Related pages >

Freedom of Information Act

Contact details

The primary contact for all matters relating to the Freedom of Information Act is:
Richard Coombs
Clerk to the Corporation
Sussex Downs College
Cross Levels way
Eastbourne
BN21 2UF
Tel: 01323 637270

email:richard.coombs@sussexdowns.ac.uk

Who are we and what do we do
(i) Legal framework

Sussex Downs College (SDC) was established in 2001 by the merger of Eastbourne College of Arts & Technology and Lewes Tertiary College. A second merger with Park College in 2003 made us the biggest College in Sussex and one of the largest colleges in the South East. We now have approximately 6,000 mostly full-time students under the age of 19 and around 10,000 adult learners. The College employs 1500 staff (in excess of 900 full time equivalents) and has an annual turnover of around £45 million.

The powers of the Corporation (Board of Governors) are specified in the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (Sections 18 and 19). In summary the Corporation is empowered to:

• Provide further and higher education
• Supply goods or services in connection with the provision of education
• Conduct an educational institution
• Provide facilities appearing to it to be necessary to support its principal powers (including boarding accommodation and recreational facilities for students and staff and facilities for students with learning difficulties)
• Acquire and dispose of land and other property, enter in to employment and other contracts, borrow (subject to funding council approval) and invest money, accept gifts and fund scholarships and prizes.

The Board of Governors is a corporate body. This means that it is a body composed of a number of individuals who are empowered to act as a single person with a separate identity from that of its individual members. The implications of this corporate status are:

• Decisions are taken collectively at formally convened meetings and are binding on its members
• No individual member (unless specifically authorised) may act or speak on behalf of the Corporation
• Accountability for the Corporation's decisions and their consequences is collective, not individual.

The Statutory Instrument and Articles of Government of Further Education Corporations which is published by and obtainable from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) sets out the law of the land in respect of governors' responsibilities in detail.

The Instrument of Government explains the arrangements that are required for meetings of the Governing Body and its committees.

The Articles of Government describe the responsibilities of the Governing Body and the Principal and issues relating to staff and students whilst the

The main responsibilities of the Governing Body are defined in Article 3 of the Statutory Articles of Government and may be summarised as:

• The determination and periodic review of the educational character and mission of the College and for the oversight of its activities

• Approving the quality strategy of the College

• The effective and efficient use of resources, the solvency of the College and for safeguarding its assets

• Approving annual estimates of income and expenditure

• The appointment, grading, suspension, dismissal and determination of the pay and conditions of service of the Principal and other Senior Postholders and the Clerk to the Corporation

• Setting a framework for the pay and conditions of service of all other staff

Sussex Downs College Corporation has twenty members. Further information about individual members can be found in the Governance section of our website.

The College is an exempt charity for the purposes of the Charities Act 1993. Visit the Charities Commission Website for more information.

(ii) How the institution is organised

LEARNING BRANDS AND LEARNING BOARDS

We have six learning brands: three focused on young people – Eastbourne Vocational College (EVoC), Lewes Sixth Form College and Park College and three concentrating primarily on the needs of adults and employers – the Adult College, the International College and Employer Training. This organisational model is mirrored at Corporation level with Learning Boards. These Boards, though not part of the formal governance structure, seek to engage governors and key local stakeholders in an advisory role as well as monitoring recruitment and quality targets. They report to the Corporation's Curriculum and Standards Committee.


COLLEGE STRATEGY TEAM

The College is managed by the College Strategy Team which comprises the following members of staff:

Principal and Chief Executive: Dr. John Blake
Executive Director Finance and Operations: Jonathan Morris
Executive Director Business Development: Wayne Wright
Head of Principal's Office: Mandy Parham

Further information about the management structure of the College may be found in the Governors' Handbook (PDF).

(iii) Recruitment

GOVERNORS

Vacancies for Corporation members are advertised in the Governance section of the website and in the local press.

STAFF

Our staff recruitment policy is available on the website. Vacancies are advertised in the Job Vacancies section of the website and also in the local and/or national press where appropriate.

STUDENTS

Prospective students receive information about the College in a number of different ways:

Prospectuses
DVD's
College website
Mailshots
School liaison visits
College Open Evenings
Advice from the Student Services team

Please see the Student Services section of our website for further information about the application procedure.

Student enrolment can take place in person, by telephone or on line.

What we spend and how we spend it
The College publishes Annual Accounts for the period 1 August to 31 July each year. These are approved annually at the December meeting of the Corporation and are available on application to the Clerk to the Corporation. An electronic version of the accounts (PDF) is available online free of charge. A charge of £10 will be made for a paper copy.

Turnover during the financial year 2007/08 was in excess of £44 million (£39 million in 2006/07).

The College depends on the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for its principal funding sources, largely from recurrent grants linked to the number of learners. In 2007/08, the LSC provided over 70% of the College's total income (75% in 2006/07). Other income is received from the Higher Education Funding Council, other state and European funding, commercial activities including employer training and International College.

