Minutes December 2019

Bangor University Students’ Union Trustee Board Meeting TB171219 Minutes of the meeting held on 17th December 2019 at 1:00pm, Cledwyn 3, Main Arts

Present:

Mark Barrow (MB)(Chair), Lleucu Myrddin (LlM), Muhammed Firdaus (MF), Henry Williams (HW), Jeremy Harvey (JH), Llinos Roberts (LlR), Emma Morvan (EM), Caroline Cartmill (CC), Sarah-Jane Taylor (SJT), John Slater (JS)

In attendance:

Llinos Gashe (LlG) (Minutes), Mair Rowlands (MR) (Director).

Agenda TB171219-01 Welcome TB171219-02 Apologies for absence

TB171219-03 Declaration of Interest TB171219-04 Minutes of the previous meeting TB171219-05 Matters arising from previous minutes

Discussion i. ii.

Action MB welcomed members to the meeting, followed by individual introductions.

MB as chair read through the Union’s Public Benefit Statement.

Llinos Roberts – External Trustee Harry Riley – Sabbatical Trustee Eoin Power – Student Trustee Ian Roberts – Student Trustee Sharon Brown – Finance Manager No declaration of interest noted.

MB presented the minutes, which were accepted as a true record of the meeting held on 24th September 2019.

TB240919-07: Alumni Fund - MB reported that Alumni Fund requests are now approved through an Alumni Oversight Group, which the President is a member of.

TB240919-13: MR reported that staff names have been replaced with Job Titles.

TB240918-14: GDPR Training - MR reported that additional training is to be arranged for clubs and societies.

TB240918-16: Governance Code and Wheel - MR confirmed that both have been circulated to members of the board.

TB240918-18: H&S Policy - MR confirmed that the Policy has been signed and a copy sent to the University’s H&S department.

Standing Items TB171219-06 Management Accounts – Period 3/4

MR reported that SB has uploaded period 3 accounts and reports to teams. These accounts were discussed and ratified during the finance sub-committee on 25 November, however, SB has also prepared and uploaded period 4 accounts and report as she felt the period 3 accounts may be outdated for this meeting.

Balances as at 30/11/2019: • Current Account Balance £10,000 • Business Reserve Account Balance £307,356 • Capital Reserve Account Balance £75,663 The P&L balance currently stands at a year to date surplus of £78,969 against a predicted deficit budget forecast of £55,800 resulting in a favourable variance of £134,769. As noted within the income section, SU currently has outstanding balances from block and fee plan grants owing to the University of £61,308 which would reduce the favourable variance to £73,461, it is also worth noting that we are yet to receive internal facilities charges from Brailsford, it is anticipated that these will be received at the end of period 5.

The annual external audit is scheduled to commence week beginning 29 January 2020, although I am still awaiting confirmation from KPMG. MR was asked to clarify with the Finance Manager the amount received from the Dominos sponsorship money.

TB171219-07 Director’s Update

Further to the circulated report it was noted that: • The University has created a new structure of university committees. The SU Task Group has ceased, SU matters will now be part of the remit of the Student Experience Strategy Group.

• Currently looking at changing our website provider. A presentation has been received by Union Cloud, with a positive response from staff. Further detailed information is to be received with regards to costings etc.

MR to clarify amount received from Dominos

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TB171219-08 Sabbatical Update

TB171219-09 Sub-Committees Update

MR has submitted an application to attend the Advance HE’s Aurora Programme.

Aurora seeks to support women and their institutions to fulfil their leadership potential and aims to embed strong networks of early career women across the sector to share best practice, insights and experiences.

Members of the University College Union were on strike between the 25th November and 4th December. The SU published a statement on the website stating that “fully supported the rights of staff at the University and the Trade Union, to take action on issues that affect them and their members. However, our priority is our students and we are working with the University to mitigate against any adverse effects that strike action might have, on you, the student body”.

Further to the circulated reports it was noted that: • HR co-ordinated the promotion of the general election and voter registration.

• The policy on free Wednesday afternoon for sport has been amended. Lectures will now finish at 12 noon, and students will now be allowed to submit a special circumstance to be absent from Lectures in order to participate in sporting events.

• MF will be looking into improving how the liberation campaigns are promoted.

Executive Sub Committee – JH enquired as to whom approved the updated Relationship Agreement with the University. MR confirmed that it was approved at University Executive. JH stated that it should be approved by University Council. MR to check with the University.

