Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 22nd August 2016 at Caledonia House, South Gyle, Edinburgh EH12 9DQ at 1700 hours.

Attendees:

Catherine Goodfellow, Vice Chair
Gavin Macleod, CEO
Dave Rhoney, Director
Oliver Barsby, Director
Sandra Proudfoot, Director
Anna Tizzard, Director
Ailien Pallot, Finance Manager
Caroline Lyon, Company Secretary

Apologies:

Janice Eaglesham MBE, Chair
Claire Morrison, Director
Iain Smith, Director
Gerry Milne, Director
Jennifer Griffin, sportscotland Partnership Manager

Welcome, Apologies, Conflicts of Interest and Legal Register

Board members were all welcomed to the Board meeting.  With apologies received from the Chair, the Vice Chair would chair this meeting.

No conflicts of interest were reported and there were no pending items for the legal register.

Agreement of Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting on 13th June 2016 were agreed with minor amendments.

Actions:

• Live testing of policies is under review and a number have been tested in real circumstances recently.
• The target tracker and governance framework have been distributed.
• A meeting had been held with the Celtic FC Foundation and funding was secured for another year. The Inclusive Sport programme will continue, belonging to Celtic FC Foundation and run by SDS.
• The Articles of Association had been amended to reflect the point concerning removing the need for re-election of the CEO on the Board and should be circulated to member Branches.
• The Recruitment Policy is to be amended and the CEO asked sportscotland for examples to use in the draft. OB will forward examples from Scottish Target Shooting.
• The CEO had met with Jacqueline Lynn and James Steele of sportscotland regarding Active Schools, Direct Club Investment and Community Sports Hubs. sportscotland will be unlikely to view Branches as Community Sports Hubs. It was however, requested that Disability Inclusion Training be rolled out across Scotland although there was no funding commitment at this stage.
• Work on the new SDS database is ongoing.
• 14th October was set as the date for the sportscotland investment presentation.
• Jennifer Scally had been appointed to the part-time Tayside Regional Manager post.
• The new SDS website was operational and staff were thanked for the considerable work involved and for costs savings by being able to develop this in-house
• The training and skills audit was to be conducted as part of the Board planning sessions in October.

Matters Arising

• The sportscotland development audit was likely to be held in February/March 2017. A briefing session had been held and attended by four staff and Board members. The full audit was expected to take up to six days.

Sub Groups

Governance

Finance

• The Finance Manager provided an update. The operational plan format remains the same but will incorporate five new headings. The plan has been costed and some of the funding request is aspirational, and may have to be adjusted depending on the outcome of the funding proposal to sportscotland.
• A request would be made for consideration of a Boccia development officer.
• The performance budget is still to be finalised.
• Additional funding will be required for sending bowlers to Australia next year in preparation for the Gold Coast 2018.
• Specific targets will be set for bowls and Boccia to reflect governing body status.
• Education and training estimates include Active Schools and hubs training. There is still some input from Sainsburys and Education Scotland funding.
• The finance report was circulated.
• Costs would be investigated for the office refurbishment.
• An overview was given of the draft management accounts. The biggest potential change was to the performance budget.
• A target was set to establish two new Branches for the West of Scotland.
• The advanced level of the Equality Standard for Sport was to be investigated but the aim for the moment would be to retain intermediate status.
• sportscotland had been approached regarding funding for a communications and marketing resource but it was more likely that alternative funding sources would be considered.

Policy Review

• The Business Continuity Plan had been amended and distributed. The changes were operational and the policy was agreed.
• The Recruitment Selection Policy had been discussed at the previous Board meeting and sent to Iain Smith for review and comment.
• The Articles of Association had been amended and would be presented at the AGM.
• The Transgender Guidelines had been circulated.

AGM

• The arrangements for the Annual General Meeting at Stirling Court Hotel were detailed.  This was the first AGM which was to be combined with the Branch Conference.
• The Board were formally invited to the Branch Conference.

Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards Dinner

• Three seats were available at the Team Scotland dinner on 28th September and all interested parties were asked to notify the CEO.
• The Linlithgow Grange Rotary Club dinner would be held on 16th September, and would be attended by the CEO and the Pathways Manager. An athlete and companion were also invited and suggestions for invitees should be made to the CEO.

Strategic Plan Update and Presentation

• Work on the draft strategic plan was in progress. A draft would be available for presentation at the AGM. The plan would be high-level with outcomes and models discussed in the investment presentation. The role of Local Authorities would be clearer in the draft. It was agreed the strapline would still refer to athletes with a disability. Feedback would be requested from Board members not present.
• A pod meeting (an internal group from sportscotland with a responsibility for SDS) had been held with CEO
• The Board sub group on the Minimum Operating Standards (MOR) would meet on 23rd September to discuss MOR submissions from Perth & Kinross Disability Sport and South Lanarkshire Disability Sport.
• It was agreed that “engagement sports” should be changed to “signposting sports”.

Board Members’ Updates

• The Chair had attended several strategic planning group meetings.
• Anna Tizzard, Dave Rhoney and Oli Barsby had all attended the summer sports camp. Preparation for the camp was started the day prior to the Camp and it was agreed that this made the launch of the camp easier. A huge amount of effort had gone into the organisation of the camp and appreciation was expressed to Mark Gaffney, Opportunities and Events Manager, and Kate Shaw, Administrator. The feedback received from parents and children had been extremely good and this positive feedback had been passed onto Celtic FC Foundation, partners in delivering the camp.

Partners Update

• A ParalympicsGB media brief had been circulated and was considered very positive. There had been good media coverage in the run-up to the Games.
• A daily sport update would be posted on the website during the Games and athlete and coach profiles highlighted.
• The CPISRA General Assembly would be held in Barcelona in November and the CEO and Chair would attend. Peter Drysdale was standing for president and SDS would nominate him.
• UKSA had been unsuccessful in their bid to Spirit of 2012 for My Sport, My Voice and the office was now closed. Tracy McCillen, the CEO, remains the only member of staff. A conference call had been held with the Board last week to confirm the decision and she will move to working on a part-time consultancy basis.
• It had been confirmed that Deodora would be the venue for the football at the Paralympic Games.

AOB

• The Chair and Vice Chair would consult regarding the format of the Board planning session on 28/29 October. This would allow greater focus on a number of areas, including sourcing additional income and fundraising.
• Boccia Championships were to be held at Napier University, Sighthill.

Date of Next Meeting

• AGM: 2nd October 2016 at Stirling Court Hotel.
• Board: 28 October 2016 at 1600 hours