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BRIDGNORTH LIVESTOCK MARKET WEEKLY REPORT – 29.08.23 WASHING OUT VEHICLES/TRAILERS Please note that you MUST WASH OUT your A cracking 682kg white Charolais sold to £1923.24 from Marcus Whitehouse. vehicle/trailer after unloading at this market. IF YOU DO NOT WASH OUT your vehicle you MUST fill out an "Undertaking to Cleanse and Disinfect Vehicle" FMAW27 Form which are available from the Market Office. 74 PRIME CATTLE Auctioneer – Mark Burgoyne 07831 192603 Similar numbers forward with a few more clean but unfortunately fewer bulls. There were some great cattle once again, but with a few leaner and smaller sorts to deplete averages. More heavy cattle today hence prices in excess of £2000 were achieved. 16 cattle sold at or above 300p/kg. More bullocks penned this morning saw heavy steers with shape selling to 302p/kg or £2138 in the lump. Some cattle needed more time on the corn but we had customers for them at a price! A great heifer entry again saw a high of 349p/kg, with 4 others in the 340p/kg range. Heavier females stacked up well at £1923. The bull shortage was pronounced this morning as we struggled to get double figures. No real best types with a high of 273p/kg or £1885 in the lump. Plain black & white bulls looked the dearest sold around 230p/kg. No cows forward with buyers looking for cattle as the schools reopen following the summer holidays. 63 CLEAN CATTLE 22 STEERS SOLD TO OV. AV. 259P/KG Some useful kit here today saw a top of 302p/kg for a stunning Limmie at 702kg from Mrs B (£2138.16) with her 610kg Shorthorn selling to 281p/kg. Handy Limmies from John Cantrill took second spot at 282p/kg for 554kg. 618kg Blues from Keith Tolley sold to 2870p/kg. 640kg Charolais crosses sold to 278p/kg from Phil Edwards, 34 month Limmies from Dave & John Preece sold to £2064.48 at 782kg. 41 HEIFERS SOLD TO OV. AV. 288P/KG A very good day for Mrs B saw her Blue Limmie selling to 349p/kg for 512kg, closely followed by Harvey Parkes best selling to 348p/kg for 534kgm, with his second best to 341p/kg. Dan Watkins sold his two Limmies to 341p/kg and 340p/kg just above half a tonne. Neale & Andrew Dalton's best Limmies sold to 337p/kg for 530kg. 11 BULLS SOLD TO OV. AV. 241P/KG A nice run of Limmies from Ben Rochelle sold to a high of 273p/kg for 622kg, with Dickie Price selling a 654kg black Limmie to 272p/kg (£1884.96). Three black & whites from Roger Rowson topped at 201p/kg with `specials' at 152p/kg included in the average. AFU CATTLE VENDORS PLEASE NOTE: Could producers selling in the Red Market from Approved Finishing Units (AFU) please provide a copy of your licence (TB24h) for our records. This is a requirement of our licencing with the Veterinary Inspectorate. STEERS P/KG * Please ensure all sheep are tagged in the approved manner before arrival to the auction * Lame or unsound sheep will NOT be accepted and will be returned to the vendor £140.00 Texel J Radcliffe DOWNTON ESTATE SALE REPORT – SATURDAY 26 th SEPTEMBER 2023 * All sheep presented in Bridgnorth are deemed to be fit for human consumption, free from imperfections and have completed any veterinary medicine withdrawal period 1000 LAMBS Auctioneer – Martin Clack 07977 067519 A very similar entry to last week with the average of 255p/kg not really a true reflection. Too many underfinished lambs on offer affecting the overall average. Better lambs to 294p/kg twice both from George Evans at 44.5kg and 46kg. Lambs with flesh are a pleasure to sell, whereas underfinished sheep are much harder work. A shortage of heavy lambs sold to £142 for 58.5kg lambs from Dan Watkins and lambs under 40kg attracting spirited bidding, especially for Beltex x shapey lambs. On Saturday 26 th August just short of 4000 lambs were penned on a very wet morning for what was the 15 th Annual Sale held on farm at the Downton Estate. Trade would be very respectable averaging almost £12 up on last year, with both wether and ewe lambs at £120 and over. A larger than normal collection of prospective purchasers, some of which have attended every year for all of the 15 years, gathered with several new customers to stand in the rain for the opportunity to buy some very fresh store lambs. The flock penned up very well this year, looking very sharp and vibrant, although very few what might be considered as strong sheep were on offer. The sale began with the top pens of Suffolk x Mule wether lambs at £117 and as the sale progressed trade held above £110 with Texel Mules selling to £120, with the first yard £109 to £120. EasyCare tup lambs at £90 with more very long term EasyCare entire sheep at £72.50 and Romney ram lambs to £94. Smaller more long-term Suffolk and Texel lambs at £92 with very small lambs from £70. No tupping ewe lambs with runners to £122 Suffolk x Mules the majority £80 to £93. Texel x Mules to £107 holding over £100 for a number of pens with only one pen of Texels under £80. The last pen of the sale a pen of nicely marked ewe lambs sold for £86. WETHER LAMBS £/HEAD EWE LAMBS £/HEAD STORE SALE THIS FRIDAY 1 st SEPTEMBER 2023 Starts at 11.00 am (sheep) with cattle at 12.00 noon over 250 stores, 150 lambs and 100+ cattle booked in further entries invited Catalogue on-line or on Facebook Contact: Mark Burgoyne 07831 192603 Martin Clack 07977 067519 or Ollie Clack 07891 343673 NEXT STORE SALE FRIDAY 15 th SEPTEMBER 2023 Entries required by 12.00 noon Monday 11 th September Contact: Mark Burgoyne 07831 192603 Martin Clack 07977 067519 or Ollie Clack 07891 343673 6 th ANNUAL RAM SALE WEDNESDAY 13 th SEPTEMBER 2023 Starting at 5.00 pm Catalogue entries by Friday 8 th September 2023 Contact: Martin Clack 07977 067519 or Ollie Clack 07991 343673 COLLECTIVE MACHINERY SALE SATURDAY 14 th OCTOBER 2023 Entries now being taken form on-line or contact Bridgnorth Office For further information contact Dylan Ward on 07415 815266 or Ollie Clack on 07891 343673 SUSTAINABLE FARMING INCENTIVE (SFI) * 3-Year Schemes for Environmental Land Management Options * Payment made quarterly Capital Items are available under the Capital Only Scheme APPLICATION WINDOW OPENING SOON Please contact James or Camilla on 01746 762666 for advice and assistance FOR SALE DEVELOPMENT OR SELF-BUILD OPPORTUNITY FOR TWO PLOTS, CLUDDLEY, WELLINGTON, TF6 5DR Opportunity to build energy conscious homes in a semi-rural location. Full planning has been granted GUIDE PRICE: CIRCA £420,000 LAND FOR SALE SOUTH WEST OF STABLEFORD BRIDGE, BADGER LANE, STABLEFORD, BRIDGNORTH 59.18 ACRES LAND ARABLE, PASTURE AND RIVER MEADOWS * Approximately 59.18 acres (23.94 hectares) of arable and pasture land * Attractive river meadow land adjacent to the River Worfe * Potential for lake creation (subject to planning) * Potential for environmental management/ carbon offsetting * Approximately 1.5 miles of single bank fishing on the River Worfe * Productive pastures provide excellent grazing while the river meadow areas also provide opportunity to engage with environmental management schemes For Sale by Private Treaty As a whole or may divide into lots GUIDE PRICE: CIRCA £500,000 FOR SALE DUDMASTON STUD TUCKHILL, SIX ASHES, WV15 6EW AN EQUESTRIAN PROPERTY WITH A RANGE OF FACILITIES * Extending to 36.93 acres in total * 33.71 acres of pasture * 8 purpose-built stables * Outdoor arena and lunge pen * Three-bedroom log cabin * Steel portal-framed barn GUIDE PRICE £900,000 FOR RENT AGRICULTURAL/GENERAL STORAGE BUILDING, 485m 2 (5218 ft 2 ) BADGER HEATH FARM, BADGER, WOLVERHAMPTON, WV6 7JU To let a warehouse or general storage building on an agricultural or commercial lease, dependant on the end user and with a length of term to be agreed. * Former grain storage building of approximately 485m 2 (5218ft 2 ) * Concrete floor with vehicle inspection pit * Natural light with the addition of low energy lighting * Located in the countryside approximately 2 miles off the rabbit run (A454) * Parking for approximately 10 cars RENT £15,000 PER ANNUM LAND FOR SALE BLOCK OF PRODUCTIVE LAND, POOL QUAY, WELSHPOOL, SY21 9JU LAND AND BUILDINGS FOR SALE AS A WHOLE OR IN THREE LOTS, TOTALLING 153.89 ACRES * A significant block of productive land lying on both banks of the River Severn, to be sold as a whole or * For sale in 3 Lots * Suitable for conversion to arable (permissions required) * Access routes to A483 and A458 o Lot 1 – 26.55 acres Guide £400,000 o Lot 2 – 79.90 acres Guide £900,000 o Lot 3 – 47.44 acres Guide £425,000 For Sale by Private Treaty GUIDE PRICE: CIRCA £1,725,000 FOR RENT OFFICE PREMISES WITH WAREHOUSE/STORAGE The Old Navy Building, Ditton Priors, Bridgnorth, WV16 6SU Office & Storage Premises (with potential) * Net Internal Area approx. 465m² * Rural location situated between Bridgnorth and Ludlow * Close proximity to Ditton Priors Trading Estate * WC & kitchenette facilities * Former Navy building and latterly occupied for office and storage uses GUIDE PRICE: OFFERS OVER £26,000 PER ANNUM FOR RENT WAREHOUSE/STORAGE UNIT Unit 1, Station Approach, Station Lane, Bridgnorth, WV16 5DP * Ground Floor Net Internal Area approx. 54.32m² * First Floor storage mezzanine approx. 20.73m² * Located within Bridgnorth, amongst a modest range of commercial units * Parking for 3 or 4 cars RENTAL: £10,800 PER ANNUM LAND FOR SALE LAND FORMERLY PART OF LLWYN NEUADD CWMDUAD, CARMARTHEN, SA33 6AU AN UPLAND PARCEL OF LAND TOTALLING 92.27 ACRES OR THEREABOUTS * Approximately 92.27 acres of gently sloping upland pasture * Potential for the following alternative uses subject to planning, ie forestry, renewable energy or carbon offsetting * Lying 265m to 280m above mean sea level * For sale by private treaty OFFERS OVER £450,000 ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES AUCTIONS For over 50 years Nock Deighton Agricultural LLP (NDA) have been holding twice-monthly auctions of antiques, collectables and household furniture. The average lots per auction are in excess of 800 up to 1000, giving a good depth and spread of interest to all who take part. Lots can go for as little as £1 for a mixed box or as much as £3,000 for a specialist item – such as the Regency wrought-iron pad-footed garden bench (below) - which recently sold following some intense bidding from buyers online and in the sale room. Dylan Ward and the Auction Team offer a complete service, including house clearances, appraisals, valuations and advice on the best route of sale. Post-sale we can offer post and packing to UK destinations for smaller items. Dylan oversees the categorising and lotting of the diverse items we receive, they are then arranged in the sales room, labelled with the owner's sticker, photographed and finally briefly described for the easyliveAuction.com on-line system. For the future, Dylan has ambitious ideas in bringing the auction experience closer to interested sellers and buyers with presentation, personal service and respectful handling of auction lots. Auctions can be exciting, especially when bidding is intense. We are seeing many new customers using the on-line system for the first time and being delighted with what they have bought and the service provided by our staff. It is our intention to make the whole experience easy and enjoyable for both buyers and sellers alike. Sales are now catalogued with a full pictorial version displayed online, with live internet bidding, as well as bidding in the saleroom. The new Facebook page is available by searching for Nock Deighton Antique & Collectable Auctions and this shows a selection of lots for forthcoming sales. For all Saleroom enquires please contact Dylan Ward on 07415 815266 or 01746 762666 or email firstname.lastname@example.org The next Furniture/Antiques Sale will be held on Wednesday 6 th September 2023 The auction will be held on-line at www.easyliveauction.com or attend in person at the Sale Room in Bridgnorth Viewing days - Monday 4 th September & Tuesday 5 th September 9.00am – 4.00pm
City of Ferndale, Washington CURRENT EXPENSE FUND EXPENDITURES SUMMARY 0 4,638 3,600 CURRENT EXPENSE Actual Actual Actual Actual Projected BY CATEGORY SALARIES BENEFITS/PAYROLL TAXES SUPPLIES OTHER CHARGES & SERVICES/TRANSFERS/LOANS CAPITAL OUTLAY 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 $3,086,376 $3,145,851 $3,359,287 $3,359,287 $3,504,454 1,225,226 1,272,172 1,330,675 1,330,675 1,448,624 70,071 3,836,531 70,670 4,202,978 62,909 3,225,877 62,909 3,064,519 68,457 3,523,832 88,935 5,303 8,857 8,857 60,000 $8,307,139 $8,696,974 $7,987,605 $7,826,247 $8,605,367 TOTAL City of Ferndale, Washington FERNDALE CITY COUNCIL ORGANIZATIONAL CHART CITIZENS OF THE CITY OF FERNDALE Councilmember Rebecca Xczar Position One Councilmember Greg Hansen Position Two Councilmember Teresa Taylor Position Four Councilmember Cathy Watson Position Five Councilmember Kate Hansen Position Six Councilmember Fred Kennedy Position Seven Councilmember Keith Olson Position Three City of Ferndale, Washington City of Ferndale Department: CITY COUNCIL Program Fund No. 001 Division: Same Program BARS No. 001.511 Director: City Council Title: City Council Program Mission/Vision Statement: The Ferndale City Council makes policy, land use, and budget decisions to be carried out by the Mayor and City Administrator. The Council's mission as policy-maker is to assist the City of Ferndale to become economically strong, environmentally sensitive, visually pleasing and people-oriented with a socially diverse but cohesive population and employment mix. These attributes create a positive identity and image for the community and contribute to a City that works for its citizens. City of Ferndale, Washington Municipal Court 2018 Organizational Chart Court Records Clerk MUNICIPAL COURT Probation Officer CITY ADMINISTRATOR Court Services Manager PROBATION City of Ferndale, Washington City of Ferndale Department: MUNICIPAL COURT Program Fund No. 001 Division: Same Program BARS No. 001.512 Focal: Faith Miller Title: Court Services Manager Program Mission/Vision Statement: The Municipal Court serves the public in a fair, accessible, accountable, efficient, and independent manner. The Ferndale Municipal Court is here for the people served and has jurisdiction over traffic infractions and criminal matters. The Municipal Court may issue Orders of Protection for victims of domestic violence. The Municipal Court Judge provides the judicial administration for the court. Related services include providing legal representation for indigent persons, probation supervision, and interpreter services. The Court is committed to excellence in providing timely, courteous, professional and fair service to all persons and organizations. The office will present an atmosphere of respect for the public, employees, and other government entities and is partnering toward a safe and vital community. 5-5 2018 Budget City of Ferndale, Washington City of Ferndale, Washington ADMINISTRATION ORGANIZATIONAL CHART City Administrator Greg Young Mayor Jon Mutchler City Council Public Works Department Administration City Shop Treatment Plants Utilities Community Development Department Administration Building Planning GIS City Clerk & Finance Directors’ Offices Administration Finance Police Department Administration Patrol S.C.O.P.E. CITIZENS OF THE CITY OF FERNDALE City Attorney, Court, Probation, Communications Officer City of Ferndale, Washington City of Ferndale Goals & Accomplishments Department: ADMINISTRATION Program Fund No. 001 Division: Same Program BARS No. 001.513 Director: Jon Mutchler Title: Mayor Greg Young City Administrator Program Mission/Vision Statement: The Mayor, working in concert with the City Administrator, directs and administers City staff to execute the policies and objectives of the City of Ferndale, as adopted by the City council. To accomplish this, we plan, initiate and execute programs, as well as direct and coordinate departmental operations through the department directors. We also represent the City before other government bodies. 2018 Budget City of Ferndale, Washington 0 0 0 City Administrator ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT Research & Special Projects Communications - Website Management City Clerk Human Resources Legislative Services Risk Management Records Management - Public Records Communications& Special Projects Officer PRTAB/LTAC Liaison Arts Commission Liaison City of Ferndale, Washington Finance 2018 Organizational Chart Deputy Treasurer: Payroll, Accounts Receivable Accounts Payable FINANCE Finance Director Utility Billing Clerk CITY ADMINISTRATOR City of Ferndale, Washington City of Ferndale Goals & Accomplishments Departments: FINANCE/COMMUNICATIONS/CLERK Program Fund No. 001 Division: Same Program BARS No. 001.514 Director: Sirke Salminen Title: Finance Director Communications Officer City Clerk Riley Sweeney Susan Duncan Program Mission/Vision Statement: The role of the Administrative Services Department is to serve the City as the necessary link between the separate legislative and administrative arenas. For the City of Ferndale, the City Clerk provides human resources, records management services. The Administrative Services Department provides to the public a point of access for specific municipal services, and functions as the official records depository and archivist for the City. This department serves as clerical support for the City Council meetings, including the preparation and dissemination of agenda documents, legal advertisements, and the preparation and maintenance of meeting minutes. The department undertakes management of franchise agreements and develops policy and law in a variety of areas in coordination with the City Administrator and individual departments. The Finance Department oversees and is responsible for all budgeting, budget updates, reporting – including Bond Covenant required annual reporting, pricing, long-term project financing, grant billings and management, accounts payable and accounts receivable, payroll, business licenses, LID and ULID billing and collection, internal controls system, utility rate administration and billing, investing, compliance with state and federal regulations, and audits. The Communications Officer provides communication services including facebook and other media, press relations, website administration, mayoral chief of staff, and special projects as required. Finance Director's 2017 Accomplishments: 1. Continued to cross-trained staff in multiple functions. 2. Earned a "clean" 2016 Financial Statement Audit. 3. Exceeded budget estimations for Current Expense ending fund balance. City of Ferndale, Washington Communications Officer 2017 Accomplishments: * Organized and Launched "Summer of Fun" Recreational Activities, hosted eight recreational activities with over 2,000 attendees and 25 volunteers, more than doubled original budget in donations and grants. * Coordinated 3 Volunteer Park Cleanup Events, at Flair, Oxford and Griffintown Park with over 75 attendees. * Rebuilt City Website, modernized features, visuals and streamlined content. * Organized Citywide Community Meeting, with over 140 attendees that helped neighbors connect with vital community resources and be informed on city issues. * Launched Ferndale Made. Garnered several positive news stories for the City and our partners. * Staffed PRTAB and Ferndale Schools CAC. * Handled PR Challenges over the year, including negative feedback surrounding the water, changing the traffic light downtown * Conducted Annual WCIA Liability Assessment, including updating our volunteer policies. Received a clean audit with no action items. * Completed Certified Playground Safety Inspector Training. Results of exam pending. * Secured over $57,000 in FEMA Reimbursements for the Public Works Department. * Organized and Launched "Summer of Fun" Recreational Activities, hosted eight recreational activities with over 2,000 attendees and 25 volunteers, more than doubled original budget in donations and grants. Communications Officer 2018 Goals: Communications (30%) * Troubleshoot and Expand New City Website, including all the fine tuning involved with a new presence. * Produce Eight City Videos, explaining complicated topics or promoting city events or goals. * Write and Develop Four Mayoral Editorials that advance the City's communication goals and get distributed in local media. * Reduce Number of Water Shutoffs by means of a coordinated campaign with the finance and public works department to connect with water customers. Website/IT Support/Phones (20%) * Troubleshoot and Service our New Website as the site goes live in 2018. * Learn Two New Interconnect Phone Database Techniques to improve operations City of Ferndale, Washington Parks and Recreation Programs (25%) * Coordinate Ten Recreation Events at Ferndale Parks that a healthy lifestyle, are open and free to the public, and encourage use of the City parks. * Total Attendance at Recreational Programs for 2018 will exceed 700 attendees and 30 volunteers, with at least three private sponsors and three partner organizations. * Work with Public Works to install ADA Pathways in Pioneer Park * Continue to staff and support Parks, Recreation, Trails Advisory Board. * Coordinate Five Volunteer Parks Board Events, specifically building trails and cleaning up parks. * Continue to expand Eagle Scout Project support with the City. * Apply for two Parks related grants. Emergency Planning (10%) * Conduct one emergency preparedness drill with Ferndale School District, coordinating with Whatcom Unified Emergency Coordination Center personnel. * Continue to expand Whatcom PIO Support Network, by reaching out to local communications professionals and serving as Whatcom Unified Emergency Coordination Center Duty PIO twice in 2017. * Coordinate Emergency Preparation Month with FERN. Insurance (10%) * Complete WCIA required trainings. * Complete Annual Liability Assessment. * Process Insurance Paperwork within 3 Business Days. * Conduct a Safety Audit of All Ferndale Playgrounds Administration Support and Other Projects (5%) * Allocate LTAC funds in June * Allocate Organizational Grants in July * Apply for AWC Student Scholarships in March * Coordinate 4 mayoral tours in 2017 of Ferndale facilities. Professional Development * Network with Whatcom Young Professionals. City of Ferndale, Washington City of Ferndale, Washington City of Ferndale Goals & Accomplishments Department: LEGAL SERVICES Program Fund No. 001 Division: Same Program BARS No. 001.515 Director: None Title: City Attorney Program Mission/Vision Statement: The City contracts for the services of the City Attorney. This relationship allows the City to incur legal costs on an as-needed basis. The services of the City Attorney include representation on legal matters, legal advisory services, and document review. In addition, with our contracted City Attorney being a land use attorney, the City is kept abreast of the latest issues involving land use and municipal interests. 2018 Budget City of Ferndale, Washington 2018 Budget Department: GENERAL GOVERNMENT Program Fund No. 001 Division: Same Program BARS No. 001.519 Director: None Title: General Government Program Mission/Vision Statement: The General Government department of Current Expense accounts for those payments that are not specifically associated with a single fund and/or department. These include: property and vehicle insurance, utility payments, phone costs, equipment (copiers, etc.) rentals and leases, animal control contracting costs, and association dues. Many of these costs are charged to the various departments and are recouped through Central Service charges.
AD HOC ANNOUNCEMENT PURSUANT TO ART. 53 LR FIRST QUARTER 2022 Clariant reports markedly stronger sales growth and EBITDA expansion in Q1 2022 − First quarter 2022 sales from continuing operations increased by 30 % in local currency and 26 % in Swiss francs to CHF 1.262 billion – pricing contributed 16 % to the strong top-line growth − Continuing operations EBITDA was up 27 % to CHF 220 million − EBITDA margin increased to 17.4 % from 17.3 % in the first quarter of 2021 − First quarter performance underlines the ability to achieve mid-term targets − Outlook 2022: Strong local currency growth for the Group with the aim to improve year-on-year Group EBITDA margin level in a challenging geopolitical environment "I'm proud to announce that Clariant had a strong start to 2022 despite the turbulent environment. In the first quarter, we successfully generated compelling revenue growth and clearly increased absolute EBITDA. The Group's higher-value specialty portfolio once again enabled us to successfully manage continued variable cost inflation arising from raw materials, energy, and logistics services," said Conrad Keijzer, CEO of Clariant. "Although the short-term macroeconomic uncertainty remains high, we are well on track to deliver on our mid-term targets." Key Financial Data % LC 30 1 restated First Quarter 2022 – Very strong sales growth MUTTENZ, JUNE 15, 2022 Clariant, a focused, sustainable, and innovative specialty chemicals company, today announced first quarter 2022 continuing operations sales of CHF 1.262 billion, compared to CHF 1.002 billion in the first quarter of 2021. This corresponds to a particularly strong increase of 30 % in local currency and 26 % in Swiss francs. The positive pricing impact of 16 % in part addressed continued cost inflation and also slightly outpaced the volume growth of 14 %. Care Chemicals and Natural Resources grew sales at an accelerated pace, which more than compensated for the expected slightly weaker development in Catalysis. All geographic regions contributed meaningfully to the sales expansion in the first quarter of 2022, reflecting both continued strong demand as well as supply chain shortages. In Europe, the high 27 % local currency growth was underpinned by strong expansion in Care Chemicals as well as Natural Resources. Sales in Asia-Pacific rose by 31 %, underpinned by expansion in all Business Areas and clearly driven by 34 % higher sales in China. The Americas reported compelling growth as North American sales increased by a resounding 37 %, followed closely by Latin America at 31 %. In the Middle East & Africa, sales rose by 26 %. In the first quarter of 2022, Care Chemicals increased sales by 44 % in local currency. This progress was supported by double-digit expansion in both Consumer Care and Industrial Applications, in particular Personal Care, Crop Solutions, Aviation, and Coatings. The consolidation of the acquired majority share in Clariant IGL Specialty Chemicals (CISC) and the acquisition of the remaining shares in Beraca further supported this positive development with an addition of 4 % local currency volume growth for the Group. Catalysis sales decreased by a slight 1 % in local currency, despite significantly higher Specialty Catalysts sales, which could not entirely counterbalance the weakness in parts of Petrochemicals and Syngas. Natural Resources sales increased by a resounding 31 % in local currency with growth attributable to all three Business Units, especially Additives. The continuing operations EBITDA increased to CHF 220 million with a corresponding margin of 17.4 %, slightly exceeding the 17.3 % reported in the first quarter of the previous year. The increase was underpinned by operating leverage from higher sales, cost savings (CHF 4 million savings from efficiency programs), and pricing measures, which largely offset raw material price increases, supply chain constraints, and higher energy and logistics cost. The absolute EBITDA increased by a notable 27 %. FIRST QUARTER \| 2022 Discontinued Operations Clariant's Pigments business was divested to a consortium comprising Heubach Group and SK Capital Partners on 3 January 2022, which resulted in a provisional pretax disposal gain of CHF 168 million and an EBITDA of CHF 160 million for discontinued operations. Total Group (continuing operations and discontinued operations) EBITDA was CHF 380 million in the first quarter of 2022. Outlook – Full Year 2022 Clariant aims to grow above the market to achieve higher profitability through sustainability and innovation. The Group concluded the final step in its significant portfolio transformation in January of 2022. Clariant is now a truly specialty chemicals company and confirms its 2025 ambition to deliver profitable growth (4 – 6 % CAGR), a Group EBITDA margin between 19 – 21 %, and a free cash flow conversion of around 40 %. In the second quarter of 2022, Clariant expects to generate continued strong sales growth in local currency versus the prior year, underpinned by expansion in all Business Areas despite a normalizing growth environment. Sequential sales are expected to decline moderately as a result of seasonal impacts (aviation, refinery) and demand normalization in Care Chemicals and Natural Resources. Clariant expects to improve on its restated year-on-year margin levels in the second quarter of 2022. Sequentially, the Group expects to be broadly in line with its first quarter 2022 margin level, especially via operating leverage from growth, continuing pricing actions, and cost discipline to counter continued inflation in raw materials, logistics, labor, and energy cost. For the full year 2022, Clariant expects strong growth in local currency for the Group, driven by a particularly strong first half of 2022. The current high level of uncertainty resulting from the geopolitical conflicts, suspension of business with Russia, and the resurgence of COVID-19 in China are expected to continue to impact global economic growth and consumer demand in the second half of the year. Clariant expects the high inflationary environment with regard to raw material, energy, and logistics cost as well as supply chain challenges to persist in the second half of 2022. Clariant aims to improve its year-on-year Group EBITDA margin levels via solid revenue growth driven by pricing and continued cost discipline, despite the increasingly challenging economic environment. Business Discussion Business Area Care Chemicals 1 restated Sales In the first quarter of 2022, sales in the Business Area Care Chemicals rose by a particularly resounding 44 % in local currency and by 40 % in Swiss francs. Excluding the sales contribution from the consolidation of Clariant IGL Specialty Chemicals (CISC) and the full integration of Beraca, Care Chemicals sales grew by 30 % organically in local currency. The sales expansion was underpinned by both price and volume expansion of 23 % and 21 %, respectively. Consumer Care sales increased in a double-digit range in all three businesses: Personal Care, Home Care, with expansion in Crop Solutions again in the lead. Industrial Applications sales rose at a double-digit rate organically as a result of strengthening demand in key end markets, including transportation and construction. Furthermore, the Aviation business clearly recovered from the comparatively weak result reported in the first quarter of 2021. All geographic regions reflected strong sales expansion in the first quarter of 2022. This growth was underpinned by positive developments in Asia, North America, Europe, and Latin America, with all regions reflecting significant growth. In Asia, the consolidation of CISC boosted the positive development. EBITDA Margin In the first quarter, the EBITDA margin increased significantly to 23.0 % from 19.8 %, while absolute EBITDA rose by 63 %. This development was attributable to active pricing management used to counterbalance raw material cost headwinds, supply chain constraints, as well as energy and logistics cost increases. Clariant Insight In February 2022, Clariant launched a range of Vita surfactants and polyethylene glycols (PEGs) 100 % based on bio-based, renewable carbon from plants. These surfactants contribute to the removal of fossil carbon from the value chain and help to save up to 85 % of CO₂ emissions per ton of product compared to their fossil counterparts. The Vita range is the chemical equivalent to its fossil versions, offering the same best-in-class performance and efficiency to both Consumer Care as well as Industrial Applications products. Double-digit kilotons of the Vita range were made available for the worldwide market in the first quarter of 2022. The Vita products are a key milestone in Clariant's new purpose-led strategy of accelerating sustainability-driven innovation and its vision to achieve "Greater chemistry – between people and planet." Business Area Catalysis % LC -1 1 restated Sales In the first quarter of 2022, as previously indicated, sales in the Business Area Catalysis slowed by a slight 1 % in local currency and decreased by 4 % in Swiss francs versus a strong comparison base. This business was directly impacted by the decision to suspend business with Russia. Significantly higher sales in Specialty Catalysts largely counterbalanced the weaker developments in Petrochemicals and Syngas. Sales expansion was strong in Asia and North America, due in part to the high demand seen in China. Europe reported lower sales in the first quarter, which is a reflection of the normal project nature of the business. EBITDA Margin In the first quarter, the EBITDA margin declined to 7.6 % from 19.7 %. The main factors influencing this development included: (1) margin squeeze due to vast inflationary pressure from raw material, energy, and logistics cost, which was amplified by long project lead times versus the unprecedentedly significant and rapid cost increase within a short time period, for base metals in particular. This issue has been addressed via diligent pricing and by adjusting the relevant pricing model, which should generate a positive impact in the second half of 2022; (2) a less favorable product mix with a low share of accretive Petrochemical and Syngas catalyst sales despite the record-high order book for accretive CATOFIN ® catalysts in particular. The strong order book signifies a marked recovery in the second half of 2022; (3) continued logistics challenges, which resulted in delayed deliveries; (4) project cost related to the new CATOFIN ® production site in China and the sunliquid ® production plant in Romania. Both plants ramped-up production in the first quarter of 2022 according to plan. All required permissions for the sunliquid ® plant were received in the second quarter, and sales of secondgeneration bioethanol are expected to ramp-up in the second half of 2022. The CATOFIN ® plant has successfully concluded its chemical commissioning, and the new capacity is expected to contribute first sales in the second quarter. Though margins can fluctuate significantly over the quarters of a calendar year, the fundamentals for Catalysis remain positive based on the present demand pattern, the particularly high order backlog, portfolio strength, and proven innovation capability. 