December 2009 Board Meeting

REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD
Held on Wednesday 9 December 2009 at Cobbetts Solicitors Offices, Mosley Street, Manchester

Present: Pauline Green [PG] (Chair), Rob Bradley [RB], Brian Burgess [BB], Simon Cope [SC], Joe Hill [JH], Neil Le Milliere [NLM], Robert Pepper [RP], Steve Powell [SP], Ian Todd [IT]

In Attendance: Dave Boyle [DB] (Chief Executive), Clare Oakley [CO] (Secretary)

Apologies: Elaine Dean[ED], Tony Taylor [TT]

1. MINUTES & REPORTS OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS
The minutes and report of the Board meeting held on 16 October 2009 were agreed as a correct record. The report of the meeting of the Board held on 11 September was approved.

2. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
The Board received and noted the management accounts for the period 1 April 2009 to 8 November 2009.

3. CHIEF EXECUTIVES REPORT
The Board received and noted the Chief Executives written report for December. DB drew the Board's attention to several items requiring the Board decision. The Board noted the remainder of the Chief Executive's report including the feedback on the 2009 Annual Conference.

4. INTOUCH REVISED PRICING STRUCTURE
The Board received a paper highlighting an issue with the current pricing structure for the in touch database. The Board agreed the proposal to remove the upper price bracket and revert to two levels of pricing.

5. ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2010
The Board noted that at its September meeting it had agreed the date of the Annual Conference for 2010 as the 22 and 23 May. DB advised however that several facts had since come to light which may impact on the suitability of that date, namely it was the same date as the Co-operative Group AGM and Regional Board Conference, due to progress of SD in Europe the Board may wish to have a larger presence from Europe but many potential speakers and guests would likely be in Madrid that weekend for the European Cup Final and unable to attend, and the World Cup fixtures were now known providing an opportunity to plan an event around the scheduled matches.

The Board agreed to move the date of the Annual Conference 2010 to the weekend of the 12 and 13 June 2010.

6. OUTCOMES FROM STRATEGIC DISCUSSIONS
The Board confirmed the outcomes from its earlier strategic discussion

7. KICK IT OUT
The Board were advised that Brian Lomax had been SD's representative on Kick It Out, and since Brian's retirement SD needed to appoint a new rep. DB advised this involved attending a quarterly day time meeting. It was suggested that expressions of interest be made to the Secretary prior to the next Board meeting when the matter could be formally determined.

8. MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
The Board received and noted the Membership Update report

9. SCOTTISH REPORT
The Board received and noted the Scottish Report.

10. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
The Board noted that the next meeting would be held on 10 February 2010 at 2pm.