Date: 20 May 2026

Time: 13:30

Venue: Microsoft Teams

Present—

• Ed Pybus (Chair)
• Adam Bennett (Member)
• Dr Marilyn Howard (Member)
• Judith Paterson (Member)
• Dr Mark Simpson (Member)

Apologies: None

In attendance (SCoSS Secretariat)—

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

The Lines Between officials (for Agenda Item 6)—

• Dr Molly Rosenbaum, Senior Consultation Analyst; and
• Dr Carol Kelly, Senior Consultation Analyst.

The Chair welcomed the Commissioners to the meeting and no interests were declared.

The minutes of the April Board meeting were agreed.

Andrew Strong provided the Board with an update on the programme for the upcoming in person Board meeting and stakeholder day.  The Board agreed the programme for the stakeholder day.

Christopher Galloway provided the Board with an update on the SCoSS website and the current contract, which is due to expire in March 2027. The Board considered and discussed potential improvements to the website in advance of the tender specification exercise.

The Chair provided the Board with an update on a list of actions from previous meetings.

Dr Molly Rosenbaum and Dr Carol Kelly from The Lines Between Ltd, provided a presentation on their findings and recommendations from the two research reports commissioned by the Board. The Board discussed both reports and thanked The Lines Between Ltd for their work on the reports.

The Board considered the future work of the Charter Sub-Committee.

No other business was discussed.

Meeting closed at 16:15

Date of next Board meeting: Thursday 25 June