Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 19th January 2015 at sportscotland, Caledonia House, South Gyle, Edinburgh EH12 9DQ at 1700 hours.
Attendees:
Janice Eaglesham, Chair
Dave Rhoney, Director
Claire Morrison, Director
Gavin Macleod, CEO
Ailien Pallot, Finance Manager
Becky Bisland, Performance Manager
Caroline Lyon, Company Secretary
Apologies:
Catherine Goodfellow, Vice Chair
Anna Tizzard, Director
Sandra Proudfoot, Director
Gerry Milne, Director
John Reid OBE, Director
Iain Smith, Director
Jo Bell, sportscotland Partnership Manager
Welcome and Conflicts of Interest
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and no conflicts of interest were recorded.
Minutes of previous meeting – 11th November 2015
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.
Matters Arising
- Paperwork for the Fit for Purpose audit had been submitted on 15th December 2014 and a meeting held with Jo Bell. The verification visit had been moved to 30th January.
- The Chair and CEO had met with Gerry Milne to discuss his concerns around attendance at meetings. The Board is keen to retain his expertise and suggested a change of start time for meetings and the possibility of holding some meetings in Glasgow.
- A letter had been issued to staff regarding the stakeholder pension scheme.
- A paper describing the main partner organisations had been distributed to Board members for information.
- Liz Mendl had been appointed Team Manager for the IBD World Championships in February.
- Changes to the management meeting agenda had been implemented. Reports were issued to the Board in advance of the meeting and agenda items flagged for discussion, information or approval. Feedback was invited from the Board members and it was agreed to try the new format.
Reports
A presentation was given by the Performance Manager. The Best & Randak review of the Commonwealth Games had been circulated and was very positive. The Performance Manager agreed to circulate a list of World Class Podium athletes and a calendar of international events to the Board.
sportscotland had indicated that increased investment would be available through the Sport and Recreation Fund.
Best & Randak were being commissioned to research the Athlete Academy including reports on past and present athletes and case studies. This would be used to provide evidence for future funding.
CEO Report
The Operational Plan had been circulated before the meeting for information and the following points were noted:
- Highlife Highland have indicated they are considering a two year extension to the post of Regional Manager.
- There was a potential £50,000 extra investment available through the sportscotland Sport and Recreation Fund.
- Education Scotland funding had been confirmed of £170,000 over the next two years.
- The Celtic FC Foundation had confirmed another year of funding and that SDS would be the main beneficiary of their sporting dinner this year at which SDS would be taking a table.
Communications Action Plan
The communications group had met and formulated the plan which had been circulated. There is no dedicated communications resource at present but the potential of using a PR company is being explored. Welcome actions from Board members would include press releases following events and representation at functions etc. The CEO would amend the Communications Action Plan to reflect Board involvement.
Sub Groups
TOIL Paper
The CEO had previously circulated a paper on TOIL. In order to make the changes suggested, contracts would have to be amended. A trial period was suggested with the CEO, Pathways Manager and Education & Development Manager managing the timesheets. It was agreed to trial the new scheme for a three month period to give staff and managers the opportunity to see it in practice, once a starting point for carrying over hours had been agreed.
Branch Meetings
Board members had been asked to indicate their availability to attend Board meetings and several members have still to respond. Once everyone has responded meetings will be allocated and the Branches will be contacted to explain the purpose of their attendance.
Boccia Plan
A meeting had been held with GB Boccia who indicated this was the first plan they had seen from a home country and it was very well received. The plan was approved and it was agreed that the plan should be reviewed annually.
Finance
- Finance papers had been circulated. The budget was currently over-running compared to agreement at the start of the year, largely due to the IBD World Championships in New Zealand, but an extra £50,000 was expected from sportscotland.
- The only major issue for agreement was computers and a decision was required on the paper prepared by the Finance Manager. It was agreed that a new server and should be ordered and all hardware more than four years old should be replaced.
- It was acknowledged that IT working practices are currently outside of procedures but this was connected to storage issues. The practices would be re-issued to staff and it was agreed that a staff audit and file cleanse be carried out in preparation for new equipment.
Actions:
- Finance Manager to contact Virtuous IT for a final quote for additional laptops.
- Ways of working to be considered and reflected in an updated IT policy.
The Finance Manager was thanked for her work on this matter and it was agreed to notify staff once all details were confirmed.
The potential to re-visit an arrangement with Glasgow Caledonian University could be considered once an upgraded broadband line was available.
Policies
The risk register had been circulated for approval. It would be submitted to Board meetings in line with the operational plan.
SDS Policies
- The Anti-Doping policy should reflect responsibilities of athletes, players and relevant support staff. Claire Morrison offered to forward the GB Boccia statement to the CEO for information. The policy was agreed.
- The Business Continuity Plan required to have names updated.
- The Complaints Policy should have “Chairman” changed to “Chair”.
- All policies should be checked to ensure “Chair” was the term in use.
- The IT policy required to be updated in line with the replacement server and laptops.
- The Recruitment policy had been reviewed recently by Iain Smith and Gravitate, the expert resource, following work on the Equality Standard to ensure it reflected protected characteristics.
- The Ethics Policy was agreed.
Sports
Domestic/Regional
The Opportunities & Events Manager had circulated dates of events for Board members to indicate their attendance. Some Board members had yet to respond and it was requested that responses be submitted to the Opportunities & Events Manager by the end of January.
International
- The bowls squad would be competing in the IBD World Championships in Wellington, New Zealand in February.
- The CPISRA World Games in Nottingham would be multi-sport. It was initially thought approximately 16 athletes would attend but an Under 19 football squad for the world championships is being considered. The Pathways Manager would be Team Manager and three applications had been received for the Assistant Team Manager position, which has now closed. Team kit was being arranged and sport specific kit would be supplied by governing bodies. There was an expectation that Board members could attend the games as CPD.
Partners
- A paper on the partner organisations had been circulated for information.
- The NPC meeting of the BPA and the AGM had been held and the issue of membership was no longer under discussion.
- UKSA are currently waiting to hear about funding from UK Sport. A project called My Sport, My Voice! has been funded to raise the profile of elite athletes with a learning disability.
- The Education & Development Manager was being replaced as the SDS representative on the GBBF Board by the CEO. The Pathways Manager would remain on the Technical Group and the Education and Development Manager remained on the Coaching group. A meeting was to be held with GB Boccia regarding aligning the structures.
- A recent meeting of the GBDFA Board had involved governance restructuring and the addition of two new members. The World Championships would be held in England this year and England will carry the ranking points for GB.
Board Away Days
A proposed discussion on the Board away days was postponed until more Board members were available. John Bull’s report had been circulated to all members to read and consider and was overall very positive.
AOB
- Two new sessions had been opened by the Rowing Group involving Battle Back and Scottish Rowing.
- A new disability football team had been set up at Broxburn United in co-operation with Battle Back.
- An internal advert had been circulated to cover the Performance Manager’s maternity leave. It was proposed that this be covered by three members of staff under a variation to terms and conditions which had been drafted by Iain Smith. The workload would be divided between the three staff and the CEO over a six month period.
Date of Next Meeting
9th March 2015