NRS EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT BOARD MEETING
Thursday 4 December 2025 from 13:00 – 15:00
Lord Clerk Room, GRH
Attendees:
Alison Byrne Chief Executive, Registrar General and Keeper (Chair)
Director of Corporate Services and Accountable Officer
Director of Customer Service Operations and Archives
Director of Census Statistics
Corporate Finance Lead
Head of NRS Business Management
Business Support Officer (secretariat)
Head of Portfolio and Governance
Head of Cyber Security, Risk and Resilience
Senior Outreach and Learning Manager
Head of Information and Archive Governance
Apologies:
Corporate Business Assurance Manager
Interim Director for Digital & IT Services
Director of Delivery
Interim Director of Statistics
1. Welcome, introductions and apologies
Alison Byrne welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were noted as above.
1.1 Members approved the draft minutes from the Census Workshop held on 30 October 2025 and EMB meeting held 4 November 2025.
1.2 A review of the action log was undertaken via correspondence. The action log would be updated accordingly.
1.3 Members noted the decision log.
2.1 Corporate Plan Review
2.1.1 The Head of Portfolio and Governance provided an update on the development of the Corporate Plan with the key areas below:
· NRS had plans to deliver strategic change and transformation and required a fully costed corporate plan that captured resource requirements, procurement activities, milestones and dependencies to allow NRS to effectively manage investment and ensure value for money
· Further updates on the wider corporate plan development, in addition to progress on the 2026/27 commission, would be provided at future EMB meetings and EMT planning sessions
· Weekly Corporate Plan Working Group to take forward development of the plan
· Ongoing engagement with NRS staff, key stakeholders, NRS Strategic Board and NRS Audit and Risk Committee (ARC)
· Detailed scope would be carried out in phase one linking dependencies, objectives, outputs and outcomes to strategic objectives, with detailed planning in phase two
· Corporate Plan to be published spring 2026
· ARC would be updated on progress on 26 February 2026
· EMB reviewed and noted the approach for development of the corporate plan
· EMB committed to engage themselves and their teams in the development of the corporate plan
· EMB committed to engaging in this process and making relevant resources available
· EMB committed to engage in future sessions to capture and prioritise our 2026/27 change priorities
· The need to capture the Return on Investment (RoI) and efficiency plan against programme benefits
· Agreed tracking of corporate plan milestone delivery and change and portfolio board focus
2.1.3 EMB noted prioritisation of the corporate plan would be agreed by EMB. EMB noted ongoing budget pressures would shift the development of the corporate plan from change delivery to NRS efficiency savings.
2.2 Finance - MYR outputs and 26/27 budget finalisation
2.2.1 The Corporate Finance Lead provided an update on the MYR outputs and 26/27 budget finalisation.
2.2.2 EMB noted the following:
· EMB noted the forecast outturn position at October 2025 (Period 07).
· Note 2025/26 year-to-date and forecast position
· Noted the risks to Capital and Programme Budgets
· Noted forecasting updates would be provided to EMB following ongoing work around budget commissions
2.2.3 EMB agreed the following actions.
Action EMB 526: Corporate Finance Lead to provide an update on underspend before the end of the financial year. Action Owner: Corporate Finance Lead
Action EMB 527: Look to develop proposals for modernisation of Registrations with Cap Gemini Action Owner: Director of Customer Service Operations and Archives
Action EMB 528: Explore opportunity for strategic work around NRS Income Strategy. Action Owner: Director of Customer Service Operations and Archives/ Director of Corporate Services and Accountable Officer
Action EMB 529: Explore with Kate Hawkins what NRS could accelerate on organisational development. Action Owner: Alison Byrne
2.3 25/26 Interim Statutory Audit: Cyber Security Review (Oral update)
2.4 The Head of Cyber Security, Risk and Resilience provided an update on the 25/26 Interim Statutory Audit: Cyber Security Review with the key areas below:
· Final Report from IA
· Good report highlighting key areas of improvement
· Overall assurance reasonable
· If cover off recommendations then more likely to receive substantial rating
· Key recommendations were:
o Out hours cover – in progress collab with SSS
o Cyber Essentials Plus – ongoing work with SG to exclude scots system from scope
· Medium findings were:
o IT Services Risk Register alignment with Corporate Risk Register Risks cross referencing numbers
o Improvement opportunities finalise major incident plan prior to tabletop ex
· Low level findings were:
o Update remote working policy equipment compliance
o Integrate lessons learned from public services cyber security survey
2.5 EMB noted potential costings for out of hours support would need to be factored into spending forecasts.
Action EMB 530: Head of Cyber Security, Risk and Resilience to investigate estimated OOO costings. Action Owner: Head of Cyber Security, Risk and Resilience
3.1 Review live issues, corporate risks
3.1.1 A review of live issues and corporate risks was undertaken. The Corporate Risk Register and Live issues log would be updated accordingly.
3.2 Security Vetting paper
3.2.1 The Head of Information and Archive Governance presented a paper on National Security Vetting for NRS roles. The paper provided a progress update on vetting for staff roles involved in processing admin data for census purposes and recommended that an Insider Risk Assessment was undertaken for NRS to determine which roles should be subject to National Security Vetting checks.
3.2.2 EMB noted the paper and approved an Insider Risk Assessment to inform the requirement for security vetting for NRS.
3.3 Volunteer Policy
3.4 The Senior Outreach and Learning Manager provided an update on the proposed NRS Volunteer Policy with the key areas below.
· As part of the Archive Accreditation process, NRS has committed to reviewing and updating its Volunteer Policy to align with best practice and institutional standards
· Incorporating input from HR, Finance, Security, and CSOA, the volunteer policy has been revised
· Members were asked: to approve the revised policy; agree in principle that NRS should cover the £25 BPSS clearance cost for volunteers: and decide between two expense options: either no reimbursement for travel or food except for tasks in line with NRS policies, or a limited allowance of up to £10 per volunteer managed within local project budgets
· Approval would enable the development of supporting materials and a pilot volunteer project in late 2026
3.5 EMB approved the following:
· EMB approved the draft Volunteer Policy
· EMB approved NRS would pay for Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) security check
· EMB confirmed pilot of £5 per day expenses for volunteers
4. AOB
4.1.1 No AOB was raised.
4.2 EMB Forward Look
4.3 EMB noted the forward look.
Next meeting: 3 February 2025
