Date: 27 June 2024

Time: 14:00

Venue: Microsoft Teams

Present—

• Dr Mark Simpson (Interim Co-Chair)
• Judith Paterson (Interim Co-Chair)
•  Dr Marilyn Howard (Member)
• Dr Jackie Gulland (Member)

Apologies: None

In attendance (SCoSS Secretariat)—

• Stephen Herbert, Secretary
• Andrew Strong, Head of Policy and Scrutiny
• Christopher Galloway, Analysis and Participation Support Officer
• Lisa Kinnear, Governance and Engagement Officer

Interim Co-Chair, Mark Simpson, welcomed the Commissioners to the sixth meeting of the Board in 2024.

Jackie Gulland declared that she lives in the same household as a person who is eligible to receive the DWP Winter Fuel payment and also has power of attorney in relation to a different person who is entitled to the DWP Winter Fuel Payment. Both of those people would be eligible for the Scottish Winter Heating Assistance under the proposed regulations.

Marilyn Howard declared that she is a recipient of the DWP Winter Fuel Payment.

The Minutes of the May Board meeting were considered and, following amendment, agreed.

In attendance—

• Clint Macleod, Policy Officer; and
• Iain Hunter, Bill Team Lead.

Scottish Government officials provided an overview of the content of the Bill, the timetable for the parliamentary passage of the Bill and of potential amendments to the Bill at Stage 2 relating to the role of the Commission.  Discussions with Board Members covered a range of measures including subsequent secondary legislation that will follow from the Bill and ensuring that the Bill was sufficiently robustly drafted that there was no potential for the Commission to have to continue to produce accounts following the passage of the Bill.

The Board considered, in detail, a draft report. The Board agreed to hold an ad-hoc meeting on 11 July to consider further the content of the report and noted that the report is due to be laid in Parliament on 22 July.

The Secretary provided an update on forecast expenditure for 2024-25. The Board noted that a £20K overspend is being forecast which is primarily due to a more accurate forecast of staff costs than was available prior to the start of the financial year.

The Charter Sub-Committee met on 21 June 2024.  The Board considered and agreed—

• Priority groups for structured interviews and research questions on the experiences of people with communication needs.
• The decisions and recommendations made by the Charter Sub-Committee.
• To delegate authority for incurring expenditure for research activity agreed to the Interim Co-Chairs.

The secretariat provided an update with regard to induction arrangements for the new Chair and Member starting on 1 August 2024.

An update was given on the move to Oracle Cloud which will replace Scottish Government’s existing HR, Finance and Purchasing systems.

The Board noted this was Dr Jackie Gulland’s last Board meeting prior to the end of her term as a temporary Board member. The Board thanked Jackie for her significant contribution to the work of the Commission.

Meeting closed at 16:54

Date of next meeting: Thursday 29 August