MINUTES
Multiple Sclerosis Society
England Council Thursday 29 August 2013, 10.30am to 3.30pm
Weetwood Hall, Otley Road, Leeds LS16 5PS
Present
Ken Johnson Chair of England Council (chair)
Simon Cox Vice Chair of England Council
Geoff Brittan Council Member
Joan Collacott Council Member
Dave Denholm Council Member
Cindy Fischer Council Member
Jim McGown Council Member
Dave White Council Member
Nikki Young Council Member
Attending
Chris Bennett Head of Operational Delivery (England)
Lucy Tennison Executive Assistant (minutes)
Observers
Richard Hawtin Head of Governance
Hilary Sears Chairman, MS Society
Absent with apologies
Debbie Alexander Council Member
Sue Farrington Director of Communications, Information &
Education
Ian Howells Council Member
John Josephs Council Member
Sarah Schol Council Member
Rosemary Tocock Council Member
1 / Welcome and apologiesThe Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, in particular, the Chairman and Head of Governance, who were observers.
2 / Declarations of interest
There were no declarations of interest in relation to the agenda.
3 / Minutes of the England Council meeting on 7 June 2013
3.1 / The minutes of the meeting held on 7 June 2013 were agreed as an accurate record.
Matters arising from England Council meeting on 7 June 2013
3.2 / Action 7 (Head of Education and Nikki Young to discuss training for social care professionals): The conversation has not taken place to date. Executive Assistant to follow this up with Head of Education.
ACTION: EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
4 / Feedback from Board and committees
4.1 / Governance Committee (18 June)
Council noted the update paper to the Board from the Governance Committee meeting of 18 June.
Council discussed some of the planned Governance work relating to Councils. This includes clarification of the roles and responsibilities, development of a skills set and development of an appraisal process for Council Members. Discussion points included:
· That this work should not impede Council’s ongoing work and planning for 2014.
· That the role and skills set should be clarified before the appraisal process.
· That appraisals should take place before Council Members consider or are considered for re-election.
· That the Board wishes Councils to be the voice of members; feeding information up to the Board and down to branches and members.
· That the role description should not be off-putting to potential volunteers.
4.2 / Audit & Risk and Finance committees
The Executive Assistant reported that the sole item at the meeting on 25 June was the annual report and accounts. Accordingly, there was no update paper to the Board.
The update paper from the 7 August meeting will go to the Board in September and to England Council in October.
4.3 / Board (11 July)
Ken Johnson gave a verbal update on the Board meeting.
4.4 / Diversity
Nikki Young has met with relevant staff (Strategic Lead for Carers, Strategic Lead for Diversity, MS National Support Groups Officer) and Bhupindar Sually from Asian MS.
Nikki is concerned that the knowledge and experience of Support Groups is not being applied to all areas of diversity, particularly to the MS Society’s engagement with disabled people and women.
Ken Johnson reported that he had attended the launch of an Asian women’s MS group in Pendle.
4.5 / MS Society Awards
Joan Collacott reported that judging has been completed and finalists have been notified. Those who have not been shortlisted have also been notified and their achievements acknowledged.
Sponsorship of the event has been secured and Kate Silverton will be supporting the event.
The Awards will take place at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Thursday 17 October.
5 / Draft review of 2013
5.1 / Council discussed the information to be included in their report to the Board. Discussion points included:
· The importance of measuring the impact of activity, rather than simply the numbers of meetings attended, etc.
· The importance of the sense of belonging and community that people gain from attending MS Society events.
5.2 / Council Members to send details of their activity, with reference to the outcome it supports, to the Executive Assistant by 20 September.
ACTION: COUNCIL MEMBERS
Executive Assistant to collate this information and support the Chair of Council to draft the review and circulate to Council for further comment.
ACTION: EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT, CHAIR OF COUNCIL
6 / Working with Area staff
6.1 / Council discussed this issue at the meeting on 7 June and developed the broad principles of the relationships with local staff; the focus of conversations with Area Managers and agreed to link work in the regional plans and Council plans. Following on from that discussion, the Head of Operational Delivery (England) has written a document outlining the guiding principles and focus of regular conversations.
6.2 / Guiding principles
· It was agreed that there should be one joint meeting per year of all Council Members in an Area with the Area Manager. It may be not be practical to meet as a group more often. In addition, the ongoing one to one relationship with the Area Manager is important.
· Clarifying the principles behind the relationship will ensure that everyone knows what is expected.
· The meeting discussed how Council Members could be kept up to date with regional work without becoming too involved operationally. It was agreed that Area Managers would send a short summary of key issues arising from regional staff meetings to Council Members.
· Meetings between Council Members and Area Managers could include other Area Team staff where this was felt appropriate or helpful.
ACTION: HEAD OF OPERATIONAL DELIVERY (ENGLAND)
· Point 5 (regular one to one communication with Area Manager) to be renumbered as point 4.
Focus of regular conversations
· It was agreed to add ‘volunteer forums and inductions’ to section 1, point 2. These would be good opportunities for Council Members to meet groups of volunteers and speak to them about the England Council role.
6.3 / Head of Operational Delivery (England) to make the changes to the document agreed in 6.2 above and circulate the document to Council and Area Managers. It will be implemented immediately and reviewed in one year.
ACTION: HEAD OF OPERATIONAL DELIVERY (ENGLAND)
Head of Operational Delivery (England) to discuss specific concerns with Jim McGown and Nikki Young separately.
