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Officer Community Officer – Sam Peake

Session Scrutiny #2

Key: Everything in blue is an addition made as part of this second report. The black is this report as of

the last Scrutiny Panel meeting, which may be useful for your reference.

1.) Objectives

Lobby Nottingham City Council (NCT) to pursue the long-term goal of a compulsory landlord register,

and, in the medium term, lobby NCT to take steps to increase the effectiveness of the Mandatory and

Additional licensing schemes.

Context (summary)

Pursuant to Section 55 (3) of the Housing Act 2004, and the supplementary Statutory

Instrument 2006 No. 373, the Nottingham City Council have operated a mandatory

licensing scheme for all Homes of Multiple Occupancy (HMO’s, as defined under

sections 254 & 257 of the Act) exceeding 3 stories, with 5 or more people living

together, as two or more households. This mandatory licensing scheme has operated in

Nottingham since April 2006. More recently the City Council, in exercise of the powers

conferred on it by Section 56 (1) of the Housing Act 2004 has designated certain areas of

the city (where many students live) as being subject to Additional Licensing. Additional

licensing came into force in January 2014, and applies to properties within the

designated area, in which 3 or more people live together as two or more households.

Progress to date (summary)

Mandatory and Additional Licensing is meant to ensure that properties subject to the

licensing conditions meet legal minimum standards. The problem is that not all

properties are licensed, (even though they may be legally supposed to be.) Because the

licensing is patchy is its coverage, landlords can ‘fall between the cracks.’ This is where

the idea of “a compulsory landlord register” comes in. This was a personal manifesto

commitment of mine, drawing upon the pre-election Student Manifesto. I have lobbied

the Councillors at several meetings I have held with them to implement this compulsory

landlord register. The Councillors do not seem to like the phrase “compulsory landlord

register.” In future I doubt I will use those particular words because I judge them to be a

language barrier to the important ideas which actually stand behind the phrase; ideas

which do seem to have gained traction with the City Council. I am pleased to report that

the City Council have very recently, in their strategic plans for 2015-19, stated their

intention to introduce a comprehensive city wide licensing scheme. I consider this a

significant achievement. The road to a Nottingham where all HMOs are compulsorily

licensed will not be travelled quickly. There are, for example, legal obstacles to

overcome in order to achieve this vision. Nevertheless the fact that the City Council

have committed to moving towards a comprehensive and compulsory city-wide

licensing scheme is very good news for students, and a reflection of our political power

in the local community.

While something akin to a Compulsory Landlord Register is a long term aspiration, it is

clear there are steps the Council could take to enhance the effectiveness of the already

existing licensing regime. At a meeting with local Councillors and the MP for Nottingham

South, Lilian Greenwood, I pressed the case that the Council should create a public

register of all the properties which have been licensed. Students would then be

encouraged to search this register when looking for properties, in order to inform their

house hunting search and report unlicensed HMOs to the Council. At the time, the

feeling in the room was that this idea would not be possible as there was not currently a

critical mass of properties sufficient to support such publication. However, I have

persisted and when I raised the idea again at my most recent meeting with the

councillor’s, it appeared the position may have shifted. I am now setting up a meeting

with Lorraine Raynor, who is Head of Community Protection and Chief Environmental

Health and Safer Housing Office. It is early days, but I am hopeful that she will be

sympathetic to the idea, as she has the power to make it happen, and she has expressed

her initial support.

Latest Progress

I organised a meeting with Lorraine Raynor, who is Head of Community Protection and

Chief Environmental Health and Safer Housing Officer. We spoke about how we could

make the service the Council offers more accessible to students, including the creation

of a single point of contact for housing concerns. We also spoke about the need for

enhanced information sharing between the Students’ Union Advice Centre and her

team. We discussed legislative changes on the horizon, including the Housing Bill

currently before Parliament. We both agreed that there were aspects of the Bill which

were very positive.

I also discussed the issue of publishing a list of licensed properties (both mandatory and

additional.) It was confirmed that currently the Council have a tool whereby students

can check to see if their property is eligible to be licensed. The Council’s thinking is that

this empowers students to ask their landlord or letting agent whether the property they

are looking at is licensed. I suggested that this put too much incumbency on the student,

and it was agreed that we would explore options for how to publicise lists of specifically

licensed properties.

Time Scale until students see results

It is difficult to put a time scale to this. Across all agencies everyone is working towards

sustained improvement in housing conditions over the course of the next five years. I

am confident plans are in place to see that happen. But there is not a ‘silver bullet’ or

‘quick fix’ to entrenched social-issues of this nature.

I sought Lorraine’s view on whether the Council would consider blacklisting landlords,

once that power had been enacted by the Housing Bill gaining royal assent. It was

indicated that the Council would look favourably upon this, so blacklisting may be

something my successor should examine in the autumn of 2016.

