Midland Regional Board

Midland Regional Board 5 October 2006 Minutes

Midland Regional Board Thursday 5 October 2006, Villiers Court, Meriden

MINUTES CONFIDENTIAL

Present:

East Midlands: Graham Masters, Phoenix Print Finishing Ltd Bob Loach, F F Allsopp Ltd

Co-Opted: Teri Baron, Rotary Printers (Stourport on Severn) Ltd Ian Houston, Jones & Palmer Ltd Roger Ling, The Birches Printers Ltd John Martin, Spectrum Print Direct Steve Ray, Reynolds Press Alan Watts, Cheshires Colourmail Ltd

YMP Chairperson: Simone Barker, Boxes Prestige

Attending: Derek Pollard, BPIF Judith Houston, BPIF Lizzy Hawkins, BPIF

1. WELCOME & APOLOGIES: Derek Pollard welcomed those present and extended a special welcome to Steve Ray, Reynolds Press and Peter Lines, ComagFoward (attending later), who have re-joined the Board.

Apologies had been received from Mark Jones, A1 Paper Stationery Ltd, Joel Drapkin, Folium Group, Joe Curtis, George Street Press Ltd, Kevin Paszek, Tungate Group and Ross Mitchell, Wood Mitchell Printers Ltd.

2. PREVIOUS MINUTES & MATTERS ARISING: There were no matters arising. Bob Loach enquired about the Energy Purchasing Consortium and asked Derek whether he knew what rate CMR had bought at, as he had just renewed his contract with Scottish Southern and wanted to compare figures. Graham confirmed that he had joined the consortium and would let Bob know the rates. Derek confirmed that 90 members had signed up with CMR.

The minutes were approved by Graham Masters and seconded by Bob Loach.

3. ELECTIONS/RESIGNATIONS: No nominations or volunteers for the positions of Regional Chairman and Deputy Regional Chairman had been put forward. However, Graham Masters had expressed an interest to be Chairman, he was proposed by Bob Loach, seconded by Roger Ling and elected into office.

This still leaves the vacancy for Deputy Chairman and Derek asked any member present who may be interested to contact him directly.

Derek announced to the Board that David Taylor, Automedia Ltd, had been elected as District Chairman for Leics/Northants and would therefore be joining the Regional Board.

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4. PRESENTATIONS:

Lizzy Hawkins, BPIF Public Affairs Officer, gave her presentation on Lobbying Strategy. The aim being to seek member’s views on areas of importance relating to lobbying. She presented a matrix containing 14 major activities considered to be of concern and asked for views and to rate them as (a) high priority or (b) low priority.

After lengthy and lively discussion, the areas rated as high priority were training, the postal services, public procurement and the National Minimum Wage. Bob Loach stated that he now employs 16 year olds and also raised the issues of over capacity within the industry and phoenix print companies.

The Planning and Manufacturing Policy was put on a low priority list.

Lizzy thanked everyone for their input and said their views would be taken back and considered.

5. NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETING & SUMMARY OF BOARD MEETING (4 July 2006) (6 June 2006)

The National Council minutes had previously been circulated and the Board Meeting notes were tabled.

John Martin referred to item 5 of the minutes and stated that he felt the timing for the BPIF change of legal status was dreadful, as no time was given to members to discuss the issues and relay their input. He stated that he understood the aim was to prevent members from being liable for the shortfall within the BPIF pension, but felt that there must be other implications. Bob Loach voiced the opinion that if members were aware of this liability it would lead to mass resignation if it is not dealt with effectively and soon. It was agreed that it was imperative that the Review Group make a decision to resolve this situation quickly.

It was agreed that this issue and that of the future of DA’s and other meetings would be discussed further under AOB and the concerns should be carried forward to National Council. Derek referred to item 4 and pointed out that Mike Taylor had been nominated as Deputy President and would take over from Dominic Walsh next year.

Derek also referred to item 9 Regional Chairmen’s Reports and the fact that as requested, he had raised the issue concerning CMR and the Energy Purchasing Consortium.

There were no matters arising from the notes of the Board meeting.

