Minutes subject to approval at the next ASA Board Meeting. Minutes of the meeting held 10 th May 2013 SportPark, Loughborough

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1 ASA BOARD Minutes subject to approval at the next ASA Board Meeting Minutes of the meeting held 10 th May 2013 SportPark, Loughborough Present: Mr J Crowther Chairman Mrs A Clark East Midland Region Mrs K Grimshaw London Region Mr R Margetts South West Region Mr R Hedger South East Region Mr I Mackenzie East Region Mr B Simkins West Midland Region Mr S Rothwell North West Region Mr R Gordon North East Region Mr C Bostock Independent Member Mr D Fletcher Independent Member Mr K Ashton Independent Member In Attendance (non-voting) Mr D Sparkes Miss J M Nickerson Mr A Beaveridge Mr A Gray Mr P Davies Mr C Denny Mrs C Lambert Chief Executive Officer Chief Operating Officer Chief Financial Officer Head of Regulatory and Legal Affairs Strategic Lead, Grow Director of Marketing & Communications Administrative Support Apologies: Mrs J Grange ASA President Min No 94. Welcome The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting and set out the format of the meeting. 95. Declarations of Interest None declared. 96. Minutes of the meeting held 22/23 March 2013 These were agreed as a correct record. 97. Matters Arising from the Minutes of the meeting held 22/23 March Min 51.1 Audit Report of UK Sport and Sport England. It was confirmed that the audit report had now been received and that the management responses were in the process of being collated for reply to Sport England. The Board were pleased to note that the report had been favourable and looked forward to receiving it in full at the next meeting Min 62.1 Awarding Body Terms of Reference. This item is being covered under the DoRALA report. 98. Report of the Chief Executive Grow Agenda The CEO updated the board on the Grow agenda and advised that a meeting had Minutes of the ASA Board Meeting 10/11 May

2 been held with Leisure Connection. Views are being sought independently from the Pool Operators in respect of work we are doing on PPP and with some of the major cities with whom we do business Initial feedback has been mixed but it is clear there is a desire by the pool operators to engage with the organisation. The CEO advised the Board that he is proposing to meet with the operators in an informal setting and offer an opportunity for an exchange of views. It was felt that Keith Ashton and Ian MacKenzie would be the appropriate Board members to provide support in this area and this was endorsed by the Board European Championships and Masters 2016, London The CEO updated the Board and confirmed that a formal bid to host these Championships had been lodged with LEN. However, it was clear that the bid falls short of their expectations and we are currently awaiting their deliberations La Quebrada The CEO advised members that British Swimming had been approached by La Quebrada who wished to initiate high diving championships here in the UK. This event, which is being introduced at the World Championships in Barcelona, does not come without risk. The recommendation to the Board at this time is to have a watching brief. The Board agreed the recommendation Manchester Water Polo Facilities The CEO commended Tom Mukherjee-Neale, from the Facilities Department, on the work he has undertaken in trying to secure the facilities for Water Polo at the Ethiad Stadium, Manchester, despite some challenges. The CEO advised that he was hopeful that this was now moving toward a successful conclusion Partners The Board were updated on the current status with our various partners. The Director of Marcomms confirmed that there is a strategy in place for re-engagement with British Gas. A briefing paper on the strategy to be provided to the Board. 99. Finance Report The CFO confirmed that there is a strategy in place for the reduction of the loan on the building at SportPark. Currently we are in dispute with our bankers due to an interest swap which has recently been highlighted as possible miss-selling whilst the concern on this was raised with the bank some time ago they have been slow to react. The Board will be kept appraised of progress on this issue Virtualisation Project The costs associated with the project were clarified to the Board and it was confirmed that the SMT have now signed off on an equipment framework Year End Accounts - The year end is on schedule with the draft management accounts complete. The Auditors are scheduled to be on site week commencing Monday 20 th May for 2 weeks. It was confirmed that the statutory accounts will be tabled at the July meeting for approval Audit & Probity Committee The CFO made a presentation to the Board on the proposed changes to the Audit & Probity Committee following a review of the roles and responsibilities. The CFO made the following recommendations: A&P to remain a joint committee with British Swimming New terms based on FRC guidelines and to include risk and probity Minutes of the ASA Board Meeting 10/11 May