Support moves to increase standards within the student property market by providing students with

greater housing advice, and investigating the feasibility of a ‘Rate your Landlord’ System; where

students would be able to rate their experiences in private rented accommodation.

Context (summary)

While licensing can potentially be a strong tool in ensuring that properties meet

minimum legal standards, there are other ways to enhance the student housing

experience, which rely on the voluntary participation of either the tenant or landlord.

As far as the voluntary participation of landlords is concerned, a landlord can choose to

join a voluntary accreditation scheme, and therefore commit (at least in theory) to

maintain his or her property to a higher standard than the legal minimum. There are

two principal voluntary accreditation schemes which operate in Nottingham; one is

called Unipol and the other is called DASH. Together these schemes cross-badge as ‘the

Nottingham Standard.’

As regards the voluntary participation of the tenant, there are two ways I envisage the

Students’ Union can support this. Firstly we can try to give students the guidance they

need in order to make wise decisions when they are house-hunting. Secondly, we can

look at more innovative ways to enhance the positional power of student tenants within

the rental market, by developing something I call a ‘Rate Your Landlord’ scheme. As I say

in my manifesto, the idea behind this is to create a mechanism whereby students can

review a house they are renting and share that review on a central database. This would

enable students to search for information about the quality of a specific house they may

be looking at. Hopefully this would incentivise landlords to maintain good relations with

tenants, and keep the property in good order over the longer term.


Almost the first decision I had to make as Community Officer was whether to support

the University’s decision not to renew its contract with Unipol. This was a difficult

political situation for me to step into, because considerable tension had built up

between the University and the City Council over the proposed non-renewal of the

Unipol contract. From the perspective of the Students’ Union, both the University and

the City Council are very important strategic partners, and so I thought carefully about

the line we should take. After consultation with Andy Winter (who is the Students

Union’s Director of Membership Services) and Sian Williams (who is Head of the Student

Advice Centre) it became apparent the SU had also experienced difficulties in its

relationship with Unipol, and also had doubts about the way their accreditation scheme

had been operating. This, combined with the already firm position of the University,

persuaded me that the SU should respect the University’s decision not to renew its

Unipol contract. However given Unipol is an established player within the Nottingham

housing market, and will no doubt continue doing some good work as part of the

‘Nottingham Standard,’ the Union must seek positive relationships with Unipol, and

work with them where to do so is in the interests of students. With this in mind I have

on several occasions met with George Bradley, who is Unipol’s Student Engagement

Officer. I believe we have established a good working relationship. Meanwhile the

University has entered into contractual negotiations with another third party provider. I

have fed into these discussions, and would appreciate your discretion in keeping this

information confidential until such time as the University wishes to make a public

statement.

The changing relationship the University has with Unipol, has given rise to the need to

re-evaluate the University’s Housing Strategy. I have held conversations with the

Student Advice Centre, and have my own ideas, which I am feeding back to the

University. Unfortunately Unipol have made the decision to bring forward the release

date for their properties to November the 7th. This is unhelpful given students exist in a

surplus market, and would greatly benefit from waiting until after their January exams,

before looking for houses. It will therefore be important to double-down on this

message using the Love Your Home campaign, and also by facilitating information

presentations in halls of residence. I have held conversations with Melanie Futer (who is

head of the University’s Off Campus Affairs department) about this, as well as the

Student Advice Centre, and I will be developing a firm plan of action of the forthcoming

weeks.

In relations to rate your landlord, I have discussed the mechanics of how this might work

with George Bradley, who has a lot of knowledge of the system because of his time as a

Sabbatical Officer at Leeds Students’ Union. Together with the President, I will be

gathering information about different types of operating the system. I have a read a

paper, produced by the NUS, which gives guidance on to mitigate the risk of being sued

for defamation. Angharad and I have also contacted the President and Community

Officer at Hull’s Students’ Union as we are interested in the ‘star’ based system they are

operating.

Latest Progress

In pursuance of one of my main manifesto pledges I have arranged and delivered

presentations on house hunting in all of the university’s halls of residence. This involved

liaising with the wardens of each hall to gain access at the required time; working with

the Students’ Union marketing department to publicise the events, as well as developing

the content of the presentations, in conjunction with the Student Living Department

and Student Advice Centre. In the later part of November I went into the halls on a bye-

cluster basis, including at Sutton Bonnington. The majority of the events were well

attended, and it was a great opportunity to talk to students, and address their questions

directly.

