SOUTH & CITY COLLEGE CORPORATION

Minutes of the Corporation Meeting Held on Tuesday 14 May 2019 Board Room Digbeth

Present: Clive Henderson (Chair), Heather Jones, Mike Hopkins, John Gemmell, Pat O’Neill, Gerald Bermingham, Alex Stephenson, Lucy Jeynes, Ian Richards, Marianne Coward, Paul Johal, Sarah Dolma, Zahoor Mann, and Parveen Ghulam (Clerk)

In Attendance: Sardul Dhesi, Dawn Ward, Paul Morris, Alan Howey, Jacqui Deane (Skype), Jacqui Maher, John Hillen, Ann-Marie Bathmaker and Jodie Pennacchia (Governance Researchers) , Julie Groom

Start Time: 18:25

1. Apologies

Apologies were received from Shaun Pitt, Ahsan Ul-Haq, Nasir Awan, Arrman Sajaad and Aleemah Nasir.

2. Declarations of Interests Relevant to the Agenda

All those present confirmed that they had no interests to declare that were not already included on the register of interests held by the Clerk.

3. Minutes of the Corporation Meeting held 26 March 2019

Clive Henderson asked for any comments.

It was noted that the Clerk had been advised of a small number of typographical errors and subject to these amendments the minutes were agreed as accurate.

47/19 Resolved: That subject to the amendment of the minutes the Corporation meeting held on 26 March 2019 be signed as an accurate record.

4. Matters Arising

There were no matters arising

5. Minutes of the Search & Governance Committee Meeting held on 26 March 2019

The governors reviewed the minutes and no further discussion was required.

48/19 Resolved: That the minutes of the Search & Governance Committee meeting held on 26 March 2019 be received and noted.

6. Minutes of the Audit Committee Meeting held on 9 April 2019

John Gemmell advised that this was a short Meeting and covered two internal audits, both of which received green audit opinions with a few low audit recommendations. He noted that the Committee had been updated on GDPR and were made aware that a considerable amount of work was to be undertaken to embed GDPR and this would be carried out over an 18-24-month period and governors were advised that the College had appointed a consultant to assist the College in doing so.

John said that given the recent merger in benchmarking terms the College compared favourably against other colleges.

Ian Richards asked if the College was compliant with GDPR. Mike advised that the College was in an infancy stage and that a new management structure had been put in place to monitor and ensure compliance. Sardul informed governors that the appointed consultant was a specialist in the education sector and had been involved in a number of smaller colleges. Parveen added that the Audit Committee would receive regular reports on GDPR.

49/19 Resolved: That the minutes the Audit Committee meeting held on 9 April 2019 be received and noted.

7. Corporation Annual Conference 2019

Parveen informed the governors of the arrangements for the Corporation Annual Conference which was to be held in Oxford on the 14-16 June. She noted that the theme for Conference would be based on “Change”. Sardul added that recently both Heather Jones and Pat O’Neill had joined the senior leadership team and faculty heads looking at the 3-year planning process. He proposed to share the plan at the Conference with a view to seeking governors’ views in identifying any potential risks by using the information provided and giving opportunity for governors to challenge senior managers.

Heather commented that both herself and Pat had learnt so much by attending the planning meeting and said that it was clear that the Faculty Heads were so enthusiastic with their proposals. Both governors encouraged fellow governors to attend future meetings. Clive thanked them for their input.

50/19 Resolved: That the update on the Corporation Annual Conference 2019 be received and noted.

8. Minutes of the Higher Education Oversights Committee held on 14 May 2019

Ian advised that the Committee had met for the first time prior to the Corporation meeting and that he had been nominated and elected as Chair of the new committee. He advised that items discussed were included as part of the main Corporation agenda and therefore there was no further update. 51/19 Resolved: That the verbal update of the Higher Education Oversights Committee held on 14 May 2019 be received and noted.

9. Institute of Technology (IoT) update

Jacqui Maher reminded governors that the IoT was a government initiative which was introduced in 2017. The background to the initiative was that the Government wanted colleges and Universities to group together to apply for funding to set up IoT’s. SCCB formed part of a group with Birmingham City University, , and BMet College, applying to set up a manufacturing engineering IOT. The group was one of 10 groups which was successful in their application.

