Welsh Revenue Authority Board minutes: 28 February 2024

Members

• Ruth Glazzard, Chair
• Dyfed Alsop, CEO
• Rebecca Godfrey, COO/SD
• Mary Champion, Non-Executive Member 
• Jim Scopes, Non-Executive Member 
• Rheon Tomos, Non-Executive Member 
• Zoe Curry, Staff-Elected Member

1. The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. No conflicts of interest were declared, and apologies were received from Jocelyn Davies and Carl Alexis. Attendees included representatives from the Welsh Treasury (WT), and presenters and observers from the WRA.
2. Dyfed Edwards, who had taken the role of chair at Betsi Cadwaladr on an interim basis, has taken the position permanently. This board thanked him for his time and valuable input at the WRA.
3. The Chair noted the Board’s current governance position. Whilst it meets the needs of the TCMA in terms of the number of non-executive members (NEMs), it will be operating with fewer NEMs for the foreseeable future. However, the Chief Executive has not yet appointed all executive members, in order to ensure there is a majority of non-executives present at meetings.
4. The minutes of the previous meeting (November ’23) were agreed as an accurate record of discussions.
5. There were no comments on the papers to note.

Performance Report

Redacted

CEO/ AO Report

1. Redacted
2. The recent all staff WRA away day went well, with good engagement and questions on the approach to a services orientated organisation.
3. A focus group are continuing to discuss hybrid working approaches, following an internal survey- next steps are to engage further with staff.
4. Redacted
5. TA have also started to discuss the next corporate plan, primarily which performance measures would be best suited for the organisation’s future setup.

SDLG report 

1. The Services Director (SD) presented the latest report. The Service Delivery Leadership Group (SDLG) had been focusing on resources, and discussing what capabilities the organisation will need as the WRA moves to a service-based approach.
2. Redacted

Welsh Treasury report

Redacted

Finance & ARAC report

1. Redacted
2. ARAC had a good discussion on the risk appetite statement (RAS), and felt that overall, the organisation is acting in accordance with the current RAS.
3. The CEO/AO felt that the current appetite level for service delivery was appropriate. However, in terms of financial risk appetite, this is possibly two different elements: the risk of overspending (of which there is a very low risk tolerance), and the control of the spend in different areas (where there is higher tolerance of changing the intention of spend, according to business needs, and what is most appropriate at the time). It was suggested that TA review the possibility of splitting the finance RAS into two categories, to allow future flexibility of funding management.
4. Redacted

A24-01-02: TA to discuss and consider if the finance RAS category should be split.

A24-01-03: TA to consider the content of the risk register, including the impact of resourcing on KPIs and ensuring cause/ mitigation is clear, and a consideration of an additional risk to service delivery.

WRA stakeholders

1. Redacted
2. For the new First Minister, and possibly a new Finance Minister, discussions have been in motion to draft a briefing to outline the WRA’s position, approach and budget risks & opportunities.
3. The WRA will have a stand at the next Civil Service Live in Wales, which will hopefully both help promote its approach and provide an opportunity to expand its capacity and capability.

Welsh Language Standards

1. The Head of Comms provided an update on timelines regarding the Welsh Language Standards. WRA are to formally come under the standards from June 2025, with a consultation with the WL commissioner in October 2024 to gage the bespoke level of standards that apply to the WRA.
2. The comms team have completed an audit across the organisation and further embedded WL aspects into the induction process for new starters. Winder engagement work is underway, sharing best practices with other organisations, especially within the context of the WBFG Act.

Risk reflections & financial implications 

1. The Board Secretariat and Head of Finance provided a summary of the risk and financial implications related to the day’s discussions (of which are reflected in the minutes).
    

1. Members provided reflections on the day’s discussions which had wide ranging risk considerations.
2. The next meeting would be a Board Conversation on 20 March. The summer strategy away day had been diarised for July.
3. There were no AOBs.

Redacted information

There are certain circumstances where it is not appropriate to share all of the information contained within the Board minutes, for example, where it contains personal or commercial data or relates to the formulation of government policy or the effective conduct of public affairs. In such circumstances, the information has been redacted and the text is marked clearly that this has been the case.