Transparency data

SLC Board meeting minutes September 2023

Updated 24 April 2024

1. Attendees

1.1 Present

• Peter Lauener (PL) - Chair

• Chris Larmer (CL) - Chief Executive Officer

• Mary Curnock Cook (MCC) - Non-Executive Director

• Gary Page (GP) - Non-Executive Director

• Rona Ruthen (RR) - Non-Executive Director

• Charlotte Moar (CM)- Non-Executive Director

• Stephen Tetlow (ST) - Non-Executive Director

• Andrew Wathey (AW) – Non-Executive Director

• David Wallace (DW) - Deputy Chief Executive Officer

• Audrey McColl (AMC) - CFO

• Gary Womersley (GW) - Company Secretary

1.2 Also in attendance

• Julia Kinniburgh (JK) - DfE (by videoconference)

• Stephen Marr (SM) - DfE (by videoconference)

• Evelyn Aitken (EA) – Scottish Government (by videoconference)

• Chris Williams (CW) - Welsh Government (by videoconference)

• Laura Irvine (LI) – Department for the Economy NI (by videoconference)

• Jason Dunham (JD) – CIO

• Jackie Currie (JC) – Executive Director, Business Operations

• David Beattie (DB) – Executive Director, Change, Data and Repayments

• Derek Ross (DR) - Executive Director, HE and FE Reform

• Gillian Brydie (GB) - Executive Director, People

• Helen Bogan (HB) – Head of Governance and Planning

• Stuart Brydson (SB) - Board Secretary (Secretariat)

• Adam Treslove (AT) - Head of Corporate Affairs (for Item 6.1 only) (by videoconference)

• Margaret McMullen (MMC) – Director of Finance (for item 6.2 only) (by videoconference)

• Jane Longmore (JL) – Chair of the Stakeholder Forum (by videoconference for Items 7.1 to 7.3 only)

• Vivienne Stern (VS) - Chief Executive of Universities UK (by videoconference for Items 7.1 to 7.3 only)

• David Thomson (DT) - Head of Operational Resource Planning and Support (for Item 8.1 only)

2. Apologies

• Tash Toothill (SLC)

• Patrick Curry (DfE)

• Sinead Gallagher (Welsh Government)

• Catherine Topley (Scottish Government)

• Jonny O’Callaghan (NI)

3. FOI Notice

Where asterisks (*) appear, these sections have been excluded from the minutes before placing on the website as the subject under discussion falls within one or more of the exemptions contained in Part II of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and can be reasonably withheld.        

4. Chairman’s Opening Remarks / Directors’ Matters / Declarations of Interest

PL welcomed everyone to the meeting and especially to JK who was attending her first SLC Board meeting.

Apologies were noted from NT, PC, CT, SG, and JOC

PL noted some staff changes within the Sponsor Team and noted his thanks to the outgoing Scottish Government / SAAS assessor, Lauren McNamara, and welcomed Evelyn Aitken who would now take over the role.

PL highlighted that CM would now join TEOC in addition to her role with ARC. 

Declarations of Interest

MCC noted that from 1 September she had started working with both Charter School Capital, and River Learning Trust.

CM noted that she would begin working with the Orwell Foundation as an independent member of their Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.

5. Chair Update

5.1 Update from the Chair on relevant matters

PL reminded the Board that the latest Biannual Shareholders Meeting had recently taken place and was an opportunity for shareholders to assess the work of the Board by looking backwards over the last 6 months and forward to activity the Board planned to undertake in the coming 6 months. 

PL highlighted that he and CL had met with Baroness Barran, Minister for the School System and Student Finance, on 21 September, with a focus on repayments.

PL noted that he had started conducting the annual performance reviews of the Non-Executive Directors.

6. Strategic items

6.1 CEO Report

AT joined the meeting.

CL noted that he would focus on three main areas: colleague, customer and shareholder. 

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2023/24 Academic Cycle Update

JC highlighted that although this was the busiest period for Operations, apply to pay targets were in good shape, and the percentage of calls answered was up on the previous year.

