Panellists Present: Amber Oldershaw(AO), Hollie Owens(HO), Mat Styles(Mas), Adam Robbins(AR)

Minutes of Scrutiny Panel
(Held in B37 of Portland Building on the 5th of March 2014)

Chair: Mat Scales (MS)

Panellists Present: Amber Oldershaw(AO), Hollie Owens(HO), Mat Styles(MaS), Adam Robbins(AR),

External Sabbatical Officer: Joseph Baker (JB)

Staff Present: Samuel Hilton, Andy Barritt

1.0 - Introduction

1.1MS introduced the meeting

2.0 - Postgraduate and Education Officer Questions.

2.1HO asked the Education Officer if there was a new date for the reorganised meeting of the Printing Board Meeting.

2.2The Education Officer stated that the meeting had been reorganised to the 11th of March as the chair of the meeting had fallen ill and that because of the change of date the Postgraduate Officer would now attend the meeting.

2.3AR asked the Postgraduate Officer if the consultation of Postgraduates had been extended.

2.4The Postgraduate Officer stated that on this issue the window of opportunity had closed for now, so it didn’t make sense to extendthe consultation.

2.5AO asked the Education Officer if Peer to Peer support would be extended.

2.6The Education Officer stated that the current system needs to be reviewed. The mentoring had so far mostly been focused on welfare. She stated that the mentoring would be reviewed next year and that the University was very supporting.

2.7HO asked the Postgraduate what she was doing about the MSC course mentioned in her report.

2.8The Postgraduate Officer stated that this was not something she could comment on as the matter was now an official complaint.

2.9MaS asked the Education officer if she had fulfilled her promise to tell lecturers about lecture recording equipment.

2.10 The Education Officer state she had brought the issue up at relevant meetings and as it was not currently University Policy all the Student’s Union could do is encourage staff to use the equipment. She stated that a survey would be launched after the election which would ask students why they wanted their lectures recorded.

2.11MaS asked the Postgraduate Officer if she had a feeling for what Postgraduate Research students felt about the teaching rating survey.

2.12 The Postgraduate Officer stated that they would rather be treated like academic staff so they were happy with the situation provided that the lecturers’ scores were put online.

2.13 AO asked the Education Officer if there had been any progress in making the cost of trips more transparent.

2.14 The Education Officer stated that with some degrees school reps were dealing with this issue. She needed to catch up with the School Reps but she knew there had been some progress on this issue.

2.15MaS asked if there had been any progress relating to the University’s Grade Point Average policy.

2.16 The Postgraduate Officer stated that she had informed the University that moving towards GPA was not advisable. She stated the Education Officer might have something to contribute on this question.

2.17 The Education Officer stated that Nottingham University had decided to act in line with other Russell Group Universities on this issue. Some Russell Group Universities were moving towards GPA but no formal decision had been made at Nottingham University.

2.18 HO asked if the Education Officer was aware of the issue of overcrowding in Hallward Library that had recently been raised in Impact Magazine.

2.19 The Education Officer said she had read the Impact Article on the issue. However she was concerned about the quality of the research in that article. Impact had asked 187 students about this issue and that that was not enough to draw statistically significant results. The article stated that the library could hold 5500 students, but had not stated the time period during which the Library could hold that many Students. She stated that the article had been concerned about collection management, but that collection management was a good thing as it ensures that students have the up-to-date, quality materials that they needed. If the library was running out of space for books then students would have to have faith that the library was acting responsibly in resolving those issues.

2.20 The Postgraduate Officer stated that Hallward Library was the busiest in the Russell group and that the George Green Library would be double in size by Christmas.

2.21 AR asked the Education Officer to update the panel about the situation with reading week.

2.23The Education Officerstated that there are many issues but that they vary across schools and therefore it is not possible to take a uniform approach. She plans to push the issues onto the University’s agenda as required by circumstances.

2.24 MaS asked the Education Officer how Schools would enforce a University policy on printing credits.

2.25 The Education Officer feels that having a policy would help and stated that the SU is gathering evidence for it.

3.0 – Community and Welfare Officers

3.1 AR asked the Community Officer whether JCR budgets are going to be published as was proposed.

3.2 The Community Officer replied that he believes budgets will be published soon but as two presidents objected the matter has been referred to the next PresComm meeting.

3.3. MaS asked for an overview of the results of the Lad Culture Survey.

3.4 The Welfare Officer said that they are still reviewing the results but initial indications are that it is most prominent a problem in students’ first year. He will be meeting with the Women’s Officers to discuss the next steps.

3.5 AR asked if the results of such surveys would normally be published.

3.6 The Welfare Officer said that he was not aware of a policy on this and that he felt it would be decided on a case by case basis.

3.7 HO asked the Community Officer how the handover of the Station Road petition went.

3.8 The Community Officer stated that it went well with attendance by 70 students and Cllr brown. There is a video online and the petition has been taken to the County Council’s full council.

3.9 AR asked about the timescale on the project to improve lighting on campus.

3.10 The Welfare Officer said there had been some developments but it was frustrating that they were only happening now just as the evenings grow lighter.

3.11 MaS asked the Community Officer if the peak car data would be ready for September.

3.12 The Community Officer said that there is an agreement with councillors and that at this point in time it looks like everything will go forward for September provided that Leanne Taylor and Mike Cole meet soon.

