Minutes of the Meeting of the Governing Body Of

Minutes of the Meeting of the Governing Body of

THE CITY LITERARY INSTITUTE held on 14 March 2017 at

City Lit, Keeley Street, London WC2B 4BA

Present:GOVERNORS

Mark Malcomson+

Tim Mitchell+

Key:+ Present

*Apologies tendered

In Attendance:Phil Chamberlain (Executive Director, External Engagement)

Paul Evans (Chief Financial Officer)

Brian Watts (Vice Principal)

Kate Wickham (Assistant Principal)

Chris Jones (Director of Strategic Partnerships) – for item 17/06 only

Clerk:Katrina O’Sullivan.

PART ONE:STANDING ITEMS

17/04Apologies for absence

There were apologies for absence received from Penny Allen, Fiona Larden and Sandy Pfeifer. The Chair welcomed new Executive member, Phil Chamberlain, to his first Board meeting, and also reminded the Board that it was Kate Wickham’s last meeting before her retirement.

17/05Declarations of Interest

There was a declaration of interest made from Annita Bennett regarding the Membership item, and the Chair confirmed that Annita would leave the meeting whilst this was being discussed.

17/06Presentation: Enrolments & the Customer Engagement Team

Chris Jones, Director of Strategic Partnerships, gave a presentation about the newly formed Customer Engagement Team [which has been appended to the minutes for information].

Governors asked whether the 2 computer package systems were needed as in Chris’ presentation he stated that they were conflicting. The Principal answered that 1 system (EBS) allowed the college to upload the 38 fields which were required by government; and the other was the college’s commercial system. The aim was to make them faster together - but 2 were required. Members also enquired how many staff were in the CET team and whetherManagement were able to relate this to an increase in sales. Chris answered that there were 10 team members and, historically, the productivity of individuals could not be tracked, but the new ZenDesk system could look at this. The Board enquired about wider engagement with mobile telephones and the role of part time tutors as ambassadors for City Lit and Chris replied that these were being looked at in correlation with the Marketing Department.

[Joanna Reynolds joined the meeting]

Governors asked how the Webchat was monitored with a small team. Chris explained that the Webchat was currently being trialled at the check out phase of the enrolment process,and the

ZenDesk package prioritised it and, therefore, potential students received an instant response from a member of the team. Members also enquired about the potential for electronic registers and tracking customer feedback. Chris answered that there was a mechanism for tracking customer feedback; and an electronic register project was underway with a trial phase being planned, and a go live date of September 2017.

17/07Membership

[Annita Bennett and the attending Executive members left the meeting for this item.]

The Chair invited the Governing Body to approve Annita Bennett’s extended term of office as recommended by the Governance and People Committee. She explained that Annita’s second term of office, as the Deputy Chair and as a governor, would end in April 2017.

The Board were reminded that City Lit’s Memorandum and Articles of Association state that Governors ‘retiring at the end of their second term of office shall not be eligible for re-appointment unless otherwise resolved by the Governing Body.’ Inter alia, due to the Centenary Celebrations Project Committee - which was in its infancy and would form an integral part of City Lit’s future fundraising - it was envisaged that Annita would Chair this Committee, and offer part of the oversight to the Board on it. It was proposed that she be permitted to serve a term ending in 2019, the specific date in 2019 to be agreed once the scope of the Centenary Celebrations Project had been decided.

Also, Annita would be willing to serve one more year as Deputy Chair, this would allow sufficient time to appoint another Deputy and have a reasonable handover period.

The Governance and People Committee had agreed that it would be valuable to have continuity with the Centenary Project, and the fellowship work Annita had undertaken; along with her wealth of knowledge and expertise in these areas. Governors and Management also expressed that they appreciated her contribution and wise counsel.

The Governing Body resolved that Annita Bennett should continue as Deputy Chair of Governors for one year until April 2018; and serve as governor for a term ending in 2019 as recommended by the Governance and People Committee.

17/08Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 December 2016

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2016 were approved and signed by the Chair.

17/09Principal’s Report: December 2016 – March 2017

The Principal’s asked if governors had any questions regarding his report which updated the Governing Body on general activities taking place across the college.

Governors asked about the Principal addressing the All Party Parliamentary Group on Adult Education about the importance of adult education to support specific groups such as the deaf. The Principal explained that Phil Chamberlain was working on a case to take to government about City Lit being a Centre for Excellence for the deaf,or something similar, as it was an area unfortunately dying elsewhere.