1 Clariant Insight Based on Clariant's industry-proven ammonia synthesis catalyst AmoMax ® 10, Clariant has introduced the new AmoMax ® 10 Plus catalyst. It is designed with an optimized promoter set, greatly increasing its activity and stability while reducing start-up times. This new catalyst can be used to increase ammonia production and/or reduce energy consumption. Its features ensure that AmoMax ® 10 Plus can deliver stable and reliable performance despite fluctuating feed conditions caused by the variable supplies of renewable energy. The AmoMax ® 10 Plus was chosen for the following two commercial green ammonia projects: The project in Duqm, Oman, and The Hydrogen Utility's major green ammonia project in Australia. The ACME green ammonia plant in Oman will be powered by solar and wind energy and will avoid 270,000 tons/year of CO2 compared to an average traditional ammonia plant. The Hydrogen Utility's two plants will avoid around 100,000 tons/year of CO2 in comparison to an average traditional ammonia plant. Green ammonia as a hydrogen carrier can facilitate future transport for supplying hydrogen to high-energy demand regions with limited renewable energy sources. Business Area Natural Resources 31 restated Sales In the first quarter of 2022, sales in the Business Area Natural Resources rose by 31 % in local currency and by a notable 26 % in Swiss francs. This increase was underpinned by both price and volume expansion of approximately 15 % and 16 %, respectively for the Business Area. All three Business Units contributed to this growth. Oil and Mining Services sales grew markedly in the first quarter, in a high-twenties percentage range. Oil Services sales continued to reflect strong growth, albeit against a soft comparison basis. Mining Solutions sales increased in the twenty percent range, underpinned by successful pricing measures. Refinery reflected a clear recovery versus the first quarter of the previous year, as the business returned to more normalized levels. Functional Minerals sales grew in a low teen range, supported by expansion in almost all Business Lines, especially in Purification and Cargo & Device Protection. Foundry increased sales at a midsingle-digit rate, slightly exceeding the absolute levels achieved in the pre-COVID-19 pandemic first quarter of 2019. Additives sales expansion outperformed that of the other three Natural Resources Business Units due to extraordinarily strong underlying demand in all regions and in all main end markets, such as electrical and electronics as well as the automotive (e-mobility) and construction sectors. EBITDA Margin In the first quarter, the EBITDA margin increased to 20.0 % from 17.0 %, driven by Additives, despite the fact that profitability was negatively impacted by significantly higher raw material cost and the curtailed availability of raw materials. The strong operating leverage from growth together with pricing measures more than compensated for the inflationary pressure. Absolute EBITDA rose by 48 %. Clariant Insight Halogen-free flame retardants, such as those provided by Additives, elevate sustainability and performance. Clariant's non-halogenated ammonium phosphate (APP)-based Exolit ® AP flame retardants take intumescent fire safety to a new level for the building and construction sector. They enable an extended shelf life of intumescent systems allowing them to be applied in challenging conditions and can also save lives by enabling a faster response and extended resistance to fires compared to intumescent coatings based on standard halogenated solutions. Discontinued Operations 1 restated Pigments divested on 3 January 2022 As part of Clariant's portfolio optimization, the Business Units Pigments and Masterbatches and the Business Line Healthcare Packaging, which operated as a part of the Business Unit Masterbatches, have been reclassified to discontinued operations since the first half year 2019. On 31 October 2019, Clariant sold its Healthcare Packaging business to Arsenal Capital Partners. The sale of Clariant's Masterbatches business to Avient (formerly PolyOne) was completed on 1 July 2020. On 3 January 2022, Clariant's Pigments business was divested to a consortium comprising Heubach Group and SK Capital Partners, which resulted in a provisional pretax disposal gain of CHF 168 million and an EBITDA of CHF 160 million for discontinued operations in the first quarter of 2022. AD HOC ANNOUNCEMENT PURSUANT TO ART. 53 LR FIRST QUARTER \| 2022 CORPORATE MEDIA RELATIONS Jochen Dubiel Phone +41 61 469 63 63 email@example.com Anne Maier Phone +41 61 469 63 63 firstname.lastname@example.org Ellese Caruana Phone +41 61 469 63 63 email@example.com INVESTOR RELATIONS Andreas Schwarzwälder Phone +41 61 469 63 73 firstname.lastname@example.org Maria Ivek Phone +41 61 469 63 73 email@example.com Alexander Kamb Phone +41 61 469 63 73 firstname.lastname@example.org Follow us onTwitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram. This media release contains certain statements that are neither reported financial results nor other historical information. This document also includes forward-looking statements. Because these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual future results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond Clariant's ability to control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions, currency fluctuations, the behavior of other market participants, the actions of governmental regulators and other risk factors such as: the timing and strength of new product offerings; pricing strategies of competitors; the Company's ability to continue to receive adequate products from its vendors on acceptable terms, or at all, and to continue to obtain sufficient financing to meet its liquidity needs; and changes in the political, social and regulatory framework in which the Company operates or in economic or technological trends or conditions, including currency fluctuations, inflation and consumer confidence, on a global, regional or national basis. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document. Clariant does not undertake any obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of these materials. www.clariant.com Clariant is a focused, sustainable, and innovative specialty chemical company based in Muttenz, near Basel/Switzerland. On 31 December 2021, Clariant totaled a staff number of 11 537 and recorded sales of CHF 4.372 in the fiscal year for its continuing businesses. The company reports in three business areas: Care Chemicals, Catalysis and Natural Resources. Clariant's corporate strategy is led by the overarching purpose of 'Greater chemistry – between people and planet,' and reflects the importance of connecting customer focus, innovation, sustainability, and people.
November 2008 The International AIDS Society (IAS) is a global membership organization of professionals committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The IAS Newsletter is a tool for the organization's diverse members to find out more about past, ongoing and future activities at the IAS and to learn how to become involved. For more information about the IAS, to search for and contact other members, or to find breaking news in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment, and updates on upcoming IAS conferences, please visit the website at www.iasociety.org Message from the President page 2 Message from the Executive Director page 3 Book Review: Sizwe's Test page 3 Highlights of AIDS 2008 page 4 Stories from Across the Globe page 6 The Role of the Industry Liaison Forum page 6 Reclaiming our Lives page 12 Clinical News page 8 Relaunch of JIASpage 9 Confronting HIV Among MSM page 10 Professional Development for Members The IAS Talks with Papa Salif Sow page 13 Regional Partnerships Update page 14 Strengthening Health Systems Through the AIDS Response page 15 IAS Governing Council 2008-2010page 16 page 10 Message from the President During the International AIDS Conference in Mexico, where I became President of the IAS for the next two years, I was extremely impressed by the quality of the presentations, and the enthusiastic debate that often continued beyond the walls of the conference centre. I was delighted to see so many wonderful presentations given by a new generation of highly committed participants. Their youth and enthusiasm invigorates us and reassures us that there is a generation ready to carry on the fight against this devastating epidemic. I want to use my first newsletter message since becoming IAS President to offer my thoughts on the key messages from AIDS 2008, and how the IAS proposes to move these forward. For me, the key word emerging from this conference is combination. Combination prevention strategies tai- • lored to decrease HIV transmission. Combination antiretroviral therapy to • reduce community viral load as an aid to prevention of HIV transmission. Combination antiretroviral therapy to • dramatically reduce morbidity and mortality among those infected worldwide. Combination strategies to enhance HIV • testing. Combination strategies to reduce poverty, • homelessness and discrimination. We currently find ourselves at a critical juncture. Over the previous three decades, we have collectively accumulated a tremendous amount of knowledge regarding what needs to be done to effectively combat HIV at individual and societal levels. Yet, implementation flounders. We must work most diligently to overcome the ever-growing implementation gap. Failure to enact a comprehensive, sustained and multi-pronged attack on the pandemic represents a crime - a crime against those infected, a crime against those affected, and a crime against those susceptible. Just prior to the conference, UNAIDS released the 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic. The new report points out that there are now 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide against a previous estimate of 40 million. Last year, 2.7 million people were newly infected with HIV. Though down from the 3 million in 2001, this still represents an unacceptable number of new infections. Two million people died from AIDS in 2007, yes, down from 2.2 million at the peak in 2005. Still 2 million too many. The number of children infected with HIV and AIDS fell to 370,000 in 2007 from 410,000 in 2005. Hardly a victory, when optimal use of Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy should be able to eradicate neonatal HIV infection! In that context, 33 per cent of pregnant HIV-positive women now receive drugs to prevent vertical HIV transmission, up from 14 per cent two years ago. Still, only 33 per cent. Over 3 million people in resource-limited settings are now on antiretrovirals, an increase of one million in the past year alone. Though this is substantial progress we are falling further behind every minute that goes by: there are five new infections for every two people starting antiretroviral therapy. The thousands of men, women and children, becoming infected and dying every day are the victims of our inability to transform knowledge into action. We must strive for universal action now. Anything less would be a crime. There is hope. During AIDS 2008 we learned that the United States will continue its PEPFAR funding for HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria for the next five years. Despite lingering concerns regarding the strings attached to this pledge by the current administration, I would like to thank the American people for this tremendous commitment, though the responsibility must not lie solely on their shoulders. The world must follow their example. I therefore call upon all of the G8 leaders to match President Bush's contribution on a per capita basis, now. We want the contribution to be sustainable, long term and without strings attached. Further, there can be no end to the pandemic unless we secure full protection of human rights for those most vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. The rights of sex workers; injecting drug users; men who have sex with men; aboriginals; and women, as well as girls; must be protected through legal and policy reform in every country around the world, and now. I therefore call on all political and religious leaders to make this a reality, now. I would also like to address a recent announcement by the United States to lift the travel ban for those living with HIV and AIDS. As you know, this has been a top priority for the IAS for many years. Now that this legislation is passed, we will begin the process to bring the International AIDS Conference back to the United States when the policy is removed by the Department of Health and Human Services. I look forward to working with our esteemed team of Governing Council members, staff and IAS members to ensure that the IAS continues to play a central role in the shaping of the fight against this devastating pandemic. ■ Julio Montaner IAS President Message from the Executive Director Organizing the International AIDS Conference puts intense pressure on the IAS Secretariat. In the weeks after Mexico, the staff who put so much time, energy and passion into the conference first beamed with excitement and pride at its success, then retreated in collective exhaustion, and finally returned to their work to re-group and plan for the future. The evaluation of AIDS 2008 in Mexico is ongoing, but we can already point to some specific positive outcomes. In Mexico, the commitment on the part of the government to negotiate lower drug prices, and the removal of the restrictions on importing medicines from companies without manufacturing facilities in Mexico, are already showing results. Ministers of Education from countries around the region have signed an Editorial Committee: Ron MacInnis, Shirin Heidari, Erika Lundstrom, Mallory Smuts, Martin Flynn, Karen Bennett Web Coordinator: Mona Dolan © International AIDS Society, Geneva Email: email@example.com agreement to provide comprehensive sex education to pre-pubescent young people in schools. Globally, there is a growing commitment to maximize the potential of HIV treatment to reduce HIV transmission and to address the prevention, treatment and care needs of the most affected communities – particularly men who have sex with men, injection drug users, and sex workers. And finally, a strengthened commitment is evident among donors and others to ensure that the roll-out of HIV services in the poorest countries is integrated with attempts to strengthen overall health systems. In September it was necessary to restructure the secretariat to ensure our viability for the future. The restructuring included making a number of permanent positions redundant. This is never an easy decision and is always a painful process for a small organization. I wish our colleagues well who are moving on from the IAS and thank them for their tremendous contribution. For the organization, the changes will enable us to be more flexible in meeting the short terms needs of the secretariat to fulfill our objectives, while continuing to have a strong core of permanent capacity. Mexico provided me with the opportunity to meet personally with hundreds of IAS members that I have not met before. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, and the many thousands more, for your support and ongoing engagement with the IAS. Ensuring that your collective voice of independent expertise is heard is as important now as it was at the beginning of the epidemic. ■ Craig McClure IAS Executive Director Letters to the Editor Letters should be emailed to editor@ iasociety.org, and should be a maximum of 250 words in length (we reserve the right to edit letters for publication). Unless otherwise specified, letters selected for publication will include your full name and country of residence. If you wish to remain anonymous, kindly state this clearly at the bottom of your letter. Book Review 'Sizwe's Test - A young man's journey through Africa's AIDS epidemic' by Jonny Steinberg Review by Mallory Smuts An eye-opening yet heart rendering journey into the AIDS epidemic in Africa, Sizwe's Test not only provides the reader with a deep understanding of the impact of the HIV epidemic on village life in southern Africa but also delves into the lives of individuals in rural communities, highlighting the fears they face, the beliefs they hold onto and the power of culture and shame. Award-winning author, Jonny Steinberg, a gay, white South African, wanting to understand the AIDS crisis in his country – and himself struggling with his own psychological barriers to HIV testing – wonders why HIV testing and treatment are still being rejected in areas even where they are readily accessible. He travels to the poor rural village of Ithanga, where running water and electricity are not available, but where antiretrovirals are. He meets Sizwe Magadla, a 30-year-old shopkeeper, who becomes Steinberg's interpreter and teaches the author about the village's traditional health-care system, the dependence on witchcraft and traditional healers, and the aversion to Western medicine. As the relationship between the two men develops, Sizwe confides in Steinberg about his resistance to HIV testing, the loss of those he has loved to AIDS, and his fear of further loss. Through their discussions Sizwe begins to question the long-standing African myth that the white man created HIV in order to regain power, and also struggles with his confusion in reconciling his traditional beliefs with medical fact. Insightful, compassionate and touching, this informative work makes clear the stark dayto-day reality of living with HIV and makes us question our own beliefs and preconceptions. Sizwe's Test is a powerful and emotional read, which not only highlights the strength of the epidemic, but also casts light on the strength of human tenacity and brotherhood. ■ 3 HIGHLIGHTS FROM AIDS 2008 By Rodney Kort, with contributions from Martin Flynn, David Gilden, Mark Mascolini, Eric Mykhalovskiy, Parijat Baijal and Glen Brown. using, men who have sex with men (MSM) and sex worker populations. Discussions focused on the need for better HIV surveillance and other strategic health information on these key populations, both in generalized and concentrated epidemics. The XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008) in Mexico City was the first such conference to be held in Latin America, providing speakers and delegates with an opportunity to address pressing issues related to the HIV response regionally as well as globally. Although the conference was notable for the diversity of the programme, which addressed a broad range of health and development issues, several content areas dominated discussion and debate: State of the Epidemic Data from the UNAIDS 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, released immediately prior to the conference, indicates that globally, the percentage of people living with HIV has remained stable since 2000 and new infections have declined from 3 million in 2002 to 2.7 million in 2007. However, overall prevalence, due to ongoing infections and the impact of ART rollout, remains high, with 33 million people estimated to be living with HIV at the end of 2007. Women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected in sub-Saharan Africa, although the ratio of males to females living with HIV globally has remained stable at 50 per cent since 2001. The good news that most sub-Saharan African countries are reporting reductions in new infections was offset by increases in HIV incidence among some injection drug Viral Reservoirs and New Therapeutic Targets Research released before and during the conference confirmed the speed with which HIV establishes latent viral reservoirs following infection (within one week), particularly in gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and the resulting challenges to viral eradication given how effectively HIV proviral RNA inserts itself into human DNA within these reservoirs. Several studies addressed innate immunity and the role of toll-like receptors on the surface and interior of cells to regulate the body's immunological response and, ultimately, HIV expression, with sometimes contradictory findings. Future immunological research on viral/host dynamics is expected to furnish the scientific community with a better understanding of the role of these receptors in the inflammatory response to HIV, and how they might be harnessed in new therapeutic agents and strategies. Clinical Management: Optimal Start and Switch Timing, Resistance and the Challenge of TB/HIV Co-infection A consensus statement released by WHO, IAS, the Global Fund and the World Bank at the conference called on donors and the research community to address knowledge gaps in delivering ART and care using the public health approach, including the role of laboratory services in clinical decisionmaking. The research gaps highlighted by the consensus statement were underscored by a number of speakers and presentations. A Malawi study raised concern about how the rise of resistance mutations in highburden countries could compromise the efficacy of second-line regimens, a situation compounded by the fact that viral load testing – which could provide evidence of viral rebound well before it is reflected in CD4+ cell attrition and clinical endpoints – remains expensive and unavailable to most clinicians in the developing world. Results from the ongoing, international PEARLS study also suggested that viral load monitoring was important to optimize clinical management. The results of these studies will hopefully strengthen efforts to develop and implement inexpensive, quality-assured laboratory technologies for use in resource-limited settings. The question of whether to initiate ART at higher CD4+ cell counts than currently recommended by WHO treatment guidelines was also the topic of much discussion. Updated treatment guidelines released by IASUSA immediately prior to the conference place no upper CD4+ count limit on when treatment should be considered if other health conditions, such as viral hepatitis or cardiovascular disease, are present. And a growing evidence base from recent trials suggest that earlier ART intervention may ward off not only AIDS-defining illnesses, but also non-AIDS cancers and heart, liver or kidney disease. The move by the IAS-USA guidelines to treat HIV as a chronic inflammatory disease, and the resulting change in recommendations regarding ART initiation, will place additional pressure on changing WHO treatment guidelines. If that happens, it will result in a substantial increase in the number of people who need treatment. Responding to HIV among Gay and other MSM No doubt at least partly due to its relevance to the epidemic in Latin America, speakers and delegates paid an unprecedented amount of attention at the conference to HIV among gay and other men who have sex with men (MSM), with discussions buttressed by a small but growing number of studies indicating that – even within generalized epidemics – HIV prevalence was several times higher among MSM compared to the rest of the population. A report from Sam Avrett on page 10 of this newsletter provides greater detail on MSM issues at the conference. Sex Work The enormous challenges faced by sex workers in accessing HIV prevention, care and treatment also received unprecedented attention at the conference, with a plenary, several sessions and a number of demonstrations focusing on how the legal status and stigma attached to sex work, coupled with the violence and harassment faced by sex workers from law enforcement officers, undermines the response to HIV in this key population. Brazil demonstrated leadership on this issue, implementing several initiatives including decriminalizing sex work and promoting HIV prevention education and self-esteem among sex workers through the, 'No shame girl, you're a professional' media campaign. Health Systems Several sessions addressed various aspects of the 'vertical' (disease-specific) versus 'horizontal' (health systems) funding debate. Several speakers suggested this was a 'false debate', with little evidence to suggest that, without the recent increases in HIV investments, resources for broader health systems would somehow have materialized. However, several African ministers of health at the conference agreed that the proliferation of HIV projects and funding streams, coupled with higher salaries offered in HIV programmes, presented additional challenges to both a coordinated AIDS response at the country level and to effective management of other areas of the health system. These concerns were supported by studies of several Global Health International projects that were presented at the conference, which found problems with alignment and coordination between funders and country coordination mechanisms. In one instance, funds were flowing from no less than 17 different international agencies, each requiring separate reporting mechanisms from the recipient country. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of evidence from the conference indicated that HIV investments strengthen health systems overall. Studies and reports cited the establishment of clinical and laboratory infrastructure, strengthened supply and procurement systems, improvements in health care worker training, and increased community engagement as examples. The debate has had the valuable effect of pushing donors, programme managers and recipient countries towards a more strategic and coordinated approach to scale-up. Task-shifting has been an important strategy for dealing with the acute shortage of health care workers in many high-burden countries, and several studies demonstrated the impressive progress in health system efficiencies garnered by using nurses or other health care providers to deliver care and treatment interventions. One modelling study estimated that, with task shifting, the number of physicians needed for ART in Rwanda by the end of 2008 would drop from 77 physicians working 30 hours per week to 17 physicians working 30 hours per week, a 183 per cent gain in physician capacity for non-HIV care. Many speakers noted that task shifting, training and health care worker retention strategies will be increasingly critical as the HIV field moves into the 'second wave' of ARV rollout. Stigma and Discrimination AIDS 2008 was a watershed moment that established reducing stigma and discrimination as fundamental priorities in working towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Speakers at a session on evidence-based approaches to addressing stigma and discrimination called for establishing stigma and discrimination reduction as national and international funding, policy and programme priorities. While HIV-related stigma is widely regarded as an important barrier to epidemic management, research efforts to address knowledge gaps in the defining and measuring of stigma and assessing the impact of stigma-reducing initiatives have been limited. Several new initiatives addressed the need for empirical research to measure stigma, including the People Living with HIV Stigma Index. The index is intended to measure changes in stigma over time and establish country comparisons to inform programme and policy interventions, as well as advocacy work on the structural sources of stigma. Lessons learned from the global roll-out of the index, currently underway, will help clarify the potential of this unique community-centred approach to stigma surveillance and response. Human Rights Human rights was the focal point for a number of activities at the conference, including marches against homophobia, for women's rights and housing, and the first ever Global Village "Human Rights Networking Zone". Several UNAIDS and Open Society Institute publications, released before and during the conference, emphasized the importance of securing human rights to achieve universal access goals, including addressing workplace discrimination, travel restrictions, and the denial of women's property and inheritance rights. A number of sessions addressed the human rights context of homosexuality, drug use and sex work, the criminalization of HIV transmission and/or exposure, and the challenges of incorporating human rights principles in HIV programming. The International AIDS Society has commissioned a XVII International AIDS Conference Impact Report, due for release in early December, which will provide a comprehensive analysis of the major research and lessons learned from AIDS 2008, including implications for future research, policy and advocacy. In addition, all abstracts presented at the conference are available online at www.aids2008.org. ■ Photos on this spread: International AIDS Society/Mondaphoto 5 Photo: International AIDS Society/Mondaphoto Stories from Across the Globe Fighters for Life by Claudia Elena Laslo, Romania Many of the recipients of a media scholarship to attend AIDS 2008 have prepared articles to highlight HIV in their home countries and their personal experiences of living with and/or reporting on HIV. The Role of the IAS Industry Liaison Forum (ILF) Their stories highlight their dedication to journalism while presenting the complexities surrounding HIV/AIDS in their communities. We are pleased to include short excerpts of three of these articles. Visit www.iasociety.org to read the complete articles. What HIV Means to Me, My Country, and My Region by Shirley Thomas, Guyana "As a journalist, I see myself as having a crucial role to play in the fight against HIV/AIDS, both locally and at the regional level. As Caribbean nationals we should constantly look out for each other, while striving to forge alliances that will rebound to the good of all Caribbean peoples. The 'eating away' of Caribbean economies by HIV/AIDS is far too expensive a price to pay for 'looking the other way' or looking on indifferently as sister nations grapple individually to fight the monster AIDS." A summary of the IAS–ILF satellite meeting on the role of industry in the development of ARV-based prevention technologies for women, held at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City "Globally, more than 15.4 million women are living with HIV and the proportion of new HIV infections in women continues to rise 1 ." The Industry Liaison Forum (ILF) of the International AIDS Society has as its mission to accelerate scientifically promising, ethical HIV research in resource-limited countries, with a particular focus on the roles and responsibilities of the pharmaceutical industry as sponsors and supporters of research. The IAS' strategic plan commits ILF to focus on scientific, ethical and policy issues related to the need for HIV research for women and children in low- and middleincome countries by identifying gaps in this area of research, and advocating with industry to address them. 1 UNAIDS, Making HIV trials work for women and adolescent girls, August 2008. "Alex is a handsome 19 year old man, with startling blue eyes and his large, workhardened hands tell the story of a life full of responsibilities. From early childhood he's been raised by his grandmother in her village house. His absent mother lives in the city of Constanta, with her new, 'clean' family. His father, a violent alcoholic, has been long gone. Now Alex is the man of the house, helping out at every step, repaying his sick, old grandmother for her good deeds. He dropped out of school but took an interest in cars and became a mechanic. The scars on his handsome face prove how fiercely proud he is: How did he get infected? From a needle. How did he find out? He guessed that much from the medical staff's conversations. Has it been his choice to tell others about his situation? No, but when somebody else heard about it by chance, the news spread throughout the village. Now everybody knows." HIV/AIDS in my Commuity, Region, and Country by Janice Dayle, Canada "As is the case with all immigrant cultures, assimilation doesn't take hold within Caribbean communities and deeply ingrained traditions and cultural norms have remained steadfast. In that context, issues commonly deemed 'immoral' like HIV/AIDS have historically been looked on in a degrading way. As a result a generally negative response to HIV/AIDS transcends borders, generating a culture of hate within Caribbean communities, for anything related to this crippling virus, based on mis-education, myth, fear and basic human unkindness." ■ ARV technologies for women With this focus, the ILF held a satellite meeting during the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. Entitled The Role of Industry in Development of ARVbased Prevention Technologies for Women, the meeting brought together researchers from within and outside industry, as well as representatives from civil society and government, to analyze the impact of the epidemic on women globally. A specific focus was on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and microbicide trials, and relevant clinical data on women for approval of antiretrovirals, including data for use of antiretrovirals during pregnancy. Presenters discussed challenges that impede new prevention technologies for women, and together, speakers, panelists and attendees identified key questions to be answered in future research. