18 June 2020
Glenurquhart Road
Inverness
IV3 5NX
11 June 2020
Please ask for: Miss J Maclennan
Email: [email protected]
To: Directors of the Board of High Life Highland
| Michael Golding | John Murray |
| Tom Heggie | Ken Nicol |
| Andrew Jarvie | Ian Ross |
| Tracy Ligema | Mark Tate |
| Donald McLachlan | Duncan Macpherson |
| Ella MacRae | Linda Munro |
Dear Director
A meeting of the Board of HIGH LIFE HIGHLAND will take place REMOTELY on THURSDAY 18 JUNE 2020 at 2.00 pm.
Yours faithfully
STEWART FRASER
COMPANY SECRETARY
BUSINESS
1. Apologies for Absence
2. Declarations of Interest
Directors are asked to consider whether they have an interest to declare in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting. Any Director making a declaration of interest should indicate whether it is a financial or non-financial interest and include some information on the nature of the interest. Advice may be sought from Officers prior to the meeting taking place.
3. High Life Highland Purpose, Key Business Objectives and Corporate Values 2019-24 PP 1
There is circulated summary of High Life Highland’s purpose, key business objectives and corporate values as extracted from the High Life Highland Business Plan 2019-24.
4. Confirmation of Minutes PP 2-24
The following Minutes are circulated for approval:-
i. Board Meeting held on 19 March 2020 (pp. 2-7);
ii. Special Board Meeting held on 2 April 2020 (pp. 8-9)
iii. Health and Safety and Environmental Compliance Committee held on 19 May 2020 (pp. 10-14);
iv. Finance and Audit Committee held on 25 May 2020 (pp. 15-20);
and for noting:-
v. High Life Highland (Trading) (draft) held on 19 March 2020 (pp. 21-24).
5. Matters Arising – Board Meeting of 19 March 2020 P 25
There is circulated, for information, matters arising from the meetings of the Board held on 19 March 2020.
The Board is invited to note the position.
STRATEGY
6. Job Retention Scheme and Workforce Payments PP 26-32
There is circulated Report No. HLH 11/20 dated 4 June 2020 by the Chief Executive explaining that, following a request from The Highland Council’s Executive Chief Officer Finance and Resources, a briefing note was prepared on High Life Highland’s Job Retention Scheme application and decision to pay its furloughed workforce 100% of their pay to allow this to be presented to the Highland Council’s Administration meeting on Monday 27 April 2020.
The Board is invited to agree their continued support to maintain the current position paying 100%, subject to further review as the furlough scheme and financial planning process evolves.
The Board is asked to resolve that the following item be restricted to Directors and representatives from HLH and the Company Secretary’s office
7. Financial Scenario Planning PP 120-133
There is circulated separately Report No. HLH 12/20 dated 8 June 2020 by the Chief Executive providing information on financial scenario planning for financial year 2020/21.
The Board is invited to approve and note as appropriate the recommendations as detailed in the report.
8. Recovery Action Plan PP 33-48
There is circulated Report No. HLH 13/20 dated 11 June 2020 by the Chief Executive updating the Board on the Draft Recovery Action Plan for High Life Highland.
The Board is invited to:-
i. comment on and note the Draft Recovery Action Plan;
ii. note the risk management proposals; and
iii. note the governance proposals for the plan.
QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE
9. Finance Report PP 49-56
There is circulated Report No. HLH14/20 dated 9 June 2020 by the Chief Executive providing an update on the finishing financial performance of High Life Highland for financial year 2019/20 and other relevant matters.
The Board is invited to note:-
i. the draft year end outturn, subject to further analysis and audit, for 2019/20 as detailed in Appendices A-C reports a £92,176 negative variance to budget;
ii. there have been no breaches of internal controls reported in the past quarter;
iii. the update on the 2019/20 Internal Audit;
iv. the update on reserves;
v. two data breaches have been reported in the past quarter; and
vi. that following the annual review of the Financial Regulations and Contract Standing orders there are no issues to report.
10. Performance Report PP 57-87
There is circulated Report No. HLH15/20 dated 8 June 2020 by the Chief Executive presenting performance information for the period January to March 2020.
The Board is invited to:-
i. comment on the report and agree that the overall health check on the Charity for the period is assessed as amber because the effect of the lockdown at the end of the quarter;
ii. note that the delivery of the business plan over that period is assessed as green but the business plan will have to be reviewed as the country progresses through the Scottish Government COVID-19 recovery phases;
iii. note that the mitigating actions are being developed as contained in the recovery report elsewhere on this agenda; and
iv. note that there was an increase in customer engagements between financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20 despite the cessation of services in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 situation.
11. Annual Health and Safety and Environmental Compliance Report PP 88-112
As Directors will be aware, an important element of the Governance structure relating to the company’s Health and Safety and Environmental Compliance performance is the annual Health and Safety and Environmental Compliance Report. In this regard, there is circulated Report No. HLH16/19 dated 4 June 2020 by the Chief Executive informing Directors about the performance of High Life Highland in terms of health and safety and environmental compliance for the reporting period 2019/20.
The Board is invited to note:-
i. due to HLH facilities closing for COVID-19 reasons, quarter four figures will be further reviewed by the HSECC once all accidents and incidents are closed out for the quarter, after staff return from furlough leave to enable this to be done;
ii. that there were no notifications for improvement or enforcement actions during the reporting period;
iii. that there were no environmental incidents requiring SEPA notification during the reporting period;
iv. the low number and low severity of accidents or incidents over the reporting period, reflecting continuing good practice across the company;
v. that the Health and Safety and Environmental Compliance Committee continues to meet quarterly to review Health and Safety performance and on reviewing the accident and incident trend data it concluded that there are no issues arising from this requiring companywide action;
vi. that the creation of the workstreams for the 5-year Health and Safety Plan will commence post COVID-19 restrictions; and
vii. that one union safety audit had been completed within the reporting period in line with the Safety Representatives Charter, with the remaining ones deferred due to COVID-19 restrictions.
12. Human Resources PP 113-119
There is circulated Report No. HLH17/20 dated 4 June 2020 by the Chief Executive providing an update on Human Resources activity for the period January to March 2020 which includes information relating to absence, disciplinary and grievance issues during this period.
The Board is invited to note:-
i. and comment on the content of the quarterly HR report including the update on the staffing establishment;
ii. the amendments to the Special Leave Policy guidance notes; and
iii. the postponement of the 2020 Volunteer and Staff and Long Service Awards.
