WNC Report on 2007/8 Activity

Discussion of Budget Options for 2008/9

Summary:

This paper gives the financial report for 2007/08; considers the consequences of change and no change in the allocation of WNC Resources during the next financial year; and asks Commissioners to consider ways forward.

The core objective is to maintain the added value of policy advice given by WNC, but also to increase the effectiveness of our links with partners.

The WNC submits a business plan to Ministers before every financial year for their approval and sign off. As WNC have not yet been allocated a budget, (and may not be until as late as May, we understand) Commissioners will wish to consider additional areas of work that they may wish to bid for. Alongside this, Commissioners will need to consider the consequences for WNC under the following circumstances:

2. The Light Touch Review recommendations concluded that as the WNC is the Government's advisory body on women, our added value lies in acting as a bridge for women and Government to exchange views and that “the WNC should return to its core remit of engaging with women's organisations, particularly those without a national profile, and bringing their voice to government”. Our work should focus, therefore, on extending our connections with women's organisations over the greatest possible range and diversity, to give their voice to Government to inform policy, and to keep women's groups informed and consulted on Government activity. This should therefore form the heart of any future WNC activity.

The spreadsheet at Annex C outlines the impact of no increase in resource allocation from 2007/08. A figure of £330,000 (together with the additional £22,560 required to cover remuneration of Commissioners) would leave WNC with five staff, ie to cover salaries, honorarium, four board meetings a year and admin costs for stationary, printing: this is the legal minimum required as an NDPB, but crucially, there would be no CSW/CEDAW or outreach and no working group meetings. A figure around £100,000 is needed to stand still, see Annex D. WNC would still require additional funding for further work.

Attached is the Business Plan for 07/08 as a report of progress over the last year. Work on the recommendations, as set out in the Light Touch Review Report, has already been significant and the draft Memorandum of Understanding has been completed and sent to GEO on 5 February as a basis for agreement. Unplanned-for work, ie the consultation on the Minister for Women's priorities, has also been significant and the report of that is ready to go. CEDAW has been a monumental task and has been achieved despite staffing difficulties. Outreach has also been very successful and we have secured many new partners, particularly in Wales and Northern Ireland. CSW went well with a very successful pre-event and side event. We have had very positive feedback from partners on all of these WNC activities. A difficult year in WNC, with a haemorrhaging of experienced staff, a recruitment freeze to prevent replacement, an interim Chair and Director, the uncertainty of the Review and the rigour of unplanned for events have made these achievements of greater note.

6. Business Plan for 08/09

The Chair and Commissioners are asked to consider activities and suggest proposals to make up the 08/09 WNC Business Plan, that will form the bid to GEO and Ministers, which will sustain the work streams for WNC and address or mainstream the priorities agreed by the Board at the October meeting. These are:

2009 sees the 40^th Anniversary of the Women's National Commission. It would seem fitting that an event is held to mark this occasion and, in order to include as many as of our partners as possible, it might seem sensible to hold the All Partners event in 2009 instead of this year in 2008. The added benefit to this is that the cost would fall in the next financial year.

Chair and Commissioners are asked to consider a 2009 Conference to mark the 40^th Anniversary of WNC

The Business Plan and associated costings will be submitted to Ministers once signed off by Commissioners and GEO.

Susan Green

WNC Staffing as at 31 March 2008

Annex A(i)

Dear Janice,

You asked me to write to you, following our conversation the other week, to raise a number of concerns I and Joyce Gould have around WNC's finances.

When we met, I explained that our best projection for this financial year shows that we are likely to be overspent by about £3,914. This works out at about 1.2%. Although low in percentage terms, I am never happy with any amount of overspend, so am looking carefully to identify where this could be covered through some difficult choices over the remainder of the year.

One issue that remains unresolved but which could cancel out this overspend, concerns the cost of running the Ministerial priorities consultation for GEO and the Ministers for Women. Of course, we were delighted to be asked to run the consultation, and it was proposed at the time that some of the cost of the consultation could be covered by WEU/GEO. Now the consultation is over and we see our likely overspend, this issue has become more important to us, as the total cost of this work came to £4,800. However, this figure excludes the cost of two staff and additional management costs. None of this work was budgeted for at the start of the year, and if WNC was reimbursed for this work, it would leave WNC with a projected underspend of £886.

