Minutes of the Twentieth Meeting of the Resources Committee held at 5.30pm on Tuesday 5 March 2013 in Room 614 at the Shiney Row Campus

PRESENT: Ms S Atkinson, Mr B Campbell, Mr R Edmonds, Mr I Forster (Chair), Mr A Holmes, Mrs A Isherwood, Mrs A Lawson-McLean,Mr P McEldon.

IN ATTENDANCE: Mr D Howells, Mr N Harrett, Ms J Quinn, Mr P Storey, Mrs J Ridley.

CLERK: Ms R Ferguson

R/13/12 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Apologies for absence were received from Mr A Carter.

R/13/13 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING OF 22 JANUARY 2013

The minutes were accepted as an accurate record.

R/13/14 MATTERS ARISING THEREFROM

There were no matters arising.

R/13/15 BUDGETARY CONTROL STATEMENTS

The Vice Principal Finance and Resources presented the budgetary control statements for the six months ended 31 January 2013. He explained that the income and expenditure account was showing an operating surplus of £174k after providing £180k for potential contingencies. Members noted the significant variances described in the commentary provided at Annex A to the report.

The Vice Principal gave an update on enrolments, explaining that in terms of 16-18 enrolments, the College had exceeded its learner number target with 4,850 learners currently enrolled on the ILR which, in financial terms, amounts to some £1m of unfunded delivery. It was noted that this puts increased pressure on the budget and would cause a dip in the surplus for this year. Management would continue to monitor the financial position very closely.

In terms of 19+ enrolments, it was noted that the college had already delivered around 52% of its allocation and was currently slightly ahead of target when compared to the same period last year.

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P McEldon joined the meeting at 6.35pm

Governors discussed the report and noted that the higher than budgeted for agency costs were due to delays in appointing new staff and sickness. It was acknowledged that maths was a particularly difficult subject to recruit to and students in their meeting with Governors earlier in the day had expressed concerns about the number of different teachers they had had for maths. The Vice Principal Curriculum and Quality explained that the college was working to resolve the issues with maths teaching staff and an advert for a Maths Course Leader would be placed shortly. A Governor offered to provide the name of a contact at the University who could supply the College with personnel to help alleviate the problem in the short term.

The Committee

received the budgetary control statements.

R/13/16 REVIEW OF FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

The Vice Principal Finance and Resources presented the report explaining that a review of the financial regulations had recently been undertaken to take account of approval limits for purchase orders within the Procurement policy and changes in treasury management procedures in relation to the number of institutions with whom the college would be prepared to lodge treasury deposits. It was noted that changes to staffing roles and responsibilities and job titles which had taken place since the last update were also reflected in the revised document.

Governors raised a number of questions and the following points were noted: the Vice Principal Finance and Resources would investigate whether the

provisions of the Bribery Act were included in the contracts with companies which the College subcontracted with;

there was a separate procurement document which was supplementary to the financial regulations which sets out the procedures for ordering and tendering for services. In relation to supporting local businesses and employing apprentices, the Vice Principal Finance and Resources agreed to ensure that local good practice was reflected in the Procurement Strategy.

The Committee:

i. received and discussed the reportii. approved the revised financial regulations.

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ConfidentialThe Committee deemed the report confidential from public scrutiny as it contains commercially sensitive information.

R/13/17 ANNUAL HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT TO GOVERNORS

The Health & Safety Officer presented the annual report in detail, outlining the key issues in relation to the College’s Health and Safety performance and sickness absence statistics during 2011-2012.

In summary, the following points were noted: that despite an increase in the numbers of students at the college the

number of accidents had decreased significantly over the previous year’s total;

two of the five RIDDOR reportable accidents were not as a result of injury sustained whilst on College premises;

the major factors associated with injuries and accidents were related to slips, trips and falls, collisions, handling of tools and materials and sporting activities including performing arts;

AoC benchmarked data indicates that the college’s accident statistics were in line with the national average;

two of the three outstanding liability claims relate to industrial deafness dating back to 1974. The College has appropriate insurances in place.

The Committee discussed the sickness absence trends. Whilst the College recognised that sickness was a problem and had implemented a number strategies, the interventions were not translating to reducing the number of days lost. There was no clear reason for why the sickness rate was higher than the sector average. The Committee acknowledged that sickness was not always work related however enabling staff to gain access to preventative measures particularly in the case of stress can have a positive effect.

In conclusion, the Health & Safety Officer was asked if he felt that the College was a safe place in which to work and study. He responded that he believed that the College was a safe environment and that it was doing all that could be done to protect its staff, students and visitors.

The Committee:

received and discussed the Annual Health and Safety Report.

R/13/18 ESTATES UPDATE

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R/13/19 ANY OTHER BUSINESS

There was none.

R/13/20 DATE, TIME AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 30 April 2013 at 5.30pm in Room 614, Shiney Row Centre.

The meeting closed at 6.15pm.

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