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Netball Scotland Annual General Meeting 2019

7th September 2019 Emirates Arena, Glasgow

Minutes

Attending- Board: Caroline Mansley, Chair and Director Gareth McKenna, Director Lucy Faulkner, Director Janet Young, Director Pam Radage, Director Claire Nelson, CEO and Director Voting Members: Donna McLean, ACES Netball Club Robyn Crainey, ACES Netball Club Anna Beattie, All Star Junior Netballers Lynda Sim, Angus Netball Club Joanne Crumlin, Bellahouston Netball Club Sophia Harwood Murdy, Bellahouston Netball Club Donna Blair, Black Diamonds Netball Club Maigan Reid, Biggar Netball Club Mhairi Lake, Biggar Netball Club Mary Frances McNeill, Cadzow Netball Club Eliza Mather, Dunedin Netball Club Amy Swann, East Dunbarton Netball Club Angela Swann, East Dunbarton Netball Club Lauren Miller, East Kilbride Netball Club Karen Thomson, Harmony Row Netball Club Lyndsay King, Helensburgh Netball Club Allison McCormick, Paisley Netball Club Lisa Sutherland, Phoenix Netball Club Pauline Kelly, St Cadocs Netball Club Jackie Gregory, St Mirren Netball Club Sarah O’Connell, St Mirren Netball Club Linda Hooker, St Peters Netball Club Karin Figlioni, Stirling Netball Club Gillian Carter, Stirling Netball Club Kate Thomson, Stuart Netball Club

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Observers: Geraldine Moore, Head of Development Karen Dunn, Operations Manager Elena Morris, Performance Coordinator Natalie Cassells, West North RDM Craig Smith, East and Central RDM Amanda Muirhead, Membership Coordinator Billy Singh, Walking Netball Activator Susan Gaffney, All Star Junior Netballers Frances Cathcart, Bellahouston Netball Club Judith Stewart, Biggar Netball Club Fiona Lilly, sportscotland Apologies: Board: Catriona Semple, Director Janis Donachie, Director Claire McCracken, Director Staff: Lesley MacDonald, Pathways Development Manager Gillian Crozier, Sirens Operations Manager Jessica Mawer, Marketing Manager Lee Wilson, West South RDM Gail Parata, Head of Development Caroline Walker, Senior RDM Rebecca Hope, Education Development Manager Claire Maxwell, Sirens for Success Program Manager Alice McKnight, Walking Netball Activator Members: Kay Farquhar, Dunedin Netball Club Edinburgh Napier Netball Club, CENA Silver Sirens Netball Club, ADNA Observers: Vicki Bunce, sportscotland

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1. Welcome

Caroline Mansley (Caroline) Chair of Netball Scotland welcomed everyone to the Netball Scotland season 2018-19 AGM and introduced the members to her colleagues on the board: Claire Nelson CEO and Director as per the Articles of Association Lucy Faulkner Director Equality & Wellbeing Janet Young Director Club and Competitions Gareth McKenna Director Education and Development Pam Radage Director HR Caroline referenced the Board apologies above. Caroline asked all attendees to confirm they had received an AGM pack containing:

1. Agenda 2. 2017-18 AGM minutes 3. Annual report including 2018-19 Annual accounts

And for those voting: 4. Voting cards, Yes/No/Abstain

Minutes were to be taken by Karen Dunn.

2. Roll Call and Appointment of Tellers

Caroline gave the roll call and stated we had 31 votes present of which 0 were proxy vote and in addition we had 11 non-voting observers, a total of 42 people in the room. All voters confirmed they had voting cards and instructions for use provided. Elena Morris and Kate Thomson were appointed tellers.

