MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD - the Parliamentary and ...

FOR PUBLICATION
MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD (EB) – Tuesday 8
March 2011
10.00-14.30 Millbank Tower
Members Present:
Ann Abraham, the Ombudsman (Chair)
Kathryn Hudson, Deputy Ombudsman
Claire Forbes, Director of Communications
Bill Richardson, Deputy Chief Executive
Other attendees and observers:
See Annex A
Apologies:
No apologies were received.
1. DRAFT DISCUSSION NOTE FROM 22 FEBRUARY 2011 MEETING
1.1 EB agreed the discussion note from the previous meeting.
2. DRAFT MINUTES AND ACTION POINTS OF THE MEETING HELD 8
FEBRUARY 2011
2.1 The draft minutes would be reviewed outside the meeting and brought to the
next EB meeting for sign off.
3. DRAFT MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 26 JANUARY 2011 FOR
PUBLICATION
3.1 EB reviewed the minutes for publication which were agreed with minor
corrections.
4. 2010-11 MONTH 11 CASEWORK PERFORMANCE REPORT:
FEBRUARY 2011
4.1 Kathryn Hudson introduced the report which provided an overview of casework
performance for February 2011. The Office had continued to meet five out of
six customer service standards. [ ]

4.7 EB agreed that the shutdown of the business year would be 5pm on
31 March. Staff would be notified of the year end results on 1 April.
4.8 EB noted the Performance Report and agreed the messages for the Cascade
briefing.
5. CONSULTATION LOG
5.1 EB considered the consultation log and associated briefs and noted the progress
made since the last meeting.
6. BUSINESS PLANNING
6.1 Graham Payne provided EB with an update on the progress made with business
planning. The Strategic and Corporate Business plans had not yet been
completed. Divisional Planning work was continuing across the office and EB
agreed that all the latest drafts of the Divisional Plans would be passed to Tess
Sanford (Action: Business Managers).
6.2 Ann Abraham confirmed that business planning meetings would take place on
14 and 15 March to focus entirely on completing the Strategic, Corporate and
Divisional Plans. The Strategic Risk Review and the Financial and Equality and
Diversity (E&D) Strategies would be fed into divisional planning.
7. E&D STRATEGY
7.1 EB noted that the Strategy was being reworked.
8. COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY 2011-15
8.1 Claire Forbes introduced the Strategy which provided EB with an update of the
direction of PHSO’s communications for the next four years. The plan would
align with the Strategic Plan and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy. The
Strategy proposed a renewed focus in supporting the core business to improve
the accessibility of the service and to reflect PHSO’s commitment to Equality
and Diversity.
8.2 The Communications Strategy would provide tools for the Stakeholder
Engagement Strategy and would be used as the backdrop for business planning.
8.3 EB approved the Communications Strategy.
9. PHSO STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT & STAKEHOLDER DATA STRATEGIES
PHSO Stakeholder Engagement Strategy 2011-15

9.1 Claire Forbes introduced the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy which set out
PHSO’s approach to building and developing relationships with organisations
with which PHSO wished to have an ongoing professional relationship.
9.2 EB noted the priorities detailed in the Strategy for 2011-12 but set these aside
pending the outcome of the current business planning process.
9.3 Claire Forbes explained the Strategy’s approach and highlighted the
importance of bringing knowledge together to develop a framework for
communicating effectively. EB noted the existing and future workstreams.
9.4 The risks associated with this Strategy would be reviewed as part of the
discussion on the Strategic Risk review on 14 March.
9.5 EB approved the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy 2011-15.
PHSO Stakeholder Data Strategy 2011-15
9.6 EB reviewed the Strategy which detailed a policy on how PHSO would collect,
store and manage stakeholder data. The proposal was to procure a database
solution which would allow for all stakeholder contact data to be stored in one
location. The Communications Division would have responsibility for delivering
this Strategy.
9.7 EB approved the Stakeholder Data Strategy 2011-15.
10. PERFORMANCE AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW SYSTEM (PDRS) QUALITY
ASSURANCE
10.1 Ros Green and Julie Fisher-Jones presented a paper which informed EB of the
outcome of the quality assurance exercise which was carried out on the
Mid Year PDRS [Performance Development and Review System] reviews.
10.2 EB noted the content of the report and the outcomes of the assessment. There
were a couple of areas for improvement, but overall, the results displayed
improvement in quality from last year.
10.3 EB agreed the recommendation that the PDRS guidance would be kept under
review during the year as the new system was implemented, and further
guidance would be issued if necessary.
10.4 EB agreed the quality assurance report would be communicated to staff
through the Senior Management Team (SMT).

