Senior Management Team Meeting - 20 December 2022
Welcome and apologies
Minutes and Action Log from previous meeting
Commissioner
Training
Policy Documents – Amendments and Updates
Communications
Finance
Attendees:
Michelle Macleod Commissioner (MM)
Sharon Smit Accountable Officer / Head of Corporate Services (SS)
Sharon Clelland Head of Legal Services (SC)
Ilya Zharov Head of Reviews and Policy (IZ)
Laura Duguid Finance Manager (LD)
Steven Carr Senior Investigator (SC2)
Jennifer Fisher Secretariat (JLF)
Welcome and Apologies
Apologies
MM opened the meeting and welcomed all Senior Management Team (SMT) members.
MM noted apologies from Phil Chapman, Director of Operations (PC), Rhoda Braddick, Communications Manager (RB) and John McSporran, Head of Investigations. It was noted that SC2 would represent the Head of Investigation.
Matters proposed to be considered in private
SMT agreed to consider agenda items 9 – 14 in private, for the reasons set out on the agenda.
Minutes of previous meeting
Draft Minutes
SMT approved the minutes of the November 2022 meeting.
Action Log
SMT noted the updates to the action log.
ACTION: 2022/23 No. 11 – Summary of Recommendations implemented to be included with Reviews monthly Performance Report.
Commissioner
Update paper
MM provided paper to members (circulated in advance) containing detailed updates on a range of ongoing work, drawing attention to the following areas:
Sheku Bayoh Public Inquiry, including an update on future hearings scheduled for 2023
Lady Angiolini Review – Public Consultation responses published on 30 November 2022
Civil Case
Performance Data Review
Stakeholder Engagements in December 2022 and scheduled for January 2023
Progress on completing the Joint Audit between PIRC and SPA – of Complaint Triage by Police Scotland’s
National Complaint Assessment and Resolution Unit (NCARU)
SMT noted the update provided.
Training
Cyber Security – Staff Awareness
SS provided a summary of the content of the Cyber Security - Staff Awareness course which will be delivered in January 2023 (online) by Janice Carter, Information Officer.
SS highlighted that this training was mandatory for all PIRC staff and was an action from the recently concluded IT Health Check audit.
The course will cover topics such as:
Why are systems hacked?
Basic Awareness of hacking methods used
Sharing knowledge / Good practice
Checklists
PIRC policies
SS advised that a Staff Message would be issued by the Communications team directing staff to book a place on a training session.
SMT approved the course content.
Business Continuity Test September 2022 – Feedback and Action Plan
SS provided a summary of the feedback received following the Business Continuity Test carried out on 20 September 2022 (circulated in advance).
Discussion took place regarding the unannounced test of the ‘PIRC Call Cascade’ procedures carried out on 18 November 2022.
SC2 advised that some Investigations staff reported that they did not receive the test text message. He advised that some staff have forwarded their business mobile telephones to their personal mobile telephones and while calls can be diverted, text messages cannot.
SS advised that feedback from the unannounced test of the ‘PIRC Call Cascade’ procedure (carried out on 18 November 2022) and an updated Business Continuity Plan, would be made available to members at the January 2023 SMT and AAC meetings.
ACTION 12 – Feedback of the test of the ‘PIRC Call Cascade’ procedure and updated Business Continuity Plan to be provided.
SS noted that Senior Investigator Ricky Casey has been asked to identify a second depute for the Crisis Management Team for the Investigations department.
ACTION 13 – RC to provide details of 2nd Depute for Crisis Management Team
IZ noted that the test had highlighted that some Reviews staff details were not held (personal mobile / home telephone numbers) but that this had now been rectified.
MM noted that staff are not making best use of their Outlook calendars to note external appointments / leave. SS advised that Steven Ross, Information Coordinator, was in the process of drafting guidance detailing how to use the Automatic Response / Out of Office notification and that this would be circulated to staff via to the Communications team in due course.
Policy Documents – Amendments and Updates
Data Protection Policy – Updated December 2022
SS provided a verbal summary of the updates to the Data Protection Policy (circulated in advance). SS highlighted that the amendments to the policy were non-legislative amendments.
SMT approved the policy.
Communications
MM provided a summary of the Communications update paper as at the end of November 2022 (circulated in advance), drawing attention to the following areas:
Website/Intranet Development update
Media enquiries received
PSD Short Life Working Group (SLWG)
Learning Point Internal Comms messages issued
MM further advised that the ‘Commissioner’s Festive Staff Message’ would be issued on 20 December 2022.
SMT noted the updates provided.
Finance
LD provided a summary of the Management Accounts as at end of November 2022 (circulated in advance), drawing attention to the following areas.
Staffing Costs
Running Costs
Overspends and Underspends
Overspend in relation to Legal Costs
SS advised that she and MM had met with the Sponsor Team on 15 December 2022 to review the proposed PIRC 2023/24 budget allocation.
MM advised that a staff message would be issued by the Communications team when the 2023/24 budget has been formally confirmed.
SMT noted the updates provided.
Meeting Scheduled 2023
JLF provided members with a meeting calendar for 2023 noting the dates for the monthly SMT meetings and quarterly AAC and Sponsor Team meetings
SMT noted the update.