Welsh Government Board meeting: 12 December 2025

• Andrew Goodall (Chair) 
• Carys Williams 
• Aled Edwards 
• Mike Usher 
• Andrew Slade 
• Tracey Burke 
• Sioned Evans 
• Dean Medcraft 
• Dom Houlihan 
• Nicola Williams 
• Zakhyia Begum 
• Future Generations Champion 
• TUS Representative 

In attendance 

• Piers Bisson 
• Will Whiteley 
• Andrew Jeffreys 
• Emma Watkins 
• Emma Spear 
• Principal Data Scientist 
• Head of Senedd Reform Policy and Legislation 
• Senior Principal Research Officer - Corporate Research and Analysis 

Apologies 

• Emma Williams 
• Judith Paget 
• Jacqueline Totterdell 
• David Richards 

Secretariat 

• Permanent Secretary’s Office 

1.1 The Chair welcomed all to the meeting and noted the apologies received. The note of the meeting of 24 October was agreed subject to an amendment requested by Carys Williams.

1.2 The Chair advised Board members that Mutale Merrill has tended her resignation as a Non-Executive Director and Board member as she has been selected to stand as a candidate in the 2026 Senedd elections.

1.3 The Chair welcomed Nicola Williams to the Board following her appointment as Director of Legal Services.

1.4 The Chair welcomed Andrew Jeffreys and Emma Watkins to the meeting and invited them to provide an update on the Welsh Government's budget process, including the impact of the UK Government’s budget. Andrew noted that the UK Government budget offers both challenges and opportunities for Welsh Government, with higher inflation forecasts increasing funding requirements but also an additional £500 million over four years, including £200 million for the next year, which improved the government's financial flexibility.

1.5 Andrew Jeffreys outlined details of the agreement reached with Plaid Cymru on the draft budget for 2026 – 2027. Emma Watkins detailed the timeline for the 2026 – 2027 budget leading to the final budget vote in the Senedd on 27 January.

1.6 Carys Williams inquired about team wellbeing given the pressures around agreeing the draft budget. Andrew Jeffreys noted the efforts of teams across the organisation in contributing to the draft budget but acknowledged ongoing challenges.

1.7 The Chair noted that the AI Plan for Wales has been launched.

1.8 The Chair highlighted the strong progress on delivering Programme for Government priorities, especially in jobs, housing, and transport, with some challenges remaining in health. Tracey Burke noted the progress with the legislative programme, with all Bills on track, though some last-minute challenges remain.

1.9 Dom Houlihan provided an update on the results of the 2025 People Survey. The results show a third consecutive year of improved engagement scores, high performance compared to UK benchmarks and, several areas for improvement.

1.10 The Chair noted the successful delivery of both the International Investment summit and the British Irish Council in early December.

1.11 The Chair noted the three nominations for Welsh Government at the Civil Service Awards, including the Prime Minister’s Award for Exceptional Public Service.

1.12 The Chair noted the strong performance by learners and Further Education Institutions from across Wales at the recent World Skills Event.

2.1 The Chair invited Piers Bisson and Will Whiteley to provide the update on preparations for Senedd Reform and the introduction of AI tools to support government business.

2.2 Piers summarised progress against the four themes of the internal delivery plan: direct support for ministers, government business and legislative improvement, workforce and resourcing (including Welsh language capability), and future Senedd operation, highlighting recruitment and office reconfiguration efforts.

2.3 Piers and Emma Spear highlighted staff engagement activities, noting staff roadshows and the distribution of team packs, and ongoing efforts to develop induction materials for new ministers. Carys Williams suggested that the Non-Executive Directors could help trial the induction materials.

2.4 Will Whiteley outlined ongoing work to improve government business systems. The Board received a demonstration of AI-powered Co-pilot agents developed by the in-house Data Science Team, including a 'lines to take' agent for extracting policy positions from documents and a 'letter writing' agent that incorporates ministerial preferences, currently in testing and showing significant time savings for government business units.

2.5 Reflection on the Senedd Reform internal delivery plan, Mike Usher queried whether officials are content that the mitigating actions outlined in the plan will deliver the required outcomes. Piers responded that progress is being made but that there is still work to be done on identifying and mobilising resources to meet the demands of government business and the legislative program.