In relation to Rate Your Landlord, the panel will recall at the time of the last meeting I

had been waiting to see how negotiations developed between the university and an

external company who were to provide house hunting services for the university. My

thinking was that a Rate Your Landlord system could be incorporated within this system,

and the university were quite enthusiastic about this idea. Unfortunately since then the

University’s own negotiations with this company have not proceeded at the pace first

envisaged (for a number of reasons.) However I still want to be proactive about this

objective. Hull Students’ Union are visiting Nottingham on Friday, and I will see if there

are lessons to be learnt from the Rate Your Landlord System which they have

developed. I have also been in contact with some individuals who are interested in

piloting a system of this nature, and I will be discussing our next steps with Angharad

later this week. In the meantime, it will be important to ensure our existing online

housing advice is of high quality, and I have asked the marketing team to contact an

external production company with a view to re-filming the Union’s Love Your Home

videos, which are currently two years old.


Good progress has been made in organising and delivering the housing presentations,

such that students have already seen results. I will see if there is demand to repeat

these presentations in some halls in February. I expect to make greater progress on Rate

Your Landlord in future, and would hope to have formulated questions, done legal due

diligence on those questions, and launched a survey-monkey of student housing by the

end of the year. I would aim to re-film some of the love your home video content by the

end of January, (whilst respecting that the marketing department will also be busy with

branding for Kick-Start 2016 at this time.)

Ensure that students have a strong political voice at both a local and national level, and (wherever

possible) work in collaboration with community partners, such as Nottingham Citizens, to achieve this

end.

Context (summary)

It is vital that students have a political voice. As a political representative I see my role as

being to listen to, reflect on, and lead student opinion. On too many issues students are

politically invisible. I will strive to engage students with the political process this year.


It is vital to get more students on the electoral register. The more politicians fear

students’ ability to act at the ballot box, the more likely they are to take the concerns of

students seriously. In my meetings with Stephen Dudderidge, who is a senior university

official heading up the Student Operations and Support division, I have repeatedly made

the case for the university to automatically register students to vote at the same time as

the university itself enrols the student (with the proviso of an ‘opt out’ option).

Unfortunately my arguments have not yet won the day. The University is concerned

about holding large amounts of data, such as National Insurance numbers, for which it

has no real use. It is unlikely this position will shift in advance of the Go Live 3 stage of

Project Transform. Nevertheless voter registration remains a pressing concern for two

other reasons. Firstly, the number of MPs is being reduced from 650 to 600. On

December the 1st the Boundary Commission will take a snapshot of the electoral

register, and use this data to calibrate the new constituencies. There is a risk that

Nottingham may disproportionately loose some of its Parliamentary representation,

unless more students do register to vote. Secondly, the City Council will increasingly try

to negatively incentivise voter registration by withdrawing services from those not on

the electoral register. This means that there is a risk that students will be denied

important services in future. In the absence of action from the University (of the kind I

have suggested above) I have developed an alternative strategy to pursue in advance of

the 1st of December deadline. Firstly, Angharad and I will write to every single student

encouraging them to register to vote. We will link absence from the electoral register to

new Government proposals which, if realised, will present a significant financial

disadvantage to current and future students. The Union will use its social networks to

promote voter registration, and share a viral video produced by the City Council. I will

deliver training with the newly elected JCRs on the 14th, to explain the issue to them and

talk through effective campaigning techniques. Hopefully this will be a good first project

for the new JCR committees.

I have also been attending the Leadership Group Meetings of Nottingham Citizens in

order to forge better community links, and increase the Union’s ability to act in a

politically effective way. One of the issues that this group has identified as a particular

area of concern is the current refugee crisis. I am absolutely clear that the Union should

do everything in its power to support those suffering in this humanitarian catastrophe.

To this end, Nottingham Citizens supported a refugee solidarity vigil in market square

which was attended by over 700 people, during the summer. I co-signed a letter to John

Collins (who is leader of Nottingham City Council.) The letter called on the city to play its

part and welcome just 50 refugees. This directly led to the City Council committing to

play “more than its full part” in helping alieve the refugee crisis. Energised by this work, I

took a role working on a Nottingham Citizens sub-committee looking at refugees. The

Committee aims to support the National Refugees Welcome Board, by building the local

support and resource to welcome refugees. I therefore organised an event where

student leaders from a range of political, charitable and religious societies, could come

together in one room to discuss how we as students might contribute to tackling this

crisis. One of the actions I suggested was that we join in an action taking place in

Parliament Square calling for the Government to take in 1000 refugees before

Christmas. The group endorsed this idea, and so I went ahead an planned the trip to

London (securing free coach travel for all attendees.) The lobby of Parliament was

attended by leading national politicians including Yvette Cooper MP (who is a former

Labour Cabinet Minister), Angus Robertson MP (who is the SNP’s leader at

Westminster), and Tim Farron MP (the Liberal Democrats’ new leader.) Students played

an active role in making the assembly a success- marshalling the crowd and distributing

candles and leaflets. I laid a wreath.