3. Minutes of 2018 AGM of the Association of Netball Scotland Caroline asked all attended whether they had reviewed the minutes; no amendments were notified by the members in the room. Minutes were accepted as follows: Proposed: Jackie Gregory Seconded: Angela Swan

4. Annual Report 2018-19 Caroline introduced CEO Claire Nelson (Claire) who presented the annual report.

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Claire welcomed everyone to the AGM, thanked them for their attendance stating it had been another strong year for Netball Scotland as we continue to grow our programmes, reach, engagement and

participation. It’s not just the end of a season, but also the end of the 4-year strategic cycle. Please refer to the annual report which shares the scope and scale of programme activities delivered by the organisation across the country as well as performance and results, annually and over the cycle. Claire gave thanks to Amanda Muirhead and team for pulling this information together, and for all their hard work and dedication over the last year. Claire began with the 2018-19 Annual Targets and their outcome in RAG rating colouring:

Claire confirmed we achieved all 4 Effective Organisation annual targets and highlighted the importance of our sport being safe and inclusive for all young and vulnerable people. It is a requirement not just a target, and as a result we have appointed Lucy Faulkner as a Champion on the Board and Geraldine McGuire Head of Development, leads on this for the business at an operational level. Alongside this an expert lead Wellbeing and Protection Panel has been formed and a part time Wellbeing and Protection Officer appointed. Any GDPR support can be obtained by contacting Amanda Muirhead, membership@netballscotland.com

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Following a review of the reporting deadlines for membership numbers required for sportscotland and our affiliation season, a realignment has taken place. The data captured will be retrospective and captured at July each year. This year’s membership growth has come predominantly from juniors and walking netball. The only amber result relates to UKCC Level 3, which is as a result of changes out with our control to the UKCC assessment programme but will be completed once the new framework is set up. Rebecca Hope, Education Development Manager, sits on the design team for the new coaching framework for Scotland. Claire also confirmed Netball Scotland’s new awards will be live from 1 August 2020.

After scheduled matches to play Barbados and Samoa were cancelled, the Gibraltar test was a specific targeted match to ensure we achieved our Strategic world ranking target by the end of our cycle. Following the Netball World Cup Scotland’s ranking has settled at 8th with significant points between ourselves and Northern Ireland. The 9th finish at the Commonwealth Games was a strong performance from a young team to give a credible finish and included some close results including a 1 goal game against Malawi.

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Scottish Sirens Claire informed the members that Scottish Sirens is a subsidiary company wholly owned by Netball Scotland and fully funded through commercial partnerships and income streams. The current principle partner is the University of Strathclyde. No membership income or sportscotland funding is used to support this business. Sirens is critical to the growth and development of our sport, not just for our coaches and athletes, but it is also responsible for the spike in new junior members and clubs as this team inspires the next generation into our sport. This season was a difficult one but was used as increased court time and enhanced preparation for the Scottish Thistles athletes going into the Netball World Cup in Liverpool. Off the court we are still the league leaders, generating the second highest match day audiences and being recognised globally for our strong brand and marketing activity. Claire thanked the fans for supporting Sirens but said we need to grow this in order to increase income streams and evidence the appetite for this sport to broadcasters.

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Claire highlighted the above results and statistics across the business, and the LTO results below:

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Of our Long-Term Objectives (LTOs) set in conjunction with sportscotland across the 2015-19 Strategic Plan ‘Polaris’ all bar one achieved a green status. The plan was hugely successful and has resulted in achieving continued investment from sportscotland for the 2019-23 cycle. The next plan will see stretched targets to push the organisation moving forward. Some key areas of growth to highlight are:

• launch of our Vitality Netball Superleague Franchise, Strathclyde Sirens,

• almost doubling our core staffing resource

• increasing our membership by more than 65%

• enhancing our regional coverage to 30 out of 32 Local Authorities

• rising up the official INF world rankings to our highest ever position of 7th

• 60% increase in affiliated clubs and 51% increase in national cup competition participation

• securing high profile commercial and strategic partnerships, and

• delivering our largest and most diverse portfolio of programmes, events and courses to

more people than ever before

The Strategic Plan 2019-23 ‘Realising Netball’s Potential: A long term vision of success’ looks at two key strategic aims Enhance the Pathway and Strengthen the Organisation in order to produce the outputs required to achieve our vision for Netball in Scotland to be a thriving world class sport. The key outputs are increased and improved participation, performance and profile all of which will be achieved through an empowered membership and a performing pathway underpinned by a strong and well governed NGB.

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To Enhance the Pathway, we will begin a member consultation process across our membership and Local Associations, face to face and online, to ensure we have what we need to be fit for purpose, to determine what our existing and future members need both locally and nationally. What infrastructure, support, access to education, competition and events our members need for our sport to thrive. We need member ideas and feedback to future proof our sport and build solid foundations to support a growing and thriving membership of the future.

