Minutes of the East Durham College Full Board Meeting held on 21st May 2020

D Butler (Chair), J Bromiley, L Crichton, M Curry, S Duncan, M Etherington, G Field, F Harrison, R Harrison, H Lightowler, V McFarquhar, J MacIntyre, S Nicholson, E Oughton, R Woodhouse.

J Blower - Director of Estates (part meeting)
B Fitzgerald – Vice-Principal Finance and Business Planning
C Tomlinson – Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance
J Owen – Assistant Principal Curriculum
S Pritchard – Clerk to the Corporation
J Maughan – Committee Secretary

None Received.

E Cobb and I West.

Known and declared conflicts of interest were discussed and highlighted by the Clerk and dealt with appropriately at the relevant agenda items.

The Chair gained consensus for three matters to be discussed under Any Other Business:
a) Donation of PPE Equipment
b) EDC COVID19 H&S Guidance Document
c) Governance4FE Covid-19 and Re-opening Checklist

AGREED
That the minutes of the Full Board meeting held on 30th April 2020  were approved as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Item 6.4.3 – The Chair informed that the Gender Pay Gap document had previously been circulated to be noted at this meeting under item 5.5.

Governors were reminded to complete their Governance Appraisal Forms.

R Harrison joined the meeting

These included:

This item was presented by the Principal and was regarded as confidential for  reasons of commercial sensitivities. The report provided College updates during closure including safeguarding, student recruitment, apprenticeships, staffing and sector updates. NOTED:
The Board noted the contents of the report.

For reasons of commercial sensitivities this report was regarded as Update confidential. The Board considered the report and conditions of the renegotiated Lease Agreement between HARLUK Associates LLP and East  Durham College for the Technical Academy premises.

Quality and Curriculum Update:  This report was discussed after 5.4 e) The report was confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities and was presented by the Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance who provided the Board with information relating to: apprenticeships and subcontracting budgets, student engagement, self-assessment arrangements, grading assessments and the On Year Programme survey.

NOTED:
That the Board note the contents of the report.

AGREED
That the Principal be given prior approval, as Accounting Officer, to agree subcontracted activity for 2020/21 on the Board's behalf. J MacIntyre joined the meeting

Finance and Resources Update This report was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities and was presented by Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning and informed the Board of the Colleges Financial position as of 30th April 2020.
NOTED:
The Board noted the contents of the report.

This report was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities and was presented by the Principal who advised that the risk register had been completely reviewed by the internal Risk Management Group to reflect the significant change in the College’s operating environment due to the Covid19 pandemic and the red ‘RAG’ rated risks had been extracted and placed in a high level, summary document.
NOTED:
The Board noted the updates to the Risk Register

The Internal Audit Safeguarding and Prevent – Work Based Learning Report was presented by the Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning. The Board – reviewed the report and assurances were given to the effectiveness of the  actions taken regarding the one high-level recommendation. The Chair of the Audit Committee confirmed approval of the report.
NOTED:
 The Board noted the Internal Audit Safeguarding and Prevent – Work Based Learning Report.

The Internal Audit Careers and Guidance report was presented by the Vice  Principal Finance and Business Planning. The Board noted the two medium recommendations. The Chair of the Audit Committee confirmed approval of the report. NOTED: The Board noted the Internal Audit Careers and Guidance Report.

The Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning presented the 2021 Budget  Issues Report which was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities.

NOTED:
 The Board noted the contents of the report.
AGREED:
That the Chairs of Committees meet to scrutinise the proposed budget and make recommendations to the Full Board at their meeting of 2nd July 2020 together with any other issues arising before the next Board meeting which required additional scrutiny before being recommended to the Board.

NOTED: The Gender Pay Gap report was previously circulated and was received and noted by the Board.

a) Donations of PPE The Board approved the donation of PPE Equipment, which had previously been highlighted and commended at their Full Board meeting of 30th April 2020, in support of the community the College serves. It was noted that the donation was of small monetary value, and products to make visors had been donated from a local company. APPROVED: The Board approved the donation of PPE Equipment to the National Health Service and Care Homes in the local community.

b) COVID 19 Health & Safety Guidance Document The Director of Estates joined the meeting for this item. The Principal informed the DfE had requested that schools and colleges explore opening buildings on 1st June 2020 to priority students. The College had a procedure to risk assess staff and were in the process of matching the required staff to the priority student groups. Initially the UCU union had advised staff to decline a meeting with CLG and HR but subsequently a meeting had been arranged with those staff that had expressed concerns. A return to work building safety video was to be produced. The vast majority of Students and Staff would remain learning and working at home. The Director of Estates informed that the EDC COVID19 H&S Guidance had been formulated from several Government guidance notes and was produced with safety of students and staff at the forefront. However, guarantees that members of the College community would not contract COVID19 could not be given owing to external influences. He informed of the measures undertaken to reduce the risk of transmission within the College. A Governor questioned whether there had been collaboration with other Colleges and groups to establish best practice and peer reviews to look for failings. Confirmation was received of H&S Committees and Education Group meetings attended providing collaboration on best practice and assurance was given that the majority of organisations were following the same protocols and levels of control. In response to a question Governors were appraised of the first aid procedures in place. Governors established that Security would patrol the buildings and offer guidance to students that did not adhere to the safety rules and the very low numbers attending and monitoring of student behaviour would further minimise risks. A Governor established that where doors were not automatic they would remain open to reduce contamination by touch and increase the air flow throughout the building. It was established that once approved the COVID19 Safety Guidance Document would be communicated to staff via the Staff Newsletter. The document would be updated with new guidance and the Principal undertook to keep the Board informed of changes made and progress as access numbers increased. Governors challenged whether the residual risk assessment of 12 (within the red zone) should remain and it was agreed that the risk assessment group would reconsider this grading in light of the actions taken and the Director of Estates undertook to determine the residual risk of each action detailed in the risk assessment. Confirmation was received that the risk assessment considered the staff and students in the vulnerable categories, the Principal advised of the method of capturing and measuring this information and assurance was given that the data would be sensitively and confidentially captured by HR and securely stored. The same H&S measures had been applied to the Nursery which would open for 5 or 6 children of key workers and would be staffed initially by the 3 members of staff that had not been furloughed. Governors commended the H&S work carried out today. The Director of Estates left the meeting APPROVED The Board approved the EDC COVID19 H&S Guidance Document.

c) Governance4FE Covid-19 and Re-opening Checklist. Governors were referred to the Covid-19 re-opening checklist provided by Governance4FE for Board's to ensure they have strategic oversight. The Principal undertook to provide for 2nd July Board Meeting actions taken against each of the listed points.

d) Governors were reminded to return their completed appraisal forms to Jane Maughan in order that telephone one-to-one meetings with the Chair could be arranged.

e) The Chair advised that the next Full Board meeting would take Thursday 2nd July at 5.00pm, unless urgent business required a meeting prior to that date.