SMSU Trustee Board Meeting Tuesday 11 March 2014 4pm SU Hub
1. Present: Aedan McDonagh: SU President (Chair), Pietro Palladino: AU President, Donna Harrison: SU General Manager, James Anderson: Student Trustee, Mike Moody Student Trustee, Linda Sherwood (note taker). Apologies: Veronica Fulton and Mark Griffin.
2. Minutes of last meeting and matters arising DH advised that the amendments to previous Trustee Board minutes had been completed and circulated for approval. The Board approved the amendments. The Board approved the minutes of the January 2014 meeting. 3. SORP discussion The suggested amendments from the last meeting had been applied to the SORP. The SORP is to be sent back to Bruce Williams (BDO) for further advice before being sent to the Charity Commission. No comments had been received from the Trustee Board about further changes to the SORP after the last circulation. ACTION: DH to recirculate to Board for agreement for SU President to sign off SORP on behalf of the Board. 4. Monthly Management Accounts DH reported that there is currently a positive variance of £27K against the Budget. The January 2014 accounts show that there is a predicted £3K end of year deficit. DH explained that the SU Team were looking at ways of increasing revenue, and the major events such as Varsity and Summer Ball had not yet occurred. DH reported that the SU had lost £6K on hoody sales due to the University name change and a reduction in sales price in order to reduce stock. DH also reported that the SU had lost an estimated £2.5k due to the coach company used for sports travel going into administration. 5. Block Grant Bid 2014/15 DH advised that she and the SU Finance Officer would be attending the Budget Meeting for 2014/15 on Thursday 13 March 2014. The SU is looking at increasing the Block Grant by £42k which includes subscription to a new website, development funds for sports clubs and societies and extra resource for Hub Assistants. DH explained that events were a high risk area and the team are currently working on continuity plans. Comparisons were made with other similar size universities, particularly with regard to the resources at other institutions. AM thanked SC/DH for their hard work.
6. SMSU Risk Register DH advised that with the help of DE Ford, the register had been created to identify areas of vulnerability and inform continuity planning. Elements of the plan have been added to the university risk register. The Pro-Vice Chancellor had articulated that he was very pleased with the work done on this and thanked the SU team. DH was concerned that the team is vulnerable to absence as there is currently one person in each ‘department’ of the SU. The attending members of the Board agreed that Risk should be reviewed annually. 7. Elections 2014 report DH reported that SMSU had the most successful elections ever in terms of votes registered with1342 votes cast which is approximately 28% of the population. The national average is 17%. The NUS returning officers expressed how impressed they were with the turn out especially as voting is only open for 8 hours using paper voting. DH advised that the new website platform via Union Cloud would enable online voting, however, nationally there is a trend of a dip in engagement in elections in the first year online and this would have to take this into account. 8. SU Officers’ Activity Report AU President’s Report: The AU President reported that the annual Varsity and Sport Clubs and Societies Awards Dinner are in two weeks and sales were already going well. Nominations for awards needed to be submitted by Friday 14 March. Focus groups looking at the creation of a Student Sport Strategy are due to begin after Varsity. The AU President is introducing a yearbook and fifty students had already signed up to this. A surfing summer trip was planned for mid-June. SU President’s Report: The SU President reported that the SU team are organising a University title event on 21 March 2014, funded by the Pro-Vice Chancellors. This would be an all-day event, including a rugby match against Japanese University, Meiji. The band DUKE is headlining, plus other acts will be playing on the night. Planning for Summer Ball was well under way, a committee had been set up, and the Great Gatsby theme had been decided upon, along with silent disco and funfair. With regard to the cash machine situation, it seems that the SU is tied into a contract until 2015/16. Leroy Bunbury was dealing with this, and it was hoped that our planned renovations of the ground floor would mean that the cash machine would have to be relocated. 9. SMSU Re-boot DH advised that the SU in partnership with the Bar and Student Services (now located on the second floor of the SU Building) are looking to gain formal commitment from Facilities and SMT for a building project to move the Shop to the ground floor and redevelop the SU Hub and bar areas. There will also be a rebranding exercise for the SU and whole building to better explain the concept of a Student Centre on campus. 10. SMSU AOP DH presented an update of the 2013/14 AOP. The SU president commented that this had gained much praise from many University committees including Governors.
11. Upcoming Events
University Celebration: 21 March 2014 Varsity: 26 March 2014 Sport Clubs and Societies Dinner: 28 March 2014 University Day: 8 April 2014 SMSU AGM: 9 April 2014 Summer Ball: 16 May 2014 Boat Party: 17 May 2014
12. AOB There were no items for AOB. Date and time of next meeting: TBC