The College generated an underlying operating surplus in the financial year 2007/08 before the required accounting treatment for a potential capital building project which produced an overall operating deficit of £636k. (surplus of £613k in 2006/07). The results excluding the expensed net costs of the early stages of the potential capital project would have been a surplus of over £1m.

The College has accumulated reserves of £8.2m in the General Income and Expenditure Reserve (after deduction of pension reserve). Cash balances at the year end were £3.8m (£3.6m. in 2006/07).

The responsibility for setting a framework for the pay and conditions of the College's staff lies with the Corporation.

Information about staff salary scales can be obtained from the College's Head of Human Resources.

Procedures for the procurement of goods and services are to be found in the College's Financial Regulations, a copy of which may be obtained from the Clerk to the Corporation.

What our priorities are and how we are doing
(i) Annual Report

An annual report forms part of the statutory annual accounts and is available electronically on the Corporation Annual Accounts section.

(ii) Strategic Plan

The College's Strategic Plan 2008 – 2013 is available to download.
(iii) Teaching and Learning Statement

The College's Teaching and Learning Statement is available on application to the Head of Standards and Development.

(iv) Internal procedures for assuring academic quality and standards

Our six Learning Boards and the Corporation Curriculum and Standards Committee play a key role in these procedures. For further information, please see the Governance section of the website where the minutes of the Curriculum and Standards Committee are available.

(v) Qualitative data on the quality and standards of learning and teaching

Information about student success rates for 2009 is available on the website.

Results

(vi) Government and regulatory reports

A copy of the College's most recent Ofsted Report (published April 2007) can be found on the Ofsted website.

How we make decisions
(i) Governance

The College's decision making processes and the records of decisions made are contained within the minutes of Corporation meetings and Corporation Committee meetings and are published in the Governance section of the website.

Minutes of Learning Board meetings are deemed to be confidential and are not available for public access.

(ii) Staff and student consultation meetings

STUDENT VOICE CONFERENCE

This is an annual event attended by representatives from all parts of the student body. Staff and Corporation members are also invited to attend. Students have the opportunity to speak openly about their experience of college life. Please visit the Student Union section of the website for the latest Student Voice Conference report.

STUDENT COUNCILS

There is a Student Council on each of the College's main campuses i.e. Park College, Eastbourne Vocational College and Lewes Sixth Form College. The Councils meet monthly mainly to consider operational issues. Copies of the minutes of these meetings are not normally made available to members of the public.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROCESS (QIP)

As part of the College's QIP process, the College Manager responsible for each Subject Sector Area meets annually with a group of students to obtain their views on the quality of provision. Student feedback is incorporated into the QIP report and QIP action plan for each area. Further information about the results of the QIP process can be obtained from the Curriculum and Standards Committee minutes which are available in the Governance section of the website.

STAFF CONFERENCE

An inaugural Staff Conference was held in February 2008 when more than one hundred representatives from across the College met to discuss key issues of concern. It is intended that the Staff Conference should become an annual event.

Our policies and procedures

Current written protocols, policies and procedures for delivering our services and responsibilities are available as follows:

The College has a number of other Policies, many of which are concerned with operational issues within the College; some of these policies are available on request.

For further information, please contact the Clerk to the Corporation

Richard Coombs
Clerk to the Corporation
Sussex Downs College
Cross Levels way
Eastbourne
BN21 2UF
Tel: 01323 637270
Email: richard.coombs@sussexdowns.ac.uk

Lists and registers
RELATED COMPANIES

The College has one main subsidiary company, Cross Levels Development Ltd., which is in the process of being wound up. There are also two other subsidiary companies, Cross Levels Property Ltd and ECAT Development Ltd.; both of these companies are dormant.

The services we offer

Prospectuses are available, free of charge, for all the courses on offer at Sussex Downs College.

Our website also carries comprehensive information about our provision and the following documents can be downloaded

Information about our Sixth Form Colleges is also available in the form of a free DVD which is issued with each propspectus.

Our website also carries recent media releases about the College.

Information about the new diploma courses is available in our Courses section (under search 16 to 19 courses).

Freedom of Information Act - Charging for the supply of information

• No charge will be made for supplying information which is routinely available
• There will normally be no charge for information supplied electronically
• Hard copy will normally be provided free of charge, provided that the cost of printing/photocopying and postage does not exceed five pounds.
• A charge to cover the cost of production and postal expenses may be made for bulky documents.

Internal procedure for complaints relating to supply of information

Persons wishing to make a complaint or comment regarding provision of information under the Freedom of Information Act should address their comments in writing, to:

Mr Brian Higgins
Chair of Search and Governance Committee
Sussex Downs College
Cross Levels Way
Eastbourne
BN21 2UF

Alterantive complaints procedure

Wherever the College has refused to supply information requested under the Freedom of Information Act, the applicant has the right to complain to the Information Commissioner who may be contacted as follows:

1. By letter addressed to:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

2. By email to: mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk

3. By telephone: 08456 30 60 60

Profile picBig Right Image