26 March 2025
09:30 – 12:30
Lord Clerk Room (LCR), GRH / Hybrid MS Teams
Attendees
- Alison Byrne Chief Executive, Registrar General and Keeper (Chair)
- Director of Corporate Services and Accountable Officer
- Director of Information & Records Services and Deputy Keeper
- Interim Digital and Delivery Director
- Interim Director of Operations and Customer Services and Deputy Registrar General
- Director of Census Statistics
- Director of Statistics
- Chief Finance Officer
- Corporate Business Assurance Manager
- Head of BMU (governance)
- Corporate Governance Manager
- Business Support Officer (secretariat)
Welcome, Introductions and apologies
Alison Byrne welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were noted as above.
1. Minutes and Actions
1.1 Members approved the draft minutes from the meeting held on 30 January 2025.
1.2 A review of the action log was undertaken. The action log would be updated accordingly.
1.3 Members noted the decision log. EMB noted approval via correspondence of IT Services VMWare Renewal 2025 and Microsoft Enterprise Business Cases.
2.1 NRS Corporate Issues log & NRS Corporate Risk Register
2.1.1 A review of the NRS Corporate Issues log & NRS Corporate Risk Register were undertaken. The NRS Corporate Issues log & NRS Corporate Risk Register would be updated accordingly.
2.1.2. EMB confirmed approval to add the ancestry tribunal risk to the NRS risk register and to update SG DG colleagues on this risk. EMB noted a risk workshop was arranged to review all risks and issues.
2.1.3 Alison Byrne requested the Head of NRS People Services bring back an overarching set of proposals on L&D.
Action EMB Action 456: To update EMB on overarching set of proposals for L&D. Action Owner: Head of NRS People Services.
2.2 Security update
2.2.1 The Director of Corporate Services and Accountable Officer, the Director of Information & Records Services and Deputy Keeper and the Interim Digital and Delivery Director provided an update on security with the key points below.
- The new Access Control security system would be completed in NRH by the end of March with the potential for any final snagging issues to go into the first half of April
- The SG Pass Team workload had increased which meant there had been delays in NRS staff and contractors receiving new security passes. Two further dates would be provided to NRS staff for collection of their new passes
- The work on replacing doors at TTH would be completed by the end of March
- Vigilant Security had been extremely supportive in the first quarter of the year supporting a key maintenance and carrying out testing work during out of hours
- Several senior members of NRS staff took part in a Strategic Counter Terrorism exercise organised by Police Scotland and the National Museum of Scotland. The exercise looked at different participating organisations strategic responses to a terrorist incident occurring in Edinburgh city centre. The exercise was very informative with best practices shared between organisations which would be useful in benchmarking NRS response and Business Continuity plans
- The archive storage project at WRH was nearing completion and would be implemented around the start of April. This would help to improve the security of the archive storage at WRH
- A full update on Information Security would be provided at the May EMB meeting
- The data sharing arrangements review was ongoing
- Procedures for sensitive NRS data were also being reviewed
- NRS vetting review ongoing
- NRS Cyber Security Team were providing out of hours service for the spring holiday period
- NRS Cyber Security Team were continuing to engage with SG and other agencies to review cyber security threats
- NRS Cyber Security Team were developing a cyber security exercise
2.2.2 Alison Byrne requested staff comms be arranged to update them on WRH security access control procedures.
Action EMB 457: Comms update to be provided to staff on WRH security access control procedures. Action Owner: Head of Physical Security
2.2.3 EMB discussed how NRS Information Governance and Information Security work could be consolidated to improve EMB visibility and provide an overarching strategic overview of this work. The Director of Information & Records Services and Deputy Keeper suggested the work could be split into two main areas of Information Security and operating within Information Legislation regulations and reuse of public sector information. Members noted the development of an NRS Digital Strategy and Data Strategy and working through recommendations from internal/external audit would help to join up these areas of work.
2.2.4 Alison Byrne gave huge thanks to cyber security colleagues for their out of hours support. Alison advised she would continue to promote the once for Scotland approach when attending Scottish Delivery Bodies Group meetings.
