Location / The Professional Centre, Winchester
Held on / Thursday 16 October 2014, 6pm
Present: / Julie Amies / Andrew Turk
Alastair Angwin / Sylvia Vine
Mark Barlow
Philip Coverdale (for item 2) / David Wright
Robin Gray
Peter Higgs / John Coughlan
Martina Humber / Liz Flaherty
Richard Johnson / Josie Matthews
Roy Lee / Mandy Parsons
Shirley Nellthorpe / Gordon Shinn
Trevor Pitman / Richard White
Terry Tillman / Helen Hardy (clerk)
Apologies: / Andy March / Charlotte Bailey
Simon Walker (for item 2) / Chris Robinson
Tina Woodcock
No / Note / Action
1 / Welcome and apologies
Robin Gray welcomed governors and officers to the meeting and introduced new HGA members: Mark Barlow, Richard Johnson and Trevor Pitman. Apologies were noted as above.
2 / Schools Forum Briefing
Integrated Business Centre (IBC)
John Coughlan provided a brief background to the IBC before Richard White (Head of IBC) went through an update on the current situation with the IBC in relation to schools. Both JC and RW accepted that the rollout to schools had not been as good as it should have been and that they are particularly upset about the additional work it has caused for bursars and admin officers.
· There is a user group of around 20 AOs / bursars who continue to be engaged in the work
· Communications from the IBC to school have been scaled back as this was overwhelming.
· Backlog of invoices is being cleared with a specific team brought in to do this work. They will work on the presumption that invoices are correct and will pay them and post to school accounts once reconciliation has been done.
· SAP upgrade happening in the next few weeks.
· Stocking the “shop” is ongoing with an initial focus on high-volume items and vendors.
· Training users and suppliers to use the system is vital
· Increase the use of p-cards particularly for small purchases.
Will HCC underwrite late payment of debts rather than schools? If it is a contracted supplier, payment will be made as per the terms of the contract. If it is from a non-contracted supplier this is harder, normal practice is to try and negotiate the fee away but where it is an IBC problem, it will be paid.
All invoices will be paid as per the contractual payment terms set up by the buyer.
Invoice payment is getting better, with 75% being paid within contractual terms. Only 25 suppliers known to the IBC who have not been paid. Several governors mentioned that schools are paying suppliers direct where they have not received payment from the IBC. Richard asked that the IBC be informed of these incidents.
All options are being considered such as letting AOs input invoices directly from schools but the implication for the rest of the system must be considered. Decision on when to do the training was partly based on needing to do it when the system was going live.
It is working for some schools and AOs who are working within the system.
Richard had been asked by AOs to mention to governors that they would like to use P-cards more but that governors aren’t allowing them to do so. Governors could not think of a time when this had happened in their schools and RW will feedback to AOs.
A governor asked if the County will be able to reward AOs for the additional hours they have had to work to manage the workload of the IBC. RW added that many IBC staff have also been working with schools for 10 to 15 years and are working extremely hard to get the new system right for schools.
Liz Flaherty, Gordon Shinn and Josie Matthews talked through the papers on SALT provision and budget issues which will be discussed at Schools Forum.
3 / Election of Officers and Representatives
All officers and representatives were elected unanimously by HGA as follows:
Chair – Robin Gray (MH proposed and AA seconded)
Vice-chair – Sylvia Vine (RG proposed and MH seconded)
Treasurer – Andrew Turk
NGA – Andrew Turk, Robin Gray, Shirley Nellthorpe (substitute)
Admissions – Sylvia Vine
4. / Notes of 13 March 2014
The minutes of the meeting of 13 March 2014 were agreed as a true record.
5. / Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
6. / Draft County Governor Forum Agenda
Mandy Parsons explained the format of County Governor Forum to new HGA members as the meeting for anyone from HGA to attend to meet with the Executive Lead Member for Education.
Universal FSM – Glyn has been to most Forum meetings to discuss this. It was agreed it might be more useful for CGF to receive an update on children with medical needs or SMSC.
Update on SEN – governors felt this would be useful.
HR issues – again, useful to receive information
IBC – an update on what has been achieved since this meeting only. / MP / CLERK
7 / Academies – attendance at area forums and membership of HGA
Robin Gray and Mandy Parsons raised their concerns that converter academies appear to have opted out of attending local governor forums, HGA and County Governor Forum and aside how it might be possible to engage them more. A number of reasons were considered:
· Harder to persuade academies to subscribe to Hampshire SLAs
· Greater commitment as an academy governor because they are a director of the company as well
· Many academies are in the secondary phase who are less engaged with the local and county forums anyway.
