Minutes of the VSS Board Meeting No 107
Board Meeting Type: Strategic Board Meeting
Thursday 19 September 2024 10:00am
VSS, Belfast – and Remote via MS Teams
Sandra Horley (SH) Interim Chair – Teams
Brian Gilfedder (BG) Board Member – Teams
John Cahill (JC) Board Member
Catriona MacArthur (CMA) Board Member
VSS Officers in Attendance:
Andrew Walker (AW) Chief Executive Officer
Tara Lewsley (TL) Head of Learning & Growth
Nicola Nugent (NN) Head of Health & Wellbeing
Emma Dargan (ED) Head of Community Partnership
Victoria Murray (VM) Head of Corporate Services
Melissa McCartan (MM) Business Support Officer (Minutes)
A Apologies
No apologies received.
B Minutes of Previous Meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting on 13 August 2024 were agreed – pending a typo change.
C Conflict of Interest Declarations
SH asked all present to consider and declare any conflicts of interest. No conflicts of interest were declared.
D CEO update by exception reporting (Verbal update)
AW provided the Board with an update on the following key areas:
Consultation Responses
The Board noted that VSS provided a response to the MBMLW Truth Recovery Consultation on 16 September 2024. It was noted that VSS took the approach of sharing VSS’ experience, rather than answering the more narrow questions in the consultation response document, with hope that it will be a more useful approach for TEO in their decision making process/ next steps.
The Board noted that the draft Programme for Government 2024-2027 was released on 9 September 2024, alongside an eight-week public consultation which will end on 4 November 2024. AW highlighted that VSS will not be providing a direct response to the consultation, however, VSS has provided comments to CVS and COSICA to help support their response.
PEACEPLUS
The Board noted that the PEACEPLUS Letter of Offer (in GBP) has now been signed and returned on 9 September 2024. AW highlighted that this is a positive step, which gives more structure and certainty through to mid-2028.
AW highlighted that the PEACEPLUS Partnership meetings will commence in October and that the team will continue to work through any teething issues that may arise.
Board Membership
AW noted that there is no update on Board appointments since the previous meeting. It is hoped that the new Board members will be formally appointed ahead of the October Board meeting.
Budget
AW provided the Board with a brief update on September’s budget position and highlighted a live risk around cash flow. The Board noted next steps in terms of escalation and will await further update from AW on this matter.
E VSP Strategic Planning Session
AW provided some context around the future Victim Support Programme (the funding of the community and voluntary sector partners for support and service provision to victims and survivors of the Troubles/conflict) from 1 April 2026.
The Board noted the main objective of today’s session and engaged in an interactive Q&A session led by TL, exploring three main areas:
1. What do we need to do?
• Planning engagement with TEO
• The timeline to a new programme from April 2026
2. What have we done before?
• VSP 2017/18–2024/25 – call history, financials, outcomes and key demographics
• SWOT Analysis
3. How will we do it now?
• Guidance – Programme for Government (draft) 2024-27, Victims Strategy (draft), PEACEIV research, VSP working group review of social support
• PESTLE Analysis
• Consultation and Co-Design with key stakeholders
Note: Detailed notes of the VSP planning session were taken and will feed into the VSS internal planning process.
Action: Share VSP Timeline with TEO and highlight single points of failure/risks and identify fall back options.
Action: Develop centralised document for all outstanding recommendations (PEACEIV Research Reports and Victims Strategy) to review/monitor progress.
The Board thanked TL for facilitating a well-structured and informative session.
E AOB
AW thanked the Board for their input today and noted the date of the next VSS Board meeting.
Date of next meeting: Thursday 24 October 2024.