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Javier Lama of Investigaciones Medicas en Salud (Peru), provided an update on progress in PrEP, specifically citing both challenges and opportunities related to the participation of women in PrEP trials. Although women are part of the PrEP research agenda, results from studies on women are not expected for at least two more years, and results from studies on men cannot automatically be used for women. PrEP efficacy and/or safety in women could be affected by differences in: body composition and size, what the body does to the drug, woman-specific concurrent medication use, and modes of exposure and transmission rates. PreP efficacy study results for populations of men who have sex with men and users of intravenous drugs are expected in 2009. These results should be interpreted and carefully extrapolated to the population of women. Study results with women are not expected until 2010 and 2012. Microbicides Zeda Rosenberg of the International Partnership for Microbicides (USA), spoke about what the future holds for next generation microbicides and partnerships with industry. Until today, microbicide efficacy trials have been cancelled due to harm, lack of statistical significance, or lack of efficacy. However, throughout the process many lessons have been learned regarding design, safety, adherence and the need for trials in varied geographic locations. Numerous next generation microbicides are currently in product development, mostly in partnership with industry. Issues related to intellectual property rights must be considered prior to the development, manufacturing and distribution of antiviral compounds as microbicides in resourcelimited countries. Opportunities for further industry involvement were identified in the areas of formulation development, long-term seconded technical expertise, support for access and distribution in resource-limited settings, and guidance on product approval and regulation. clude unknown incidence, understanding potential social harms, and resource limitations. Yet each of these challenges brings opportunities, such as updating guidelines, access to referral networks and partnerships, and site development. ARVs in pregnancy Lynne Mofenson of the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health (USA), discussed the use of antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy. Although antiretroviral therapy is often needed during pregnancy, there is a lack of sufficient data on dosage and safety. Further research in this area is urgently needed as about half of pregnancies are unplanned, inadvertent exposure to drugs is common before the woman knows she is pregnant, and drug interaction with hormonal contraceptives may increase the risk of pregnancy. Data are still needed in a variety of areas. Participating industry representatives expressed a clear interest in working with the ILF to identify the highest priority areas and how to move forward with data collection and research. All participants agree that collaboration is key to the success of developing prevention technologies for women. ILF – the future Alex Coutinho of the Infectious Disease Institute at Makerere University (Uganda), addressed the challenges and opportunities in conducting microbicide trials. Resourcelimited countries have the greatest need for HIV prevention options thereby making them opportune locations for testing. By running trials in areas where such options will be used, various factors pertinent to the local population can be studied while simultaneously creating opportunities for understanding about future access. The challenges associated with these trials in- The ILF will continue to address the inadequacy of research data to meet the needs of women and children in low- and middleincome countries. By convening meetings in different regions and inviting researchers from around the world, the ILF hopes to build a network of scientists, clinicians and investigators to work with industry towards increasing gender and paediatric perspectives in key research areas. The next ILF session will be held at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa in Dakar, Senegal in December 2008. ■ Editors-in-Chief: Elly Katabira, M.D. (Uganda) and Mark Wainberg, Ph.D. (Canada) Executive Editor: Shirin Heidari, Ph.D. (Switzerland) Currently on JIAS: Prevention of the Sexual Transmission of HIV-1: Preparing for Success, by Myron Cohen, Pontiano Kaleebu, Thomas Coates HIV Prevention: What Have we Learned from Community Experiences in Concentrated Epidemics? By Bruno Spire, Isabelle de Zoysa , Hakima Himmich Confronting TB/HIV in the Era of Increasing Anti-TB Drug Resistance, by Chakaya JM, Getahun H, Granich R, Havlir D, Benefits of an Educational Program for Journalists on Media Coverage of HIV/ AIDS in Developing Countries, by Jorge L Martinez-Cajas, Cédric F Invernizzi, Michel Ntemgwa, Susan M Schader, Mark A Wainberg HIV/AIDS, Conflict and Security in Africa: Rethinking Relationships, by Joseph U Becker, Cristian Theodosis, Rick Kulkarni www.jiasociety.org 7 Baragwanath Hospital Perinatal Research Unit, South Africa. Dr. Saul Johnson examines 18 month-old Buzisile, a participant in a study to determine the effectiveness of ARVs in preventing transmission of HIV from mother to infant. Photo: UNAIDS/L.Grubb Clinical News The effect of antiretroviral treatment on pregnant women and their infants in Cote d'Ivoire Effects of antiretroviral treatment on infants during pregnancy were recently investigated in a study in Cote d'Ivoire. The findings showed that although combination therapy was more effective in preventing perinatal HIV transmission than short course mono or dual therapy, it was conversely associated with low infant birth weights. The study found that infants born to mothers on combination therapy were more frequently low weight at birth (under 2500 g). More than 20 per cent of infants born to mothers on combination therapy had a low weight at birth compared to nearly half the number in newborns to mothers on single or dual drug therapy. Another factor that was considered related to low birth weights was mothers' low maternal body mass index. While antiretroviral therapy improves the health of pregnant women living with HIV and dramatically reduces the risk of transmission from mother to child, the effects on newborns are not so well-known. The studies carried out in high income countries show conflicting results and the number of studies with children born in Africa is very limited. A recent study in Cote d'Ivoire shows that combination therapy during pregnancy can result in low birth weight of the infants. However, the low birth rate does not seem to have any detrimental effect on child survival and does not increase the mortality rate, according to this study. The scientists in this study analyzed how infants born to HIV-positive pregnant women are affected by different antiretroviral treatment strategies in two different cohorts in Cote d'Ivoire. The first cohort included 175 women followed from 2001 to 2003. The women received either short course mono therapy with zidovudine (AZT), or dual therapy with AZT and lamivudine (3TC), plus a single dose of nevirapine during labour for prevention of transmission of HIV to their infants. The second cohort included 151 women with combination therapy during pregnancy between 2003 and 2007. All newborns received two doses of nevirapine and zidovudine for seven days after birth as prophylaxis. In addition, women were advised to either exclusively breastfeed their infants or use formula. The median CD4 cell counts in the first group of women in the study were 177 cells/ mm 3 and in the second group 182 cells/ mm 3 in the second group. The length of the therapy between the groups did however vary. Women on short-course monotherapy or dual therapy were treated for approximately five weeks, whereas the duration of the combination therapy was almost twelve weeks. The results of this study clearly show that combination therapy is much more effective in preventing mother to child transmission, compared with short course mono or dual therapy. Among infants of mothers who received short course mono or dual therapy, 16 per cent became HIV infected, compared to only 2 per cent of infants born to mothers on combination therapy. Furthermore, there were a significantly higher number of paediatric infections among infants born to mothers on short course therapy; approximately 16 per cent compared to only 2.3 per cent among infants born to mothers who received HAART. The frequency of still births was comparable between the two groups. Looking at infant mortality during the first year of life, it did not show any association with either low birth weight or the antiretroviral treatment strategies of mothers. The only association to infant mortality was the paediatric HIV infection. The study provides important information on the consequences of various treatment strategies in pregnant women and their infants in Africa. Further large scale studies are needed to confirm these results and provide a better understanding of the complexity of the epidemic among pregnant women. There is an urgent need to develop more beneficial strategies for pregnant women and their infants' wellbeing. ■ Ekouevi DK, Coffie PA, Becquet R, Tonwe-Gold B, Horo A, Thiebaut R, Leroy V, Blanche S, Dabis F, Abrams EJ. 'Antiretroviral therapy in pregnant women with advanced HIV disease and pregnancy outcomes in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire'. AIDS. 2008 Sep 12;22(14):1815-20. Relaunch of the Journal of the IAS The Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS) is now accepting submissions. Submit your manuscript via our online submission system at www.jiasociety.org. JIAS offers an efficient online submission process, a rapid, high quality peer-review process, and immediate publication upon acceptance. The published version of your article will immediately be posted at PubMed Central and other freely accessible full-text repositories. The Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS) has been relaunched by BioMed Central and the International AIDS Society. With a dynamic new board comprised of distinguished scientists, the journal is better positioned to take advantage of recent research trends in HIV and AIDS. JIAS is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that encompasses all aspects of HIV-related research across various disciplines. The journal strongly encourages submissions from investigators carrying out research in low- and middle-income countries. JIAS' focus is on studies that show practical approaches to the fight against HIV in the countries most affected by the epidemic. As a result, priority will be given to operations research. We are looking forward to further strengthening the link between JIAS and other initiatives at the IAS consistent with the organization's strategic priorities of operations research and health systems strengthening. In addition, editorials, commentaries and highlights from International AIDS Conferences and other relevant conferences will be published. The aim of JIAS is to contribute to strengthening research capacities in lowand middle-income countries. In addition to providing a free, open access platform for publication, JIAS offers a series of workshops on manuscript writing and also provides manuscript mentoring. Through such initiatives, investigators will receive individual feedback and mentoring and thereby increase their chances of having their research findings published in peerreviewed, indexed journals. Working with our partners in scientific publishing and research training, JIAS is committed to addressing the gap in health research capacity, and increasing the visibility and impact of research undertaken in resource-limited settings. This autumn JIAS will present some of the most exciting new research on HIV, including new clinical and social science research, as well as information on some of the research controversies discussed at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. In the upcoming issue: Dr Myron Cohen of the University of North Carolina and coauthors analyze why the treatment and prevention of HIV must be considered together and implemented simultaneously. Dr Bruno Spire, of AIDES France, INSERM and the University of a'Aix Marseille, and colleagues write about community experiences in concentrated epidemics and explore imperatives to reducing the sexual transmission of HIV, including combating prevention fatigue, diversifying HIV testing, and eliminating HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Dr Jeremiah Chakaya of the Kenya Medical Research Institute and coauthors underline the importance of implementing three key interventions to combat HIV/ TB co-infection: Intensified TB sceening; provision of isoniazid prevention therapy; and TB infection control. Drs Mark Wainberg and Jorge MartinezCajas of McGill University in Montreal examine education programmes for journalists and analyze the impact of such programmes on the dissemination of correct and relevant HIV information in low- and middle-income countries. Dr Joseph Becker and coauthors of the Yale University School of Medicine publish a refreshing analysis of the effect of conflict on HIV transmission, and cast doubt on preconceived views that conflicts are contributing significantly to the spread of HIV. Please visit our website to learn more: www. jiasociety.org. ■ 9 Professional Development for Members - Seize the Opportunities! Diego Cecchini is an infectious diseases specialist in Buenos Aires. As an IAS member who has participated in various educational initiatives at International AIDS Conferences, he shares with Gurmit Singh, IAS Education Coordinator, the benefits of continuous professional development, where personal initiative and collaborative learning are the keys to success. Gradual induction "I got my first scholarship to attend IAS 2005 in Rio de Janeiro. I presented a poster and was exposed to the world of professional learning at conferences. Since then, I have received scholarships to AIDS 2006 in Toronto, and for the Education Programme at IAS 2007 in Sydney. This year, I used the online Abstract Mentor Programme, and my abstracts were accepted. With each opportunity, I have been able to present my ongoing research on cryptococcal meningitis to a global audience, as well as update my knowledge in my areas of interest, especially Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT)." Advancing my career "Attending conferences is a new feature in my professional life. For many HIV professionals from middle- and low-income countries, IAS scholarships are the only chance to attend and network with global health leaders. In Sydney, I met two senior researchers from Argentina. Both invited me to work with them at the Argerich Hospital to work in PMTCT and at Helios Salud in developing HIV and STD prevention programmes. "With a stable position, I can now network with more people in cutting-edge basic and clinical science. I always bring back what I learnt to share with my colleagues. This is definitely another motivating factor." New professionalism "What I ﬁnd exciting about attending IAS Education Programmes at international conferences is learning about advances in the field from leading experts. Though it was challenging at first to understand all the science presented, I found myself growing over the years. Because of the high scientific quality of IAS programmes, I now have a better understanding of the field, and can apply what I learn to improve my clinical practice, gradually taking on new roles within my hospital. "For HIV professionals to move into an enabling role in global health, we must take ourselves to a new level of professionalism. We demand more of ourselves as empowered people, because the task at hand is so much more critical. Personally, my gratiﬁcation comes because I am now equipped with the skills and knowledge to be much more directly involved in improving the quality of care for people living with HIV. This focus makes my job more rewarding and challenging." ■ A Global Concern: HIV among Men who have Sex with Men By Sam Avrett In early August, on the eve of the XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008), thousands of activists marched through Mexico City to rally against homophobia, stigma and discrimination. Following a year when UNAIDS announced that HIV rates outside Southern Africa were far lower – and more concentrated – than previously believed, AIDS 2008 focused more than ever before on the HIV-related needs and risk factors of marginalized populations, including men who have sex with men (MSM). Notably, a pre-conference satellite orga- March Against Homophobia, International AIDS Conference, Mexico City. Photo: Martin Flynn nized by the Global Forum on MSM and HIV attracted more than 450 participants from 82 countries for a two-day series of presentations and meetings about this topic. Evidence shows that MSM transmission may account for a substantial portion of annual HIV infections in many countries. More than half of all new HIV infections are among MSM in many countries of North America and Western Europe, but MSM also account for a substantial portion of the HIV epidemic in parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. "Today in Asia, in about every single major city that we have looked at, in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and elsewhere, there are epidemics of HIV among men who have sex with men, epidemics that remind me of what we've been seeing here in North America, in Western Europe, in Australia, in the 1980s." – Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS Prevention needs of MSM Efforts are underway to address the HIV prevention needs of MSM in many places. Sex workers and MSM are now described as beneficiaries of national HIV programmes throughout Latin America and in selected countries of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is now exploring ways to better address the vulnerabilities of gender and sexual minorities. Several international donors, including foundations such as amfAR, Hivos, and the Open Society Institute, are stepping forward with increased funding for community programmes working with MSM on HIV. The Office of the High Commissioner on Human MSM and HIV in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, 2003-2007 \| \| Percentage of men reporting ever having sex with men (# of studies) \| Proportion of “MSM” who engage in sex work (# of studies) \| Prevalence of HIV among MSM (# of studies) \| Prevalence of gonor- rhea among MSM (# of studies) \| Condom use last anal sex with a man (# of studies) \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Sub-Saharan Africa \| 1-4% (2) \| 74-76% (2) \| 9-25% (4) \| 5% (1) \| 6-47% (2) \| \| Asia & Pacific \| 4-34% (7) \| 12-64% (6) \| 0-40% (37) \| 2-16% (3) \| 0-82% (8) \| \| Caribbean \| no data \| 45% (1) \| 11% (1) \| no data \| 77% (1) \| \| Eastern Europe & Central Asia \| 3% (1) \| 5-15% (2) \| 2-5% (2) \| 3-13% (2) \| 37-58% (2) \| \| Latin America \| 3-15% (4) \| 10-31% (6) \| 8-51% (10) \| 0-9% (2) \| 47-61% (2) \| \| Total \| 1-34% (14) \| 5-76% (13) \| 0-51% (59) \| 5-16% (8) \| 0-82% (13) \| Adapted from C F Cáceres, K Konda, E R Segura, and R Lyerla. Epidemiology of male same-sex behaviour and associated sexual health indicators in low- and middle-income countries: 2003-2007 estimates. Sex Transm Infect 2008;84;i49-i56 Rights has increased its efforts related to sexual orientation and gender identity. And at an international level, UNAIDS and its ten co-sponsors, including UNDP, WHO, UNODC, UNFPA, UNESCO, UNICEF, and ILO, are newly committed to working with national governments at the highest level to support policies and programmes to address HIV among MSM and other sexual minorities. to report, document, and address cases of discrimination against people living with HIV and/or most-at-risk populations. Behavioural research Behavioural research on HIV among MSM was a major theme at AIDS 2008. Many researchers are calling for improved national epidemiological and behavioural surveillance to better assess the extent and characteristics of male-to-male sexual behaviour. "Given the importance of cultural context in prevention strategies, we need not only better bio-behavioural surveillance, but also better ways of eliciting information about sexual behaviour in large-scale surveys, and we need to invest in targeted socio-behavioural studies, including ethnographic studies." – David Wilson, Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Global HIV/AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Team, World Bank National HIV expenditures are not matching national epidemics or the prevention or treatment needs of MSM. In countries with low-level or concentrated epidemics, rational funding should focus primarily on HIV interventions for most-at-risk populations, including MSM, sex workers, injection drug users, and other marginalized groups. In July 2008, UNAIDS reported that across all the countries with concentrated epidemics in 2007, the bulk of HIV expenditures were geared to the general population, and only 10 per cent of overall HIV prevention spending targeted most-at-risk populations. Human rights Human rights approaches are described as essential to address the stigmatization of homosexuality, and the need to support national leaders to catalyze honest conversations and programming about gender, sex, and sexuality. Laws in more than 85 countries criminalize private consensual sex between persons of the same gender. In the 2008 Country Progress Reports to UNAIDS, nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of the countries were reported to have laws, regulations or policies presenting obstacles to effective HIV interventions for most-atrisk populations. More than half of the countries in Africa and Asia lack mechanisms A chorus of calls are coming from MSM populations in the global south and from international leaders to develop effective policy and programming on these issues. As noted by an African participant at AIDS 2008 in Mexico City: "In all my years of working in AIDS, I have been frightened to be identified as gay and have argued that AIDS is not a gay disease. Now there is this great awakening of interest in existence and needs of MSM. We are hearing all these calls to action. How will we respond?" ■ 11 Regan Hoffman Photo: Martin Flynn Reclaiming our Lives Martin Flynn reports on the Positive Leadership Summit (Living 2008) On the eve of the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in August, 350 HIV-positive leaders from 88 countries came together for a two-day summit to set their own agenda in response to the AIDS pandemic. The theme of the Positive Leadership Summit – Living 2008 was 'Reclaiming our Lives', referring to reclaiming the advocacy agenda and reaffirming positive leadership. The IAS was an organizing partner of the Summit. International conferences of people living with HIV and AIDS have been held in various locations across the world since 1986, the latest being in Poland in 1999, Trinidad and Tobago in 2001 and in Uganda in 2005. The fact that the International AIDS Conference was held in Latin America for the first time was also crucial and meant that people across the continent were forced to talk about sex and HIV, some for the first time openly. Anuar Luna, from the Mexican Network of People Living with HIV, confirmed the impact for local positive people: "For Mexican people living with HIV, our participation in all aspects of the summit has been an intense and transforming learning experience." Sixteen-year-old Stephanie from Australia and 19-year-old Eva from New Zealand represent a new generation of dynamic HIVpositive leadership who won't take no for an answer. "I'm very involved and try and make sure youth are on every agenda for HIV positive people," Stephanie explains: "I want to tell people how it is to be a young person living with HIV. We learn so much from older people living with HIV. I wouldn't be here without the mentoring from older HIV-positive women who taught me to push, push and push until you get what you know is right. You can speak up and will be thanked for it." Four key areas of strategic focus were endorsed at the Living 2008 Summit: positive prevention, access to care, treatment and support, criminalization of transmission of HIV, and sexual and reproductive health rights. Key findings of the Summit included: Criminalization of HIV-positive people • does not work. Until PLHIV, especially women, claim • the sovereignty of their sexual and reproductive health lives, and have access to comprehensive health care, many will continue to needlessly die. Positive prevention will not work until • stigma and discrimination directed against people living with HIV (PLHIV) is eradicated; the concept of positive prevention cannot focus on prevention of HIV transmission. Treatment will fail without basic social • determinants of health including food and water. The Positive Leadership Summit discussions also played an important role in AIDS 2008. The involvement of HIV-positive delegates within both the AIDS 2008 conference programme and the phenomenally successful Global Village are two examples of the Summit's broader impact. For the future, the Living 2008 Summit should further strengthen the PLHIV movement by promoting the involvement and leadership of people living with HIV in the global HIV response. Regan Hoffman summed up for many when she said, "I think the positive community will be the global solution to AIDS. It's going to require a reinvigoration of our activism around the world. The things HIV-positive people around the world deal with are essentially the same. Stigma and access to care are issues for us all. I hope that after Mexico we can demand treatment and prevention for all. Now is the time to ask for more." ■ Living 2008 Participants Speak Out We are at the centre of the response. Who better than the HIV-positive community itself to identify and develop recommendations for researchers, doctors, physicians and world leaders in areas that demand their immediate attention. - Regan Hoffman, Editor, POZ It's time for us to be at the centre of the response to this epidemic, instead of remaining on the sidelines watching others determine our fate. - Louise Binder, Chair, Canadian Treatment Action Council People living with HIV are key to reversing the epidemic and can contribute to well informed policy and programming at the national, regional and global levels. - Kevin Moody, International Coordinator, Global Network of People Living with HIV Living 2008 was an amazing hand over of strengths, skills and knowledge. It is always exciting to see young energetic faces take over the battle and fight with passion. - Tita Isaac, Network of African People Living with HIV/AIDS ■ Shaun Mellors Photo: Martin Flynn The IAS Talks With Dr. Papa Salif Sow IAS Governing Council Member from Africa Papa Salif Sow, MD, MSc is Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Dakar in Senegal, and since 2002 has also served as Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases. He is a member of the WHO Guidelines Development Group, the WHO DirectorGeneral's Strategic Advisory Committee for HIV/AIDS , and the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's Technical Review Panel. Dr. Sow is also a member of the WHO HIV/TB Working Group, President of the African Network of AIDS Physicians in Africa, and Coordinator of the Regional Centre for Research and Training at Fann Hospital, Dakar, Senegal. Q: Dr. Sow, as a newly elected Governing Council member, how do you see your role as an IAS representative in Africa? information on HIV. I will also be available to facilitate workshops and participate as an IAS representative on regional bodies. Q: Which of the IAS policy and advocacy priorities are most relevant for Africa? A: All the IAS policy and advocacy priorities are relevant to my region due to the level of HIV infection in Africa. Health system strengthening is a key issue in terms of improving health infrastructure, laboratories' capacities, human resources, monitoring and evaluation. Also the HIV/TB burden is very important in this region with high prevalence for both diseases. Combating stigma and discrimination and promoting more social and political science research are also high priorities for Africa. We need to protect the rights of all people living with HIV and to involve more political leaders. In addition, vulnerable groups need to be protected and their rights respected in terms of access to care and treatment. Q: What can the IAS do to strengthen its work with the regions? A: I will do my best to represent the IAS in the region; that means making the IAS more known in the region, disseminating IAS policy and activities to communities, scientists and clinicians involved in HIV, as well as politicians, and encouraging them to become members of the IAS and to become involved in all IAS activities. My aim is to help the region have a good collaboration with the IAS, improve communication, and also contribute to the promotion of IAS activities, such as the newsletter and website, which provide access to relevant A: It will be important for the IAS to help organize workshops on HIV/TB, good clinical practice and ethics, and research training in order to help the scientists and clinicians from Africa to improve their knowledge and to be more involved in HIV. As a representative of the IAS in this region, I will be happy to use the Regional Center for Research and Training in Dakar, for which I am the Coordinator, to contribute to these regional activities. The IAS could also improve the region's access to HIV information through newsletters and scientific journals, as people in Africa do not have enough money to pay for subscriptions. I will also contribute to developing a strategy for building regional capacity and establishing strategic partnerships with other institutions in the region, in particular with the African Network for AIDS Physicians. As a member of the WHO HIV/TB Working Goup and as an IAS Governing Council member, I also will focus on the training of clinicians in this area, and on the implementation of TB/HIV activities at all levels of the health system, in order to decrease the burden of HIV in TB patients and to decrease the burden of TB in people living with HIV. Q: Why would you encourage someone to become a member of the IAS? A: I would urge people to become members of the IAS because the organization is a good and wonderful institution that is fully involved in the fight against HIV. IAS membership is an opportunity to participate in the International AIDS Conferences, which are the world's leading forums for debate, discourse and direction for action on HIV. Membership also provides the opportunity to participate in the IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, a global scientific conference on HIV research, and a chance to network with other scientists and clinicians. This is the ideal occasion for physicians from developing countries to have access to the latest news in terms of care and treatment, second line ARVs, new drugs and new antiretroviral strategies, drug resistance, and clinical trial results. In addition, the IAS website is an excellent forum to help members stay informed. ■ 5th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa Dakar, Senegal \| 3 – 7 December 2008 www.icasadakar2008.org 13 ASAP and 9th ICAAP Update On 13 June, the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP 9) – which will be held in Bali, Indonesia from August 9-13 2009 – was launched in Jakarta ahead of an Executive Committee meeting of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP). In his remarks at the launch, Professor Myung-Hwan Cho, President of ASAP, said: "Indonesia has been given the opportunity to take bold and innovative steps to support the regional response to HIV and AIDS. Countries of Asia and other regions will be waiting to see Indonesia take the lead." The ICAAP 9 Local Organizing Committee (LOC) is working with ASAP's Executive Committee, UNAIDS and a newly established International Advisory Committee to examine the thematic, programmatic and logistical opportunities for the conference. In particular, current issues important to the Asia Pacific region that emerged from the Colombo ICAAP in 2007 are being examined for inclusion in the Bali Congress programme. These are questions that range from the best approaches to testing for HIV, to legal issues relating to upholding the human rights of people who inject drugs and sex workers, to providing sufficient space for discussions on men who have sex with men. At the launch, ASAP Vice President, Associate Professor Elizabeth Dax, called for the region to honour the theme of ICAAP 9, "Empowering People: Strengthening Networks", and drew attention to a "geographical vacuum" in responses to some epidemics. She called on various stakeholders to find ways of empowering the peoples of Pacific island countries by creating a "much stronger bridge between Asia and the Pacific." ASAP views Indonesia as playing a vital role in developing that bridge. It is necessary not only for the reason of Indonesia's location within the Asia Pacific region, but also because of its own, very challenging epidemic within the province of West Papua in neighbouring Papua New Guinea. ASAP also congratulates the LOC on the publication of its First Announcement booklet and leaflet. Each was widely distributed during the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico in August. They both contain important preliminary planning information, and are now available for download at www.icaap9.org . ■ News from the European AIDS Clinical Society New Guidelines The European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) has published HIV Treatment Guidelines, developed by a panel of European HIVtreating physicians and diagnosticians to assist in the care of HIV patients, and to establish a standard of clinical practice across Europe. Six thousand copies of the latest guidelines (June 2008) were distributed in both English and Spanish during the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico this August. The guidelines are also available in several other European languages. Training Programmes Medical Exchange Programme: Twelve to 15 physicians are selected every year on the basis of their CVs, and posted in one of the EACS European clinical centres. Advanced HIV Course: A three-day, intensive course run every year in Montpellier (France). Fifty to 60 physicians are selected every year to attend, on the basis of their CVs. Applications for both programmes will open soon. For more information please contact firstname.lastname@example.org. European AIDS Conference Dates to remember: Deadline to apply for scholarships – 15 • June 2009. Registration opens in February 2009. • Abstract submissions opens in February • 2009. The Conference will be held 11-14 November 2009 in Cologne, Germany, visit www. eacs-conference2009.com for more information. ■ Abstract submissions deadline – 1 July • 2009. 