As we move forward as a growing sport with the same funding levels, we need to Strengthen the Organisation to access more resource and funding to support the innovation and ideas we have. The Operational Excellence review completed last year has started delivering operational efficiencies, enhanced capability, smarter thinking and a more data driven organisation. We have created some new roles and members of the team making it one of the strongest and most capable teams we’ve ever had. Claire said she was excited to work with them as they drive this sport through this next critical phase of growth and development. A huge focus will be on increasing resource and income and as we work on different projects and programs moving forward, we welcome any ideas and feedback.

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Claire outlined the new LTOs agreed with sportscotland for the plan 2019-23.

Moving forward we need to think how we can use netball to make a difference and improve the lives of people in our sport e.g. the impact of Walking Netball and Sirens for Success increases the value of our sport to participants. In terms of Performance we need to look at the status of world netball, it has never been so competitive, with the African nations on the rise and Wales making their way back. We have set ambitious targets in this cycle. Claire concluded her presentation stating it is interesting to reflect at the end of the cycle on what we said we would do, what we have done and what we intend to do. It comes down to you the members and how supportive you are to Netball Scotland. Every NGB has challenges and challengers whether we win or lose, but we believe we have one of sport’s most connected memberships. Moving forward we need to adapt and do things differently to keep up with the pace of change to the sport. Claire thanked all members for their support and dedication to the sport and organisation and wished everyone a successful season 2019-20. Caroline thanked Claire for her presentation and asked the floor if there were any questions on Claire’s presentation.

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Question 1 from Judith Stewart, Biggar Netball Club: Scotland doesn’t have access to the same international competition that the African Nations have, are there any plans to compete with the African teams? Response 1 from Claire Nelson: At the World Cup Claire and the Performance Director Cat Semple connected with other nations to discuss future performance plans. It was also decided by the Netball Scotland Board that, as a matter of due diligence and good practice following a major event, an independent Performance review will take place. This will give some steerage on what we do well and what we can do better. We are currently planning our 4-year performance strategy on how we get to World Cup 2023, as well as Commonwealth Games (Birmingham) 2022 and Netball World Youth Cup (Fiji) 2021 in between. This will look at; creating an athlete roadmap to understand what talent we have now and coming through for the future; understanding who we need to play, when and why strategically – considering rankings, world competition qualification, and world competition preparation; and how to strengthen and enhance our performance programme to deliver more athletes who are better prepared to compete on the world stage – Sirens is critical to this. The employment of a dual role performance coach, Rachel Cremin, across Netball Scotland and the University of Strathclyde, to enhance the pathway working alongside Lesley MacDonald, will help decide the best competition for the athletes going towards NWYC and CWG. We want to build our own international events products and although Netball Europe exists it may not be the best format at each age group moving forward so we are looking into this with other Home Nations and Netball Europe. Question 2 from Sarah O’Connell, St Mirren Netball Club: Does Netball Scotland have any facility plans? We are affected by the closure of our local and affordable Renfrewshire facility closing and impacted by other venues pricing and school exam interruptions Response 2 from Claire Nelson: As part of the local consultation we need to have a holistic approach to strengthening the local infrastructures and addressing the needs of our clubs. Geraldine McGuire works with the Local Authorities to ensure we have facility access as a sport and if we can influence their facility strategy we will, but we are aware of the need for more facilities. These challenges and potential solutions will be raised as past of the consultation process. Claire asked Sarah to connect with Geraldine to progress immediately with accessing support from NS with her specific facility challenge. Question 3 from Sophia Harwood Murdy, Bellahouston Netball Club: Will there be more VNSL games televised this season? Response 3 from Claire Nelson: As part of her role on the VNSL board Claire has proposed a streaming service for VNSL but at the moment with 1 year left of the Sky Sports contract this won’t happen. We need to look at how we can negotiate free to air and BBC coverage without it impacting on ticket sales. It’s important to get bums on seats for the ratings for Sky and to focus on building the Superleague proposition, ensuring it looks good on TV and having more competitive games. Sirens had amongst the highest TV audience this season, there is the appetite there, this is the year to show we want more netball and allow us to negotiate with broadcasters.

