MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COLEG SIR GAR HELD AT THE GRAIG CAMPUS, LLANELLI ON THURSDAY 5 TH DECEMBER 2013 Present: Board Members: Mr Roger Evans, MBE (for item 1.1 only) (Chair) Mr Philip Owen Venerable Randolph Thomas Mr Barry Liles (Principal) Ms Ebbi Ferguson (Student Governor) FE Corporation: Mr Jon Daniels (Vice Chair) Ms Nicola Davies Mr Dave Gilbert Mrs Jayne Hamilton Dr Alun Hughes Mr Gethin James Mr Hywel Jones Mr John Morrissey Mrs Rosemary Pritchard Mr Elis Owen Mr Ben West Mrs Debbie Williams In attendance: Mr Marcus Beaumont (Company Secretary/Clerk to the Board) College Management: Dr Andrew Cornish (Assistant Principal Teaching, Learning and Quality) Mr Peter Rees (Assistant Principal Learner, Estates and Innovation) Mr Mike Williams (Assistant Principal Planning, Information and Finance) Mrs Ceris Harries (Director of Estates) Mr Ralph Priller (Director of Financial Services) Guests: Mr Eifion Griffiths (to item 3.2) UWTSD Council Ms Non Davies (Clerk to the Board Coleg Ceredigion) The meeting commenced at 17:55 Section 1 Preliminary Matters BD 13/14/1.1 Apologies ACTION RISK Mr Roger Evans apologised that he had been called away and would hand over the Chair of the meeting to Mr Jon Daniels. Mr Daniels assumed the Chair. Mr Evans left the meeting (17:58) The Clerk reported that apologies had been received from Mr Paul White and Mr Elis Owen. Mr Daniels welcomed the two guests to the meeting. Mr Liles explained the role of the Joint Committee in nominating directors of the company to the Council of the University for approval. 1
BD 13/14/1.2 Declarations of Interest None. BD 13/14/1.3 Minutes of the Board meeting held on 10 th October 2013 The minutes were Approved as a true record. BD 13/14/1.4 Matters arising from the above mentioned minutes. BD 13/9/1.8 BD 13/10/2.1 BD 13/10/2.3 Principals Report and Merger Update. Mr Liles updated the Board on the opening ceremony of the new Animal Science Building at Pibwrlwyd. Excellent event with the Minister being taken with the enthusiasm shown by students and the event being attended by significant number of local Councillors and Headteachers. Revised budget for 2013/14 in light of budget reduction Mr Liles updated the Board on changes to the college funding allocation including explaining why certain colleges were receiving an increase in their budget due to acquiring tertiary provision from local schools. He also reported that for 2014/15 the Welsh Government is suggesting that rather than facing a 2% cut the college should prepare for a 3% cut. Budget planning is proceeding on that basis. Final figures will be known in January. Estate Matters Mrs Harries reported that all land sales and purchases have now been completed. BD 13/10/2.3.4 Strategic developments with the local authority. Mr Liles reported that planning work for developments at Pibwrlwyd is progressing well. Report should be received in January. The college and local authority are looking at two significant joint developments: Commercial and curriculum developments at Pibwrlwyd; and Potential Swansea City Region development at Crosshands. BD 13/10.2.4.2 Merger Legal Structures (Ordinances) Mr Liles reported that there had been a delay in the Ordinance and Protocols going to the University Council. BD 13/10/2.5 BD 13/10.2.7 Estyn Report and Update Dr Cornish reported that the three papers on sector leading practice are still waiting to go onto the website. He also reported that the role of the link inspector is changing. The college will have two inspectors who will visit twice a year and they will carry out mini-inspections. He also reported that the college had hosted numerous visits from other colleges following inspection. Branding and Logo Mr Liles reported that new campus signage incorporating the new branding will be erected over Christmas. The new website will go live on 23 rd December 2013. 2
Section 2 To Approve BD 13/15/2.1 Financial Statements Year Ended 31 st July 2013 a) Coleg Sir Gar The Board thanked Mr Priller and his team for work on this over the last year. Mr Daniels reported that the report and accounts have been seen and agreed by Audit and Risk Management Committee. The Report and Accounts were approved. b) CCTA Enterprises Mr Liles reported that this is the vehicle now being used to employ Apprentices, initially within the Hospitality sector (as a pilot) but hopefully to include other sectors in the future. The company has been dormant until now but will be active next year. Renaming of the company is being considered. The financial statements were approved. BD 13/15/2.2 Estate Matters Update Mrs Harries gave an update on current development: Ammanford conversion of two workshop bays to teaching space and conversion of a room into a disabled wetroom. Gelli Aur conversion of former hostel is now complete and staff and students are now using it. Mr Liles reported that the scheme had been well managed and came in on time and is expected to be under budget. Mr Rees reported that the college will be audited on the original European funding (Article 30). Mr Rees felt that a positive story can be told and a full report on this will be made to Audit and Risk Management Committee. Mrs Harries also reported that the college is looking at the feasibility of moving some buildings from Ammanford to Gelli Aur for tractor shed use. Graig - considering replacement of Astroturf and updating changing rooms. Will be going out shortly for consultants to look at the Atrium and Performing Arts. Jobs Well getting costs for decorating external walls and internal modifications to adapt for new equipment. Pibwrlwyd