NIPS Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13 - Department of Justice

2012-2013
In line with a recent Gateway Review of the NIPS
Reform Programme, the SEE Programme Board is
scheduled to be replaced by an over-arching NIPS
Reform Programme Governance Board, which will
be chaired by the Director General, with effect from
July 2013.
Finance Committee
The PSMB agreed at its meeting in March 2012 that
the Finance Sub Committee should no longer be
a formal Sub Committee of the Board but instead
become an Executive Committee chaired by the
Director of Finance and Corporate Services. The
purpose of the Finance Committee (FC) is to discuss
and scrutinise key strategic finance plans and
financial issues impacting on NIPS and to provide
assurance on their robustness before they are
adopted by the Director of Finance and Corporate
Services, or presented for endorsement to the PSMB
or Accounting Officer for endorsement. Among the
matters considered by the Committee during the
2012-13 year were:
• review and challenge capital proposals and
priorities from the Minor Works Steering Group
and agree adjustments as necessary within
affordability constraints;
• test the robustness of strategic financial advice
and financial policies and procedures to be issued
from the Finance Directorate in advance of
formal adoption and promulgation;
• oversee progress on finance projects which are
of significant strategic importance and which
impact on NIPS’ ability to meet its targets;
• improve financial planning, monitoring and
reporting within NIPS and its arms length bodies;
and
• to review and scrutinise management
responses to the ‘Report to Those Charged with
Governance’ and make recommendations to the
ARC and PSMB as necessary.
External Bodies
There are a number of external bodies which provide
assurance to the Board, including:
• CJINI, which provides independent inspections of
NIPS to ensure best practice;
• the Prisoner Ombudsman, which investigates
complaints from prisoners, complaints from
visitors, and deaths in Prison Service custody;
• Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, which
carries out inspections in conjunction with CJINI;
• the Independent Monitoring Boards, which
monitor quality of prison life, by working to
ensure fairness and accountability in prison; and,
• Northern Ireland Audit Office, which provides
financial and value for money audits of NIPS.
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