Jacqui said that this was an exciting project, which would allow the College to develop further its foundation degree in engineering for two years and that this would be validated by UCB and Birmingham University, giving opportunity to students to progress further. She advised that the main fields the College would cover was electrical mechatronics and robotics and that this would also enable the College to develop its apprenticeship levels.

Jacqui advised that the Group would receive funding in the region of £12 million with SCCB receiving £1.27 million of the allocation. This funding would enable the College to create and develop an engineering hub at Campus to become a centre of excellence. This would further develop the vision for the future and funding would be provided for high-level equipment and this sat well with the IOT, WMCA.

Ian asked what the financial benefits were for the College. Alan informed the governors that the capital funding would attract more students due to the investment in the campus facilities. Mike suggested that the Governors view this as a financial transaction programme where investment was needed now and the courses would commence in September. This would provide the College with a state of the art Centre for Engineering Excellence and would give the College credibility to develop HE in manufacturing and it would be a direct pathway into the , where the college wish to establish itself.

Sardul added that the College was one of the core partners and would be contributing more than other partners and therefore the total allocation to the college for capital investment was likely to increase, allowing upgrade of the Colleges digital and IT equipment.

Lucy asked if there was a link on the website as to what courses the College would provide in this area. Jacqui Maher agreed to email this information to governors.

Angela Pocock asked whether there were any implications for the High-Speed Rail college as a result of the investment. Mike advised that the High-Speed Rail college was a specialist college which tailored itself towards the building of HS2. He said the College would be specialising and developing mechatronics and robotics for the manufacturing industries, and there may be a slight overlap between the two.

Shireen Avari asked whether the College would be able to recruit the right staff for the new facility. Sardul advised that the College was investing in the right staff currently as the College was delivering a foundation degree in Mechatronics. He agreed that this area was hard to recruit skilled workers due to the area being in high demand but the College would ensure that the skilled staff were retained.

Ian Richards asked how the IOT was legally established and managed. Mike advised that there would be a company structure created and the funding would be provided directly to each partner. There would be a single point for marketing and some staffing and a formal structure would be put in place. Jacqui Maher added that this would create a one stop shop and the College were hoping that by providing the lower level courses that students would continue their studies with the College with a view to progressing to university.

Zahoor Mann welcomed the introduction of the IOT and asked whether after the first and second year students would move on to study at university and how many credits were required for this. Jacqui said she would have to check on the number of credits required but would seek this information for governors. Mike noted that currently there was no route to university other than academically, the College would be able to provide a vocational route and if this was successful universities would be addressing their widening participation agenda.

Zahoor asked whether there would be a hub at both the Bournville and Bordesley campus. Mike advised that there was already specialist provision at the Bordesley campus as the College had already invested in various CAD/CAM equipment and therefore would be investing the IoT funding at the Bournville College campus.

Marianne Coward joined the meeting at 18.36 pm.

Clive commented that the introduction of the IOT came about during the area reviews and was employer driven. It had taken three years for the consortium to be granted and many Colleges had been turned down. He hoped that this venture would be successful and that the Government would then provide further funding.

52/19 Resolved: That the report on Information of Technology (IoT) be received and noted.

10. Office for Students (OfS)

Jacqui Maher reminded governors that at the last meeting the Board were advised that the College had been informed that they had been unsuccessful in their application for providing higher education and had been refused entry from the OfS register. The College appealed against the decision and since that time the College has now been successful in registering with the OfS, with some conditions as set out in the letter around full-time and part time students and management and governance.

Jacqui advised that the next step was to draft an action plan and send this to the OfS. She explained that the College would be closely monitored and had not yet received the template for the plan. Jacqui noted that many universities and colleges were also prescribed with conditions. Mike said that it was worth noting that the College had been put in an unfair position as the data used by the OfS for the registration purpose was for Bournville College since 2010 and this should not have been used. He said that the College had carried out a substantial amount of work to ensure that the college was registered with the OfS.

Clive concluded that the OfS was about value for money for students and the registration process was a desktop data driven exercise. Sardul explained that the College would ensure it met the deadline for the submission for the improvement plan.

