Student Groups Committee (10th February 2014)

Lucy Dowdall, Athletic Union Officer sent her apologies. There were no apologies from Andreas Mathikolonis, Student Communities Zone Representative and Anjali Parshotam, External Engagement Zone Representative. Also present were Claire Gilbert (invited), Karik Isichei (staff) and Jack Kanani (Student Enterprise Officer).

The minutes were approved by the committee.

Actions:

1. Nic and Jamie have met to discuss the newsletter.
2. Issues surrounding affiliation will be discussed at the next Student Groups Committee meeting after the Elections.
3. Jamie has been delayed by his work on the Storage audit, and so has not yet met up with CMT.

The Creative Writing Society would like to change their package from Green to Blue. The committee discussed this and it was decided that the Yellow package was more suitable for the groups needs. The committee voted to approve the move from Green to Yellow: 6 voted to approve this. 

There will be a future consultation on Funding principles; currently the guidance around funding is not clear and does not apply to all groups equally. This consultation will hopefully mean that individual Zone committees will have a standardised set of criteria that applies to funding. This work will be done after Spring Elections in time for the new academic year.

Jamie asked the committee what they look for in funding applications that influences whether or not applications are approved in Zones. Chris McGeehan explained that it helps to keep in mind the Zone's goals and how they can be achieved through the funding. William Cable explained that the principles they apply when looking at applications are no food and no resources that will only benefit the committee or very few people. In the Education Zone, their doesn't seem to be as much requests for funding as other Zones.

Chris brought up an issue that had arisen during the last Union Council (4th February) regarding the Sports Development Zone approving applications that did not appear to be fully completed. On further investigation, it was explained that there had been a detailed breakdown of costs given to the VP Sports Development but unfortunately this had not been made available at the time this issue arose. This issue highlights the importance of providing more guidance on how groups should be applying for funding i.e. applying for individual items or bulk resources, the process should be consistent for all.

Laura-Mary mentioned instances where Creative Industries had provided part-funding to a group, but the group, having not recieved the full amount, were unable to hold their event. To prevent situations like this, Chris suggested that on the application form, the groups should be asked whether full funding or a contribution is required.

Claire asked if the new Funding principles will include asking groups, when they apply for funding, how much is in their bank account, membership numbers and bank account details. Guy explained that hopefully over the next few years, all student groups bank accounts will become centralised under SUSU which will solve some of the problems that are coming up as currently, SUSU does not know these details.  

Claire also asked if this work would look into how groups spend the money they are given. Nic explained that part of the project looking into the student groups' economy will involve looking back at past applications and aksing groups how they spent their money. Chris asked Nic if the process could be adjusted to take into account the different levels of information required by SUSU, outlined in the support packages. Nic said this is possible if the committee want this.

Jamie announced that there will a New Student Groups' Fair on Monday 10th March, from 11am until 4pm on the Concourse. He has had a few responses from newly affiliated groups. The next affiliation meeting will be on Friday 7th March; at this meeting newly affiliated groups will also be invited to the fair. In the event that there are too few groups attending, it was suggested that current student groups should be picked at random and also invited.  

On behalf of the External Engagement Zone, Claire presented this item. Claire informed the group that there is funding from Community Action (CA) available to all students and student groups here at the University. She explained that there are guidelines that must be followed and applications must ensure that they meet the criteria that is outlined on the application form (see attached). The contact for any questions about this is action@susu.org. She asked the committee to spread the word about community action and encourage student groups to utilise the funds for any projects that meet the criteria. In the future, they should be able to apply for CA funding in the same way they already apply for funding, regardless of which support package they are on. Chris asked what sort of projects CA were looking for; Claire said that ideally they were looking for new projects that are sustainable and not 'one-offs'.

On behalf of External Engagement Zone, Claire presented this item. Claire explained that they want to measure the impact of the volunteering that students do and that they would like to start this project by counting volunteer hours within committee structures; hopefully, this work will begin in April this year. 

Claire will circulate the document, and ask for opinions via email/socal media.  

William asked if political involvement counts as volunteering; Claire said no unless, for example, it was an Engagement event where all political student groups worked together on a project.

*Claire left the meeting at this point.   

David Martin presented this item. The Technology Hire costs have been available to the committte for a few months and now need approval.

Jamie asked why departmental groups (e.g SUSUtv) do not have to pay for hiring, whereas other student groups do. David explained that this is because they are a department within the Union and therefore different to affiliated groups. Laura-Mary asked what the additional column in paper is for; David explained that those prices apply to external groups that are not affiliated but who SUSU work with often.   

The committee voted to approve the Technology Hire costs; 6 voted to approve this.

Jamie, David and Nic meet with Tony Addison, Head of Commercial Development and Scott Malcolmson, Facilities Manager to discuss the storage audit. David and Nic have also met up recently and have drafted up a survey to send to student groups enquiring about their storage situation. This survey will be sent out within the next two weeks, David will send it to the committee as well so they are aware of what is being asked of the groups. He asked the committee to encourage student groups to complete the questionnaire.

1. It has been recommended that the Alternative and Indie Music Society are moved from the Education Zone to the Creative Industries Zone. This is because the Education Zone is for departmental student groups only. The student group are happy for this change to happen. The committee voted to approve this; 6 voted to approve this move.
2. Funding Round 3: David Martin will post on the SGC facebook page the dates that have been allocated for Zones to carry out their funding consideration meetings.
3. Student Groups AGMs: it was decided by the committee that Student groups will be asked to have had their AGM by 9th May, but preferably before Easter if possible.
4. Elections: Lucy asked if guidance could be sent out to student groups explaining the rules about campaigning on Facebook group pages. Guy said this will be done.   

There was no other business. The meeting closed at 4pm. The next meeting will be held on Friday 7th March at 2pm in Meeting Room 2.