Guild Council Reports and Action Logs 6th December 2011

8/3/2019 Guild Council Reports and Action Logs 6th December 2011

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4b. SGC Report to Guild Council

GC.12.11.4b

The Committee has approved 4 new groups since the last report

Harry Potter (indoor),[email protected]

Turkish (cultural),[email protected]

Nuclear Studies/NucSoc (departmental),[email protected]

Tricksoc (miniforum not set yet),[email protected]

The Committee also met with proposers of one other group, which they did not approve

because of concerns about sustainability and overlaps with other groups (specifically

Amnesty), this was Conscience International, which aims to be a volunteering project linked

to human rights

The majority of the Committees recent time has been taken up with the Student Group

Audit, which is conducted midway through the autumn and spring terms to see which groups

are no longer active, and which arent meeting the minimum requirements expected of

them, in line with the Guilds legal obligations around Health & Safety, accounting and

governance.

: Handed in at least 20 membership forms and fees (fees dont apply to associations and

volunteering projects; projects need 10 forms, not 20)

: Held at least one activity this term, as proven by an authorised risk assessment form

: Kept in regularly contact with StuDev, including checking Guild email account

: Held elections and handed over committees within the last 12 months (as proven by

submitting AGM minutes, having had a handover meeting with Student Development staff

: All committee members to have signed the code of conduct and provided contact details

: All account signatories to have attended a committee training workshop

: Attended the Better Student Groups & Sports Forum: Attended the appropriate miniforum meeting

: Group bank account in credit and all activity within Guild financial procedures

(The other criteria are: acting in the interests of the members of the group, and breaking

University/Guild/Group policy [including acting outside your constitutional objectives]

These criteria are explained to groups in the code of conduct/signatories declaration that all

committee members agree to on taking up office, in each groups constitution and

explained at committee training. It was also discussed at the Better Student Groups Forum on

6th October, and in an email sent to all groups specifically about the issue on 5th October, as

well as being mentioned in other emails, posters around Student Development and via social

media profiles.

Author / contact: Fliss Cross - VPAD

Executive Summary: This report looks at approvals for new StudentGroups, Groups given extensions and those

that have been derecognised since the last report
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Groups were set an initial deadline of the end of October to complete the criteria (the same

deadline each year), at which point all groups (and all committee members that StuDev

holds contact details for) were emailed specifically about which issues were outstanding,

and given an additional three weeks to resolve them (until 18th November). Any groups thathadnt met criteria were involved that they would be put forward for automatic

derecognition, with a chance to appeal in person to the Student Groups Committee in a

three-hour timeslot on Monday 21st (in the event, this turned out to be four hours).

The following 7 groups were given extensions until the end of the current term to resolve their

issues, because they had few/minor issues and convinced the Committee that they would

be able to turn their groups around:

Bahai (didnt have 20 members)

Capoeira (didnt have 20 members, have had AGM but not handover meeting yet)

GIFT/Growing in Faith & Truth (overdue handover, missed meetings)

Paintball (didnt have 20 members)

Physiotherapy (didnt have 20 members, but issues with course commitments)

Poker (overdue handover, missed meetings)

Socialist (overdue elections)

Ten-pin Bowling (hadnt attended committee training)

If those groups dont meet those criteria, their cases will be discussed at a Student Groups

Committee meeting in January.

The following 10 groups didnt meet the minimum criteria and were derecognised:

African Development Forum (only 9 members, no risk assessments for any activities this term,

only 1 committee member had attended training, missed both Better and Mini Forums, notstaying in touch with StuDev)

Chinese (no financial activity for over a year despite being activecash-in-hand

transactions; no risk assessments this term, no membership forms or fees)

Cypriot (only 1 member, overdue elections, none of committee had attended training,

missed both Better and Mini Forums; no reasons for missing the criteria)

EPSE (no signs of activity this termno members, no risk assessments, missed both Better and

Miniforums; no contact at all)

Indian Cultural (no signs of activity this termno members, no risk assessments, missed both

Better and Miniforums; none of committee attended training; overdue elections by 9 months;

no contact at all)

Persian (no risk assessments this term, none of committee attended training, no financial

activity, missed both Better and Mini Forums)

Stand Together (no signs of activity this termno members, no risk assessments, missed both

Better and Miniforums; overdue elections; no contact at all)

Tai-Chi (no signs of activity this termno members, no risk assessments, missed both Better

and Miniforums; no contact at all)

(This means that they lose all rights and privileges of being a Guild-supported student group;

they can still claim any legitimate expenses incurred through the group, and members can

have their membership fees refunded. There is a standard 6-month cooling off period before

the group can be re-recognised, although the SGC has the discretion to meet with thegroup sooner if they wish).


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In addition, two groups gave notice that they were no longer active and wished to be

removed from listings; Egyptian (society) and Food-Cycle (volunteering project)

If you would like to know more information about the SGC, please email

[email protected]@guild.bham.ac.uk
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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4c. Res Exec Report

GC.12.11.4c

8th November

RA Election update was given and RAs were asked to give two names and contact

details per RA who could be our direct contactUpdate on Winter Balls was given, including details that deadlines have changed

RAs were informed about the RA Awards and nominations were given out awards

winners will be announced at Results Night

VPHC gave information about Housing Campaigns

RAs were reminded about rules of working for a club promoter

RAs gave updates on their activities election themed

Various operational and meeting updates were given

Author / contact: Zuki Majuqwana VPHC

Executive Summary: This report summarises the Res Execmeeting held on 8th November 2011


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4d. Steering Report to Guild Council

GC.12.11.4d

GUILD COUNCIL

06/12/11

The Steering Committee met on Monday 28 th November 2011 to make a decision on the

progress of the 14 motions submitted to them for Guild Council.