5th FORO to be held in Peru Peru will be the venue for the 5th Latin American and Caribbean Forum on HIV/AIDS and STDs (FORO) in May 2009. Registration opened on 1 November. The conference will bring together more than 4,000 participants from across the region, including government representatives, civil society, people living with HIV, academic institutions, international agencies, bilateral and multilateral development organizations and the private sector. According to Dr. Jose Luis Sebastián Mesones, Technical Secretary of the Horizontal Technical Cooperation Group - an initiative of representatives of Governmental HIV/ AIDS Control and Prevention Programmes from 20 Latin America and Caribbean Countries - this forum will be the most important opportunity for HIV professionals in the region to exchange knowledge and discuss the challenges and opportunities in responding to the epidemic. Under the theme: 'Health, Our Right. Universal Access, Our Goal. No Discrimination, Our Challenge', key issues have been identified for the forum debates, including: healthcare as a right for all; universal access to HIV prevention; comprehensive care; and respect for human rights. FORO will foster shared learning and help disseminate practical lessons in HIV prevention, awareness, clinical management, and research. It also seeks to expand participation in the HIV field and advance the response to the epidemic in the region in order to fulfil international commitments to HIV/AIDS. For more information, e-mail: email@example.com. ■ Upcoming Conferences Ninth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection Glasgow, Scotland 9 – 13 November 2008 Email: firstname.lastname@example.org Website: www.hiv9.com 15th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA 2008) Dakar, Senegal 3 – 7 December 2008 Email: email@example.com Website: http://www.icasadakar2008.org/ 5th Latin American and Caribbean Forum on HIV/ AIDS and STDs (FORO 2009) Lima, Peru April 2009 Email: firstname.lastname@example.org 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention Cape Town, South Africa 19 – 22 July 2009 Email: email@example.com Website: www.ias2009.org The 9th International Congress on AIDS in AsiaPacific (ICAAP) Bali, Indonesia 9 – 13 August 2009 Email: firstname.lastname@example.org Website: www.icaap9.org Strengthening Health Systems through the AIDS Response: Insights from AIDS 2008 By Jacqueline Bataringaya In 2006, United Nations member states agreed to work towards the goal of "universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention programmes, treatment, care and support" by 2010. The international community responded by intensifying its efforts, building on the momentum generated by WHO's "3 by 5" initiative. The exceptional response, including increased investments, has accelerated the pace of treatment scale-up in low- and middle-income countries, such that 3 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) at the end of 2007. Despite such progress, experts agree that weaknesses in underlying health systems are slowing the further expansion of HIV treatment. In addition, some argue that the HIV response is diverting resources from healthcare infrastructure, which is needed to more effectively battle other diseases. The ongoing debate, commonly referred to as "HIV exceptionalism", was raised in several discussions at the recently concluded International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008) in Mexico City. In recognition of the need to strengthen healthcare systems, the AIDS 2008 programme featured a number of related sessions, including: an examination of donor interactions with national health systems; financing for sustainable national health care; synergies between health systems and global health initiatives; models of care for HIV-treatment; and innovations in human resources. The conference also featured direct debates on the impact of HIV scale-up on health systems. Below is a selection of perspectives from these discussions. Local Priority Setting: Health systems that do not specify priorities invariably end up catering to the needs of the better off, and over-investing in tertiary hospitals in urban areas. A new 'diagonal thinking' paradigm (as opposed to vertical diseasespecific programmes or the horizontal strategy of strengthening health systems generally), identifies explicit priorities according to the realities of a given country, in order to drive structural reform and general improvements in the health system needed in that particular context. Renewed Momentum for Comprehensive Primary Health Care: The long-term success of HIV scale-up will entail delivery of services that would rely on primary health care systems for sustainability. Several speakers cited the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata, which calls for universal access to comprehensive primary health care. Interconnected Solutions for Health Workforce and other Health System Building Blocks: Several studies show that the AIDS response has contributed to increased investment in the building blocks of health systems, including: training and motivating the health workforce; strengthening management of drug and commodity procurement and supply; building laboratory and clinic facilities; and building strategic information systems. Abstract findings from several African countries also showed that models of care employing task shifting from physicians to nurses, community health care workers. and people living with HIV have helped to increase treatment coverage. Increased Financial Investment in the Health Sector: Chronic underinvestment and macroeconomic policies were highlighted as key factors contributing to weak health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Evidence presented showed that between 2001 and 2005 (when PEPFAR and the Global Fund were created), there has been a near doubling of development assistance for HIV/AIDS, from $1.4 billion to $2.6 billion. During the same period health sector development more than doubled, from $2.3 billion to $4.7 billion, dispelling the myth that AIDS funding has taken money away from general health services. Still, substantial increases in funding is needed to finance not only the HIV response, but also the strengthening of health systems to achieve other health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Universal Health Insurance: Experience from Mexico, China, Rwanda, and the Netherlands showed the positive impact of the introduction of universal health insurance on utilization of services and health outcomes, including infant, child and maternal mortality. Recognizing that HIV/AIDS is embedded in contexts of socioeconomic disparities and often coexists with other communicable and non-communicable diseases, experts urged the implementation of national health insurance. Such systems, it was argued, would further HIV-related access goals while also addressing important equity issues. Effectiveness of Investments and Partnerships: AIDS 2008 participants discussed the International Health Partnership + Related Issues (IHP+), a new initiative to further health-related MDG outcomes. The IHP+ promises to draw on lessons learnt from UNAIDS' "Three Ones" principles by enhancing accountability around one country-led and country-owned national health plan and one results framework. The IHP+ compact provides the opportunity to attract predictable, long-term financing to the health sector, to improve coordination, and in turn, to strengthen the response to HIV and other disease-specific programmes, while also building health systems capacity. Operations Research: Many of the potential solutions discussed at AIDS 2008 are untested, and systematic study of their long-term effectiveness and impact on health systems (beyond documentation of case studies) is still limited. As a follow up to the IAS Sydney Declaration – which called for increased investments in HIV research -- WHO, the IAS, the World Bank and the Global Fund issued a joint statement in Mexico City that recognizes the need to address knowledge gaps in the public health approach to delivering ART and care. The consensus statement urges the expansion of operations research to guide service delivery and ensure the most effective use of available resources. The increased profile of discussions on health systems at AIDS 2008 presents an opportunity to bring the success of HIV advocates to the broader field of global health. With more than 25 years of experience and lessons learnt -- including the importance of involving most affected communities, the central role of human rights and the need for evidence-based policy and programming -- HIV advocates and professionals have much to contribute, as well as much to learn, from such partnerships. ■ 15 IAS Governing Council, 2008-2010 The 2008 International AIDS Society (IAS) Governing Council Election was completed prior to AIDS 2008 in Mexico City. A total of 1,735 votes from 793 members were received, which means that 29.8 per cent of all members eligible to vote, with a personal email address, participated in the election. Effective 8 August 2008, the IAS Governing Council (GC) consists of: Region 1: USA and Canada Diane Havlir, USA, Regional Representative Christopher Beyrer, USA (new member) Joel Gallant, USA Cheryl Smith, USA Sharon Walmsley, Canada (re-elected member) Region 4: Latin America and the Caribbean Celso Ramos Filho, Brazil (re-elected member), Regional Representative Celia Christie-Samuels, Jamaica (new member) Ivette Lorenzana de Rivera, Honduras Ricardo Diaz, Brazil Hector Perez, Argentina (re-elected member) Julio Montaner, Canada, President Elly Katabira, Uganda, President-elect Alan Whiteside, South Africa, Treasurer Pedro Cahn, Argentina, Immediate Past President The IAS Executive Committee is made up of the President, President-elect, Treasurer, and one Regional Representative from each region, as well as the IAS Executive Director. Craig McClure, Switzerland, IAS Executive Director Representatives of five geographic regions (see table below) Region 2: Europe Peter Reiss, The Netherlands, Regional Representative Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, France Bonaventura Clotet, Spain Michel Kazatchkine , Switzerland (re-elected member) Anton Pozniak, United Kingdom (new member) Region 5: Asia and the Pacific Islands Aikichi Iwamoto, Japan, Regional Representative Dennis Altman, Australia (re-elected member) Praphan Phanuphak, Thailand (new member) Sai Subhasree Raghavan, India (new member) Najmus Sadiq, Bangladesh The IAS invites you to visit our website at www.iasociety.org or get in touch with us at: International AIDS Society HQ \| P.O. Box 20, CH - 1216 Cointrin, Geneva, Switzerland \| Phone: +41-(0)22-7100 800 \| Fax: +41-(0)22-7100 899 \| Our email address is email@example.com \| We are looking forward to hearing from you. To learn more about the Governing Council election procedure, please visit the election page on the IAS website: www.iasociety.org/ Default.aspx?pageId=163. Region 3: Africa Viola Onwuliri, Nigeria (re-elected member), Regional Representative Faustine Ndugulile, Tanzania (new member) Papa Salif Sow, Senegal (new member) Robin Wood, South Africa (new member) Debrework Zewdie, Ethiopia (new member)
EDUCATION PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT FOR MINGO COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM SEPTEMBER 2013 WEST VIRGINIA BOARD OF EDUCATION TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION I MINGO COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT INTRODUCTION The Office of Accreditation and Recognition, West Virginia Department of Education, conducted an on-site review of the Mingo County School System during the period October 5 through October 10, 1997. On January 8, 1998, the West Virginia Board of Education reviewed the report and unanimously determined that extraordinary circumstances may exist in the Mingo County School System. On February 13, 1998, the West Virginia Board of Education unanimously approved an Intervention Agreement with the Mingo County Board of Education to be signed at a special session of the State Board and the Mingo County Board of Education. The Intervention Agreement was executed by the West Virginia Board of Education and the Mingo County Board of Education at the February 24, 1998, State Board meeting. The Intervention Agreement set forth the areas in which the West Virginia Board of Education would intervene in the Mingo County School System. It also called for the limited intervention to end on June 30, 2002. Pursuant to W.Va. Code §18-2E-5, the West Virginia Board of Education declared that a state of emergency existed in the school system and voted to confer Nonapproval status on the Mingo County School System. On April 18 through April 19, 2000, the Office of Education Performance Audits conducted a follow-up audit to verify correction of the noncompliances identified during the original on-site review in October 1997. A report was presented to the West Virginia Board of Education at its July 13, 2000, meeting and the State Board voted to continue Nonapproval status for the Mingo County School System and to continue the intervention. On November 27, 2002, the Office of Education Performance Audits conducted a second follow-up audit to verify correction of the remaining noncompliances that had not been corrected by the Mingo County School System. At its December 11, 2002, meeting, the West Virginia Board of Education received the report and voted to confer Temporary Approval status upon the Mingo County School System and to return complete control of the operation of the Mingo County School System to the Mingo County Board of Education effective December 11, 2002. As a result of official complaints to the State Board regarding the failure of the Mingo County Board of Education to implement its Ten-Year Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan (CEFP), a negative financial trend, and limited high school curriculum offerings, the West Virginia Board of Education voted to direct the Office of Education Performance Audits to conduct a performance audit of the Mingo County School System. An Education Performance Audit of the Mingo County School System was conducted January 10 through January 14, 2005. The audit report was presented to the West Virginia Board of Education at the February 9, 2005, regular meeting. Based upon the results of the Education Performance Audit, the West Virginia Board of Education declared that a state of emergency existed in the school system and voted to issue Nonapproval status to the Mingo County School System. The State Board deferred action on intervening into the operation of the Mingo County School System to allow its members time to fully review the audit report. The West Virginia Board of Education held a special meeting February 15, 2005, to discuss and take action regarding the Mingo County School System. At the February 15, 2005, meeting, the State Board voted unanimously to re-intervene into the operation of the Mingo County School System. Pursuant to the direction of the West Virginia Board of Education, the Office of Education Performance Audits conducted an audit of the Mingo County School District and the schools March 17 through 22, 2013, to assess the system's progress in alleviating the aforementioned conditions that resulted in the re-intervention. The Education Performance Audit Team interviewed the Mingo County Board of Education president and all members of the board of education, school district personnel including the superintendent, the director of personnel, finance official, finance employees, director of secondary education, director of elementary education, and other county office personnel. The Team examined documents including the Mingo County Five-Year Strategic Improvement Plan; agendas, minutes, and transcripts of meetings of the Mingo County Board of Education; personnel documents; personnel evaluations; the school system policy manual; regulatory agency reviews, i.e., financial audit, the Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan (CEFP), etc.; and letters, faxes, electronic information, and materials of interest to the Education Performance Audit. This report describes the Education Performance Audit Team's assessment of progress made by the Mingo County School System in meeting the requirements for the county school system to assume local control. EDUCATION PERFORMANCE AUDIT TEAM Office of Education Performance Audits Team Chair – Dr. Donna Davis \| NNAAMMEE \| TTIITTLLEE \| CCOOUUNNTTYY \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Denise White \| Coordinator \| Office of Instruction WV Dept. of Education \| \| Charlene Colburn \| Director, Title I and Title II \| Lincoln County Schools \| \| Carroll Staats \| Consultant \| OEPA \| \| Charles Callison \| Consultant \| OEPA \| \| Dr. Teddi Cox \| Consultant \| OEPA \| \| Delores Ranson \| Consultant \| OEPA \| \| Amy Downey \| Treasurer/Chief School Business Official \| Roane County Schools \| \| Carla Horn \| Treasurer/Chief School Business Official \| McDowell County Schools \| \| Ken Hughart \| HVAC Technician \| Office of School Facilities WV Dept. of Education \| EXEMPLARY PROGRAMS AND PRACTICES The Office of Education Performance Audits is responsible for identifying exemplary schools and school systems and best practices that improve student, school, and school system performance, and for making recommendations to the State Board for recognizing and rewarding exemplary school and school systems and promoting the use of best practices. The Education Performance Audit Team reported the following exemplary programs/practices during the on-site visit. 1. 7.1.7. Library/educational technology access and technology application. Title Robotics Initiative Description of Program Students and teachers involved in robotics visit local elementary schools, give demonstrations, and offer explanations of how robotics works. As a result, Lego teams have been formed across the county at Matewan Middle School in partnership with Kermit K-8 School and at Gilbert Middle School. The county team joined with Team 337 at the State level to make a presentation at the West Virginia Technology Conference about FIRST, an international robotics competition billed as "Varsity Sport for the Mind." After the consolidation of four county high schools in 2011, students and sponsors decided to form two teams, one at Tug Valley High School and one at Mingo Central Comprehensive High School. Both teams continue to grow and compete individually and together. The two county high schools communicate and collaborate through a common interest in robotics. Recently, a computer component was printed on the Dimension uPrint Plus 3D printer at Mingo Central Comprehensive High School for the Tug Valley High School team. A Tug Valley High School student designed the part on CAD software and sent the printable file to the Mingo Central Comprehensive High School instructor, Thomas Bane, who printed the part. After some test runs, students decided to alter their original design and requested two additional parts from the 3D printer. Mingo County School District's robotic programs and teams have grown over the past decade and have been active in the growing world of robotics. Under the guidance of Rick Meade and Virginia Mounts and supported by funding from NASA, Appalachian Electric Power, and other sponsors; students and teachers began competing in Cleveland, Ohio as a rookie team in 2004. Over the years Team 1249 (locally referred to as the RoboRats) has entered, placed, and won multiple competitions as an individual team and in alliance competition has won industrial design, engineering design, and numerous other awards. In 2010, robotics regional competitions expanded rapidly and Mingo County began competing in the Smokey Mountain Region and the North Carolina Region, as well as, their home region, Pittsburgh. The team continues to test new drive systems, mechanical devices, and new applications. Summary of Results Team 1249 achieved second place in North Carolina's international competition and will advance as captains in the next round. Educational robotics is gaining traction at all levels of the educational system. Observational evidence and success of the program show students learning and applying programming, engineering, higher-level thinking, and collaborating skills. Furthermore, the team has spawned other teams within the county. For more information contact: Judy McCoy, Administrative Assistant Phone: 304-235-7209 E-mail: jmmccoy@access 2. 7.2.1 County and School electronic strategic improvement plans. Goal 3: Wellness County: Mingo School: Mingo County Schools Title: Mingo County Wellness Initiative Description of Program The Mingo County School District Wellness Initiative began during the 2007-2008 school year and has continued to expand. During the 2011-2012 school year, it was revealed that breakfast participation rates for the county were very low (31 percent countywide), while the student poverty rate was around 70 percent. Furthermore, alarming data revealed a high incidence of childhood obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in the county. Mingo County School District committed to implementing the Universal Free Meals Program that included a wellness initiative for scratch cooking in the schools, breakfast initiatives to change where and when students eat breakfast, and the overall wellness of the school environment. All schools implemented the new initiatives in fall 2011. Mingo County School District participated in the Community Eligibility Option (CEO) where all students were provided free lunch and breakfast for the 2012-2013 school year. The Mingo County Superintendent of Schools and the director of school nutrition and wellness coordinator committed to make overall wellness important to students and staff. Wellness coaches were employed for the 2011-2012 school term and were charged with motivating students and staff in organizing, implementing, and documenting school wellness activities. The program started with a one year start up grant from the West Virginia Department of Education, Office of Child Nutrition. The program continued during 2012-2013 through county funding. Coaches collaborated with "The Alliance for a Healthier Generation" to gain resources and assistance with planning activities. The wellness coaches and coordinator also developed partnerships with supporting agencies, such as, the American Dairy Association, Mingo County Diabetes Coalition, PEIA Pathways to Wellness, Appalachian Regional Healthcare, and the Tug Valley Roadrunner Club. The coaches organized activities both during and after the school day. As a catalyst for wellness, the coaches energize the school environment. Some schools start the day with a "Jammin' Minute" where students and staff get up and dance to music for a minute. Breakfast is served in the classrooms, hallways, and other places accessible to students to encourage students to eat a healthy nutritious breakfast. Wellness coaches have specific responsibilities that include meeting several times per year with the Mingo County Wellness Committee. At the end of the school year, they submit Wellness Activity Forms that document the activities organized throughout the school year. Some activities completed by the coaches included: Walk with the Teacher, Walk a Mile in My Shoes, Fitness Friday, Pedometers across the Curriculum, Let's Move, WESTEST Olympics, Hop into the New Year, and WVU Extension Nutrition Education. Fresh fruits and vegetables are offered to students during the school day. Mingo County participates in the USDA Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program in six county elementary schools. This program introduces students to fresh fruits and vegetables and an education component exposes students to the fruit or vegetable and they learn where it is grown and the vitamin and nutrient benefit. Summary of Results A comparison of the percent of proficient students for the 2010-2011 school year with the percent of proficient students for the 2011-2012 school year showed the following results. - Elementary School Reading. The percent of proficient students increased 8.1 percent for the all students (AS) subgroup, increased 5.1 percent for the economically disadvantaged (SES) subgroup, and increased 6.1 percent for the special education (SE) subgroup. - Middle School Reading. The percent of proficient students increased 2.4 percent for the AS subgroup and increased 2.8 percent for the SES subgroup. - High School Reading. The percent of proficient students increased 1.2 percent for the AS subgroup and increased 2.2 percent for the SES subgroup. - Elementary School Mathematics. The percent of proficient students increased 14.4 percent for the AS subgroup, increased 13.5 percent for the SES subgroup, and increased 9.6 percent for the SE subgroup. - High School Mathematics. The percent of proficient students increased 9.0 percent for the AS subgroup and increased 6.6 percent for the SES subgroup. Mingo County's ACT scores in English improved from 18.7 in 2008 to 19.9 in 2012. ACT reading scores improved from 19.2 in 2008 to 20.1 in 2012. ACT science scores improved from 18.7 in 2008 to 19.3 in 2012. For the 2011-2012 school year, Mingo County's graduation rate for SES students was 73.64 percent, which was higher than the State graduation rate (63.37 percent) for SES students. At the end of school year 2011-2012, out of school suspensions were reduced by 143 days, zero student expulsion hearings were held during the school year, attendance was up for the year, and the number of students placed in the Alternative Learning Center decreased. In comparison for the same time period last year (2011-2012) to this year (2012-2013) (August – February), Mingo County had 195 fewer incidents resulting in out-of-school suspension. All Mingo County Schools were recognized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in June of 2012 for being Healthier US School Challenge Bronze Level Recipients. The Healthier US School Challenge (HUSSC) is a voluntary certification initiative to recognize schools participating in the National School Lunch Program that have created healthier school environments through promotion of nutrition and physical activity. Mingo County collaborated this year (2012-2013) with the Mingo County Diabetes Coalition on a 5K run/walk with all Grade 8 students. The "Take 10 Challenge" challenged students to increase their steps to 10,000 per day and increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables to five per day. At the culmination of a four week period, the 5K was held for the students and prizes were awarded. Mingo County School District Transportation Department transported students to the Burch Middle School track for the event. Another collaborative 5K is being planned. For more information contact: Kay Maynard, Director of School Nutrition Phone: 304-235-7141 E-mail: email@example.com EDUCATION PERFORMANCE AUDIT INITIATIVES FOR ACHIEVING ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS The Education Performance Audit Team reported that Mingo County had undertaken initiatives for achieving Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). 1. 7.1.1. Curriculum. Mingo County's Academic Coach Initiative is driven by the county's commitment to provide a cadre of highly qualified teachers who serve as academic coaches for all schools in the county. Seven full-time coaches are in place at the county's elementary schools (all are certified by the Coaching for Learning program); one full-time instructional coach is in place for secondary mathematics. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) coordinator, contracted through RESA 2, holds a Ph.D. in aero-space engineering and works in many programs across the county's schools. A full-time technology integration facilitator has been in place in the county for several years. Additionally, three part-time coaches serve English/language arts teachers in Grades 5-12. One secondary part-time coach is a former West Virginia Teacher of the Year who has won multiple awards for instructional strategies. Two administrative coaches, contracted from RESA 2, are on-site at the county's middle schools to work with the schools' principals. Coaches are responsible for: Providing specific and on-going professional development; facilitating training and monitoring the Next Generation Standards; modeling best practices; analyzing, disaggregating, and disseminating data; supporting teachers in creating lessons; locating and recommending instructional resources and strategies; meeting with teachers and administrators to facilitate classroom instruction in areas of need; monitoring formative assessment; and serving as a liaison between the county administrative assistant and county schools. 2. 7.1.2. High Expectations. The Team commended the Mingo County School District for providing the opportunity for every school-age child who wants and needs dental care to receive it through the "Smiles Mobile Dentist Program". This program is a full-service mobile and in-school dental program that provides services to every county school. Services include a dental examination, cleaning, fluoride treatment, x-rays, sealants, dental education, fillings, baby teeth extractions, and referrals to other dentists if a more serious problem is detected. This program serves about 15 counties in West Virginia and approximately 250 Mingo County students participated in the program since its inception in November 2012. 3. 7.1.7. Library/educational technology access and technology application. The Team commended Mingo County's Technology Initiative. All classrooms were equipped with a SmartBoard, digital projector, and document camera. Infrastructure continues to improve to support technology that included: Networks upgraded to 1000 MB; commercial wireless in all schools; e-rate funding of $900,000; and fiber Internet connections in all schools upgraded from 10 MB to 100 MB in 2012. Mingo County began implementing the One-to-One Mingo Computer Program in spring 2011, and currently all students in Grades 9-12 are paired with a laptop computer to use during the academic year. Each graduating student receives the laptop computer in which the student has developed a portfolio. This program is planned to be expanded to the middle level grades. Individual school Education Performance Audit Teams observed technology resources being used effectively at all schools throughout the county. The Teams also noted that few, if any, technology malfunctions during the school audit. 