Minutes of the East Durham College Finance and General Purposes Committee Meeting held on 28th April 2022

Present:

R. Woodhouse (Chair)

E. Boulton

D. Butler

M. Curry

G Field

S. Duncan (Principal)

In Attendance:

S. Judson (Vice-Principal Finance and Business Planning)

H McCoy (Assistant Principal Performance)

S Cooper (acting Clerk to the Corporation)

V. Charlton (Committee Secretary)

Apologises for Absence:

Apologies received from D Ridley

122 Conflicts of Interest

There were no conflicts of interest declared.

123 Minutes of meeting held on 30th September 2021

AGREED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 30th September 2021 be approved.

124 Matters Arising

The Vice Principal Finance and Business Planning advised that the college is in the process of implementing a CAFM system and the Director of Estates is working on a long term maintenance plan.

S Cooper advised that D Ridley had confirmed that the minor amendments to the Terms of Reference had been addressed.

125 Finance

ESFA Financial Health - This item was deemed confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

Lennartz Update - This item was deemed confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

Bank Loan - Refinancing - This item was deemed confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

Commercial Review - This item was deemed confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

126 Estates - Houghall Redevelopment

This item was deemed confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

127 Any Other Business

The new Finance Manager starts at the end of June.

April Management Accounts may not be finalised in time for May Board but will be circulated to Governors as soon as ready.

In response to a question relating to an increase in funding per pupil, the committee were informed that there would be an increase of £1.9m to the college in income, mainly due to growth in student numbers and the increase to the base funding rate.

The Principal advised that although the college is currently in a good position, there has been significant growth over the last three years and income is increasing, financial pressures remain including increasing cost of utilities and national living wage.

The College would like to continue its commitment on staff pay and a pay proposal will be presented to Board for approval. The Management Structure has been revised and the curriculum structure is to be reviewed.

Last modified: 12/01/2024