Thursday 11 September 2025
10:00 – 12:00
Hybrid: Lord Clerk Registers Room and Microsoft Teams
Attendees
- Alison Byrne, Chief Executive (Chair)
- Anne Moises, Non-Executive Director
- Tim Wright, Non-Executive Director
- Maggie Waterston, Non-Executive Director
- Anne Moises, Non-Executive Director
- Albert King, Non-Executive Director
- Bryan Robertson, Non-Executive Director
- John McDonough, Non-Executive Director
- Victoria McGloin, Non-Executive Director
- Director of Corporate Services & NRS Accountable Officer
- Director of Digital & Delivery
- Director of Census Statistics
- Director of Statistics
- NRS Corporate Finance Lead
- NRS Head of Customer Services, Operations & Archives
- Director of Digital & IT Services (interim)
- Head of Portfolio & Governance (Business change) (Item 3)
- NRS Business Change Manager (Item 3)
- Head of Portfolio and Governance (Item 4)
- Head of NRS Policy
- Lead Product Manager (Item 7)
- Lead Content Designer (Item 7)
- Lead Developer (Item 7)
- Corporate Governance Manager
- NRS BMU - Secretariat
Apologies
- Jennet Woolford, Non-Executive Director
- Karis Raeburn, Non-Executive Director
- Head of BMU
1. Welcome, Introductions and Apologies
1.1 The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were noted as listed above.
2. Review of previous minutes/action log and Declarations of Interest
2.1 Minutes of 12 March 2024 and 24 June 2025
The minutes from NRS Strategic Board meetings on 12 March 2025 and 24 June 2025 were approved.
2.2 Action log
The action log was reviewed and updated.
2.3 Declarations of Interest
There were no new declarations of interest.
3 Strategy Target Operating Model, Transformation Plan and draft Corporate Plan
3.1 The Head of Portfolio & Governance and the NRS Business Change Manager presented their update. It covered:
- The Corporate Plan was scheduled to be published on 17 November 2025
- Version 6 of the Corporate Plan would be made available to external audiences, including Non-Executive Directors (NXD’s)
- Version 7 of the Corporate Plan would then be sent to APS to produce the final document
- It was acknowledged that NRS faced a challenge in delivering all the projects identified and there was work to be done to match resource and funding to delivery
3.2 In discussion the following points were raised by NRS NXD’s:
- NXD’s highlighted that NRS could link the Corporate Plan to the National Performance Framework and other Scottish Government priorities
- NXD’s would like to bring the Corporate Plan to life and make the wording of it compelling and clearly show what would change for both internal and external customers of NRS
- NXD’s suggested the statistical information that NRS provided to Scottish Government, on births, deaths and geographical information, be included in the Corporate Plan
- NXD’s suggested the Corporate Plan did not clearly identify who exactly the strategy was aimed at
- NXD’s suggested a more outcome focused approach
3.3 The following comments on the strategy cards were noted:
- Zero emissions target was considerable for NRS
- Suggested removal of the digital and data strategy as this was a means to an end and not an outcome
- Wording around NHSCR to be amended to reflect what the service is and what it does
The Chair thanked the team for their work on the NRS Corporate Plan.
NEW ACTION: SB 61 – Carla McHendry to issue revised version of draft Corporate Plan to NXD’s Action Owner: Carla McHendry.
4. Change Governance
4.1 The Head of Portfolio and Governance provided an overview on the delivery of programmes and projects for NRS. Areas covered were:
- A paper setting out an early draft of the proposed approach to NRS Change Governance, Corporate Planning and Financial and Change Delivery Planning
4.2 In discussion the following points were raised:
- Strategic Board members noted the paper and thanked the Change Governance team for their work
- NXD’s noted the proposal seemed “governance heavy” and suggested more work was needed to consider how flexibility and agility to delivery could be built in
- NXD’s commented that it was difficult to differentiate between certain NRS governance meetings and boards and the role of Executive Management Board in terms of role and functions. Are we clear we have proportionate right-sized governance
- NXD’s suggested the amount of detail in the Terms of Reference (ToR) was confusing, a clear ToR was important
- NXDs suggested board membership was extensive and it would be worth considering a slimmed down version to aid decision making
- NXD’s suggested a clear communications plan for the NRS Strategy and governance changes was needed
- It was suggested that worked examples could be taken through the process to illustrate how the process would work and the decisions and trade-offs the board would be expected to make. It was noted that at present staff feel issues were “stuck” in governance without clear resolution
5. Data Strategy
5.1 The Director of Statistics introduced the Data Strategy and advised it was a first for NRS. Feedback was sought from the board. Topics covered were:
- Why NRS requires a data strategy
- Progress to date
- Drivers and ambitions
- Planned approach
- Outcomes and next steps
5.2 Current challenges were identified and progress to date was noted. The corporate dashboard would be brought to a future Strategic Board.
Points noted in discussion included:
- It was a key goal for NRS to become a more data driven organisation and maximise its data assets externally
- It was important for all NRS to see themselves represented in the data strategy
5.3 Reference was made to the first meeting with Data Orchard who have been procured to develop the NRS data strategy and who are experts on the improvement of data maturity. Feedback was requested from the board. The following feedback points were noted:
- There was a risk that data could be entrenched in a technical silo
- The data strategy should be driven by a statistics or sponsor role and work with IT would help to achieve a balance
- The data strategy should be tied to the strategic objectives
- People centred outcomes were required to make the data strategy relevant
- Would be helpful to consider it as an information strategy rather than a data strategy
- What was the long-term road map?
- The data strategy was different to the digital strategy and should be seen as such by staff
The Chair thanked The Director of Statistics for the presentation.
6. NRS People Board
6.1 The Director for Corporate Services provided an update on behalf of the Head of NRS People Services. Background on how the People Board evolved was explained that enabled discussion around its remit on initiatives to allow NRS to move forward as an organisation. The topics the NRS People Board covered were noted.
6.2 Further updates on initiatives would be brought back to the Strategic Board at a later date. It was confirmed the board would have delegated authority.
7. Accessibility and Corporate Website
7.1 The Lead Developer, Lead Product Manager and Lead Content Designer provided an overview of the project. This covered:
- Background on why the project was undergoing a refresh and how the new website was improved and how accessibility would be monitored
7.2 The Director of Digital thanked the team for the ability to build in capacity to monitor work. Points noted were:
- There were various different websites within NRS, however NRS did not own them completely
- Work would commence on the Tartan Register on completion of user research
- It was advised that further discussions were required on the use of AI
- The search engine had been improved
- All website pages were reviewed in house
8. Any Other Business
8.1 There was no other business discussed.
9. Date and time of next meeting
9.1 Next meeting was scheduled for 11 December 2025.
