NEW COLLEGE, SWINDON
Minutes of the Corporation meeting held on 8 th July 2014
Present: Charlotte Mannion (Chair), Gregg Barton, Les Durrant, Leeanne Hunnex,
Sam McCurdy, Peter O’Brien, Dave Rowlands, Ben Sonoiki, Graham Taylor,
Peter Williamson
With: Maureen Debbage, Anna Fitch, Chris Hale, Duncan Webster (minutes 1864-1865 only), Tracy Scaife
1862 Apologies for absence – received from Peter Foskett, Nick Gurney-Sharpe, Alexey Smirnov.
1863 Disclosures of Interest – none received.
1864 Governor Training: ‘State of the Nation’ – presentation by Graham Taylor – an abbreviated version of the presentation to staff the previous week.
The presentation included information on learner number figures for 2013/14 compared with
2012/13, strategic challenges – threats and opportunities, eLearning, customer strategy, partnerships, diversification, strategy by age – is it just about 16-18, what we do – starts by subject area, curriculum development, new Core Maths AS level pilot, apprenticeships, funding, qualification aims, exams.
It was noted that exam entrants failing to turn up reduced from 3.8% to 3% - equating to 356 of
11877 entries.
For the 2012/13 academic year the college came in at position 11 of the top 20 FE providers with more than 20,000 starts.
In the current year 150 students, who do not have a grade ‘C’ or above in Maths and/or English, refused to study any Maths and/or English qualification. The introduction of the new Maths and
English Strategy at the beginning of the new academic year requires all students without a Maths and/or English qualification to study a recognised qualification in these areas. Students refusing to do so will not be funded and the college will lose all funding for these students (approximately £4k per student); this would have equated to £600k for the 150 students refusing to take the qualifications in the current year.
1865 Safeguarding update – confidential report by Duncan Webster, Student Services and
Safeguarding Manager received and noted.
Duncan advised that the table within the report shows the final figures for safeguarding referrals for the 2013/14 academic year. Duncan updated governors on Forced Marriage Protection Orders.
The Clerk advised the meeting that Jeanette Miller who was previously appointed as Safeguarding
Governor has resigned from the Governing Body and therefore the position is vacant and needs to be filled as soon as possible. Peter Williamson volunteered to take on the role.
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RESOLUTION: that Peter Williamson be appointed as the governor with a special interest in safeguarding.
ACTION: TS to pass Peter Williamson’s contact details to Duncan Webster; Duncan Webster to meet
with Peter Williamson re. role and responsibilities etc.
1866 Minutes of the last meeting held on 20 th May 2014 – agreed as a correct record.
1867 Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting held on 20 th May 2014 – raised as follows:
(a) 1846 (a) 1822 (a) 1803 Student referred items – the Chair advised that she had had no response from the student governors to her invitation to them to have lunch with her. The Clerk advised that she had not yet met with the Student Liaison Officer. Governors were concerned about the lack of involvement of the student governors over the past year and agreed that something needed to be done to improve this. Leeanne Hunnex volunteered to meet with the new student governors and to act as a mentor for them. The Clerk agreed to talk with the Student Services and
Safeguarding Manager to discuss the appointment and engagement of student governors.
ACTION: TS to meet with DW re. student governors – appointment and engaging.
(b) 1853 Strategic Planning follow-up – the Chair advised that the Principal had forwarded her the draft amended Strategic Plan which she had in turn circulated to governors. She advised that she will discuss the document with the Principal and an item on strategic planning follow-up will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the Corporation.
ACTION: CM to discuss draft amended Strategic Plan with Principal; TS to place item re. strategic
planning follow-up on agenda for next Corporation meeting.
1868 Risk management update – extract from Risk Register detailing risks of 6 and above received and noted.
The main risks to the college remain unchanged.
1869 Student referred items – none received.
1870 Principal’s report and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – report by Principal received and noted.
The Principal updated the meeting on the proposed bid for a free school. Land options are being worked on and signatures of support are still being collected. The bid itself is almost complete and it is planned to submit this in October 2014. A mock interview is taking place next week.
1871 Success Rates update – report by Principal received and noted.
The Principal advised that it was unlikely that the target success rate will be met; the final figure will be known at the beginning of the new academic year.
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The course profile has changed from the previous year with less short and very short courses and this will have an effect on the final success rate.
The meeting were pleased to note that attendance has improved on the previous year.
1872 Collaboration – report by the Principal received and noted.
It was further noted that the Chair and Principal are meeting with the Chair and Principal of Swindon
College the following day to discuss ways in which the two colleges might be able to collaborate.
The Principal advised that the merger of the two colleges had been discussed on previous occasions but had not been progressed with.
The Chair advised that she had been approached by the Chair of Governors of Swindon College in the first instance for a joint meeting of governors but did not feel she could agree to the meeting or his agenda without first discussing with governors. She added that she has not had any conversations with Swindon College about merger and does not have any views on the merger of the two colleges. She was not aware of the history of merger talks and feels that there is a lot to discuss before merger.
It was suggested that it would be helpful if the Chair could circulate the agenda suggested by the
Chair of Swindon College as it would be good to know what they are looking for.
Governors were generally in agreement that there were some areas where collaboration would benefit the Swindon learner i.e. Higher Education (HE) provision. The Director of Curriculum advised the meeting that she has been having regular meetings for the past year about this.
The Chair agreed to report back to governors after the meeting with the Principal and the Chair and
Principal of Swindon College.
ACTION: CM to report to governors on meeting with GT and Chair and Principal of Swindon College.
1873 Partnerships update – report by Partnerships Manager received and noted.
1874 Financial Regulations – report by Director of Finance received and noted.
The meeting noted that no changes are required to the Financial Regulations.
RESOLUTION: that the current Financial Regulations be approved for use in 2014/15.
1875 Emergency Plan – report by Director of Finance received and noted.
It was noted that the last meeting of the Corporation asked the Audit committee to review the contingency plans that the college has in place if the Principal were to be absent for an extended period of time due to sickness or injury. The report and the proposals within were considered and approved by the Audit committee on 1 st July and if agreed by the Corporation will be included within the Business Continuity Plan (BCP).
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The role of Vice-Principal was raised and following a discussion on this it was generally agreed that at the current time this issue has been resolved. It could be considered further upon the resignation of the current Principal.
RESOLUTION: that the following paragraphs be inserted into the BCP:
‘In the case of the sudden death or an incident which may lead to the long-term incapacity of the Principal, the following actions should be taken within 24 hours:

