Action:

1. 1. Apologies & Welcomes:
   
   Susan Murray (UNITE) Sarah Gadzik (ASCL).
   Michael Lees & John McClean joined the meeting late.
   Jacqui O’Neill sent belated apologies.Anna Cole (ASCL) was welcomed to the meeting in place of Sara Gadzik, and will now be representing ASCL on JUAC from now on.

ALL – to update any distribution list to include AC anna.cole@ascl.org.uk

1. 2. Notes/Actions from last meeting:
   No amendments from last notes (both full and redacted) – Notes were therefore approved.

1. 3. Matters arising from notes NOT covered elsewhere on this agenda:Item 2: Notes from School Committee meeting still not available.Item 7: LAPSO Bill and Legal Summary Article – ongoingItem 8:
   (a) APPG Enquiry – No report back at this stage from Annette Brooks, ML will try and take forward at today’s APPG meeting if possible.(h) SARAG – JW extended apologies for this not being on this agenda, will re-visit on next.(i) Meeting with Stephen Twigg (MP) – JW sent letter requesting meeting, awaits reply and will report back accordingly. If no answer JW will chase his office with phone call. 

NG to distribute as and when available for info

ML to action

JW to action

JW to action

1. 4. Chair’s Actions:None.

1. 5. JUAC Website:Item 9 from last notes JW prepared draft strap line for JUAC/AIS for sign off.
   
   ALL AGREED happy with content and signed off doc.JW reaffirmed that any items for the website must go through JUAC for approval beforehand.DBr confirmed that he might be in a position to add a case study on the website and once permissions have been sought and will draft a document for JUAC approval.
   

ALL to action when appropriate and place item on JUAC agenda

DBr to action

1. 6. Hazzards 2012:Hazzards Conference takes place from 31^st August to 2^nd September.

1. 7. IATP (Asbestos in Schools Seminar):JMC gave overview on paper and reported that he will be visiting Christine Winter from IATP in Darlington within the next 2 weeks to discuss ideas and gain a better view of what they are trying to set up.ALL AGREED: That further questions needed raising/answering if this was to go forward.

ALL to send JMC any questions/comments for him to take to meeting before next week

JMC will report back findings at next meeting

1. 8. AiSML gave update on the following:Training:ML reported that he feels that the DfE Training script will be centred and launched as guidance/advice rather than actual awareness training. This was viewed as a positive step, but voiced caution over actual content as it will not be available to see before its intended release date of 3^rd October 2012. The DfE script should meet the objective of specific school guidance but the campaign aim of specific training still would need to be met and remain an active part of our overall campaign.ALL AGREED: The following to be on next agenda and for unions to get more info where possible so as to develop agreed strategies:-

i) H&S Training for new Head Teachers, student teachers and support staff

ii) Raising awareness in Academies/FS about the issue of asbestos in schools, maintenance responsibilities and liabilities on transfer and public liability insurance cover for asbestos claims.

Regulation:

ML gave overview and reported that Ofsted will not be involved in any DfE inspections of schools, nor will HSE be carrying out pro-active inspections in schools either. Questions were raised as to what measures would be therefore put in place to achieve safe standards are met. Discussion took place.

Insurance:

ML gave summary regarding insurance of asbestos in schools and confirmed that the DfE has stated that public liability insurance for asbestos risks is not generally available in Academies and in the event of any claim that they will be considered on a case by case basis. Comments surrounding this issue were that this needs to be considered now to ensure that victims do not face potentially uninsured losses in the future; it might be 35 years or so before the first claims are made against the academies.

Noted: Legal liability for insurance lies with the Academy Trust and not on the individual Governors, but they do need Governor Liability insurance.

ML stated that an insurance expert had been asked for at previous meetings but none had been present but they will consider inviting an insurance expert at the next meeting scheduled in September.

ALL AGREED: to bring this item of insurance back on the agenda at next meeting.

CoC:

ML reported that AiS/JUAC and the suggested experts including Peter Howie had not been invited to the last meeting with DfE/COC in April 2012. The HSE had been present and spoken to its paper and thus potentially making the meeting unbalanced in its representation.

Manage or Remove:

ML reported that the DfE Steering Group LA representative confirmed that in his LA it is too expensive for asbestos to be removed in all schools but it is being removed in maintenance and refurbishment projects.

ALL AGREED: that pressure has to be brought on the Government has to adopt a policy of phased removal.

NG volunteered to take notes at APPG meeting today and report back at next meeting.

DBe to act as conduit for any issues colleagues might have.

ALL to action if appropriate

ML to work further on this with ATAK and report back at next meeting

ML to write to Philip Wood with JUAC support

ALL to feed back any other cases and report back at next meeting

ML to action

NG to action

1. 9. Valued Workers Scheme:NG gave out booklet and summary of the proposed scheme. Although still in its embryo state it was agreed that this was in principle a good scheme for schools to sign up to locally and in future for unions to maybe ‘badge’ on a national level, like the investors in people scheme.NG would like ideas/thoughts on the booklet so that unions/JUAC/AiS can endorse and will at some point need more schools to pilot the scheme.NG pointed out the scheme would be regulated on a yearly basis with H&S reps from schools (if available) verifying that the criteria is met in each other’s establishments.

ALL to send any suggestions/recommendations to NG so he take forward this scheme

ML to invite Wales visitors to next meeting of AiS