Northern Ireland Community Relations Council - About Us - Council Minutes

26 November 2009

MINUTES OF THE ONE HUNDRED & THIRTY-EIGHT AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL HELD ON THURS 25th NOVEMBER 2009 @ 2.00 p.m. IN THE BOARDROOM OF THE JUNCTION, 8 BISHOP STREET, LONDONDERRY BT48

2030/09 PRESENT: Action:

Mr J Deery, Mr S Farry, Ms H Francey, Ms S Gordon, Mr T Kennedy, Ms R McCorley, Mr T McCusker. (Chair), Ms S McDermott, Mr E Oakes, Mr D Porter, Ms E Gallagher, Ms Hetherington, Mr W Gamble, Ms S McShane, Dr D Russell, Ms D MacBride, Ms K Hanlon, Dr L Litvack, Mr R Morton, Mr J Byrne, Ms J Witherow, Mr H Mansour.

2031/09 APOLOGIES:

None

2032/09 IN ATTENDANCE:

Dr D Morrow [CEO], Ms J Irwin {Deputy CEO], Ms H Scott [P/Secretary].

2033/09 OBSERVERS:

Mr D Haire, Ms E Hoy (CRU/OFMDFM).

2034/09 MINUTES:

The minutes from the previous meeting (24 Sept 2009) having been circulated was taken as read. There were no amendments. Approval proposed by Ms Francey, seconded by Ms McDermott

2035/09 (1) Mr Haire’s (CRU/OFMDFM) last meeting: The Chair wanted to record the Council’s appreciation for Mr Haire’s help and support and his contribution to the work of CRC over the past 4 years.

The CEO said that CRC had relied on Mr Haire for guidance and assistance and that he had been extremely helpful. He said that Mr Haire had been particularly influential in shaping government’s approach to ex prisoners and had shared the pressures around getting a policy document (CSI) published. The CEO wished Mr Haire all of the best on his retirement and for the future

(2) New Members: The Chair welcomed new members to Council

Mr W Gamble, Ms S McShane, Dr D Russell, Ms D MacBride, Ms K Hanlon, Mr L Litvack, Mr R Morton, Mr J Byrne, Ms J Witherow, Mr H Mansour.

2036/09 MATTERS ARISING:

(i) Audit [Mins 2021/09 refers]: the CEO confirmed that the NI Audit Office had sent management a letter confirming an unqualified audit. He said that although there were some procedural matters which had to be brought up to date e.g. pensions in broad terms it was a positive situation. The CEO told Members than he would continue to report to them on audit issues as appropriate. He advised that there would be continuing internal audits through ASM Horwath with an annual external audit by NIAO. The CEO said that he would ensure that any internal audit recommendations were implemented and that systems were regularly up-dated.

(ii) The Link [Mins 2019, Item 1 refers]: The Chair told members that local groups had challenged an IFI decision to fund The Link.

CEO said that an inaccurate article had appeared in a local paper implying that the UDA were involved in The Link funding application. The CEO said that nothing could be further from the truth and that there was no basis for the allegations.

(iii) CSI letters to party leaders [Mins 2020/09 item 1 refers]: The CEO confirmed that a number of meetings had been arranged but although “holding letters” had been received from Ministers no meetings with OFMDFM had been arranged. He thought the lack of progress over the CSI document might have prevented this.

Dr Russell suggested a letter be written to the Committee

CEO/Chair

2037/09 CHAIR’S BUSINESS:

1(a) Standard checks:

The Chair reminded Members that they had to declare any conflict of interests in any discussions where decisions were required.

(b) The Chair reminded members of the necessity to register any offers of

gifts or hospitality since the last Council meeting.

2 Aisling Awards: The Chair told members that these awards were in

celebration of work done, in this case the main beneficiary was Alan

McBride who, in his speech had made a strong statement advocating a

shared future.

3 Quaker book launch: the Chair advised that he had attended the launch

of a publication entitled “Out of the Silence”. He said he had enjoyed the

book and one of the key points for him was how a small community of

people could influence the NI peace process.