Latest Progress

I completed the plans on voter registration which I outlined in the last meeting of the

scrutiny panel. This included filming and releasing a video to the entire student

population advocating why they should vote, and why they should register to vote in

advance of the deadline. I also tried to compliment this with a ground voter registration

campaign, which coordinated representatives from Bite the Ballot, City Council

employees, and members of our own JCRs. The Council have a statutory duty to get

students on the electoral role and I am pleased we helped them, albeit I would suggest

doing things differently in future (for reasons I am happy to expand on in our meeting.)

Nonetheless I have continued to support voter registration drives. I have organised for

Experian to come into the Portland Building between the 1st and 7th of February. They

will staff a stand in Portland for the entire week in celebration of National Voter

Registration Day. I hope that given the company’s experience, they will be able to

emphasise the importance of voter registration to gaining a good credit rating.

I have continued my engagement with Nottingham Citizens. I have now undertaken 2

day training with Citizens UK, together with a number of other students, in order to gain

a greater insight into their campaigning methods. I stood for and was re-elected to the

Leadership Group of Nottingham Citizens, which is a positive step in giving the Union

influence in local community campaigns. I was also asked to co-chair Nottingham

Citizens AGM and Listening Feedback Evening. From listening to the views of the

membership, 4 main campaigning strands emerged for the year ahead. These were

sanctuary and immigration; mental health; Islam, Women and Education; Social Care

and Isolation. I have also been liaising with another community organiser to see if there

is energy to form another team looking at issues of discrimination. I will need to recruit

students to these teams. My ambition is also to grow the strength of the alliance as a

whole, and I will be having conversations with New College Nottingham and Unison to

this end.


In respect of our actions regarding voter registration, the success will be in how many

students we get registered by the 1st of December, and then any other future election

deadlines.

In respect of the actions I have taken to engage students with the refugee crisis, I would

argue we have already seen success. The London Assembly produced the following

tangible outcomes. Principally, David Cameron agreed to do the main thing we were

asking; take a thousand refugees before Christmas. This is a substantial achievement, as

previously the line had been it would take 3-6 months before any serious increase in

numbers could take effect. Furthermore we also gained on the record commitments

from 3 significant Parliamentarians that they would support Citizens UK in its efforts to

welcome refugees to Britain. We also gained a commitment from Richard Harrington,

(who is the Government Minister with responsibility for Syrian refugees,) to meet with

Citizens UK. This was a productive outcome, as this is an important relationship to

strengthen going forward. In addition to these tangible outcomes, is the benefit of

Nottingham being seen to be a welcoming place for refugees, and indeed all peoples.

Recently the EDL were out in Market Square, so it is necessary that students stand up as

part of a counter-narrative that says people fleeing terrible suffering will be welcomed

into our communities, from whatever race or religion they may come. I am proud of our

students for playing their part so far, and I intend to take this work forward.

I will aim to get students involved with the new projects launched by Nottingham

Citizens after they have finished their exams. My aim is to have a selection of students

well engaged with these issues by the time of the Delegates Assembly in March. I hope

this will be a strong basis to encourage attendance at a larger assembly in the Summer.

I also aim to engage students with other political issues this term. In the medical

profession; junior doctors strikes are imminent and nursing bursaries are being cut back.

There are also big changes to student finance afoot. The announcement in the Autumn

Statement that the Government intend to retroactively renegotiation the rate at which

students repay their loans is significant. When this is combined with proposed cuts to

maintenance grants; and the uprooting of tuition fees, (that will be the likely result of

the Governments’ green paper ‘Fulfilling our potential: teaching excellence, social

mobility and student choice,’) the future for student finance and social mobility within

the higher education sector looks bleak. This term I want to make students aware of

these political issues, and the action they can take in their community in response to

them. I am happy to talk about any of these changes in the scrutiny panel session, if that

would helpful.

Liaise with student leaders on the other campuses to find ways to support their various travel needs.

Context (summary)

Students over many years have consistently spoken of the need for increased hopper

bus provision. The university has been reluctant to change its position, predominantly

for financial reasons. It may be that more creative solutions are required to meet the

transportation needs of students.


I have held conversations with the respective presidents of the SB Guild and UNAD. It is

clear that the SB Guild now feel that the hopper bus provision they have in place caters

well for their needs. Of greater priority to the SB Guild is the cost of travel into

Loughborough. I pledged to support them, wherever I could, in devising a lobbying

strategy. I will take that forward when the Guild themselves are ready to proceed (as

they are very busy at the moment.)

The problems with the bus links to Derby appear to be substantially more concerning.

The medical school has very recently announced that they will be withdrawing funding

for a vital hopper bus service that gets into Derby by 09.00 (in time for morning

placements.) I have set up a meeting with UNAD, the Student Living Team, and

representatives from the University’s Sustainability Department (who oversee the

hopper buses) to discuss this situation and how it can be resolved. After this situation is

resolved, there is a broader conversation to be had about the quality of the Derby

Hopper Bus service (and I will be seeking the views of the new UNAD committee, when

they are elected.)

