CONFIDENTIAL
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE
NEW COLLEGE NOTTINGHAM CORPORATION
HELD ON WEDNESDAY 14OCTOBER 2015 AT 6.00PM
Present: / David Nelson– ChairDawn Whitemore - Principal
Michael Wisher – Governor
Caroline Mackrory – Governor
Trevor Clay – Governor
Rob McIntrye – Staff Governor
Roger Harrison - Governor
Tabani Ndlovu - Governor
Bethany Davies (Student Governor)
Sizalobuhle Dube (Student Governor)
In Attendance: / Andrew Hartley – Deputy Principal Finance and Funding
Nigel Gell – Vice Principal, Commercial and Recruitment
Jane Hanson – Interim Vice Principal, Curriculum and Quality (Consultant)
Laura Ellis -Clerk to the Corporation
Cheryl English – Head of Marketing, PR and Communication (Item 11 only)
The Chair welcomed student Governors Bethany Davies and Sizalobuhle Dube to their first meeting of the Board.
The Principal apologised to members for a delay in dispatching papers for this Board meeting and acknowledged the importance of members reading the papers to attend prepared. A proposal was agreed that in future all papers will be sent to members electronically in advance with requests from members for hard copies if required.
MINUTE NO / ACTIONPresentation: Ofsted Common Inspection Framework Update
A presentation was given by the Interim Vice Principal Curriculum and Quality as an update on the new Common Inspection Framework (CIF). The CIF has new criteria, a new inspection methodology, different styles of inspections and greater emphasis on safeguarding and the Prevent agenda. Approaching the inspection as ‘satisfactory’ ncn will receive a full inspection that will commence on a Tuesday and conclude on the Friday. A judgement grade for overall effectiveness will be made alongside effectiveness of leadership and management, quality of teaching and learning, personal development behaviour and welfare (new) and outcomes for children and learners. Safeguarding will be judged as either effective or not. SSAs are no longer inspected in the new framework. Inspectors will take in to account all types of provision that are within the scope. JH gave detail around Teaching, Learning and Assessment and the emphasis that will be given by inspectors. A new criteria has been introduced – Personal Development, behaviour and welfare, the purpose of this judgement will be on learner self-confidence, self-awareness and question learners on staying safe and risks. The outcomes will be judged based on in year improvements and what progress students are making and are demonstrating – no grading will be award. Governors were informed of the checking process that was taking place weekly at Executive to ensure consistency in relation to target setting on the EiLP.
An invitation to Governors was made to contribute to the Governance section of the SAR that is evidence based.
ACTION: Excellence Committee to discuss Governance SAR section and report back to Board
ACTION: Presentation slides to be distributed to Governors / JH
LE
1 / APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR
In accordance with the Corporation Standing Orders an open nominations process had taken place to identify members willing to stand for Chair and Vice Chair. The Clerk had received 1 nomination for Chair and 1 nomination for Vice Chair. In accordance with the Corporation Standing Orders, all nominations were appointed and uncontested, the following resolutions were passed:
- The Corporation appoint David Nelson as Chair of the Corporation for a period of one year to the first meeting of the Corporation of the 2016/17 academic year.
- The Corporation appoint Michael Wisher as the Vice Chair for a period of two years to the first meeting of the Corporation of the 2017/18 academic year.
2 / APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Mary Carswell, Thulani Molife, Ruth Agbakosi (Student Governor) and Jo Boulton.
3 / DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
No declarations of interest had been received.
4 / APPROVAL OF MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING
The minutes of the meeting that was held on 15 September 2015 were confirmed as a true and accurate record subject to amendments being made as outlined.
Business Performance Report
DW reported that since the report had been issued that there are now 5 staff without an up to date PDR. DW confirmed that assurance has been given that all 5 staff will have a PDR in place by the end of the week.
Property Strategy Update 2014/15
NG reported that DCLG issue is ongoing relating to a potential clawback of £90k from grant funds linked to SNEC centre due to two procurement issues. NG reported that a meeting with MACE had taken place and as an outcome MACE will meet with DCLG to achieve a resolution and will feedback.
ACTION: Update to be provided at the next meeting.
The minutes of Audit and Assurance Committee on 15 September 2015, Finance Committee on 15 September 2015 were received by the Board.
The minutes of the Remuneration Committee held on 15 September 2015 were not shared in the pack due to confidentiality.
The minutes Governance Committee held 28 September 2015 were not included in the pack.
The Chair verbally updated the Board that at the Governance Committee, a prospective appointment of a new Governor was discussed. Present at the meeting was David Nelson, Dawn Whitemore, Thulani Molife and Nigel Hallam. A former college staff Governor has expressed an interest to return as an independent Governor. The Committee felt this would be a helpful appointment having the appreciation of ncn, strong background in FE and an understanding of the context of the potential merger. The Chair reported that an interview, conducted by Thulani Molife and David Nelson, took place on 13 October 2015 and subject the necessary checks would like to recommend the appointment of Ralph Tonge to this meeting. Members took a vote.