3 New name Audit, Risk and Probity Committee. Membership to be via appointments from the ASA/BS Boards nominations committee. o ASA currently Chris Bostock o BS Mike Power (recently taken over from Craig Hunter) o 3 Independents (currently 2) o 4 years service + 4 years o CFO and COO The CFO advised that should the recommendations be acceptable to the Board this would require a principal and intent change to the ASA Regulations The Board requested that once the documentation is finalised that Simon Rothwell and David Fletcher review this and put forward their recommendations to the next meeting Report of the Strategic Lead for Grow Club Development & Beacons. The Strategic Lead for Grow gave background to the Board in order to give context to the presentation The following points were outlined: Sport England Objectives Summary These are the objectives against which will be measured. o Better Clubs o Better talent under talent leads o More athletes in better clubs KPI s with Sport England have now been finalised and we have a time frame of 8 months to achieve these objectives if we are to receive our next instalment of funding. Club Development Strategy is still work in progress and is to be launched at the Swimming Conference in October. Beacon Programme Review showed that with better performance management these were worth continuing. Beacon Proposal o 9 existing programmes to be retained o Proposal for a further 12 clubs to bid for Beacon status o These opportunities to extend across all disciplines. Beacon Programme Process o All 21 potential Beacon Clubs will be invited to make a presentation in September on their business plans. o Interim funding commitment has been made this was done to ensure that the programme continued in the short term GPS Budget 2013/ CFO The CFO presented to the Board a summary of proposed changes to the GPS Budget and explained where the dispersal of income was now. Overall there is additional funding of 68k to the original budget and details were given on where this might be recovered from Detailed discussion took place and in summary the following was agreed. Beacon Programme Clubs should be Swim 21 accredited. CEO to look to source money to fund 8 CDO s in total Working Party and staff to work together to provide a costed evidence strategy including clear job descriptions, person specifications, role and responsibilities and KPI s. Minutes of the ASA Board Meeting 10/11 May

4 Working Party to comprise of David Fletcher, Ray Gordon, Anne Clark, Simon Rothwell, Mel Handford and Paul Davies. This to be brought forward to the July meeting The Board agreed these proposals GPS Staff re-organisation these were noted. The Board were advised that there would be a focus in the weekly newsletter on each of the GPS team PPP The contracts have undergone a significant review with legal and finance to ensure there is a robust, rigid and clear understanding on the offer and payment terms The paper provided by the Strategic Lead outlined the current situation with the number of sites currently targeted with 262 awaiting signature 45 in the process of offers being produced Concern was expressed in respect of the testing of the systems beforehand and the CFO advised that the difficulties had arisen on the financial side in respect of the payment of invoices/bacs which he felt from a financial perspective needed to be addressed Competition weekends. The Strategic Lead agreed to have dialogue with partners about competitions and report back to the Board PPP Brief. Information to be provided on what the commitment has been the cost in the last 12 months The Strategic Lead confirmed the contracts contain a requirement for the Operators to provide data to the ASA and he is confident this data will be forthcoming It was confirmed that Ray Gordon, Anne Clark and Simon Rothwell would provide support for the Strategic Lead and that Ian Mackenzie, Keith Ashton and the CEO will provide the management challenge Director of Marketing and Communications Review of Sponsorship - Members were advised that an internal review has been completed on the British Gas partnership and a strategy for renewal has been agreed and will be circulated to the Board The Board were briefed on the situation with regard to Kellogg s and the sponsorship of the Awards Programme going forward There was a request to the Director of Marcomms to indicate the organisations position in respect of the KPI s and this was agreed for the future The Board were advised that they can sign up to the various newsletters via the website and ticking a box Members were advised that a number of web sessions have been hosted for clubs to assist them and let them know what is available to them on the website. The report was noted Report of The Director of Regulatory and Legal Affairs ASA Awarding Body Board Following previous reports to the ASA Board regarding the ASA Awarding Body Board and proposed changes to ASA Laws the DoRALA made the following recommendation to the Board for consideration. Minutes of the ASA Board Meeting 10/11 May

