Transparency data

SLC Board meeting minutes October 2023

Updated 24 April 2024

1. Attendees

1.1 Present

• Peter Lauener (PL) - Chair

• Chris Larmer (CL) - Chief Executive Officer

• Mary Curnock Cook (MCC) - Non-Executive Director

• Natasha Toothill (NT) - Non-Executive Director

• Gary Page (GP) - Non-Executive Director

• Charlotte Moar (CM)- Non-Executive Director

• Andrew Wathey (AW) - Non-Executive Director

• Stephen Tetlow (ST) - Non-Executive Director

• David Wallace (DW) - Deputy Chief Executive Officer

• Audrey McColl (AMC) - CFO

• Gary Womersley (GW) - Company Secretary

1.2 Also in attendance

• Patrick Curry (PC) – DfE (by videoconference)

• Anne Rimmer (AR) - DfE (by videoconference)

• Chris Williams (CW) - Welsh Government (by videoconference)

• Laura Irvine (LI) – Department for the Economy NI (by videoconference)

• Jonny O’Callaghan (JO) - Department for the Economy NI (by videoconference)

• Jason Dunham (JD) – CIO

• Jackie Currie (JC) – Executive Director, Business Operations

• David Beattie (DB) – Executive Director, Change, Data and Repayments

• Derek Ross (DR) - Executive Director, HE and FE Reform

• Gillian Brydie (GB) - Executive Director, People

• Helen Bogan (HB) – Head of Governance and Planning

• Stuart Brydson (SB) - Board Secretary (Secretariat)

• Adam Treslove (AT) - Head of Corporate Affairs (for Item 6.1 only) (by videoconference)

• Nicholas McDermott (NMC) – Chief of Staff (for item 5.1 only)

• Margaret McMullen (MMC) – Director of Finance (for item 5.2 only) (by videoconference)

• Peter Trapp (PT) – Interim CISO (for item 8.1 only) (by videoconference)

• Stephen Baker (SBA) – Director of Policy Design and Change (for item 8.1 only) (by videoconference)

• Joanne Smith (JS) – Independent Assessor (for item 8.3 only) (by videoconference)

• Rena MacIntosh (RM) – Senior Independent Assessor Liaison Officer (for item 8.3 only) (by videoconference)

2. Apologies

• Evelyn Aitken (Scottish Government)

• Sinead Gallagher (Welsh Government)

• Catherine Topley (Scottish Government)

3. FOI Notice

Where asterisks (*) appear, these sections have been excluded from the minutes before placing on the website as the subject under discussion falls within one or more of the exemptions contained in Part II of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and can be reasonably withheld.        

4. Chairman’s Opening Remarks / Directors’ Matters / Declarations of Interest

AW welcomed everyone to the meeting, explaining that he would Chair the meeting until PL was able to join.

Apologies were noted from CT, EA, and SG.

Declarations of Interest

CM noted that she had been appointed as external member and Chair of ARAC for the House of Lords Commission.

5. Chair Update

5.1 Update from the Chair on relevant matters

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AW noted that GP had been appointed as the new Chair of RemCo.

In terms of recent activity, AW noted that PL had been conducting annual performance reviews with the Non-Executive Directors and had met with the Director General to cover his own annual performance review.  PL was due (with CL) to have a monthly meeting with Baroness Barran on 2 November and would attend the DfE ALB Chairs’ Network meeting on 3 November.

6. Strategic items

6.1 CEO Report

NMC and AT joined the meeting.

CL noted that he would focus on colleague, customer and shareholder issues.

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PL and PC joined the meeting.

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Academic Cycle

CL noted that good progress had been made with the academic cycle and that frontline colleagues were delivering another year of ‘better for’ apply to pay and repayment customers. 

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In summary, and in terms of performance, PL called out the launch of the Education Maintenance Allowance that went live for Welsh customers on 17 October, asking CW for his view.  CW confirmed that albeit late, SLC and SFW achieved the launch, and this had been testament to close and collaborative working.  More generally, PL noted that SLC’s core apply to pay and repayment services were performing better than ever.

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NMC and AT left the meeting.

6.2 CFO Report

MMC joined the meeting.

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In summary PL noted that the Board took assurance from the CFO Report and verbal update and recognised the work that was being done to manage the budget.  

MMC left the meeting.

7. Reports from Committees

7.1 RemCo Chair Report

AW introduced the RemCo Chair Report noting that it had been the first meeting for GB and that she had covered performance management, ‘Leap of Faith’ and colleague engagement.  The Committee was apprised of People risks, the progress with the EDI Strategy, and had welcomed the latest RemCo dashboard.  The meeting included a horizon scan and early sight of the People inputs for the November Strategy Session before a closed session which covered CEO and ELT mid-year performance.

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The Board took assurance from the RemCo Chair Report

7.2 ARC Chair Report

CM introduced the ARC Chair Report noting that there had been updates and assurance provided on Internal and External Audit progress, Risk Management, Whistleblowing, Security, GDPR, Framework Document compliance, Health and Safety, and Higher Education Provider performance.  ARC recommended that the Board take assurance on the Annual Health and Safety Report.

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PL confirmed that the Board took assurance from the ARC Chair Report and approved the Annual Health and Safety Report.

8. Directors’ Reports

8.1 Cyber Security Strategic Framework

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8.2 Complaints and Appeals Biannual Report

JS and SBA joined the meeting.

DW introduced the Complaints and Appeals Biannual Report by welcoming JS to the meeting and noting that 5.2 was a report from management that SBA would present and 5.3 was the Independent Assessor’s Annual Report which JS would present.  DW noted these as independent papers but ones which were linked.

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PL summed up the item by noting the encouraging performance and asking that thanks be passed on to the complaints and appeals teams.  He also suggested a deep dive ahead of the next biannual report.

8.3 Independent Assessors’ Annual Report

AT and RMC joined the meeting.

JS introduced the item by noting the parameters that IAs work within, including that IAs are impartial and independent, have to work with the regulations as they stand, and have the ability to make recommendations, which JS was pleased to note that SLC follow unless instructed by the Secretary of State not to.   JS noted the positive relationship with the IA Liaison Office within SLC, and noted her thanks for the support provided by the team.

JS spoke about SLC’s progress in better supporting customers with additional needs and some of the challenges such customers face, for example in obtaining medical evidence.  This had been addressed by SLC by the development of a medical evidence proforma. 

JS noted that the speed of collation of cases being escalated to the IA could be improved and that 2 months would equate to better customer service.

PL noted that there were encouraging trends in JS’s report.

JS, SBA, AT and RMC left the meeting.

9. Governance

9.1 Minutes of meeting held on 28 September 2023

The minutes of the 28 September meeting were approved as an accurate record

9.2 Matters arising from previous meetings

The matters arising document was approved as accurate.

10. Any other business

PL noted that all Non-Executive Directors had accepted the invitation to the 29 November Strategy Session in the Boardroom in Bothwell Street, and the 30 November Board meeting in the Boardroom at 10 Clyde Place.

10.1 Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting was confirmed as being at 10.00 am on Thursday 30 November 2023 by Teams with Executive hosting from the Glasgow Boardroom. 

There being no other business the meeting ended at 1.35 pm.