During the meeting Steering worked to the following criteria for allowing or excluding a motion

form Guild Council

The motion cannot call for action that is illegal under the Laws of the Country, including

Charity and Company Law.

The motion cannot call for action that is outside the Guild's Charity or Company Objects.

The motion cannot include anything that is slanderous or libellous, or information that

cannot be substantiated if required.

When considering whether a motion should go to Guild Council, Steering should bare

consideration to if what the motion calls for is financially feasible.

The motion should not address operational issues that are best addressed through other

democratic structures such as Open Forums, or the Officer Team.

Member issues, suggestions and ideas should be sent to the relevant Open Forum if Steering feel

that they are relevant to an Open Forum, and would benefit from student discussion.

If an Officer believes they can resolve a member issue, or implement a suggestion without

needing formal committee approval, or further member discussion, the Officer may take the

action on. This will be minuted by Steering, and the Officer may report actions taken regarding

the issue to the most relevant Open Forum

Author / contact: Hugo Sumner VPDR

Executive Summary: This report looks at the motions submitted to Steering

in relation to Guild council and the decisions maderegarding those motions


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4d. Steering Report to Guild Council

Motion

NumberMotion Name Steering Decision

1 Active Opposition to

Racism and Fascism

Motion approved to go to Guild Council in its current

format

2 Peaceful Protests Motion approved to go to Guild Council in its current

format

3 Freshers Fest

Committee


format

4 Dont lie to me (again) Rejected. This motion has been rejected due to

slanderous information that cannot be substantiated. The

VPDR has met with the motion proposer and agreed some

amendments, however the amended motion is yet to be

submitted. Furthermore, due to legal issues, the proposer

wished to add a clause to the belief and commitment

which would mitigate any potential legal issues that may

arise, however this too has not been submitted.

5 Community Business

Practices


format

6 Disciplinary Policy Motion approved to go to Guild Council in its current

format

7 Suspension of the VPE RejectedDue to Legal reasons. The findings of an

investigation are private and confidential under

employment law

8 Belief 9HigherEducation Funding Motion approved to go to Guild Council in its currentformat

9 Theres Something

about Swearing


format

10 Home Student Officer

Classification


format

11 Byelaw 8.8.1 move to

VPAD


format

12 Postgraduate

Representation


format

13 Bringing the Guild into

Disrepute


format

14 McCartney Room Motion approved to go to Guild Council in its current

format


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If you have any queries, please e-mail @guild.bham.ac.uk

4e: Ethical & Environmental

Author/contact: Hugo Sumner, Vice President (Democracy & Resources)

Purpose: For Approval

The Ethical & Environmental committee met for the first time this term, upon the election of two

new Guild Councillors Alice Swift (Campaigning Mini-forum) and Sean Farmelo (School of

Philosophy). The purpose of the E&E committee is to discuss and act on how the Guild is

fulfilling its commitments to the environment and its ethical practices.

Possible objectives were discussed in order to stimulate debate and set the direction of the

committee for the forthcoming year. These were not a definite list and were open to all

members to contribute to. Initial ideas consisted of

Implementing a carbon action plan

Formulating a procurement policy

Participating in the NUS Green Impact SchemeEstablishing projects the committee can address over the next 5 years.

The Ethical & Environmental Officer suggested that the Better Guild & Welfare forum be used

to address any E&E issues, as opposed to setting up a completely separate forum, which was

agreed by the committee. Feedback from the forum will go to E&E committee.

The Carbon Management plan will be carried out in phases over the coming years to reduce

the organisations carbon footprint. A scope was laid out which included direct, indirect

emissions and all other indirect emissions which would be surrounded by four principles.

Improving the fabric of the building, including external windows and loft insulation.

Ethical & Environmental Committee Report 24th November 2011


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If you have any queries, please e-mail @guild.bham.ac.uk

4e: Ethical & Environmental

Working with the Carbon Trust and University Estates to ensure best practice is adopted

when energy consuming equipment is used.

Effective Communication campaigns to be implemented to broaden understanding of

what the Guild does. E.g. recycling bins, new printing scheme.

A commitment to maintain our Gold standard on the NUS Green Impact scheme,

which was obtained last year.

The VPDR introduced a paper for the committee to approve concerning the Guilds

participation in the Green Impact scheme, which was approved. A point was raised about

alternative schemes which the Guild could participate in, which will be investigated for next

year. The Committee also approved a budget spend to seal the external windows whichwould happen as soon as possible, and contribute to the carbon management plan.

Three further points were raised in Any Other Business, being the provision of water in the Guild

and on the wider campus. Additionally Solar Panelling and ethical banking were discussed.

Members of the committee will be working towards providing more sources of free water

within the Guild, to be used as a precursor for a wider push on campus.


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4g. Guild Officer Group Report to Guild

GC.12.11.4g

The second Guild Officer Group was held on Monday 21st November and was attended by

15 Guild Officers.

The highlights of the meeting were as follows:

Guild Officer Part-Time Employment

The Guild Officer Group discussed the issue raised at the last Guild Council of Guild Officers

being allowed to work part-time for club promoters whilst RA committee members are not.

No consensus was reached, with arguments being heard on both sides. Therefore the Vice

President (Democracy & Resources) and the Home Students Officer were actioned to

investigate the issue and bring forward proposals to tackle the issue.

Better Forum Facebook Groups

Several Officers commented on problems with the Better Forum Facebook Groups,

suggesting that the tone of discussions online have proven increasingly exclusionary. The

VPDR updated GOG on his previously announced intention to initiate discussions on theBetter Forum Facebook Groups about acceptable standards of behaviour to establish a

consensus to provide Officers with a better mandate to moderate groups.

Provision for Education Matters

The President and the Vice President (Sport) updated GOG on the work Guild Officers to

cover the workload of the Vice President (Education) during the current office-holders

suspension.