2.6 Sioned Evans stressed the importance of having a target operating model in place ahead of the Senedd elections in empowering a culture of change across the organisation.

2.7 The Chair thanked Board members for their comments and noted that Board would receive further updates in early 2026.

3.1 Dean Medcraft and Mike Usher provided an update on the annual accounts process. The Auditor General for Wales has indicated that he intends to issue a qualified true and fair audit opinion on the 2024 – 2025 accounts as he is unable to determine whether the fair value estimate of the Welsh Government student loan asset at 31 March is reasonable. Dean noted that the Scottish Government use the same model to value their student loan asset.

3.2 Mike Usher expressed his disappointment at the decision to qualify the accounts, noting that the estimate of the Student Loan asset remains the best available figure. Mike offered his thanks to the Chief Accountant and her team, and officials across Welsh Government for their work on preparing the annual accounts.

3.3 Carys Williams recorded her disappointment that Audit Wales had chosen to qualify the accounts.

3.4 Dean and Mike outlined discussions with Audit Wales on lessons learned from preparing the 2024 – 2025 accounts. Mike noted that several core systems are hampering preparation of the annual accounts and that this has been fed back to the project on improving corporate systems.

3.5 The Period 7 financial position shows a tight but manageable position situation, with no need for enhanced controls at this stage

3.6 Dean noted that Welsh Government has been recognised and rewarded by HM Treasury for its exceptional cash management performance.

3.7 Mike noted that there has been some turnover in the membership of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.

3.8 The Chair thanked all of those involved in preparing the annual accounts.

4.1 Dean Medcraft presented the latest update to the Corporate Risk Register (CRR), noting significant updates to a number of corporate risks and the use of horizon scanning working groups to explore future risks.

4.2 Carys Williams stressed the need to review target dates regularly. Turning to the work on horizon scanning, Carys queried the assessment of the potential risk posed by post quantum cryptography noting that international evidence suggests it should be considered a higher and more imminent risk. Carys also queried the assessment of the use of AI, asking if this relates to the technical estate or the use of AI by the organisation.

4.3 Mike Usher queried whether the horizon scanning exercise had sufficiently considered those risks that that while not specific to Welsh Government, it would nevertheless be expected to intervene, and act were they to materialise.

4.4 The Chair thanked all for their comments and reminded Board of the importance of revisiting the organisation’s risks appetite regularly and ensuring that the risk register remains an active tool reflecting staff concerns and driving Board and Executive Committee agendas.

5.1 The Board received an update on the Balanced Scorecard. Sioned Evans noted the ongoing improvement to the quality of data used to construct the score card and the plans to expand the score card to include additional indicators in future iterations. Sioned added that EXCO has agreed to make the scorecard more widely available within the organisation, with supporting communications such as blogs to explain its purpose and encourage action based on the data.

5.2 Nicola Williams asked whether the scorecard can be disaggregated to Directorate level and how it can be integrated into risk management processes.

5.3 Carys Williams queried how the organisation can become more effective at de-prioritising activities. On disseminating the Balanced Scorecard, Carys cautioned against overwhelming staff and suggested a Lunch and Learn approach.

5.4 Zakhyia Begum on behalf of the Shadow Board noted the Balanced Scorecard offered excellent insight into a range of performance data but emphasised the importance of context, framing, and timing in communicating the data.

5.5 Mike Usher welcomed the update and noted the need for continued efforts to improve performance on achieving the targets set out in the Prompt Payment Policy.

5.6 Dom Houlihan and the TUS representative noted ongoing work to improve data on sickness absence and explore parts of the organisation with higher levels of absence. The importance of working in social partnership and having regular open and constructive conversations on the issues around managing sickness absences was emphasised. Dom noted the importance of early intervention and effective wellbeing support to manage absences.

5.7 The Chair thanked all for their comments and noted that ExCo had agreed that focus for actions will continue to be on the four areas identified previously (Sickness absence; Payment performance, Ministerial correspondence redrafts; and Project delivery).

6.1 No items of any other business were raised. Board will next meet on 30 January.