Review of the UKACCs Secretariat and Support Service

Transcription

1 Review of the UKACCs Secretariat and Support Service What this paper is about This paper provides the report of the UKACCs Working Group and its review of the UKACCs Secretariat and Support Service, the changes that have been agreed and its recommendations to the Annual Meeting. Points for Discussion The appointment of the Honorary Treasurer The arrangements for a new UKACCs website including; the mock-up of a possible new UKACCs website to be presented by Rod Smith, Chairman Heathrow ACC; whether a multi-site facility hosting the websites of other ACCs should continue to be offered as part of any new website platform; depending on the mock-up options and costs, to consider the funding arrangements for and timing of the website project in conjunction with the budget plan set out in Appendix 2. The proposed revised scale of subscriptions set out in Appendix 3 Possible Action To agree the appointment of the Honorary Treasurer To agree that the Secretariat Support Team take forward the website project in accordance with delegates wishes and within the financial constraints of the UKACCs budget To agree the proposed revised scale of subscriptions set out in Appendix 3 The Working Group be asked to review UKACCs financial situation early in 2017 and report back to the Annual Meeting in 2017.

2 Introduction 1. At last year s Annual Meeting in Manchester it was agreed that the UKACCs Working Group should continue to take forward the review of the Secretariat and Support arrangements and was specifically asked to consider: (a) an arrangement whereby Paula Street was invited to provide her services to UKACCS outside of her employment with WSCC subject to agreement from WSCC that this is acceptable to them as her main employer. (b) the potential for other ACCs (Chairmen/Secretaries) being able to offer skills and time to being part of the support mechanism. (c) the remuneration of the secretariat and support staff. (d) the current subscription fees/banding and whether these need to be reviewed. 2. The UKACCs Working Group has held two meetings since the Annual Meeting in June 2015, to discuss the formal establishment of a unified secretariat for UKACCs, including the transfer of much of the responsibility for the administration of UKACCs affairs from West Sussex County Council to UKACCs itself, in line with the decision taken at the Annual Meeting. As from 1 March the revised duties of the UKACCs Secretariat Support Team came into effect comprising Frank Evans (Secretary and Adviser to Stansted ACC), Stuart Innes (Secretary to London City ACC) and Paula Street (ant Secretary Gatwick ACC). Barry Smith (Deputy Honorary Secretary to Gatwick ACC) remains the Honorary Secretary to the UKACCs Annual Conference. 3. Also as part of the Working Group s review, the UKACCs budget and banking arrangements have been reviewed and a UKACCs bank account has now been set up. Expressions of interest for the position of an Honorary Treasurer were sought from across the UKACCs membership at the beginning of Various options to boost the UKACCs annual income via the scale of membership subscriptions have also been considered and one option was shared with all member ACCs earlier in March 2016 so that discussions could take place with their respective airports prior to the Annual Meeting. 5. However, Stuart Innes has since given notice of his retirement from UKACCs and also as Secretary to London City ACC. The implications of his retirement have been further considered and the latest views of the Working Group are reflected in this paper. 6. Two particular matters that require consideration are in relation to: the UKACCs website which requires urgent attention as Stuart Innes is the only person who is able to maintain the current UKACC website and the five ACC websites that are hosted by the UKACCs site the review of the scale of membership subscriptions Secretariat and Support Service 7. At last year s meeting delegates were asked to assist in the review of the current secretariat and support arrangements by completing a questionnaire seeking comments on the key tasks, priorities for the service, resilience and succession planning. The results of the questionnaire highlighted that the majority of member ACCs felt that the key tasks and priorities for the service were: Providing a main point of contact for UKACCs. Coordinating the arrangements with host airport and the agenda/papers for the Annual Meeting including: o research and preparing reports, minutes and action list

