LB20 11 02 These minutes do not include any wording the Board has agreed be kept confidential in the online publication. Diocese of Leeds Leeds Board (“the Board”) Minutes of the Board meeting held 9 September 2020, via Zoom conferencing. Present: The Rt Revd Nick Baines (Chair), Mr Matthew Ambler, The Ven Paul Ayers, Canon Mr Simon Baldwin, Mrs Marilyn Banister, Ms Kay Brown, The Revd Canon Sam Corley, The Ven Dr Anne Dawtry, The Very Revd John Dobson, Canon Mrs Jane Evans, The Rt Revd Dr Jonathan Gibbs, The Ven Jonathan Gough, The Rt Revd Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, The Rt Revd Dr Toby Howarth, The Ven Andy Jolley, Mr Andrew Maude, Canon Ann Nicholl, The Rt Revd Tony Robinson, The Rt Revd Paul Slater, Mrs Jane Wardman and Canon Mr Irving Warnett. In Attendance: Mr Peter Foskett (PF), The Revd Canon Andrew Norman (AN), Mr Geoff Park (GP), Mr Chris Tate (CT) and Mr Jonathan Wood (JW), Archdeacon Jonathan Gough. Minutes: Mrs Heather Burge (HB) Papers: All papers circulated for Leeds Board meetings are taken as read. Item Minute Action Number 1 Opening Prayers. The meeting opened with prayers led by The Revd Canon Sam Corley. 2 Welcome and Apologies. The Chair asked for formal confirmation from the Trustees that they were content to meet via Zoom conferencing. The Chair proposed: “That this Board, for the purposes of Article 9.3 of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Leeds Diocesan Board of Finance and for all business and 1 LB20 11 02 matters conducted during the holding of this meeting approves meeting by means of Zoom conferencing as a suitable means through which all participants may communicate with all the other participants”. Agreed unanimously. Apologies received from: The Revd Canon Kathryn Fitzsimons The Revd Nigel Wright. 3 Declarations of conflicts interest. Members were reminded to declare any conflicts of interest concerning any items on the Agenda. No conflict of interest was disclosed. 4 Minutes of the Leeds Board held on 9 July 2020 Papers: LB20 09 02 Draft minutes of 9 July 2020 Leeds Board. The Chair proposed that the minutes of the Leeds Board meeting held on 9 July 2020 be approved. The minutes were approved. The Chair confirmed that the minutes would be signed electronically after the HB 05/11 meeting. 5 Matters arising from the Minutes of the meeting on 9 July 2020 Paper: LB20 09 02 01 Open Actions at 09.9.2020 There were no matters arising from the minutes. Open actions at 09.9.2020 JW reported that: 09-200709 Scrutiny working group – proposals for the group would be brought to the November Board meeting 04-200709 Millie Cork General Synod membership. Millie Cork had resigned from General Synod. General Synod have confirmed that the resignation is within 12 months of the General Synod is due to be dissolved. Accordingly, the vacancy will not be filled in accordance with the rules. All other open actions due for 09.9.2020 could be closed. 6 Leeds DBF Register of Signings Paper: LB20 09 03 Extract of Leeds DBF register of signings The Chair proposed that the matters contained in LB20 09 03 be noted. 2 LB20 11 02 All agreed. 7 CEO & Diocesan Secretary’s Update Report Paper: LB20 09 04 – CEO and Diocesan Secretary’s Report September 2020 JW spoke to the circulated report. He highlighted that new government guidelines had just been published and although it seemed that church services would be able to continue, there was a lot of uncertainty about other activities. The diocesan team continued to give support to a number of parishes who were seeking reassurance of their understanding of the various Covid provisions. Church House was now open every day and staff were being encouraged to attend the office once a week. If there was a local lockdown in Leeds, this would be reviewed. A new diocesan post of Director of Church Revitalisation would be advertised soon. The National Church would fund this five years post. The work on PCR2 continued to generate significant pressure on the Safeguarding team due to the quantity of work. There were also additional financial costs to staff this. An additional Assistant Safeguarding adviser had been engaged and an additional safeguarding trainer would be assisting the team for two months. Diocesan Synod was planned as a Zoom and in person Synod (for those who were not able to be present electronically). However, this would all depend on the recent government announcement and any local lockdown. Questions It was important that the funding from the National Church of the new Church Revitalisation post be emphasised, so that people were clear about this when considering the diocesan budget. It was noted that the Covid