4. 7.2.1. County and School electronic strategic improvement plans. The Mingo County Five-Year Strategic Plan was developed by a committee of educators and community members and communicated districtwide. The plan was well developed and predicated on data and research-based practices. - Focus on rigor and relevance across all content areas. - Focus on formative and benchmark assessments across all content areas. - Implement and monitor the Next Generation Content Standards in mathematics and English/language arts in Grades K, 1, 4, 5, and 9. - Increase the number of highly qualified teachers in content-specific areas. - Support for principals and assistant principals in developing leadership strategies to create and maintain high performing schools. - Continued support of standards-based mathematics program, Investigations in the elementary grades and Carnegie Learning in the middle and high school grades. - Placement of instructional coaches in each of the elementary schools; contracted English/language arts coaches at the middle and high schools; Carnegie Learning mathematics coach at the middle and high schools; and contracted a Science, Technology; Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) instructional facilitator for all programmatic levels. - Support a Co-teaching Cohort between the county and RESA 2 to provide training on co-teaching methods for general education, special education, and Title I teachers. - Continue implementation of Support for Personalized Learning (SPL) at all programmatic levels. - Expanded extended day/extended year program. - Specific interventions for identified students - Credit recovery/graduation/dropout prevention coach at high schools. 5. 8.1.5. Personnel. The superintendent and county personnel office staff were welcoming, cordial, and accommodating. Personnel files and information requested relating to the personnel standards were readily available for the Team to review. The Team observed that this same level of cooperation and kindness was extended to individuals who called or who walked in the personnel office requesting assistance. This type of behavior can help build trust and respect for the personnel office and often plays a big part in employees talking through any problem they might have with the county due to some personnel action in lieu of filing a grievance. COUNTY PERFORMANCE ANNUAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES FOR ACCOUNTABILITY This section presents the Annual Performance Measures for Accountability and related student performance data. It also presents the Education Performance Audit Team's findings. 5.1. ACCOUNTABILITY. 5.1.1. Achievement. Adequate Yearly Progress The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) data for the 2011-2012 school year identified that Mingo County School District did not make adequate yearly progress (AYP). Mingo County failed to achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP) for the last five consecutive years. Chart 1 shows the grade span/assessment and subgroups that did not make AYP. It also shows the percent proficient for each grade span/assessment and subgroup. All subgroups increased academic performance in reading from 2010-2011 to 20112012, except the special education (SE) middle level subgroup declined 5.5 percent. The elementary level SE subgroup improved 6.1 percent and the economically disadvantaged (SES) subgroup improved 5.1 percent. At the middle level, the all students (AS) subgroup improved 2.0 percent, the racial/ethnicity white (W) subgroup improved 1.6 percent, the SES subgroup improved 2.4 percent. The secondary level SES subgroup improved 2.2 percent. The Team noted that when the performance of these subgroups listed in Chart 1 compared with the 2010-2011 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) data, all subgroups identified below declined in academic performance in mathematics, except the secondary level economically disadvantaged (SES) subgroup improved 6.6 percent. The largest decline in the percent proficient from 2010-2011 data to 2011-2012 data was in the middle school special education subgroup (8.4 percent). The other middle school mathematics subgroups showed a decline ranging from 2.5 percent to 3.7 percent. Mingo County School District recognized that middle level mathematics needed work and placed administrative coaches in middle schools to improve leadership practices. Targeted professional development in Carnegie Learning for Middle and High Schools was a focus area to improve mathematics achievement. Chart 1 \| GRADE SPAN/ASSESSMENT \| SUBGROUP \| 2011-2012 PERCENT PROFICIENT \| 2010-2011 PERCENT PROFICIENT \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Mathematics – Middle \| All Students \| 36.2% \| 39.4% \| \| Mathematics – Middle \| White \| 36.5% \| 40.2% \| \| Mathematics – Middle \| Special Education \| 15.9% \| 24.3% \| \| Mathematics – Middle \| Economically Disadvantaged \| 29.4% \| 31.9% \| \| Mathematics – Secondary \| Economically Disadvantaged \| 28.3% \| 21.7% \| \| Reading – Middle \| All Students \| 40.8% \| 38.8% \| \| Reading – Middle \| White \| 41.0% \| 39.4% \| \| Reading – Elementary \| Special Education \| 26.9% \| 20.8% \| \| Reading – Middle \| Special Education \| 15.9% \| 21.4% \| \| Reading – Elementary \| Economically Disadvantaged \| 42.2% \| 37.1% \| \| Reading – Middle \| Economically Disadvantaged \| 34.4% \| 32.0% \| \| Reading – Secondary \| Economically Disadvantaged \| 27.6% \| 25.4% \| Source: http://wveis.k12.wv.us/NCLB/public_eleven/reptemplate.cfm?cn=999 Chart 2 shows that in the last five years, the number of Mingo County School District's schools identified for not achieving adequate yearly progress (AYP) increased until the 2011-2012 school year when the number of schools declined again. The 2008-2009 data were irregular because the Mingo County flood of May 9, 2009, interfered with the administration of the WESTEST and all schools were counted as having made AYP due to emergency status. Although several members of the central office staff told the Team that there was no specific reason for the drastic increase in the number of schools not achieving AYP in 2011, they said that one member of the central office curriculum staff had been on medical leave for a long period of time and had since left the system. This void in curricular leadership may have been a variable in countywide achievement. The low percentage of schools (28.6 percent) not meeting AYP in 2011 served as a wake-up call for the school system and numerous strategies for reversing the trend were implemented with the 2012 results showing marked improvement (69.2 percent achieved AYP). Chart 2 \| Year \| Number of Schools Not Achieving AYP/Total Schools \| \|---\|---\| \| 2008 \| 2/14 \| \| 2009 \| 0/14 \| \| 2010 \| 4/14 \| \| 2011 \| 10/14 \| \| 2012 \| 4/13 \| Charts three through eight provide a comparison of the 2011-2012 Mingo County School District percent proficient in mathematics and reading/language arts and the State percent proficient. Charts three through five indicated that the 2011-2012 Mingo County School District student percent proficient in mathematics was comparable to the State percent proficient at the elementary level for all subgroups, but below the State at the middle and high school levels. In elementary school mathematics, the all students (AS) subgroup scored 0.5 percent above the State and the racial/ethnicity white (W) subgroup was close to the State percent proficient, scoring only 0.1 percent below the State. The special education (SE) subgroup scored 5.5 percent above the State and the economically disadvantaged (SES) subgroup scored 4.2 percent above the State percent proficient. The racial/ethnicity black (B) subgroup was not large enough to be reported. The central office staff credited the summer academies for elementary mathematics and book studies on Number Talks for the increase in the mathematics scores for the SES subgroup. In middle school mathematics, all subgroups scored below the State percent proficient, with the special education (SE) subgroup showing the smallest gap (0.2 percent). The largest gap was in the racial/ethnicity white (W) subgroup (10.9 percent), followed by the all students (AS) subgroup (10.6 percent), and the economically disadvantaged (SES) subgroup (6.7 percent). High school mathematics showed the same trend as middle school mathematics with all subgroups scoring below the State percent proficient. The all students (AS) subgroup scored 10.2 percent below the State. The racial/ethnicity white (W) subgroup scored 11.1 percent below the State. The economically disadvantaged scored 6.1 percent below the State. The number of students in the racial/ethnicity black (B) and special education (SE) subgroups was not large enough to be reported. Mathematics results indicated that students in all subgroups at the elementary level were comparable to or above the State and less proficient than the State at the middle and high school levels. Student assessment performance in reading/language arts (Charts 6, 7, and 8) was higher than the 2011-2012 State percent proficient at the elementary level, but below the State at the middle and high school levels, except the special education (SE) subgroup at the middle level. All elementary level subgroups scored above the State percent proficient: All students (AS + 0.6 percent), racial/ethnicity white (W +0.1 percent), special education (SE +3.5 percent) and economically disadvantaged (SES +3.2 percent). The racial/ethnicity black (B) subgroup was not large enough to be reported. Middle school reading/language arts data showed that all subgroups, except the special education subgroup (SE) scored below the State. The SE subgroup scored 1.3 percent above the State. The gaps between the State percent proficient and the Mingo County middle school scores follow: All students (AS) 8.7 percent below, racial/ethnicity white (W) 8.9 percent below, economically disadvantaged (SES) 4.1 percent below. The racial/ethnicity black (B) subgroup was not large enough to be reported. High school reading/language arts data were similar to that reported at the middle level, with all reported subgroups scoring below the State percent proficient. The largest deficit between the county and State scores was the racial/ethnicity white (W) subgroup at 7.8 percent below the State, followed by the all students (AS) at 7.2 percent below the State, and the economically disadvantaged (SES) subgroup at 4.4 percent below the State. The racial/ethnicity black (B) and the special education (SE) subgroups were not large enough to be reported at the high school level. Reading language arts results reflected a similar trend in mathematics, with results indicating that students in all subgroups at the elementary level were more proficient that the State and less proficient than the State at the middle and high school levels. Chart 3 \| Subgroup \| District Percent Proficient \| \|---\|---\| \| All Students (AS) \| 50.6% \| \| White (W) \| 50.8% \| \| Black (B) \| NA \| \| Special Education (SE) \| 34.6% \| \| Economically Disadvantaged (SES) \| 44.2% \| Chart 4 \| Subgroup \| District Percent Proficient \| \|---\|---\| \| All Students (AS) \| 36.2% \| \| White (W) \| 36.5% \| \| Black (B) \| NA \| \| Special Education (SE) \| 15.9% \| Chart 5 \| Subgroup \| District Percent Proficient \| \|---\|---\| \| All Students (AS) \| 36.4% \| \| White (W) \| 35.7% \| \| Black (B) \| NA \| \| Special Education (SE) \| NA \| Chart 6 \| Subgroup \| District Percent Proficient \| \|---\|---\| \| All Students (AS) \| 50.4% \| \| White (W) \| 50.6% \| \| Black (B) \| NA \| \| Special Education (SE) \| 26.9% \| \| Economically Disadvantaged (SES) \| 42.2% \| Chart 7 \| Subgroup \| District Percent Proficient \| \|---\|---\| \| All Students (AS) \| 40.8% \| \| White (W) \| 41.0% \| \| Black (B) \| NA \| \| Special Education (SE) \| 15.9% \| \| Economically Disadvantaged (SES) \| 34.4% \| Chart 8 \| HIGH SCHOOL READING/LANGUAGE ARTS 2011-2012 \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Subgroup \| District Percent Proficient \| State Percent Proficient \| \| All Students (AS) \| 36.9% \| 44.1% \| \| White (W) \| 36.7% \| 44.5% \| \| Black (B) \| NA \| 33.7% \| \| Special Education (SE) \| NA \| 10.4% \| \| Economically Disadvantaged (SES) \| 27.6% \| 32.0% \| Source: http://wveis.k12.wv.us/NCLB/public_eleven/reptemplate.cfm?cn=999 ACT EXPLORE Assessment Results According to the 2011-2012 Grade 8 ACT EXPLORE results in Chart 9, Mingo County students showed a slight decline then recovery in the composite score as compared to the 2007-2008 results. Five years of trend data showed a consistent score below the State in all academic areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science. Although Mingo County ACT EXPLORE data have been below the State data for the last five years, the composite score reflected the smallest gap in 2008-2009 (0.7) and the greatest gap in 2009-2010 (1.2). The gap for 2011-2012 was 0.8. In English, the greatest gap was in 2009-2010 (1.2) and the smallest was in 2007-2008 (0.4). In mathematics the greatest gap was in 2009-2010 (1.5) and the smallest was in 20102011 (0.6). In reading, the greatest gap was in 2010-2011 (1.0) and the smallest was in 2008-2009 (0.5). Science showed the greatest gap in 2011-2012 (1.2) and the smallest was in 2008-2009 (0.5). Mingo County instructional coaches for English/language arts told the Team that they had been working with Grade 8 students on the importance of doing their best on the ACT EXPLORE. Chart 9 \| \| 2007-2008 \| 2008-2009 \| 2009-2010 \| 2010-2011 \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| English WV \| 14.3 \| 13.9 \| 14.1 \| 14.1 \| \| English Mingo \| 13.9 \| 13 \| 12.9 \| 13.2 \| \| Mathematics WV \| 14.7 \| 14.3 \| 14.6 \| 14.8 \| \| Mathematics Mingo \| 13.5 \| 13.4 \| 13.1 \| 14.2 \| \| Reading WV \| 13.9 \| 13.6 \| 14 \| 14.1 \| \| Reading Mingo \| 13.2 \| 13.1 \| 13.2 \| 13.1 \| \| Science WV \| 16 \| 15.6 \| 15.8 \| 15.9 \| \| Science Mingo \| 15.2 \| 15.1 \| 14.9 \| 15 \| \| Composite WV \| 14.9 \| 14.5 \| 14.8 \| 14.8 \| \| Composite Mingo \| 14 \| 13.8 \| 13.6 \| 14 \| Source: http://wvde.state.wv.us/oaa/EXPLORE/EXPLORE_index.html ACT PLAN Assessment Results Based on the 2011-2012 Grade 10 ACT PLAN results in Chart 10, Mingo County test takers showed a composite score (14.9) that was below the State composite score (16.6), a gap of 1.7. Five years of trend data showed scores consistently below the State in all academic areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science. The gap between the Mingo County English results and the State results varied from 1.1 (20082009) to 1.8 (2011-2012). In mathematics, the gap varied from 1.0 (2008-2009) to 1.8 (2009-2010). Reading results varied from 1.0 (2009-2010) to 1.8 (2011-2012) and science followed the same trend with a gap of 0.9 (2008-2009) to 1.6 (2011-2012). The composite results showed a range from 1.0 (2008-2009) to 1.7 (2011-2012). Mingo County School District instructional coaches for English/language arts told the Team that they were working with students on the importance of doing their best on the ACT PLAN. Chart 10 \| ACT PLAN RESULTS Grade 10 \| \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 2007-2008 \| 2008-2009 \| 2009-2010 \| 2010-2011 \| 2011-2012 \| \| English WV \| 16.3 \| 16.3 \| 16.3 \| 16.3 \| 16.0 \| \| English Mingo \| 15.1 \| 15.2 \| 15.1 \| 15.0 \| 14.2 \| \| Mathematics WV \| 16.3 \| 16.3 \| 16.2 \| 16.2 \| 16.4 \| \| Mathematics Mingo \| 15.0 \| 15.3 \| 14.4 \| 15.0 \| 14.9 \| \| Reading WV \| 16.5 \| 15.7 \| 16.1 \| 16.1 \| 16.1 \| \| Reading Mingo \| 15.1 \| 14.6 \| 15.1 \| 15.0 \| 14.3 \| \| Science WV \| 17.5 \| 17.1 \| 17.3 \| 17.3 \| 17.3 \| \| Science Mingo \| 16.3 \| 16.2 \| 16.3 \| 16.0 \| 15.7 \| \| Composite WV \| 16.8 \| 16.5 \| 16.6 \| 16.6 \| 16.6 \| \| Composite Mingo \| 15.5 \| 15.5 \| 15.3 \| 15.4 \| 14.9 \| Source: http://wvde.state.wv.us/oaa/actplan.html 5.1.2. Participation rate. A minimum of 95 percent in the current or a two or three year average of all students enrolled in a public school/county school district/state at the time of testing, including students in each subgroup as required by NCLB must participate in the statewide assessment WESTEST or the West Virginia Alternate Performance Task Assessment (APTA) in reading/language arts or mathematics. Students with a significant medical emergency may be exempt by appeal from the calculation of participation rate for AYP provided that the county superintendent has proper documentation. (Policy 2340; Policy 2419; Policy 2510) Mingo County School District participation rate during the 2011-2012 school year of 98.8 percent in mathematics and 99.0 percent for reading exceeded the 95 percent State requirement. Mingo County Trend Data showed that participation in mathematics at Tug Valley High School was down, while participation in reading at the school was up. Both mathematics and reading participation rates at all four middle schools (Matewan Middle, Williamson Middle, Lenore K-8 and Kermit K-8) showed an upward trend. Dingess Elementary had 100 percent participation rate in both content areas. Riverside Elementary showed an upward trend, while Matewan Elementary showed a downward trend in both mathematics and reading. 5.1.3. Attendance rate (Elementary/Middle). The student attendance rate for elementary and middle schools is at or above 90 percent or the percentage of students meeting the attendance rate show improvement from the preceding year. The student attendance rate will be adjusted for students excluded as a result of the Productive and Safe Schools Act (W.Va. Code §18A-5-1a) and school bus transportation interruptions (W.Va. 126CSR81), West Virginia Board of Education Policy 4110, Attendance Policy, (hereinafter Policy 4110). Additional exclusions include excused student absences, students not in attendance due to disciplinary measures, and absent students for whom the attendance director has pursued judicial remedies to compel attendance to the extent of his or her authority. For the AYP determination, the attendance rate calculation will be used for accountability at the public school/LEA/SEA levels, but will not be calculated for each subgroup. However, for schools/LEAs that use the safe harbor provision to meet AYP for the achievement indicators, the attendance rate standard must be met by the subgroup/s not meeting AYP. Chart 11 indicated the Mingo County School District attendance rate has remained above the State requirement of 90 percent for the last five reporting years. The reviewer noted that the attendance rate followed an upward trend for the past five years, except for the 2009-2010 school year, which showed a slight decline. The attendance reached above 96 percent in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. According to information provided in the Mingo County Five-Year Strategic Plan (dated September 15, 2012), the attendance rates for economically disadvantaged (SES) and special education (SE) subgroups were also in the 96 percent range in 2012. Chart 11 \| ATTENDANCE RATE \| \| \|---\|---\| \| Year \| Attendance Rate \| \| 2007-2008 \| 93.70% \| \| 2008-2009 \| 94.61% \| \| 2009-2010 \| 93.89% \| \| 2010-2011 \| 96.54% \| \| 2011-2012 \| 96.96% \| Source: http://wveis.k12.wv.us/nclb/pub/enroll/repstatgrar.cfm?xrep=2 Source: http://wveis.k12.wv.us/nclb/public12/repstatgrar.cfm?&xgroup=1&so=1&xrep=3 5.1.4. Graduation rate. The student graduation rate is 80 percent or the percentage of students meeting the student graduation rate shows improvement. The graduation rate is calculated according to the high school completer formula recommended by the NCES with the additional condition that graduates include only those students who receive a regular diploma in the standard number of years and does not include students receiving the GED. For the AYP determination, the graduation rate calculation will be used for accountability at the public school/LEA/SEA levels, but will not be calculated for each subgroup. However, for schools/LEAs that use the safe harbor provision to meet AYP for the achievement indicators, the graduation rate standard must be met by the subgroup/s not meeting AYP. Beginning in school year (SY) 2010–2011, states are required to report a uniform, comparable, and accurate graduation rate known as a "four-year adjusted cohort rate," which measures the percent of students in a ninth grade cohort that graduate with a regular diploma in four years or less. This rate also must be used for determining adequate yearly progress (AYP) beginning in SY 2011–2012. The regulations require states to report and use a "four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate" based on the following formula: The 2010-2011 graduation rate for the Mingo County School District listed in Chart 12 served as the baseline graduation rate for the new adjusted graduation calculation in place in West Virginia. Chart 12 showed that the Mingo County School District graduation rate was 74.02 percent for 2011-2012, down 0.02 percent from 2010-2011. While this was below the State graduation standard of 80 percent, the county achieved the rate used for determining adequate yearly progress (AYP). Chart 12 \| GRADUATION RATE \| \| \|---\|---\| \| Year \| Graduation Rate \| \| 2010-2011 \| 74.04% \| \| 2011-2012 \| 74.02% \| Source: http://wveis.k12.wv.us/nclb/pub/enroll/repstatgr.cfm?xrep=1&sy=12 SECTION II DATA ANALYSIS Chart 13 demonstrated the number of advanced placement (AP®), honors courses, and college credit courses offered in Mingo County's high schools. The number of AP® courses taken was the same at both high schools, but Mingo Central Comprehensive High School offered fewer honors courses (12) than Tug Valley High School (17). The number of college credit courses was low, Tug Valley High School offered three and Mingo Central Comprehensive High School offered two; however; college credit courses will be offered through the Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College which was undergoing the accreditation process. The college has promised to work with the school system next school year to expand college credit course offerings. Chart 13 \| High School/County \| Number of AP® Courses \| Number of Honors Courses \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Mingo Central Comprehensive High School \| 7 \| 12 \| Source: Data provided by Mingo County School District Advanced placement (AP®) and Dual Credit courses taken and the enrollment are listed in Chart 13A and Chart 13B. Chart 13 A Tug Valley High School \| \| Course \| Number of Students Enrolled \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Calculus AB \| \| \| \| English Language and Composition \| \| \| \| English Literature and Composition \| \| \| \| Music Theory \| \| \| \| Statistics \| \| \| \| US Government and Politics \| \| \| \| U.S. History \| \| \| \| \| Dual Credit Course \| \| \| \| Course \| Number of Students Enrolled \| \| College 101 \| \| \| \| Business Computer Applications \| \| \| \| Art Appreciation \| \| \| Chart 13 B Mingo Central Comprehensive High School \| \| Advanced Placement \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Course \| \| Number of Students Enrolled \| \| Calculus AB \| \| 8 \| \| \| Chemistry and Chemistry Lab \| \| 10 \| \| \| English Language and Composition \| \| 51 \| \| \| English Literature and Composition \| \| 34 \| \| \| Psychology \| \| 39 \| \| \| U.S. Government and Politics \| \| 49 \| \| \| U.S. History \| \| 43 \| \| \| \| Dual Credit Course \| \| \| \| \| Course \| \| Number of Students Enrolled \| \| Algebra III \| \| 5 \| \| Source: Data provided by Mingo County School District. Chart 14 provides college entrance testing information for the 2011-2012 American College Test (ACT) and the advanced placement test (APT). Data are listed for each Mingo County high school, the county, and the State. Mingo County School District's percentage of ACT test takers (52.4 percent) was below the State's percentage (61.0 percent). The percentage of Tug Valley High School's ACT test takers was 38.9 percent and the percentage of Mingo Central Comprehensive High School's test takers was 47.2 percent. The composite score for Mingo County was 19.4 while the State composite score was 20.6. Tug Valley High School's composite score was 19.0 and Mingo Central Comprehensive High School's composite score was 19.6. Mingo County's ACT composite score increased from 19.0 in 2011 to 19.4 in 2012. Data indicated the percentage of Mingo County students taking advanced placement tests (APT) in Grade 11 (3.1 percent) and Grade 12 (5.7 percent) was substantially lower than the State's percentage - Grade 11 (23.8 percent and Grade 12 (24.9 percent). Central office staff indicated that many students take the AP® classes to receive the weighted grade, but do not follow through with the AP® test. Chart 14 COLLEGE-ENTRANCE TESTING INFORMATION – ACT & APT 2011-2012 \| ACT(American College Test) \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Schools \| Test Takers \| Composite Score \| Tenth Grade \| Eleventh Grade \| \| Mingo Central Comprehensive High \| 47.2% \| 19.6 \| 0.0% \| 0.0% \| \| Tug Valley High \| 38.9% \| 19.0 \| 0.0% \| 8.4% \| \| Mingo County Schools \| 52.4% \| 19.4 \| 0.0% \| 3.1% \| \| STATE \| 61.0% \| 20.6 \| 2.6% \| 23.8% \| Source: http://wveis.k12.wv.us/nclb/pub/rpt1112/pickreportcard.cfm?rptnum=99 SAT/ACT Assessment Results Chart 15 shows the Mingo School District's Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and American College Testing (ACT) results from 2007-2008 through 2011-2012. The SAT mathematics mean score showed a decline from 473 in 2007-2008 to 386 in 2008-2009 and a further decline 251 in 2010-2011 followed by an increase to 472 in 2011-2012. Central office staff stated that results of SAT for 2009-2010 were not available because of the cost of the report. The reading score increased from 501 in 2007-2008 to 540 in 2011-2012. The writing score at 495 in 2007-2008 declined to 421 in 2008-2009 and further declined to 258 in 2010-2011 and rebounded to 493 in 20112012. The percent of SAT test takers increased from 5.6 percent in 2010-2011 to 8.4 percent in 2011-2012. ACT trend data showed the percentage of students taking the ACT increased from 48.8 percent in 2007-2008 to 59.1 percent in 2010-2011 and decreasing to 52.4 percent in 2011-2012. The composite score of Mingo County students taking the ACT increased from 18.7 in 2007-2008 to 19.4 in 2011-2012. Chart 15 \| County \| 2007-2008 \| 2008-2009 \| 2009-2010 \| 2010-2011 \| 2011-2012 \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| SAT Takers (%) \| 6.4% \| 9.3% \| 4.2% \| 5.6% \| 8.4% \| \| SAT Math Mean Score \| 473 \| 386 \| 0 \| 251 \| 472 \| \| SAT Reading Score \| 501 \| 415 \| 0 \| 243 \| 540 \| \| SAT Writing Score \| 495 \| 421 \| 0 \| 258 \| 493 \| \| AMERICAN COLLEGE TESTING (ACT) - Mingo County Schools \| \| \| \| \| \| \| ACT Takers (%) \| 48.8% \| 51.9% \| 53.8% \| 59.1% \| 52.4% \| \| ACT Composite \| 18.7 \| 19.4 \| 19.1 \| 19.0 \| 19.4 \| Source: State, County and School Data, 2011-2012 West Virginia Report Cards, West Virginia Department of Education. The high school graduate overall college going rate in fall 2012 for Mingo County was 47.6 percent compared to the State's overall college going rate of 56.4 percent as presented in Chart 16. Of the 275 high school graduates, 130 students started college in the fall of 2012. Chart 16 \| \| Number of High School Graduates 2011-2012 \| \|---\|---\| \| State \| 18,335 \| \| Mingo County \| 275 \| Source: West Virginia College Going Rates By County and High School Fall 2012, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. Mingo County's percentage of students enrolled in developmental courses was measurably higher than the State's percentage of students taking both mathematics and English developmental courses (Chart 17). Thirty-seven of Mingo County's 104 first-time freshmen or 35.58 percent were enrolled in Developmental English during fall 2012 compared to the State total (17.40 percent). Fifty-six graduates or 53.85 percent were enrolled in Developmental Mathematics compared to the State total (28.83 percent). Chart 17 \| HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES ENROLLED IN DEVELOPMENTAL COURSES FALL 2012 \| \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 1st Time WV Freshmen Total # \| English Total # \| % in Developmental English \| Mathematics Total # \| % in Developmental Mathematics \| \| State \| 7,708 \| 1,341 \| 17.40% \| 2,222 \| 28.83% \| \| Mingo Central Comprehensive High \| NA \| NA \| NA \| NA \| NA \| \| Tug Valley High \| 24 \| 4 \| 16.70% \| 10 \| 41.70% \| \| Mingo County \| 104 \| 37 \| 35.58% \| 56 \| 53.85% \| NA – Not Available SECTION III HIGH QUALITY STANDARDS 7.1. CURRICULUM. 7.1.1. Curriculum based on content standards and objectives. The curriculum is based on the content standards and objectives approved by the West Virginia Board of Education. (Policy 2510; Policy 2520) Findings 1. Central office personnel indicated that all instruction was based on the West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives (Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives) in English/language arts, mathematics, and social studies and the 21 st Century Content Standards and Objectives in science. 2. All teachers had been trained in the West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives through participation in the following: West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) Teacher Leadership Institute (TLI), Mingo County Summer Academies, professional development on continuing education days, and direct training by instructional coaches and peer coaching at the school level by teachers who attended the TLI. Teachers had also been trained on the vertical progression of each objective to understand content taught before their grade level and what comes next. Content Standards and Objectives for elective courses were based on the Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives and had been approved by the WVDE. 3. An example of curriculum that exceeded the content standards and objectives was the work being done by the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) coach with the integration of science, mathematics, art, and English/language arts. 7.1.2. High expectations. Through curricular offerings, instructional practices, and administrative practices, staff demonstrates high expectations for the learning and achieving of all students and all students have equal education opportunities including reteaching, enrichment, and acceleration. (Policy 2510) Findings 1. Central office staff stated that an effort had been undertaken to increase rigor in all content areas. Teachers were trained in Depth of Knowledge (DOK) and evaluated their own activities and assessments to determine if they contained the rigor required by the content standards and objectives. Training on the Rigor and Relevance Framework was conducted through RESA 2 and several teachers in the county used the Gold Seal Lessons from Bill Daggett through the International Center for Leadership in Education. Central office staff trained principals on what to look for in rigorous instruction as they performed classroom walkthroughs. 2. Teachers were trained in differentiated instruction to enable them to challenge each student and meet his/her individual needs. Mingo County focused on preventing students from needing credit recovery. After school and summer programs concentrated on improving students' skills. Peer tutoring was also in place at the middle and high schools. Gifted students were challenged through enrichment activities. Students set goals for themselves based on a variety of assessment results. They are encouraged to take the ACT test. More students have been participating in advanced placement (AP®) courses and taking the AP® exams; however, the number of students achieving a score of 3 or above had not increased in 2011-2012. Mingo County is planning to offer pre-AP courses in Grades 9 and 10 to help prepare students for the exams. 7.1.3. Learning environment. School staff provides a safe and nurturing environment that is conducive to learning. (Policy 2510) Findings 1. Mingo County Board of Education Policy 8402 deals with learning environment. With the consolidation of four high schools into Mingo Central Comprehensive High School, the county did extensive work prior to closing each high school for a smooth transition to the new school. Ambassadors from each closing school were chosen to gather and dispense information about the new school to their respective student bodies. Central office staff reported very few problems with discipline and that students were developing a sense of pride in their school. This new school has enabled many opportunities for students that were previously not available. 