3 o taking forward actions on behalf of UKACCs pursuing matters with the Government, the CAA and other bodies/agencies. Drafting, consulting and agreeing collective responses to national consultations on behalf of UKACCs. The need to develop an authoritative lobbying role Providing a news service Establish a UKACCs bank account 8. The Working Group used this feedback as a basis to agree the allocation of tasks and shadowing arrangements for the Secretariat Support Team. A composite job description for Paula Street, Stuart Innes and Frank Evans was agreed and is attached at Appendix As regards remuneration the following has been agreed between the individuals and the Working Group as follows: o Paula Street average of one day per week at a salary of 5,400 o Frank Evans average of 4 hours per week at a salary of 2,700 o Stuart Innes average of 4 hours per week at a salary of 2, It was also agreed that a reserve of 500 would be needed to cover reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred in performing UKACCs secretariat tasks/functions. Attendance at, and accommodation and expenses incurred while at the Annual Meeting would be met by the individual airport consultative committees as has been the case for a number of years. 11. The Working Group also agreed that a UKACCs bank account should be established to be managed by an Honorary Treasurer. The likely time commitment and tasks involved have been identified and it was agreed that the Honorary Treasurer would receive a nominal payment of 250 per annum for managing and producing the audited accounts. An advertisement seeking expressions of interest was sent to all member ACCs in early February but unfortunately no interest in the position was forthcoming at the time of the advertisement. The UKACCs bank account has however been set up. More details about the UKACCs banking and budget plan are given below. 12. The new Secretariat and Support arrangements came into effect on 1 March However, Stuart Innes has since given notice of his retirement from UKACCs and also as Secretary to London City ACC. Arrangements to cover Stuart s duties have been considered and the Working Group agreed to seek expressions of interest from amongst the UKACCs membership. One expression was received from Rebecca Cox, Secretary, Heathrow ACC. The Working Group has considered Rebecca s interest and has agreed her appointment to take effect from 1 June We welcome Rebecca to the UKACCs Secretariat Team. 13. As part of the review of the Support Service following Stuart s departure the Working Group has agreed a change to the format of the daily news service. As from 1 June UKACCs member ACCs will receive a weekly bulletin of news articles, consultations and other matters of interest instead of receiving numerous s of news articles. The advantages of a weekly bulletin are: reduction in daily traffic to member ACCs enables the best news articles covering the same topic to be included, cutting down on repetition of similar articles gives details of national consultations with web links to documents and their closing dates for comments (this would be in addition to sending round a separate specifically for such consultations with the details).

4 14. Important/urgent information will continue to be sent round to all member ACCs as soon as possible. 15. The only duty currently performed by Stuart Innes which cannot be picked up by Rebecca at present is the website work. This is discussed below. 16. Delegates will also be pleased to note that Rebecca has recently expressed an interest in the position of Honorary Treasurer. When the Working Group originally discussed the role of the Treasurer is was agreed that it was preferable that the Treasurer should not be a member of the Secretariat Support Team due to the fact that salaries would need to be authorised and paid. However in the absence of any other expressions coming forward from amongst the UKACCs membership, the Working Group has reconsidered this matter and in view of the fact the UKACCs bank account has been set up with the requirement that at least two out of our four signatories are required to authorise payments it was felt the appointment of Rebecca as Honorary Treasurer should proceed. RECOMMENDATION That in the absence of any other expressions coming forward for the position of Honorary Treasurer at the Annual Meeting that Rebecca be appointed to the position from 9 June UKACCS Website 18. The current UKACCs website is in need of a major review and is currently using a dated website platform which can only be operated by Stuart Innes using expensive software on a single PC. Other members of the Secretariat Team are not able to undertake any administration/maintenance of the website. The Working Group has considered establishing a new website using a modern platform e.g. WordPress, enabling a number of designated editors to have access from a variety of PCs/devices but undertaking such a project will have cost implications for the UKACCs budget. Using a modern platform will have the benefit of adding resilience to UKACCs current arrangements. 19. Quotes have been sought from 3 separate website design companies which vary in cost from 2,350, 3,400 to 6,204. Having looked at those companies clients websites the lowest quote would probably not offer the best possible design for a UKACCs website. The realistic price would therefore be in the region of 3,500. There is also an annual (or monthly) web hosting fee probably around 180 per annum which needs to be taken into account in the future UKACCs budgeting arrangements. The current UKACCs web hosting costs are not known (currently with UK2net arranged by Stuart). Monies levied by the UKACCs membership subscriptions would need to fund such a project. Member ACCs have been consulted about a possible way forward including a suggestion of increasing the membership subscriptions to cover the cost of the project should this be needed. A handful of responses have been received to date, mostly positive in terms of increasing the scale of subscriptions. 20. As a result of that consultation an offer has been received from Rod Smith, Chairman of Heathrow ACC, to use his team at Imperial College to help with the website project and it is hoped that a mock-up of a possible website and the options available and potential costs can be presented at the Annual Meeting for consideration. 21. As mentioned above, Stuart s retirement means that the UKACCs website project now needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, particularly in view of the fact that maintenance of other ACC websites that are hosted by the UKACCs site (Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow Prestwick, Manchester and Liverpool John Lennon ACCs) cannot be undertaken. The Chairman and Secretaries of those ACCs have been alerted to the fact that alternative arrangements may need to be considered for their websites if a multi-site

