40/24. Declarations of Interest
No pecuniary interests were declared.
41/24. Election of Chair
Resolved: That G. Mills be appointed Chair of the Committee.
G. Mills in the Chair.
42/24. Appointment of Vice Chair
Resolved: That M. Hartland be appointed as Vice Chair of the Committee.
43/24. Minutes of Meeting Held 02 July 2024 (Appendix – Agenda Item 4)
Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 02 July 2024, be approved as a true and correct record.
44/24. Matters Arising
None.
45/24. Human Resources & Development Annual Report (Confidential Appendix – Agenda Item 5)
The Committee reviewed a report (previously circulated) setting out progress made with strategic people management during the academic year 2023/24.
The report focussed on progress made towards Strategic Development Plan 2021-2025 aims (to achieve a common culture and to always be the first choice for staff through) -
- Building a Strong Connected Workforce
- Providing Excellent Leadership
- Make Available Strong Professional Development
- Providing Excellent Recognition and Reward.
The VP, P provided a verbal expansion on some of the report’s themes –
- Recruitment trends and impact
- MDP Programme
- Professional Development
- Reward & Recognition – noting the increase in pay costs.
- Progress against strategic priorities set for 203/24.
In response to questions, the VP, P explained that -
- The college remained one of Shropshire’s largest employers. The college had reduced the use of agency staff in 2023/24.
- Recruitment and retention remained positive. The Team’s Recruitment Coordinator had improved significantly the college’s recruitment marketing approach, resulting in delivering improved outcomes at a lower cost. Staff turnover had decreased to 9.4% (15.5% in 2022/23).
- The college did not appear to be experiencing the recruitment difficulties apparent across the sector. The VP, P considered that several aspects contributed to this; location, reputation and positive pay in relation to other local providers. This had seen an increase in high quality applicants to vacancies.
- A key piece of work was the successful delivery of the contract alignment for business support staff.
- The college’s current recognition scheme was valued and appreciated by the staff, for example, the personal message to staff from the P/CEO in their annual birthday cards from the college. The Staff Governor confirmed staff continued to value the thought that went into the messages of thanks and tokens of appreciation.
- The college continued to commit to the professional development of all staff, going beyond the mandatory training required by legislation. Regarding the college’s well-received recent session on Ai, the college was planning to expand the training package to more staff.
- Work on well-being continued to be a priority and contributed to the college’s efforts to enhance its local and national reputation. The next Well Being Fair would be held in November 2024, on the same date as the Teacher Sharing Fair.
- The HR Team had the skills, experience and capacity to deliver the Team’s programme of projects for 2024/25.
The Committee commended the report as easy to read, well-structured and thorough and thanked the VP and the Team. The Committee requested that the 2023/24 Staff Organisation Chart be circulated to all governors.
ACTION: Upload Report to Governors in Board Pack. ACTION COMPLETE
Updated Organisation Chart to be circulated to Governors. ACTION COMPLETE
The VP, P left the meeting at this point.
46/24. Estates Update (Confidential Appendix, Agenda Item 9)
The Committee acknowledged that it was meeting in one of the newly created classrooms. The EDoF demonstrated the new ‘smart board’ and praised the hard work of the IT Team in installing new technology, power and data ports into the new classrooms and areas created across the campuses over the summer.
The EDoF also provided a verbal update and showed photographs to the Committee on the following –
- Progress on the numerous capital works that had been undertaken across the campuses, including –
- English Bridge Campus – the creation of a new Ceramics Suite
- Welsh Bridge Campus - Quarry Building lower floor refurbishment, Priory Hall & LRC improvements, Reception and circulation space improvements and Additional Toilet capacity.
- London Road Campus - Extension to Engineering space, refurbishment of Carpentry classrooms, Plumbing & Electrical classrooms and refurbishment and expansion of Plumbing and Electrical workshops, refurbishment for Counselling, new Hair & Beauty Classroom and Staffroom, new media classrooms, ‘Green Screen’ Room and Staffroom, new LRC quiet study spaces and student experience staff and support spaces, new Health & Social Care classrooms and combined classroom/ward, new Early Years’ Centre and improvements to parking capacity.
- Progress on discussions with the local authority on land development opportunities.
The P/CEO praised the spirit of creativity demonstrated to achieve the projects and the EDoF’s successful on-boarding of the affected curriculum teams who, through his effective communication and management, worked constructively with contractors and adapted to accommodate any project delays. Through his leadership, the college had delivered numerous complex projects that would transform teaching delivery and student experience. The Estates Teams were also highly praised, particularly at London Road, where project savings had been achieved through in-house project management. Governors had been invited to tour the London Road Campus improvements before the Board meeting on 07 October 2024.