53/19 Resolved: That the report on Office for Students be received and noted.

Richard Weber left the meeting at 18.43 pm.

11. Ofsted Post Inspection Plan

Jacqui Deane joined the meeting through a conference call. She provided an update on progress for the post action plan following the Ofsted inspection. She highlighted that attendance was still a key area for improvement, although it had improved from previous years. She said that the College was working with personal tutors and also looking at English and maths which was still below the required level, but showed improvement in certain areas.

Jacqui noted that although the College had made a lot of progress in the area of English and maths, further improvements were required and the College reviewed the leadership and co-ordination of the area. The proposal was to integrate English and Maths into the different schools and provide initial assessment and further training by use of Century Tech for English and Maths. They would also be focus on attendance in English and maths and an increase of usage of dedicated hubs for students. Jacqui advised that even with these initiatives in place, the College would not achieve the national rate. Jacqui noted that there had been a lot of improvement in A-level results and mock tests seemed to suggest this. The College was optimistic but needed to be cautious and that there was a good chance that there would be improvement in the value-added grade. However, it was unlikely that the national rate would be met. She added that plans are in place using diagnostic assessment tests and staff training would be reviewed next year.

Jacqui reported that teachers and assessors were carrying out a lot of work reviewing and aligning training for all staff including agency staff. Training would be closely monitored and fed back throughout the year. She added that staff would undergo progress reviews and feedback will be provided from students to see if there were any improvements. She concluded that the main risk was attendance and English and maths and all other areas were making good progress.

Ian Richards asked what the College had planned to improve attendance. Jacqui said that further improvements for attendance were highlighted on page 45 of the papers. She noted that the College would have to wait for the A-level results and would focus on areas where grades had not been achieved.

Sardul advised that in terms of attendance this had not changed this year. The College had made improvements to English and maths and were trying to further improve this by getting staff involved by taking ownership and also reviewing the leadership and management.

Shireen Avari asked whether any analysis has been carried out on students not achieving due to exam stress. Mike informed governors that this had not been carried out as currently there was a struggle to get students to attend the lessons which was the main cause of them not achieving or turning up for exams.

Pat O’Neil asked if parents were involved. John Hillen advised that a lot of effort and work had been carried out to consolidate the approach and to get a collaborative approach for English and maths. The College could look at how individuals perform in exams and how this was collated but this was difficult to assess, some of the students did not answer the easy questions and this could be due to anxiety and the College would look at how students revised and practiced exam papers and would carry out assessments using artificial intelligence.

In response to Pat O’Neil’s question, John advised that the College was looking to carry out a lot of work around pastoral support for students including the use of the Century Tech. The College was working with students under the age of 18, but following the new data protection legislation it was difficult to contact older students.

Zahoor Mann welcomed the suggestions for improving English and maths and noted that from past experience many students could complete the maths questions but struggled with English terms in the exams. John advised that he carried out the BKSB test to see what this was like for the students and found that the functional skills was language-based, however, the GCSE exam was more mathematical. Jackie Deane reinforced Mike’s comments on attendance and identified areas of low attendance. She advised that in particular the Bournville campus struggled at entry level and the College was working with personal tutors to improve this.

Lucy Jeynes asked whether the College wrote to parents at the start of the second year providing them with a copy of the students timetables so they could track where their child was. Sardul said that attendance was reviewed at parents evening and Dawn informed governors that the College did not provide timetables but this could be something that they could look at. Mike added that the sharing of information was challenging due to GDPR. Clive noted that it was an interesting discussion and could see that there was a high level of interest shown by governors. He noted that the College had been unlucky this year with the attendance of student governors. Sardul suggested that this could be something that the Search and Governance committee could look at for future appointments. The Clerk agreed that the College needed to review the Students Union Constitution and stated that the position of student governor was for a two-year term of office and reminded governors that they had agreed to reduce the student governor age to 16. Clive suggested clearer guidelines be given to students before they embarked on their role and Mike said that the College could consider separating the role of Student President and Student Governor.

54/19 Resolved: That the report on the Ofsted Post Inspection Plan be received and noted.

12. Principal’s report

Mike introduced the report and said that some of the points within his report had been discussed as part of the agenda for the meeting.

