MINUTES OF SEARCH COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE CORPORATION OF
THE BLACKPOOL SIXTH FORM COLLEGE
Date: Monday 27th February 2012Venue: Blackpool Sixth Form College
Room: Committee room
Time: 1700hrs - 1845hrs
Present: / Mr R Weaver (Chair)
Mr J Boyle
Cllr D Clapham.
Mr J Corry
Ms F Greeves
Together with: / Mr A Lloyd (Vice Principal Information Systems & Resources)
Mrs J A Trainor (Assistant to the Clerk to the Corporation)
Dr J Burgess (Clerk to the Corporation)
/
Action
1.2012 /Preliminaries
/The Chair welcomed Alan Lloyd and Governors to the meeting. It was hoped that Dr Sanders would be attending his first meeting of the Search Committee. /
2.2012 / Declaration of interest /
Cllr Clapham noted that he was central to agendum 6.2 and would leave the meeting at that point. /
3.2012 / Consideration of items of urgent business /
None.
4.2012 /
Minutes of the meeting held on the 28th November 2011
(Paper A) /4.2012 D1 Resolved: that, the Minutes be approved.
/5.2012 /
Matters arising from the Minutes of the meeting held on the 28th November 2011 not covered elsewhere.
/71.2011 English College’s Foundation Code of Governance 2011 - 2012
/“Public Values Statement”.
/The Principal apologised that it had not been possible to locate the draft document, but stated that a revised version would be prepared for the next meeting.
/Principal
To action
Mr Boyle observed that he had advised both the Association of Colleges and the Sixth Form Colleges’ Forum of the Corporation’s December 2011 decision to adopt the Code.
/All other actions had been concluded.
/6.2012 /
Corporation membership 2011 – 2012
Review of the current membership
/Action
(Paper B)
Governors studied the updated membership schedule and requested corrections to the designation of Mr Welsh and Mr Canning.
/Clerk
To actionCllr Clapham left the meeting
Governors collectively completed the Governor re-appointment assessment pro-forma in respect of Cllr Clapham whose term of office expires on the 1st April 2012. Governors noted that Cllr Clapham had played an important role on the Strategic Planning & Standards Committee, on occasions taking the Chair, and he had willingly agreed to serve on the Audit and Search Committees. In addition, he had important links with, and insights into, the local authority. It would be vitally important for the College to secure the services of Cllr Clapham for a further period of four years.
/6.2012 D1 Resolved: that Cllr Don Clapham be recommended to the Corporation for re-appointment as Governor.
/Clerk
To action
Cllr Clapham re-joined the meeting
/7.2011 /
Annual Residential Conference February 2012
/(Paper C)
/The Committee discussed the draft Report & Evaluation of the Annual Residential Conference and requested minor typographical corrections. Overall, they concluded that the event was well planned, very timely and immensely valuable to both new and established Governors at a time of significant local and national developments.
/Clerk
To action
The re-positioning of the Accommodation Briefing to a later session on the conference programme had resulted in it receiving a lower assessment and members confirmed that it had been particularly enlightening. The other lower assessments against the anticipated outcomes for the meetings with staff and students were due to insufficient time being allowed for discussion and debate on the issues raised.
/The Principal provided a short update on the development of the governance arrangements for the Teaching School, which appeared to be delayed by the lack of progress being made by the solicitors. In contrast, the management steering group comprising senior leaders from the nine alliance organisations was progressing well in respect of the core activities of the Teaching School. However, there was little progress with regard to Academy Sponsorship.
/In respect of Safeguarding, an opportunity to join the March 2012 training session with Governors of Mongomery School was welcomed, and early indications were that a number of College Governors were able to attend. It was proposed that a “Safeguarding Update Report” be provided at each Strategic Planning and Standards Committee along the lines of the Health & Safety Report for the Administration and Finance Committee.
