Members Present:
Dorinnia Carville, Chair (C&AG)
Rodney Allen (COO)
Suzanne Jones (Director)
Conor McGeown (Director)
Brian O’Neill (Director)
Seamus Wade (Director)
Tomas Wilkinson (Director)
In Attendance:
Suzanne Murphy (Audit Manager) agenda item 1
Jill Aicken (Head of People and OD) – Agenda item 2
Megan O’Neill (Head of Corporate Services) – Agenda item 3
Helen Dodds (Head of Quality and Innovation) – Agenda item 4
Louise Halligan (Secretariat Support)
Apologies:
Patrick Barr (Director)
Barry Mitchell (Director)
Declaration of Conflicts of Interest
No conflicts were declared.
Minutes of previous meeting Matters Arising
Minutes of the previous meeting held on 20 April 2026 were agreed and the matters arising noted as updated.
1. Corporate Management Team (CMT) Briefing
Suzanne Murphy joined the meeting and provided an update on the following key areas:
• CMT sought clarification on the future position of trainee accountants due to complete their training. SLT confirmed that the position remains unchanged since a previous discussion with the trainees. The Head of People and OD will contact the relevant staff members.
• CMT are currently reviewing the CMT Terms of Reference (ToR), the review will be finalised and the ToR agreed at the June 2026 meeting and submitted to SLT.
2. People and OD
2.1 People and OD Monthly Report
Jill Aicken joined the meeting and briefed members on the report presented. The following key areas were highlighted for discussion:
• Managing Attendance - Members noted the figures presented.
• HR Policy Review – The review is ongoing, with policy updates being progressed in phases and presented to SLT for consultation as appropriate. Policies agreed at recent weekly SLT meetings were formally noted as approved.
• Pay and Benefits Benchmarking Exercise – A draft report will be available soon, be presented to SLT, shared in final form with trade union side (TUS) and will inform discussions with TUS concerning the 2026-27 pay award for staff.
• Review of Competency Framework – Following SLT considerations the review has been discussed with TUS, some revisions have been made to a number of roles and this has been discussed with the relevant staff members.
3. Financial Management/Corporate Governance
3.1 Corporate Services Report
Megan O’Neill joined the meeting and briefed members on the Corporate Services report presented. The following key areas were discussed:
Finance
• Members noted the financial position at the end of March 2026. Members also discussed the impact of the absence of an Executive agreed Budget for the 2026-27 financial year, noting this was a serious matter and the C&AG has recently written to the NI Assembly Audit Committee raising her concerns.
Accommodation
• Members were provided with an update on ongoing work to resolve the issues with the heating system in the building, new booths, access to corporate services and the current position on a survey for the roof.
IT
• Following the successful migration of Time and Space to the cloud, training will be provided to Megan O’Neill and the Information and Systems Officer, who in turn, will subsequently deliver training to all staff, expected to be in September 2026.
Procurement
• Contracting-out Financial Audits – The tender evaluation has been completed and standstill letters have been issued along with contract award notices. The standstill period will last for eight working days.
Megan also provided an update on legal advice obtained in the period and information management, confirming there were no data breach incidents. She also provided details of meetings with the Advisory Board, ARAC and the Remuneration Committee.
4. Quality and Innovation
4.1 Technical Team Update/Public Reporting Update
Helen Dodds joined the meeting and provided an update on the following:
• Quality Assurance Reviews - Actions to address the findings from the QAD reviews are nearing completion, with key progress being made including the delivery of an ICAEW training session on 7 May 2026 to all financial audit staff. SLT recorded their thanks to all the team and staff for their ongoing work in this critically important area.
• A 60-day report has been issued to reinforce timely audit completion and file closure. To support compliance, this will be tabled at the next CMT meeting, and Directors are asked to remind staff accordingly.
• Financial Audit Manual - Work continues on the development of the Financial Audit Manual in collaboration with Audit Wales, completion is expected by September 2026.