SMT, the Director of Customer Services and Marketing, the Chair of the Corporation, the
Clerk to the Corporation and the PA to Principal notified by the person receiving the


 news,
Director of HR immediately to assume the role of Interim Principal,
Director of Finance to notify the SFA and advise of interim arrangements in place,
Director of Customer Services and Marketing to decide, based on the circumstances, whether any communication to students, staff, parents or press is appropriate,

PA to Principal to give apologies, postpone meetings or arrange a deputy for meetings in the Principal’s diary for the following week,

PA to Principal to arrange a meeting to take place as soon as possible, to be attended by
SMT, the Director of Customer Services and Marketing, the Chair of the Corporation, the
Clerk to the Corporation and the PA to Principal to decide on the most appropriate arrangements for the likely length of absence.
Within one working week:

Depending on the likely length of absence, and with the agreement and involvement of the Chair of Governors, Director of HR either to continue in the role of Interim Principal, or to contact providers of interim Principals and arrange interviews,

SMT to agree re-distribution of line management duties as appropriate in close consultation with Governors,

PA to Principal to work with SMT to organise appropriate cover for the Principal’s meetings and engagements.’
ACTION: AF to amend BCP to include the above.
1876 Governance matters – raised as follows:
(a) Schedule of meetings 2014/15 – agreed.
(b) Committee membership – noted. The Clerk advised that the Personnel committee and the
Audit committee are both short of members and that if any governor would like to join either committee to get in contact with her. Leeanne Hunnex volunteered to join the Personnel committee.
ACTION: TS to amend Personnel committee membership to include Leeanne Hunnex.
1877 Minutes of committees – noted as follows:
(a) Curriculum and Quality committee: 13 th June 2014
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(b)
(c)
(d)
Personnel committee: 13 th June 2014
Finance and General Purposes committee: 24 th June 2014
Audit committee: 1 st July 2014
1878 Any other business – raised as follows:
(a) All-weather pitch update – the Principal advised this is still being looked in to. He had had a meeting with Mark Young from Wiltshire FA earlier in the day and had received some good advice from him on how to proceed.
1879 Date of next meeting – Tuesday 14 th October 2014 at 1700 for 1715.
1880 Budget 2014/15 and 3 year financial forecast – confidential report by Director of Finance received and noted.
The Director of Finance advised that the Finance and General Purposes (F&GP) committee at its meeting on 24 th June had supported the second budget option presented to them with a break-even situation at the end of 2015/16 and recommended this to the Corporation for approval.
Paragraph 5.1 of the report details the changes made to the proposed budget since the F&GP meeting on 24 th June 2014.
The Principal, Director of Human Resources and Director of Finance advised the meeting on the actions being taken to reduce expenditure. These include savings on both pay and non-pay budgets.
The Principal stated that he would like to thank the Senior Management Team (SMT) and staff for being so flexible and understanding.
RESOLUTION: that the budget for 2014/15 as presented to the Corporation as appendix A with a break-even situation at the end of the 2015/16 academic year be approved and submitted to the
Skills Funding Agency (SFA).
1881 Confidential minutes of the last meeting held on 20 th May 2014 – agreed as a correct record.
1882 Confidential minutes of committees – noted as follows:
(a)
(b)
(c)
Personnel committee: 13 th June 2014
Finance and General Purposes committee: 24 th June 2014
Audit committee: 1 st July 2014 - the Corporation endorsed the committee’s decision to appoint Gateway as the college internal auditors and noted that the contract for the external auditors was still being negotiated. Final details will be emailed to members as soon as available.
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