Quiet Space

The Vice President (Activities & Development) updated GOG on her efforts as part of the

Roombookings Review to identify a room that could be taken out of the room bookings

system during the day to act as a quiet space for students to work in. This would act as a

replacement for the Common Room.

Author / contact: Hugo Sumner

Executive Summary: This report looks at the items that went to the second GOGof the year and decisions that were made on behalf of

students.


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President Guild Council Officer Report

Name: Mark Harrop

Position: President

Date of writing report: 22nd November

What duties have you been carrying out which tie into your manifesto pledges?

Joes Plus Card

So we have now sold over 6000 Joes Plus cards which is amazing, and we are currently pulling

together information about how much we have saved students. So far as of a few weeks ago we had

saved students over 10,000. Later this term myself, the VPDR and Venues will be doing a review of

the Joes Card, what offers were good, what were bad and what we can do better. We will then be

pushing this again in term 2, and hopefully be able to offer you better deals, but also spread it across

the Guild moresuch as.printing discounts..watch this space.

Plug Sockets and Library provisions

Meeting is coming up about this and can feed back more on my next blog.

Let your Guild work for you

So hopefully you may have noticed that as a sabbs et have been around more as a part of our officer

engagement programme. This is where we have done days such as sabbs on the sofa, hotdesking etc.These are not perfect and we know that, so we are constantly reviewing them, seeing what we can

do better and will start doing hotdesking in other parts of the uni such as iLounge and University

Centre.

Today (in fact) the Guild held a SUEI2 NUS Day. Basically SUEI is the Student Unions Evaluation

Iniative which is now owned by NUS. In short it is like Ofsted for Student Unions and looks at a wide

range of Union aspects, as to how we run financially, democratically and how we communicate etc.

For more info just goggle SUEI NUS.

The Guild will be entering phase 2 of the SUEI audit process as of now, and basically it means that


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student union that works for you. Yes the process is going to take some time, and no it will not be

done overnight, but we are going for the Gold Award, a jump from our current Bronze award.

What other duties have you been carrying out within your role?

Getting the Guild out there

In recent weeks I have been putting the Guild on the forefront of what the University does. The best

way to achieve this is to make the University and wider community understand what the Guild is,

what we do and how we do it. So I have spoken to many different groups within the University about

what the Guild aims to do, as in line with our Strategic Plan which takes us to 2014. The benefits of

this are huge as the more people understand something; the more likely they are to trust it.

Student Finance Launch Day

This is an independent task force made up of Martin Lewis, Wes Streeting and lots of clued

up people on all things student finance was launched in London. However there was a West

Mids event where, UoB, BCU, Aston Uni , did a joint event whereby we discussed differentaspects of the incoming fee regime and what this ACTUALLY means for Students, without

any of the politics rubbish of party agenda etc, we were there to say what it was, and we

were joined by students looking to go to uni in the next few years. It was a really good event,

I said my piece, I backed how students more than ever need to do their homework (pun) into

where they want to go to University, look at the student union (of course I slipped that in

there!) and realise that they are making an investment in THEIR future. To plagarise myself

Education is the only long-term economic tool that Governments can still control in an

increased global economy I stick by that.

National Demo

This took place the day before the last Guild Council so it was obviously not in the last report. We

took a coach down, less than we would have hoped for. The event/demonstration went off with no

issues like that what we saw last year which was brilliant as it would have undermined the student

movement yet again. On the note of publicity and how we ran the event, myself the VPHC spoke to

students on the coach about the matter, and we do realise we could have done better and will learn

from the event so that those mistakes/let downs do not occur again in the future.

On the same day I also went to Parliament to speak to Nigel Evans MP, Deputy Speaker of the House

and MP for my constituency. In this meeting I obviously spoke about the changing nature of the

Higher Education sector, however a point I did push on was the right to protest. I thought the fact


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that Police had effectively criminalised students by being allowed the option to use rubber bullets

was a disgrace in todays modern Britain. Rubber bullets work in a way that you have to aim at the

floor and it then bounces onto a target. These measures were not used during the Summer Riots,

where I argue they could have been used, so why on earth would they be used on students who are

fighting for education.

Everything else

There are loads of other things that I have been up to which include:

-Student Charter

-Team away day

-GoG

-University Council (not taken place at time of writing this report)

-Printing cost (as above)

-Student Rep forums

- Democracy Forum in the City

- General Day to day bits and bobs!

If you have any questions on any of these, or anything else I have mentioned in my report, feel free

to ask at Officer Questions and Scrutiny, or alternatively come see me, or email

[email protected]


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VPAD Guild Council Officer Report

Name: Fliss Cross

Position: Vice President (Activities and Development)

Date of writing report: 23rd November


1) To create an online platform for groups to interact and get online resourcesI have been working on the new minisite under Get Involved for the Guild Website

called Society Spotlight Weeks. This has included a spotlight on the faith and religious

miniforum and has featured the launch of a branded slide for the screens in the

membership area. Miniforum facebook groups have also been created for each

miniforum to share best practice with one another and promote their events to other

similar societies. It may also help if any clashes exist for the proposed event times.

The idea is that it will also be used to pull our event information easily for the society

awareness weeks and the logos and the different colours used for each group on

facebook also correspond to the spotlight week campaigns.

I have also had a meeting with IT and as part of the IT strategy and discussions have

been had about upgrading Guild servers and creating a finance system which will be

able to be accessed by the new Guild website created by the NUS (hopefully up and

running in August). This would then allow online membership to take place for

student groups.

2) To enhance development between student activities and the job marketI have met with the careers centre to discuss how we can link up the work of students in

societies and volunteering with employability skills and career opportunities. Early

discussions have taken place about a possible joint careers week in Term Two featuring a

networking event with employers. The careers centre and progress are also planning on

visiting the Better Student Groups and Sport forum to discuss employability skills with

societies. Some of the Guilds employability skills sessions have been advertised to

committee members in the society weekly newsletter and I am meeting with student

development to see how I can get more involved with this and better promote it in the

Guild.