6. DISTRICT CHAIRMEN’S REPORTS

Leicester & Northants Derek reported that Leics & Northants was the only meeting to take place and that there should have been 10 attendees. However, on the day only 3 attendees turned up. Derek also reported that David Taylor, Automedia Ltd, has been appointed Chairman for this district. The meeting had received an excellent presentation from Michael Bye on business contingency/disaster recovery planning.

John Martin stated that he did not receive an email regarding the Staffs & Shrops District Association meeting and he felt that since the email system has been set up, attendance at the meetings has fallen. Midland Regional Board 5 October 2006 Minutes

7. DIRECTOR’S REPORTS

Derek Pollard tabled a written report on the Midland Business Centre, which summarized the financial, KPI, membership subscription and retention achievements for the year to date. He reported that Dawn Reid’s (HR Adviser) application for the position of SW Regional Director had been successful and she will take up the position when Clive Fricker retires at the end of the year.

Judith Houston reported on the HR activity.

8. YMP REPORT

Simone Barker tabled the report and reported on YMP activity for the Midland region. Current members totalled 33. She then reported on the difficulties being experienced in getting members to attend meetings/events and stated that unless the situation improved, she feared that the organisation would cease to be. Derek offered to meet her to discuss actions which may be implemented to promote the planned activities more effectively.

9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Derek reported on the Energy Consortium and the BPIF First Insurance Scheme, pointing out that if companies have a BPIF H&S Healthcheck and score well they could receive a discount on insurance premiums.

He also informed the Board that a BPIF staff conference was due to be held on Tuesday 31 October and the All Party Parliamentary Group meeting was scheduled for 2 November, the theme of which is Innovation & Technology.

Derek then returned to the debate on the Review Group set up to look at suggested changes to the Constitution & Rules and how this could affect the frequency of DA and Regional Board meetings. Bob Loach said that if the interest was not there for the members to attend their district meetings they should not be held and made the point that if no district meetings were held the purpose of the Regional Board must be in question.

John Martin stated that he felt changes happened when a new Board of Directors was introduced and they make all the decisions without member involvement. He said that although he didn’t feel that it was all bad, the reporting structure had become ineffective and timings of meetings were completely out of synch. He also stated that he felt that a large majority of members were in membership due to the National Negotiations.

Derek stated that the first meeting of the Constitutional Review Group had taken place on 26th September. Graham Masters had already had email correspondence with Andy Brown prior to that meeting and expressed his thoughts, particularly on the role of DA’s, Regional Boards and the National Council. Bob Loach produced a paper containing his thoughts/concerns.

John Martin stated that organising DA’s which were frequently cancelled was clearly a waste of time and resources. Bob Loach stated that as a Regional Board they should have some input towards this procedure.

Roger Ling requested that a draft submission be prepared on behalf of the region, circulated to members of the Board for input and agreement before being forwarded to the Review Group for their consideration at their next meeting due to take place on 2nd November. Bob Loach suggested that a Regional meeting should be held in September and then a District meeting in January. Graham Masters suggested that if a Regional meeting was held earlier in the year rather than September, it would allow sufficient time to arrange and organise another one before the end of the year if it proved successful. Midland Regional Board 5 October 2006 Minutes

Steve Ray suggested that all members be emailed and all should be responded to in order to exchange views. Graham Masters stated that he felt that so much email was being sent a lot were just filed away without any proper attention being given to them.

Derek referred to the email sent to members about the restructuring and future focus on ‘Retention’ and ‘Service’. He gave a brief explanation on the major changes i.e. Mike Hopkins to become Director of Strategies, Dale Wallis to become Director of Membership, Cicely Brown to take on responsibility for commercial training, Andy Brown to take on responsibility for marketing and Paul Dowling appointed as Head of HR.

Roger asked if any of the changes affected the Business Centre staff, to which Derek replied not within the next few months. The period from 1st October – 31st March 2007 will be one of consultation and planning to enable a smooth transition, ready for full implementation of the new structure in April 2007.

10. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Thursday 7 December 2006 Meeting to commence @ 10.30pm followed by pre-lunch drinks @ 12.30 Christmas lunch @ 1.00pm Venue – Rothley Court Hotel, Rothley, Leics

Derek thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 4.15pm.