The Board asked about the conversations Management were having with Roffey Park. The Principal explained that these discussions had been to ascertain if there could be a possible collaboration whereby City Lit hold residential Summer School programmes at Roffey Park’s premises in Horsham, similar to those held at Fircroft College 2 years ago. Management had visited and liked the premises which houses a 120 seat auditorium.

City Lit’s Principal and their Chief Executive had met yesterday and agreed to trial a sample 2 week summer school there. At the May Governing Body the Principal would be able to talk more about the take up of this sample. If it did not work then City Lit would not be liable for anything.

[Tim Mitchell joined the meeting]

The Principal also gave a presentation on his new Executive team structure which would start from 18 April 2017; governors discussed this and asked clarification questions regarding the new proposed structure [presentation attached].

17/10Area Reviews: oral update

The Principal reported that nothing had been printed by FE Week or any other press regarding the announcement that City Lit would not be merging with Kensington and Chelsea College. He relayed that City Lit’s relationship with KCC continued to be good and he had been keeping in contact with their interim Principal; and also the Deputy FE Commissioner. KCC had now formally gone out to other colleges regarding merger proposals. City Lit were still actively involved in the London ACL (Adult Community Learning) Reviews, which was initially the side review to the Area Reviews, and it continued to be important to be alert to this.

Governors asked for an update on proposals of an SDI merger; the Principal explained that the SDI group had commissioned a piece of work to be undertaken on this possibility and/or shared services – it was envisaged that the report would be finalised by the summer.

17/11Matters Arising Not Appearing Elsewhere

There were no matters arising not appearing elsewhere.

17/12Date of the next meeting

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 9 May 2017, 5pm.

PART TWO:TEACHING, LEARNING, ASSESSMENT AND QUALITY

17/13Ofsted report

Kate Wickham presented the Ofsted inspection report for discussion which the Quality Committee had reviewed at its dedicated Ofsted inspection report meeting on 31 January 2017.

She reported that the full Ofsted inspection took place between 6-9 December 2016, and also expressed that it had been timely that a Quality Review had taken place at the college several months prior. 6 inspectors had reviewed the college’s provision, processes and outcomes and had agreed the following grades for the college:

Overall effectiveness - Good

Overall Effectiveness of leadership and management - Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment - Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare - Outstanding

Outcomes for learners - Good

Adult learning programmes - Good

Additionally, at the December 2016 Governing Body meeting it had been agreed that the Quality Review (mock inspection) report and Ofsted reports would be taken together at this [March] meeting; and the Quality Review report had been recirculated for governors to make any comments.

Kate added that the key positives she had taken from the Ofsted inspection had been that it showed the college had undertaken a rigorous self-assessment process for 2015/16 – as this is what drives the Ofsted inspection. Management had been honest about its gradings which were in line with the new Common Inspection Framework, and which the Inspectors had agreed with. It was seen as a positive that the college had commenced work on RARPA, OTL, Safegarding. In advance of the Ofsted Inspection key management staff had been given coaching on the Ofsted process in order to build confidence about how they managed the process and to challenge assumptions.

Management explained that since the new Common Inspection Framework had come in to place, it was extremely hard to receive an ‘outstanding’ grade, no college had as yet; and particularly hard for an Adult Education delivering predominately non-accredited courses - so to receive a ‘good’ was an achievement. Governors asked if the college would be aiming for Outstanding for the future; the Principal expressed that by pursuing what would be needed to acquire Outstanding, 1) it would be a diversion to what it was currently trying to achieve, and 2) would betray City Lit’s charitable ethos and disadvantaged students.

Penny Allen and Fiona Larden had both emailed in their comments which endorsed Kate’s feedback, and expressed that the grade had been a wonderful accomplishment for the team, and further passed on their thanks and congratulations, especially to Kate Wickham.

Kate voiced that governor support at the SAR meetings had been beneficial and it had been hugely valuable for the Inspector to meet with 5 governors during the Inspection. Additional thanks was given to Penny Allen and Fiona Larden who had spent a lot of time at the college working with staff around the SAR process.

Governors enquired if deferential learning was an issue when teaching adults. Management explained that it was, but there was an internal college project group in place now to look at how to improve that and RARPA; but in the college’s teacher training course they are told to keep mixing the teaching methods.

The Board asked about the Inspection action plan going forward. Kate suggested that the new Executive team would need some time to consider this, but the Quality Committee would be monitoring this. The Principal suggested that in 3-6 months time Wendy McKaig, new Assistant Principal – Quality, report how this would go forward.