I have also met with the Postgraduate and Mature Students Association with members of

the Careers service to discuss a Personal Skills Award for Postgraduates. Focus Groups


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getting involved with this. If you are a postgraduate student who is interested and could

not attend that meeting then please get in contact and I can add your name to the list. I

also attended the second meeting of the working group and it has been agreed that

Emily, the PMSO Officer, will be able to sit on this group with me. Initial feedback

received from the PGMSA has also been fed into this group.

As part of the Society Spotlight Weeks I have made contact with the Careers Centre in

the aim to advertise work experience relevant to different miniforums. This is to allow

students who wish to pursue a career relating to their hobby/interest as opposed to their

department find out more information about the options available to them. This can then

be compiled on the Society Spotlight minisite.

3) To improve marketing of student groups on campus, in halls and around theGuild.

I have been doing some video blogs relating to societies, including the Langar on campus

organized by the Sikh Society. The video can currently be viewed on the Guild of Students

youtube channel. I am also contacting the University about flyering on campus for

societies more generally, as well as extra promotion for the spotlight weeks. I am also

looking for societies to send me more photo and video content for the screens in the

membership area.

4) To reform Student Group TrainingI have discussed the possibility of synchronising society AGMs with the last round of

society miniforums. Most societies were on board with this as long as there was a flexible

period of around 6-8 weeks for this to happen, along with handover meetings being able

to be scheduled any time from election in the spring term to the end of the academic

year. This is so it would allow for a shadowing period and societies would have the

freedom to handover where it works for them in terms of large scale events that they are

organizing. There would also be the flexibility for EGMs to happen across the year andspecific EGM weeks in the Autumn Term for those societies that really cannot work around

having elections in the Spring Term. There could be more generic training offered here.

The idea would be so societies could have more specific training on different areas that

they could opt in to depending on their activities. Also, they would work with the same

committees year wide and the ultimate goal would be to provide training sessions for each

specific miniforum. This currently cannot happen with societies having their elections all

year round.


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I have been looking at a space review of the Guild. Part of this will formulate a comprehensive

review of storage needs and we're hoping to open up more storage rooms and better use our

current space with specialised storage and more lockers where required. Through this we aim

to open up more storage for our student groups. Feeding into this, is the redevelopment of

the basement following the steer from the last Guild Council which approved the idea of a

dance/performance space for student groups and a social learning space in the Common

Room. We are also trialing a different room bookings procedure for next term in which rooms

are allocated depending on the needs of the societies, as opposed to a first come first served

basis, in an attempt to maximize the use of guild rooms as fairly as possible.

Furthermore, I have been working with the media groups to look at allocating them someextra funding to meet their large scale equipment needs to sustain them over the next three

years now that the last lot of funding has depreciated.

I have also attended a number of appeals this term, supporting students in the capacity of a

friend for misconduct committees and appeal hearings.


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VPDR Guild Council Officer Report

If you have any questions or queries pleasefeel free to contact me at

[email protected]

Name: Hugo Sumner Position: Vice President(Democracy & Resources)

Date: 20/11/11

What duties have you been carrying out which tie into yourmanifesto pledges?

Better Value in Joes Bar

In line with the original intentions of the Joes+ loyalty card scheme, the entire project will be

reviewed at the end of term one in order to assess the demand and adapt the scheme for term two.

A date has now been set for this and the initial stages of the assessment have now begun. Rough

estimates put the amount of money students have saved from using the loyalty card at over 10,000.

This can be seen as a great win for students; however a full review needs to take place before

anything concrete can be confirmed.

Brand New Website

While the Guild is in the process of working with the NUS Digital scheme, which is planned to come

into affect for September 2012, there will be adjustments on the current Guild website in order to

enhance the navigation by making is simpler, allow it to embed videos and give access to social

media streams. These changes will make the website more user friendly and up to date, hopefully

alleviating a few of the problems experienced by users.


RA & NUS Delegate Elections

By the time you read this report the outcome of this years RA & NUS delegate elections will be

known. It is the first time in history that RA elections have gone online, which will hopefully have

made a big difference to turnout. Previously paper ballots have been used which in some halls leads

to a rather unpleasant environment when the outdoors and the month of December are combined.

In regards to number of candidates, special mention must go to Tennis Courts, Elgar Court and Maple

Bank.

@Guild_Hugo

BhamGuild VpDemocraAndResources
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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VPHC Guild Council Officer Report

Name: Zuki Majuqwana

Position: Vice-President (Housing & Community)

Date of writing report: 22 November 2011


Driving forward a Campaign to save Selly Oak from litter and crime:

- Ive attended a number of council and neighbourhood forums to present the student agenda.

This has included securing funding for an Environmental Warden to monitor waste in Selly

Oak.

- Secured the instalment of recycling bins in various parts of Selly Oak.- Launched a Monday is Bin Day campaign to raise awareness of waste collection and as a

prequel to my SOSAG manifesto sub-pledge.

- Relaunched last years super-successful October crime campaign but on a smaller scale due

to resource limitations

- Been on numerous patrols with the Community Wardens reminding people of the

importance of securing their homes and dealing with waste appropriately.

- Hosted a number of stalls around campus working toward the same end

- Working on the implementation of a re-use/re-sell collection for the end of the year, to

collect unwanted resalable items that students no longer want to pass onto charities.

- Attended a number of training courses related to solving problems in the community

- Did a walking survey of Bournbrook to identify areas for new litter bins.

Steering Accommodation Costs in the right direction:

- Opened an early dialogue with the university surrounding hall fees and have agreed to

establish a long-term strategy to develop the accommodation stock to reflect the demand

from students.