ACTION: HEAD OF OPERATIONAL DELIVERY (ENGLAND)
7 / Draft plan for 2014
7.1 / Dave Denholm presented the work of the task and finish group (himself, Cindy Fischer, Ian Howells and Jim McGown). The group had considered the template for the plan and possible ideas for content.
7.2 / Discussion points included:
· That Council’s role with regards to regulatory compliance, safeguarding the Society’s reputation, financial stability and protection of the Society’s assets is one about promoting rather than ensuring. The role of ensuring these points are met rests with the Board.
· A suggestion of defining internal and external activity in the plan. Internal activity would be within the MS Society, for example, acting as a conduit to and from the Board.
· The challenge of finding a balance between strategic and operational concerns. The Head of Governance characterised Council’s role as ‘flavouring’ the Society’s UK strategy for England. This would be done by working in partnership with staff and inputting to strategies, policies and goals based on local knowledge of the needs of people affected by MS.
· The importance of Council Members and staff working together to use local knowledge and intelligence to achieve the best results for people affected by MS. It was also noted that this needs to occur within the boundaries of volunteer and staff roles.
· The Chairman felt that the functions of Council (ambassadors, good governance and volunteer support) were clear but members were more concerned to hear about what the council had actually achieved for people affected by MS than general statements about the purpose of the council. The Head of Governance guided Council that these were suitable to use as a basis of the 2014 plan, and that they would be further clarified in the future.
· The Chairman told Council that the Board feels the conduit between the Board and members is missing and this is what Council should provide. One objective for 2014 could be to improve the feedback to the Board.
· The Chairman stated that Council’s plan did not need to be in the same format as those of other Councils.
· Nikki Young felt that the former regional committee in East Anglia had worked effectively. It was well supported by branches in the region and achieved a large amount of activity. Other Council Members noted that this was not the case in the majority of regions. The Head of Operational Delivery (England) noted that volunteers are still successfully involved at a regional level, the difference is that there is no longer a standing committee. The Chairman mentioned a paper prepared by the Head of Operational Delivery (England) which showed that neither the amount of activity nor the budget has decreased since the inception of England Council.
· Council noted that challenge of increasing numbers of older volunteers and the importance of becoming more relevant to younger people. An exploration of the barriers and opportunities for volunteering could be an objective in 2014.
7.3 / The headings for the plan (objective, measure, target, initiative) proposed by the task and finish group were agreed. It was agreed to finalise the plan at the October Council meeting.
The Chair thanked the group for their work.
7.4 / Executive Assistant to produce a template for the plan and circulate it to Council.
ACTION: EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Council Members to comment on the template of the plan and suggest objectives by 27 September.
ACTION: COUNCIL MEMBERS
Head of Operational Delivery (England) to arrange a planning session with the Area Managers at the October Council meeting. This could include feedback from the regional planning process.
ACTION: HEAD OF OPERATIONAL DELIVERY (ENGLAND)
8 / Review of annual meeting (8 June 2013)
8.1 / Council reviewed the feedback received from the annual meeting held on 8 June 2013. Council discussed ideas for the 2014 meeting.
8.2 / Discussion points included:
· The Chair noted that 31 of the 32 people who had completed a feedback form rated the event as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ overall.
· The event was rated well throughout, although there was a lower attendance than in 2012.
· The 2012 meeting had a well known speaker (Professor Robin Franklin) which attracted more attendees.
· Whether the title of ‘annual meeting’ sounded too ‘business-like’ and may have discouraged people from attending.
· Whether holding the meeting was a good use of resources towards the Society’s overall aim of helping people affected by MS.
· An alternative would be to hold an annual meeting as one element at an event that was already planned. One example would be MS Life in Manchester.
· Council Members could attend branch forums in the autumn, in addition to an annual meeting earlier in the year.
· The negative comments on the venue and catering in 2012 seem to have been addressed.
8.3 / Council noted the feedback summary from the annual meeting.
8.4 / Executive Assistant to inform Council how many views the videos of the presentations have received on YouTube.
ACTION: EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
9 / Other Business
9.1 / Management accounts for England (to 30 June 2013)
The management accounts are for MSNC and branches in England. Income and expenditure at MSNC does not relate exclusively to England, although it is not possible to separate England figures at present.
Council discussed what information would be useful and discussion points included:
· The Chairman felt that Council need to scrutinise branch income, reserves and activities and need to be provided with appropriate information in order to do this.
· Branches currently complete financial returns annually. Council were mindful of any additional work for volunteer Treasurers.
· Head of Operational Delivery (England) to consider with Area Managers how best to report on regional activities and costs to Council in 2014.
ACTION: HEAD OF OPERATIONAL DELIVERY (ENGLAND)
· The Head of Operational Delivery (England) clarified that the Area Fundraising programme is currently expected to meet its annual income target. Most of the income is expected to be received towards the end of 2013, hence the current figure which is below budget.
· Council felt that more explanation of the data and context was needed in order for it to be meaningful and useful.
· The Board would like more intelligence on branches in England, including information on branch fundraising.
· How Council might feed information to the Board, in addition to the Council minutes, which are sent to the Board. It was agreed that Council would compile a brief list of local issues in each region at Council meetings. This would then be sent to the Board for information. Executive Assistant to add this as a standing item on the agenda.
ACTION: EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
9.2 / Future meetings
Council requested a written update on Working Locally for the next Council meeting.
ACTION: EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Council suggested that holding all Council meetings in London may make travel easier. Executive Assistant to look at options, including costs.
ACTION: EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 29 October 2013, from 10.30am to 3.30pm at MS National Centre, London.
The meeting closed at 3.20pm.
England Council 29 August 2013 1
MINUTES
England Council 29 August 2013 1