Report of the Meeting held Monday, 13th June 2022 E&W

 

 

PUB GOVERNING BODY LTD – ENGLAND & WALES

Minutes of a meeting of the board of directors of the Company held on Zoom, Monday, 13 June  2022 at 12noon

Present:                                                                                                    Apologies:

Sir Peter Luff (Chairman) – (SPL)                                                           Martin Caffrey – (MCa)

Mike Clist – (MC)

Kate Nicholls – (KN)

Emma McClarkin – (EM)

James Anderson – (JA)

Andy Tighe – (AT)

Nick Griffin – (NG)

George Barnes – (GB)

Bill Sharpe – (BS)

Jayson Perfect – (JP

Fiona Moran – (FM)

Natalie Wickham – (NW)

 

 

  1. Preliminary

The Chairman noted that the meeting had been duly convened, that a quorum of five directors were present in accordance with the Articles of Association and declared the meeting open. FM welcomed NW to the meeting.

 

  1. Minutes of the last meeting Monday, 7th February 2022

FM proceeded with the meeting by requesting that the minutes of the meeting held on 7th February 2022 to be proposed as a true and accurate record.

The Board approved the minutes.

 

  1. PICA-Service Update of Cases
  • FM and MC updated the Board with the status of the potential Scottish PICA-S case, MC informed the board that they are still arbitrating between both parties.

 

  1. PIRRS case update
  • FM gave an update on the open PIRRS Cases.
  • There are three open PIRRS cases, two currently with the Independent Expert and once currently waiting on documents to be returned.
  • No cases have been Determined since the last meeting.

 

  1. Arbitration Service for Commercial Rent Debt Cases

 

  • KN and MC clarified with the board that the arbitration service is all set up and we do not need to do anything further at this point.

 

  1. Annual Audit Questionnaire – Electronic Version

 

  • MC discussed with the board the reason for the change to the electronic version of the Annual Audit Questionnaire, once it comes back from all the companies FM takes around a month trying to collate the correct information. The electronic version will flag up any mistakes and make the process easier and quicker.
  • NW presented to the board the electronic questionnaire.
  • MC – mentioned the usage of the Kite Mark and informed the board that he had been through several of the Under 500 pub companies’ websites and found at least three old Codes of Practice and some companies don’t have the code on their websites. MC suggested including a question asking companies to confirm their website includes a copy of the code and links on their websites to PIRRS and PICAS.
  • AT discussed with the board how companies are communicating the new code with their tenants. It was agreed to include a further question to this effect.
  • The board confirmed they were happy with the content and extra questions.

 

Action

  • NW to include the question within the annual audit asking if they have the new Code of Practice on their website and to also include the links to the new code.
  • NW to include a question within the annual audit asking if they have the links to PIRRS and PICAS on their website and to include the links to the website.
  • NW to include a further question asking if they have sent the new Code of Practice to all their tenants.
  • NW to circulate the final copy of the audit questionnaire to the board.
  • FM to send the annual audit to all companies at the beginning of July.

 

  1. Subscription Fee Increase
  • MC discussed with the board the fee that was set over a year ago at £18 per pub was prior to Hawthorne transferring to Admiral and Ram to Punch resulting in a reduction of 500 / 600 pubs paying for the PGB setup.
  • MC proposed the fee be increased to £22 per pub
  • MC also informed the board that if the number of pubs doesn’t decrease any further and the Scottish code goes ahead resulting in a further reduction of pub circa 500 the fee would need to be circa £26 per pub. If this does happen the set up of the PGB will need to be considered.
  • AT informed the board that the revised code for Scotland may not be in place until next year.
  • NG commented on the companies that are not signed up and asked if there was any way we could get them to sign up – MC said they have tried on numerous occasions and they refuse. GB also re-iterated on the lack of use of the Kite Mark.
  • The board agreed the fee increases for 2022/23.
  1. AOB
  • SPJ asked the board if there was any scope to extend regulations in England and Wales, AT informed the board that he didn’t think there was any appetite to include the under 500 companies.
  • GB asked if the code should have included Diversity and Inclusion it? AT informed the board that all their BBPA members do receive and have access to their charter.
  • MC said that the code could not be changed but was happy to put a link from the BBPA site on the PGB website. The board agreed.

 

Action

 

  • FM to upload the link to the Diversity and Inclusion Charter from BBPA website on to the PGB site.

 

  1. Date of Next Meeting

 

  • The board agreed to meet face to face once a year with the rest of the meetings to be held on Zoom.
  • FM to send poll round for an October meeting.
  • GB requested for the meetings not to be held on a Monday.

 

Meeting Closed.

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