- Investigated recent accusations that the university takes 50% of residence fees as profit and

found them to be false. This is simply a misunderstanding of the numbers.

- Entering negotiations with the university surrounding the costs of Meal Plan and laundry to

ensure students are getting the best value possible

Putting the brakes on the Rush for Houses- Extended the house-hunting season from November-February to November-July. This will

mean the Guild supports students not only when househunting, but when moving into

houses as well.

- Working on the creation of a Househunting Video Guide to educate students in a less

formal way than the roadshows

- Developing a more extensive househunting booklet including a checklist so students know

exactlywhat they should be looking for.

- Developing a second housing booklet for moving into/out of houses for distribution in June

so students know what they need to do. May also include a second round of roadshows.

- Proposed running 3 housing fairs instead of just one in order to encourage students to wait

longer before looking but this proposal proved impractical.- Going to be doing lecture shouts to advertise roadshows to both first years and second years,

and explain the importance of attending to encourage more people


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Halls of Residence:

- Met with the Accommodation Management Group to address issues, changes and challengesrelating to accommodation

- Met with the General Manager for Accommodation at the university a number of times andhave established a positive working relationship with her.

- Liaised with Site Managers regarding issues arising on their sites that I should be aware ofFreshersFest/Welcome Week

- Worked extensively on the safe implementation of FreshersFest, with help from the VPW.While the event will not be running perfectly, we have secured a full review of the event(s)

which is currently underway which should see some sizeable improvements.

- Assisted in the delivery of training for all blue hoods- Wrote and assisted in the delivery of training for all stewards- Assisted with stewarding on the night with much of the rest of the Sabbatical Officer Team- Assisted in the delivery of training of Mentors & Mentor Welcome Team for the Welcome

period.

- Organised an Awards Ceremony as a means of rewarding those involved in the delivery ofFreshersFest

Residents Associations:

- Developed the RA elections for this year with the VPDR. For the first time ever this year wewill be seeing online RA elections and postgraduates being able to stand. Big changes

- Had to formerly dismiss an RA from their post due to their breach of Guild Policy- Redeveloped the training programme for the RA Training Weekend.- Begun planning for the RA Results night ceremony to elect the new committees- Met with a number of RA individuals and committees in order to resolve issues they have

been having

Private Rental Sector & Community:

- Hosted a Landlords Day inviting all the local accredited landlords in to discuss and seek theirinput on issues affecting students, such as property accreditation, waste collect/recycling,

and the househunting season.

- Met with the Pro-Chancellor of the University and raised the issues being faced in Selly Oakas a matter of concern, with particular reference to the universitys stake in the community

and what form this should take in terms of crime, litter and property standards.

General:

- Represented a number of students in appeal hearings with the university.- Secured funding for both Vale Fireworks and ValeFest so that the events will be guaranteed

for the foreseeable future. For ValeFest this will make the organising of the event a lot less

stressful.

- Assisted the SHAC with a presentation to a property development company, securing thesole letting rights to a complex of 30 student flats currently under development

- Attended two meetings of the Human Resource and Remuneration Committee- Stewarded Carnage as a means of engagement- Spoke to students and found 16 issues that students wanted resolving during my Hotdesking

session (highest among Officer Team).- Attended the Food Action Forum at the University to represent students views on good on


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campus, including the recent changes to the Meal Plan scheme.

- Attended the Better Guild & Welfare forum and came away with a number of community-related actions.

Training:

- Attended NUS Delivering Change training covering the current state of the housing sector,and the impacts of policy such as Article 4 Directions and the Localism Bill- Attended Unipol Housing Market training, covering topics such as the perfect model for

residence fees and the effectiveness of accreditation schemes.

- Attended the MLAS Landlord Accreditation Course covering the rights and responsibilities oflandlords, as well as best practice so I know what students shouldbe getting.

- Attended the NUS Society & Citizenship; Welfare; and Higher Education Zone Conferences(the latter on behalf of the VPE) to help develop NUS policy and understand the current

climate.

- The only thing I have actually updated about this report is the line below, largely because Idont have time. If anyone has actually read this report and/or cares about its contents then

they when it comes to Officer Questions & Scrutiny in Guild Council, they can politely ask meDoes this Chamber smell of oh-so ripe democracy?

All in all I have worked over 877 hours since taking office on 26 July, lobbying for and helping

students.

What do you aim to get done before the next Guild Council?

- Successfully completed ALL the housing roadshows and changed the world for loads ofstudents!

- Have a sick set of new RAs, and a successful training weekend- Made further developments on the re-use/re-sell project- Drawn together a strategy with the University to tackle hall fees- Made some headway with lowering the crime in Selly Oak.


20/31

VPS Guild Council Officer Report

Name: Tim Smith

Position: Vice President (Sport)

Date of writing report: 22nd November


Get Involved Sports Fair (13th

January, 12-4pm)

Work on the 2nd

Sports Fair is really stepping up now, with the

marketing and promotion materials being created and word of the

fair to be spread in the coming weeks. The fair will be joined up with

the Guilds Get Involved campaign, and branded the Get Involved

Sports Fair, with a strong emphasis on participation sport.

Over the course of the Club Mini-Forums, I have been working

closely with the clubs that will be attending the fair. These are

mostly summer sports, smaller clubs and clubs with a strong non-

competitive sport provision. Some club committees are also using

the fair as a springboard to attract interested for club tournaments they hope to hold in the summer.

The Fair will be preceded by the Healthy Living Welfare Wednesday as organised by VP Welfare

Luke Reynolds, in which we hope to include some free Active Lifestyle classes in the Hub on the Vale,

to help promote the benefits of healthy living to first years.

Dodgeball Charity Tournament

At time of writing we are 5 days until the event! By now, well all know

whether it was a massive success, or perhaps not quite as good as it

could have been.