11. 11. REVISED PDRS
11.1 Ros Green and Morgan Phillips introduced the paper which set out the key
elements of the revised PDRS policy and procedures, the next steps to launch
the policy and how the policy would be communicated to managers and staff.
11.2 EB noted the minor changes that had been made to the policy following the
consultation.
11.3 EB noted the importance of competency frameworks in assessing staff and
asked Bill Richardson and Ros Green to discuss outside the meeting how these
could have a clearer presence in the documents. (Action: Ros Green and Bill
Richardson).
11.4 EB noted the proposed communications process. Following feedback from the
Extended Management Group (EMG), EB discussed and agreed that guidance
should be made available to staff and managers on completing self-assessment
and PDRS forms.
(Action: Morgan Phillips).
11.5 EB agreed the policy and guidance as set out in Annex A of the paper and
agreed that this should be an item for the March Cascade.
11.6 Ann Abraham thanked the EMG working group, in particular
Morgan Phillips and Ros Green, for their dedication and hard work on the
policy.
12. INTERIM GUIDANCE ON MANAGING DISABILITY
12.1 Jon Ward presented the Interim Guidance which addressed specific issues of
concern about the way PHSO manages disability.
12.2 EB was concerned that the guidance was not as clear and concise as they could
have wished and asked Bill Richardson to arrange for further work to be done
on it as the policy issues had been discussed and agreed (Action: Bill
Richardson). EB agreed that they did not need to see the guidance again.
12.3 EB agreed that the Interim Disability Guidance should be completed and
available on the intranet by 1 April 2011. (Action: Bill Richardson)
13. INVESTORS IN PEOPLE UPDATE
13.1 EB noted the oral update on the preparations in hand for the Investors in
People (IiP) assessment taking place 21-24 March.

14. 2010-11 SUMMARY FINANCIAL POSITION
14.1 Graham Payne circulated a paper at the meeting detailing the summary of the
financial position for period 11, April 2010 – February 2011. EB noted a further
increase in PHSO’s net resource underspend to £1.583k for this financial year.
14.2 [ ]
14.3 Unfortunately, the Corporate Business Plan target of limiting any total resource
underspend to less than £500k would not be achieved this financial year.
15. DIVISIONAL BUSINESS PLAN AND RISK EXCEPTION REPORTING
15.1 There were no items for discussion.
16. FORWARD PROGRAMME FOR: EB, ADVISORY BOARD, AUDIT
COMMITTEE
16.1 EB noted the forward programme.
17. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
17.1 There were no items for discussion.
18. DATE OF NEXT MEETINGS
18.1 Two additional meetings on Business planning would be held on
14 and 15 March. The Advisory Board meeting scheduled for 15 March would be
cancelled.
18.2 The next EB discussion meeting would be held on Wednesday 23 March.
18.3 The next EB decision meeting would be held on Thursday 7 April.
18.4 The next EB quarterly meeting would be held on Wednesday 27 April.

Annex A
Other attendees and observers
19. Attendees
Carole Auchterlonie, Director of Outcomes and Learning (items 1-4)
Suzannah Beazley, Head of Review Team (items 1-4)
Jenny Betteridge, Ombudsman’s Casework Manager (items 1-5)
Marie Cheek, Director of Service Delivery
Julie Fisher-Jones, Employee Relations Manager (Item 10)
Ros Green, Head of HR Operations (items 10 & 11)
Caroline Hancock, Executive Assistant to the Ombudsman
Gwen Harrison, Director of Parliamentary Investigations (items 1-4)
James Johnstone, Director of Customer Service and Assessment (items 1-4)
Marko Jovanovic, Head of Corporate Performance (items 1-4)
Jack Kellett, Director of Health Investigations (items 1-4)
Ali McMurray, Director of Health Investigations (items 1-4)
Philipp Mende, Public Affairs Analyst (item 5)
Graham Payne, Director of Finance, Planning and Performance
Tess Sanford, Ombudsman’s Business Manager (from item 6)
Philip Trewhitt, Director of Complex Parliamentary Investigations (items 1-4)
Jon Ward, Director of People and Organisational Development
20. Observers
Gwen Bramwell, Assessor (ATM)
Darren Packer, Assessor
Karen Quayle, Casework Policy and Guidance Officer
Bhavesh Wadher, Customer Services Officer (ATM)