Wednesday 22 May 2024
10:00 – 12:00
MS Teams
Attendees
Online:
- Janet Egdell – Interim Chief Executive (Chair)
- Anne Moises – Non-Executive Director
- Maggie Waterston – Non-Executive Director
- Tim Wright – Non-Executive Director
- Carla McHendry – Director of Digital & Delivery
- Laura Mitchell – Director of Information and Records Services & Deputy Keeper
- Linda Sinclair – Director of Corporate Services & NRS Accountable Officer
- Jon Wroth-Smith – Director of Census Statistics
- Alan Ferrier – Director of Statistics
- Claire Gillespie – Chief Finance Officer
- Jane Milne – NRS Head of Customer Services Operations
- Shirley Cameron – Head of BMU
- Gemma Barker – Corporate Governance Manager
- Dylais Mattison – NRS BMU - Secretariat
Apologies:
- Gordon Shipley – Non-Executive Director
- Anne Slater – Director of Operations and Customer Services & Deputy Registrar General
1. Welcome, Introductions and Apologies
1.1 The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were noted as listed above. Apologies were conveyed from Joe Griffin, the NRS Director General for Strategy & External Affairs.
2. Minutes of previous meetings
2.1 The minutes of 20 March 2024 were approved.
2.2 The action log was reviewed and updated. A37917071
2.3 No new declarations of interest were noted.
3. The Future of Population Statistics & Outline Business Case-Jon Wroth- Smith
3.1 The positive press coverage was noted regarding the census outputs. Jon Wroth-Smith advised the next releases would take place on 13th and 17th June.
3.2 The census cycle was highlighted. Feeback regarding the Outline Business Case was sought.
3.3 Census funding and lessons learned were discussed. An administrative data system that produced annual statistics was discussed that would replace the ten year census cycle. There was an opportunity to update population statistics more frequently.
3.4 NRS continued to work closely with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and Northern Ireland Statistics Research Agency (NISRA). ONS had indicated their proposals for the Future of Population Statistics (FoPS). A decision would be made in June 2024 with further research on the FoPS in 2026. NRS had established a new project on the FoPS working with Scottish Government (SG) statistics and digital colleagues. Initial recommendations would be made to Scottish Ministers by end of 2024.
3.5 The business case set out the critical success factors. At the end of 2026 NRS would make a recommendation based on research. There were five standard critical success factors with an additional two that were NRS specific. Reference was made to the road map, options and to the Digital Assurance Office (DAO) Gateway Review 0.
3.6 The Outline Business Case (OBC) was discussed and would to be in place by June 2026. Reference was made to the collaborative approach with the SG on the discovery phase and alignment with ONS.
3.7 The outline draft business case was agreed. Clarifications were sought regarding the critical success factors and the partnership with ONS/NISRA. The legislative implications on the use of administrative data were clarified. The harmonization between the individual countries within the UK was noted.
4. Future Archive – Laura Mitchell
4.1 Laura Mitchell provided an update regarding the NRS archive services. The draft strategic case set out included options for SG, other public bodies and for NRS.
4.2 Physical archive and digital archive required separate solutions. The business requirements for physical archive were addressed. A workshop that reviewed options was held in May 2024.
4.3 There were variables for NRS to consider to develop a proof of concept for digital archiving, with possible assistance from the SG Digital Programme. There was strong interest in digital archiving from other bodies through partnership work.
4.4 A strategic outline case would be produced by end of June 2024. A request for resources was included.
4.5 The Chair noted priorities to invest in NRS collections management and the capacity of partnership exploration with other culture bodies. Views were welcomed from SB members. The legal obligations on space were confirmed. Included were permissive agreements and contractual obligations through Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs). NRS is named as the appropriate archive for various public bodies in their records management plans.
4.6 It was confirmed that physical and digital archives would be divided. The request would be taken to the Executive Management Board (EMB), where capital and resource spending would be explored.
Action SB 47 EMT to consider prioritisation of archive storage against other business cases
5. Delivery Strategic Change Portfolio – Carla McHendry
5.1 The papers were noted for awareness. The success of the Compute Project was noted. It was noted that the cloud based service contract expired in 2026. The digital strategy would be put to the EMB later this month and would be brought to a future SB to discuss the digital road map.
6. IT Services Update
6.1 NRS recently re-secured the public services network compliance, which ensured NRS systems were secure and compliant with the public sector in addition to the cyber essentials accreditation award. Shirley Cameron and the Business Management Unit were thanked for their work that included the set-up of the Digital Strategy Board.
7. Corporate Overview & Portfolio Update
7.1 The Chair noted and thanked Linda Sinclair for the Corporate Overview slides.
8. Date of next meeting and close
8.1 The date of the next meeting would be 11 September 2024. Shirley Camerson was thanked for all her work in the BMU as this was her last SB meeting.
