due to complete their terms but agreed that filling vacancies is outside of VSS control.

               

        I4     Gifts and Hospitality Update

               

                There were no questions.

         

        I5     Compliance Update

 

TL presented the Compliance Report for the Quarter ending 31st March 2023 noting open Suspected Fraud case, Debtors, and provided details on complaints, FoI and SAR requests plus an overview of incoming calls and processing.

 

BL enquired if VSS was updating the whistle blowing term to raising concerns. It was confirmed that raising concerns is used on the VSS website and reporting email but in formal reports whistleblowing is still used.

 

There was a brief discussion on raising concerns and approaches to differentiate between a complaint and a concern, which may require an update to policy and procedures.

 

 

 

        I6     Procurement Update Q4 22/23

               

                There were no queries on the report.

         

       

J    Any Other Business

 

AW informed the Committee of a live budget issue in relation to Peace Gap and advised that a review of funding was underway. 

 

The Peace IV funded Trauma Focused Physical Activity Framework had covered annual fees like gym memberships etc for clients.  However, within the limited GAP funding budget, it is not feasible for the TFPA Framework to continue as it was.   VSS has engaged with Community Partners to advise that the scheme can remain open for new awards only and will no longer fund renewals of memberships etc. It is expected that Clients will be disappointed, but the decision is due to budgetary pressures.

 

K      Date of Next Meeting

 

The next ARC Committee meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 25th July 2023.

 

A calendar invite with Zoom details has been circulated and papers will be circulated in late June.

 

BL thanked everyone for their time and input.