Latest Progress

The immediate issues caused by the medical school’s decision to no longer fund an

additional hopper bus to Derby were resolved by the school committing that any

students who could not be covered by the remaining bus service would have their taxi

travel reimbursed. More broadly I have held a meeting with Professor Jonathan

Atherton, who is Pro Vice Chancellor for Medicine and Health Sciences to talk, among

other things, about the hopper bus situation. I was pleased to have his agreement that

the current transport service to Derby is not adequate, and to have his commitment

that he would work with the Student’s Union to see what could be done to address this.

The situation of poor transportation links to Derby was also something I raised with the

Chancellor of the University (and CEO of GSK) on his recent visit. He was grateful to the

Students’ Union for identifying the issue, and pleased with our flexible approach to

solving the situation.


Realistically the time scale to resolve the immediate issues to do with the Derby

morning Hopper Bus is before Christmas. A broader conversation can then be had in

February, when the university will be reviewing the hopper bus budget again.

I will now begin assembling a report with the Students’ Living Team, with a view to

making a pitch when the new round of university budgeting occurs this Spring.

Lobby the University to introduce a system of role-credit on meal cards, and oversee the

development of this proposal.

Context (summary)

For many years community officers have been lobbying the university to allow the credit

on meal cards to role-over for a period of time, so students can make purchases at the

times most convenient to them. For many years the University has been unwilling to

allow this. However, towards the end of my predecessor’s term of office, a committee

was set up called the Halls Package Review Group, which had broad terms of reference,

and could therefore consider the purpose of meal cards in more detail.


During my hand-over period I co-authored (with my predecessor Mike Olatokun) a

paper to be put to a meeting of the Halls Package Review Group. The paper was a

considered document recommending the University adopt a system of roll-over credit

on meal cards, with the proviso that the credit should only role over for 1 week at a

time. The meeting was chaired by Chris Jagger, head of the Estates Office. After some

debate we managed to secure support for the change. Over the following weeks I liaised

with Toni Pickering, the University’s Review Project Manager, as the proposal was one

of a series of different recommendations being put forward to the University’s Executive

Board. I am pleased to report that UEB affirmed the suggestion a few weeks ago. I have

reported this back to PresComm who were very pleased.

Latest Progress

I have held conversations with Phil Smith, the Students’ Union Commercial Director,

about the possibility of making the tills in the SU shop compatible with meal cards. I am

pleased to say that this is likely to be in place by next year, together with the

University’s commitments which I outlined at the last meeting.

Time Scale until students see results.

The changes will not take effect until next year, but we need to communicate this to

students (not least because it represents an achievement for the Student’s Union.)

3. Remit

Meetings

Meeting What Happened The Result

Project Transform OD

group

This is a recurring meeting for

Project Transform, which is a £40

million investment the University

are making into a new IT and

student interface system that will

completely change the way

students interact with the

university’s administrative services.

These meetings are often highly

detailed, and it would not be

fruitful to try to condense this

complexity into such a short space.

I am happy to answer questions on

Project Transform in the Panel

Session itself. One of the drivers of

the project is the ability of the

university to make significant

staffing efficiencies, and this

committee has essentially been

tasked with working out the

organisational design that will exist

post-Project Transform.

PresComm This was a good opportunity to

discuss with the JCR Presidents

their plans for their year in office. It

was an opportunity to introduce

ourselves as officers, and discuss

scope for collaboration on issues,

(such as voter registration.)

I took away several issues which

were important to the presidents,

and intend to have further 121

meetings with them in February to

develop my relationship with them.

Nottingham Action

Group

I attended a meeting to discuss the

impact of recent housing policies in

the city, and how the

demographics of Lenton have

changed in recent years.

This is an ongoing relationship, but

Maya had some interesting

reflections on where housing may

be going over the longer term. I

will sit down again with Maya in

late January/ early February.

Stephen Dudderidge

Meeting

I have met with Stephen again to

discuss issues such as the 2% rise in

hall fees for the next academic

year.

The answers I got were reassuring.

The university is not seeking to

raise additional profit from

students, but is rising fees by 2% in

line with an expanded cost base.

Sizable investment will also be

going into kitchen facilities which

will be of benefit to students.

Trustee Board This was an interesting meeting of

the Board, where we were able to

reflect on the observations made

by Dan Francis from the NUS , who

advised as to how the Board could

operate even more effectively. It

also provided an opportunity for

discussion of important issues,

including living wage, and how the

Union plans to develop

commercially in all aspects. There

was also a presentation on how the

The minutes were approved. The

Board was given de-briefs from its

respective sub-committees:

People, Finance and Company, and

a number of substantive/ strategic

issues were debated with actions

noted.

Union is supporting student

welfare, in line with Goal 3 in the

Union’s strategy.

