NRSSMT Meeting 201324 January 2013
Meeting of the National Records of ScotlandSenior Management Team.
Held on Thursday24 January 2013 in LCR Room, General Register House
Agenda
11:00Minutes of meeting of 12 December2012
11:05Matters Arising
11.10Finance (SBR)
11:25Corporate Planning and Workforce 2015
11:40ICT Update
11:55Record Management Plan
12:10EDRM
12:25Records Disposal Policy
12:35Station Road
12:45Public and Privilege Holidays 2013
12:55Forward Look
13:00Any Other Business (Equality Duty)
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Present:
Audrey Robertson(Chair), Kirsty Maclachlan, Laura Mitchell, Penni Rocks, Tim Ellis,
Amy Wilson,Rod Burns,Anne Slater, Craig Stewart, Shirley Cameron,
Tracy Richardson,Keith Dargie, Ava Wieclawska, Elaine Speirs(secretary).
Apologies:Gerry Donnelly, Lyndsey Cairns (SG HR), Scott Mackay (SG Finance)
Observer:Trudi Packman
Audrey Robertson welcomed Tim Ellis to his first SMT meeting. Tim Ellis replied he was glad to be here and his aim is to ‘get out there to see people’ as quickly as possible after his start date of 4 February. Tim advised that he will need to provide a handover period to his successor in his current post.
ACTION: Trudi Packman to organise w/c 4 February ‘meet Tim’ sessions for all staff – one in town and one at Ladywell House.
- Minutes of meeting held on 31 October2012
The minutes were agreed as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
- Matters arising
(i) Strategic risks – carried forward from previous meeting. Some responses received.Rod Burns will update Shirley Cameron on any developments within Registration Division. Action point now closed.
(ii) People Strategy ‘backcasting’ – NRS will take a slightly different approach.
(iii) Marketing (and Homecoming 2014) – on the agenda/picked up at SMT away day on 29 January 2013.
(iv) Cabinet Secretary visit – planned for 6 February 2013. A separate meeting will be held to discuss the content for the visit.
(v) Vision for culture and heritage in Scotland paper (1st in a series of meetings taken place) focussing on a structure of priorities – ACTION: Audrey Robertson to (re) issue the paper to SMT members.
(vi) Absence Management – ACTION: Lyndsey Cairns’ action points response to be circulated to SMT members.
(vii) Staff survey – amendment to original request, now one volunteer per division. ACTION: Division Heads to pass their named representative to
Tracy Richardson.
(viii) Digitisation Strategy – meeting due and the strategy will be signed off shortly thereafter.
(ix) Gerry Donnelly was invited to the SMT meeting but was unable to attend today.
(x) Christmas drinks do – well attended event.
(xi) NRS Christmas card – was well received.
3.Finance (SBR)
Craig Stewart provided a paper on the final position of the SBR exercise. The external auditorswould like to see a record (ie SMT minutes) confirming that the budgetshave been approved by SMT.
Craig Stewart confirmed that the NRS core budget allocation has been fully utilised.
However, the £2.3 million budget ring-fencedfor Datalinkage, £184K of an underspend has been identified (£111K on running costs and £73K on capital). This provides scope to manage any variances with budget estimations.
Craig Stewart issued a forecast outturn exercise to Divisions Heads on 23 January. ACTION: Division Heads to let Craig Stewart know the current status of their budget (ie still on track, any slippages or savings) to enable NRS to make best use of our budget.
2013-15 budgets (last 2 years of spending review) - Craig Stewart met with all Division Heads to discuss their budget requirements. Although NRS is in a good position, further work is required and will be discussed at SMT away day on 29 January. Work is ongoing to fine tune the requirements for the Datalinkage budget. Craig Stewart has negotiated with SG Finance to hand back an underspend (circa £400K) on capital from this year, which will be returned next year tothe Datalinkage budget.
SMT formally approved the SBR budget.
4.Corporate Planning and Workforce 2015
Audrey Robertson’s‘Priorities for 2013-14’ spreadsheet and ‘Planning for 2013-14’ paper (which included an SG paper on Workforce 2015/request for an additional 2% budget cut) started the process of identifying NRSpriorities for the year ahead and beyond. The group were asked to (i) look at their own priorities/BIOsto deliver on their priorities and (ii) what work could be cut/stopped and the implications involved in not taking the work forward.
Discussion took place on the focus for the SMT away day and on clarification of the information to be recorded on the spreadsheet.
ACTIONS:
(i) Prior to 29 January, Division Heads to reflect on today’s discussionand review the information recorded on their spreadsheet return.
(ii) Shirley Cameron to circulate ‘combined’ spreadsheet to SMT members on
28 January (if possible).
5.ICT Update
Keith Dargie circulated somehandouts. Integrated ICT plans were presented to ICT Programme Board on 14 December and should be able to commit to the scheduled baseline dates at the next ICT Programme Board in February.A final design document (from Dell) will be signed off next week.
Communications is the next phase of the programme. This will include liaising with branch heads for stakeholder information; Intranet communications; Q&A sessions/Q&A documentation and Business Area Action Plans (for Divisions/Branches) to reflect the impact the programme will have on each business area.
