SMSU Trustee Board Minutes 29 September 2016 1/ Welcome and Apologies In Attendance: Zander Lavall; SU President (Chair), Sam Cliffe; VP Sports and Societies, Henry Morrant; VP Community, Catherine Quinn; External Trustee, Mark Griffin; External Trustee, Veronica Fulton; External Trustee, Orla Welby; Student Trustee, Rochelle Gray; Student Trustee, Donna Smith; SU CEO, Jenny Carr; Representation, Democracy and Communications Intern (Secretary). Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest noted.
2/ Minutes of the last meeting (15/06/2016) Matters Arising: CEO is to perform a review of constitution byelaws as a result of changes in law with regards to charity committee legislation. The Trustee Board approved the minutes as an accurate record of the meeting on 15/06/2016.
3/ Terms of Reference – Paper 1 Addition of a secretary (non-voting member). ACTION: Change of wording of ‘observers’ to ‘non-voting members’. Terms of reference approved with amendments
4/ 2014/15 Accounts and VAT Review Declaration to HMRC - The CEO reported that VAT declaration was discussed at the finance, audit and risk sub-committee. The Students’ Union paid 54k with interest to HMRC, the university will pay this back in full (56k total transfer of funds). Staff Contracts – The CEO informed the board of a meeting with HR to discuss joint contracts between the students’ union and the university. It was discussed that in the future the Students Union may need its own HR system. The CEO suggests a lengthy investigation into what will be required with regards to the development of its own policies and a review of staff job descriptions. Risk assessments regarding the separation of the students union from
SMSU Trustee Board Minutes 29 September 2016 the university would need to be made. The new work placement student is currently researching the hr resources within similar small universities and joint contracts. With the students’ union expansion of staffing resource, the VAT implications will continue to grow. The clarity of sourcing of staffing resource is not clear to the charity commission due to the hiring of union staff by the university – it creates a conflict of interest. The CEO advised that a paper should be prepared on this subject for the next trustee board. The CEO advised that other universities successfully have their own hr resource, but SMSU has no specific time pressure to implement a system. Action: The management accounts will be circulated to the board before the next meeting.
5/ Budget 2016/17 – Paper 2 The CEO reported that the budget round was not provided at the end of last year as it was later than usual. In this year’s budget SMSU has been provided with increased staffing resource, an increased sports resource (87k), and is looking at an end of year surplus of 20k. VF asked for clarification that there is provision for the new staffing system within the budget. Knox Cropper are currently performing an audit on all accounts, looking at student union processes thoroughly. Paper approved by the board. 6/ Sabbatical Reports VPSS – New student sport strategy has been implemented for the start of this semester. Sports and societies have now been split with regards to their conferences and welcome fairs. A societies development committee has now been formed and positive feedback has been received from societies as they feel more appreciated and listened to. The sports committee training was very successful – with guest speaker BUCS CEO and St Mary’s alumni Vince Mayne. Oddballs also performed a play on stereotyping of homophobia in sport. Sports fees for students have been reduced as a result in the increased grant- travel, equipment and accommodation is all centrally funded. The VPSS and sports development team have hired coaches for the majority of clubs with a handful of interviews left. VPSS was invited onto the interview panel for bucs new regional development officer. Ski trip signups have been very successful, with almost one coach full, with potential for a second coach if there is enough interest.
SMSU Trustee Board Minutes 29 September 2016 SUP – Meeting with Francis Campbell to discuss student concerns – accommodation pricing has risen by 27% in the past 5 years and is continuing to rise. SU president has been invited to sit on SMT for meetings regarding non-staffing matters. MG expressed concerns that smt will often call meetings at very short notice and ask for lots of information to be prepared, he asked that the SU team support Zander should this occur. The position of SUP on the smt board should be considered within the handover process (is this just for ZL or for the SUP role). SUP advised that he had written to the local mp highlighting the CLICSargeant Cancer Costs campaign, and will invite students to support the campaign via social media. As a result of the success of the 24 hour library last year, it is now proposed to open 24 hours twice this year in 6 week blocks, meetings to consider budgets and staffing are still to occur. Mental Health Awareness Week is almost finalised with the return of the puppy rooms. 28 September was a successful Blood Cancer Awareness Day with representatives from Delete Blood Cancer Now on campus to register and test students for blood and bone marrow donations. The scheme was very successful with the charity running out of testing swabs. VPC – Welcome Fortnight was extremely successful with good feedback from students attending the events, particularly the quieter events that were not focused on drinking. The home comforts café had almost 50 in attendance at the first session with students asking for it to be held fortnightly rather than monthly. The School Disco event sold out tickets before 10pm. Degree plus is the new students union version of the St Mary’s Award, all volunteering hours both in house and in the community will be logged to provide students with a transcript highlighting the skills developed throughout their volunteering efforts alongside their studies. Volunteering Fair is scheduled for 18 October. The LGBT+ group are organising their own event a ‘glitterball’ for during the LGBT+ awareness week, and looking for other clubs/ societies to become involved with this event and encouraging them to organise their own. The fundraising event that took place on blood cancer awareness day (in aid of a current student – Aidan Docherty) with the aim to walk from the white gate to Aidan’s house in Dublin raised £881.61- involving over 400 students across the university walking/ running around the track over 1900 laps. The Viper Rooms donated tshirts to students who completed a lap and the door entries from the Friday Club would go towards the charities associated with Team Aidan – CLICSargeant and CanTeen.
