22 June 2022
Glenurquhart Road
INVERNESS
IV3 5NX
15 June 2022
Please ask for: Miss J Maclennan
Email: [email protected]
To: Directors of the Board of High Life Highland
| Biz Campbell | Donald McLachlan |
| David Finlayson | Ken Nicol |
| Nick Finnigan | Sarah Rawlings |
| Michael Golding | Ian Ross |
| Marianne Hutchison | Mark Tate |
| Andrew Jarvie | Tracy Ligema |
Dear Director
A meeting of the Board of HIGH LIFE HIGHLAND will take place REMOTELY on WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE 2022 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 & Corporate Values 2022-27
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 2022-27.
4. Confirmation of Minutes PP 3-22
The following Minutes are circulated for approval:-
i. Board Meeting held on 31 March 2022 (pp.3-9);
ii. Finance and Audit Committee held on 16 May 2022 (pp.10-13);
iii. Health and Safety and Environmental Compliance Committee held on 16 May 2022 (pp.14-17);
iv. Special Board Meeting held on 21 June 2022 ;
and for noting:-
v. High Life Highland (Trading) (draft) held on 31 March 2022 (pp.18-22).
5. Matters Arising – Board Meeting of 31 March 2022 PP 23
There is circulated, for information, matters arising from the meeting of the Board held on 31 March 2022.
The Board is invited to note the position.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
6. Board/Committee Appointments
i. High Life Highland Board
The Highland Council, at its meeting on 9 June appointed Mrs B Campbell, Ms M Hutchison, Mr A Jarvie and Ms S Rawlings to the Board of High Life Highland.
The Board is invited to note the position.
ii. High Life Highland Board – Appointment of Chair
As Mr Ian Ross has previously intimated his resignation as Chair with effect from this meeting, Directors are invited to elect a new Chair and any other vacancies which might arise as a result.
iii. High Life Highland Board
Following on from the Council appointments to the Board, Directors are invited to consider the vacancies which have arisen on the following, as a result of the break in membership of the Board:-
a) Finance and Audit Committee – 1 to 3 Council Directors (there needs to be a minimum of 1 – former appointees were Mrs B Campbell, Mr T Heggie, Mr A Jarvie); and
b) Nominations Committee – 1 Council Director (former appointment – Ms L Munro)
c) Chief Executive Performance Review Committee – 1 Council Director (former appointment – Mr A Jarvie).
The Board might wish to take the opportunity, within the Remit of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, to consider any other changes to Committee membership.
iv. High Life Highland Representative on Inverness Castle Project Development Group
As Mr Ian Ross has also intimated his resignation on the above group, the Board is invited to appoint a new representative.
QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE
7. Finance Report PP 24–31
There is circulated Report No. HLH9/22 dated 9 June 2022 by the Chief Executive providing an update on the financial performance of High Life Highland for the financial year 2021/22 and other relevant matters.
The Board is invited to note:-
i. the draft year end out-turn, subject to further analysis and audit, for 2021/22, as detailed in Appendices A-C of the report, reports a deficit of £686k;
ii. no breaches of internal controls have been reported in the past quarter;
iii. no data breaches have been reported in the past quarter;
iv. that following the annual review of the Financial Regulations and Contract Standing orders there are no issues to report;
v. the award of contracts as detailed in paragraph 9; and
approve:-
vi. the removal of the planned 2022/23 savings in the annual budget for Youth Work, Adult Services, Archives and Music Equipment, leaving net savings of £1.275m for Financial Year 2022/23.
8. Performance Report PP 32-67
There is circulated Report No. HLH10/22 dated 8 June 2022 by the Chief Executive presenting performance information for the period January to March 2022.
The Board is invited to comment on the report and agree that the overall health check on the charity for that period is assessed as “green”, on target, reflecting indications of customer recovery following COVID-19 restrictions and additional financial support having been agreed by the Highland Council.
9. Annual Health and Safety and Environmental Compliance PP 68-78
As Directors will be aware, an important element of the Governance structure relating to the charity’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. HLH11/22 dated 17 May 2022 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 2021/22.
The Board is invited to note:-
i. there were no notifications for improvement or enforcement actions during the reporting period;
ii. there were no environmental incidents requiring SEPA notification during the reporting period;
iii. the low number and low severity of accidents or incidents over the reporting period, reflecting continuing good practice across the charity and the operational restrictions through the year;
iv. the Health and Safety and Environmental Compliance Committee (HSECC) continues to meet quarterly with Officers and the Charity’s external Health and Safety advisers 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 charity-wide action;
v. the external safety audit was completed by QLM during November 2021 with an action plan created for risk reduction, no company-wide issues were identified;
vi. there were 4 safety audits completed by the Union within the reporting period; and
vii. COVID-19 Incident Reporting & Monitoring systems along with COVID-19 staff and management guidance to support the HLH team have continued to be monitored by the HSECC members.
The Board is asked to resolve that the following item be restricted to Directors, representatives from HLH and the Company Secretary’s office.
10. Human Resources PP 1-14
There is circulated separately Report No. HLH12/22 dated 15 June 2022 by the Chief Executive providing an update on Human Resources related matters for the period January to March 2022.
The Board is invited to note the recommendations.
11. Marketing and Communications Update
The Marketing and Communications Manager will give a presentation on all MCPR activity since the last update to the HLH Board in December 2021.
The Board is invited to comment on and note the position.
STRATEGY
12. High Life Budget Scheme PP 79-86
There is circulated Report No. HLH13/22 dated 14 June 2022 by the Chief Executive setting out options for altering the highlife budget scheme in the context of the cost of living crisis.
The Board is invited to:-
i. note the options analysis contained in the report;
ii. agree to retain the highlife budget scheme fifty pence pay as you go charge;
iii. agree to introduce a monthly budget highlife subscription option;
iv. agree to the initial monthly subscription prices of £3 and £5 for individuals and family/household subscriptions respectively; and
v. agree to delegate the ability to change the price to officers depending on the uptake of the monthly subscription option.
13. Chair/Chief Executive’s Updates PP 87-91
There is circulated Report No. HLH14/22 dated 13 June 2022 by the Chief Executive providing information to Directors and the opportunity for them to discuss issues affecting HLH and its work at an early stage.
The Board is invited to comment on and note the updates.