5 The ASA Rules Committee, working in conjunction with the Legal Department for such support as may be required, is requested to produce for consideration at ASA Council a proposal in principle and intent to change ASA Law to create a ring fenced ASA Awarding Body Board that shall have the powers and responsibilities set out in detailed Terms of Reference (as may be approved by the ASA Council from time to time) such body to be independent of the ASA Board whilst operating within the confines of the Terms of Reference and within such budgets as may be agreed by the ASA Board and further that a Nominations Committee be established with power to recommend to ASA Council persons for appointment to the ASA Awarding Body Board The Board agreed the recommendation Terms of Reference for the ASA Awarding Body Board The DoRALA requested that consideration be given to a change to the previously agreed Terms of Reference, in respect of a change to the composition of the ASA Awarding Body Board to: 6 members inclusive of the Chairman 1 x Senior Officer 2 minimum 4 maximum independent members This was agreed The DoRALA requested if the changes to the Constitution could be considered at the Special Council Meeting in July. This was agreed with this being the first item on the agenda People Agenda SMT Initiatives The report on the staff survey was noted and the Board were advised that work continues on the areas where there is room for improvement The DoRALA advised the Board that following the success of the Open Conversations at the staff conference further open conversations have been scheduled both within SportPark and out in the Regions/Centres. The focus of these of these conversations will be on the organisational Strategic Plan and how this links to the Vision The proposed regular monthly messages to staff have commenced with DoRALA providing the first message. The schedule of messages was noted Equality and Diversity The DoRALA advised the Board on a prospective complaint again the ASA under the provisions of the Equality Act The Board were advised that they will shortly receive an equality questionnaire. Members were requested to complete this as it will assist in the benchmarking process ASA Governance Review Several papers in respect of the Governance Review had been circulated to the members and the COO advised the Board on the appropriate papers for consideration Principle and Intent Document This document outlines the changes required to ASA Laws and changes to the ASA Regulations (see appendix 1) The COO gave background on the proposed changes The document was approved to go forward to Council. Minutes of the ASA Board Meeting 10/11 May

6 Terms of Reference In respect of the Terms of Reference a number of changes have been made to these (Appendix 2). In particular these relate to points 1 4 for both the Sport Governing Board and the Group Board and point 8 of the Sport Governing Board Nominations of Representatives to the British Swimming Board. It was recommended to the members that 1 member from the Group Board and 2 members from the Sport Board form a Nominations Panel to select candidates for British Swimming Board representation Sport Governing Board Point 6 It was suggested that the wording needs amending to read ensure effective delivery of the athlete pathway as this was neutral to all disciplines The document was agreed subject to the proposed changes A revised copy of the documentation to be circulated to the ASA Board Thanks were extended to the Chief Operating Officer, Jane Nickerson and Chris Bostock, ASA Board Member together with all other people involved in this process to get this to the stage that it is at Rules Committee The following nominations submitted for membership of the Rules Committee were agreed. Alan Boyle (Secretary) Philip Gordon Stuart Walker One further nomination to be brought forward in due course ASA Strategy The proposal by the COO to keep the current document as an electronic version as there are likely to be some amendments to the KPI s next year was agreed Monitoring The COO advised the Board that the monitoring documentation provided, whilst currently not populated, would also make provision going forward for cyclical monitoring. The COO recommended to the Board that the format as circulated be accepted in order to assess its functionality as a working document. This was agreed. A printer friendly version to be created The Strategic Lead for Grow made a presentation to the Board on the Sport England Measures 2013/14 which explained the KPI s and our current position in relation to these. Board members were advised that these are measurable on a daily bases and that current up to date information will be available for the British Gas SwimBritain. The presentation was noted Water Polo Committee The COO updated the Board on the current situation with the Water Polo Committee and its existing operations. It was recommended that project groups were set up to deal with all aspects of the sport which did not fall into the remit of the BS Water Polo group or the ASA Water Polo group headed by Alan Booth. The paper was agreed. Minutes of the ASA Board Meeting 10/11 May

7 It was recommended to the Board that the planned meeting for June goes ahead with the Regional representatives which would provide an opportunity for the NPD, Talent, Men s Water Polo management Group etc to be present their plans to provide clear guidance to the regions on the work required at regional level This recommendation was endorsed There being no further business the meeting closed. In Committee Session Saturday 11 th May 2013 The Board met again with the CEO in Committee to consider further how they could support the Executive Team in achieving the Strategic Outcomes we have set for the ASA and to reflect on the medium to long term needs of the ASA. The Board agreed to provide full support to the CEO in his proposals and to consider further in September the next steps we might wish to take meanwhile the CEO agreed to speak further with our key partners to monitor their views and share these with the Board as they emerged. Minutes of the ASA Board Meeting 10/11 May