This was a joint venture between myself, Dodgeball society and most

importantly Carnival RAG who have taken the bull by the horns and

really driven this forward, sorting out promo, logistics, providing

stewards and getting some great prizes for the winners. In truth, my

role has been more of an enabler, helping set up meetings and

providing some promotion and support.

The intention was to provide a fun tournament for people to

participate in, and perhaps attract some of those who wouldnt usually

get involved in sport by concentrating on a more novelty game. When we come round to Questions

& Scrutiny, please ask me how this went!


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VPS Guild Council Officer Report

New Club Events Strategy

Via the club mini-forums which finish this week (Week 9), consultations with clubs are ongoing about

an all-encompassing new club events strategy for 2012/13. Historically, UBSport have picked out 4

clubs each year for which they want to deliver a big event, the largest of which is Xplosion in

November. What myself and the Club Development team are proposing is for a structure whereby at

Club Conference in the summer (the clubs committee training days, held after exams) committees

have the chance to create their own club event proposal, and submit it to apply for funding and

support from UBSport. These committee-led event proposals would then be scrutinised by the VPS

and Club Development team, and centrally branded under one scheme (eg. The Late Kick-Off, or

something similar).

After this week, the clubs collective opinion will have been collated, and work to write the strategy

can begin.


Mini-Forums

The club mini-forums will be complete on the 25th

November, and have been extremely well-

attended and given valuable feedback on what clubs want, in particular with the events strategy and

2nd

sports fair. It has also served as a good method of communication from the VPS to clubs, and a

good method for clubs to get across their issues, be it with facilities or hi-performance departments

in UBSport, or a problem within their committee.

Sports Committee

A new project which has been going through the ideas process is to create a Sports Committee,

giving students better representation in sport. At UoB, sport is very University-led compared to most

other institutions over the country, where students sit at the top of an Athletic Union. This structure

undoubtedly works for Birmingham, but both the Guild and UBSport recognise the need for more

student representation, and the possibilities of a Sports Committee being elected or appointed in for

2011/12 are being looked into by myself.

...and more

- Over the past few weeks, preparation for Sports Ball 2012 has been stepping up! The venueis now all but confirmed, and the budget agreed watch this space for news!- I have written for The Pride, the UB Sport e-newsletter. Check it out here

http://www.download.bham.ac.uk/sport/Docs/thepridenov11.pdf.

- I continue to support our Be A Champion ambassadors, watch out for the big launch nextterm.

Many thanks for reading!

Tim
http://www.download.bham.ac.uk/sport/Docs/thepridenov11.pdfhttp://www.download.bham.ac.uk/sport/Docs/thepridenov11.pdfhttp://www.download.bham.ac.uk/sport/Docs/thepridenov11.pdf


22/31

VPW Guild Council Officer Report

Luke Reynolds Vice President (Welfare)

Written: 22/11/11


WELFARE WEDNESDAYS

This initiative was designed to help spotlight how everything we do

affect our welfare and try to get people to engage with Welfare

issues. Every other Week I have been highlighting a different topic

which might be affecting you around that time of the year, and all

the info gets achieved on the page so you can come back and

access it at any time when its needed. So we have spoken about;

1. Now you have moved ineee2. Finance eeeeee ee3. Personal Safety eeeeeeeeeiiiii4. Putting the How into Housing i

For these we have handed ~ 200 flyers out about the housing campaign and upcoming

Housing roadshows while at the stand outside the library. ~100 people came to the

personal safety event on the vale where the student mentors talked about personal

safety and put on a showing of scream for Halloween. Over 700 people came to the

How Employable are you fair which was advertising part time jobs as well as offering

C.V. checking and advice from the student funding office and we had the Community

Wardens doing all out days over the term talking to many resident. Unfortunately the

landing page on the website has only had just over 70 unique visitors but I have since

placed some promo in the library to help advertise this campaign and get people

engaging with this.

The last Welfare Wednesday of this term is based on Alcohol and there will be drop in

sessions done by Aquarius up at the mentor Welfare Office on the vale for this.

Welfare Wednesdays helps to encompass 4 of my manifesto pledge, Finance Support,

Mental Health, Sexual Awareness and Services Explained. Welfare Wednesdays havent

yet covered some of these issues but these are future projects. There will be two based

around mental health one around getting involved and how this can have positive


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VPW Guild Council Officer Report

impacts on your wellbeing and also a specific M.A.D (Mind Awareness Days) which I

am working on with the DSO.


Some Internal Interviews for jobs Guild officer Group Meeting Met with Hospitality and Accommodation Services Team away day training Hotdesking Represented students in university meetings Met with University misconduct and appeals department Discussed prayer room facilities Went to Senate Filmed housing Video Filmed a vlog Had a M.A.D focus group Met with the Vice Chancellor Sabbatical Officer meetings Met with the Director of Student Services Did some calendar tallying Spoke to some students Done a bite more of the Freshers Fest survey results collation Met with a Guild Council Motion proposer Took some people to London for that demo Equality and Diversity (staff) committee met Lots of stuff with the ARC

What do you aim to get done before the Guild Council?

