Finance and General Purposes Committee

Terms of Reference

Membership

The committee shall consist of the Chief Executive and at least 4 other members of the Board, including the Chair of the Board. The Chief Executive cannot be appointed as chair.

The Chief Finance Officer, the Chief People Officer and the Chief Marketing Officer shall be in attendance. Other staff may be invited to be in attendance for specific agenda items, with the purpose of answering questions from committee members if it is deemed appropriate.

The Director of Governance shall be in attendance and be responsible for:

advising the committee on matters in relation to the Instruments and Articles of Government and other associated regulations;
taking or overseeing the taking of minutes of the meetings.

Meetings

The committee shall normally meet five times per year.

The quorum for meetings of the committee shall be at least 40% of the committee.

The outcomes of the committee meetings will be reported to the next scheduled meeting of the Board.

The role of the committee

The role of the committee is as follows:-

To initiate and consider detailed planning associated with major strategic issues;

To have oversight of financial planning and value for money arrangements;

To recommend the adoption of the Annual Income, Expenditure and Capital Budget and medium-term financial forecast to the Board;

To consider and provide advice on behalf of the board in relation to income and expenditure, including variations against approved budgets;

To request and receive reports from other committees on any matter which have a financial implication for the achievement of budgetary targets or could potentially impact the College’s financial health status;

To have strategic oversight of physical resource planning and facilities management, including resource requirements for information technology;

To consider strategic planning associated with major changes or development of the College’s premises;

To initiate and receive reports on the state of repair of the premises and planned maintenance within the allocated budget;

To oversee and make recommendations where appropriate to the Board concerning any matters related to repair, maintenance and facilities management of premises and to report to the Board when funds are insufficient to maintain them in a fit state of repair;

To oversee the College’s Human Resources strategy and practice including the monitoring of employment trends, including staff turnover, headcount, staff diversity, disciplinary cases and Employment Tribunals;

To oversee the College’s Human Resources strategy and practice including the monitoring of employment trends, including staff turnover, headcount, staff diversity, disciplinary cases and Employment Tribunals;

To monitor staff pay settlements and receive assurance that they fall within the annual budget as recommended for approval by the Board;

To oversee employment policy including the consideration of changes to the policy, where new or substantial change is involved and to recommend for approval by the Board;

To determine or advise the Board on any matter within its remit or other matter the Board remit to them.

To oversee the College’s marketing and PR strategy and its impact including return on investment

To oversee the College’s commercial strategy and approach, include reports on current ventures, new ventures, subsidiary companies and international activity

Delegated responsibilities

The committee has the following additional delegated functions:

To approve the College’s fees policy;

To oversee and approve the College’s plan for sub-contracting teaching and learning.