News & Events

Caranua Board minutes 11 June 2015

These are the Board Meeting minutes from 11 June 2015.

We are happy to publish the minutes of our Board meetings so that Board activities and decisions are accountable. There is always a delay between the meeting held and the publication of the minutes.  This is because the minutes must be approved before they can be published.  Minutes are approved at the meeting after the meeting they are a record off.  For example, if a Board meeting is held in March and the next meeting is held in April, the minutes of the March meeting will not be on the website until after the April meeting.

Present:    

David O’Callaghan,Phyllis Morgan, David Lane, Tom Daly, Austin Currie, Rosemary Adaser,

Frances Harrington, Katherine Finn

Apologies:               

Damian Casey

In attendance:          

Mary Higgins CEO, David O’Duffy Caranua Director of Services, Lucy Kenny Minute Taker,

Brian Griffin Mazars 

Item

Discussion

Action

Time

1. Mazars Report 

Brian Griffin presented the report and recommendations from the external review.  It was agreed that:

  • The reversion to assessment calls first should be made from July 1st, or as soon as feasible
  • The proposed pilot at D3 should be for six months, rather than the recommended three and that the CEO and DOS will work on fleshing out the detail the recommendations should be implemented as soon as possible
  • Mazars will accept comments to the report before 17th June and will prepare a final report for the next Board meeting

Phyllis Morgan left the meeting following this item, due to news of a family illness.

Implement

Plan pilot

Comments to Mazars

July 1st

By next Board meeting

17th June

2. Minutes of Meeting held on 7th May 2015  

It was clarified that the whole of the CEO report is not contained in the minutes, just any issues or decisions arising from it; and that it had been agreed not to review the criteria until the Mazars review is complete.

With these clarifications, the minutes of the meeting of 7th May were approved, proposed by Tom Daly and seconded by Austin Currie

Minutes approved

3. Matters Arising

(a) Performance Delivery Agreement

It was noted that we are still awaiting formal approval from DES for the CPL extension and that we have yet to hear from the State Claims Agency.

(b) Audited accounts

The C&AG has issued a certificate and management letter to the accounts.  Issues arising are being dealt with by the CEO.

Ongoing

4. Report on Applications

The content of the report was noted, particularly that we had now spent €20 million.  It was also noted that the case management system is still not complete and there may be inaccuracies.

5. Audit & Risk Committee

Tom Daly gave a report of the last meeting of the subcommittee.  Tenders for internal audit and accounting services will be submitted by 15th June, using the government framework.

Tenders to be submitted

15th June

6. Management Accounts

The Management Accounts for 2014 were presented for approval.  The CEO had query regarding the amount reported for grant payments and she will check this with the accountants.

Clarify grant payments

By next Board meeting

7. Annual Report

Amendments had been made to the draft annual report following comments from Board members and circulated in advance of the meeting.  Additional time for consideration, with a commitment to sign off at the next meeting was agreed.

Draft annual report to be considered at next meeting

July 2nd

8. Correspondence

It was agreed that the Chair would reply to correspondence from the Minister and the Aishlinn centre.

9. A.O.B.

It was agreed that the last 10 minutes of the Board meeting be devoted to a recap of decisions made, and that a register of those decisions kept.

It was agreed to defer review of the Governance Handbook, Code of Practice and sign off of 2014 Annual Report until the next Board meeting.

In response to a query from Frances, it was agreed that two Board members on a sub committee is sufficient.

10. Next Meeting Thursday July 2nd 2015, Department of Education & Skills at 10.30 a.m.