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA)

Mike advised that the College had a good relationship with WMCA and from 1 August 2019 the College’s Adult Education budget (AEB) funding would come from the WMCA. The College has also then secured WMCA funding for NEET (Not in Education Employment or Training) (over 18) provision to address youth unemployment. This provision worked with students up to the age of 24 and the purpose was to engage them through different programmes and provide external support and also help them with work experience and employment, with some summer programmes.

Finance and Voluntary Severance

Mike advised that the uptake for voluntary severance had been high but not to the extent that the College required. The College needed to bring about change and improve efficiency further and to achieve this was going to undertake limited restructuring which would reduce the curriculum management structure from 5 faculties to 4. He advised that at the present time there were no compulsory job losses and there were a number of people at managerial levels who were due to retire and these posts would not be replaced. The College would look to realign some of the schools and possibly release other managers. Mike informed governors that there was opportunity for expansion in some areas with a lot of investment. However, there was also reduction in other areas and this would mean that certain posts would be declared at risk. Some of the staff with transferable skills could be deployed in other areas and others may not and would be at risk of redundancy. The College would consult with the Trade Unions and at this stage governors were just being updated. Mike said that alongside these changes the College was making changes to the non- teaching areas such as student services and these would be some re- configuration around campuses and faculties due to downsizing. The College would also look to downsize the Handsworth campus as there was reduced demand at this campus and also due to the building’s age and asbestos issues at the campus which would have required a high level of investment. He assured governors that the College would consider disposing of some surplus areas.

Mike explained that he had recently met with banks and would circulate the briefing notes to governors. He advised that there had been a technical breach of a bank covenant and this related to the staff salaries of Bournville College during the merger. He said that discussions had been taking place with the banks and the ESFA and the College was rated as satisfactory.

Institute of Technology (IoT)

Mike explained that following the Department for Education’s approval of the Colleges and Universities IoT proposal for Birmingham and Solihull the establishment of the IoT proposal as discussed previously would now go ahead. This would involve the College becoming a member of a Joint Company and contributing to the revenue costs. The College would receive around £1.3 million in capital funding for the development of Higher Education programme in robotics and mechatronics (engineering).

Helping the Homeless

Mike noted that the College hosted a regular event for the homeless and provided free food and donated clothing and haircuts. Jacqui Maher said that donations of clothing and in particular men’s toiletries were most welcome.

Zahoor commented that summer programmes were a good idea but they should be of value for those attending such as futuristic courses. He suggested that the staffing, particularly of those at risk of redundancy should be reviewed at the Employment & Equalities Committee. Mike said that the Employment and Equalities Committee would be kept up-to-date and that it was important that Angela as Chair should be kept out of any involvement of the redundancies as she could be reviewing any appeals made. Clive added that any introduction of voluntary severance programs were always consulted with the Chairs and that these were management issues and processes need to be put in place. Zahoor asked whether there was a perception that staff were forced to leave. Clive said that voluntary severance was voluntary and that staff could express an interest but could change their mind. Lucy added that it was important to note that these were management issues and the Governors should not get involved with the staffing of the College.

Mike gave his assurance that the College was open with staff and that there was a level of scrutiny. The College had previously restructured staffing when it merged with both City College and Bournville College and in both cases the process worked well and without compulsory redundancies. The current proposal was not for a big restructure but for some realignment of staffing.

Pat O’Neill commented that as mentioned earlier he had attended the curriculum and planning meeting which was very positive and encouraged other governors to attend. Clive added that the curriculum plan was carefully planned and evaluated and allowed the College to be in a good position to offer any voluntary severance.

Mike informed governors that the College had taken part in the Velo Cycling Birmingham 100 miles event and all proceeds from fundraising would be donated to Cure Leukaemia this year as the college had lost a member of staff to leukaemia. Next year the College would be to supporting breast cancer charity in memory of Emma. He noted that there were 17,000 cyclists and that the College was open over the weekend as part of the event with positive press coverage. If any governor wished to donate, a link could be emailed on request. The governors congratulated Mike and the college for taking part in raising money for charity.

55/19 Resolved: That the Principal’s report be received and noted.