The Committee echoed the praise of the EDoF, estates teams and IT team for their hard work in delivering the projects. Whilst agreeing that the projects would improve teaching and student experience, in view of the higher number of students enrolled at the college and the likely continued capacity strain going forward, the Committee discussed when the college would need to consider re-configuration of the estate again. The EDoF confirmed that he was already considering this issue and lack of opportunities to fund major site developments remained a key strategic challenge for the college. The P/CEO observed that the local authority had responsibility to ensure the sufficiency and sustainability of education provision, including post-16.
47/24. 2023-24 Out-turn Update and 2024-25 Budget and Performance Update (Confidential Appendices - Agenda Items 7 & 8)
The Committee acknowledged the context in which the outturn had been delivered; the college had faced shortfall challenges due to the impact of lower than forecast enrolments and higher pay awards in 2022-23 and increased inflation of energy and other costs. However, due to prudent management and additional pay grants, the college had been able to deliver pay rises to teachers and support staff. The Outturn now featured -
- EBITDA above the key 6% targe, though slightly below budget and forecast
- Pay to Income at 71.5% was within the norm range for Sixth Form colleges.
- Interest income was significantly better than budgeted due to effective treasury management.
- Depreciation and Capital grant were better than had been budgeted.
- Overall Operating surplus was therefore ahead of Budget despite EBITDA being below budget.
The Committee received the Period 12 Management Accounts (previously circulated). The Accounts had been circulated to all governors. The difference between the P10 position and P.12 Forecast out-turn related primarily to –
- Growth funding allocated and confirmed in P11 lower than expected.
- Contingency in Adult Education Budget (AEB) income not required.
- Apprenticeship income slightly lower than expected offset by better than forecast Other income.
- Pay costs higher in P11 and 12 than forecast.
- Non-Pay costs (net of Project income) under-forecast in some areas and higher than expected expenditure in other areas.
The Committee was advised of other changes made as part of the P12 position.
The Committee also received an update on the 2024-25 Budget & performance to date with respect to –
- 16-19 Funding
- 16-18 Funding was lagged and based on 2023-24 actual fundable students. The total included T-level students who were funded in-year and at a premium T Level funding rate depending on the course. Also included in the 16-18 funding stream were High Needs “E2” funding, Teacher Pension Grant and 16-18 bursaries.
- The college anticipated in-year growth funding; however, growth funding was caveated as being “subject to affordability” and would be funded above a lower threshold of 100 and reduced by 50% above the upper threshold of 200 additional students. The Committee acknowledged the strategic challenge of investing in unfunded additional staff and resources this year, in anticipation of receiving the funding lagged in 2024 – 25.
- Overall compared to budget the effect of any T level claw-back was expected to be approximately neutral.
- Apprenticeships
- Apprenticeship recruitment was slightly above target. The funding value of these starts could be higher than planned because there were more starts on higher value construction apprenticeships.
- Adults (AEB)
- The funding value of new starts was in advance of September 2023.
- HE
- The college planned an additional enrolment on HTQ HE courses in February 2025.
- There was a risk of potential clawback on the HSIF project should enrolment targets not be achieved.
- Pay
- In response to higher student enrolment, the college had run and staffed additional groups at an additional cost.
- The decision to award schools a funded 5.5% cost of living increase placed additional pressure on colleges (for whom there was no additional funding). No pay award had been agreed between the SFCA and the unions. The 2024-25 budget allowed for a cost-of-living increase of 3%. Any higher award would cost above budget to pay the balance between 3% and the agreed award. The NEU was balloting for strike action demanding a fully funded pay award of 5.5%.
- Non-Pay
- Final exams costs for 2023-24 ended up below forecast. However, the college faced continued pressure on exams fees for 2024/25 from higher student enrolment and increased exam fees. Materials and travel costs were also likely to see a similar increase based on higher student numbers.
The Committee AGREED that the report had provided a thorough and clear presentation of the key budget issues and that it would monitor progress against forecast at every meeting.
48/24. Draft Committee Work Plan 2024 – 2025 (Appendix – Agenda Item 10)
The Committee reviewed and AGREED the Draft Workplan for 2024 – 2025 (previously circulated).
49/24. Risk (Appendix - Agenda item 11)
The Committee examined those risks within its remit and agreed that they had either been identified and adequately discussed at the meeting. The EDoF explained that SLT was had reviewed the Risk Register and the revised 2024– 2025 Strategic Risk Register would be presented to the Board for approval at its December meeting.
Going forward, all committees would receive the latest relevant extracts from the ‘live’ 2024/25 Strategic Risk Register, to ensure they were kept up to date with risk mitigations and risk score movements.
50/24. Date of Next Meeting – Tuesday, 05 November 2024 from 5.30 p.m.
The meeting concluded at 7.38 p.m.