2037/09 Chairs business continued: Action:

4 Lisburn gathering of small businesses:The Chair said that he was due to attend this event on behalf of Council but it had been cancelled due to lack of interest.

5 Interviews with Council members: The Chair confirmed that he had a series of meeting with “current” Council members to ascertain their views and ideas about Council’s work. He said these meetings had been useful in terms of insights and hoped that they would be an annual feature.

2038/09 FINANCE:

[Papers CRC/138/11/09/01(a) & 01(b), 01(c) Pgs 1 to 4 refer]

Ø Management Accounts & Financial Statements: 01(a) & (b) refer

(a) Financial statements for 6 months ended 30 September

(b) Departmental profit and loss

Ø Grants review: 01(c) Pages 1 to 4 refer. – Analysis of grants paid.

The CEO confirmed that budgets were in place and that staff were working on producing a more accurate set of figures in terms of where the Programmes are from day to day.

The Chair queried whether interest could be utilised when there were large amounts in CRC’s bank accounts. He also queried the format in which the Accounts were shown on page 4 and 5. The Chair enquired if there was a way of distinguishing what was support for funding programmes and what was support for development work. DFAP

The CEO suggested that there might need to be guidance notes.

DFAP

The CEO informed members that CRC had been called to speak to the OFMDFM Accounts Committee in December.

Mr Haire (OFMDFM) said that there was an assumption that all (CRC) money that goes through the accounts was government money but this was not correct. He agreed that there should be a note to explain. Mr Haire said this also applied when sharing costs for overheads with the different sectors. DFAP

Mr Haire thought the Assembly Committee might ask about the volume of money going through CRC.

Mr Gamble said that footnotes could explain any differences.

The Chair said, with regard to “footnotes” that CRC might have to show costs by Programme and that the auditors could be consulted on this. DFAP

2038/09 Finance continued: Action:

Grant Review – there was consensus that this paper needed to be changed and that its current form did not make sense. J Fitzsimons/CEO

2039/09 PROPOSED SUB-COMMITTEES

[Paper CRC/138/11/09/02 tabled at meeting refers]

The Chair said this was a “first go”. He said there were two caveats, the Policy and Communications Committee was quite large and the Community Initiatives Committee currently only had one male member.

The Chair said that if anyone would like to change with regard to addressing the balance of the above two committees, or was on a particular committee they did not want to sit on to let him/the Secretary know.

Chair/Secretary

Ms McDermott enquired whether Ms Muldoon was still a Council member because she was Chair of the Community Initiatives Committee.

The Chair said that the “rule” was that the outgoing Chair could remain on the Committee for a year.

Attendance register: the Chair said he would be circulating these based on the past 12 month’s attendance. He said he would encourage members to attend the committees when ever possible.

The Chair said he would be pleased to hear from any member as to their preferences (for the various Committees) and also would like to hear from anyone who wanted to change.

Chair

2040/09 OPERATIONAL PLANNING:

[Papers CRC/138/11/09/03(a) & 03(b) refer]

Operational Plan 2009-2010 2^nd Quarter progress review refers 03(a):

(a) Ms Irwin told members that the full document was lengthy and had not been posted out however copies were available to members (at the meeting). She said the plan was based on the final year of the Strategic Plan 07-10 and that progress in priority areas 1 and 4 continued to be delayed having been affected by government’s decision to review Share Shared Future strategy.

Ms Irwin advised new members that the annual report had been delayed because the Council had awaited the NI Audit Office’s audit report but that the CEO would give an update on this.

2040/09 Operational Planning continued: Action:

Ms Irwin reported on the following:

Ø An internal audit of the EU Programme had been complete and the audit for the Communications and Policy Programme was scheduled for early 2010.

Ø Tracey Wilson had joined the finance team.

Ø The EU programme was continuing to collaborate with Border Action to implement Measure 1.1 and 1.2 of Peace III

Ø The Victims funding for this year had been extended by a year because its new service was still not in place.

Ø CRC had established an Evaluation Advisory Group whose purpose it was to consider the challenges faced in measuring the impact of Community/Good Relations base work.

Ø The Community Bridges Programme had recruited an evaluation officer.

