BOARD OF GOVERNORS. Minutes of the meeting held on 16 March ) ) ) ) External ) ) ) ) Chief Executive & Principal Staff Staff

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1 BOARD OF GOVERNORS Minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2018 PRESENT: Ray Faulkner (Vice-Chair Philip Atkins (to minute 135 Tim Legge Vicki Mackintosh Mike Rowley Phil Tapp David Tomlinson Sara Williams Claire Boliver Mike Edden Emily Taylor External Chief Executive & Principal Staff Staff In attendance: Ian James Simon Friend Vanessa Howard Steve Grant Julie Sizer Jamie Smith Clerk to the Corporation Interim Vice Principal (Curriculum Deputy Chief Executive (Finance Executive Director of Infrastructure & Estates Principal Rodbaston, Cannock, Apprenticeships, Adults Executive Director of Engagement WELCOME & APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE 120 Claire Boliver, Simon Friend and Mike Edden were welcomed to their first Board meeting. Apologies were received from Steve Burgin (Chair. APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIR 121 Ray Faulkner was standing down from the Board at the end of this meeting and, therefore, it was necessary to appoint a replacement Vice-Chair. 122 Resolved that Tim Legge be appointed as Vice-Chair until 31 July 2018 APPOINTMENT OF SUPPORT STAFF GOVERNOR 123 Resolved that, having been nominated by the support staff, Mike Edden be appointed as support staff governor for a four year term with immediate effect 1

2 DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS 124 Phil Tapp declared an interest in the item related to The Rural Enterprise Academy referred to in minutes TREA FUNDING (Having declared an interest Phil Tapp left the meeting for this item 125 The Board received a report setting out a proposal for the College to continue support for TREA for the period from September 2018 to August 2020 to ease the transition into the Penk Valley Multi Academy Trust (PVMAT and underpin the financial stability of the Academy during that period (copy attached to the signed minutes. 126 The governors were committed to the transfer of TREA to the MAT and were sympathetic to the proposal for the College s support to continue by way of continued provision of support services for the period in question. 127 Resolved that, subject to the financial support being ring-fenced to the TREA provision within the PVMAT, approval be given to supporting the financial position of TREA for the period from September 2018 to August 2020 by way of support services to a value not exceeding 61k REVIEW OF SCORECARD 128 The Board reviewed the scorecard focussing attention on current levels of attendance and retention plus the applications for 2018/ With regard to attendance, the current overall performance was 86.2 % against a target of 92%. Figures were provided at departmental and curriculum area level some of which were targeted for support and challenge processes. 130 Two meetings of the governors task & finish group on attendance had been held since the last Board meeting including one involving direct discussions with students. This had identified some issues around staff punctuality and preparedness at the start of lessons although the main theme highlighted the importance of the quality of teaching. The teaching staff governor commented that staff were sometimes timetabled to teach consecutive lessons in different places which inevitably lead to issues around readiness at the start of lessons. The CEP commented that the performance management of curriculum areas would be an early area for her attention. 131 In-year retention was currently good at 95.2% against a target of 92.5%. Areas below target were programmed for intervention. 132 Applications for 2018/19 were encouraging although the question of converting applications to enrolments was receiving particular attention with the establishment of an enquiry to enrolment group. The entire process was under review with the objective of maximising the conversion rate and the CEP commented that the application and enrolment processes would be centralised. JANUARY OFFER REPORT 133 The Board had asked to be advised of the outcome of the January recruitment exercise and they now received a report on this matter (copy attached to the signed minutes. An unprecedented marketing effort had been expended on the recruitment effort which had attracted a total of 54 enrolments mainly on two courses (Dog Grooming and Nail Technology. An additional 30 courses had been offered but many of these did not recruit any students or just one or two. 134 The learning from the exercise had been that courses which enabled a change of job quickly had been most popular. The CEP commented that the College should be engaging more effectively 2

