Minutes of the VSS Board Meeting No 109

Board Meeting Type: Strategic Board Meeting      

Thursday 21st November at 10:00am

Equality House, Belfast

 

 

Board Members Present:

Sandra Horley (SH)                        Board Member (Interim Chair)

John Cahill (JC)                              Board Member

Catriona MacArthur (CMA)             Board Member

Brian Gilfedder (BG)                        Board Member

 

VSS Officers in Attendance:

Andrew Walker (AW)                     Chief Executive Officer

Tara Lewsley (TL)                         Head of Learning and Growth

Victoria Murray (VM)                        Acting Head of Corporate Services

Emma Dargan (ED)                         Head of Service Development

Brónach Twomey (BT)                  Administrative Officer (Minutes) 

 

 

 

A      Apologies

 

            Apologies received from Nicola Nugent.

 

 

B      Minutes of Previous Meeting

 

           Minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

 

 

C      Conflict of Interest

       

         The Chair asked all present to consider and declare any conflicts of interest.

         No conflicts of interest were declared.

 

 

 

D      CEO Exception Report (verbal update)

 

 AW provided the Board with an update on the following key areas:

 

2024-25 Budget

 

A revised forecast for 2024/25 has been completed and VSS has submitted January monitoring information to TEO. VSS has bid for a small amount of additional funds on the HIA programme (£40,000) reflecting the increased demand for support and services in the lead up to the deadline for applications for redress in April 2025.

 

VSS has also declared an easement of £331,000 on the Truth Recovery programme. The phased scale up of activity of the overall programme related to the timeline of the work of the Independent Panel and Public Consultation process in advance of redress and statutory Public Inquiry, and the limited promotion activity that has been undertaken to date has led to lower than anticipated numbers of individuals accessing support in 2024-25.

 

              PEACEPLUS

 

The contractual documentation in respect of cash advances offered to project partners by SEUPB remains with TEO for review (in respect of providing approval for VSS AO to sign up to the clauses included). In the interim, VSS continues to use money from core funds to support project partners, although this mechanism will not be available after December as VSS will require these funds for quarter four TEO funded commitments.

 

2025-26 Budget

 

Initial modelling has been completed around 2025-26 budget requirements, which indicates that VSS’s funding requirements will be higher than the 2024-25 opening budget allocation. The 2025-26 budget will be covered in more detail in the Corporate Planning Session to follow.

 

 

Other Matters

·         No further update on Board appointments.  Noted that no response has been received to Interim Chair’s letter to FM/dFM. 

 

·         ICRIR – position re: signposting from ICRIR to VSS re: HWB support outlined.  VSS position remains that anyone how chooses to engage with ICRIR should be aware that there are publicly funded services (Advocacy and HWB) available to them.  VSS-funded groups have been clear that whilst (many of them) will retain their opposition to the Legacy Act and to ICRIR – the choices of victims and survivors will be respected.  AW engaged with ICRIR on this matter only and arranging for suitable signposting material.

 

·         Key SMT Absence – Head of Health & Wellbeing on period of absence.  CEO assuming responsibility for oversight of HWB Case Managers and assures Board that with fill complement of managers in place – including experience and competence – risks are being managed. 

 

 

E       VSS Corporate Planning Session

 

TL provided context around the purpose of the session and the Board noted the key areas for review. TL and VM led the Board in an interactive discussion of each area as follows:

 

The VSS Board's role and responsibilities for Corporate Planning in line with the (draft) Partnership Agreement.

 

         The Board reviewed and discussed their role in Corporate Planning.

 

VSS Vision, Mission and Values along with our Strategic Outcomes and consideration of style and structure of the Corporate Plan.

 

The Board reviewed the current corporate plan and provided comments for consideration by VSS management.

 

Strategic basis and context for Corporate Planning

 

TL provided the Strategic context for Corporate Planning, referencing the following key documents:

 

-       Northern Ireland Executive Programme for Government

-       The Strategy for Victims & Survivors of the Troubles/conflict 2024-34

-       The Report of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (The Hart Report)

-       The Truth Recovery Panel Report October 2021

 

TL provided an update on the consultation sessions held with the sector and Victims Forum in October and November 2024 and the key messages from these sessions. The Board noted the overall message that VSP funding in 2024-25 is significantly below identified needs.

 

 Budget reviews by area

 

VM presented an analysis of funding requirements by programme for 2025-26 and noted the pressures arising in each area.

 

        Review of key stakeholders

 

TL presented a map of key stakeholders and noted that stakeholder mapping will be a key focus for the new communications manager.

 

 

Note: Detailed notes of the Corporate Planning session were taken and will feed into the internal VSS Corporate Planning process.

 

F     AOB/CLOSE

 

SH thanked all attendees for their input today and noted the date of the next VSS Board meeting.  (December meetings have been required in recent years as single agenda item meetings to approve the Annual Report & Accounts – however this has been achieved much earlier this year.  No December meeting therefore required).

 

Date of next meeting: Thursday 23 January 2024