Reporting and Finance

Committee

The Committee examined the

Union’s accounts, the risk register

and the year 3 strategy targets. It

also noted the positive financial

performance of the Union in the

first quarter of this year.

The Union’s finances are in good

health, and the risks (short and

long term) are being considered

and managed by the Committee.

Nottingham Citizens

Leadership Group

The group considered the issues

which had arisen out of the

community listening exercise, and

how to move them forward in sub-

teams. It discussed how to expand

the alliance over the year ahead.

The Group noted the need to be

developing its selected campaigns

into tangible asks ahead of the

Police and Crime Commissioner

Elections and an assembly that may

be organised to coincide with this.

Officer Meetings This is an ongoing meeting

discussing Union strategy and

matter that arise on an ongoing

basis.

For example at the last meeting

one of the matters discussed was

our plans to support student

wellbeing during the exam period,

which has been brilliantly

organised by Sarah Pickup.

SLT/Officer Think Tank

Sessions

This is an ongoing meeting

discussing Union strategy and

matter that arise on an ongoing

basis.

At the last meeting we discussed a

recent Green Paper produced by

the Government, and how the

Union was responding. As well as

our overall response, it was agreed

the Officers would submit a

separate response a question in

the consultation document

concerning the democratic

accountability of Students’ Unions.

I have taken a lead on this.

Lilian Greenwood MP

Meeting

I met with Lilian and we spoke

about local issues as well as issues

of national significance such as the

re-negotiation of junior doctor

contracts.

I attended an action held in market

square, aimed at supporting junior

doctors rights to fair pay and

working hours. I liaised with Kim,

the President of the Medical

Society, who was grateful for our

support at the event. It appears the

Government’s stance may now be

shifting, which would be positive

news for students and patients

alike.

Broadgate Park Liaison

Group Meeting

I have so far only attended one

meeting of this committee. We

discussed welcome week and the

changes being made.

It was good to make introductions,

and learn about the positive steps

being taken to welcome

international students in particular.

Hate Crime Meeting I have held a further meeting with

Clive Foster, who is Hate Crime

Coordinator at the City Council.

We agreed to look at whether

workshops should be run to raise

understanding of the breadth of

this offence, and better understand

it’s prevalence among parts of the

student population.

Democratic Procedures

Committee

This is a Committee whose job is to

examine the Union’s governing

documents, particularly the bye

laws. The Committee heard from

representatives of the ESJ network

and those looking to pass reform

the Union’s referendum

procedures.

I was elected Chair of the

Committee.

The ESJ network was formally

established.

The quorum levels for referendum

were significantly lowered.

Proposals for International Reps in

Hall Committees were heard in

brief, with a view to a decision

being made at the next committee.

4. Policy

Policy Policy 2.2 Investigate a student union/s owned and run letting agency

(expires 25/11/17)

Type Single - FT

With -

Policy Resolves The Student Union should investigate in detail and produce a report on a

Student Union Run Letting Agency in Nottingham that would be the first

port of call for students searching for accommodation in Nottingham.

Actions taken I have organised and conducted a meeting with the person who raised this

matter at Union Council last year, Scott Jennings. I expressed my own initial

reservations about this idea (which I deliberately did not include in my

manifesto, as I was not convinced by the wisdom of the Union becoming an

active player in a housing market it seeks to hold to account and regulate.)

Scott and I therefore agreed that I would not personally be the best person

to investigate this matter, but that I would take forward this mandate from

Union Council by holding a meeting with the Representation Development

Department on how we can research this idea, not least because I have

visited a number of other Students’ Unions who do run their own lettings

agency.

I have met with Scott once again to discuss this, and I am due to meet with a

representative from the Housing Co-operative Association, Mike Shaw, who

may have some useful experiences to share from his time working with

Edinburgh Students’ Union.

Time Scale until

students see

results

I have spoken with Sarah Gosling who has suggested I talk with Natalie

Martin about where this piece of work could fit into her team’s calendar.

How Success will

Be measured

Success will be measured by the thoroughness of the work, and comparative

analysis of the success of these schemes in Unions where they have been

implemented.

How have you

worked with the

relevant PTO.

N/A

Policy Policy 4.7- Safety on campus

(expires 7/5/16))

Type FT/FT

With Welfare

Policy Resolves This Union Resolves to supply safety alarms to students at the subsidised

cost of 50p.

This Union Resolves to campaign for better street lighting on campus.

This Union Resolves to lobby the university to provide better security for

bikes.

This Union Resolves to lobby the University to extend its hopper bus system

later into the evening.