GP asked if there was a cost implication of the drop in student applications.  CL explained that it would depend on the mix of application types and would not automatically mean a drop in costs.

GDPR

CM sought further management opinion on the progress of GDPR work.  DW highlighted the Targeted Bulk Erasure project where around seven million customer accounts with lapsed applications had been deleted.

DW explained that the Master Retention Schedule covered what could be retained and for how long.     

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APRA Targets

CL explained the background to setting APRA measures, which aligned to shareholder interests, and had been consistent for a number of years. Continuity of measure had been valued, but there was now an appetite for change in FY 2024-25.

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Finally, PL noted that the continuity in the APRA and CPD had been valuable but that it was now time to consider new measures..

AT left the meeting.

6.2 CFO Report

MMC joined the meeting.

AMC introduced the CFO Report noting the position after the Q1 review.

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PL noted the Board took a lot of assurance that FY2023-24 was being well managed. 

MMC left the meeting.

7. Reports from Committees

7.1 TEOC Chair Report

PL welcomed JL and VS to the meeting, providing some background to the TEOC Chair item, which he felt external partners would benefit from hearing.

ST introduced the TEOC Chair Report noting the exceptionally rare green ratings from the IPA Review, congratulating the SLC team and noting how IPA recommendations paved the way for the Proteus work.  The Review had also recommended continued tracking of residual Evolve benefits, which ST welcomed.

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7.2 Stakeholder Forum Chair Report

JL introduced the Stakeholder Forum Chair Report noting that since joining the Forum she had learned a lot about SLC systems and technology, and that stakeholders recognised how far SLC had progressed in recent years.  JL highlighted that the Forum was a group that brought together senior stakeholders, it was a good sounding board, and covered the issues that SLC would wish to be discussed with its stakeholders.  JL proposed that in future the Forum minutes be made available to the Board, and that consideration should be given to utilise the Forum more proactively, for example, by inviting the Forum to respond to SLC’s strategic direction.

AW and MCC supported both suggestions and MCC, as a former Forum member, noted that it was a very important aspect of the ‘user market’.  DW noted that the Forum could be used more proactively and welcomed JL’s suggestion. 

PL and CL both noted thanks to JL and the Forum for their valuable contribution. 

7.3 Universities UK Update

VS introduced her update noting what was uppermost in minds at UUK – demand, withdrawal, technology disruption and financial sustainability.  

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The Board discussed VS’ comments on softening of demand, with MCC noting that this was particularly the case with disadvantaged groups and was a trend that should be carefully monitored.  JK cautioned that the year to compare to was 2019 as the last point of stability before the pandemic and that while current data on disadvantaged groups entering university were on a downward trend but still up on 2019.

PL thanked JL and VS for attending the SLC Board, for their valuable contributions and the helpful points raised.

8. Directors’ Reports

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8.1 Change Delivery Review update

DB introduced the Change Delivery Review Update noting the sensible advice that had been offered via the two Green IPA reviews of Evolve. 

DB expected to move to Transition State 1 in the coming weeks, supported by a new Investment Committee and Change Board.  The outcome that SLC was driving towards was to improve how SLC manages change. 

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9. Governance

9.1 Board Schedule 2024-25

HB introduced the Board Schedule 2024-25, with PL asking all non-executives to let SB know if they had any problems with the dates.

9.2 Minutes of meeting held on 1 December

The minutes of the 31 July meeting were approved as an accurate record.

9.3 Matters arising from previous meetings

The matters arising document was approved as accurate.

10. Any other business

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PL noted the new Board paper template, with the Board agreeing to adopt this format going forward.

PL highlighted that this was the final meeting of RR before leaving SLC.  PL thanked RR for her valuable contribution during her time as a Board member, particularly in the areas of customer experience and equality, diversity and inclusion. 

10.1 Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting was confirmed as being at 10.00 am on Tuesday 31 October 2023 by Teams with Executive hosting from the Glasgow Boardroom. 

There being no other business the meeting ended at 1.30 pm.