Go to some Housing Roadshows Chair ResExec

Some Door knocking Meetings about Quiet Space in the Guild Filming for Student Support Video Sabbs on the Sofa College board Meeting Review the Mental health Advisory service self assessment review Meet with the Graduate school Student Access & progress Committee


24/31

ARAF Guild Council Officer Report

Name:

Ben Eliad

Position:

AntiRacism AntiFascism Officer

Date: 22/11/11


- We have brought in the Tony Blair Faith Foundation to give a talk

- InterFaithAssociation have created a calendar to showcase what faith societies aredoing over the weeks

- Have had meetings with Campussalaam looking at how we can further ties

between faith groups

- Have started to look at how we can have faith Olympics next term to bring faithstogether even more

What other duties have you been carrying out within your role?- We have speaking to other unions about their Israel-Palestine Forum and I plan to

get a group of interested students together (looking forward to the debate on

Thursday) to get this off the ground along with Fliss and Jo

- I was trying to have coexistence trust do a workshop last week but this did nothappen for extenuating circumstances and we will be looking if this can be

revisited in the future- I have also been busy sending out emails and chasing speakers for Holocaust

Memorial Day which is on the horizon, if anyone is interested in helping or hasideas then please get in touch

- I have also been in touch with Hope Not Hate Campaign and am still trying to see

if we can get a talk but this is looking increasingly unlikely. I urge you all to readmy blog and like their facebook page.

What do you aim to get done before the Guild Council?- By next guild council we will hopefully be further to sorting out the IPF and

overcome the hurdles that we have been facing with finding a group that will beinterested in taking this on and getting involved in an awesome project- Holocaust Memorial Day

- Working on Anti-Fascism talks and projects


25/31

DSO Guild Council Officer Report

Name:

Jennifer Kirk

Position:

Disabled Students Officer

Date:

24.11.11


The main thing I have been working on recently is accessibility. I had a meeting

with a charity involved in the NUS Access challenge and were now looking atsigning up to their charter of accessibility.


Held a Disabled Students Focus group with the Equality and Diversity Advisor

Held a Mind Awareness Days focus group with the VPW

Guild Officer Group Chaired a DAMSA committee meeting & attended handover. Had conversations about the proposed redevelopment of the Common Room, how

it is going to affect individual students who use it, and the accessibility of potential

new layout. Helped the SSO with Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes

What do you aim to get done before the Guild Council? Meeting about quiet space in the Guild

Meeting about the accessibility of Guild Council More Mind Awareness Days planning

Looking into signing up to the Attitude is Everything charter.


26/31

EMO Guild Council Officer Report

Name:Carl Gayle

Position:

Ethnic Minority Officer

Date:22/11/11

What duties have you been carrying out which tie into your

manifesto pledges?

Carried out a successful campaign for black history month. Three events were stagedthat were well atteneded by the student body.


Attending Black students conference to introduce myself to people in similar roles atother universities

What do you aim to get done before the Guild Council?N/A


27/31

ISO Guild Council Officer Report

Name: Noorie Karimbocus Position:

ISO

Date:

24/11/2011

What duties have you been carrying out which tie into yourmanifesto pledges?Meeting with the ISA committee and helping them gear up for the year ahead

What other duties have you been carrying out within your role?Attended Guild Officer Group meetingMeeting in the Guild to assess whether we can run for NUS Internationalisation Awards

Working on the Guild Governance review (Trustee Board working group)

What do you aim to get done before the Guild Council?ISA Meet & Greet;

Meet with VPS to discuss international students within sportsGet involved in Link-up new scheme to link up UK and international students around

Christmas time. Scheme is provided by Academic Services.

Attend ISAS trips to engage with my constituents and promote cohesion (trips are bothfor home and international students)


28/31

LGBTQ Guild Council Officer Report

Name: Daniel Guzman

Position: LGBTQ Students Officer

Date: 24/11/11


Ive been in touch with NUS LGBT campaign to speak about LGBT-phobia in sports clubs

They have agreed to carry out their research groups and questionnaires here at Birmingham

University. Ive also begun talks with members of Sabb team concerning this campaign and

how to launch it. I have been active within the LGBTQ association attending their weekly

events and getting opinions from the associatian about issues that they feel affect them.


I have discussed various LGBTQ issues with VPW such as gender neutral toilets. I attended

NUS LGBT activist training on the 16th

November. At this event I attended a gender issues

workshop, a civil partnership issues workshop, and a homophobia in sports workshop. This

was a valuable opportunity to learn about LGBTQ issues and also to build relations with

LGBT activists from other student unions (including from the West Midlands area)


Do some research on examples of gender neutral toilets and find out what the NUS LGBT

campaigns advice on it is. I will also keep working closely with the LGBTQ association and

get more feedback on what their members are concerned about.


29/31

PMSO Guild Council Officer Report

Name: Emily Halford Position: PMSO

Date: 21/11/11


As stated in my manifesto I have been working closely with the Postgraduate & MatureStudents Association (PGMSA), of which I am the co-chair. We had our AGM on Wednesdayand therefore now have a full committee. Im looking forward to the continued development ofthe association and have been taking action to increase its visibility as well as let PG andmature students know about my role. This included arranging for an email to be sent out toall postgraduates and for the new postgraduate booklet to contain more information about thePGMSA and PMSO. In addition, I have written an email for postgraduate recruitment to sendout to all offer holders about the association, which I will follow up with a printed booklet.

As well as dealing with postgraduate issues I am very keen to reach out to more mature

students, particularly undergraduate mature students. We recently changed the name of thePGSA to the PGMSA and have included a mature students officer as part of the committee. Ifeel that our newly formed links with the Student Parents and Carers Association (SPCA) andHome Students Association (HSA) are a positive step towards reaching out to more maturestudents as well as postgraduates. We are planning a regular multi-association drop insession, where a representative from each association will be in the staff house at a certaintime every month to answer questions and provide support.What other duties have you been carrying out within your role?

Some of the key issues which have come out of the PGMSA meetings are a lack of studyspace for postgraduates, the need for improvements to the PGR rep system, concerns aboutPhD writing up fees and concerns about the financial burden of council tax on postgraduates

who are in writing up status. An important aim for the year is to strive to increasepostgraduate and mature student representation in guild council, where the proportion doesnot reflect the fact that postgraduates make up about a third of the student body.