7/ Reserves Policy – Paper 3 The CEO reported that the holding reserves had been discussed in the finance, audit and risk committee. There is a 100k reserve as a staffing reserve to cover costs should SMSU be shut down, despite being highly unlikely due to university legislation. The level 2 reserves forecast will need amending- a 69k reserve- 70% of the surplus will go into the reserve, with the rest used by the students union.
SMSU Trustee Board Minutes 29 September 2016 The CEO proposed that the spending reserve be set to 5k (rather than the previous 3k) to allow for smsu spending flexibility. Paper approved by the board.
8/ Governing and Staffing Structures 2016/17 – Paper 4 (to note) The CEO highlighted that there have been many changes within staffing this year. The new governance structure was discussed with the board. This year there are also major changes within the student executive committee with the addition of the societies development committee and a liberation committee. The liberation committee will be chaired by the VPC and hold positions for the international officer, post graduate students officer, a bme officer. LGBTQ+ officer, Part-time officer, women’s officer and disabled students representative. Sign up sheets for the new roles were at the SMSU table at the welcome, sports and societies fairs and was shown to create a lot of interest. Information regarding the roles has been sent to each candidate along with an application form, those that are unsuccessful in the application process will be offered a position on the campaigns team. CQ asked if there would be a ‘mental health representative’ the SUP advised that that would fall under the remit of the Welfare Officer, as well as within the disability and dyslexia section of the wellbeing services. The SUP suggested that university should follow suit to form their own liberation and diversity committee for its staff members.
9/ Draft Trustees Report – SORP 2016 – Paper 5 (for discussion) The CEO advised that the accounts are to be updated within this report. The annual report has been drafted for the charities commission, to see how the students union has developed. Amendments will need to be made due to recent changes in legislation that will be implemented in November 2016 and March 2017. It shows good practise, even though it will not affect this report, the amendments will be in the public benefit requirements and the finance review will be included. ACTION: Page 3: Clarify the maximum number of terms that an external trustee can hold on the board The Board will review these papers and sign on 1st Dec for submission. Feedback will be circulated electronically.
10/ Mini Bus – Paper 6
SMSU Trustee Board Minutes 29 September 2016 VPSS proposes this paper in response to the increased expenses for student sport travel. 19 teams regularly use minibus hire and there is increasing interest in societies looking for minibus travel. Options have been explored including renting/ hiring/ leasing/ buying of a minibus for smsu. Contact has been made with DeMontfort Univerisity SU who have a minibus for sale for 10k; they have had it from new, it is 2 years old and has 14 seats. Savings calculate to 1.5k per year based on RAKAT pricing. MG and VF highlighted that the minibus would need to be running for 8 years before being a worthwhile investment. The Board considered the proposal quite weak as the option for diversifying the use of the minibus had not been considered. Suggestion of a community use minibus proposal. MG suggested that hiring a lease minibus would maintain a professional look and safety of passengers. The board has suggested that the proposal be re-evaluated, once more revenue is gained and a potential sponsor is found. The board rejected this paper.
11/ Notification of end of Trustee Term – Veronica Fulton & Mark Griffin Both VF and MG reach the end of their first term as a member of the trustee board. Both invited to remain for a second term. VF accepted, whilst MG expressed concerns that due to lack of availability for sub-committee attendance it may be more suitable to look for an alternative member. CQ and the CEO highlighted the value of experience that MG brings to the board and that this is more worthwhile than attendance at sub-committee meetings. MG agrees run for a second term- this decision will need to be approved at SU Council AGM.
12/ AOB NSS Segmentation Work – The CEO advised the board that the NSS received an increased response rate of 79%, however overall satisfaction reduced by 3 points. The comments provided by students are much more positive compared to the previous year. Nationally St Mary’s sits 68/141, and 6th within the London group. Specific segmentation has shown us that sports programmes tend to score very highly. Psychology scored higher than previously. Part-time student satisfaction has increased. Learning resources has increased – new Naylor library and more computer/ laptop resource. The board discussed that the students need to understand what the SU is and what it provides, often just thought of as the bar that the sports students use. Discussion that the question on the survey should be worded better – this will be changed slightly for this years survey.
SMSU Trustee Board Minutes 29 September 2016 SMSU should make a ‘what is SMSU’ video, to educate student on exactly what we provide and what we have done so far. The SUP advised that St Mary’s will be following suit of University of West London (who scored very highly) for an 80% interaction/ 80% satisfaction target. MG mentioned that St Mary’s students show a lot of pride for their university whilst they are studying- using phrases such as ‘simmie til I die’ and ‘blue and white army’ but this is not reflected in our scores. The board discussed that the NSS is usually filled out during periods of stress for 3rd year students (dissertation time) and if things aren’t going well are likely to ‘punish’ their course even though their overall time at St Mary’s has been good. The SUP advised the board of a national boycott of the NSS by NUS- this would be detrimental to St Mary’s as a lot of change, improvement and investment has come from the university as a result of NSS scores. Reflection and discussion of how students understand the wording of the questions. They understand the 3 week turn-around for marks and feedback, but often expect written feedback- even though they may have already been given verbal feedback. Could students be given NSS style questions to complete from first year so they understand and are practised at answering by the time they are in final year? The CEO advised the board of the developments to be made to the SU building in response to feedback comments and scores. 4 phases that will improve the bar area, bring the shop downstairs, improve the lounge are and improve upstairs office amongst other aspects. CEO to circulate management accounts for September to the board
Dates of next meetings 2016/17: Meeting 2: 1 December 2016 AGM: 8 December 2016 Meeting 3: 16 February 2017 Meeting 4: 6 April 2017 Meeting 5: 22 June 2017