SOUTH EASTERN REGIONAL COLLEGE
Governing Body – Education Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 10th February 2015 at 5 pm in the Bangor Campus.
Item Item
No
1.
Attendance and Apologies
Present: Mrs H. Reid (Chair), Mr K. Webb (Principal & Chief Executive), Dr R. Davison, Mr
S. Pollard, Mrs K. Scott, Prof A. Woodside.
Apologies: Mrs K. Fraser, Mr S Gallaher.
In Attendance: Mr D. Smith (Director of Learning and Customer Support), Ms D. Smyth
(Secretary to the Governing Body), Ms S. Croft (Head of School, Performing and Creative
Arts) – for part of the meeting.
The Chair welcomed members and extended a particular welcome to the three new
members, Mrs Scott, Mr Pollard and Prof Woodside.
2.
Declarations of conflicts of interest
The Committee members were asked for declarations of conflicts of interest and none were
noted.
3.
Minutes of the meeting held on 11th November 2014
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a true record on the proposal the Dr
Davison, seconded by the Principal.
4.
Matters arising
Steps to Success contract
The Director of Learning and Customer Support reported that the contract had gone live on
20th October and there had been 734 referrals to date with income of £108k at period 5,
with expenditure at £58k. He said that everything that a SERC member of staff does was
recorded on the Orion System which meant that Reed (the main contractor) had full visibility
of SERC’s performance. He continued that there were a considerable number of
performance meetings and performance data collected and it had been a steep learning
curve, but the College was performing effectively.
The Principal said that the College had the previous contract Steps to Work, but very few of
the staff transferred to the new contract and the Director of Learning and Customer Support
said that new staff were now in place.
Dr Davison asked about the key indicators. He noted the income and expenditure figures
and asked if this was a contribution to overhead. The Director of Learning and Customer
Support said the College would not have entered into the contract without a contribution to
overhead. He continued that the Job Centres continued to be poor at forecasting referrals,
with the result that the College continued to be prudent in its forecasts. Dr Davison
commented on the targets for sustaining employment for 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The
Director of Learning and Customer Support said that the focus for January – March would be
to secure job entries. The Chair asked if there was a gap in employment was that individual
lost. The Director of Learning and Customer Support said that participants could move to
another job, but that there could not be a gap. The Chair asked what constituted a job in
terms of hours. The Director of Learning and Customer Support said that the hours had not
been quantified. He continued that a number of participants had stated that they were
becoming self-employed. For this to be accepted there had to be a letter from an
accountant and evidence of a bank account being opened with the business name.
The Chair said that this Committee had prioritised the monitoring of this contract and the
Director of Learning and Customer Support said he would provide a further update on
progress at the next meeting.
5.
Correspondence :
The Principal tabled some correspondence in relation to SPICE.
6.
Chairman’s Business:
Curriculum changes as a result of budget cuts 15/16
The Chair said that, although the budget changes were not yet known, the Minister had
indicated some potential changes to the FE offer in relation to youth training and higher
level apprenticeships and, in particular, that he would like to see Colleges moving away from
level 1 provision. She said that it was the role of the Education Committee to set strategic
objectives for the curriculum in terms of what the College would offer in 15/16 and beyond
and how this would relate to potential redundancies. Dr Davison said that the time-line had
become slightly clearer following discussions at the F & GP the previous evening. He said
that the initial budget information would be released on 13th February, with the College’s
high level budget to be returned to the Department by 27th February. Dr Davison said that it
clear that there would be a much longer time-frame than originally anticipated because of
the potential for staff members to access the Voluntary Exit Scheme. Dr Davison said that,
even with a favourable budget settlement, there would be continue to be increased pressure
on the budget with fixed and semi-fixed costs rising. He said that any potential reduction in
the staffing complement would impact on the curriculum offer. The Chair said that the
Staffing Committee and the Education Committee would have a role to play in determining
the overall plan and added that it was extremely important that there was a single strategic
plan. The Chair commented that the next Education Committee was due to take place after
the Staffing Committee and some consideration may need to be given to changing these
dates.