3 with the market identifying change points where training was needed and targeting fresh enrolments on a fequent basis. Governors expressed some doubt as to how well the local population knew about the facilities available at Rodbaston and that some work was needed to improve its reputation. MINUTES 135 Resolved that the minutes of the Board meeting held on 12 December 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. Review of Scorecard (ref: minutes The CEP reported that a progress week was being arranged for existing students and the governors asked for a report on this at the next meeting. MINUTES OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE 137 The Board received for information the minutes of a Special meeting of the Audit Committee held on 11 January The meeting had been held to deal with business deferred from the November meeting due to lack of time and mainly addressed issues of concern to the Committee around cyber security. 138 The Executive Directors of Engagement and of Infrastructure & Estates updated the Board on recent improvements to the College s network and cyber security and on the training being rolled out in preparation for the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation in May. MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS & MIDYEAR BUDGET UPDATE 139 The Board received the Management Accounts to 31 January 2018 (copy attached to the signed minutes. 140 Of the six key performance indicators monitored by the Board, four were RAG rated green, one amber and one red at this stage. The red indicator was the operating deficit which, at this point in the year, stood at 927k against a budgeted deficit of 675k mainly due to shortfalls in income relating to adult education and apprenticeships. The amber indicator was capital expenditure which was low at this point in the year so as to conserve cash. 141 With regard to the midyear budget update, the Board was advised that the projected year end deficit had now deteriorated to 1168k. The College was targeting additional income of around 557k although only half of this had been assumed in a prudent revised forecast. The College s ESFA health rating remained satisfactory. 142 Queries raised by the governors included: the apparently high level of expenditure on agency staff - the CEP agreed that this was an area that warranted review the level of bad debt and the College s policy on this the Deputy Principal reported that the policy was under review and that the College was increasing the number of payment methods offered the ratio of front line to support staff 143 Some governors felt that basic training for them in the College s funding and accounting would be beneficial and the Deputy Chief Executive agreed to arrange a suitable training session. 144 Resolved that the midyear budget update be approved 3

4 SALE OF CAR PARK ON LICHFIELD SITE 145 The governors received a report updating the on the discussions with Lichfield District Council regarding the car park at the Lichfield campus (copy attached to the signed minutes. It was now proposed that the car park be sold to the Council at the freehold market value of 230, Resolved to approve the sale of the car park to Lichfield District Council at the market value RISK MANAGEMENT 147 The Risk Register for 2017/18 was received (copy attached to the signed minutes. The Board noted the red risks which were monitored by the Audit Committee. Asked about the declining demographic of year olds, the Executive Director of Engagement advised that the decline continued for about another 18 months before reversing. Consequently, in order to maintain or grow student numbers, the College s market share would need to increase. TIMETABLE OF MEETINGS FOR 2018/ The Clerk submitted the timetable of meetings for 2018/19. USE OF CORPORATION SEAL 149 The Board noted the use of the Corporation Seal in respect of the following: Land Registry Documentation re: sale of Progress Drive Land Registry Documentation re: sale of Whitehouse Lease of Tamworth Depot to Entrust for a 12 month period from 1/11/17 to 31/10/18 Addition of a plan to the Land Registry documentation showing the College's retained land area in relation to the sale of the Whitehouse POLICY APPROVALS Updates 150 The governors received the following policies which were due for review and had been updated (copies attached to the signed minutes. Sickness Absence Lone working Medication Policy 151 Resolved that the above policies be approved General Data Protection Requirement (GDPR Policy 152 The Board received this Policy which was designed to meet the requirements of the GDPR due to be introduced in May 2018 (copy attached to the signed minutes. The Policy had been reviewed by the internal auditors. 153 Resolved that the General Data Protection Requirement Policy be approved Gender Pay Gap Reporting 154 In common with all other organisations employing more than 250 staff, the College was obliged to publish data on gender pay gap on an annual basis. The Board now received a report 4

5 which set out the data to be published based on the reporting date of 31 March 2017 and the statement which the governors were asked to approve. 155 Resolved that the report be noted and that the data for publication and statement be approved PRINCIPAL S REPORT 156 After her first two weeks in post, the Chief Executive & Principal summarised for the Board her initial observations on the College and her priority areas for the immediate future. These included: updating the curriculum and its performance management clarity regarding strategy, communicating that to staff and engaging them in taking the organisation forward focussing on opportunities for adult provision commencing a range of quality provision in Cannock from September improving staff morale preparing for Ofsted review of structure expanding apprenticeships governors were invited to express an interest in joining a task group OUTCOMES FOR LEARNERS 157 Governors considered how the discussions and decisions during the meeting might impact on learners and identified the overall imperative to take the College forward at a macro level as the most significant aspect from this meeting. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Apprenticeship Levy 158 A query was raised as to how the College was using its own apprenticeship levy funding and the Board was advised that it was intended to use this for improving managers skills to level 5 (leadership and management although this was on hold at present due to the forthcoming restructure. RETIREMENT OF RAY FAULKNER 159 The Board thanked Ray for his steadfast service as a governor and as Chair for many years including service on the Tamworth and Lichfield Board prior to the merger. DATE OF NEXT MEETING 160 Friday, 27 April 2018 at 9.00am at Rodbaston Campus. Chair Date 5