Steering Group Meeting Minutes
Note: The following minutes have been formally approved.
Minutes for the meeting held at 28 Portland Place.
Present: Nick Bevan (Chair), Julie Brittain, Genein Cox-De Sousa, Adam Edwards, John Gilby, Julie Howell, Sandy Leitch, Caroline Lloyd, Rosemary Lynch, Mary Nixon, Frances Norton.
1. Apologies for absence
Ann Murphy, Pete Ryan and William Marsterson sent their apologies.
2. Minutes of last meeting and matters arising
2.1 The minutes of the Steering Group meeting held on 8th December 2008 were agreed.
2.2 Matters arising:
2.2.1 NB had contacted the Royal College of Music who were not interested in joining the Consortium and the Institute of Cancer Research who had not yet responded.
2.2.2 AE had acquired the information necessary to contact the Science Museum confirming their eligibility for membership and they were officially agreed as members at the January 2009 business meeting.
2.2.3 JG had amended the M25 Support Team Summary of Responsibilities document and it was agreed that it will be available in the Directors’ Room in future.
2.2.4 It was agreed that the issue of allocating responsibility for updating M25 web pages would be revisited when Andrew Amato (new Web Services Officer) joined the team and could do a detailed analysis of the web pages using Google Analytics.
2.2.5 All other points either completed or covered by agenda items.
3. SG Members terms of office and elections (Adam Edwards)
Eight of the current members of the Steering Group will have their term of office expire in June 2009, however are all eligible to run for a second term in office.
Action: AE to consult the governance documents for guidelines regarding the need to call an election, if the retiring SG members agreed to take up a second term in office.
AE to organise an election if this is necessary.
4. New Members (Adam Edwards)
4.1 Expressions of Interest – University of Gloucester (UoG), London Campus
The SG agreed that because the University’s main office is not in London, the institute would not be allowed into membership. Since once of their main interests was the cpd25 events, it was agreed that they would be informed of ways of keeping informed about forthcoming cpd25 events.
Action: AE to inform the (UoG) that their application has been denied.
AE to amend the web site to make it clear that the main library of potential members must be in the Consortium area.
4.2 Expression of Interest – Horniman Museum
The SG agreed that the Horniman Museum fulfilled all of the criteria for Consortium membership. This will be formally agreed at the next members’ meeting in June.
Agreed that at the AGM the SG should propose a change in the rules to allow membership to be agreed by the SG and simply reported to the meeting, rather than new members having to wait up to six months to join. Action AE.
SG members were advised that the Royal College of Nursing had withdrawn from membership.
5. Company and Charitable Status update (Nick Bevan)
NB advised that the relevant application form and supporting documents had been submitted to Kingston Smith and we were awaiting a response.
6. Risk Management Grid (Nick Bevan)
The SG noted a Risk Management Grid for the 2009 academic year. For the staffing risk factors listed as Medium - High, it was noted that actions to bring the single support team together as a single team in one location would reduce their potential impact.
7. Financial matters (Caroline Lloyd)
7.1 Treasurer’s Report
CL presented the Treasurer’s report. CL advised GCDS that 4 institutions’ subscriptions were still outstanding. Genein to chase the outstanding debtors. It was noted that funding by M25 for the AIM25 initiative has finally been paid.
Action: Working Group Chairs were asked to suggest possible future costs for budgetary purposes. JG advised that the Treasurer consider the cost of replacing the M25 Server in the next 1-2 years.
Action: GCDS to follow-up on outstanding subscriptions
7.2 Reserves – discussion
The SG had discussions regarding a reserves policy proposed by CL. It was noted that the current policy meant that reserves were equivalent to 100-120% of the current year’s general subscriptions. CL proposed a risk management approach, which meant that sufficient funds would be retained to cover identified risks and any surplus would be used to support Consortium activities.
The SG were in general agreement with the policy put forward. NB suggested however that the Consortium waited to achieve charity status and see what sort of policy the Charities Commission would suggest.
8. CPD25 Report (Mary Nixon)
8.1 CPD25 or cpd25?
It was agreed that for all future correspondence and publicity that “cpd25” will be the standard used.
9. Business Meetings (Adam Edwards)
9.1 Speakers for the 18th June 2009 meeting
The SG were advised that due to the likely cost associated with having the June AGM at Imperial, a decision has been made to look elsewhere for a venue. Options for venues included Roehampton, LSE, LSHTM, Wellcome and London Metropolitan. Relevant SG members were asked to contact GCDS with information about the possibility of hosting the meeting.