13. Progress Towards funding targets

Dawn Ward advised governors that there had been no change to training for 14 to 16 year olds and that 16 to 18-year-olds had improved. She noted that the adult funding had improved slightly, due to the summer programmes, NEET and Job Centre Plus. She added that there had been no improvement for apprenticeships and that the forecasts had been reduced by £100,000 and that the advanced learning loans had remained the same.

56/19 Resolved: That the report on Progress Towards Funding Targets be received and noted.

14. Financial forecasts ending 31 July 2019

Alan Informed governors that they have been no significant change with £100,000 surplus. He drew the governors’ attention to the fact that £800,000 had not been clawed back in November and therefore creditors had been reduced. He noted that any slippage in the covenants could result in a breach and that the financial health of the College was satisfactory.

John Gemmell asked whether the IOT had been included in the forecast. Alan advised that this would be shown in next year’s forecast and the college had taken into account the £100,000 membership contribution to the IOT from the college.

57/19 Resolved: That the Financial Forecasts ending on 31 July 2019 be received and noted.

15. 3 year financial forecasts

Alan advised that 78% of the income forecast had been secured and that the apprenticeship funding had been revised down. He noted that it would take time to improve and that for the next 2 to 3 years there would be no growth. Alan Informed governors that there would be a reduction of £1.2 million, to date there had been a reduction of £600,000. The College was not looking to replace staff making a saving of £150,000 and the College was yet to consider some more voluntary severance applications and that there was a good chance of reaching the savings.

Alan informed governors that he had a meeting with the banks and the covenants had been reset, Barclays bank may take out the claw back clause so as not to trigger a breach of covenants next year and that over the next few years the College was aiming to be at a strong or good financial position.

Ian asked how restrained was the College with the finances. Alan said that no pay award had been granted and this would be reviewed next year. Mike added that it was unfortunate that a pay award could not be made and said that the trade unions were always consulted and until funding rates had increased it was unlikely that the College would be in a position to make any pay award. However, the College continued to maintain a high cash balance reserve, whereas some other colleges were working on overdrafts.

Ian asked what the position was with the NottingHill music project. Jacqui Maher advised that this was going well and that the ex-head of music of Radio 1 was due to visit the School. Mike added that this was positive and sat outside of the main funding and the College would try and maintain the project.

58/19 Resolved: That the 3 Year Financial Forecasts be approved.

16. Capital Project

Paul informed governors that a budget of £900,000 had been provisionally allocated for the capital works. Proposed works were listed in the report and this included works to purchase equipment for students, refurbishment of classrooms, replacement of catering Equipment, some CCTV installation and purchase of new IT equipment, along with new external digital marketing billboards.

Paul said that the College would continue its commitment with working with the local community through “find it in Birmingham” websites. Mike added that the £1.3 million investment from the IOT was not included in these works.

59/19 Resolved: That the Corporation approves the proposed capital works budget of £0.9 million for 2019/20.

60/19 Resolved: That the Corporation approves delegated authority to the Chair and Vice Chair to approve any tenders or large quotations for the proposed works.

17. Disposals Report

Paul Morris apologised for reporting one retrospective approval, which had been picked up by the internal auditors. The other approval sought was for some old engineering equipment, which the governors approved. 61/19 Resolved: That the Corporation approves both the retrospective disposal and the disposal of the Engineering Equipment.

18. Extension of Washroom and Associated Services Tender

Paul Morris advised that this had been tendered for with an option to extend and sought approval from the governors to extend the contract for a further year.

62/19 Resolved: That the Corporation approves the extension of the Washroom and Associated Services contract with PHS for a further year to expire on 31 July 2020.

19. Calendar of Business

Parveen updated the governors with the changes to the calendar. She advised that the senior staff committee meeting would not go ahead on 9 July and that this would be replaced by the new HE Oversight Committee.

63/19 Resolved: That the Calendar of Business be received and noted.

20. Draft Calendar 2019/20

There were a few minor changes with regards to the days being Tuesdays and not Wednesdays and that the Calendar would be finalised at the Corporation Conference.

64/19 Resolved: That subject to minor amendments that the Draft Calendar for 2019/20 be brought to the Corporation Conference for final approval.

Meeting ended at 8.05 pm.