5 UKACCs website is not the agreed option going forward. It should be noted that Aberdeen, Gatwick and Stansted ACCs have over the past year either set up/or are in the process of setting up their own website arrangements independent of the UKACCs multi-site hosting facility. It is understood that Manchester ACC is also considering alternatives. RECOMMENDATIONS Delegates are asked to consider: (1) the mock-up of a possible new UKACCs website presented by Rob Smith, Chairman Heathrow ACC; (2) whether a multi-site facility hosting the websites of other ACCs should continue to be offered as part of any new website platform; (3) depending on the mock-up options and costs, to consider the funding arrangements for and timing of the website project in conjunction with the budget plan discussed below. (4) the Secretariat Support Team take forward the website project in accordance with delegates wishes and within the financial constraints of UKACCs the budget. Review of Scale of Membership Subscriptions 22. The subscription fees raise the necessary funds to pay for the UKACCs Secretariat Support Team and other administrative expenses. The current scale of subscriptions as agreed at the 2012 Annual Meeting updated to reflect the CAA s 2015 air passenger traffic figures amounts to a UKACCs budget of 13,625. The newly agreed annual staff and administrative costs amount to a total of 11,550 leaving 2,075 from the annual income. 23. The Working Group has considered various options to ensure that the UKACCs account remains buoyant and able to cover the cost of the website project and any other unforeseen costs/expenditure. A budget plan for 2016/17 has therefore been prepared to assist consideration of the UKACCs financial situation. UKACCs Bank Account and Budget Plan 2016/ Although the position of Honorary Treasurer has yet to be filled, a UKACCs bank account has been set up with Lloyds Bank with an on-line banking facility which requires at least two of our four signatories to sign off payments. The four signatories are Peter Smart, Chairman of the Working Group; Mike Flynn, Secretary to Manchester ACC; Barry Smith, Conference Secretary and Paula Street. It should be noted that Paula will stand down from being a signatory once an Honorary Treasurer has been appointed. 25. In closing the WSCC hosted account, it was found that there were more funds in the account than originally advised and a total 14,401 has been transferred to the new UKACCs bank account. Stuart Innes salary payment for 2015/16 has yet to be made. A budget plan for 2016/17 has been prepared and is attached at Appendix 2. As can be seen UKACCs finances are more buoyant than first anticipated and the Working Group has recently re-considered the scale of membership subscriptions. 26. As the UKACCs account is more buoyant it is now suggested that the current scale of subscriptions be retained but with the introduction of a new band for those airports handling over 40 million passengers per annum. This would mean the total annual income would increase from 13,625 to 14,125. The proposed revised scale of subscriptions is set out in Appendix This would mean that by the end of September 2016, there would be sufficient monies in the account to fund a website project if needed as well as a more generous amount left in the account by the end of 2016/17 financial year.