The Principal stated that the situation was constantly changing. He informed members that
the Civil Service had submitted their business case for their Voluntary Exit Scheme and the
Executive had approved it. This would use up £90m - £130m of the £200m available from
RRI. Other Arms’ Length Bodies would have to submit their business cases which would not
be approved until after the June monitoring round. The Principal said for the FE sector, a
business case would be submitted to DEL by the end of March, the Department would
submit it to DFP by the end of April and DFP would assess the business cases on a
cost/benefit analysis by the end of May, with final approval following the June monitoring
round. He said that it was important that the FE business case was done as quickly as
possible and added that the Head of Finance and the Head of HR had started work on this.
The Principal observed that the Voluntary Exit Strategy needed to be enhanced as the
current Voluntary Redundancy Scheme was not sufficiently attractive to ensure that there
were the requisite number of volunteers. He said that it would be tight in terms of the
curriculum offer as the College could not act until after the June monitoring round. The
Principal added that there were a number of technical details that had to be worked
through.
2
Dr Davison said that the high level budget would be considered by the Governing Body on
24th February and there would be some indication of the necessity for a potential reduction
in staff numbers. He said that, given the time-scale, there would be an opportunity for the
Governing Body to see what expressions of interest there were in the Voluntary Exit Scheme
before there was a move to compulsory redundancies. Dr Davison said that he believed that
there would be continued pressure on the budget after 15/16 and this situation may have to
be addressed this year or possibly on an annual basis. Mr Pollard said that he would see
economic and social need and demonstrated demand as key criteria. He said that the
development of a strategic framework in which the Education Committee could give detailed
consideration to the current and future educational character of SERC was important and
criteria should be developed as early as possible. Dr Davison agreed that any decisions that
the Governing Body made must be entirely defensible and agreed that a framework made
perfect sense. The Chair said that it was a very fluid situation but the discussion of strategic
criteria for the provision and development of the college curriculum should be a key priority
at the next meeting.
Mrs Scott said that she had found the Minister’s comments at the meeting on 6 th January
helpful. She said that the paper tabled by the Principal at that meeting was also useful. She
commented that it was challenging to consider how level 1 provision would be picked up by
other providers. Prof Woodside added that it may not be the right people, with regard to
the curriculum offer, who offered to take up the Voluntary Exit Scheme.
7.
Cause for Concern referrals
The Chair said that she was extremely sorry to report to the Committee that one of the
College students had taken her own life at the weekend. She said that the Head of School,
who would be attending the meeting later, had been with the family. The Director of
Learning and Customer Support said that the student was not on the Cause for Concern
system, had not given rise to any worries and had attended the College as normal on Friday.
He said that the Head of School had had the student’s art work framed and brought this to
the family who were very appreciative of the gesture. The Director of Learning and
Customer Support said that Carecall, the College’s counselling service, had been invited in to
support both staff and students, who were very distressed.
The Principal said that he had also visited the family, who were deeply shocked. He said
that he had written to the family on behalf of the Governing Body and SMT. The Chair said
she wished to acknowledge that the College had been proactive and supportive to both the
family and the staff and students concerned. She also wished to formally record the
Committee’s condolences to the family.
The Principal continued that one of the Assistant Heads of School in the School of
Performing and Creative Arts was critically ill. He said that the Assistant Head of School had
faced his illness with immense courage and the College would do everything it could it terms
of offering continued support. The Chair recognised the support being offered and asked to
be kept up to date.
The Director of Learning and Customer Support then gave an update on the Cause for
Concern referrals:
2012/13
2013/14
266
2014/15
(10 Nov)
59
2014/15
(9 Feb)
172
Total Referrals
286
Social Services/PSNI
33
46
7
17
Mental
Health/Depression
51
86
28
83
3
Self-Harm
36
25
4
19
Thoughts of Self-Harm
18
39
5
25
Suicide
0
2
0
1
Homelessness
Not recorded
29
6
17
Bullying
Not recorded
Not recorded
2
8
The Director of Learning and Customer Support said that homelessness and bullying were
areas of concern which were increasing. He said he had met with Jim Gamble to ask for
training, to be paid for by the Trust, in cyber bullying and other forms of bullying. The Chair
said that, as one of the Governors Safeguarding Officers, she hoped to attend. She added
that the Governing Body required another Safeguarding Officer.
