Department for the Economy Board minutes 2024 - 25 April 2024

Agenda Item

Actions Arising from Discussion

Action Owner and Current Position (to be completed prior to the next Board Meeting)

Agenda Item 1: Presentation by Stranmillis College

Professor Jonathan Heggarty presented: -

• The mission is to transform, the lives of children and young people through excellence in teaching, scholarship & research.
• They work directly with every school in N.I.
• Stranmillis College was established in 1922. It has close links with QUB and was set up to be interdenominational.
• Over 70% of staff have doctorates.
• Corporate aims are to deliver outstanding learner experiences, be an employer of choice, be financially and environmentally sustainable and to impact wider society.
• The College’s values were discussed.

Professor Trisha Eaton presented: -

• The portfolio is changing all the time.
• Initial teacher education is still core.
• Foundation degrees are in partnership with Belfast Met and all Regional Colleges.
• Doctorates in Educational Professional Practice are new.
• There are many more applications than places available.

Professor Noel Purdy presented: -

• Quite a number of students are currently engaging internationally.
• Research has grown and they are working toward Research Excellence Framework 2029.
• There are a range of funders including DfE who they do a lot of work for on vocational education & training.
• There has been a substantial growth in research income over the last 5-10 years.

Professor Ken Gibson presented: -

• All initial teacher education students undertake placements.
• Focus in Y1 is to see the full breadth of the education system in operation/ 7-week placement in Y1 &2. Y3 is placement in a special needs school. Y4 is about looking at education beyond the classroom.
• There are supported work placements with Tor Bank special needs school and pupils work alongside Stranmillis staff.
• There is a gender imbalance in teaching with a decreasing number of males.

Raymond De Largy presented: -

• Raymond discussed the College commercial environment including Summer 2024 residentials and income opportunities.

Agenda Item 2: Board Register of Interests/ Conflicts

No new interests declared.

Agenda Item 3: Minutes of Previous Meetings

Minutes of the March meeting were approved without amendment.

Agenda Item 4: Strategic Issues

Ian Snowden presented.

Minister’s Priorities

• The 9^th April meeting went well, producing a list of identifiable actions which will be taken forward in the Business Plan.
• There was an inform-you session with staff earlier this week.
• There will be a session in Bangor on 2^nd May re delivering actions in practice.

Programme for Government

• There has been a lot of work over the last month with a draft document currently circulated for comment.
• We have 9 suggested items to be put in the document.

Budget

• This is on the agenda for the Executive this morning with very challenging decisions needed.

RHI

• Agreement is needed from the Executive for closure.
• OFGEM have agreed to continue to work with during the period through to closure.

Windsor Framework

• DfE are out of scope of the regulations.

Growth Deals

• The Growth Deal for the Causeway, Coast and Glens has been signed.

Economy Committee

• The Economy Committee have expressed concern about the level of disclosure of information to them. They also have some presentational issues.

Agenda Item 5: Budget Discussion

Sharon Hetherington presented: -

 Update 2023-24 Financial Position

• A paper had been circulated to Board members. There has been an underspend of £1m RDEL and £800k Capital.
• There is no budget exchange scheme.
• DoF are managing underspends and reallocation.
• Student Loans are the biggest number in the paper with so many factors in the student loans model.

2024/25 Overview of the Executive’s Proposed Draft Budget

• The Board was taken through the high-level details of the proposed DfE allocation in the 2024/24 draft budget being considered by the Executive.  Once agreed the Minister will decide on indicative allocations to business areas and ALBs and equality screening will commence based on the Minister’s priorities for the budget.

Agenda Item 6: Any Other Business

There was no other business.