· The charge for attending area forums – this is a nominal charge because HGA is a centrally funded group.
· A tendency to think of Schools Forum and other similar groups as a “Hampshire” thing and therefore not relevant
· Academy proprietors are asked to nominate candidates for Schools Forum but they are not always engaged. Many academy governors are keen to reignite their involvement with local and county-wide partners.
HGA members were asked to share any ideas on encouraging academy engagement.
8. / Local Forum Items
Western – a lot of discussion around the IBC, and a few other issues
South and East – glazing audit and schools wanted to know where they are on the list for work to be done and length of time for audits to be completed. A member asked if the audit costs are covered by the County cost and it was confirmed that this is the case. A member asked if the cost of repairing damage to buildings in education centres caused by pupils and where the fabric of the building is sub-standard falls to the education centre or the County.
Item 4 at the 9 July 2014 Schools Forum meeting, para 6.1:
Prioritisation of surveys will be as follows:
1.Secondary Schools / Special Schools / PRUs/ BSUs - 2x full time surveyors (storey height will be a key factor plus the more robust environment)
2. Primary Schools – 1x full time surveyor (survey multi-storey sites first)
North and East – discussion around the SEN code of practice with regard to following DfE code not Hampshire’s – MP explained that this is in relation to a court case and in these situations, the court is only interested in following the national code of practice. The advice given is that it is probably best to follow the national code in those cases where a parent may take a school to tribunal and where the relationship has broken down. There was also discussion around the IBC.
A member asked for an update on the work on the Isle of Wight. MP reported that there had been a positive outcome of a recent HMI inspection which stated that there is “effective school improvement” now on the IoW, which reflects the high level of commitment of HIAS, county and governor services colleagues. A governors’ forum has recently been started. A more in-depth Ofsted inspection of social care has been taking place over the last 4 weeks. Hampshire County Council will be involved for 5 years at least.
9. / HGA Reps Feedback from Meetings
NGA – AT attended summer conference where there was a presentation on apprenticeships from the CBI along with discussions around pay committees and some very positive feedback on Hampshire’s accreditation scheme for clerking (35 local authorities are currently buying into the scheme). There is a regional meeting on Tuesday 21 October and a further national conference in November.
Admissions – there was no feedback from Admissions Forum.
Children’s Trust Board – As chair of the HGA, Robin attends this meeting. However, all the senior staff were on the IoW for the Ofsted inspection, so the meeting was chaired by an Area Director. The recent Ofsted report on Children’s Services in Hampshire was discussed. The rating of “good with outstanding features” is the best anyone has got across the country.
However, officers are extremely aware that they must be on their guard at all times as the slightest mistake can lead to a downgrading. The “supporting troubled families” programme is going well and is showing sustained progress. The annual report of the director of public health was discussed. There is a national focus on school nursing and continuing to ensure procurement of school nurses with monitoring health and wellbeing and safeguarding of children.
Safeguarding Children Board (HSCB) – discussed recent serious case reviews and the implication for schools. Governors needed to be aware that the responsibility for safeguarding, including ensuring that staff are properly trained, lies with them. They need to know whether their schools are compliant with ‘keeping children safe in education’ (DfE, 2014) which outlines the processes which all schools, in the maintained, non-maintained or independent sector, must follow to safeguard their pupils.
Staff with safeguarding responsibilities should familiarise themselves with, and use when necessary, HSCB Threshold and Safeguarding procedures to ensure an appropriate response to safeguarding children and young people. Concern had been raised about the failure of many schools to respond to requests for information about safeguarding, including a questionnaire that was sent to schools earlier this year. GBs should note that this could be of concern to Ofsted where an inspection focussed on safeguarding issues.
10. / Correspondence
None
11. / Chairman’s Items
None
12. / Treasurer’s items
None
13. / Any Other Business
A member raised the issue of the promotion of “British Values” which Nicky Morgan had raised before the Education Select Committee in relation to the “Trojan Horse” situation in Birmingham.
Agreed dates for future HGA meetings, all at 6pm
4 December 2014 (Schools Forum issues)
15 January 2015 (Budget Meeting)
5 March 2015
14 May 2015
HGA Minutes 2014-10-16 Page 5 of 5