working closely with consultants on the listed farmhouse and associated areas. Report expected January. Mr Liles confirmed that finance for the study is expected from WG A4B. The use of the 1m of college funds authorised by the Board for estates work was discussed. Mr Hywel Jones advised that the Planning and Resources Committee has requested a detailed analysis of spend against this budget. The report was accepted. BD 13/15/2.3 Minutes and Committee Report of the Curriculum and Standards Committee held on 21 st October 2013 Mr Morrissey reported on the minutes in the absence of Mr Paul White. He highlighted the need for greater emphasis on target setting. Dr Cornish explained how ALIS+1 could be used to put more rigour on target setting. Mr Daniels said it was good to see aspirational targets being set. Dr Cornish reported that other added value systems are being looked at. 3
The poor results for Wales within the PISA results was discussed and the implications for the college were discussed. Dr Hughes suggested that the college should not lose sight of benchmarking against international standards. The report and minutes were approved. Mr Liles brought the Board s attention to the further development of the Committee Reports. The Board thanked the Clerk for his work on the report. The report and minutes was approved. BD 13/15/2.4 Minutes and Committee Reports of the Planning and Resources Committee held on 22 nd October 2013 Mr Jones presented the minutes. The Clerk reported that Risk Rating had been done by the Principal and himself. Mr Jones highlighted that the committee feels that Safeguarding within the college is well under control with good access for students to support staff. Miss Ferguson confirmed that for some students the college is the safest area in their lives. Mrs Williams reported that the Students Union has now appointed a Mental Health Officer. Mr Liles reminded members that all governors will need to undertake Safeguarding training in January. The report and minutes were approved. BD 13/15/2.5 2.5.1 Minutes and Committee Report of the Audit and Risk Management Committee meeting held on 14 th November 2013 Mr Owen presented the minutes. He highlighted the two Amber reports; DBS checks and Safeguarding. Mr Liles explained the background and work in progress. The report and minutes were approved. 2.5.2 Audit and Risk Management Committee Annual Report 2012/13 The report was received and accepted. BD 13/15/2.6 Minutes and Committee Report of the Search, Governance and Remuneration Committee meeting held on 21 st November 2013 The minutes were approved. Section 3 Awareness, Strategy and Vision BD 13/16/3.1 Principal s Report and Merger Update Mr Liles presented his report and highlighted: Merger Funding two invoices have now been paid. Common Contract Principal and Clerk attended ColegauCymru meeting on Tuesday by video conference where we confirmed our intention to adopt the Common Contract. The contract should be in place from January. Distributed Denial of Service the college s computer system has been the subject of criminal attacks which affect remote access although the Firewalls protect the college s data. The attacks severely test the pipe (electronic feed) into the college. Mr Williams reported on the work being undertaken by system suppliers and the Welsh Government. The Board expressed concern over the effect of this on students being able to access and undertake their studies. Mr Williams reported that staff have been informed but there was concern that the message had not got out to students. It was agreed that the Executive would keep the Board informed of progress in solving this problem by e-mail. 4
Skills Mr Liles related the excellent results of the college. It was agreed that the college should be proud and shout about its success. BD 13/16/3.2 Corporate Board Member Matters The Principal presented diagrams of the new Governance structure depicting the Board and its make-up. He also presented membership of the two bodies proposed by the Search, Governance and Remuneration Committee. It was agreed that the following be appointed as directors of the company: Mr Paul White; Dr Alun Hughes, Mrs Rosemary Pritchard, Mr Ben West, Mr Hywel Jones, Mr John Morrissey. It was also agreed that Mr Dave Gilbert and Mrs Debbie Williams be appointed as non-voting Associate members of the Board. It was further agreed that Mrs Jayne Hamilton, Mr Gethin James and Mr Elis Owen be appointed to the Advisory Body. The Chair thanked the associate members and Advisory Body members as they will provide key support to establishing the Board and the development of the new Advisory Body committees. The meeting divided into four groups to consider aspects of the relationship and communication needs of and between the Board and the three Advisory Body committees. Feedback from the four groups after 20 minute consideration was as follows: 1. Curriculum and Standards Group Dr Cornish reported that the committee sets the standards on teaching and learning. The Chair questioned whether it was the committee or the Board that set the standards. Dr Cornish responded that the committee would recommend the standards to the Board for approval and that the committee would need to identify and supply evidence to support the recommendation. It was felt that recommendations need to be realistic and it was part of the role of the Committee Chair and Vice-Chair to ensure recommendations were realistic given the likely inexperience of new committee members. He reported that the group felt that the current minutes and committee report was working well and should continue to be used as