March 14, 2016

Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 14th March 2016 at sportscotland, Caledonia House, South Gyle, Edinburgh EH12 9DQ at 1700 hours.

Attendees:

Janice Eaglesham MBE,Chair
Anna Tizzard, Director
Gavin Macleod, Director
Sandra Proudfoot, Director
Dave Rhoney, Director
Oliver Barsby, Director
Claire Morrison, Director
Iain Smith, Director
Mark Gaffney, Opportunities & Events Manager
Jennifer Livingstone, Opportunities & Equality Manager
Caroline Lyon, Company Secretary

Apologies

Catherine Goodfellow, Vice Chair
Gerry Milne, Director
Jennifer Griffin, sportscotland Partnership Manager

Welcome, Apologies, Conflicts of Interest and Legal Register

Gerry Milne was hoping to attend the meeting but failing this it was intended that the Chair would meet him separately.

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

Agreement of Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 1st February 2016 were agreed.

Matters Arising

  • Iain Smith would report on the Articles and policies for accuracy.
  • The Commonwealth Games 2016 sports and events had been made public and for disability sport there will be 38 medals available over seven sports: athletics, swimming, powerlifting, bowls, cycling, para-triathlon and table tennis. A full list is on the SDS website.
  • The target tracker has not yet been received from Jen Griffin and the CEO will circulate it once available.
  • The GOGA project is under way. A UK steering group meeting had been held in London, attended by the CEO. A draft memorandum of understanding has been prepared. The agreement will be between Spirit of 2012 and EFDS, then between SDS and EFDS. Iain Smith has checked and is satisfied with the memorandum of understanding with details to be confirmed. The monitoring and evaluation framework is in place at a high level and will be put out to tender to consultants, with the job description for a national co-ordinator prepared this week. There is an expectation on Scotland to have a national steering group and it was suggested that the three Branch sites, national partners, Spirit of 2012, Volunteer Matters and SDS should form this. Dates have been set to meet with the Branches, and in April meetings will be held with the three national partners: Scottish Swimming, Paths for All and Blazing Saddles. A position is currently being advertised for British Blind Sport and it is hoped that the successful candidate might move into GOGA once the contract is finished.
  • The Sportsman’s Charity dinner had been held and was considered to have been a good night. It was attended by athletes Scott Quin, James Clegg, Samantha Kinghorn and Alan Oliver, and Board and staff members Claire Morrison, Anna Tizzard, Catherine Goodfellow, Gavin Macleod, Gary Fraser and Neal Herbert. The silent auction raised £1,800 for SDS and other items were also auctioned with the final amount raised to be confirmed. It was considered to have been good profile for SDS and thanks were noted for the athletes, Board and staff who had attended. Thanks to board member Gerry Milne for donating a framed and signed Mark Cavendish cycling jersey.
  • The possibles/probables list for Rio had been amended.
  • The CEO has met with a student from Napier University who is currently undertaking a dissertation into triathletes including Stefan Hoggan and Alison Patrick. A questionnaire has been circulated.
  • A meeting had been held with PR consultants Burt Greener and a refreshed media plan produced re-aligned around Rio.
  • A decision on funding from Education Scotland is awaited for the UKDIT training and the equipment grant.
  • Confirmation of funding from the Celtic FC Foundation is awaited.
  • A pay increase of 1% for staff had been agreed and the CEO passed on thanks from staff to the Board.
  • The Chair would speak with Gerry Milne about potential support from students at Glasgow Caledonian University. Suggestions of areas for support were invited from the Board. The Performance Manager had met staff from the ophthalmology department and put in place a formal visual impairment classification agreement for athletes, with the bowlers already able to take advantage of this. There was no cost associated with this service.
  • Concerns had been raised about the SDS database software. A request had been made to sportscotland for funding through Project Fusion and a meeting arranged with Azolve who have been re-appointed. sportscotland had agreed to fully fund the set-up of a new database and running costs for three years. Negotiations are currently under way regarding the VAT cost which is around £1,700. Oliver Barsby offered to provide a presentation on the Scottish Target Shooting database which was provided by Azolve and a similar offer had been received from Scottish Swimming. A design meeting will be held in April/May.