Public Reporting
• Practitioner Group – A meeting was held on 21 April 2026 and actions arising from the meeting were presented for information.
• Quality/Peer Review -Reviews are currently underway and are due to be completed by 2 June 2026. It is intended that the results will be reported in the NIAO Annual Report and Accounts.
• Helen Dodds has had preliminary discussions with ICAEW’s QAD in relation to quality control reviews of public reports. Some engagement will also take place with Audit Scotland and Audit Wales to ascertain their experiences in this area.
• Helen Dodds and Brian O’Neill attended a digitalisation conference hosted by Audit Scotland on 11–12 May 2026. A report will be prepared and presented to SLT to share key learning from the conference.
5. Communications and Engagement
5.1 Corporate Affairs Report
Brian O’Neill provided an update to members on developments since the April 2026 SLT meeting. Members noted the report presented, with no significant issues raised.
5.2 Handling Correspondence – Quarterly Update
Tomas Wilkinson provided an update on the status of MLA Correspondence and the Raising Concerns caseload. Directors were reminded to save all correspondence to the relevant raising concerns or MLA case files on the server.
6. Strategic Projects
6.1 Workforce Planning
Seamus Wade provided a verbal update on staffing and resourcing matters. The C&AG requested that an August deadline be set to review the current resourcing and medium term needs, and emphasised the importance of Megan O’Neill being involved in discussions for budget oversight and management considerations.
6.2 People Engagement Programme
Rodney Allen advised that a steering group meeting was held on 22 April 2026 and the group welcomed progress to date across the three workstreams. Separately lead directors have met to ensure all the actions from 2022 and 2024 staff surveys have been incorporated or addressed. A comprehensive update on progress will be provided to all staff in the coming weeks. Jill Aicken will take this forward with Rodney Allen.
7. Strategic Performance
7.1 Management Information Report – Financial Audit and Public Reporting
A combined report providing a breakdown of the costs associated with financial audits and the costs and timing for completing public reports was presented. Members noted the report presented with no significant issues raised.
7.2 Position re Backlog Accounts
Members provided the C&AG with an update on the current position regarding a number of specific backlogged audits.
7.3 SLT Self-Assessment Exercise
A draft self-assessment checklist was endorsed by SLT. Members are asked to complete the assessment before 29 May 2026, findings will be presented at the June SLT meeting.
7.4 Performance against KPI’s
Brian O’Neill presented a report providing an update on performance against business plan KPIs for 2025–26. Members noted the report, with one minor amendment proposed.
8. Risk Management
8.1 Corporate Risk Register (CRR)
Conor McGeown provided an update on changes made to the CRR since the April 2026 SLT meeting, all changes were highlighted in red for members convenience. Members welcomed the comprehensive considerations which were endorsed and Conor was asked to pass on thanks to his staff group.
8.2 Draft Annual Assurance Statement
Members noted a draft assurance statement covering the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 will be presented to the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) at their next meeting scheduled for 26 May 2026.
8.3 Corporate Risk Register Working Group (CRRWG)
It was agreed that going forward a member of the Group would be invited attend SLT minuted and ARAC meetings, Conor McGeown will advise who will attend.
9. To Note
9.1 ARAC Agenda – 26 May 2026
10. Papers for Escalation to the Advisory Board – 23 February 2026
10.1 Anti-Fraud Policies, Fraud Response Plan
10.2 Raising Concerns Policy
10.3 Direct Award Contracts
10.4 NIAO Business Continuity Plan
10.5 Draft ARAC Annual Report to the Advisory Board
10.6 Draft ARAC Terms of Reference Review
Internal Audit Reports:
10.7 Internal Audit Strategy 2026/27
10.8 Internal Audit Report 2025/26
11. AOB
11.1 Matters Agreed at Weekly SLT Meetings
Rodney Allen summarised the key matters discussed and decisions made by SLT at the weekly meetings on 28 April, 5 May and 12 May and these were endorsed by members.
12. Date of next meeting
The next monthly meeting will be held on 15 June 2026.