Minutes of the East Durham College Full Board Meeting held on 25th February 2021

D Butler (Chair), J Bromiley (part), M Curry, S Duncan, M Etherington, G Field, R Harrison, V McFarquhar, J MacIntyre, S Nicholson, E Oughton D Wild, R Woodhouse.

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
K Paterson – Student Union Welfare and Engagement Officer

The board received a presentation on the FE White Paper and IoT. L Crichton, E Cobb and M cane.

The Chair welcomed the newly appointed Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning, S Judson, and Assistant Principal Performance, H McCoy, to their
first Board meeting. 670  of Potential conflicts of interest were declared from J MacIntyre at item 5.1 (b) and were dealt with appropriately at the relevant agenda item.

AGREED
That the minutes of the Full Board meeting held on 10 December 2020 were approved as a true record and signed by the Chair.

No matters were raised.

These included:

This item was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities. The Principal’s provided an update on College Operations, KPIs, Student Survey Outcomes, Safeguarding and Wellbeing Risks, Covid Impact Update, Sector Updates and Student Success and Community Engagement Stories.
NOTED
The Board noted the contents of the report.

This item was presented by the Principal and regarded as confidential for  reasons of commercial sensitivities.

The Board considered and agreed that J MacIntyre no longer needed to withdraw from the meeting for this item.
NOTED
The Board noted the contents of the report.

This report was presented by the Principal and regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities. The Board reviewed the East Durham College FE Commissioner Diagnostic Assessment (DA) Follow-up Report. 
AGREED
That the College would respond to the East Durham College FE Commissioner Diagnostic Assessment Report after the regional joint meeting of the ESFA and the FE Commissioner’s Team. Governors would be kept informed of progress made.
(J Bromiley left the meeting).

These included:

This report was regarded as confidential for reasons of student sensitivities. The report informed of Safeguarding and Prevent Training; student wellbeing and mental health, suggested changes to the disclosure and barring system and declaration of criminal convictions.
NOTED
The Board noted the contents of the report and amendments made in relation to the recent lockdown.
APPROVED
The Board approved the change of the requirement for a three-year automatic DBS check to a self-declaration system for the majority of staff.

The Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance presented the 2019/20 annual  monitoring complaints report. There were 27 formal complaints received, an increase of 4 compared to last year. All of the KPI’s had been met apart from responding within 10 days owing to closure during lockdown. 52% of the complaints received related to the Houghall Campus, 41% to Peterlee and 7% to the Technical Academy. The highest number of complaints related to Equine and Dog Grooming. A number of complaints were received relating to the system used for progression and acceptance onto courses whilst working remotely. This process had been reviewed and the complaints resolved. It was established the complaints regarding staff behaviour related to interaction with learners - the way staff had spoken; comments made or a reaction to a disciplinary.

In line with previous years there were more complaints received from females, but there were no complaints relating to gender or ethnicity. Seven complaints were received from students with an illness, disability and/or learning difficulties. Two complaints referred to students requesting a refund because of lockdown.

A Governor questioned the correlation between female complaints and the percentage of females in the student body. It was noted that there were always more complaints from females, and this was always higher than the proportion of female learners.

The Chair requested that investigation and analysis be given to areas with persistent numbers of complaints.
NOTED
The Board noted the contents of the report.

The Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance informed that the report reflected the outcomes of the 10 December 2020 Student Governor Focus Group. There were 7 students in attendance from 5 different subject areas. or Focus Group The meeting was held remotely taking longer than normal resulting in two questions left unanswered. The meeting was referred to paragraph 2.2 which highlighted ten areas the students were satisfied with and then the 12 areas of concern at paragraph 2.3. This was the first focus group that had highlighted more areas of concern than satisfaction, possibly caused by heightened anxiety relating to COVID. All students stated they felt safe in College and wanted to resume attending College. The meeting was referred to the Appendix which showed managers' comments that had been shared with the student body. The Vice Chair informed of the difficulties of chairing the meeting remotely which may have distorted the outcome.

In response to a question from the Chair it was established that the feedback to Students was via the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Officer to Student reps and individually to the students involved.
NOTED
The Board noted the report, summary of outcomes and management responses resulting from the 10 December 2020 Student/Governor Focus Group.

This item was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities.
NOTED
i. The Board noted the contents of the report.
APPROVED
ii. The Board approved the prior delegation for the Principal to approve subcontracting activity for 2020/21.
iii. The Board approved the subcontracting contract.

These included:

This item was presented by the Vice Principal and incoming Vice Principal  Finance & Business Planning and was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities.
NOTED
The Board noted the contents of the Estates update report and the opportunity to progress a FE Transformation Fund bid to relocate the Technical Academy to Willerby Grove.

This item was presented by the Vice Principal Finance & Business Planning and was regarded as confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivities. The January 2021 Management Accounts were reviewed in detail and reflected the College’s financial position as of January 2021.
NOTED
The Board noted the contents of the report

The Engage Admission Policy and Engage Exclusion Policy were received and (6) reviewed by the Board annually. The Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance informed of minor changes to the policies. In response to a question the Board were advised that there had been no permanent exclusion in the Engage provision since the first year, although there had been a number of fixed term exclusions issued.
Approved The Board approved the:
i. Engage Admissions Policy
ii. Engage Exclusion Policy

These included:

The Clerk to Corporation presented the Annual Review of Confidential Items report and advised the Board of an obligation to annually review items that had been deemed confidential and decide whether these items should remain confidential, stop being confidential or whether there was a public interest in disclosure which outweighed that reason. As no recent request for the release of confidential papers had had been received or considered the Clerk proposed a change in the method of review and suggested confidential items be managed on four principles: Data Protection; Legal advice subject to legal professional privilege; Continuing commercial or strategic relationships, unless more than 6 years old and no longer continuing to be confidential. Requests were to continue to be reviewed by the Clerk on an individual basis.
AGREED
i. The Board agreed and adopted the four principles as set out at section 3 of the Annual Review of Confidential Items Report.
ii. The Board agreed that any requests for confidential items continue to be reviewed and dealt with by the Clerk to Corporation.

M Curry left the meeting for this item.

The Board considered the reappointment of M Curry and L Crichton-Jones to the Board.

The Clerk informed that M Curry was willing to be reappointed for a second term and L Crichton-Jones will reach the end of her second term of office in April this year. Governors were advised of the difficulties of appointing Governors during the pandemic and L Crichton-Jones had been asked and agreed to be reconsidered for an exceptional appointment of one additional year.

A Link Governor role profile for Safeguarding and Inclusive Learning was presented for Governor’s comment and approval. Governors were given the opportunity to request a role profile for their area of focus.

Two Governor vacancies remained, and Governors were asked to consider candidates within their networks. Otherwise, the two Governor vacancies would be advertised to recruit into the next academic year.
AGREED
i. That M Curry be re-appointed for a further term of office of four years until 25 January 2025.
ii. L Crichton-Jones be appointed for a further year until 5 April 2022.
iii. That the safeguarding and Inclusive Learning Link Governor Role Profile be adopted. (M Curry re-joined the meeting).

The Board received the draft meeting schedule 2021/22

a) The minutes of the Audit Committee meeting of 21/11/2019 were received and approved by the Board.
b) Minutes of the CQ&S Committee meeting of 12/11/2020 were received and approved by the Board.

On behalf of the Board the Chair of Governors thanked B Fitzgerald for his  service as Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning and wished him well upon his retirement. The Board acknowledged his accountancy attributes and diligence in securing the student accommodation block at Houghall enabling the completion of phase one of the Houghall Development.