Minutes of the Directors’ Board Meeting held on 14.10 2014 at the Mergano Hotel Belgrove Street St Pancras
Those Present:
Honor Byford, Chair & Director HB
Ron Paterson, Vice Chair & Director RP
James Gibson, Director of Communications JG
Theresa Casbard, Finance Director TC
Judith Billingham, Company Secretary & Director JB
Sam Merison, Director of Academy Director SM
Apologies
Alan Kennedy, Business and Operations Manager AK
Welcome:
Honor welcomed all to the meeting.
- Minutes of Previous Meeting & Matters Arising
1.1.Young Drivers’ Project; currently unsure of the status as DfT has refused funding. Potentially the Highway’s Agency may sponsor but will need to establish an evidence base to determine whether this fits in with their remit.
1.2.Foundation Course: AK is to train as an instructor to deliver the Foundation Course alongside Ian Edwards. The training is partly sponsored by the DfT from the grant funding.
1.3.Scrutiny Panel: The question of review of this panel was discussed with Nick Rawlings and he feels that the panel is fairly robust in its current format and that no further action is required at this stage.
1.4.Pan European Networks. An article was drawn up from the Business Plan and sent for publication.
1.5.The minutes of the previous meeting held on 03.09.2014 were agreed and signed by the Chair (HB).
- AGM 2014 Agenda
2.1.All agreed to add report from the Vice Chair RP to the AGM agenda
2.1.2The Business plan and Annual Report will be finalised by AK and available for circulation at the AGM.
2.1.3AK will present the Annual Report and Business Plan at the AGM.
2.1.4AGM timings: 5 minutes to be allowed for each report with 15 minutes allocated to AK for presenting the Annual Report and Business Plan.
3.Business & Operations
3.1Business Plan 2014-2016
3.1.1Business Support page 9: The Organisation’s book keeping and accounts are managed by JFK Computer Services
3.1.2Business Development page 16: setting up a Trading Company within RSGB with a view to seeking further funding opportunities – Neill McCallum has been advising on the legal aspect of the business. It will be necessary to liaise with the accountants JFK and link any financial implications to the Directors.
3.2Annual Report: Item 3.7 Accounts for 2013/2014 TG to provide tables.
3.2.1Item 4.3.1 1 Year SLA: this is to be updatedto reflect the current position due to CoBC not having signed the SLA.
3.2.2E-Learning Modules: SM to provide information following the Academy meeting.
3.2.3Academy Membership: SM to provide up to date information to AK following meeting
3.2.4Media involvement: JG to Web & Coms. report will be appendix B
3.2.5The Meetings Planner was agreed.
3.3Business Development Current Activities
3.3.1Neill McCallum is carrying out a review of the Commercial Collaboration Policy and Procedure. The Business Drive Safety Solutions will be linked to this policy and procedure.
3.3.2Business Driver Safety Solutions: J P Taylor has developed a number of telematics devices for use in planned pilot schemes. Durham County Council has been identified as a potential pilot authority and a report has been drawn up for their consideration. The response from DCC is overdue.
3.3.4iStop (illuminated SCP stop signs) The sign will be ready for field trail within the next few weeks in specific locations and under various conditions. RP will inform the National SCP Group.
3.3.5Business Plan to be finalised prior to the AGM for publication directly afterwards.
3.3.6The Highways Agency offer of £10,000 sponsorship for the RSGB Conference did not materialise. AK to discuss with Stuart Lovatt potential of 300-400 places on the Foundation Course for HATOs.
3.3.7eDriving Solutions: Ian Edwards has offered to provide a comprehensive administration system for administering the Foundation courses and Academy membership. AK has suggested that we ask Ian Edwards for a proposal. It was agreed that this would need to be subject to the Commercial Collaboration Policy & Procedure before any agreement is made. TC will allocate £15,000.00 funding from the budget for this project. Once agreed the system can be up and running in 3 months.
3.3.8Foundation Course: AK attended and delivered part of days 1 & 2 of the course in Blackpool and TfL. He reported that Sam Waugh of DfT had attended the course and was very impressed with it.