Ø The Policy Committee had established a good working partnership with the Rural Community Network to consider the implications of sharing of separation in a rural context.

(b) Equality Scheme update 03(b): This paper was self explanatory and updated members on on-going training programmes.

Ms Irwin said that the training group would be pleased to have any feedback on the training that Members had received.

A general discussion followed the following was noted.

N+2 - pressure to spend important to ensure money used appropriately.

Victims Programme: Members were told that staff (?)contracts officially come to and end in March 2010.

The CEO said that clarity was required from government because if notification was not received CRC would have to issue redundancy notices to Victims

Programme staff, wind the scheme up and advise groups. He said that he wanted to alert members to this practical issue.

The Chair said that the government was aware of the situation and there was likelihood that there would be a renewal for another year but he pointed out that, in legal terms, that CRC would have to notify all concerned.

2040/09 Operational Planning continued: Action:

Mr Farry suggested there was a raft of other issues in crisis, including the RPA. He suggested that the Special Advisors needed to be alerted and enquired if there was any reason to believe this would not happen.

The CEO said he was not aware of reason that a renewal would not happen but that CRC had to be cognoscente of its legal responsibility to staff and for those groups in receipt of Victims Programme funding. He said that 30 days notice had to be issued but that CRC had also to issue 3 months “protection notice”.

The Chair pointed out this would be mid December 2009.

Mr Gamble suggested that it might worthwhile writing to the First Minister explaining that if there was no clarify regarding the extension of Victims scheme CRC would have to issue redundancy notices.

The Chair said that following the meeting he would contact OFMDFM expressing the concerns of the Council.

Chair

2041/09 COMMUNICATIONS REVIEW UPDATE:

[Paper CRC/138/11/09/04 refers]

The Chair told members that the recommendations from Webber Shandwick (who carried out the external review) had not been circulated to Council. Whereas much of the analysis had been accepted the steering group had been less content with the future direction given to management.

The Chair said that if any member wished to offer thoughts on this paper or on Communications in general to please let him know.

2042/09 PATHFINDER PROPOSALS:

[PapersCRC/138/11/09/05(i) & O5(ii) refer]

(1) Crusaders FC and Newington AFC - 05(i)

Recommended (for a 9 months period): up to £28,313.00

Approved: up to £28,313.00

(2) Unite Against Hate – 05(ii)

Recommended: £10,000.00

Approved: £10,000.00

Members felt that there was insufficient information about the activities being proposed by this campaign. However it was also felt that not to contribute would send a negative message.

2043/09 CEO’s REPORT:

[Paper CRC/138/11/09/06 refers]

The CEO outlined the main areas of his report which he said came in three sections, current issues, organisational matters and where he had been as CEO representing CRC. He highlighted:

Victims conference 2009: The CEO reported that this had been a highly successful conference held at the Slieve Donard Hotel.. He said that CRC staff were widely praised at the event, the broad view being that CRC should be retained for the delivery of services.

The Chair pointed out that there were increasing demand on the Council to deliver externally and he said that there was a limit to how much an organisation could be stretched in this way both personally and organisationally.

2044/09 SECTOR REPORTS:

[Papers CRC/138/11/09/07 – 11 refers]

These reports outline the main areas of work and are for member’s information.

Communication & Learning Resources (Paper CRC/138/11/09/07 refers)

Funding & Development Programme (Paper CRC/138/11/09/08 refers)

Policy Development Programme

(Paper CRC/138/11/09/09 refers)

IFI Community Bridges Programme – this paper was not tabled at the meeting due to illness.

EU Programme

(Paper CRC/138/11/09/11 refers)

The Chair pointed out that these papers were for the information of members and asked if there were any questions on any of the sector reports.

There were no questions.

2045/09 AOB:

None

2045/09 DATES OF NEXT MEETINGS:

Ø Thurs 28 January 2010 @ 1.30 p.m.

Ø Wed 31 March 2010 @ 1.30 p.m.

Ø Thurs 27 May 2010 (possibly in CRC’s offices in Linen Green Centre Moygashel, Dungannon)