Actions taken In regard to campaigning for better street lighting on campus, I have met

with the Women’s Officers and the Welfare Officer respectively. Together

we have identified various areas on campus which we believe would benefit

from increased lighting provision. With these identified we have we emailed

Chris Jagger (who is head of estates and a member of the University’s

Executive Board.) From this correspondence a walk around campus was

organised with Barry Chadwick (the Operations and Facilities Manager.) We

explored campus between the 18.00 and 20.30 hours, so the Sun had gone

down. We agreed that while the lighting was generally good, and significant

improvements have been made to the Downs over the summer, there were

areas in need of further lighting. We are going to liaise further on this, but I

have high hopes that we can make progress around the jubilee gardens and

path to the Tram line area.

With regard to providing better security for bikes, I have held an initial

conversation with the Mark Davis, the university’s Crime Prevention

Reduction Manager, about the CCTV coverage for campus bike racks, and

other strategies for reducing bike theft. We will have a further meeting

about this.

We are going out with an awareness campaign during exams, displaying the

Lights on the Downs and the win there, but also emphasising how campus is

actually a very safe place to be and what people can do if they feel unsafe

(bringing in things such as the Safer Taxi Scheme and Night Owls.)

Time Scale until

students see

results

We intend to follow this up with Barry, but we would like to see progress

over the Winter, where lighting issues are clearly of the most saliency.

How Success will

Be measured

By whether students feel safer on campus.

How have you

worked with the

relevant PTO.

I have fully included the Women’s Officer’s in every discussion I have had in

relation to lighting provision (as detailed above.)

Policy Policy 4.9- Work towards a fair pay campus

(expires 11/12/15)

Type PT/FT

With ESJ-lead

Policy Resolves This Union resolves to lobby the University to pay a Living Wage to its entire

staff.

This Union resolves to propose the idea of a living wage at the next Trustee

Board meeting or relevant subcommittee.

This Union resolves to seek accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation.

Actions taken This matter recently arose before The Board of Trustees. To give context the

Union is currently under-going a Performance and Recognition Review. As

part of this process a report was commissioned from an external

organisation called Humanus, to assess options regarding the living wage.

On the basis of this report the Senior Leadership Team recommended to the

Trustee Board that the Union should neither seek to become a living wage

accredited employer, and nor should it commit to paying career staff a living

wage. As an Officer with a manifesto commitment concerning the living

wage, and with a duty to uphold Union policy, this placed me in a difficult

position. As a trustee, I must also consider what is in the best financial

interests on the Union. Having carefully weighed all the arguments, I

reached the conclusion that while full accreditation would not be finically

practicable; there was a powerful case for committing to pay career staff a

living wage. I therefore convened a meeting of the Officer team in order to

share my concerns about the SLT proposal, and was pleased to secure the

support for the amendments I suggested. The Activities Officer and I worked

on a line to take at the imminent meeting of the People Committee. The

People Committee were unable to reach agreement on the SLT

recommendation in question. Together with Rob, I then met with the

student Trustees and compiled a business case on the living wage, (running

in excess of eight pages) to be put to the Trustee Board. At the Trustee

Board the external trustees observed (very fairly) that the living wage

discussions had clearly been conducted under some time pressure. The

Board felt that the Union would benefit from discussions taking place

between the Officers and the SLT. It felt that this matter should be brought

again to the People Committee, so that all options could be considered and

a recommendation hopefully made. The Board noted that it expected to

reach a decision at the next meeting.

This was an area of work to which I have dedicated quite some time since

the last scrutiny panel. I followed the procedural advice given by the Trustee

Board at the last meeting. This meant liaising with the Union’s Senior

Leadership Team, including the Financial Director Steve Hinds. The

information from these discussions led me to compose a full report to be

submitted to the People Committee and Trustee Board. The paper

concerned the Officers’ position on living wage and recommended that we

commit to pay all career staff at the living wage level. The outcomes of

those Board meetings were tangible, but are not currently in a position to

be made public. Before the Scrutiny Panel meeting I will talk with the Chief

Executive to see if a statement would be appropriate.

On the University’s side I have held a meeting with leaders of the UCU trade

Union on campus to explore their position on the living wage, what

direction they intend to take with their current living wage campaign, and

what scope there is to work with the Officers in light of this. The officers

signed a Christmas card to the Vice Chancellor petitioning him to pay the

living wage. It was interesting to hear recently from Chris Jagger, Head of

the University’s Estates Department (which employ the majority of staff at

the university paid below the living wage,) about the intentions of the

university to eliminate some of their lowest pay tiers.

Time Scale until

students see

results

A decision is anticipated at the next meeting of the Board of Trustees,

scheduled for December.

A decision has now been reached. A plan of action going forward has been

discussed with the CEO.

How Success will

Be measured

Success will be measured by achieving the right balance between

satisfaction of the democratic mandate and financial risk to the Union.

How have you

worked with the

relevant PTO.

I have met with the ESJ officer to discuss this matter with him.

Policy Policy 6.6 – Voter turnout campaign

(expires 05/02/16

Type FT/FT

With President – lead

Policy Resolves This Union Resolves to lobby NUS to train all SU officers in how to be

community organisers for their student body.