2. Tug Valley High School instituted a MOD period for personalized learning that included remediation and enrichment and support to avoid the need for credit recovery. The Grade 9 English/language arts and social studies teacher taught a humanities block that integrated both content areas in a project based learning approach. 3. Mingo County School District utilized the School Environment Questionnaire to gather data about every school in the county. Staff members completed the survey and the district compiled the data. The data were used to enhance school climate and culture. 7.1.4. Instruction. Instruction is consistent with the programmatic definitions in West Virginia Board of Education Policy 2510, Assuring the Quality of Education: Regulations for Education Programs (hereinafter Policy 2510). (Policy 2510) Finding Central office staff reported that all schools complied with the programmatic definitions of West Virginia Board of Education Policy 2510. 7.1.5. Instructional strategies. Staff demonstrates the use of the various instructional strategies and techniques contained in Policies 2510 and 2520. (Policy 2510; Policy 2520) Findings 1. Central office staff communicated that teachers are exposed to various instructional strategies through summer academies, instructional coaches, and various professional development activities through the West Virginia Department of Education and RESA 2. 2. Instructional coaches at the middle and high schools communicated that they model lessons for the teachers and then the teachers develop lessons demonstrating the use of the modeled strategy. The coaches observe the teacher delivering the lesson and provide instructive feedback. 3. Mingo County School District provided teachers training in integration and authentic use of technology in the classroom. West Virginia Department of Education personnel conducted ongoing professional development for principals in effective application of classroom technology. An itinerant technology coach also provided embedded professional development in technology. 7.1.6. Instruction in writing. Instruction in writing shall be a part of every child's weekly educational curriculum in grades K through 12 in every appropriate class. (Policy 2510; Policy 2520) Finding Central office staff expressed that instruction in writing has been a focus the past few years. Instructional coaches were employed to help teachers in Grades K-12 deliver writing lessons. Students are asked to write daily, responding to reading with an emphasis on evidence from the text, as required by the Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives for English/language arts. The central office monitors West Virginia Writes usage and generates reports for the schools and teachers. 7.1.7. Library/educational technology access and technology application. The application of technology is included throughout all programs of study and students have regular access to library/educational technology centers or classroom libraries. (Policy 2470; Policy 2510) Findings 1. All Mingo County's schools have libraries. Central office staff indicated that all elementary libraries and the library at Matewan Middle School were staffed by parent assistants through Title 1 program funding. The remaining middle schools and both high schools have full-time librarians. Students participate in the Accelerated Reader (AR) program, check out books, and take AR tests in the libraries. 2. All students in Grades 9-12 in the Mingo County School District have a computer and will get to keep it upon graduation. Teachers were trained on technology integration and a team of five teachers from each high school traveled to Mooresville, North Carolina to observe the one-to-one computing program which has been in place for 15 years. All classrooms in Mingo County were equipped with interactive Whiteboards and presentation stations. 3. The report, Levy Funds-All Projects, showed that $199,360 had been spent on upgrading libraries in all schools. 7.1.8. Instructional materials. Sufficient numbers of approved up-to-date textbooks, instructional materials, and other resources are available to deliver curricular content for the full instructional term. (Policy 2510) Findings 1. According to Mingo County Central office staff, Step VII, Title 1, and Special Education funding is used to purchase instructional materials. 2. Newly adopted materials for social studies at the high school level will be in digital format instead of printed textbooks. 3. Mingo County School District utilizes a committee to review material on the stateapproved multiple list and to make recommendations for county board approval. 7.1.9. Programs of study. Programs of study are provided in grades K-12 as listed in Policy 2510 for elementary, middle, and high school levels, including career clusters and majors and an opportunity to examine a system of career clusters in grades 5-8 and to select a career cluster to explore in grades 9 and 10. (Policy 2510; Policy 2520) Finding According to the county Curriculum Audits done at each programmatic level in April and May 2012, all courses required by West Virginia Board of Education Policy 2510 were in place. Courses above and beyond the minimum requirements included: Read 180, Gear-Up, Project Discovery, Carnegie and Mathia programs, Career Exploration, Sonday (reading program), Number Talks, and Apangea Mathematics. 7.1.10. Approved elective offerings. An elective offering must be based on approved West Virginia Board of Education content standards and objectives, if available, or have written content standards and objectives that are approved by the county board. (Policy 2510) Finding Mingo County Central Office staff confirmed that all elective courses have content standards and objectives which have been approved by the West Virginia Department of Education. Courses in English/language arts (Creative Writing I and II) are based on the Next Generation Content Standards for English/language arts. Other elective courses are based on currently adopted 21 st Century Content Standards and Objectives (CSOs). The Team reviewed documentation that contained the elective course descriptions and CSOs. 7.1.11. Guidance and advisement. Students are provided specific guidance and advisement opportunities to allow them to choose a career major prior to completion of grade 10. (Policy 2510) Findings 1. According to the continuing education agenda, counselors and principals at all schools were trained in Comprehensive Developmental Guidance and Counseling November 5, 2012, in a half-day session. Mingo County Policy 101.07 (enacted in 2003) established the requirement for developmental guidance. 2. Central office files contained detailed monthly logs for each counselor in the school district. The logs indicated the amount of time each counselor spent with students and in performing other duties. 3. Middle and high school students participated in the WVDE LINKS Student Advisement Program. 7.1.12. Multicultural activities. Multicultural activities are included at all programmatic levels, K-4, 5-8, and 9-12 with an emphasis on prevention and zero tolerance for racial, sexual, religious/ethnic harassment or violence. (Policy 2421) Findings 1. Mingo County School District had a Cultural Diversity Policy and Procedures as required by West Virginia Board of Education Policy 4373. 2. The Team reviewed information that showed various multicultural activities at all programmatic levels. One example of multicultural activities included a field trip called the Hatfield McCoy Cultural Tour for all students on "Everybody Counts" to develop an awareness of disabilities. The district, in collaboration with the Williamson Branch NAACP, Williamson Public Library, Youth Council of Southern West Virginia Community Technology College (SWVCTC), and West Virginia Humanities Council, sponsored an event during Black History Month, (Black/African American Women in American Culture and History) in which the community was invited to attend. An aggressive campaign to stop bullying was in place at Tug Valley High School as evidenced by newspaper clippings. Eric Jensen trained school staffs on "Teaching with Poverty in Mind." 7.1.13. Instructional day. Priority is given to teaching and learning, and classroom instructional time is protected from interruption. An instructional day is provided that includes a minimum of 315 minutes for kindergarten and grades 1 through 4; 330 minutes for grades 5 through 8; and 345 minutes for grades 9 through 12. The county board submits a school calendar with a minimum 180 instructional days. (W.Va. Code §18-5-45; Policy 2510) Finding The Team accessed the schedules for each school and ascertained that all schools had the required instructional time specified in Policy 2510. Mingo County School District also had a school calendar that showed the minimum required number of instructional days. 7.1.14. Alignment with job market opportunities. The technical and adult programs in the school are aligned with first local, and then state, then national job market opportunities. (Policy 2510) Findings 1. According to the Mingo County Five-Year Strategic Plan dated September 15, 2012, the job force in Mingo County consists primarily of mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction fields. It states that because of EPA rulings and the transition of power companies to natural gas, unemployment and poverty are expected to "increase dramatically in the next few years." Due to this shift in industry, all Mingo County students have the opportunity to participate in the career technical programs offered at Mingo Central Comprehensive High School. 2. Due to increased student interest, Tug Valley High School has also added Health Occupations, ProStart, and Agriculture to the career concentrations offered at that site. 7.2. STUDENT AND SCHOOL PERFORMANCE. 7.2.1. County and School electronic strategic improvement plans. An electronic county strategic improvement plan and an electronic school strategic improvement plan are established, implemented, and reviewed annually. Each respective plan shall be a five-year plan that includes the mission and goals of the school or school system to improve student or school system performance or progress. The plan shall be revised annually in each area in which the school or system is below the standard on the annual performance measures. Findings 1. The Mingo County Five-Year Strategic Plan did an excellent job of analyzing data and identifying areas of need. 2. Goals and action steps included in the county Five-Year Strategic Plan were aligned with the identified areas of weakness. 3. Mingo County School District staff reviewed the plan periodically and monitored results of the action steps. 4. The county superintendent and staff presented the plan to the county board of education during a Saturday workshop. 7.2.2. Counseling services. Counselors shall spend at least 75 percent of the work day in a direct counseling relationship with students, and shall devote no more than 25 percent of the work day to counseling-related administrative activities as stated in W.Va. Code §18-5-18b. (W.Va. Code §18-5-18b; Policy 2315) Finding Mingo County Central Office files contained detailed counselors' schedules which documented their work with students for at least 75 percent of the work day. 7.2.3. Lesson plans and principal feedback. Lesson plans that are based on approved content standards and objectives are prepared in advance and the principal reviews, comments on them a minimum of once each quarter, and provides written feedback to the teacher as necessary to improve instruction. (Policy 2510; Policy 5310) Finding All principals received training in reviewing lesson plans and providing instructive feedback to teachers. They are reminded at monthly principals' meetings to monitor lesson plans as they conduct classroom walkthroughs and teacher conferences. Central office staff indicated that they randomly check for principal feedback when they conduct school visits. 7.2.4. Data analysis. Prior to the beginning of and through the school term the county, school, and teacher have a system for analyzing, interpreting, and using student performance data to identify and assist students who are not at grade level in achieving approved state and local content standards and objectives. The county, principal, counselors, and teachers assess student scores on the American College Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test and develop curriculum, programs, and/or practices to improve student and school performance. (Policy 2510) Findings 1. Central office staff indicated that school level data analysis is conducted with each school's staff during preparation for opening days and continues throughout the year with the help of the instructional coaches. Data analyzed included: WESTEST2, Acuity Benchmarks, Acuity usage, WV Writes, DIBELS, etc. The central office staff provided charts and graphs of the data to each school. 2. Due to low scores on the ACT EXPLORE and the ACT PLAN, secondary English/language arts instructional coaches told Team members they have begun working with students on the importance of taking the tests seriously. 7.3. ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION 7.3.1. Alternative education. Alternative education programs meet the requirements of Policy 2418. (W.Va. Code §18-2-6 and §18-5-19; Policy 2418) Finding Mingo County School District's alternative education program is housed at the Mingo County Extended Learning Center, which is located in the former vocational school. Mingo County Policy 2451 explains the bylaws and policies related to alternative education. The alternative program is designed for students in Grades 5-12, but currently serves only high school students. During the 2011-2012 year, 29 male students and nine female students attended the program and 28 males and eight females returned to their home school during the year. Central office files reported that 100 percent of the seniors graduated with their class 7.4. REGULATORY AGENCY REVIEWS. 7.4.1. Regulatory agency reviews. Determine during on-site reviews and include in reports whether required reviews and inspections have been conducted by the appropriate agencies, including, but not limited to, the State Fire Marshal, the Health Department, the School Building Authority of West Virginia, and the responsible divisions within the West Virginia Department of Education, and whether noted deficiencies have been or are in the process of being corrected. The Office of Education Performance Audits may not conduct a duplicate review or inspection nor mandate more stringent compliance measures. (W.Va. Code §§18-9B-9, 10, 11, 18-4-10, and 18-5A-5; Policy 1224.1; Policy 8100; W.Va. Code §18-5-9; Policy 6200; Section 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973 §104.22 and §104.23; Policy 4334; Policy 4336) FINANCE Findings 1. The Team examined the audit for fiscal year 2011 at the county office. No findings or deficiencies in internal control were noted. The audits for 2012 were not available at the time of the Office of Education Performance Audits (OEPA) review. Upon review of the 2012 unaudited financial statements, the Team discovered that the statements were not published in a timely manner. According to W.Va. Code §18-9-3a, every county board of education is required to prepare and publish its annual financial statements within 90 days after the beginning of the subsequent fiscal year. The board's financial statements were not submitted to be published until October 8, 2012, and were not actually published until October 16, 2012. 2. The general fund balance decreased by $3,149,955 from 2011 to 2012. This decrease was due to county contributions to construction projects and to many persons employed in excess of the State funding formula. The Team learned that the county is in danger of facing a deficit at the end of the current year. According to the treasurer and superintendent, to avoid a deficit, purchasing has become much more conservative with particular caution in efficient maintenance spending and as employees retire or resign throughout the year; efforts are made to become more efficient through either consolidation of duties, non-replacement or replacement with a lower cost alternative. The county has taken steps in recent years to consolidate schools and reduce personnel. Note: Subsequent to the review, preliminary information indicated that the county successfully averted a deficit for fiscal year 2013. 3. The Mingo County Board of Education was 64.848 service personnel and 24.28 professional personnel over the State funding formula as of the January 3, 2013, Preliminary State Aid Computations for the 2013-2014 school year. This information would have been created using current enrollment and the 2012-2013 certified list. During RIF/Transfer this year, the board eliminated 20 professional and 35 service positions that they believe will be eliminated completely from the budget and will reduce their overages. These eliminations are mostly due to the consolidation of four schools into two schools for next school year. Further positions were eliminated after the Education Performance Audit, resulting in 27 professional (25 teachers and two administrators) and 35 service personnel positions eliminated. 4. The Team reviewed the Treasurer's Report to the Board and reported the following finding: The treasurer provided a list of cash balances by fund, revenues and expenditures by fund, and checks for disbursement to the board. However, the report did not contain all information required by West Virginia Board of Education Policy 8100, Handbook for School Finance in West Virginia. Requirements are shown in detail on page 53 of the handbook. 5. The Team reviewed multiple invoices in the county's accounts payable office. There were seven instances where the purchase order was completed after the date on the invoice. All instances were for transportation or maintenance purchasing. P.O. #201301159 dated 10/26/12 for an invoice on 10/10/12, and 9/13/12 P.O. #201300044 dated 7/20/12 for an invoice on 7/19/12, 7/17/12, and 7/16/12 P.O. #201300409 dated 8/15/12 for an invoice on 8/13/12 P.O. #201300260 dated 8/3/12 for an invoice on 8/1/12 P.O. #201300167 dated 7/26/12 for an invoice on 7/5/12 P.O. #201300627 dated 9/6/12 for an invoice on 8/21/12 P.O. #201300743 dated 9/14/12 for an invoice on 8/22/12 INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL AUDITS - COUNTYWIDE The Team reviewed individual school audits for 2011. According to West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, if any reportable conditions are noted in the report for a particular school, the principal is to provide the board with a corrective action plan. The corrective action plans for 2011 audits could not be located at the board office or at the schools. 6. School administrators and office staff at many school locations indicated they had not seen the 2011 school audit and, therefore, did not have a corrective action plan. Many had just recently been provided the results of that audit. The school audits were not yet completed for 2012, but were being performed by a certified public accounting firm. It could not be determined by reviewing the 2011 school audits whether the required checklist found within the Accounting Procedures Manual was used. Note: Mingo County has had three treasurers in the past few years in addition to an acting treasurer for a short period. The current treasurer has only been in the position a short time and these personnel conditions may have contributed to countywide finance policy compliance findings. Invoices At all schools, the Team discovered that invoices were not being canceled during the payment process. The Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia states that invoices should be marked as paid at the time payment is made to prevent paying an invoice twice. This section also addresses verification for clerical and mathematical accuracy and approval for payment. CORRECTIVE ACTION. To accomplish this task at all locations, the Team recommended that the Mingo County Board of Education purchase cancellation stamps as shown on page 13 of the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia. Faculty Senate Budgets All schools. The Team determined that a Faculty Senate budget was not created and made part of the Faculty Senate minutes for the 2012-2013 school year. According to the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, page 23, "Every faculty senate is to prepare an annual budget approved by the membership which reflects how the faculty senate funds are to be expended. This budget is to be made a part of the minutes." An example of a sample budget is included in Appendix A in the manual. CORRECTIVE ACTION. The Team recommended that for future school years, a Faculty Senate budget be utilized at all school locations and made a part of the Faculty Senate minutes. Faculty Senate Distributions The checks for Faculty Senate distributions were written by the county September 30, 2012. While examining deposits at the schools, the Team found that a majority of these checks were not deposited by the schools until October 8-12, 2012, with some as late as October 17 and October 19. County boards are required to distribute the Faculty Senate funds received from legislative appropriation to each Faculty Senate during the month of September. This year, either the county did not distribute the checks timely or the schools did not deposit the checks in a timely manner. CORRECTIVE ACTION. The Team recommended that Faculty Senate disbursements be made earlier in September to allow the Faculty Senate funds to be deposited that month. Accounting Procedures Manual Secretaries at many schools did not have their own copy of the new Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia because the principal of the school had the new copy. In some cases, a new copy of the manual could not be located at all. CORRECTIVE ACTION. The Team recommended that the county ensure all staff have a copy of the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia and conduct training with all secretaries to review the new manual and discuss any changes that need to be made. INDIVIDUAL SCHOOLS Lenore K-8 School Finding Purchase Order #101-00088 was dated 11/2/12 for an invoice dated 11/1/12. West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, requires a pre-numbered purchase order approved in writing by the principal or designee before the purchase is made. Mingo County Extended Learning Center Finding Purchase Order #102-04483 was issued after the date of the related invoice. West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, requires a pre-numbered purchase order approved in writing by the principal or designee before the purchase is made. Burch Elementary School Findings 1. The secretary at Burch Elementary School did not have a copy of the new Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia. 2. Purchase Order #201-01191 was dated 1/31/13 for an invoice dated 1/29/13. West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, requires a pre-numbered purchase order approved in writing by the principal or designee before the purchase is made. 3. A cash receipts listing for collections by teachers or other persons at the school was not being utilized according to the manual, page 9. A sample of a cash receipt form is included in Appendix A of the manual. 4. The Team examined one deposit that was not done in a timely manner. The deposit on 9/17/12 included receipts dating back to 9/4/12 and 9/5/12. According to the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, deposits must be made whenever collections exceed $500 or at least weekly. 5. The deposits on 9/20/12 and 9/21/12 totaled more than the receipts referenced. Dingess Elementary School No findings other than countywide school findings. Gilbert Elementary School Finding Purchase Orders #210-07155, #210-07156, and #210-07157 were issued after the date of their related invoices. West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, requires a prenumbered purchase order approved in writing by the principal or designee before the purchase is made. Riverside Elementary School Finding Two checks in 2012 were processed with only one signature on the check. According to the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, page 15, two signatures are required on every check issued by the school. Matewan Elementary School Finding Sales tax was paid on the invoice for P.O. #222-01540. Schools are exempt from West Virginia Sales Tax. According to the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, page 25, all invoices should be reviewed at the time of receipt to ensure that consumer sales tax has not been charged on the purchase. If present, this tax should be removed prior to payment. Kermit K-8 School No findings other than countywide school findings. Williamson Middle School Findings 1. Two checks, 7833 and 7834, were processed with only one signature on the check. According the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, page 15, two signatures are required on every check issued by the school. 2. Purchase Order #402-08868 was dated 1/8/13 for an invoice dated 1/4/13. West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, requires a pre-numbered purchase order approved in writing by the principal or designee before the purchase is made. Matewan Middle School Findings 1. Fourteen ticket reconciliations were not signed by the seller during the 2012-2013 school year. According to the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, page 18, the ticket reconciliation must be signed by both the preparer and the principal. 2. Purchase Orders #403-01986, #65160, and #403-02006 were issued after the dates on their related invoices. West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, requires a pre-numbered purchase order approved in writing by the principal or designee before the purchase is made. 3. Receipt numbers were not listed on deposit slips. According to the manual, page 10, each bank deposit slip must contain the series of receipt numbers comprising the deposit. Burch Middle School Findings 1. Check #1381 was issued with only one signature. According to the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, page 15, two signatures are required on every check issued by the school. 2. The secretary at Burch Middle School did not have a copy of the new Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia. Gilbert Middle School Findings 1. Purchase Order #407-0094 was issued after the date of the related invoice. West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, requires a pre-numbered purchase order approved in writing by the principal or designee before the purchase is made. 2. The school paid individuals for judging cheerleaders through the school accounts instead of processing the payments through the central office payroll process. According to the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, page 14, all payments made by a school to an individual for services rendered are to be considered wages and are to be paid through the normal payroll process at the central board office. Tug Valley High School Finding Purchase Order #507-03261 was dated 11/8/12 for an invoice dated 11/5/12. West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, requires a pre-numbered purchase order approved in writing by the principal or designee before the purchase is made. Mingo Central Comprehensive High School Findings 1. The Team found multiple purchase orders with dates after the related invoice: Purchase Orders #50800941, #50800940, #50800980, and #50800977. West Virginia Board of Education Policy 1224.1, Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, requires a pre-numbered purchase order approved in writing by the principal or designee before the purchase is made. Some of these purchases were related to booster groups and school clubs. The Team recommended that the treasurer ensure that these sub-groups understand and follow school purchasing guidelines. 2. A donation was made by the FCCLA club at the school to a charitable organization without having a fund raiser for that purpose. According the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, page 11, schools and school clubs cannot make contributions to charitable or private nonprofit organizations unless a fund raiser is conducted specifically for that purpose. 3. The Team examined deposits during the review that were not made in a timely manner. According to the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, deposits must be made whenever collections exceed $500 or at least weekly. The deposit from 2/19/13 included $1,450 that was from a game on 2/13/13 and turned into the school on 2/14/13. A 2/28/13 deposit was also not made in a timely manner. Due to the location of Mingo Central Comprehensive High School and the location and business hours of the banks, it is difficult for the secretary at the school to meet this requirement. The school, county, and banks should work together to try and create procedures to aid in the timeliness of deposits. 4. The school appeared to have a "Flower Fund", which is disallowed according to the Accounting Procedures Manual for the Public Schools in the State of West Virginia, page 63. The Team examined a purchase from this fund for flowers for an employee's relative. This account should be removed from the school and handled in a private, non-public fund manner. FACILITIES The Education Performance Audit Team reviewed the Mingo County Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan (CEFP), interviewed the members of the maintenance staff and the county superintendent, and visited all schools in the county. A narrative of the Team's observations follows. Lenore K- 8 School (Grades PK - 8) Year of Construction: 2002 Total Square Feet: 73,816 Site Acreage: 37 % in Flood Plain: 20% The roof top heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems were 11 years old and have a total life expectancy of 12 to 15 years. These units were generally in poor condition and were dirty inside. Hail had damaged most of the condenser coils on the rooftop equipment, which caused poor heat transfer and lower efficiency. Poor temperature control in classrooms was a common complaint. The poor temperature control was due to the design of the HVAC system and current controls. A single zone thermostat typically controlled the temperature in multiple classrooms on different floors of the building. The zone thermostats for most second floor classrooms were located in a classroom on the ground floor which tended to overheat the second floor classrooms in the cooling seasons. All thermostats were locally controlled 7-day programmable units. The time and day were incorrect on many thermostats and the scheduling function was not used. Many thermostats were in the HOLD mode which bypassed any energy conservation programming that may be present. Fan controls were set to the AUTO mode which reduced the amount of outside air that should be provided to the classrooms and caused poor indoor air quality. The scheduling function on the thermostats was not utilized to place the facility in unoccupied mode during holidays or snow days. The exterior lights were on during daylight hours. Excessive litter and trash were prevalent around the facility, playground, and football field. The playground basketball hoops had been broken off. A number of landscaping issues around the facility needed to be addressed. The Team observed community members placing personal trash bags into the school's dumpster. The security gates were not secured in the open position and were swinging freely in the wind. Vehicles were parking in lawn areas and other areas not intended for vehicle traffic, consequently, causing ruts and bare places in the lawn. Storage rooms throughout the facility were cluttered. A storage space on the second floor served both as a storage area and special education play area. Return grilles for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) units had an excessive build-up of dust that restricted air flow to the HVAC units. The Mechanical Rooms needed to be cleaned. Piping repairs in the Boiler Room had not been reinsulated. The backflow preventer and domestic hot water mixing valve showed evidence of long term water leakage. Items listed on the Annual West Virginia School Building Authority (SBA) Facility Review checklist were not being addressed; many of the findings were repeated findings from previous SBA reviews. Numerous cracks in the brick walls needed to be repaired to prevent water infiltration into the building. This site had significant energy savings potential that should be explored. School Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - The site was not stable, well drained, and free from erosion. - The site did not have sufficient solid surface parking for staff and visitors and individuals with disabilities. - The music area was not located away from quiet areas of the building and lacked adequate materials and equipment specified. - A teachers' dining area was not provided. - Science facilities were not located with easy access to outdoor activities or isolated to keep odors from the remainder of the building. - An auditorium facility did not exist. - The Art Room lacked some of the equipment specified. Burch Elementary School (Grades PK - 4) Year of Construction: Total Square Feet: Site Acreage: % in Flood Plain: The Burch Elementary School site is scheduled to be closed and consolidated into the existing Burch Middle School if funding can be secured for a classroom addition. Major issues with the current site included: Location, mechanical equipment, and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility. The facility is located adjacent to a road that heavy equipment frequently uses. This traffic created loud sounds and potential hazards for the site. The mechanical equipment used for the heating and cooling did not provide adequate outside air ventilation, resulting in poor air quality. Window air conditioners and other heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment created excessive noise levels in the spaces. The site was not handicapped accessible and would require extensive modification to meet ADA accessibility guidelines. Lighting levels in most classrooms were low due to an excessive number of lamp failures. Open wall penetrations in the plumbing of the student rest rooms needed to be sealed. The boys' rest room toilets did not have privacy partitions or stall doors. Student rest rooms did not have exhaust fans. The server rack in Room 123 created excessive noise levels and with the noise levels of the window air conditioner and additional portable air conditioner, noise levels greatly exceeded acceptable values. General carpet conditions were poor in most spaces. Several classrooms had stained or moldy ceiling tiles. A rear exterior door for the custodian space was not secure which allowed unrestricted access to the facility. Energy conservation measures, such as, reducing the night temperature set points for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment over night or during holidays and snow days were not practiced at this site. This site had significant energy savings potential that should be explored. Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - The site was not large enough for future expansion. - The site was not well drained. - The site was not removed from hazards and undesirable noise and traffic. - The site was not suitable for special instruction needs. - Kindergarten areas were not adequate for 50 ft 2 /student. - The site was not well landscaped. Sidewalks were not adequate with curb cuts and correct slopes. - The music area was not located away from quiet areas of the building. The Music Room did not have adequate storage and lacked adequate materials and equipment. - The physical education space did not have provisions for two teaching stations or a data projector/50" screen monitor. - The food service area lacked some of the equipment specified. - The health services area lacked some of the equipment specified. - The Art Room lacked most of the equipment specified. Dingess Elementary School (Grades PK-4) Year of Construction: 1980, 1982 Total Square Feet: 35,400 Site Acreage: 3 % in Flood Plain: 0% Dingess Elementary School had several major issues: Poor indoor air quality, antiquated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and high energy consumption. The HVAC units at this site brought in little to no outside air due to design or failed components that caused elevated carbon dioxide levels and poor indoor air quality. The majority of the HVAC units were well past their life expectancy, which required more frequent repairs and used excessive energy. Mercury bulb thermostats were used to control some of the equipment, which has the potential, if broken, to cause a hazardous materials cleanup effort at a very expensive cost. Most HVAC controls at the school were basic residential style thermostats that did not have energy conservation functions that allowed for night time set back of temperatures or scheduling of holidays or snow days. Dingess Elementary School was Mingo County School District's least energy efficient school facility due to many factors that included: Age and type of the HVAC equipment, residential HVAC controls, lighting, and general operation of the facility. This site has significant energy savings potential that needed to be explored. Carpeting in the facility was old and needed to be replaced. The thermostat controlling the heat in the boys' rest room near Room 102 did not function correctly and overheated the space. The thermostat in Room 101 was hanging loose and was crooked. Breakers were missing from Electrical Panel H in the Janitor's Room and safety blanks had not been installed. The ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) breakers serving the water fountains had been painted over and did not function. This site did not meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements for handicapped accessibility. Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - The site did not have five usable acres. - The site was not large enough for future expansion. - The site was not easily accessible and conveniently located. - The site was not well landscaped. - Sidewalks were not adequate with curb cuts and correct slopes. Gilbert Elementary School (Grades PK-4) Year of Construction: 1956, 1961, 2004 Total Square Feet: 52,045 Site Acreage: 3 % in Flood Plain: 100% Gilbert Elementary School had several heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) related issues. Poor indoor air quality was the first issue. The HVAC units were improperly operated by staff using the local room controls. The fans on the units were set run in an AUTO mode while students were present or the systems were turned off. Either condition causes poor indoor air quality. The next issue was antiquated HVAC systems and high energy consumption. The majority of the HVAC units were well past their life expectancy, which required more frequent repairs and used excessive energy. Most HVAC controls at the school did not have energy conservation functions that allowed for night time set back of temperatures or scheduling of holidays or snow days. Other HVAC issues included: Missing exhaust fan in the Electrical Room by the cafeteria, inoperable exhaust fans in the rest rooms, the HVAC unit in Room A201 was excessively noisy, and the heat recovery unit for the Kindergarten classrooms was not operated when the classrooms were occupied. Due to the age and type of the HVAC equipment, HVAC controls, lighting, and general operation of the facility, this site has significant energy savings potential that needed to be explored. Significant masonry issues existed due to a lack of maintenance. The old chimney flue was badly cracked and needed to be repaired or removed before further degradation occurs. Many of the capstones were loose and out of place along with many areas where the mortar was missing or cracked in the brick. Paint was peeling badly on the exterior block walls near the roof hatch. All these issues will lead to more expensive repairs due to water infiltration if they are not addressed promptly. The Electrical and Mechanical Room doors were not locked. These hazardous areas needed to be secured at all times. The electrical panels in the Electrical Room near the cafeteria were blocked. The soap dispenser for the second floor rest room had been knocked of the wall. The site did not meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility requirements. Room A114 had stained ceiling tiles. Several roof drains were clogged with leaves and other debris. A flood prevention plan needed to be developed and implemented since the site has been flooded several times in recent years. The latest flood caused the school to be out of operation for several months due extensive damage to the electrical and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Measures to reduce the flooding potential of the Electrical Room needed to be investigated to prevent future long term closures. Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - The site did not have five usable acres. - The site was not large enough for future expansion. - The site was not removed from hazards and undesirable noise and traffic. - Sidewalks were not adequate with curb cuts and correct slopes. - The site was not suitable for special instruction needs. - The site did not have sufficient solid surface parking for staff and visitors and individuals with disabilities. - The Media Center lacked some equipment specified. - The music area was not located away from quiet areas of the building and did not have acoustical treatment. - The Art Room lacked some of the equipment specified. - The physical education space did not have a data projector/50" screen monitor. - The food service area lacked some of the equipment specified. - A teachers' dining area was not provided. - The health services area lacked some of the equipment specified. Riverside Elementary School (Grades PK-4) Year of Construction: 1992, 2013 Total Square Feet: 60,226 Site Acreage: 4.5 % in Flood Plain: 0% Riverside Elementary School had several heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) related issues. The majority of the HVAC units in the unrenovated section were well past their life expectancy, thus, requiring more frequent repairs and using excessive energy. Units were not well maintained and were very dirty internally. The outside air dampers on most units were inoperable and stuck in a closed or open position causing either poor indoor air quality or excessive energy consumption. Most classrooms in the old section had elevated carbon dioxide levels due to improper operation of the room thermostats by school staff or failed equipment. Most HVAC controls at the school were basic programmable thermostats that had energy conservation functions, but were not utilized for night time set back of temperatures or scheduling of holidays or snow days. The original zone controls used to schedule and control the heat pumps had been abandoned. The emergency shutdown controls that protect the heat pumps during abnormal operating conditions had also been disconnected. This site had significant energy savings potential that should be explored. Several punch list items from the recent construction project had not been completed, such as, reseeding the playground area, repair of outside lighting fixtures, and other details. Mechanical and Electrical Rooms must be secured at all times due to potential hazards. Landscaping issues, such as, standing water and mulch needed to be addressed. The custodian staff needed to apply additional effort and detailing to routine cleaning of the rest rooms. Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - The site did not have five usable acres. - The site was not removed from hazards and undesirable noise and traffic. - The site was not large enough for future expansion. - An art facility was not provided. - The Music Room lacked some of the materials and equipment specified. - The Media Center lacked some of the equipment specified. - A teachers' dining area was not provided. Matewan Elementary School (Grades PK- 4) Year of Construction: 1994, 2013 Total Square Feet: 61,230 Site Acreage: 5.7 % in Flood Plain: 0% Matewan Elementary School had several heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) related issues. The majority of the HVAC units were well past their life expectancy and required more frequent repairs and used excessive energy. Units were not well maintained and were very dirty internally. The outside air dampers on most units were inoperable and stuck in a closed or open position, causing either poor indoor air quality or excessive energy consumption. Carbon dioxide levels were elevated in most classrooms due to improper operation of the room thermostats by school staff or due to failed equipment. Mercury bulb thermostats were used to control the equipment and have the potential, if broken, to cause a hazardous materials cleanup effort at a very expensive cost. The original zone controls used to schedule and control the heat pumps had been abandoned. The emergency shutdown controls that protect the heat pumps during abnormal operating conditions had also been disconnected. Most HVAC controls at the school were basic non-programmable thermostats that did not have energy conservation functions that allowed night time set back of temperatures or scheduling of holidays or snow days. This site had significant energy savings potential that should be explored. Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - The site did not have five usable acres. - The site was not easily accessible and conveniently located. - Sidewalks were not adequate with curb cuts and correct slopes. - The site was not large enough for future expansion. - The site did not have sufficient solid surface parking for staff and visitors and individuals with disabilities. - The Media Center lacked some equipment specified. - The music area did not have adequate storage and lacked adequate materials and equipment. - The physical education space did not have a data projector/50" screen monitor. - The food service area lacked some of the equipment specified and was not convenient to a service drive for deliveries or waste removal. - The health services area lacked some of the equipment specified. Kermit K-8 School (Grades PK- 8) Year of Construction: 1998 Total Square Feet: 35,200 Site Acreage: 10 % in Flood Plain: 0% Kermit K- 8 School had several heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) related issues. Poor indoor air quality was one of the primary issues. School staff routinely turned off the classroom units using the breakers or fan speed adjustment knob located below an access panel on the units. Once the HVAC unit is turned off ventilation to classroom stops and the indoor air quality quickly degrades. Lethal high voltage electrical components were also located in this same space. Previous memoranda from the Mingo County Superintendent of Schools prohibiting access to these spaces by unauthorized personnel were being ignored. Access by unauthorized personnel into the HVAC units is potentially hazardous and very detrimental to the learning environment. The HVAC units were near the end of their life expectancy with more frequent repairs being needed. The HVAC units in the portable classrooms did not provide an adequate volume of outside air and improper operation of the units caused high humidity levels and mold issues over the summer. The dry fire sprinkler piping has become a very expensive maintenance issue. The original piping was installed using very thin pipe and over the years the piping has developed pin holes in many areas that require repairs. The leaks were becoming very frequent and the sprinkler company just patches the bad spots. A complete replacement of the sprinkler system would save on the numerous service calls and potential large water leaks that may occur. The parking area had several pot holes and areas of ponding water. Vehicles parking off the hard surfaces were creating ruts and bare areas on the grounds. Vehicles were also parking in areas marked as no parking zones. Improper storage of materials and equipment in the Electrical Room obstructed access to the fire pumps and electrical distribution system. The lighting levels in the stalls of the student rest rooms were very low due to the design of the room. The bright work (polished chrome finishes) on the rest room fixtures had been ruined by the use of improper cleaning solutions. This site did not meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines for accessibility. Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - The site was not removed from hazards and undesirable noise and traffic. The site was not well drained. - The counselor's office did not have adequate space or privacy. - Sidewalks were not adequate with curb cuts and correct slopes. - The site was not well landscaped. - The Media Center lacked some equipment specified. - The music facility area was not adequate. The music area was not located away from quiet areas of the building and did not have acoustical treatment. The Music Room did not have adequate storage and lacked adequate materials and equipment. - The physical education space did not have provisions for two teaching stations, Internet access, or a data projector/50" screen monitor. - The Art Room was not adequate in size and lacked adequate storage and some of the equipment specified. - The health services area was not adequate in size and lacked some of the equipment specified. - An auditorium facility was not available at this site. - Classrooms were not adequate in size for the number of students present and did not have adequate storage. Williamson Middle School (Grades 5 - 8) The Williamson Middle School site closed at the end of the 2012-2013 school year. Matewan Middle School (Grades 5 - 8) The Matewan Middle School site closed at the end of the 2012-2013 school year. Burch Middle School (Grades 5 - 8) Year of Construction: 1987 Total Square Feet: 59,542 Site Acreage: 6 % in Flood Plain: 0% Burch Middle School previously served as the Burch High School site. Mechanical issues related to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and controls were major issues at this site. All HVAC units were past their life expectancy and were in poor condition. These systems did not provide adequate outside air ventilation, resulting in poor indoor air quality. Mercury bulb thermostats were used to control some of the equipment, which has the potential, if broken, to cause a hazardous materials cleanup effort at a very expensive cost. The HVAC controls for this facility did not have energy conservation functions that allowed night time set back of temperatures or scheduling of holidays or snow days. Many of the ceiling tiles in this facility had been painted by students over the years. While the art work is decorative, the acoustic and light reflective properties of the tiles have been compromised. This practice should be halted and the affected ceiling tiles replaced. The rest rooms exhibited poor cleaning practices by custodian staff; additional effort and attention needed to be applied. An excessive degree of trash existed around the facility, especially around the dumpsters. Room numbers on many classrooms were covered or missing. All room numbers needed to be displayed and clearly visible at all times. The site was not handicapped accessible and would require extensive modification to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines for accessibility. This site had significant energy savings potential that should be explored. Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - The site was not well drained. - The site was not well landscaped. - The music area was not located away from quiet areas of the building and did not have acoustical treatment. - Sidewalks were not adequate with curb cuts and correct slopes. - The physical education space did not have a drinking fountain or a data projector/50" screen monitor. - The food service area lacked some of the equipment specified. - The Art Room was not adequate in size and lacked mechanical ventilation and a ceramic kiln. - The health services area lacked some of the equipment specified. Room 124 was located adjacent to the Band Room which produces disruptive noises. Gilbert Middle School (Grades 5 - 8) Year of Construction: 1982, 1988, 1989, 1995, 2002 Total Square Feet: 62,490 Site Acreage: 16 % in Flood Plain: 100% Gilbert Middle School previously served as the Gilbert High School site. Mechanical issues related to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and controls constituted major issues. All but a few HVAC units were past their life expectancy and were in poor condition, dirty, and needed maintenance. There were no controls on the hydronic hot water loop. Temperature control for the areas served by the hot water loop was performed manually by cycling the boilers and/or supply fans on or off as needed in the specific zones. The HVAC systems did not provide adequate outside air ventilation and caused poor indoor air quality. The outside air unit serving the 2002 addition classrooms was not controlled to operate during the occupied mode with the classroom units. Mercury bulb thermostats were used to control some of the equipment and have the potential, if broken, to cause a hazardous materials cleanup effort at a very expensive cost. The HVAC controls for this facility did not have energy conservation functions that allowed night time set back of temperatures or scheduling of holidays or snow days. Exhaust fans for the rest rooms were inoperable. The thermostat in the computer laboratory was installed in a poor location to properly control the room temperature. General aesthetics of the facility were below average. Walls needed to be cleaned and/or painted. Additional detail to cleaning areas, such as, rest rooms, hallways, and classrooms was needed. The condition of the rest room equipment and spaces needed to be improved. The carpeting in the computer laboratory was badly worn and well past due for replacement. The ceiling tiles in the Band Room were badly warped due to past exposure to high humidity levels. The Boiler Room was in very poor condition due to long exposure to moisture and neglect. Poor landscaping issues needed to be addressed. The roof area was littered with trash, debris, and old HVAC parts and water was pooling on roof areas due to clogged roof drains or missing drain covers. A flood prevention plan must be developed and implemented since the gymnasium has been flooded several times in recent years. This site has significant energy savings potential that should be explored. This site did not meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines for accessibility. Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - Sidewalks were not adequate with curb cuts and correct slopes. - The science facilities were not located with easy access to outdoor activities or isolated to keep odors from the remainder of the facility and lacked some of the equipment specified. - The food service area lacked some of the equipment specified. - The health services area lacked a curtained or a small room with cots. Tug Valley High School (Grades 9 - 12) Year of Construction: 1987, 1993, 1995 Total Square Feet: 66,418 Site Acreage: 15 % in Flood Plain: 0% Mechanical issues related to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and controls were major issues at this site. All HVAC units were past their expected life and were in poor condition. These systems did not provide adequate outside air ventilation, thus, causing poor indoor air quality. Mercury bulb thermostats were used to control some of the equipment and have the potential, if broken, to cause a hazardous materials cleanup effort at a very expensive cost. The HVAC controls for this facility did not have energy conservation functions that allowed for night time set back of temperatures or scheduling of holidays or snow days. This site had significant energy savings potential that should be explored. The outside aesthetics of the site needed to be addressed. Issues, such as, rusting handrails, peeling paint on benches, and improperly maintained fence lines created a poor exterior appearance. The emergency shut off valves for the natural gas supply to science rooms were not located within the classroom or easily accessible. The second floor teachers' lounge had excessive build-up of dust on the ceiling tiles around the supply diffuser and on the return grille. The fire rating of the Technology closet door on the second floor had been lost due to the open hole where a lock had been removed. The boys' locker room storage door had been damaged and needed to be repaired or replaced. Cars were parked in a clearly marked no parking zone outside the kitchen area and other areas of the site. Stained ceiling tiles were prevalent throughout the facility. The HVAC unit serving the Computer Laboratory in Room 211 did not have outside air capability. The site was not handicapped accessible and would require extensive modification to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines for accessibility. Facilities Resource Needs Evaluation Checklist - The topography was not varied enough to provide a desirable appearance and had steep inclines. - The site did not have stable well drained soil free from erosion. - The teachers' work area was not adequate. - Sidewalks were not adequate with curb cuts and correct slopes. - The Media Center lacked some of the equipment specified. - The physical education facility lacked some of the equipment specified. - The Art Room lacked some of the equipment specified. - The science facilities did not have laboratory workspaces of 2.5 linear ft./student with sinks, water, gas, and electricity. - The auditorium facility lacked some of the equipment specified. - The health services area lacked some of the equipment specified. - A teachers' dining area was not provided. Mingo Central Comprehensive High School (Grades 9 - 12) Year of Construction: 2011 Total Square Feet: 172,535 Site Acreage: 90 % in Flood Plain: 0% Mingo Central Comprehensive High School has been open since 2011. Some items had not been resolved from the final construction punch list. The site experiences elevated humidity levels during the summer months due to calibration issues on the outside air flow stations on most of the roof top units. The air flow stations do not report correct outside air flow readings to the building automation system and caused the units to deliver excessive volumes of outside air into the spaces, thus, causing elevated humidity levels and excessive energy consumption. Materials, parts, and equipment from the vocational shops were stored on the parking lot and created a safety hazard and poor appearance. The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) shop did not have an adequate electrical source or venting to provide instruction on commercial equipment. Even though this site if new, it had significant energy savings potential that should be explored. School Facilities Evaluation Checklist Issues - The career technical section did not offer co-op or agricultural education courses; however, these courses are offered at Tug Valley High School and students may commute there if desired. Global Maintenance Issues Globally, school personnel needed to put forth more effort and emphasis on the aesthetics and cleanliness of their facilities and school sites. Trash, litter, improperly stored materials and equipment, poorly maintained fence lines, and ruts and bare lawns caused by vehicular traffic were among the issues that gave both school and nonschool facilities operated by Mingo County School District a poor exterior appearance. It should be the goal of all Mingo County School District staff members to make each of the sites a pristine example of good facility care and maintenance in each community. The interior spaces of many of the older facilities lacked the detailed cleaning that needed to occur annually or semi-annually. The floors and hallways were clean, but only to the extent that a mop or scrubber could reach. Corners, edges, grout lines, and other areas that require additional effort to clean were not regularly cleaned, leaving the facility with a dirty and dingy appearance. Mingo County School District should take full advantage of any training workshops that the custodian vendors provide to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their custodian staff. School administrators must enforce parking rules to keep vehicles from traveling or parking off the hard surfaces provided for this purpose. Most schools had more than adequate parking areas that would not necessitate parking on the lawns. The grounds keeping staff needed to keep the fence lines around the schools and ball fields free of vegetation and other debris. Trimming and maintenance of shrubs, bushes, and weeds also needed to be provided by the grounds keeping staff on a regular basis to keep up the exterior appearance of the schools. The Team observed community residents driving up to school dumpsters and depositing personal trash into the units. This practice must be stopped, since it is illegal and significantly adds to the cost of the waste management. 7.5. ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICES AND SCHOOL-COMMUNITY RELATIONS. 7.5.1. Parents and the community are provided information. Staff members provide parents and the community with understandable information and techniques for helping students learn. Findings Mingo County School District used numerous methods of providing information to parents and the community. 1. An up-to-date Mingo County Board of Education website and school websites contained information concerning the school calendars, policies that directly affect students and parents, course information, etc. 2. The WARN System used telephone messaging to provide parents and others information concerning emergency situations, such as, school closings, school meetings, and other information. 3. Teachers regularly communicate with parents by sending notes to parents concerning what is happening with their children at school. 4. Schools have Facebook pages that contain school information that parents and others can access by "liking" the page. 5. An abundant number of parent workshops had been provided (160 workshops) had been conducted through March 20, 2013. 6. The Edline System allowed teachers and parents to communicate directly concerning their children. 7. Mingo County School District has an active parent involvement component. The Team interviewed the County Parent Involvement Coordinator which revealed an array of communications, workshops, and other events that reach out to the parents and community. Each Title 1 school has a parent assistant that works 20 hours per week coordinating and publicizing workshops. Non-Title 1 schools have parent assistants who are paid through other federal funds. 8. Workshops were held at the schools on timely topics that included: Internet Safety, How to Work with Your Child, USE (Understanding Special Education), Everybody Counts (Disability Awareness), and Roadmap to the Future (for 8 th graders with IEPs and their parents). 9. School events were communicated to parents through the countywide telephone communication system, school and classroom newsletters, media releases, social media, and word-of-mouth. The County Parent Involvement Coordinator indicated that parent participation tended to be greatest at the beginning and end of the year, with fewer participants during the middle of the year. The Team examined the participation logs for each of the workshops and the parent involvement coordinator pointed out that over 200 workshops had been offered during the 2011-2012 school year. 10. The County Parent Involvement Coordinator provided the Mingo County Parent Educator Resource Directory, which is a complete listing of agencies and phone numbers for entities, such as, county service agencies that included: Adult/Child Abuse Hotline, Mingo Family Resource Network, Ambulance numbers for the various communities, Counseling and Mental Health organizations, Crisis Intervention, Day Care Facilities, and many more agencies available to help parents and community members. 11. Mingo County School District collaborated with other community agencies to provide the following events for parents and community members: 5-K runs in collaboration with Mingo County Diabetes Coalition, a Community Health fair, Head Start Transition, and the Smiles program for dental health. 12. Mingo County School District has a partnership with Glenville State College, Hidden Promise Scholars, which is designed to encourage students to attend college. The program focuses on students in Grades 8 through 12 who may not otherwise have considered going to college. Low to moderate income students are identified for participation and these students receive a college-enrolled mentor who helps them prepare for college. Hidden Promise Scholars attend free summer camps geared toward career exploration, ACT preparation, and college transition. Students receive a family pass and a student ID to access the Glenville State College campus. 7.5.2. Codes of conduct. The county and schools implement, investigate, and monitor the code of conduct for students and the code of conduct for employees. (W.Va. Code §18-2E-5; Policy 4373; Policy 5902) Findings The Team interviewed the director of student services and the assistant superintendent and reviewed records and policies on the Student Code of Conduct and the Employee Code of Conduct and found the policies were consistent with West Virginia Board of Education policy. The school system had effective procedures to deal with violations of the codes of conduct and implemented the procedures as needed. Principals and teachers were trained annually on the codes of conduct policies and procedures. All employees received and signed a copy of the Employee Code of Conduct and any part not understood was explained to them. Computer records showed student discipline violations increased from 2,795 during the school year 2009-2010 to 4,275 to date during the school year 2012-2013. Skipping school was the most frequent student violation. Schools were implementing several programs to help with student discipline which included: The Responsible Student Program, In-school suspension program, counseling services in all schools, and Positive Behavior Support in six schools. The county used the Early Warning Report from the student section of the WVEIS computer program to identify and flag students at risk of dropping out of school and provided support to keep them in school. Mingo County Central Office files contained copies of the Student and Employee Codes of Conduct. Documentation for the Employee Code of Contact was contained in the individual employee folders in the personnel office. Mingo County Policy 5500 included the Student Code of Conduct and followed West Virginia Board of Education Policy 4373. 