2.3 Portfolio Update
2.3.1 The Interim Digital and Delivery Director provided an update on NRS Portfolio work with the key points below:
- 2025/26 Portfolio Prioritisation - EMT Planning sessions were held on 6th and 13th March 2025 to agree priority programmes and projects in 2025/26 and align with NRS budget bids
- Delivery Roadmap – Further work was required to develop a five year delivery plan to commence, capturing the long list of projects, initiatives paused from 2025/26 and to create a pipeline of activity that could be accelerated if required
- Strategy & TOM – Work continued at pace by the Strategic working group and Deloitte to refresh NRS corporate strategy and Target Operating Model. A number of Board and staff engagement sessions were completed
- Invest to Save – Work on this area had concluded and unfortunately no viable proposals were generated that would have met the criteria. However, this was a useful exercise for NRS to consider alternative funding/delivery routes
- Non-Major Project Assurance – Draft completed and shared with Directors of Delivery and Corporate Services who agreed to pilot this with a few of the portfolio projects. The draft was previously reviewed with SG Portfolio, Programme and Project Assurance colleagues who endorsed the approach and content of the framework. Major Projects/Major Digital projects would continue to be assured via existing routes
- Risk Management – Portfolio level risk had been documented with portfolio slides generated via Power BI and corresponding SG template. Going forward the Delivery Directorate and Portfolio level risks would be merged
- Programme & Digital Services Contract – Stage two tenders were published 11th March 2025 to those bidders shortlisted at stage 1. The aim was to award contract by June 2025
- New Initiatives - (i) NHSCR Team Relocation and (ii) Corporate & Departmental Dashboard development activities commenced
2.3.2 The Interim Digital and Delivery Director advised that next steps were to present the delivery plan to staff. EMB noted the report and latest project status and progress update.
2.4 IT, Data & Digital Update
- A number of service incidents were encountered in February 2025
- Work progressing with IT, Procurement and Finance colleagues to complete IT contract
renewals pre-31st March 2025
- Cyber Security Team organised and attended a multi-agency Immersive Lab cyber incident exercise on 26th February 2025. Follow up discussions were initiated with SG colleagues on a Strategic SOC. EMB exercise to be planned May/June 2025
- Digital strategy discussions were held at ARC and SB. NRS would continue to develop the Digital/IT roadmap
- Further session on NRS architecture/infrastructure to be planned
- Work progressing on NRS data strategy/maturity – paper on EMB agenda for discussion.
- Great work to progress NRS application portfolio
- Technology Operational Risk forum held on 18th March 2025
- Pragmatic work to agree must have activities/spend as part of 2025/26 budget planning
- Ongoing input into FOPS work
- Initial conversations on options for CALM EOL December 2027
2.4.1 EMB noted the report and progress updates.
2.4.2 The Director of Statistics asked if open source would be added to EMB reporting once the business case was approved at DSB. The Interim Digital and Delivery Director confirmed EMB would be updated on this following approval.
2.4.3 EMB discussed next steps for NHS CR relocation. Members noted the Head of Portfolio and Governance had drafted a report which would be circulated to EMB and DSB. The Director of Corporate Services and Accountable Officer advised Estates would continue to engage with SG property on the request for accommodation.
2.4.4 The Director of Statistics asked if the long list of projects that didn’t require funding for discovery work would be added to reporting. The Interim Digital and Delivery Director confirmed these projects would be added to reporting and advised a pipeline was being developed from capital and non-capital spend and suitable proposals could be accelerated.
2.4.5 EMB noted BAs and C2 Architect vacancies were challenging posts to recruit due to competition out with public sector. The Interim Digital and Delivery Director advised WFP were looking to escalate these posts and IT D-DAT vacancies. The Director of Statistics noted that this expertise would help with specific IT support and recruitment was key in mitigating these risks.
2.4.6 EMB noted a narrative would be helpful to include with cyber security metrics to provide more context.
Action EMB 458: Alison Byrne requested the report on NRS CR staff relocation be circulated to EMB. Action Owner: Head of Portfolio and Governance
Action EMB 459: Alison Byrne requested the Portfolio plan for 2025-2026 with all projects be shared with EMB for the next meeting in May. Action Owner: Head of Portfolio and Governance
Action EMB 460: Alison Byrne requested Deloitte proposal for further planning work be circulated to EMB. Action owner: Director of Corporate Services and Accountable Officer
2.4.6 The Director of Census Statistics requested further details around the Census IT server outage. The Interim Digital and Delivery Director advised this was listed under Virtual Desktop Infrastructure reporting but would get colleague to provide further background on this incident.
2.4.7 The Director of Statistics flagged scheduling issues when publishing statistics release on the NRS corporate website. The Interim Digital and Delivery Director advised she would get colleague to provide further background on this incident.
Action EMB 461: To provide update to Director of Census Statistics on Census server outage. Action owner: Interim Digital and Delivery Director
Action EMB 462: Further background on scheduling issues when publishing on the NRS corporate website. Action owner: Interim Digital and Delivery Director
Action EMB 463: Comms piece on website launch of Statistics. Action owner: The Director of Statistics
Action EMB 464: Directors to review finances and update finance team on any remaining expenditure. Action owner: All Directors
2.5 Collections audit update
2.6 Gill Mapstone provided an update on the collections audit with the key points below.
- Press release announcement made on 25 March 2025 confirming the completion of the collections audit
- 54 audit reports were completed
- 15 face to face meetings carried out with high-risk owners in advance of the announcement. Positive response received from owners of documents
- NRS had met with over 50 stakeholder representatives prior to the information going out into the public domain
- Security reviews of NRS public spaces and internal private spaces carried out
- IT colleagues delivered a new sustainable missing records tracking and management system
- Positive press coverage from BBC and Guardian
- Audit and Security work ongoing
- External Risk review ongoing
- Repatriating additional material discovered in Canada
2.7 Alison Byrne gave thanks to Gill Mapstone and all colleagues involved for their efforts and noted this was a really positive piece of cross organisational work.