The other PGMSA chair (Ben Aylott) and I are part of a working group which is seeking toimprove the PGR rep system and therefore are in a good position to make a positivedifference. I have been invited to the PGR rep induction/forum event in February andattended the EPS rep induction a couple of weeks ago. I have recently been invited to sit onthe Graduate School Management Board (GSMB), and hence attended the meeting of theboard yesterday. Attending this meeting allowed the senate rep (Ben Aylott) and I to bring upthe issues of writing up fees and council tax. It will also allow me raise other issues in thefuture, such as the issue of postgraduate working space


I aim to set a date for the first tri-association drop in session as well as a date and a venuefor the postgraduate and mature student speed dating event which I am organising. Inaddition, I am to make progress in terms of improving the PGR rep system through the nextworking group meeting. I will also make use of opportunities to promote the PGMSA, forexample through upcoming events held by the graduate school and the upcoming CafPhD event.


30/31

Satellite Sites Officer Guild Council Officer Repo

What duties have you been carrying out which tie into your manifesto

pledges?Better Representation:

>Attended Student Rep Induction event for Dental School student reps and collected

feedback on how my role could be used effectively this year. Concerns have been

noted and will be acted upon as far as I can manage.

>During campaign week, I visited the Shakespeare Institute and met with the committee

of their performance group to discuss matters of the relationship between them and the

Guild. They were unsatisfied with the representation they have experienced and told me

that their last visit from the Guild was in 2009 and even then they were unsatisfied. They

requested that if I am elected, which of course now I am, I should visit them once a term.>I also told The Shakespeare Institute Players about being a Guild recognised

society, which they responded positively about. I followed up my promise to them

by sending them an email with the start-up form and further advice. I am

awaiting a decision from the committee.

>During the Better Forums, I requested that promotional material should be sent to the

satellite sites and not restricted to prime spots on the Edgbaston Campus. This was noted.

Improved Transport:

>I have met with a staff member at Selly Oak campus to discuss the current state of the

Selly Shuttle. This staff member has been dealing with the change of timetable over the

summer and informed me of the limitations and frustration he has faced. We discussed

options for protecting the welfare of drama students during production weeks (four

separate weeks in the academic year) and a further meeting is required to makedecisions. Options were also discussed for the betterment of the Selly Shuttle service and

the reasons for its reduced timetable.

Bring the Guild to you:

>By attending the Student Rep induction at the Dental School, I brought the Guild to a

satellite site and created a more positive, comfortable atmosphere for students to voice

their opinions in their familiar site.

>Promotional material has been suggested to be distributed to satellite sites as well as on

the main Edgbaston campus.

>Im planning visits to the satellite sites by some of the Guild Officer team in the future.

>Forwarded email with details of away trips for international and home students

positive feedback received.

What other duties have you been carrying out within your role?>As a side project for myself, I co-ordinated a collection of shoebox gifts for Operation

Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child is a project whereby you decorate a shoebox

with Christmas wrapping paper and fill it with small gifts like teddies, toothpaste, tennis

balls and more, then add a note for the gender and age group you wish to receive the

box. The boxes are sent to the most deprived parts of the world. To promote the project, I

added a note in the weekly Societies newsletter, asking for people to get involved either

as individuals or as societies. I also posted leaflets with contact details in the pigeon-holes

Name:Vici Royle

Position:Satellite Sites Officer

Date:

21/11/2011


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Satellite Sites Officer Guild Council Officer Repo

of societies as an extra point of contact. Posters were distributed around the Guild. This

meant that in addition to my own box, Saturday Morning Playscheme got involved by

giving two boxes, The Beeches Volunteering Officer passed on ten boxes from Beeches

residents, the Guilds own Disabled Students Officer donated a box herself and a very

welcome last-minute addition was made by an anonymous student. In total, 15 boxes

were taken to Edgbastons drop-off point and I will report back in January when I receive

news of where the boxes were delivered to. Thank you to Jen Kirk for helping me send

the boxes off to the drop-off point and to all those who got involved with creating their

shoebox gifts youre going to make some children extremely happy this winter!

>Blogging! Since being elected, I have published three blog posts well above the

requirement of 100 words. The first post was an introductory post that promised for a

good year, the second post introduced Operation Christmas Child and the third post

was a report from the last Guild Council. See: http://officerblogs.com/sso for more

details.

>National Demo Coaches. At the end of my first week as Satellite Sites Officer, I had to

make a difficult decision about the National Demo coaches as part of GOG.

>MAD: Mind Awareness Days. Attended the focus group for MAD. I was actioned to

present research on the use of colour in marketing, following comments from attendees

who suggested a change of design for publicity. As well as this, I promised to use my

contacts within the Drama department to potentially bring local theatre groups who

may want to get involved. Also spoke to a student group committee member and asked

him to put forward the idea to his committee. Awaiting feedback.

>Guild Council. Attended GC on 10th November and engaged in debate where

necessary. Defended the President when a censure was proposed against him for

inappropriate tweeting. See my blog for a full GC commentary.

>Staff. Whilst I represent students, I do feel that the staff should be taken into accountand their concerns should be looked after. As such, I have spoken with a lecturer of

Drama and Theatre Arts concerning the non-use of some buildings on the Selly Oak

campus. This will be brought up with the VPDR in due course and information will be fed

back to the department.

What do you aim to get done before the Guild Council?>Meet with Sabb mentor to discuss action plan on certain manifesto points.

>Publish this report on my blog when the Guild Council papers get sent out.

>Present colour research to DSO and VPW for MAD.

>Attend GOG.

>Attend Intercultural Awareness Training session as suggested by ISO.

>Hopefully attend non-sabb training (it has been problematic to arrange a training

session due to the busy schedules of the new non-sabbatical officers).

-----------

Vici Royle

Satellite Sites Officer

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @GuildSSO

Blog: http://officerblogs.com/sso

Documents

Guild Council Reports and Action Logs 6th December 2011