Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 10th March 2014 at sportscotland, Caledonia House, South Gyle, Edinburgh EH12 9DQ at 1600 hours.
Attendees:
Gordon McCormack OBE, Chair
Catherine Goodfellow, Vice Chair
Gerry Milne, Director
Dave Rhoney, Director
Anna Tizzard, Director
Janice Eaglesham, Director
John Reid OBE, Director
Gavin Macleod, CEO
Heather Lowden, Education & Development Manager
Jen Livingstone, Opportunities & Equality Manager
Mark Gaffney, Opportunities & Events Manager
Caroline Lyon, Company Secretary
Apologies:
Sandra Proudfoot, Director
Iain Smith, Director
Claire Morrison, Director
Jo Bell, sportscotland Partnership Manager
Welcome
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Conflicts of Interest
Vice Chair – Commonwealth Games Scotland.
Minutes of previous meeting – 3rd February 2014
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.
Matters Arising
sportscotland is offering an 18 month consultancy contract focussed on diversity within the coaching workforce. This is currently being advertised and is part funded by Sports Coach UK and sportscotland. The focus is on research and encouraging diversity, which is one of four key themes in the new Sports Coach UK plan.
Presentation
A presentation was given by the Opportunities and Events Manager and the Opportunities and Equality Manager on developing sports opportunities with a paper circulated. The Managers introduced themselves and outlined their different roles and responsibilities. A Branch overview had been circulated prior to the meeting and an update was given on other aspects of the positions.
Minimum Operating Requirements
Currently five Branches have achieved MOR with two on track to complete this year. Every Branch should aim to achieve MOR by the end of the current strategic plan in 2015. It was noted that an improvement could be seen from having the Opportunities Managers in post, and that they had been made very welcome by the Branches. The next stage of the MOR is currently in discussion.
The Board members were invited to the next Branch conference, provisionally booked for 16th November 2014.
Perth & Kinross Branch have been appointed one of the official Ryder Cup charities and have been given tickets to distribute. It was suggested a silent auction could be held to raise funds for the Branch and the Board was in favour of this.
The updated Equality Policy had recently been approved, with the main changes being from Equity to Equality and the addition of three protected characteristics. The Equality Action Plan has also been updated and is available on the company website. Four meetings were being held with Lucy Faulkner and staff and Board training will be held prior to the April Board meeting.
PVG training was compulsory for Branches with some already complete and another day being scheduled to cover any Branches missing.
The Intermediate Equality Standard requires to be achieved by March 2015 as this links in to the level of funding.
Events
The summer sports camp is being held from 6th-8th August 2014 at Inverclyde.
There has been a decrease in the participation level in bowls, with the trend toward indoor rather than carpet bowls.
A wall planner proof was circulated for distribution to Branches, containing key dates. This had been well received at Branch meetings and the aim is to roll out for the calendar year from December on a one year pilot.
Facility costs are currently the biggest outlay. Entry fee increases were proposed for Board discussion and approval. It was agreed to increase individual events fees from £3 to £4 for one year and £5 thereafter. For group events it was agreed there should be no charge for Sportshall Athletics, National 5s fees would increase from £10 to £15 and National 7s to increase from £10 to £25, all taking effect from from 1st June 2015 on all application forms circulated after 1st April 2014.
It was proposed to change event names from Regional to National Performance, and from National to National Championships, to better reflect the entries on swimming and boccia events only. This was agreed by the Board.
Memorandum and Articles
An overview was given by the Vice Chair, who had met with Iain Smith to look at revising the Memorandum and Articles of Association. These were under review and comments were expected by next week. The process of changing could be carried out on the same date as the AGM and changes would be circulated prior to the next Board meeting. The major change is the manner of voting for Directors.
Sub Groups
Finance
The finance sub-committee had met recently, led by Gerry Milne. The Finance Manager gave an overview of costings, with the current known income and the estimated costs. These tied into the detailed operational plan submitted to the Board and sportscotland. The plan as submitted had a deficit of £103,000 and the aim was to decrease this to a deficit of £50,000. The immediate target was to reduce costs. Income generation is dependent on programmes run but it was hoped that funds could be raised.
Funding for performance would be reviewed and discussed with other governing bodies. Some major events are taking place in the coming year and most staff vacancies have been filled therefore there is no surplus.
A meeting had been held with the pensions advisor regarding options. The Finance Manager and Gerry Milne were asked to report back to the finance committee and thereafter to the Board with a timescale of 7-10 days. The Finance Manager would circulate a paper to the sub-committee.
Coaching & Education
The sub-committee had met today. Funding had been offered from Education Scotland with proposed spending elements of £75,000 then £85,000 for the next two years. This would also mean extending the contract for the Coaching & Education Administrator.
Communications
A meeting of the sub-committee would be held on Thursday, with the members being the CEO, Performance Manager, Pathways Manager and Opportunities & Equality Manager. A communications strategy had been drafted with a one year action plan.
Partners
The UKSA Board meeting had been postponed due to their office move.
No BPA meeting had been held.
There would be a CEOs’ meeting in Cardiff on Wednesday and BPA membership going forward would be considered.
Commonwealth Games accreditation had been confirmed for Chairpersons and CEOs of all governing bodies as well as the Performance Manager. The Chair and CEO require to submit paperwork.
Events
Domestic/Regional
Most had been covered by the presentation earlier.
The West of Scotland Para Sport Festival would be held the following day with 111 participants registered at present although five local authorities were not attending. This had been supported by the Celtic FC Foundation and would be held at Ravenscraig. The Board were invited to attend.
The East of Scotland Para Sport Festival would be held at Forrester High School, Edinburgh on 28th March, with 40 participants currently registered.
International
The Winter Paralympics would take place in Sochi.
The Fazaa and Sharjah events in Dubai had gone very well in terms of results and classifications.
AOCB
The Battle Back post had moved on with 15 applications sent to the CEO which had been shortlisted to five. The interview panel would comprise the CEO, Martin Colclough and the centre manager but no date had been set as yet.
Wheelchair rugby: Jo Sounie picked for Girls for Gold programme at the weekend.
Michael Kerr was now GB Captain.
The issue of Directors’ personal information being available through Companies House was raised. Correspondence addresses had all been changed to Caledonia House but the information would still be available through other websites using historical data.
Date of Next Meeting
29th April 2014 preceded by Equality training.