Governance Sub Committee – It was noted that the Sabbatical Role descriptions have been amended and the Bye-Law updated.

TB171219-10 Risk Register

TB171219-11 Operational Plan

Health and Safety Sub committee – It was noted that SVB and some societies have been re-located to the PaCS building.

MR reported that she had been unable to upload the new Risk Register format due to technical issues with the 4Risk programme. Once the technical issues have been solved MR will send the report via e-mail for trustees to have a look at and to send any comments.

Circulated for information only.

MR to circulate Risk Register.

TB171219-12 Strategic Plan Development Update

Further to the circulated reported it was noted that in the Finance Sub-Committee on 25th November, a paper was presented providing detail on the capacity and resources within Undeb Bangor to support the work; an overview of all three Strategic Plan Development Support Proposals received; thoughts on these proposals following discussion with the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Board and the preferred option for consideration by the finance sub-committee. The sub-committee were in agreement that the preferred option was the proposal submitted by Al Powell It was further agreed that funding would be allocated from the legal budget and from the SU reserves account. Al Powell has been informed that he has been successful and phone meetings have been arranged to discuss the work further.

A strategic development day has been arranged for the 31st January 2020. The PVC for Education and Student Experience has been invited to attend and present on the University’s Strategic Plan.

Items for Discussion and Approval TB171219-13 Update on External Trustees Recruitment

MR reported that following a recruitment through the University’s Alumni Department and an advertisement in partnership with other SU’s within Wales. The SU successfully appointed two new External Trustees. Mr John Slater and Ms Sarah-Jane Taylor.

The Board welcomed them to their first meeting.

TB171219-14 Development and Feedback for Students Groups

The Board approved for SJT to replace JH on the Finance Sub Committee.

MR reported that at the last Board meeting on 24th of September the Board asked for more information on how the SU collects feedback from clubs and society members and volunteers. The circulated paper provides information on the previous provisions in place to collect feedback, recent changes made to this provision, and information outlining what the current process is.

It was noted that the relevant officer and student staff now attend each club or society once a semester (where possible for societies as there are over 100 to visit) and the Volunteering Co-ordinator, along with the VP Societies & Volunteering where possible, will visit each volunteer project individually each. In addition, the officer and student staff will also take part in the activity (where possible) to give us a better understanding of the

activity and the needs of the group. Attendance is monitored at training and whether numbers there is adequate for the space given.

TB171219-16 Sailing Club Proposal

TB171219-17 Student-Led Mental Health & WellBing Strategy TB171219-18 Volunteering Social Impact Report and Presentation.

TB171219-19 Review Actions Agreed

TB171219-20 AOB

HW reported that during a development meeting between the Athletic Union and the Sailing club in May 2019 it came to light that the development of the Sailing Club is severely limited by the type of equipment which they have to use at Plas Menai. The proposal circulated outlines matters for consideration to move the Sailing Club to the Beaumaris Royal Yacht centre and to purchase six Rondar school specification Fireflies from Loughborough University.

Following discussions, the Board approved for the Athletic Union to liaise with Loughborough with regards to the purchase of the boats and for the Sailing club to move from Plas Menai to Beaumaris RYA. This is now finalised, following consultation with students over the past year or so. It had a ‘soft launch’ during Destresstival. It will be promoted to a greater extent in the new year, as part of our Study Aid campaign.

The report was circulated for information only and MB gave a brief presentation on the report. It was noted that the purpose of the report is to highlight the impact Student Volunteering projects have on the students and their impact on the local community. The report provides recommendations to further support SVB projects at Bangor University and enhance the student experience of both volunteers and projects. The Report has been presented to the University Executive.

It was noted that there were some errors within the figures in the report. MB to clarify with the SVB Co-ordinator and amend.

MR to circulate Risk Register.

MR to clarify with the University with regards to whether the Relationship Agreement should be approved at University Council.

MR to circulate website provider update.

MB to clarify and amend figures within the SVB report.

MR to discuss quorate amendment for UBC with the Student Voice Manager.

• It was noted that at some UBC meetings have been issues with passing ideas etc due to quorate. At present the Bye-Law states that to reach quorate there should

MB to clarify figures with the SVB Co-ordinator

be 50% + 1 of all councillors present at the meeting. It was suggested that possibly the Bye-Law should be amended to 50% + 1 of councillors present in the room.

MR to discuss with the Student Voice Manager.

TB171219-21 Date of Next Meeting

26th March 2020

MR to discuss amendment to the UBC Bye-Law re quorate.