the communication channel between the Board and committees. It was felt that feedback from the Board back to committees from the Board was very important and that rather than wait for the next committee meeting that the Board s decision should be communicated by e-mail to committee members. It was also felt that the role of Chair in feeding back from the Board will be very important especially in giving the reasons behind Board decisions He raised two questions posed by the group: Would there be a right for the committee to challenge a decision of the Board if a recommendation is not agreed? After discussion there was general agreement that recommendations could be resubmitted if further or additional evidence was available. Feedback from the Board on reasons for its decision would significantly aid that process. The second question was: Does the Advisory Body need to be unanimous in deciding to submit a recommendation to the Board? There was general agreement that all recommendations would need majority rather than unanimous support. The fact that a recommendation has only majority support should be communicated to the Board as part of the submission. 5
There was a general discussion on what happens if the Chair is unable to attend a Board meeting and present recommendations. It was agreed that the Vice-Chair would be invited to attend in their place for relevant agenda items only. There was also discussion on whether committees can seek the input of other committees before a recommendation is submitted to the Board. It was agreed that without this ability it would make the decision making process a long one. 2. Planning and Resources Group Mr Rees reported that the group had focused on how the committees make a decision. It was felt the committee would seek information and challenge officers to provide information and analysis for discussion by the committee. Officers would put forward a recommendation for adoption by the committee and once agreed by the committee it would be submitted to the Board for decision. The group felt that full papers would need to be seen by the Board not just a very brief summary. It was agreed that Board decisions related to a committee need to be communicated back to those Committee members quickly via e-mail or the Gateway. It was accepted that the process would take at least two meetings (across two terms) for an item to be raised, information sought, and a recommendation to be formulated and adopted. There was concern that committees could set time-consuming tasks for officers with little impact or benefit to the college; wasting considerable time and resource. It was felt that Committee Chairs and Principal would need to control task allocation. The setting of the agenda was raised. It was felt that the current system of items being proposed by the Executive and Clerk, with the Committees having the opportunity to raise issues, should continue. It was agreed that part of the Principal s role will be to ensure that committees focus on governance of the college and do not stray into management issues. It was felt that the induction of new Advisory Body members will be critical to ensure they are clear on their role and expectations are not raised too high. It was agreed that this should include enabling new members to understand the Terms of Reference they will be working within. 3. Audit and Risk Management Group Mr Williams reported that the group had covered much of the ground already reported but had also considered the level of officer input into committees and had concluded that it should go beyond members of the Executive to include key officers relevant to specific items. The group also felt that where a high level of concern was being expressed by the Committee it could request a special meeting of the Board or Search and Governance Committee to consider the item. 4. The Board Mr Daniels reported that the group had concluded that although the communication channels already exist it is the quality of the channels that needs to be considered. The quality of information supporting recommendations will influence Board decisions and the quality of feedback from the Board back to the committee reporting the 6
Section 4 Any Other Business decision, whether a yes, conditional no, not sure yet more information needed, or no, will be key to the motivation of the Committee. It was discussed that it will be important that Committee agendas allow for feedback on recommendations submitted to them but also to allow the Board to request Committees to look at items and report back to the Board. In a general discussion following the group feedback methods of simplifying access to minutes and feedback was discussed. It was suggested that relevant board minutes with detailed feedback on items that have not been approved could be made available quickly, via the Gateway, in a similar way to agenda s being made available now. Mr Daniels, as acting Chair, summed up the discussion. It was agreed that the current Board members on the Advisory Body committees will be critical to the success of the new Governance structure. It was suggested that the new structure will need to be audited and that the current Board self-evaluation process now needs to be reviewed to reflect the new structure. It was agreed that the Board needs to have the role of managing the Advisory Body membership. BD 13/17/4.1 None. Section 5 Date, Time and Venue of Next meeting BD 13/18/5.1 Next meeting of the Board of Coleg Sir Gâr Limited will be 6 th March 2014 at 6.00 p.m. at the Graig Campus. The meeting concluded 20:47. Jon Daniels Vice Chair Marcus Beaumont Company Secretary 7