Presentation

A presentation was given by the Opportunities & Events and Opportunities & Equality Managers. The following points were raised in questions and comments from the Board:

  • The transition for Grampian Branch becoming a SCIO was considered to be very positive. The process has been documented as a template and it is planned to profile Grampian at the Branch Conference.
  • It was clarified that the Branch Co-ordinator post in Forth Valley is still full time. Sport Central funding had run out but the post was covered by the Robertson Trust and the Branch. Funding applications are being reviewed this week.
  • Funding is always a concern especially where a Branch post is funded. This is a key target for SDS to support both in kind and with funding applications.
  • The Board is considering appointing a member with a remit for Branches. Targets are identified by Branches at the Branch Conference and they are encouraged to look at the main targets as well as development, planning and strategy.
  • The 11 of 13 Branches who have achieved MOR were not the same as the Branches attending the Branch Conference. There can be challenges with engagement and communication is the main issue. Staff are trying to access more committee members to influence and engage.
  • All Branches have engagement with Active Schools although not always as much as would be preferred. It was considered a very positive link.
  • Where areas are not currently covered by a Branch, this will be addressed in the new strategic plan. This is partly dependent on local support as well as capacity.
  • An open invitation was extended to Board members to attend Branch meetings.
  • The Equality Action Plan was circulated and agreed.
  • It was noted that SDS had achieved Intermediate Level of the Equality Standard for Sport and were now seen as a source of advice and support by other SGBs.
  • Work towards the Advanced Level of the Equality Standard for Sport will begin this year with an estimated two-year turnaround. The national steering group has not met for over a year.
  • It was suggested by the Chair that as SDS are now seen as a resource for Equality and in view of SDS’ unique position, support to other SGBs should be documented in a submission to sportscotland. The workload involved should be tracked.
  • Colin MacDonald, Scottish Swimming official and regular supporter of SDS SWIMMING, will be stepping down from his voluntary role this year and it was suggested that his efforts and contribution should be recognised, possibly with a special award.
  • The Opportunities team was thanked for their time and the information provided and for their work on the presentation which had been productive and very informative.

Sub Groups

Governance

  • A short life working group had agreed to look at pulling together the key points from the strategic plan consultations as they come in. It will also look at other key issues such as staff workload whilst the plan is being developed. As a result a staff survey has been developed which would be returned electronically to the Vice Chair once circulated after Easter.
  • The voting procedure for the next and subsequent AGMs was clarified by Iain Smith per the Articles of Association. Interest in becoming a Board member had been noted from Jay Runga. The CEO and Chair would meet to discuss and it was agreed that Jay would be invited to present at the next Board meeting.
  • The issue of incorporation was raised at the Branch Conference concerning liability of trustees. Iain Smith will look into this and report back.
  • Strategic plan consultations are ongoing and a good response has been received to date.
  • The job shares relating to Performance Manager and East Regional Manager have been in place for some time and are currently working well.

Board Members’ Updates

  • Some Board members had attended the Sportsman’s Charity dinner at Prestonfield House.
  • Iain Smith had met with the Standard Life Social Investment Management regarding the possibility of SDS becoming one of their chosen charities which covers strategic and fundraising work with national charities.
  • Claire Morrison had met Martin Perry in Sheffield and although he has not qualified for the Rio Paralympics he is very positive about his training and development.
  • The Chair had attended a Highland Branch meeting and the recent staff meeting. It was felt that the West consultation had been interesting but disconnected and showed the need for a Branch. The Chair and CEO had attended an Inclusive Futures event.

Sports/Events

National/International

  • At the recent CP Football three-nation international competition Scotland had lost two matches to Russia and drew twice with the Dutch.
  • The Boccia World Championships are being held in Beijing this week and six of the ten GB players are Scots with Jamie McCowan playing for the first time as a BC3, this being a ranking opportunity for him. The Paralympic team will be selected at the end of May or beginning of June.
  • GB had won the rugby test event.
  • The swimming trials will be held in Glasgow and tickets are still available.

Partners Update

  • UKSA had been invited to submit a second bid for a year’s extension but were not hopeful. Some funding had been identified but nothing sustainable. Further funding options were being investigated. The Chair had circulated a paper regarding the possibility of UKSA applying for funding from the JS Trust (formerly the Jimmy Savile Trust) for discussion on Scotland’s position. After discussion it was agreed that SDS would not support a bid to the Trust.

AOB

  • It was noted that the Scottish Sports Association had been informed their funding from sportscotland would cease in one year’s time. The Chair and CEO would be attending a meeting and would report back to the Board.
  • Claire Morrison will circulate new BISFed competitions proposals for information and it was noted that some items, e.g. the female quota for the Paralympics, would change the dynamics of the squad make-up.
  • The GBDFA had written to the International Federation of CP Football as GB have never been allocated ranking points from the Paralympics which affects the world ranking. Geoff Davies proposed that ranking points for the GB team should be split by percentage of players from each home nation but after review the international body agreed to allocate a percentage of ranking points to England only according to what percentage of the GB team is English, as England was the agreed team nominated to qualify. The CEO will write to the international body to protest as will England and GB.

Date of Next Meeting

25th April in Glasgow with Gerry Milne hosting. CL will circulate the postcode.