April 25, 2016

Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 25 April 2016 at Glasgow Caledonian University, 70 Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA at 1700 hours.

Attendees:
Janice Eaglesham MBE, Chair
Catherine Goodfellow, Vice Chair
Anna Tizzard, Director
Sandra Proudfoot, Director
Dave Rhoney, Director
Oliver Barsby, Director
Claire Morrison, Director
Gerry Milne, Director
Ailien Pallot, Finance Manager
Lynne Glen, Pathways Manager
Lynn Allison, West Regional Development Manager
Jennifer Griffin, sportscotland Partnership Manager
Caroline Lyon, Company Secretary

Apologies:
Gavin Macleod, Director

Welcome, Apologies, Conflicts of Interest and Legal Register

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and appreciation was expressed to Gerry Milne for hosting the meeting at Glasgow Caledonian University.

It was recorded that John Hick had very sadly passed away at the age of 32, and his contribution and impact on disability sport was noted.  John was originally from Aberdeen but had moved to and married in Fife.  Commiserations were expressed to his family.

There were no reported conflicts of interest and no legal matters outstanding of which the Board were aware.

On behalf the Board, the Chair congratulated Stephen McGuire on winning the Boccia World Championships.  The Championships were considered to have been a very successful event for GB and Scotland.  The tally had been two medals and four quarter finalists, three quarters of which were Scots.  Patrick Wilson and Jamie McCowan had finished 5th and 7th respectively overall at Jamie’s first event as a BC3 player.

Agreement of Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 14 March 2016 were agreed with the following amendments:

  • Item 6.1: there had been no requirements for presentations at the Board meeting.

Matters Arising

  • Accuracy of the Articles were to be confirmed.
  • Paperwork for the target tracker had been signed off.
  • GOGA: the four home countries had agreed that the co-ordinator post be advertised and a part time administrator be sought for Scotland to cover the three Branches and three activities.  A monitoring and evaluation partner should be appointed overall.  Branch meetings had been held in the last week and arrangements would be made to meet with national partners to discuss the mechanics of the project.  In the absence of the CEO the Pathways Manager would provide feedback.
  • Micky Yule has been confirmed for the Rio 2016 Paralympics as well as Sam Ingram.  The communications group had met and were still considering key items. The CEO will update on the Burt Greener media plan at the next Board meeting as their support has been extended through the summer.
  • Confirmation has been received of the termination of Education Scotland funding for UK Disability Inclusion Training.  Funding has been granted from Sainsburys for one more year.
  • Confirmation has been received of funding from the Celtic FC Foundation through the charity shield.
  • sportscotland has agreed to fund the new database software from Azolve and maintenance for the first three years.  The Board recorded their gratitude for this support.
  • The Vice Chair and Claire Morrison had volunteered to be part of a Strategic Plan short life working group together with the Chair, Lynne Glen, Heather Lowden and the CEO.  The next meeting will be held on 6 May 2016.  Positive feedback from the many consultations has been received to date.  Since the last meeting consultations had been held in Shetland and Orkney with the Western Isles still to be conducted.  Credit was to be given to the staff for the amount of work and depth of the consultation.
  • The Chair and CEO had met with prospective Board member whose skills and background were considered valuable.
  • Iain Smith is to feed back on the subject of incorporation.
  • Swimming trials would take place at the weekend.  Erraid Davies had been classified ineligible.  Any enquiries received by SDS on this matter should be referred to Scottish Swimming.  Andrew Mullen, Abby Kane and Scott Quin had recorded qualifying times for Rio and Stephen Clegg was within 2% and therefore under consideration.  Selections to be made on Thursday and a team announcement in June.
  • The CEO has written to the GB Disability Football Association on the subject of ranking points.

Presentation

A presentation was given by the Pathways Manager and the West Regional Development Manager.  The following points were raised:

  • The presentation provided an outline of the extensive work undertaken.  To support the development and progression of the Regional network gaps in the infrastructure were identified, particularly in the West of Scotland Branch structure.   A combination of staff and partnerships would ideally address this.
  • Targets had been achieved by a good margin.  Focus should be on school sport and engagement but without losing the focus on development.  It was noted that the Branches are doing great work but the capacity to pick out an individual and plan their next step is sometimes lacking.
  • The Pathways Manager was asked what the Board could provide to protect and support the staff team.  It was noted that support and recognition were valuable but a concern was always investment.  Lobbying and advocacy with local authorities and organisations were also valuable.  Once the next strategic plan was in place, individual meetings would be held to outline the impact made and challenge what role local authorities will play.
  • The sportscotland Partnership Manager was asked how SDS compares in terms of impact with other sports.  There had been two tiers of investment under the Regional structure:  SDS was considered to be more established with the regional structure built into the investment, while with other sports recently in receipt regional funding, the focus was more on club development.  As there were differences between SDS and other governing bodies it can be difficult to assimilate the information.
  • It was noted that often clubs cannot accommodate the number of primary school aged children with a disability.  It may be necessary to create for example Branch level provision in order to have opportunities to signpost.
  • Work with local sports councils was questioned and it was noted that this varies by area but not significantly.
  • A consideration would be contracts with governing bodies once the new strategic plan was in place, to ask what role the partnership would play and consider possibilities such as a memorandum of agreement etc.
  • The sportscotland Partnership Manager indicated that in terms of investment it should be considered how best to present SDS and that the organisation wais not comparable to other governing bodies.  Athletes should be used as case studies to tell the story and it should be made clear how the Regional structure fits in to the overall pathway.  Key case study documents should be used for impact in conjunction with relevant statistics.  It should also be noted how much SDS has become a resource for other governing bodies and sports in terms of being asked for equality support, and consideration should be given how best to illustrate this to sportscotland.  The Chair should consult with the CEO to ensure the Board was kept updated and inform future Board discussions.