3. Data Strategy update and Draft Data Strategy PID
3.1 Alex McCall provided an overview on the Data Strategy with the key points below.
- Public sector data was a vital component in making sure that services for the people of Scotland were delivered efficiently and effectively. Despite a growing awareness of the power of data, feedback from data leaders in public services showed that they could face difficulties when trying to influence colleagues and senior leaders
- There were a number of examples that highlighted the need for NRS to develop a data strategy that sets out a vision for realising the full value of NRS data as a strategic asset, and implementing a strategic approach to data governance
- Peer organisations that had completed the same Data Maturity Programme as NRS (e.g. NHS National Services Scotland) had built momentum and made progress with data governance and the development of a data strategy at a faster pace
- NRS were keen to learn lessons and work with these partner organisations to help accelerate this work
- Alex also provided an overview of the different types of data and data flows, a summary of data flow issues, an explanation of existing data resources, gaps that were in the service, an overview of the potential impact and opportunities of implementing a data strategy, an overview of the Data maturity group and an overview of the differences between information governance and data governance
3.2 EMB provided the following feedback below.
- NRS would need to carry out baseline work to review all data assets and define and agree the different types of data in NRS and how this is linked
- This would be key component in defining the scope of the strategy
- NRS would need a full review of how all data is labelled, categorised and treated
- Members noted not all archive material is factual or historical
- The Registrations service was a good example of different strands of data
- This included Fair data, indexing, vital events data for that overall service
- Members noted paper and archives were also data but only certain areas of it
- Historical meta data would require different skills depending on scope of data strategy
- Members noted the Data repository would continue to grow
- Transparency would be required around terminologies e.g. Data engineering
- Members noted the phasing of project would be important
3.3 EMB noted and agreed the proposed PID to prepare the NRS Data Vision and Strategy, including the recruitment of a C1 Data Resource. Member noted the proposal to deliver a draft data strategy by April 2026.
4. Finance Budget setting 25/26 – commissioning update and 24/25 year end plan
4.1 The Chief Finance Officer provided an update on NRS finance with the key points below:
- CG provided EMB with an update on the forecast outturn for resource and capital budgets as at end February 2025. Risks to delivery of a balanced outturn were outlined along with the merits of a lessons learned session in April 2025
- The Census 2022 programme was in its final year and had a significantly reduced work programme and resource level, with a commensurate reduction in budget. CG confirmed the budget for 2024/2025 was £1.78m, split £1.55m staffing, £0.23m non-staffing. This included budget that was moved from NRS core resource budgets at SBR to relieve the census budget pressure; circa £230k. Year-end outturn was forecast to realise an underspend of circa £40k
- The capital budget was performing to forecast and expected to balance at year end. Given the nature of the projects and purchases this was a positive outcome for NRS in 2024/25
- The 2025/26 Census 2031 budget position had partly been resolved with agreement from Ministers to fund part of the funding requirement of £3.8m and the remainder to be funded by the CEAC portfolio. The NRS contribution from within the portfolio was £500k from NRS Core resource budget. NRS CFO would liaise with SG finance and portfolio leads on securing budget transfers in year
- The 2025/26 budget commissioning process concluded with recommendations for delegation of staffing, goods and services and project investment being discussed during EMB planning meetings in month. The recommended position within the March EMB finance paper was discussed and agreed
- The 2025/26 capital budget was agreed at a dedicated EMB meeting on 30 January 2025, however movement is investment estimates has impacted ability to deliver on all agreed commitments. EMB subsequently agreed an amended allocation of the capital budget and to follow the recommended approach from the CFO
4.2 EMB noted the 2024/25 forecast out turn position at February 2025 (Period 11) and agreed the 25/26 financial year budget recommendations.
4.3 EMB agreed next steps in relation to resource and capital spend profiles for 24/25.
4.4 EMB agreed next steps, timing and actions in relation to 2025/26 budget commissioning outcomes for resource, capital and Census 2031 budgets.
4.5 EMB noted the Internal Audit Recommendation regarding duplication of Directorate Finance Manager roles. Internal Audit recommended management consider where the role and responsibility for analysing and monitoring of spend lies to reduce unnecessary time and effort. EMB noted workforce planning would hold a discussion on this and report back to EMB.
5. AOB
5.1 The Director of Statistics advised five statisticians were shortlisted for the Chief Stats Awards this year. Members noted this was a great achievement and suggested comms were arranged to celebrate this.
5.2 EMB noted the forward look and date of the next meeting was 1 May 2025.