6 RECOMMENDATIONS (1) Delegates consider and agree the revised scale of subscriptions set out in Appendix 3; (2) The budget plan for 2016/2017 be noted; (3) The Working Group be asked to review the financial situation early in 2017 and report back to the Annual Meeting in Peter Smart Chairman UKACCs Working Group

7 UKACCs Secretariat Composite Job Description Task/role Paula Stuart (and his successor) 1. Management of the work of the Personal secretariat a. Liaison with Chair of the Working Group and/or the Conference Secretary in all secretariat matters b. Co-ordination of the work of the secretariat c. Signing off claims for payment for work undertaken and for reimbursement of expenses APPENDIX 1 Frank 2. UKAACs Annual Conference ing with the organisation and smooth management of the UKACCs annual conference, in conjunction with the host airport. This includes (all with support from the Conference Secretary) a. co-ordinating the booking of, and services provided by, the conference hotel and any related events, visits and venues; b. preparation of the agenda for, and supporting papers of, the annual business meeting, and presenting papers to conference as required; c. noting the discussions and decisions of conference, circulating the minutes and action points and undertaking any follow-up correspondence (papers as allocated/ Agreed) Shadow (papers as allocated/ Agreed) Shadow 3. UKACCs Working Group Ensuring the organisation and smooth management of meetings of the Working Group, including (with support from the Conference Secretary) a. arranging meeting accommodation and refreshments; b. preparation of the agenda for, and supporting papers of, the meeting, and presenting papers as required; c. noting the discussions and decisions of the meeting, circulating the Shadow

8 minutes and action points and undertaking any follow-up correspondence 4. Briefing and advisory support to members a. preparation and circulation of briefing notes on issues of current interest to member committees, including professional advice where this is within the competence of the secretariat; b. maintaining the UKACCs advisory service, including RSS feeds and other press and media items, as they relate either to the full membership of UKACCs, or to local items of interest to one or member committees; c. seeking to co-ordinate the sharing of information and views between specific committees, based for example on a geographical or airport size basis As allocated As required As allocated As allocated 5. Liaison with government and other aviation bodies a. maintaining professional contact with the Department for Transport, CAA and other bodies related to aviation, to ensure a continuing current knowledge of trends, proposals and decisions being considered or made by them, and advising member committees as appropriate; b. attendance at meetings with such organisations as the DfT and CAA on behalf of UKACCs/the Working Group and providing a report back to the wider membership as appropriate; Joint lead As required As required Joint lead As required 6. UKACCs and related websites and other ICT a. maintaining and developing the UKACCs website and websites of individual committees hosted on the UKACCs system and ensuring that all postings are up-to-date, accurate, attractive and fit for purpose; b. developing an ICT system for UKACCs materials that can be accessed from any computer, Manage Manage

9 irrespective of where hosted; c. ensuring smooth access by all members of UKACCs to papers for meetings Manage 7. Accounting and financial service a. maintaining the accounts and banking arrangements for UKACCs Manage Ideally, appoint a member of UKACCs as honorary treasurer This composite job description seeks to cover all the main aspects of the work of the secretariat, but will be subject to review at the end of 2016, to ensure that it recognises all the main requirements of UKACCs.

10 (see separate tables) APPENDIX 2

11 APPENDIX 3 SCALE OF MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS (based on the agreed scale of subscriptions but with the proposal to introduce a new band for airports handling over 40 mppa and updated to reflect CAA 2015 traffic figures and the consequential changes in membership bands) Passenger throughput based on the CAA s Airport Statistics for 2015 Subscription Total Under 3 million passengers per annum (mppa) (Belfast City, Bournemouth, Doncaster Sheffield, Glasgow Prestwick, Inverness, Southampton, Southend) Over 3 mppa but under 6 mppa (Aberdeen, Belfast International, East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, London City, Newcastle) 325 2, ,975 Over 6 mppa but under 10 mppa (Bristol, Glasgow,) 625 1,250 Over 10 mppa but under 20 mppa (Birmingham, Edinburgh, Luton) 875 2,625 Over 20 mppa but under 40mppa (Manchester, Stansted) Over 40 mppa (Gatwick, Heathrow,) 1,125 1,375 2,250 2,750 14,125 If, the new subscription band of over 40 mppa is not introduced the total annual income would be 13,625