3.13 HO asked the Community Officer how the Living Wage campaign was going.

3.14 The Community Officer said he has a meeting with the registrar about it.

3.15 MaS asked the Welfare Officer about the impact of the OFT guidance on non-academic debt on library fines and in consequence availability of materials.

3.16 The Welfare officer said that it would need to be marketed / promoted in the right way – maybe through the Student Advice Centre.

3.17 AR asked the Community Officer about plans to bring Farmers’ markets to locations other than Sutton Bonington .

3.18 The Community Officer said that all the other halls want Farmers’ Markets. He is looking into a Farmers’ Market on University Park campus, on April 9th.

3.19 MaS asked the Welfare Officer whether the Sexual Health project at Derby Campus will run again next year.

3.20 The Welfare Officer said that it will probably go on to next year as the University is happy with it.

3.21 MaS asked the Community Officer how the success of the Love your Home campaign is being measured.

3.22 The Community Officer is looking into the best way to measure it, talking to the advice centre.

3.23 MaS asked the Community Officer about how the relationship with East Midlands Today is developing.

3.24 The Community Officer replied that it had not progressed as his contact had been away in Germany.

3.24 AR asked the Community Officer how the ‘Binformation’ SMS service was going.

3.25 The Community Officer said that he was waiting on new data from the City Council but at present he was aware of around 400 students having signed up.

3.26 AOasked the Community Officer about the meeting about the SU Balloon Release policy which had been listed as pending on his report for a long time.

3.27 The Community Officer reported that this had now been resolved via a meeting with Business Development and event applications that involve balloon releases will not be approved.

4.0 - Sports and ESJ

4.1 AR asked the Sports Officer about the Brand Value exercise – what it is and what relevance is has to students.

4.2 The Sports Officer said that the SU has been going through a re-brand for a while and the next stage is looking at the values of the organisation. SU staff and officers have been talking to students about what the values should be. It has been a good opportunity for officers and staff to go out and meet with students.

4.3 AO asked the Sports Officer about how he is getting on with resolving the issues between the SB and Uni Park based climbing clubs.

4.4 The Sports Officer said that he had met with both clubs to discuss ways of resource sharing such as SB loaningbouldering mats and Uni Park providing trainers to SB. SB Climbing Club will also be visitingLoughboroughUni to see what facilities they have.

4.5 HO asked the Sports Officer for a general update on his activities as his report was quite limited in content.

4.6 The Sports Officer reported that he had commissioned a surveys on whether students are struggling with conflicts between lectures and their sports activities, he was heavily involved in the Varsity Basketball which was a great success and will be involved with the Varsity swimming next week and Football on 12 May. He has been making sure clubs know about events and the new gym membership setup.

4.7 MaS asked the ESJ Officer for a general update on his objectives.

4.8 The ESJ Officer said that he has been working on his policy to fight the sell offof student debt, been helping Young Greens on their student debt campaign, and attended Intersectionality Day (working with other part timers) which was very valuable though turn out wasn't what they expected.

4.9 HO asked the ESJ Officer how he proposed to achieve his objective of turning University Challenge into a Student-Run Service.

4.10 The ESJ Officer stated that he hadn’t got that far yet but it was centrally organised for the first time this year and he wanted to build on that.

4.11 MaS asked the Sports Officer how he is communicating the SU’s wins for students.

4.12 The Sports Officer said that there is a Presidential Forum every week where he promotes wins but he admitted there is scope to communicate them in a more systematic way.

4.13 MaS asked the ESJ Officer if he could expand on what is happening with the University’s panel to look at what areas of campus need improvement and how the Union is involved.

4.14 The ESJ Officer said that it is good that Officer’s are getting to attend the meetings but at the moment there are too many options under discussion for the University to be able to release any information that would be helpful to students.

4.15 The Sports and ESJ Officer apologised for being late.

5.0 Activities

5.1 AR asked the Activities Officer about the timescale for delivery of the activities smart phone app.

5.2 The Activities Officer said that the SU got some good ideas from HackSoc but not everything they had been looking for and so the Activities Officer will be having a follow-up meeting with the SU Director of Membership Services and the SU Web Designer to look at how to proceed next. However he was confident that the app would be delivered by September 2014. One idea for the app he has been looking at is putting a form on the app so that societies can look at their funds and make room bookings.

5.3 HO asked for more information about the website idea that the Activities Officer is working on with the Societies President.

5.4 The Activities Officer stated that he is looking to get a website add on which will help students to record activities that will look good on their CV during their time at University. It requires a culture change so people fill it out and is a long term project.

5.5 AO asked why the Activities Officer attended the event hosted by the charity Hope for Children and what the benefit to students was.

5.6 The Activities Officer stated that he was there as he represents Karnival and Hope Socand that he is proud that Nottingham University was the first university to support the charity.

5.7 MaS asked whether the new flat—rate room bookings policy could negatively impact poorer societies.

5.8 The Activities Officer said that the SU did some research that proves that room booking is messed up and the costs vary a lot. He took this to people in the University who were embarrassed, and so now there is some momentum to change the hire costs. He doesn’t expect the flat-rate to impact poorer societies as it will be considerably less than the average charge currently being paid.

5.9 AR asked if the rules for the Student Leader Elections were published.

5.10 The Activities Officer said that yes they were available through the SU as normal but were also provided to the media SRSs such as Impact.

5.11 The Activities Officer gave an update about the Summer Event which was being planned with DHP. Its funding application was rejected so the event sadly fell through.