The Chapter met on 21 January 2022 for their first meeting of the year. The welcomed Des Scott the new Interim COO to his first meeting.
Along with the normal agenda two main items were on the agenda namely finance and the updating the Chapter on the progress on the Bishop’s determination action plan.
The Treasurer, John Biggin gave a comprehensive report on the expected outturn for the year which looked at lot more positive that had been forecast earlier in the year. This was due to the hard work of the staff team in November and December. It was noted that there had been 9,000 people at the light show at the end of November and 14,000 people through the Cathedral doors in December. It was noted that the times when the Cathedral had been shut earlier in the year, and no income, that the furlough payments for staff were a real help. In terms of the 1554 Enterprise, it too, had a good end of year and was expected to come close to break even. The Chapter passed on their thanks to the Cathedral staff team who had clearly worked hard to bring in the income. In looking at the budget for 2022 it was noted that the was a challenging budget coming out of Covid when the numbers were still not at what they had been and with rising energy and maintenance costs.
In looking at the Bishop’s determination it was noted that the Safeguarding policy was being updated to take account of any changes and a process was in place to ensure that adequate record is kept and up to date. It was noted that there was an SLA arrangement with the Diocese for Safeguarding through the Safeguarding team there. Geoffrey Harbord would remain the Chapter Safeguarding Officer. The changes in contact details have been amended on service sheets and on the website. Other areas such as HR were discussed, and Chapter were pleased that a separate volunteer handbook was being used with volunteers and a revised staff handbook would be issued shortly.
The Chapter indicated they were pleased to see the progress that had been made over the last few months and looked forward to further updates in due course.
Other items included the Dean’s report setting out some of the activities she had undertaken over the Christmas and New Year period and early thoughts on the way ahead particularly address some of the things in the Bishop’s report around children and young people. The Dean indicated that she was working on them with the Senior Management team and would bring them back to chapter as they develop.
The new senior management team had held its first meeting in January. Involving the Operations Manager, the Finance Manager and the Development Manager has broadened the skills base which means more good decisions and a much more effective communication across the organisation. This will then feed into the skills needed for the new permanent COO when recruited.