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5. Amendments to the Articles of Association motions

None

6. Alterations to the Company Rules

None

7. Motions

Caroline confirmed there were no Motions from Netball Scotland to be voted upon. Caroline confirmed Netball Scotland had received no motions from members this year, however wished to acknowledge we had received a motion from Glasgow Netball Association at the last AGM as follows: “GNA Members have asked to raise the following motion on their behalf: Players wishing to affiliate to Netball Scotland after the first of January each season can do so at a reduced rate.” And it was agreed at last year’s AGM that this motion form part of the further strategic and membership category review that is to take place over the next year. Glasgow Netball Association were happy then and have confirmed they are still happy that we are including their motion as part of this review and consultation process Frances Cathcart, Bellahouston Netball Club and proposer of the motion last year asked what is the timeline, will this happen this January or another year? Claire confirmed Netball Scotland had a meeting planned to agree the project timeline and gather data over next season which would require to be voted upon at the next AGM.

8. Accounts 2018-19 and election of Company Accountants

Claire Nelson presented the annual accounts for 2018-19 in the absence of Janis Donnachie. sportscotland investment of £568,000 was successfully awarded for 2018-19 contributing to 57% of total income for the year. Netball Scotland have to apply annually, and the process means we find out just weeks before the start of the new financial year. We have to date received no increase in funding in line with business growth. Membership income accounted for 11% of our total income for this period.

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Our biggest membership growth areas are juniors and recreational and impact programs which provide lower income. Therefore, year on year the membership income growth is not enough to support the pace and rate of growth of the sport and business. In 2018-19 some of the additional membership money generated was used to fund the Tayside & Fife RDM role which was co-funded through regional partnerships. This role has just yielded the affiliation of the Perth ladies League for the first time after a decade of trying to work with them, which is strong ROI.

The remainder of our income comes from commercialisation of the education courses, competitions and camps, alongside ringfenced grant funding for our Community Impact Programs in particular. We had a decrease in income year on year with a reduction in investment against the U21s going to Botswana and UWS sponsorship of the squad. We are a lean organisation, trying our best to manage growth. The majority of our spend goes on running the business, staffing and overheads and the rest is allocated to programme delivery.

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We have reduced and controlled our costs to reduce expenditure over the year with the surplus generated being reinvested back into the business; the OpEx project identified a need for a full-time finance resource so we are currently recruiting for a full time Finance Officer. We finished the cycle with £95k cash reserves which is a strong position for an NGB of our size. Scottish Sirens Limited, our subsidiary company, is commercially funded and supported by Netball Scotland’s infrastructure. We signed a new 3-5 year partnership with the University of Strathclyde, however, we still need to grow income streams as operating costs mean we break even. Spend is allocated across athlete expenses, training, central staffing – Operations Manager and Administrator - away match day travel and home match day delivery. We have identified there is room for growth over ticket sales, camps, masterclasses, engagement, merchandise and sponsorship. This is a critical platform for developing our athletes, coaches and officials, but is also the biggest driver to engaging new participants to our sport and why we’ve seen a spike in junior memberships and clubs. It’s inspiring the next generation which is vital to our sustainability. In summary, our financial position is sound, however, we are increasingly feeling the pressure of trying to do more on the same resource. We are getting to breakeven point after a few years of generating surplus so in line with our new strategic plan we will be focusing on how to work smarter, using our platform to generate more income whilst benefiting and adding value to our membership, and attracting more commercial partnerships. Claire asked for any questions from the floor of which there were none. Caroline thanked Claire for her presentation. A copy of the full accounts can be downloaded from our website https://www.netballscotland.com/governance/corporate-governance/

Approval of accounts for 2018-19 supported by the board:

YES 31

NO 0

Abstain 0

Approval of accountants Geoghegans for 2019-20 supported by the board:

YES 31

NO 0

Abstain 0

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9. Elections Caroline presented the directors: Claire McCracken (apologies), Janis Donachie (apologies) and Pam Radage, who had been co-opted onto the board since the last AGM. All directors co-opted onto the board must be confirmed at the AGM by its members. Netball Scotland follows a process to appoint board members and Caroline was delighted by the quality of these applicants. Caroline gave a short biography on Claire and Janis in their absence. Claire McCracken Legal & Company Secretary Claire is a partner in a U.K. law firm, based in Glasgow and have over 20 years’ experience as a corporate and commercial solicitor. She has also previously been involved in sports law (having done the legal work involved in the Rangers FC administration and the merger of the SPL and SFL). She is a keen sportsperson too, having represented Scotland in athletics and was previously the Scottish record holder for the women’s steeplechase Janis Donachie Director Finance Janis is the Head of Management Accounting with SThree, a specialist global STEM recruitment organisation, with over 15 years’ experience at senior management level in the finance sector. She specialises in developing finance strategy and business process re-engineering across finance functions, and she has led teams globally, most recently as the Head of Finance in Budapest. This will be Janis’ first Board Director role, and she is excited to begin delivering improved financial processes and reporting in order to optimise efficiencies and support business growth.

Caroline invited Pam to introduce herself to the members.

Pam Radage Director HR

Pam has spent her career in Human Resources (HR) and has worked across a number of sectors starting in consultancy organisations and then moving into the drinks, financial services and oil & gas industries. She has held senior HR roles for global organisations and latterly worked with her Board on all people related issues. Pam has many years’ experience in talent management, managing change, organisation design, culture and employee engagement, reward design, mergers and acquisitions as well as operational HR. She now runs her own HR and change consultancy company. Pam also supports the third sector through her roles as Chair of Amma Birth Companions, Director of KATs- an adult and children's charity in Glasgow and is a pro-bono supporter for Inspiring Scotland.

Pam has an MA in Economics; is a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute and Affiliate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development. She also has a Diploma in Performance Coaching.

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Caroline also confirmed existing board members: Gareth McKenna Janet Young Lucy Faulkner Catriona Semple wished to continue their tenure and Claire Nelson remains on the Board as her role of CEO dictates. Caroline confirmed that Jacqueline McCluskey Director HR (Resigned 31 January 2019) and Jules Kerrigan Director Finance (Resigned 30 October 2018) had stepped down from the Board since the AGM last year and thanked them for their contribution. Caroline then asked the attendees to use their voting cards to vote as follows: Acceptance of Claire McCracken Director Legal and Company Secretary YES 31 NO 0 ABSTAIN 0 Acceptance of Janis Donachie as Director Finance YES 31 NO 0 ABSTAIN 0 Acceptance of Pam Radage as Director HR YES 30 NO 0 ABSTAIN 1 Caroline also confirmed that her first two-year tenure as Chair had come to an end and that she wished to remain on the board with the support of the other directors and asked the members to vote upon her continuance. Acceptance of Caroline Mansley as Director and Chair YES 30 NO 0 ABSTAIN 1

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10. Any other competent business Caroline asked the members if there was any other business to be raised. Question 1 from Lyndsay King, Helensburgh Netball Club: Is there any scope for the change to the structure of the Scottish Cup and Quaich with the growth of clubs? Response 1 from Geraldine McGuire, Head of Development: The current format is under review and we welcome our new Competition and Events Manager Jo Foster to the business this week. Part of this role is to analyse and improve on all competitions to work towards the strategy of world class. Question 2 from Sophia Harwood Murdy, Bellahouston Netball Club: Is there the potential to grow and make it a larger competition? Question 2 response from Geraldine: Potentially yes, we will look at expanding as part of the review. One update we can provide is the final of the Scottish Cup will be played as a curtain raiser to a Sirens home match. This will be formally announced with the issue of the competition rules for 2019-20, but you are hearing this first at the AGM. Any other changes to the structure will be considered as part of the review process and your input welcomed.

11. Date of next year’s AGM Caroline proposed potential dates of 5th or 12th September 2020 to the attendee’s dependant on the Netball Scotland calendar. Claire noted that the biannual conference will be back next year and therefore more will be linked around the AGM day.

12. Closing Remarks

Caroline thanked everyone for attending the AGM and noted thanks to Lisa Sutherland Sirens Marketing Director who had attended. The AGM was concluded with all staff and Board available to attendees for further discussion for the next hour.