The Board asked if Management felt that staff had understood the shift in the new SAR process. Kate expressed that they had; the new Common Inspection Framework was tough and it had taken some time to translate this, but departments are, on the whole, on board with this.

Members asked how students were being told about the Ofsted grade, and Management stated that an extract for the plasma screens around the building had been prepared.

The Chair commented that on page 33 of the Quality Review it reportedthe ‘Promotion of equality and the celebration of diversity is a key strength of City Lit’ and she would like to look at diversity of the Board. This would be taken to the Governance & People Committee.

PART THREE:FINANCE AND PERFORMANCE MONITORING

17/14Finance Chair’s Key Points

The Governing Body received and noted the Finance Committee’s Chair’s Key points from its meeting on 21 February 2017.

17/15Management accounts to 31 January 2017 and year end reforecast

Paul Evans provided the Governing Body with details of the management accounts to 31 January 2017 and the year end reforecast outturn as discussed at the Finance Committee on 21 February.

The reforecast outturn for the year ending 31st July 2017 showed that there would be a surplus of £100k compared to a budgeted surplus of £50k. However £50k of revenue expenditure had been switched to capital spend, which accounted for the increase. Student fees were slightly behind budget by £23k which incorporated all classes taught between 1st August 2016 and 31st January 2017, but the shortfall had now been made up and the college was currently £37k ahead of the year to date budget at the 31 March.

Sales for term 1 were positive, and 98% of budget had been achieved, with a £75k shortfall in income and a £40k shortfall in contribution. This had been improved on in Term 2 and City Lit were now £78k over the budget of £2.517m. This was a positive result, especially as the sales budget was £388k larger than the prior year T2 outturn. Management’s focus was now on delivering term 3. Paul explained that Term 3 had a number of risks associated - as Easter was very late this year the college had a large volume of product starting in the first week of the term.

The cash balance at 31 January 2017 was £1.8m, which was £140k behind forecast due to a higher amount of the capital expenditure budget spend being incurred at this point in the financial year than anticipated. Capital expenditure for the six months was £535k from an annual budget of £657k. Management anticipated being overspent in this area due to emergency replacement of the fire alarm system and lifts.

Governors asked why the course guide was only released in March if Easter was a ‘hard start’. Paul explained that experience had shown that if it is sent out too early the results are not achieved, so is released in time for booking. Members also asked about the ‘buffer’. Paul commented that this allowed for an element of non-performance by departments; and an underachievement of student fee income. The buffer is phased out over the year - £210k is the total for the year, but it is thought that not all this would be required.

The Governing Body noted the financial outturn and reforecast.

17/16Renewal of Fashion Retail Academy (FRA) premises agreement

Paul Evans invited the Governing Body to approve the renewal of the FRA premises agreement as recommended by the Finance Committee at its 21 February meeting.

Paul reported that the college currently hired 9 classrooms at FRA for evening provision, Monday to Thursday. The current 2 year agreement would expire at the end of July 2017. City Lit had now been running courses from FRA for over 5 years, and the classrooms have been a useful, cost effective way of providing additional capacity during the peak evening period, when classrooms at Keeley Street were full. A fee profit/funding generated for 2015-16 and 2016/17 table had also been provided for governors.

Currently the college pays £96,180 per annum, which was fixed for the 2 year period. FRA have proposed a fee £102,500, fixed for the two year period. This represented an increase of approximately 6.5%. However, City Lit’s return on investment is over 200%, which was a good return.

Either party would be able to terminate early by providing 1 year’s notice, and paying £1,500 per month for the unexpired term following the end of the 1 year notice period. Additional classrooms were available at a cost of £11,389 each.

The Governing Body approved the renewal of the Fashion Retail Academy premises agreement as recommended by the Finance Committee.

17/17Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

The Principal updated the Governing Body on the Key Performance Indicators which had been presented and discussed at the Quality Committee and the Finance Committee.

He explained that the newly structured Executive would work to create the revised top level KPIs. The timetable for the revised KPIs would be October 2017; and for the remaining July meeting (as they do not go to the May Board) the old KPIs would be used. Governors asked that a narrative be added to each KPIs to add context; and to bring to the July Board meeting just the ones that have changed and/or are concerning.

17/18Bank Mandate

Paul Evans spoke to a report which sought to update the bank mandate to reflect changes in the Executive.

Management wished to add: Phil Chamberlain; Nick Doran; Wendy McKaig, Rachel Johnson and Julieanne Gilbert, and to remove Peter Moore, Kate Wickham and Liora Ives.

The Governing Body approved the changes in the bank mandate.

17/19Audit Committee Chair’s Key Points