A number of options were proposed with regards to possible speakers for the meeting, including Christine Fyfe, Leicester and Stephen Bowman, Ravensbourne. JB suggested some architects located in King’s Cross and FN suggested the authors of a relevant book.
Action: JB and FN to send AE relevant details about possible presenters.
10. M25 Support Team Report (John Gilby)
10.1 WAM25 Update
JG reported that the WAM25 Steering Group met in February to decide the way ahead with the reduced offer of funding by HEFCE, which has left a £93,000 shortfall to be made up. He stated that the biggest issue was Full Economic Costing. The WAM25 SG were still awaiting confirmation from HEFCE regarding the funding offer. The M25 SG approved the proposal that the Consortium contribute to the project in the form of Project Management (JG) effort, which would reduce the shortfall. Further contributions or grants from external bodies would also be sought in an effort to obtain full funding for the project as originally proposed.
10.2 M25 Staffing Update
JG advised the SG that Andrew Amato the new Web Services Project Officer was due to start work the following Monday and Claire Hackshall has been appointed as the new cpd25 Administrator, due to begin at latest June. It is hoped that Vicky Falconer will continue in her temporary capacity until then and to allow for a handover.
A programmer was seconded for 5 weeks worth of work between December 2008 and May 2009 to update the software behind InforM25 and make changes to the user interface.
11. Reports from Working Groups
11.1 Collaboration & Partnership (Ann Murphy)
AM sent her apologies
11.2 Marketing & Communication (Frances Norton)
The SG agreed to a quote received by the group to commission the publication of the 2008/09 Annual Report. There was a discussion regarding the content of the report and it was suggested that events such as the Leadership Journeys Exchange events, the Networking Event and the Business Meetings should be featured. It was also suggested that new members should be featured and brief case studies of staff using cpd25 for career advancement and students using the InforM25 services could be commissioned.
FN reported that the WG was working on a M25 Brand guideline document which was to be signed off at the next meeting of the group. She was asked to bring the final document to the next meeting of the SG.
Action: FN to present the Brand guidelines document at the May meeting.
11.3 Quality (Julie Howell)
JH reported that two new members had joined the working group.
Christine Muller (ULRLS)
Jan Conway (University of the Arts)
Action: JH to send GCDS the job descriptions of the new members to update the website.
11.4 Resource Discovery (William Masterson)
WM sent his apologies.
12. Matters for future meetings
12.1 May 2009
• Budget, including subscriptions levels
• Collaboration and Partnership change of name and remit
• M25 Brand Guidelines
• RDWG change of name and remit
12.2 June 2009 – AGM
• Election if required, including new Secretary
• Change to rules on new members being agreed by the SG and the meeting notified
• Change of rules on frequency of meetings to one per year from two
• Directors room up date (but not launch)
12.3 July 2009
• Discuss and agree theme for January 2010 Business Meeting
• Calendar meetings for the 2009/10 academic year
12.4 January 2010
• Director’s Room launch.
13. Any other business
Action: GCDS to rearrange a meeting date for the May SG meeting
After meeting notes:
- 5th May, 2009 was agreed as date for the next SG Meeting.
- AM agreed to host the 8th July meeting at Greenwich
14. Dates (and venues) of next meetings
Meeting Date Venue
SG Meeting 5th May, 2009 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Annual General Meeting 18th June, 2009 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
SG Meeting 8th July, 2009 Greenwich University
Summary of Action Points
- AE to consult the governance documents for guidelines regarding the need to call an election, if the retiring SG members agreed to take up a second term in office.
- AE to organise an election if necessary.
- AE to inform the (UoG) that their application has been denied.
- AE to amend the web site to make it clear that the main library of potential members must be in the Consortium area.
- AE to include on June AGM agenda SG's proposal of a change in the rules to allow membership to be agreed by the SG and reported to the next meeting of the Consortium.
- WG Chairs to suggest possible future costs for budgetary purposes.
- GCDS to follow-up on outstanding subscriptions.
- JB and FN to send AE relevant details about possible presenters for June AGM.
- FN to present the Brand guidelines document at the May meeting.
- JH to send GCDS the job descriptions of the new members to update the website.
- GCDS to rearrange a meeting date for the May SG meeting.
Genein Cox-De Sousa
M25 Administrator
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