It was agreed:
To approve the appointment of Ralph Tonge as an independent member.
At this point in the meeting, Tabani Ndlovu reported that there appeared to have been a breach of the Instruments and Articles with the appointment of 3 Student Governors when it should be 2. TN’s point was acknowledged and in response, the Interim Vice Principal Curriculum and Quality reported that three had been appointed as there is a requirement for student Governor attendance at both Board meetings and Excellence Committee meetings and having three students improved attendance. Members were encouraged to vote with a show of hands on the number of Student Governors. It was unanimous that the Student Governor representation will be increased from 2 to 3 with immediate effect. / NG
5 / BUSINESS PERFORMANCE REPORT
Governors received and considered the Principal’s Business Performance report. The dashboard has been updated with success rates and staff utilisation data now included. DW outlined to Governors that they receive the weekly Broadcast, Principal’s BLOG and Stakeholder letters that will complement the report. Governors were advised that due to the changes in the observation process that the process now is ungraded data on observation will be reported alongside the data dashboard. An additional dashboard was proposed for the monitoring of observations. This is due to the changing in the process following an agreement to not grade lessons.
DW reported to Governors of a matter relating to Awarding Body sanctions that have been issued to ncn. As a result of the sanctions, ncn not on the register. A full paper will be presented to the Excellence Committee to enable scrutiny of the process and to ensure close monitoring of internal processes.
ACTION: Sanctions to be added to the agenda for the next Excellence Committee and a full forensic report provided. Plus assurance to be provided that ncn will re-submit at the earliest opportunity – October date expected.
The report was noted. / JH
6 / FE COMMISSIONERS UPDATE
The Principal verbally updated Governors that a phone call had taken place advising ncn that we were out of intervention. A subsequent email from BiS Sheffield office outlined ncn was taken out of intervention due to merger and not due to the significant improvements made. DW has requested a letter to confirm that ncn is out of interventionand that we have met the necessary requirements. DW reported that a visit from FEC will be requested to enable us to come out of intervention if the letter states we are out of process due to merger not due to our improved performance.
The update was noted.
ACTION: DW to follow up with FEC. / DW
7 / ANNUAL SAFEGUARDING UPDATE
The Deputy Principal presented this report. During 2014/15, 100 referrals were made linked to emotional matters and the report outlines how we have dealt with them. 9.5 of the report outlines the developments for future plans and Prevent. The Chair gave his thanks to the governors who had completed the Prevent online training and acknowledged that there were two governors who were expected to complete their training.
Michael Wisher requested reassurance that the services teams and any contractors are receiving the training and the provision made for them. It was emphasised that all staff will be required to complete the mandatory training and that all contractors are required to be cleared by DBS and are appropriately supervised to ensure that all students and staff are safe. The Principal proposed Thulani Molife who is the current Governor safeguarding lead has an additional Safeguarding Governor to work alongside
Tabani Ndlovu reported that with Board reports it is helpful to understand trends, patterns and benchmarking to enable Governors to understand impact. It was agreed that this would be addressed in future reports by report authors.
It was agreed:
That an additional safeguarding governor would be identified
It was agreed that trends where appropriate would be added to reports
The report was noted.
8 / STAFF DEVELOPMENT REPORT
The Staff Development Report was presented to the Board. This will be a termly report that will be presented to the Board. Governors acknowledged the detail within the report and acknowledged that despite making financial cuts that the college has still been able to invest in staff, particularly in relation to supporting learners.
ACTION: Staff Development Report to be added to the business cycle.
It was agreed:
That the report be noted.
9 / CURRICULUM AND QUALITY UPDATE
The purpose of this report was to update members of the progress to date since the last Ofsted inspection in May 2014. Seven key areas for improvement (AFI) were made and have been addressed in detail. The interim Vice Principal Quality and Curriculum gave a detailed overview as reported in section 5 of the report. It was noted that good progress has been made and accepted that some areas need more work. The Principal tabled the final support visit from Ofsted letter to all members. Ofsted were pleased by the efforts made.
Roger Harrison queried the reasons behind performance of AS level being worse than A level. DW reported that as full analysis was underway to ascertain why intervention that had been implemented had not resulted in the outcomes/impact for learners.
It was agreed:
That the report be noted.
10 / ANNUAL HEALTH AND SAFETY REPORT
The Vice Principal Commercial and Recruitment presented this report. The report contained information relating to Health and Safety during 2014/15, audits and reviews. NG highlighted to Governors that the Health and Safety was managed by one full time member of staff being supported by Heads and Managers in each area. NG reported that extra resources are being considered. Governors requested that for future reports that data on trends and the significance of the data being presented needs to be included.
ACTION: For future reports to include data trends and significance of the data presented.