The Chair informed members that the College’s increase in the figures for those with mental
health issues seemed consistent with figures for Northern Ireland as a whole.
8.
Presentation:
School of Performing and Creative Arts
The Chair welcomed the Head of School of Performing and Creative Arts to the meeting and
said that members were aware of the difficult circumstances she had been dealing with over
the past few days.
The Head of School outlined the staffing structure of the School and highlighted the range of
curriculum on offer. She compared the School’s enrolment and success figures against the
College’s benchmark figures and commented that the Employability Skills of Performing and
Creative Arts students was 6% about the College’s benchmark. She drew members’
attention to the enrolment figures for 14/15, which were lower than the previous year, and
said that this related to voluntary redundancy scheme in 13/14, where a number of parttime lecturers had left and taken the students with them. The Head of School described the
range of staff development opportunities of which members of the School had availed, and
listed the numbers who had received Pearson Teaching Award Certificates.
The Head of School said that there were a number of student companies within the School –
Impressions of Ireland, Cutting Edge (along with the School of Manufacturing and Electronic
Engineering), SERCus, Impact Imaging and the Glass Umbrella Theatre Company. She said
this gave the students valuable experience and enhanced their employability skills.
The Head of School said that the SPACE (SERC Performing Arts Computing Engineering)
facility was an exciting development. She said that the facility would include a fully fitted
flexible theatre, a second “Black Box” performance space, a dance studio, 5 music rehearsal
studios and 5 industry standard music recording studios.
Mrs Scott asked about the high employability success rates of students from the School and
the Head of School said that a number of students had been employed on Game of Thrones
and others were employed in backstage roles such as costume design and theatrical
makeup.
The Chair thanked the Head of School for an interesting and informative presentation and
again acknowledged the difficult circumstances. She added that members looked forward to
hearing about the exciting developments in the SPACE.
4
The Head of School then left the meeting.
9.
First Impressions Survey Research
The Principal stated that members had had a chance to review the information and said that
there were positive progressions as a result of the survey.
Members noted the information.
10.
Listening and Influencing Dashboard
The Principal said drew members’ attention to the fact that quotient had gone up from 86%
to 90%. Mr Pollard asked about the measurement in relation to the customer satisfaction
figures and the Principal replied that it was a 5 point scale. Mrs Scott commented on the
positive press coverage of SERC in relation to the rest of the sector and asked about any
budget implications. The Principal said that the College had the lowest marketing costs in
the sector.
11.
Higher Level Apprenticeships
The Director of Learning and Customer Support said that the Department had piloted Higher
Level Apprenticeships at level 4/5 and wanted to extend this now to other Colleges. SERC
was now exploring pilots in collaboration with other Colleges in the following sectors:
Creative Arts, Food Technology and Tourism.
12.
FE Strategy Consultation
The Director of Learning and Customer Support said members had received the College
response by e-mail and said that the Colleges NI composite response was not yet available.
Members noted that there was no mention of governance. Dr Davison commented that an
action plan with 50 points would be difficult to action. The Principal said that he would
circulate any response to the Governing Body.
13.
Inspection Updates
13.1
British Council Inspection Report 2014
The Chair noted that this was a positive outcome for the College.
13.2
ETI Whole College Self-Evaluation Report and Whole College Quality
Improvement Plan
The Principal commented that two Colleges, including SERC, had received a highly
confident rating and the others had received a confident rating. The Chair said she was
very pleased with the report and had met with the Inspectors on 19th January.
Mrs Scott said that some of the language was exceedingly difficult to interpret and, in
particular, bullet point 2 under Areas for Improvement.
The Chair asked that the Committee’s congratulations be passed on to all the staff
concerned and, in particular, to the Quality, Excellence and Development team.
14.
Update on enrolments (verbal)
The Principal said that enrolments were below target as the focus had been on remaining
within budget and added that retention rates were good.
5
15.
Any other notified business
The Chair said there were no items to be taken and thanked all present for their contribution
to the meeting.
16.
Date and time of next meeting
The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 14th April 2015 at 5pm in the Lisburn
Campus.
There being no further business, the meeting ended at 7.35 p.m.
_______________________________
Chair
__________________
Date
6