/Principal
To action
/Action
Members were keen to explore ways of moving forward with e governance and were grateful for the Google discussion page and road map framework proposed by the Vice-Principal. In the context of the Strategic Plan objective to cut waste and promote sustainability through the use of new technologies, it was vital for Governors to take a lead. It was considered that the Search Committee itself could be the vehicle for any trials of paperless meetings. The Vice-Principal proposed that he and SMT colleagues develop the current road map, along with a series of recommendations.
/Vice-Principal
To action
7.2012 D1 Resolved: that, subject to minor corrections, the Report & Evaluation of the Annual Residential Conference 2012 be approved and recommended to the Corporation.
/Clerk
To action
7.2012 D2 Resolved: that all Governors be encouraged to consider attending the Safeguarding training with Montgomery School Governors.
/Governors
7.2012 D3 Resolved: that a short Update Briefing on Safeguarding be provided to each meeting of the Strategic Planning and Standards Committee.
/Principal
To action
7.2012 D4 Resolved: that the eGovernance paper and associated road map be further developed.
/8.2012 /
Review of the Updated Skills Audit
/(Paper D)
/Governors had completed the revised self-assessment Skills Audit at the Residential Conference and now consider the results. The enlarged A3 format was appreciated. It was noted that the requirement to undertake a “regular skills analysis” was featured in the Foundation Code of Governance. Mr Boyle suggested a number of enhancements and he agreed to work on these before the next meeting. It was noted that individual Committees may wish to assess their skill base and that the results may point to particular Governor training needs.
/8.2012 D1 Resolved: that results of the revised Skills Audit be received.
/8.2012 D2 Resolved: that possible enhancement to the analysis and presentation of the results be examined before the next meeting.
/Mr Boyle & Clerk
To action
/Action
9.2012 /The English College’s Foundation Code of Governance 2011 - 2012
/(Paper E)
/An updated assessment of the College’s preparedness was considered. After discussion it was agreed that College’s succession planning was via the role of competent vice-chairs being selected and in place. It was considered appropriate to alert all Governor Committees to this point, particularly when considering the election of the Chair and Vice-Chair of Committees.
/Clerk
To action
Mr Weaver left the meeting and Cllr Clapham
took over the role of Chair
/It was agreed that the College would need to action a number of initiatives in respect of reviewing and reporting overall College performance to become fully compliant. An essential starting point would be the determination of the key performance indicators that should be used by the Governors to benchmark the College’s performance. As many of these were related to the annual measurable targets for the Principal, it was agreed for these to be determined by the Corporation as a whole, based upon the Principal’s recommendation.
/Principal
To action
9.2012 D1 Resolved: that the latest assessment of preparedness to adopt the Foundation Code of Governance be received.
/9.2012 D2 Resolved: that a schedule of key performance indicators be developed and recommended to the Corporation.
/10.2012 /
Committee Structure and membership 2012
/(Paper F)
/The present position and forthcoming elections were noted.
/10.2012 D1 Resolved: that the Committee Structure and membership 2012 be received.
/11.2012 /
New Governance Opportunities
/Governors were informed about that day’s decision of the Office of National Statistics to reclassify further education colleges and sixth form corporations as private sector. This reclassification will apply from April 2012 when the relevant provisions in the Education Act 2011 concerning increased college freedoms come into force. Parts of a letter from the Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, John Hayes MP, to Chairs of Corporations were shared and noted.
/12.2012 /
Any other business
/a) Use of bcc for Governors’ emails.
/It was clarified that with immediate effect all group emails sent by the College to Governors should use the bcc facility.
/Clerk
To action
/Action
b) Training Day 2012 - 2013
/Governors were happy that this was structured over two half-day sessions.
/13.2012 / Estimation of Risk /
Governors felt that the imminent changes to the governance structures and possible changes to the charity legislation were new risk areas. /
14.2012 /
Date of next meeting
The next scheduled meeting would be:Monday 21st May 2012 @1700hrs Committee Room / Members
Please note
The Chair thanked members for their attendance and contributions and closed the meeting.
Signed:
Chair:
Date:
JB/JAT 07.03.12 Page 4 of 4 od/uers/j’ann/govs/search/searchmins270212