3.4Business Manager Performance Bonus: It was agreed that the first half-year bonus should be paid on 31.10.2014. The Directors were all in agreement that AK has reached and exceeded the agreed targets and acknowledged that he is excelling in the role of Business Manager for RSGB.
HB and AK to discuss targets for the second half of the year.
AK’s contract has provision for renewal on an annual basis; 3 months notice of renewal needs to be given, a conference call will be arranged for the Directors on 3rd November so that AK can be given the appropriate 3 months notice of renewal in December.
4.00Communications
4.1Website Development: Nick Rawlings put out a link to test the new look website which has been well received. NR invited comments and suggestions. The Directors agreed that they would like to see the logo and branding for the Academy clearer on the home page. JG will report back to NR on this and discuss the suggested changes.
4.1.1The DfT Think rural roads campaign has been launched and there is a link to it on the website.
5.0Finance
5.1TC circulated the budget sheet and reported that the financial statements for 2012 and 2013/14 had been received.
5.1.1TC proposed that member’s subs remain the same for the coming year 2014/15. This was agreed.
5.1.2TC reported that the 3rd quarterly bid to the DfT for funding has been submitted.
5.1.3The Charities Commission require a paragraph from RSGB regarding the accounts. The Annual report will be made available for the Charities Commission website.
6.00The Academy
6.1City & Guilds: SM and Cheryl Evans (CE) attended a meeting with CoBC regarding certification of the Foundation Course through City & Guilds. The course will be assessed in early November and the certification may be in place prior to the Conference on 25/26 November 2014.
The licence fee and setup is £8,000.00 then £4,000.00 per annum thereafter. Royalty fees are £25.00 per certificate. Contracts will be exchanged once the accreditation process is completed.
6.1.2 SM had discussion with TRL regarding the potential for an Academy course on Evaluation.
6.1.3Web site: SM, CE and NR are developing better content for the Academy training pages on the RSGB website.
6.1.4Ian Edwards has offered to run more courses via the Academy, AK and SM will discuss with IE.
6.1.5Foundation Courses: 12 courses have been run across 6 regions and 6 TfL courses. 74 candidates have completed and 50 candidates have received passes so far. The pass rate for the course is 68%.
3 dates have been confirmed for 2015 courses.
Any certificates issued prior to C&G accreditation will be re-issued to reflect the C&G status.
6.1.6ADI CCL courses: membership to the Academy for ADIs undertaking the CCL course is currently under review as the conversion rates are low. AK to look into this.
6.1.7TDOs: TDOs are required for Northern Ireland, Wales and Mercia.
6.1.8Academy membership: there has been no change in membership since the latest figures reported at P&M in September.
7AOB
7.1RP attended a debate at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine into the effects of turning off or reducing street lighting. RP will provide a link to disseminate a report.
RP attended DfT conference – Roads Investment Plan
The national SCP group is due to meet in the next week and work has been finalised on updating the guidelines.
7.1.2HB attended a road safety conference in North Wales.
HB spoke at the CFOA annual road safety conference. HB reported that there is evidence that partnership working, training the trainer and evaluation appear to be being taken on board by CFOA.
HB attended the Wakefield Innovations Conference run by Brain Box.
HB attended an ACPO meeting for regional reps. And introduced RSGB and the Academy. ACPO expressed interest as they are developing a training framework.
HB to have discussion with DfT regarding the potential for a Seminar for Data Analysts.
RSGB to explore the potential for a possible project on rural motorcycling.
HB will lead on the Global Road Safety work promotion to be lead by RSGB. This will be announced at the conference in Brighton.
8The date of the next Board meeting is Tuesday 24th February 2014 at Camden Town Hall.
The Meeting closed at 14.00.
Decisions made at Board of Directors Meeting 14.10.2014
Item 3.3.7: Agreed that £15,000 be earmarked in the budget for the edriving solutions administration project.
Item 3.4Agreed that the first half-year bonus be paid to Business Development Manager on 31.10.2014
Item 5.1.1 Agreed that RSGB membership fee would remain at the 2014/15 level for the year 2015/16
Signed...... Chair Date......