This Union Resolves to bring a policy to national conference for NUS to

organise a voter turnout campaign in collaboration with every union in the

country before each general election and to follow this with a hearing

assembly before each general election.

Actions taken The President, the Welfare Officer, the Education Officer, and myself

recently met with Sorana Vieru, who is the NUS Vice President for Higher

Education. At the meeting I enquired as to what support was available for

Officers in relation to community organising. Sorana drew attention to the

webinars run by the NUS, as well as the other conferences that run

throughout the year. I should point out that the Officers have already

attended an NUS Lead and Change Conference at the beginning of our term

of office, at which sessions were provided around campaigning issues

specific to our respective remits. I am also hoping that many of the Officers

(together with other student leaders) will attend a two day training event,

run by Nottingham Citizens. This will provide similar guidance on community

organising techniques. If the enthusiasm is there, the plan is then for the

lead coordinator of Nottingham Citizens to run a session on campus aimed

at those students interested in campaigning on individual issues.

I am treating the second part of this policy as dormant until such time as it

may be renewed in advance of the next general election. The spirit of a

policy that encourages voter registration is however one that I will very

much embrace throughout the course of the year ahead.

Time Scale until

students see

results

I hope to get students doing campaign training in November.

How Success will

Be measured

Success will be measured by our students feeling more confident to

participate in campaigns.

How have you

worked with the

relevant PTO.

N/A

Policy Policy 6.14 – Student Community involvement

(expires 07/04/16)

Type FT

With -

Policy Resolves For the Students’ Union to:

Provide information and encourage students to build positive

relationships with their student and non-student neighbours.

Encourage wider student participation and turnout with local

community groups, events, businesses and facilities.

Encourage students to make their voices heard outside of election

periods and engage with their local representatives through

community meetings and representatives’ surgeries.

Work to better promote and share the culture & positive

achievements of students with the rest of Nottingham.

Work with and support other partners and agencies (University of

Nottingham, Nottingham City Council, SU Community Reps etc) to

facilitate the above points, where appropriate.

Monitor, evaluate and publish the impact made from the above

points on a yearly basis.

Wider student participation and turnout with local community

groups, events, businesses and facilities.

Encourage students to make their voices heard outside of election

periods and engage with their local representatives through

community meetings and representatives’ surgeries.

Work to better promote and share the culture & positive

achievements of students with the rest of Nottingham.

Work with and support other partners and agencies (University of

Nottingham, Nottingham City Council, SU Community Reps etc) to

facilitate the above points, where appropriate.

Monitor, evaluate and publish the impact made from the above

points on a yearly basis.

Actions taken I have coordinated, in conjunction with the university, several events aimed

at encouraging students to be fully active members of their community. One

such event was ‘Curry in the Park.’ This was held in Radford Recreational

Ground at the start of term. I worked with the City Council, the University’s

Off Campus Affairs team, and the SU Activities Coordinator’s to organise a

student string quartet and futsal presence at the event. I also attended to

run a ‘meet your Community Officer’ stall. I am pleased to report that the

day passed successfully, and with over 200 people attending this was a good

opportunity for students to engage with local residents.

I also coordinated with the University’s Off-Campus Affairs Team an event

called ‘Moving In Moving Out.’ This was held in the Portland Atrium, many

different community agencies were in attendance and it was a good

opportunity for many hundreds of students to learn more about the support

available in the wider community.

Finally I have coordinated with the City Council in there Week of Action

scheme, by attending meetings and advising them on the most effective way

to convey messages to students.

I have held a meeting with Daz Newman, who for the past year has

pioneered a project called Community First Responders, which is a project

run in collaboration with the East-Midlands Ambulance Service. The project

aims to support the ambulance and paramedic services with their

emergency response operations. It does fantastic work with student

volunteers and has literally saved 2 lives in the last year. Daz and I discussed

how we might expand the project to cover the universities of Trent, Derby,

Loughborough and Leicester. We put together a plan of action for doing this,

which resulted in me recently having a meeting with the Head of the

Medical School to secure his willingness to write to his academic colleagues

at these other institutions. I am pleased to say that he gave this

undertaking.

I have also held a meeting with the head of the Dunkirk and Lenton

Community Forum to see what volunteering opportunities may be available

for students. I would like to empower some of our hall ESJ reps to engage

with these projects, as I know they can sometimes wonder how to make the

best use of their position.

I have a meeting in the diary to discuss with the Council the possibility of

them giving recognition to students who volunteer in the wider Nottingham

community.

Time Scale until

students see

results

I hope students have seen the results and will continue to integrate into

their communities as the year progresses.

How Success will

Be measured

Success will be measured by students feeling equal partners in their local

community, and by a greater appreciation among students that they live in a

mixed community with other residence. This will be good for community

cohesion as a whole.

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