Further, following to the transfer of WNC from DTI to CLG in January this year and a consequent delay in outstanding invoices being settled, several large items of expenditure were not processed in time to be set against last year's budget. These amounted to approximately £10,000 and were unavoidably set against this year's budget. Had this not occurred, our projected financial position would be a great deal healthier. The ongoing problems we have encountered in trying to obtain accurate and reliable financial information from the department's systems throughout this financial year, have continued to be a major obstacle and rendered financial projections meaningless until now.

In identifying this overspend, it brought out some much deeper and more fundamental points about WNC's baseline budget. Firstly, our situation will be especially acute next year, as we will need to fund the annual CSW event, the four-yearly CEDAW examination (both in New York) plus our all partners' bi-annual conference. The previous partners' conference cost around £20k. These are all commitments which are core WNC functions and cannot be postponed to another year. Secondly, following the examination of the outcomes from the Review that WNC recently underwent, attention was again drawn to our finances as the recommendations from the Review require actions across a broad number fronts. In accepting the recommendations, it made us think carefully about the core role that WNC has, and the expectations of GEO and Ministers in relation to this.

Recommendation Ei. refers to WNC operating as an advisory NDPB. Although we are identified, and in particular funded in this way, since 1969 we have operated very differently. We have developed over these 38 years, building up a partners' database and functioning at the request of Ministers, in a way which is much closer to the definition of an executive NDPB. We also believe that current Ministers continue to have high expectations of WNC which go beyond the definition of what an advisory body should do. We are, of course, pleased about this, but it creates an increasing resource problem for the Commission if we are to meet the expectations that Ministers have.

The amount that WNC has available to achieve our goals, has been eroded over time and has now reached a point whereby the resources I have for each work strand is barely able to achieve substantial outcomes, nor meet Ministerial expectations.

It is my understanding that the current baseline budget that WNC receives from GEO as our sponsors totalling £330,000, has not increased for very many years, and perhaps as many as ten. Due to the movement from one department to another over the years, it is difficult to be absolutely precise with the information. But what is clear, is that the absence of any increase in our baseline funding, even to keep pace with inflation, has proved a significant handicap. Assuming an annual increase of just 2% over the ten year period in an attempt to keep pace with inflation, this would have given us over £92,000 more this year. Over this period of course, all other costs have increased considerably. This is a particular problem for WNC, given that over 80% of our budget is taken up by staff salaries, and these have continued to increase above inflation over this same period, and moves to higher-paying departments have exacerbated this problem. I know you will understand that as manager of a dedicated team of hard-working staff, I cannot ignore the fact that this situation also has a human cost too, with greater pressure on all staff to achieve more, with less, feeling compromised about receiving training, all resulting in reduced job satisfaction and morale.

I am therefore writing to you, not only to set out the difficulties faced by WNC, and the consequences of this stagnation in funding, but to ask you to agree an increase in the baseline funding for WNC, to £420,000. This will allow us to reduce the number of temporary staff and secure permanent staff which in turn will help maintain the experience that is built up over time and should reduce costs in the longer term. It will allow us to have a full and practical outreach strategy with an annual programme of events. And it will ensure that the Commission is on a more sure footing following the Review, sending a signal to the sector, that the Government is happy to visibly resource gender equality and not just other equality strands.

There are one or two further issues I'd like to discuss with you later, around our financial flexibility, but can pick these up with you at later once these points have been addressed/resolved.

I understand that the WNC Chair, Joyce Gould, is also planning to write to Ministers in a similar vein.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Annex A(ii)

Annex B

WNC Budget Report April 2007 to March 2008

Annex C

Impact of no increase in WNC resources beyond 2007/08 level

It is assumed that GEO will provide approximately £22,560 in additional funding for Chair and Commissioners remuneration. This is not included above.

Annex D

Resources required to maintain current level of activity

Figure excludes additional funds required for Chair and Commissioner remuneration and new work in WNC Business Plan.

WNC/08/1/05

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Sue Green P/T

Acting Director

Daniel Barrow

Deputy Director

Eleri Butler

Policy Manager

Leon Bond

Business Manager

Mutanser Ashraf

Outreach Manager

Shelly Dowrich

Policy Manager

Polly Trenow P/T

Policy Support

Bethan Walker

PA/Business Support

Maria Turay P/T

Admin Support

Daisy Sands (until May)

Policy Support