Youth Justice Agency governance

Organisational structure

The Chief Executive is directly accountable to the Minister for the Agency's performance. He is supported in discharging the day to day responsibilities by a Management Board, which comprises:

• Director of Youth Justice Services
• Director of Custody
• Director of Corporate Services
• two Independent Board Members

The current top management structure is as follows:

Register of board members interests

The Agency maintains a Register of Board Members Interests. Where a Board member or employee is connected to a party involved in the supply of goods or services to the Agency, this information will be fully disclosed in the Annual Report and Accounts of the Agency.

Date	Name	Position	Date of entry in register	Declaration of Interests
April 2024	Stephen Martin	Chief Executive Officer	May 2021 October 2023	Director (unpaid), Kilcreggan Homes Ltd Member of Board sub-committee on Resources and Risk, Belfast Central Mission BCM).
April 2024	Richard Horton	Non-Executive Board Member	October 2022	Partner is a member of the NI Judiciary. Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
April 2024	Dr Thomas Moore	Non-Executive Board Member	November 2022	Chair of Board of Governors, Southern Regional College.
April 2024	John McCord	Independent Member of YJA ARC	April 2024	Board member of Grampian Housing Association – this is an unremunerated, voluntary position. Board member/Director of Kirkgate Developments Limited – a subsidiary of Grampian Housing Association. This is an unremunerated, voluntary position.
April 2024	Mary Aughey	Director Custodial Services	Nil return
April 2024	Colleen Heaney	Director Community Services	March 2025	A member of Saint Vincent De Paul, conference for the parish of Holy Family Derry.
April 2024	Paul Gibson	Director Corporate Services	Nil return

Youth Justice Agency Audit & Risk Committee

The Agency's Audit & Risk Committee is chaired by Dr Richard Horton, Independent Board Member. The terms of reference for this Committee are replicated below.

Role

The Accounting Officer (AO) has established an Audit and Risk Committee (“the Committee) as a Committee of the YJA Management Board to support the AO in his responsibilities for issues of risk, internal control, corporate governance and associated assurance.  It does so by reviewing the comprehensiveness of assurances to meet the AO’s and Board’s assurance needs and in reviewing the reliability and integrity of these assurances. These Terms of Reference and the functions of the Committee comply with accepted good practice for Audit & Risk Committees and the specific guidance set out in the Department of Finance Audit and Risk Assurance Committee Handbook (NI) April 2018.

Membership

The members of the Audit Committee are:

In attendance

The following will also normally attend Audit and Risk Committee meetings:-

Representing YJA

• Chief Executive (as Accounting Officer)
• Director of Corporate Services
• Financial Services Division:

-Head of Financial Reporting and Service  

-DP Accountant, Financial Reporting and Services

-YJA Accountant

• Head of Data Security
• Committee Secretary

External representatives

• Head of Internal Audit
• NI Audit Office representative
• FPM Representative 

Meetings

• Committee meetings will be held on a tri-annual basis.  The Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee may convene additional meetings as deemed necessary.
• A minimum of 2 members of the Audit and Risk Committee will be present for the meeting to be deemed quorate.
• The Audit and Risk Committee may ask other officials of the organisation to attend to assist it with its discussions on any particular matter.
• The Audit and Risk Committee may ask any or all of those who normally attend but who are not members to withdraw to facilitate open and frank discussion of particular matters.

Secretarial Support

The Audit and Risk Committee will be provided with secretarial support by the YJA Business Support Team.

Responsibilities

The Committee will advise the Board and Accounting Officer on the following:

• The strategic processes for risk, control and governance and the Governance Statement;
• The adequacy of arrangements for internal control and risk management including the preparation of the Governance Statement;
• The accounting policies, the Accounts and the Annual Report of the organisation, including the process for review of the accounts prior to submission for audit, levels of error identified and management’s letter of representation to the external auditors;
• The planned activity and results of internal audit and external audit;
• The adequacy of management response to issues identified by audit activity including external audit’s Report to Those Charged with Governance;
• Assurances relating to the management of risk and corporate governance requirements for the organisation;
• The adequacy of Counter-fraud policies, whistle blowing processes and arrangements for special investigations; and
• The Committee will annually review its own effectiveness and report the results of that review to the Management Board.

Reporting

• The Committee will report back to the Board and Accounting Officer after each meeting.
• The Committee Secretary will circulate the draft minutes of each meeting to attendees within two weeks, with final agreement and ratification at the next meeting.
• In addition, the Chair of the Committee will provide the Management Board and Accounting Officer with an Annual Report timed to support the finalisation of the Accounts and the Governance Statement, summarising the conclusions of the Committee’s work during the year.

Access

The Head of Internal Audit and the representative of External Audit will have free and confidential access to the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee as necessary. The Chair will ensure additional access to the Committee where required.

Papers

All papers for consideration by the Committee should be received by members 5 working days in advance of the meeting.

Information Requirements

The Chair will agree the agenda for each meeting with the Committee Secretary.

For each meeting the Committee will be provided with: -

• A report summarising any significant changes to the organisation’s corporate risks and a copy of the Corporate Risk Register; and
• A progress report from the Head of Internal Audit summarising: -

1. Work performed (and a comparison with work planned);
2. Key issues emerging from Internal Audit work;
3. Management response to audit recommendations;
4. Changes to the agreed Internal Audit Plan; and
5. Any resourcing issues affecting the delivery of Internal Audit objectives.

• A progress report (written / verbal) from the External Audit representative summarising work done and emerging findings(this may include, where relevant to the organisation, aspects of the wider work carried out by NIAO, e.g. Value for Money reports and good practice findings);
• Any Management assurance reports;
• Reports on the management of major incidents, ‘near misses’ and lessons learned; and
• A report on any cases of whistleblowing and fraud
• As and when  appropriate:-

1. Proposals for the Terms of Reference of Internal Audit / the Internal Audit Charter;
2. The Internal Audit Strategy;
3. The Head of Internal Audit’s Annual Opinion and Report;
4. Quality Assessment  reports on the Internal Audit function;
5. The draft Accounts of the organisation;
6. The draft Governance Statement;
7. A report on any changes to accounting policies;
8. External Audit’s “Report to Those Charged with Governance”
9. A report on any proposals to tender for audit functions;
10. A report on co-operation between Internal and External Audit;
11. Internal Assurance reports/action plan updates;
12. Information Assurance Reports; and
13. The Risk Management Strategy

Review

These terms of reference for the Audit and Risk committee will be subject to bi-annual review.

Training and Development

Members will require on-going refresher training to keep abreast of developments in risk management, internal control and corporate governance. Opportunities for training and development will be made available to Committee Members.

Board Minutes

• YJA Board Minutes