Tabani Ndlovu left during this item at 8.10pm
11 / MARKETING UPDATE
The Head of Marketing, PR and Communications, Cheryl English (CE), was welcomed to the meeting for this item. The purpose of this item was to update members of the ncn marketing strategy and plan. The focus of the presentation was to update members on the pre-summer activity and learner recruitment. The presentation outlined the customer journey, a month by month timeline of enrolments online and information on measurability of the campaigns was given. Social media engagement has been increased and ‘live chat’ has been introduced this year with 4225 questions answered. CE reported that 88% of all applicants are now online, compared to 63% on the previous year. Facts and figures, including conversion statistics information was presented in detail.
Roger Harrison enquired about the effectiveness of spend and whether more money is spent generates more enrolments. CE reported that a decision was made to realign spend on activity that matches other competitors and the budget for marketing was £204,000 per year.
Trevor Clay enquired about the ability to access schools in Nottingham and if any specific targeting was in place. CE reported that some relationships with schools have been hard due to being seen as competition. A more sophisticated strategy with a more emphasis onsocial media had been improved to target school pupils.
DW reported that it would be useful for CE to connect with Tabani Ndlouv who has expertise in marketing. TN agreed to support.
ACTION: CE to follow up with TN.
12 / JULY MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS
The Deputy Principal reported that the July Management Accounts had been presented and discussed at the Finance Committee. The performance ratios are RAG rated and are being monitored. Key points arising from the P12 accounts are; underlying surplus of £573k, FRS17, restructuring, loss on disposal of Bath Street, together with a large impairment on Basford Hall means that a significant UK GAAP deficit has been recorded, clawback on ASB was larger than the £488k provided for throughout most of the year, tuition fees came in £65k better than MYF, income overall was £401k adverse to MYF, Pay has a positive variance of £565k, none pay is £395k positive and financial health score is ‘satisfactory’. Governors stated how pleased they were with the finance turnaround.
It was agreed:
The report was noted.
13 / FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AUDIT 14/15 UPDATE
The Deputy Principal gave a presentation to give an update on the 14/15 audit status. The Financial Statements audit is complete with no material adjustments. A few no material adjustments were identified, which would have increased the surplus by £60k these are not going to be included. FSA have agreed the provision for £340k provision for lease payments to Econocom, management letter from FSA does not make any recommendations for improvement, the underlying outturn position represents an improvement on 13/14 of £3,272k. Whilst this is due to one-off circumstances, it is still a significant improvement. Governors stated how pleased they were with the year end position and the excellent work undertaken by Vicki Hutchinson who led the Audit.
It was agreed:
The report was noted.
14 / UPDATE FROM DESIGNATE BOARD
A verbal update was given by Trevor Clay to members following the first meeting of the Designate Board that took place on 16 September 2015. The agenda of the meeting covered constitution, membership, protocols and the main item for discussion, Skills Hub. Also present at the meeting were EFA and SFA, Gleeds, David Ralph of the LEP and Nick McDonald of Nottingham City Council.
TC reported that a Skills Hub working group has been established on behalf of the Designate Board and they had met for the first time. TC indicated that CPMG were present as the design team andGleeds were there as the project team, but this was not a formal arrangement. TC confirmed that the financial regulations of both colleges needed to be adhered to and that clear specifications and tenders are required. TC explained that specifications are required work to complete them is underway, but that the timescales are tight. TC gave an overview of the £60m funding package and the contributions expected from each College.
TC at a meeting with SFA and Finance representatives, in relation to the £5mthat needs to be spend and how would monies be re-paid back if money had been drawn down and one or both colleges pulled out of the deal?
TC gave information relating to the Due Diligence process and also to the appointment process of a project manager to help the Designate Board with the merger. TC expressed his concerns to the ncn Board regarding the large sums of money that will be requested from both colleges and size of the scale of decisions being made. Members were reminded that it is the role of the Designate Board to prepare both Boards for the main decisions. Caroline Mackrory expressed her surprise around the scale of the £60m spend for the Skills Hub.
The Chair reported that he had spoken with Carole Wigley (Interim Chair of Designate Board) who has requested a 4th member from ncn for the Designate Board. The Chair confirmed that approaches have been made to those Governors who had expressed an interest originally. At this point of the meeting Tabani Ndlovu withdrew is interest. Michael Wisher as the only other member interested was appointed as the 4th ncn member of the Designate Board. Governors were advised that next meeting of the Designate Board would be 26 October 2015.
A query regarding the clerking arrangements was raised by Rob McIntrye and when minutes of the meetings would be available to the Board. Clerking arrangements were being provided by Central College. The Chair assured Governors that a request has been made for clear and transparent communication.
It was at this point of the meeting that a decision was taken to extend the ncn Board meeting on 16 December to enable full discussions and decisions on merger to be taken.
ACTION: It was agreed that Michael Wisher would be the 4th ncn member on the Designate Board.
Trevor Clay left the meeting after this item at 7.30pm
15 / CONFIDENTIALITY OF BUSINESS
16 / ANY OTHER BUSINESS
DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
16December 2015
The meeting closed at 8.20pm