SCoSS Charter Sub-Committee Meeting
Date: 11 December 2024
Time: 12:00
Venue: Microsoft Teams
Minutes
Present—
- Dr Mark Simpson (Chair)
- Dr Marilyn Howard (Member)
- Ed Pybus (Member)
Apologies: None
In attendance (SCoSS Secretariat)—
- Andrew Strong, Head of Policy and Scrutiny
- Christopher Galloway, Analysis and Participation Support Officer
1. Welcome and declaration of interests
The Chair, Mark Simpson, welcomed the attendees to the sixth meeting of the Charter Sub-Committee.
There were no apologies and no interests were declared.
2. Matters arising from previous meeting
It was noted that the Secretariat had made contact with Social Security Scotland to provide a list of key themes and points to address during the proposed follow-up meeting with officials.
The minutes of the November Charter Sub-Committee were considered and agreed.
3. Update on report drafting
The Secretariat provided an overview of the latest version of the report, updated to reflect the discussions from the previous sub-committee meeting.
Members were satisfied with the progress of the report and offered additional suggestions for improvement. These included:
- emphasising the differences between the old and new versions of the Charter;
- providing further explanation about the focus groups and structured interviews conducted to inform the report.
Members agreed to send feedback to the Secretariat by next week to progress the report.
Members were also content with the proposed cover designs and colour schemes for the report, noting that final approval would depend on compliance with accessibility standards.
Action: Members to submit written comments and suggestions to the Secretariat by 18 December 2024.
Action: Secretariat to confirm that the proposed colour scheme and cover design meet accessibility standards.
4. Social Security Scotland update meeting
The Secretariat advised that officials from Social Security Scotland are in the process of determining who will represent them at the upcoming meeting. They will confirm the representatives and provide a meeting date in due course.
5. Report promotion – initial ideas
Members discussed potential strategies for promoting the publication of the final report.
Suggestions included:
- hosting a webinar to present the report to a wider audience
- a press release highlighting key findings from the research
- identifying media outlets aligned with the report’s themes to ensure targeted outreach
- creating visual social media videos to provide an accessible and engaging overview of the findings.
6. Charter research strategy
It was noted that during the recent Board meeting there was an opportunity to develop a clear strategy or framework outlining the Commission’s goals for Charter scrutiny and providing guidance on how this scrutiny will be conducted.
Members discussed the possible structure of the strategy for the Charter research, including who would be involved in its development and the various tools available to support its implementation.
It was suggested that, in the near future, a session to consider the process undertaken with the current charter work be undertaken with input from stakeholders. Following this, a Board workshop could be delivered to develop the overall strategy for the Charter later in the year.
Action: Marilyn to share tools with other Sub-committee members to support the development of the strategy.
7. Any other business
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Sub-Committee meeting would take place on 13 January 2025 at 1pm.
Meeting closed at 13:12
Date of next meeting: Monday 13th January 2025 (13:00 – 14:15)