restrictions in the diocesan office created a strange working environment and that this could have an impact on staff. Therefore, they needed to be looked after and supported in this. With reference to the Church Revitalisation post, confirmation was sought that Robin Gamble was engaged from a church growth perspective. JW responded that Robin Gamble been engaged. The director would have oversight and bring together many of the things Robin had been doing. This would include work on resource churches, SDF projects and the link with buildings. The role would give collective drive and support for these areas and on delivering the Strategy. The Chair confirmed the circulated Teams reports were taken as read and were for noting. There were no questions and the reports were noted. 3 LB20 11 02 The Chair confirmed that the IICSA report on the Church of England would be published on 6 October 2020. Bishop Jonathan Gibbs confirmed that a letter from him and the Safeguarding National Director would be circulated to diocesan bishops concerning various matters. He complimented the diocesan safeguarding team on their work. 8 Finance Report, Parish Share report and FAIC minutes Papers: LB20 09 05 Finance Board Report July 2020 LB20 09 05 01 Parish Share report 31.7.20 LB20 09 05 02 FAIC minutes 30.6.20 LB20 09 05 03 FAIC draft minutes 23.7.20 LB20 09 05 04 FAIC draft minutes 13.8.20 Presenters: GP GP highlighted items from the circulated papers. The operating deficit to July 2020 was £340k, which was £0.5m behind Budget. He reminded the Board that the National Church had made an upfront payment in April, which affected the figures. It was likely that the deficit would increase throughout 2020. Parish share receipts were lower than budgeted and some costs had increased as the furlough scheme ended. Costs of clergy moves were also now being paid. JW and GP had been working on an application for funding from the National Church 2020 support fund. It was hoped that the grant would be c. £1m. Emergence Grants The first round of funding closed at the end of July. 39 grants had been given totalling c£29k. A further 32 applications (totalling £26k) had also now been received. The main projects to be funded were for technology and traditional events. Property In addition to those in the written report, a sale had been agreed for The Rectory, Leathley at £903,000 compared with a market price of £750,000 and for Beachstones Barn, Bentham a sale was agreed £189,000 compared with a market price of £165,000. Questions/Comments from the Board members: An update on the Arkengarthdale school sale was requested. The Chair gave an overview of recent press coverage. There had been eight offers to purchase. Five of these were above the asking price. The group, which had involved the press, were asked if they would like to increase their offer but declined. The Leeds DBF as custodian trustee and the PCC were bound by statutory requirements and charity law and had complied with these. 4 LB20 11 02 The initial amount for the Emergence fund was £50k. Was the fund to be increased as monies had been paid from the fund with other successful applications to meet? GP responded that £200k had been allocated for mission at the beginning of the year. Further funds would need to be released but there had not been a FAIC meeting since the initial round of applications. GP confirmed he would speak to paragraph 11 later in the meeting. There were no other questions. 9 Appointment of Auditors – annual confirmation LB20 09 06 This item has already been dealt with by written resolution of the Board passed on 7 September 2020. This was confirmed to and noted by the Board members. 10 SDF update and briefing Papers: LB20 09 07 SDF Update September 2020 LB20 09 07 01 SDF Annual Review 24.7.20 BradfResrChs LB20 09 07 02 SDF Annual Review 25.3.20 BradfCCRC LB20 09 07 03 SDF Annual Review 01.5.20 Leeds EA LB20 09 07 04 Reaching Generation Next July 2020. Presenter: Jonathan Wood. JW outlined that there were three SDF programmes currently in place in the diocese. Some work had been affected by Covid and would have to be re- planned. However, all were moving forward positively. Leeds resource church and intern programme. The only RAG marked red initiative was Holy Trinity Boar Lane. There were difficulties in recruiting to this project. Some changes had been made and there was now renewed optimism for this. Bradford resourcing churches All of these were reaching out to communities and there was a lot of positivity about progress and new opportunities. Fountains Church, Bradford The building works had begun. It was hoped that the church would be open and in use by Christmas 2020.