Board meeting: 11 February 2025
Updated 14 August 2025
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Attendees and presenters
Member attendees
- Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP – Secretary of State for Education (from 3pm)
- Rt Hon Baroness Smith – Minister for Skills and Minister for the Board (Chair)
- Richard Pennycook – Lead Non-executive Board Member
- Susan Acland-Hood – Permanent Secretary
- Toby Peyton-Jones – Non-executive Board Member
- Sir Peter Bazalgette – Non-executive Board Member
- Stuart McMinnies – Non-executive Board Member
- Jack Boyer – Non-executive Board Member
- Jane Cunliffe – Chief Operating Officer
- Tony Foot – Director General, Strategy Group
Presenters
- Anne Spinali – Director, Strategic Finance
- Susie Owen – Director, Early Years, Childcare, Families and Analysis
- Amy Finch – Head of Best Start in Life Unit
- Pippa Hebborn-Gibson – Head of Best Start in Life Analysis
- Ian Knowles – Chief Analyst
- Russell Viner – Chief Scientific Officer
- Kath Moulds – Deputy Director, Digital, Data, Technology Strategy
- James Green – Chief Risk Officer
Other attendees
- John Edwards – Director General, Regions Group
- Juliet Chua – Director General, Schools Group (from 4pm)
- Julia Kinniburgh – Director General, Skills (from 4pm)
- Justin Russell – Director General, Families Group (from 2:45pm)
- Warwick Sharp – Director, Strategy and Delivery
- Helen Alderton – Private Secretary to Secretary of State
- Laura Hoskins – Board Secretary
- Tom McNeill – NED Support Lead
Apologies
- Rt Hon Baroness Smith – Minister for the Board
1. Introduction, minutes and action tracker
Sir Kevan Collins, Lead Non-executive Board Member, took the Chair and welcomed members to the meeting. Apologies were noted from Rt Hon Baroness Smith, the Minister for the Board. The Secretary of State would join the meeting briefly.
It was formally noted that this meeting would not be quorate.
The minutes of the meeting held on 12 December 2024 were approved as a correct record.
The following new interests were declared:
- Jack Boyer declared that he had been appointed as Chair of Oxford Quantum Computing
- Stu McMinnies declared that he would join the Board of Save the Children as of March 2025
2. Finance update
Board members received an update of the Department’s financial position at period 9 and on the Zero-Based Review Challenge Panels which had taken place to discuss departmental spend ahead of the spending review.
3. Best Start in Life
Board members noted the priorities and targets that sat under the Best Start in Life Opportunity Mission Pillar, particularly in the early years sector and provision for children.
Board members noted the importance of using evidence and data to support delivery and of the Department’s engagement with local authorities to drive improvement in the early years sector.
4. Departmental research and development priorities
The Board received an update on the Department’s research and development (R&D) priorities.
R&D priorities for discussion included further research into the definition of special educational needs and development (SEND), supporting parents, supporting career pathways in the skills sector, strategic data and analytics capabilities, and understanding the role of technology in children’s development and wellbeing.
5. Top tier risks and risk appetite statement
Members discussed the Department’s top tier risk register, including recent escalations and de-escalations of risks by the Performance and Risk Committee.
The Board was presented with the risk appetite statement (RAS) and discussed its contents. However, due to this meeting being inquorate, the decision on whether to approve the RAS would be considered via correspondence.
6. Any other business
The Secretary of State joined the meeting briefly at this point and noted that this would be Richard Pennycook’s and Toby Peyton-Jones’s last DfE Board meeting.
The meeting concluded at 5:15pm.