Initial implementation work will commence in February. Cabling work (around March) will provide connectivity across the whole organisation for the first time. Followed by migration of e-mails/home drives etc and new desktops in June/July. The rollout of PCs to NRS non-SCOTS users will happen in August and NRS SCOTS users in September.
Anne Slater raised a concern about the risks to the services, provided by Public Services (Family History), with the migration. Keith Dargie confirmed that there will be risks but that he is content (risk mitigation is in place) that services will continue as normal.
The Website Steering Group met and came up with some concepts for the new website. Two prototypes of how the front page could look were circulated. Keith explained the features to the different layouts and the coordinated look which ties in with the NRS Branding. Further fine tuning is required. Detailed discussion took place on the content management, the user needs and on the decision making process for the website.
ACTION: Division Heads to feedback their comments to their divisional web steering group representative.
Analysis has shown that MS Sharepoint is the best tool for developing our Intranet. It will be used as a ‘back office’ product/browser application and will help to bridge the gap between the intranet and our new staff database/finance system. It was recommended that a Divisional Intranet Steering Group representative should have an understanding of the information held in their business area; their business processes; authority to engage and provide feedback from customers and share information including prototypes.
ACTION: Division Heads to discuss concerns about the Web Steering Group’s approach with Keith Dargie and Audrey Robertson.
6.Records Management Plan
NRS has obligations under the Public Records Scotland Act (PRSA) to deliver a Records Management Plan and policies. As Ava Wieclawska (Records Manager) is leaving NRS in February, she provided background information on the Act and gave an update on the documentation and evidence she has collated to date to comply with the Act, with the help of all NRS divisions.
NRS will be asked to submit the first Records Management Plan under the Actin next few weeks. Once assessed and approved, it will be published on websites and then all other public bodies in Scotlandwill be asked to submit their Plans.
The Act focuses on the continual improvement and commitment to improving record keeping. Ava recommends that this is a 3 year strategy. Informal meetings should be held on a quarterly basis to monitor the policies and procedures with a formal review held annually. A training package will be put together and it was suggested that a corporate mandatory objective should be implemented to comply with the Act.
SMT approval is required for:Records Disposal Policy; Data Protection Policy and 2 supporting codes of practice; Managing e-mail policy; Document naming guidelines and supporting abbreviations/acronyms paper; Records Management competency framework.
SMT endorsed the papers and thanked Ava for a marvellous job. Thanks also go to each of the Divisions for their contributions.
7.EDRM
A decision needs to be made on the type of system required to store NRSdocuments and records. A questionnaire was issued to the EDRM steering group seeking views from colleagues on current record keeping problems/issues and key requirements of a new system. Work is ongoing.
8.Records Disposal Policy
Audrey Robertsonreported that there are inconsistencies across the organisation with systems which are not fit for purpose. Currentlyblue bags are used for confidential waste and white or clear bags for non-confidential waste. Additionally there are cardboard waste disposal boxes for confidential waste and general paper. Some confidential waste is shredded, but NRS shreddersdo not all comply with the requirements for disposing of confidential waste/best practice standards. Alternative ‘lockable’ options,prior to onsite shredding, are being explored.
ACTION: NRS needs to clarify/define what is ‘confidential waste’ and how we handle this and the processing costs involved.
9.Station Road
The building needs to be vacated by Summer 2013. Everyone was asked to work with Lynda Ross to move this forward. The group were reminded that they should liaise with Linda Ramsay(andBruno Longmore) - onany conservation/archivesaspects and with Joe Fuchs (andRobert Brown and Mary Henderson)- on any securityissues/concerns.
10.Public and Privilege Holidays 2013
A staff notice was issued advising of the SG public and privilege holidays. Before a final decision is made on whether NRS remains open on SG closed days, further evidence is required on usage of the NRS services on these days. This will be discussed at the next Partnership Board.
ACTIONS: Prior to the next Partnership Board on 5 March:
(i) Anne Slater to provide the number of people using NRS services, the revenue generated and comments from customers from days in the last year when NRS remained open.
(ii)Division Heads to consider (and provide evidence) on whether NRS remains open or closes on privilege holidays. Information to Tracy Richardson.
11.Forward look
Changes identified for the forward planning grid would be applied.
ACTION: Laura Mitchell to discuss e-records with Susan Corrigall.
12.Any Other Business
Equality Duty - Amy Wilsonadvised that a substantial amount of work needs to be done corporately. This includes consultation with Equality groups and the publication of the NRS mainstreaming Equality Report and Outcomes by April 2013. Mandatory workshops will be held for Division/Branch Heads. Templates, to be completed by each Division, will be issued at the workshops to capture what we are doing already. The workshop dates are:
- 5 February at Ladywell House from 9.30am – 12.30pm
or
- 7 February in the Dome, New Register House from 2.30-5.30pm.
Date of next meeting – Thursday 21 March 2013 at 10.30am in Rm 1/G/8, Ladywell House.
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