Department for the Economy Board minutes 2026 - 26 August 2026

Minutes of the 24 June meeting were agreed without amendment. 

Action point 1 – A paper with a list of prioritised AI use cases to be provided to the Board. Update – action ongoing.

Action point 2 – A twice-yearly update on Cybersecurity to be provided. Update – to be provided at September Board.

Catherine Shannon, NICSHR Director, provided an introduction:

• The HR Connect Exit Programme will take effect 31 March 2027 and she will discuss that at a Board meeting towards then. She and her team are having ongoing engagement with all Boards, and this is an opportunity for direct contact with them.

Debbie Sherlock, Director of People Services NICSHR presented:

• Debbie’s responsibilities include learning & development, occupational health and welfare. 
• There is a focus around addressing rising sickness levels, also conduct and behaviour. There is a correlation between conflict, conduct and performance. A specific team has been created on conduct issues.
• Employee relations have been reorganised and we are trying to get people back to work more quickly.
• The OHS service has suffered badly with rates of attrition, particularly with a lack of doctors – there will be a recruitment push in October. We want to employ OHS nurses, a physiotherapist and occupational therapist. Appointment times are coming back within the SLA.
• For learning & development we want to realign current offers – behaviours not just processes. We want a mentoring programme for new recruits. We are developing digital skills and a Copilot package. There are a lot of new and enhanced products, and we are exploring ways to build on existing programmes.
• We are creating new subcategories for absence, particularly around stress which will inform greatly.

Gary McAlorum, Director of Resourcing, presented:

• Job Families will massively help attract people. We need to be careful about DDA considerations. We have to balance reasonable adjustments with requirements of the job.
• The vision for recruitment is to have a supply at all general service grades. Currently there is supply for another cohort except for SOs.
• We want to be a proactive partner.
• KPIs are in the final stage of development.
• Talent Dog goes live next week.
• We will write out to all Depts at the end of September about their resource requirements for the next 18 months.
• There is a robust recruitment plan until Integr8 becomes live and will drive forward processes before then.
• We are looking at the processes used by outside recruitment.

Ian Snowden presented.

Budget Position

• Budget – There is no insight on the progress between the Executive and UK Government on the agreement of extra funding. DoF will launch an information gathering exercise on the expectation that things will heat up.

Legislative Programme

• The Insolvency Bill has received Royal Assent.
• The renewable Electricity Bill was agreed by the Executive on 2 June and the next stage is next Wednesday.
• The Employment Rights Bill hasn’t received Executive approval.
• The Offshore Electricity Regulations Bill can’t complete all stages of the process by the start of Purdah at the end of March.
• The Private Members Bill on regional balance has been accepted.

Fleadh

• This was a big success with an estimated 1.6m visitors.
• It has led to a discussion on the importance of events for economic growth and a strategy will be produced.

Change of Prime Minister

• There is a focus on cost of living support including zero percent VAT on energy.
• It is not clear what the devolution agenda will bring to NI.

Economic Sectoral Action Plans

• These run to June next year.

Audit Office and PAC Activity

• We met with PAC on 17 June regarding the Energy Strategy. A PAC report is to be released in September.
• There will be a hearing on 17 September about DfE Accounts and 2023/24 NRC disclaimed accounts.
• There has been an Audit Office review of the Lyons Review, also with the sustainability of the education sector.

Senior Civil Service Moves

• A number of appointments, temporary promotions and retirements were mentioned.

Guaranteed Standards of Service for Electricity Supply Following Storms

• The Utility Regulator decided that compensation was not due.
• Minister has asked for policy options to be considered.

Interconnection Policy

• This was published over the summer

Energy Policy Statement

To be published in the Autumn, providing milestones to 2030. 

Johanna Park presented.

• DfE has been funded with £13.3m from Local growth, the majority to go to Invest NI.
• Money has been secured for Growth Success.
• Capital pressures of £10m declared to Local Growth fund.
• Slippage in our regional fund.
• £10m pressure mainly in Higher Education.
• Statutory powers have been enforced, and we are to live within reduced allocations.
• We are declaring pressures to DoF of near £50m. Draft reviews have brought this down to £35m and then £20m. There will be real consequences. There are recurrent pressures which will grow.
• Staffing pressures are included which would be helped if staffing levels remain the same. Figures are based on a 3% pay increase. The vacancy cap helps to keep a lid on the pay bill.

Corporate Risk Register

• Risk 1542 can’t be achieved in the timescales and there will be a workshop.
• Risk 931 needs adjusted.
• Risk 81 has materialised.
• We expect the residual risk rating on risk 262 to come down.
• The Board agreed to close risk 1501 on Student Loans Budgeting.

Contracts Register

• No comments.

Major Projects

• This is a report about compliance with processes which doesn’t give enough detail on risk exposure if projects fail.  AP: Discussion needed with (name redacted) about the content of the report going forward

Resourcing & People Committee

• Due to the timing of the meeting some of the information is not up to date.
• There were 1150 FTE staff in March and 1160 at end of July.
• There is a push from the Centre for more formal strategic workforce planning.
• The approved staffing levels were discussed.
• The employment of agency staff was discussed. Numbers are trending down.

DfE People Priorities and Culture Action Plan

• No comments.

ARAC Minutes

• It was noted for clarity that a rewording as follows is better regarding the Student Loan Model – ‘Analysis from the new model indicates that the previous mode was too optimistic about the expected repayment of loans’.

City & Growth Deals

• There has been good progress and broadly positive.
• Areas flagged are the need for effort with the Mid South West Growth Deal and that there is additional risk from the financial squeeze Universities are facing – a broad risk in general.
• There is discussion regarding comms which is Council responsibility.

Magee Expansion Programme

• The main focus is the need to get a refreshed programme business case over the line. The aim is to then set out the approved clear staged pathway to stakeholders.

• There is an urgent need to ensure the team is appropriately staffed/skilled to work on this critical next stage. This includes regular checkpoints with SIB and working closely with NICSHR.

   

Delivery Committee Minutes

• The Business Case review report was discussed.
• There is an update on work on the Baseline Spending Assessment.
• There is a possibility of moving assessment and scrutiny downstream.
• There is a difficulty that the Corporate Plan is predicated on a 3-year budget and the Business Plan also requires a budget.