Sub Groups
6.1 Governance

  • Finance papers had been circulated prior to the meeting.  Full accounts would be available at the next Board meeting for discussion and approval.  The auditors would be with SDS next week.  Management accounts would be presented at the beginning of June and approved at the AGM.  The focus will be on the investment proposal and looking at income generation.  It was suggested that advice on income generation could be part of the Board planning days in October 2016.
  • Policy reviews: policies had been circulated for review and approval as follows:
    • SDS Communications & Leadership Strategy: no changes would be made until the new strategic plan was in place and the strategy was agreed.
    • SDS Safeguarding Children, Young People and Protected Adults Policies and Procedures and Action Plan: two changes had been made in respect of the self-declaration form and the poor practice flowchart, and the policies and procedures and action plan were agreed.
    • SDS Classification Policy had been updated last year and was agreed.
  • A question was raised about whether policies are live-tested as part of the review and it was agreed the Chair and CEO would discuss.  This could also be covered at the Board away days and the Chair would discuss with Gerry Milne.  Changes should be circulated to the Branch Company Secretary to discuss with Opportunities Managers.
  • The staff survey results had been collated by the Vice Chair with a 75% response rate.  After circulation to the Board these will be circulated to the staff.  Overall results were very positive with ten questions covering understanding of the strategic plan, commitment to equality and inclusion and partnerships.  It was agreed that this should be an annual consultation.
  • A notice of resignation had been received from the Performance Manager with effect from 17 June 2016.  Investigations would be made into covering the part time post and a report would come back to the Board.
  • The Tayside Regional Manager indicated she would not be renewing her consultant contract once it expires in August.  SDS was confident that resources were in place to continue the contract and an advert would be prepared.

Board Members’ Updates

  • The Chair had attended the Ayrshire Sportsability dinner which had been well organised and a well attended event.
  • The Chair and CEO had attended a Scottish Sports Association meeting.
  • The Chair had attended the Scottish FA/Scottish Disability Sport 5-a-Side Football Championships.
  • British Para Swimming International meet had been held on the Saturday and Sunday.  It was noted that there was a good attendance and the atmosphere had been very positive.
  • The Vice Chair had attended the Young Persons’ Sports panel strategic planning consultation and considered it an excellent event.
  • Oliver Barsby had also taken up tickets for the BPSIM, and had attended a Scottish Sports Association meeting regarding the Scottish Government Household Survey.  The Pathways Manager would speak with the CEO and Oliver Barsby would feed back information from Kim Atkinson of the SSA.

Sports/Events

Domestic

  • The domestic events programme is well under way and an update was circulated by the Opportunities & Events Manager.
  • The Pathways Manager would check when Colin and Carolyn McDonald were stepping down in order to be able to recognise their contribution to disability swimming.
  • All Board members were warmly invited to attend events and requested to notify the Opportunities & Events Manager of any they would like to attend.

National/International

  • Trials are under way for Rio 2016.  There are no major international events for SDS this year and staff are identifying timelines for individual sports for Rio.
  • The Boccia World Open will take place in Montreal with Jamie McCowan and Patrick Wilson competing as BC3s and Jamie Docherty in the BC4 category.
  • The Learning Disability Under 19 Football Team had won the Home Nations Championship for the second year running.

Partners Update

The sportscotland Partnership Manager gave an update covering the following points.

  • The investment agreement had been signed off, returned in the last week and payment would be initiated in the next fortnight once authorised.
  • The CEO had notified interest in the target tracker and the Partnership Manager would forward this to the CEO and Chair.
  • Governance framework training was suggested for the Board to raise awareness and should be completed by March 2017.  It should be decided after the AGM whether this could be covered at the Board away days.  The CEO will circulate the framework beforehand.
  • A letter had been sent to the Chair and CEO in the last month to invite SDS to present the new strategic plan to panel and this had been postponed until after the AGM.  The new strategy should be submitted by 23rd September 2016 and presented between 4th and 28th October 2016.  The CEO had requested suitable dates.
  • A Community Sports Hubs meeting would be held on 9th May 2016.

Commonwealth Games Scotland

  • The CEO had receive a paper from Commonwealth Games Scotland in respect of collective commercial support for Scottish sport.  It was noted that SDS do not have high profile athletes at events but it was recommended to submit a proposal.
  • The para sport programme for Gold Coast 2018 had been launched.
  • A networking dinner will be held in June 2016.

UKSA

  • The financial situation is unchanged although some income has been received.  An invitation to bid had been received from Spirit of 2012.

AOB

  • The Chair and CEO had attended a Scottish Sports Association meeting regarding their funding from sportscotland ceasing.
  • SDS had also been represented by the Finance Manager and Pathways Manager at leaders’ forums.
  • Some athletes in clubs would be attending the Invictus Games in May.  At least three athletes had been notified as attending the Warrior Games in America although not all would be classifiable for disability sport.  All athletes were warmly wished well on behalf of SDS.
  • An invitation to the CPISRA General Assembly had been received.  SDS is in membership of CPISRA and the GA will be held in Barcelona so approval was sought and received for SDS to be represented.

Date of Next Meeting

13 June 2016