Minutes of Proceedings – 18 September 2019

NIABT Board of Trustees Meeting
Wednesday 18th September 2019, 4pm
Room 30

Present:

Conor Murphy MLA, Chair

Stephen Kelly, Manufacturing NI, Vice Chair

Nicola Bothwell, NB Chartered Communications

Chris Brown, Brown O’Connor Communications

Gareth McGrath, NI Assembly

Richard Stewart, NI Assembly

Roy Beggs MLA

Jonathan Buckley MLA

Trevor Lunn MLA

 

In Attendance:

Simon Burrowes, Secretary

Nick Mitford, Deputy Secretary

 

1. Apologies:

  • Apologies were received from:
    • Norah-Anne Barron
    • Claire Bailey

 

2. Declaration of Interests

  • None.

 

3. Adoption of draft AGM minutes:

  • Agreed: the Board agreed to the contents of the minutes of the Annual General Meeting in March 2019.

 

4. Financial and Governance Update

Financial Update

  • The current balance stands at £25,792.26. Nick Mitford provided an overview of transactions and ongoing costs, including insurance, accountancy and legal fees.
  • The 2018/19 Trust Report and Accounts are now due to be collated. Following an exercise to obtain quotes to produce the documents, Bridge Consultancy were recommended to be appointed to undertake this work.
  • Agreed: Bridge Consultancy appointed to produce Trust Report and Accounts
    Proposer: Stephen Kelly               
    Seconder: Nicola Bothwell

Governance Update

  • The Trust’s Management Liability insurance is due to expire at the end of October 2019. Board members consider the options to proceed and agreed that insurance was necessary and asked Nick Mitford contact the Trust broker to discuss an option for deferred payment to a later date.
  • Board Members discussed the disbursement of NIABT funds and whether the decision should continue to be put on hold until the political situation is clearer
  • Following a discussion, the Board agreed that there had been little or no change to the situation that pertained at the time of the previous meeting and nor was there any apparent likelihood of that situation changing. The Board also felt that given the amount of time that had passed since the Trust decided to wind the Trust up and disperse the Trust’s funds, that the decision to delay the dispersal of funds should be revisited.
  • The Board asked Nick Mitford to produce a paper providing a summary of the previous decisions taken by the Trust, in particular the agreed options for the dispersal of Trust funds.

 

5. Any Other Business

  • No other business.