7.5.3. Statewide assessment. Test security measures are in place for the WESTEST. All students in the school participate in the statewide assessment program that includes state content assessments on the WESTEST or West Virginia Alternate Performance Task Assessment (APTA) at grades 3-8 and 10 and the Writing Assessment at grades 4, 7, and 10. Students with disabilities who have an IEP or a Section 504 Plan may be assessed on the state content assessments under one of the following conditions: standard conditions, standard conditions with accommodations, or non-standard conditions with modifications. Students unable to participate in the standardized assessment under these conditions and who meet the alternate assessment criteria will participate in the West Virginia Alternate Performance Task Assessment (APTA). Education Performance Audit teams will verify the eligibility of any student tested under standard conditions, standard conditions with accommodations, alternate assessment, or medical emergency student exemptions. Students who are continuously enrolled in the public school from the fifth instructional day of school to the spring assessment administration will be considered in the accountability system. (Policy 2340; Policy 2419; Policy 2510) Findings 1. The Team interviewed the county test coordinator and reviewed the security procedures for the statewide assessment materials and found the tests were secured according to the requirements of West Virginia Board of Education Policy 2340. 2. All tests in the WV-MAP program were administered and the results were communicated to parents and used to improve student achievement. 3. The West Virginia Security Procedures Agreement had been signed by the testing coordinator, principals, and all persons who administer the tests. 4. All persons involved with the administration of the tests had been trained. 5. All students who participated in the Alternate Performance Task Assessment (APTA) met the criteria for this testing. 6. The testing program was well organized and administered in accordance with all appropriate policies and procedures. 7. Central Office staff indicated that test security measures were in place at every school and teachers had been trained in proper test administration procedures. The participation rate for the Mingo County School District during the 2011-2012 school year was 98.8 percent in mathematics and 99.0 percent in reading/language arts. 7.5.4. Physical Assessment. The school participates in the appropriate statewide physical assessment program. Findings 1. The Team reviewed information that showed students in all schools that included Grades 4 through 9 had been administered the Fitnessgram and the results were recorded on West Virginia Education Information System (WVEIS). 2. The Team learned through interviews with central office staff that physical education in the elementary schools did not occur daily in most cases. Schedules varied from school to school. Some elementary schools elected to have a physical education teacher, while others opted for an art or music teacher, and in those cases, each teacher taught his/her own physical education class. 7.6. PERSONNEL. 7.6.1. Hiring. County boards follow hiring practices set forth in W.Va. Code. (W.Va. Code §§18A-4-7a, 18A-4-8, and 18-2E-3a) The Team reviewed 31 randomly selected postings for professional, service, and extracurricular positions, including coaches. The Team interviewed the Human Resources Director (HRD) to discuss the county's hiring practices. Findings 1. Postings were placed on the county and State websites and posted in the county office and at all work sites (delivered via e-mail). Postings were also available on the county office phone system and were sent to the local newspapers and board members. 2. Postings for classroom teacher positions listed the location, position, and required certification. Certification requirements were not listed on the postings for coaches or other extracurricular positions. However, in postings the Team reviewed for coaching vacancies, all applicants held a professional license or were eligible for renewal of a coaching authorization. It was found, where applicants for coaching position included applicants with professional certification and applicants with coaching authorization (citizen coaches), that preference in hiring was given to the individual with professional certification. 3. With the exception of postings for a Wellness Coach and Sign Language Specialist, job descriptions were not included with the postings; however, the job posting stated that job descriptions are available in the personnel office upon request. 4. Several job descriptions were outdated; however, the county was updating all job descriptions. The Team reviewed several updated job descriptions. The Human Resources Director stated that the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) coordinator will place job descriptions on the county website. 5. Postings for service personnel positions listed the location, position, the starting and ending time of the daily shift for only personnel who work different shifts from others with the same classification title (such as, a multi-classification position of custodian III/watchman), period of employment (for a secretary position), and specific county requirements for aides. Successful passage of the State competency test was not listed as a qualification on service personnel postings or in job descriptions; however, postings of an aide stated, "Must be highly qualified." 6. Temporary positions had been posted as per W.Va. Code §18A-4-15 for positions of service personnel left vacant due to an employee being on workers' compensation or an approved leave of absence for more than 30 days. 7. Special education vacancies filled with long-term substitute teachers were being continuously posted. 8. Some positions filled with long-term substitute teachers had not been posted within the required 20 working days period according to the requirements of W.Va. Code §18A-4-7a(o)(B) for reasons, such as, "teacher placed in classroom with one student over the pupil-teacher ratio limit. In this situation, if one student leaves, the additional teacher will no longer be needed." Therefore, a substitute teacher is used in this assignment. Additionally, the county does not post vacant positions after it begins the process for determining personnel needs for the upcoming school year. This is usually late December. 9. Job applications are retained in the posting file folder. For professional personnel, when a regularly employed individual applies for a classroom teacher position, the second set of factors found in W.Va. Code §18A-4-7a is used by the Human Resources Director to determine the most qualified applicant. There has been one posting, per the director, where the most senior applicant was not recommended; however, a letter of the reason was not requested from the most senior applicant. When applicants are new or regularly employed applicants do not meet the standards of the posting, the names and telephone numbers of the applicants are forwarded to the appropriate principal who is responsible for interviewing applicants and selecting the most qualified applicant. Recommendations are in turn sent to the Human Resources Director. An interview with the principal of Tug Valley High School indicated that he was knowledgeable of and implemented the hiring process as required in W.Va. Code §18A-4-7a. It is noted, within 90 days of Senate Bill 539 going into law, a new hiring process will be implemented for professional personnel and this will no longer be a relevant finding. 10. The county has employed 20 teachers on permits and seven on out-of-field authorizations. The out-of-field authorizations were approved by the West Virginia Board of Education as required by West Virginia Board of Education Policy 5202. 11. The county had 26 substitute teachers employed in long-term assignments. Certification waivers from the West Virginia Department of Education had been requested for 14 teachers. 12. In compliance with W.Va. Code §18-4-7a(l), one professional person was transferred after 20 days prior to the beginning of the instructional program due to the person holding the position not having a valid certificate. 13. The county contracts with individuals when services are considered to be on an "as needed basis." Contract services postings reviewed included: LPNs, reading interventionists, parent assistants, and academic coaches. 14. The county participates in the Transition to Teaching program (TTP). Several employees were "transition to teaching" teachers; however, only one employee was currently working toward completion of the program. Upon entering the TTP, teachers in the program are determined to be "highly qualified." Recommendations 1. The Team recommended that Mingo County School District include on the notice of all job vacancies for service personnel, the employment term, starting and ending time of the daily shift, the amount of pay and any benefits (W.Va. Code §18A-4-8b(g)(2). The amount of pay could be a range of pay (based upon years of experience) for the specific classification title. 2. The Team recommended, where required, that Mingo County include on the posting and in the job description, "Successful passage of the State Competency Test for the classification of the posted position." All service personnel classification titles do not have State Competency Tests, such as, truck driver. 3. The Team recommended that Mingo County School District place all updated job descriptions currently on file on the county's website or include or attach to the job description to the job posting. If the job description is outdated, the county will need to revise and update the job description prior to the posting the vacant position. 4. The Team recommended that Mingo County School District list certification requirements for coaches and for other extracurricular positions on the posting. 5. The Team recommended that Mingo County School District comply with W.Va. Code §18A-4-7a(o)(B) in posting vacant positions timely. The Team further recommended that the county confer with the West Virginia Department of Education's legal counsel regarding language to place on the posting when a position is posted after the deadline for notifying employees when there is a possibility of a reduction in force for the subsequent school term. 7.6.2. Licensure. Professional educators and other professional employees required to be licensed under West Virginia Board of Education policy are licensed for their assignments including employees engaged in extracurricular activities. (W.Va. Code §18A-3-2; Policy 5202) The Team found only one licensure issue with W.Va. Code §18A-3-2 and West Virginia Board of Education Policy 5202. Burch Elementary School – One educator. The Team also examined educators authorized to teach by West Virginia Code and State Board policy, but did not meet the highly qualified federal definition and educators credentialed to teach based upon permits. This information may relate to other issues in this report affecting student achievement. During the review of educators to determine if teachers were properly credentialed for their assignments, the Team reported that the following schools had teachers who held the appropriate credentials to teach, but did not meet the definition for highly qualified. Burch Middle School – Two educators. Burch Elementary School – Two educators. Dingess Elementary School – Three educators. Lenore K-8 School – Two educators. Matewan Elementary School – Two educators. Matewan Middle School – Three educators. Mingo Central Comprehensive High School – Eight educators. Tug Valley High School – One educator. Williamson Middle School – Three educators. The Team also identified educators teaching with permits. Burch Elementary School – Two educators. Dingess Elementary School – Three educators. Gilbert Elementary School – One educator. Kermit K-8 School – Two educators. Lenore K-8 School – Three educators. Matewan Elementary School – One educator. Matewan Middle School – One educator. Mingo Central Comprehensive High School – Six educators. Tug Valley High School – Three educators. Williamson Middle School – Two educators. 7.6.3. Evaluation. The county board adopts and implements an evaluation policy for professional and service personnel that is in accordance with W.Va. Code, West Virginia Board of Education policy, and county policy. (W.Va. Code §18A-2-12; Policy 5310; Policy 5314) The Team reviewed new teacher hire logs for 2010-2012, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013, to determine the 0-3 years' experience for required observations/evaluations, compiled an alphabetical listing of personnel, and matched the list with current personnel files. The Team also reviewed personnel evaluations for professional personnel with 4-5 years' experience, other professional personnel, support personnel, service personnel, coaches, etc., to determine that the evaluation process was conducted according to W.Va. Code §18A-2-12, West Virginia Board of Education Policy 5310, and county policy. A random review of professional evaluations disclosed the following. The Team reviewed the evaluation files of a 25 teacher sample that represented teachers from all the schools with the following results. 1. Twenty-four of the 25 teacher evaluations reviewed met all requirements of West Virginia Board of Education Policy 5310 and Mingo County Board of Education Evaluation Policy 3220. 2. One teacher did not have an evaluation during the 2011-2012 school year. A random review of support personnel evaluations disclosed the following. The Team reviewed the evaluations of nine members of the professional support personnel and found all evaluations reviewed met all requirements of West Virginia Board of Education Policy 5310 and Mingo County Board of Education Evaluation Policy 3220. A random review of coaches' evaluations disclosed the following. The Team reviewed a sampling of 12 coaches' evaluations from all schools with coaches with the following results. 1. Eleven of the 12 coaches' evaluations met all requirements of West Virginia Board of Education Policy 5310 and Mingo County Board of Education Policy 3220.01. 2. One evaluation for an assistant football coach was completed March 12, 2013. This did not meet the West Virginia Board of Education Policy 5310 and Mingo County Board of Education Policy 3220.01 requirement for a coach's evaluation to be completed within four weeks after the end of the sports season. A random review of service personnel evaluations disclosed the following. The Team reviewed the evaluations of 11 school administrators with the following results. 1. Ten of the evaluations met all requirements of West Virginia Board of Education Policy 5310 and Mingo County Board of Education Policy 1530. 2. The evaluation for one administrator was only partially completed as the supervisor of this administrator had a health problem and was not working at the time the evaluation would have been completed. A random review of service personnel evaluations disclosed the following. The Team reviewed 24 service personnel evaluations with some evaluations from all schools and for each of the school personnel job classifications used in Mingo County. The evaluations reviewed consisted of four teacher aides, four secretaries, two mechanics, one payroll supervisor/auditor, four custodians, four cooks, two bus operators, and three maintenance personnel. All evaluations met the requirements of the Mingo County Board of Education Policy 4220. 7.6.4. Teacher and principal internship. The county board develops and implements a beginning teacher internship program and a beginning principal internship program that conform with W.Va. Code and West Virginia Board of Education policies. (W.Va. Code §18A-3-2b and 2d; Policy 5899; Policy 5900) Findings 1. The county works toward following current West Virginia Board of Education policy and school law in implementing the beginning teacher and beginning principal internship programs. The county has 48 teachers and five principals in the internship programs. The elementary curriculum director coordinates the beginning teacher/principal programs. Her foremost responsibility is to ensure that all beginning educators have mentors. The mentors, in turn, are responsible for ensuring implementation of the program, including the orientation program, which is to be conducted prior to the beginning of the instructional term. Documentation was not available to verify that an orientation program was provided. The elementary curriculum director meets with the mentors at the beginning of each school year to review their responsibilities. Mentors are responsible for keeping a mentoring log documenting the number and dates of observations, conferences, and support meetings held. This documentation is forwarded to the elementary curriculum director at the end of the internship program and is filed in her office. The Team reviewed four mentor logs on file, which indicated that out of 27 weeks, 11 to 19 observations and seven to 11 conferences had been held. Out of 10 months, five to nine support team meetings had been held. 2. In addition to the certified mentors, Mingo County provided instructional coaches and administrative coaches to work with school personnel, including beginning teachers. Beginning teachers and principals also participated in county staff development provided to all teachers. 3. It appeared that the State will give counties an opportunity to develop and implement new professional practices to use in implementing the Beginning Teacher and Beginning Principal Internship programs. The elementary curriculum director was responsible for the county's development of its Support for Improving Professional Practice. A template was provided to counties from the West Virginia Department of Education. The county identified a need for a coordinator to oversee, plan, and manage the program for new teachers and principals. The plan also identified responsibilities of the coordinator, which included an orientation for beginning teachers in August, planning staff development, and working as a liaison between the new teachers and the support teams. The plan also identified specific responsibilities of the principal of new teachers. 4. The county plan also identified concerns with the current program, which included the amount of time required in the hiring process of mentors, travel time of a mentor whose mentee works in a different school, quality time to observe new teachers, and no money (for substitutes) to release mentors to work with the new teachers. 5. The Support for Improving Professional Practice was sent to the West Virginia Department of Education March 15, 2013, for approval. 6. Twenty mentors were assigned to the 48 beginning teachers with two mentors assigned five beginning teachers placed at four different schools. Other mentors have as many as three or four beginning teachers. Four mentors are retired with one assigned three beginning teachers. Chart 18 describes the beginning teacher and assigned mentor. Chart 18 \| Beginning \| \| Loc. \| \| Date of Hire \| \| Date \| \| Mentor \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Teacher \| \| \| \| \| \| Mentoring \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Began \| \| \| \| \| BMC \| \| 08-15-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 07-12-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MMS \| \| 03-06-12 RIF List \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 11-01-12 \| \| 11-07-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| WMS \| \| 07-12-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| WMS \| \| 08-15-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MMS \| \| 07-12-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| LK-8 \| \| 08-15-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| GES \| \| 08-15-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| GES \| \| 01-02-13 \| \| 01-22-13 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 03-06-12 RIF List \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 07-12-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 07-01-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| DES \| \| 09-10-12 \| \| 09-10-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 08-15-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 08-15-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 11-07-12 \| \| 11-08-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 08-15-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MCHS \| \| 12-04-12 \| \| 12-04-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MMS \| \| 11-01-12 \| \| 11-01-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| LK-8 \| \| 08-15-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| LK-8 \| \| 07-12-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| LK-8 \| \| 07-01-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| GMS \| \| 07-01-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| \| MMS \| \| 08-15-12 \| \| 08-20-12 \| \| Mentor \| \| \| Educator \| \| MCHS \| 08-15-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Educator \| \| MCHS \| 10-03-12 \| 10-03-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| WMS \| 07-12-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| BES \| 07-12-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| MMS \| 08-15-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| MCHS \| 08-15-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| MCHS \| 08-15-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| MCHS \| 03-06-12 RIF List \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| BES \| 08-15-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| WMS \| 03-06-12 RIF List \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| WMS \| 07-12-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| WMS \| 08-15-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| WMS \| 07-12-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| TVHS \| 03-06-12 RIF List \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| TVHS \| 02-08-13 \| 02-08-13 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| LK-8 \| 08-15-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| RES \| 10-03-12 \| 10-03-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| MES \| 10-03-12 \| 10-03-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| MES \| 09-19-12 \| 09-10-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| BMS \| 02-08-13 \| 02-08-13 \| Mentor \| \| \| Beginning Principal (Assistant) \| \| \| \| \| \| Educator \| \| MCHS \| 01-02-13 \| 01-02-13 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| BMC \| 08-15-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| RES/ WMS \| 08-15-12 \| 08-20-12 \| Mentor \| \| Educator \| \| BES \| 08-15-12 \| 11-07-12 \| Mentor \| Recommendation Once the county's Support for Improving Professional Practice is approved by the West Virginia Board of Education, the county should work for full implementation of the plan. 7.7. SAFE, DRUG FREE, VIOLENCE FREE, AND DISCIPLINED SCHOOLS. 7.7.1. School rules, procedures, and expectations. School rules, procedures, and expectations are written; clearly communicated to students, parents, and staff; and enforced. (Policy 2510; Policy 4373) Finding The Team reported that school rules, procedures, and expectations had been developed and communicated to students, parents, and staff. 7.7.2. Policy implementation. The county and schools implement: a policy governing disciplinary procedures; a policy for grading consistent with student confidentiality; policies governing student due process rights and nondiscrimination; the Student Code of Conduct policy; the Racial, Sexual, Religious/Ethnic Harassment, and Violence policy; an approved policy on tobacco use; an approved policy on substance abuse; and an approved policy on AIDS Education. (W.Va. Code §18A-5-1 and §18-8-8; Policy 2421; Policy 2422.4; Policy 2422.5; Policy 4373; Policy 2515) W.Va. Code §18A-1-12a(17) states, "All official and enforceable personnel policies of a county board must be written and made available to its employees." Findings Mingo County School District's policies complied with all West Virginia Board of Education policy requirements. The policies were current, thorough, and complete. The Team commended the county for the adoption of policies to support West Virginia Board of Education Policy 4373, Expected Behavior in Safe and Supportive Schools, and the thoroughness to which all related county policies have been aligned with the language and intent of this State Board policy. The Team also commended Mingo County for the thoroughness to which their policies have been updated, revised, and developed. The county will need to develop the administrative guidelines and procedures for implementing the policies. 7.8. LEADERSHIP. 7.8.1. Leadership. Leadership at the school district, school, and classroom levels is demonstrated by vision, school culture and instruction, management and environment, community, and professionalism. (Policy 5500.03) W.Va. Code §18A-2-12a (1) provides "The effective and efficient operation of the public schools depends upon the development of harmonious and cooperative relationships between county boards and school personnel." The Office of Education Performance Audits (OEPA) Team interviewed the Mingo County Board of Education members, the superintendent, and county office staff. The Team reviewed agendas, minutes, and transcripts of the Mingo County Board of Education meetings, the Mingo County School District Five-Year Strategic Plan, the Professional Development Plan, and the Curriculum Audit report. The findings are the result of the interviews and document reviews. County Leadership 1. The district office staff exhibited professionalism, collaborative work habits, effective communication skills, and a strong commitment to improving student achievement. The staff was unified in developing all aspects of a strong education system. 2. The district superintendent provided information and updates to the Mingo County Board of Education on the county Five-Year Strategic Plan, curriculum, personnel, finance, West Virginia Board of Education policies, etc., which were relevant to decision-making. 3. Mingo County School District is moving forward with a well-planned and organized curriculum. The district staff instituted programs and initiatives to improve student achievement and improve the graduation rate. Mingo County Board of Education 1. Board members have served for as long as 10 years and the newest member was appointed February 9, 2012, to fulfill the remaining term of a member that had resigned. This appointed member was later elected to office. 2. Board members expressed a desire to assume control of the school system. They identified personnel and finances as areas that they would like additional training. 3. Board members voiced personal goals of improving student performance and preparing students to lead successful lives after graduation. They would especially like to expand career technical programs. 4. Mingo County Board of Education members and district staff were especially pleased that a collaborative with Glenville State College had been established that encourages and supports Grades 8 through 12 students to pursue a college education. General Procedural Technicalities. 1. Mingo County Board of Education minutes were scarcely more than a board agenda and did not include information to inform the public of board meeting business conducted. Furthermore, meetings did not state an end time. While a complete transcript of each meeting was maintained in a separate notebook, minutes should include a brief description of the board items, reports, presentations or discussion, and include an end time. 2. The schools' local school improvement council (LSIC) reports to the board for the 2012-2013 school year had been presented. In each instance, the board minutes included a statement "that pursuant to W.Va. Codes §18-5-14, §18-5A-2, and §185A-3. . . . ." The board met with each LSIC; however, information was not included in the board minutes that verified a quorum of the LSIC membership was present or that the chair or member designee addressed the school's status in meeting the school and county improvement plans. 3. A review of board meeting minutes indicated little recognition of staff and student accomplishments throughout the year. The high attendance record of personnel and the lower student dropout rate indicated high morale. Additionally, the increase in academic programs illustrated a stronger focus on student learning. The board and administrators should establish processes to recognize academic successes. Leadership Development Indicators. 1. A major responsibility of local school boards of education is ensuring that a longterm vision is established for the school system and that the district remains focused on learning and achievement for all students. Mingo County Board members provided sketchy information about the Mingo County Five-Year Strategic Plan. They did not know which member had participated on the planning committee and three members did not recall that the staff had been provided a Power Point presentation about the plan at a Workshop/Special Board Meeting held October 18, 2012. Mingo County's administrative assistant presented comprehensive and clear information regarding all aspects of the county's plan. The county held a workshop for developing the plan and one member of the board attended the planning session and could not remember being a part of the plan's development. Another board member said, "This board has no input into the strategic plan." He further stated that he had no knowledge if the plan was submitted to the board and "it has not been analyzed or discussed in board meetings". The Mingo County Board of Education must closely examine the strategic plans of the county and schools to determine if they, as a board, adequately focus on student performance goals. 2. Board meetings were not productive, organized, or conducted within a reasonable amount of time. Transcripts of the Mingo County Board of Education meetings indicated numerous instances in which members shifted off topic and discussions reverted to former issues. Transcripts showed board members talking over one another, interrupting each other, deviating from the subject, etc. The Mingo County Board of Education should follow the agenda and limit discussions about past issues and conflicts. 3. It was apparent that some board members allowed service personnel, teachers, and community members to come directly to them with concerns. Members did not follow policy and procedures in reporting concerns to the superintendent, rather board members generally expressed instances of dealing with parent and/or employee concerns directly. 4. Board members frequently did not follow law in conduct of board meetings. a. Secret Ballot. A paper ballot was done at the February 9, 2012, Special Board meeting for filling the position of the term of a board member who resigned. During board member interviews, one member described this method as a "secret" ballot. Another member stated, "Nobody knew who voted . . . ." This use of a written vote was recorded in the transcript of board meetings dated and signed March 5, 2012. W.Va. Code §6-9A-8. Acting by reference; written ballots states, "(b) A public agency may not vote by secret or written ballot." b. Official Board Capacity. A board member disseminated a paper in his official capacity at a board of education meeting on March 5, 2013, "Economy of Scale", prior to the levy. This paper was developed from other documents and appeared to politicize the upcoming levy. It specifically stated, "It is unconstitutional to call on parents to pay for textbooks and lab fees for required courses. And art, music, sports, basic educational support services and many extracurricular activities that promote learning, creativity and character are not luxuries; they too are essential features of a sound, basic education." Source listed: newwoodburncommunityschool.org/2011/08/26/willthe-wv-school-building-authority-get-away-with-it/ c. Personnel Employment. During an interview, one board member stated, "They did hire one person I recommended, a bus driver." d. Executive Session. The agenda for the March 21, 2012, Special Meeting, included Presentations and Review Proposed Levy Rates for the Fiscal Year 2012-2013. The meeting recessed until April 17, 2012. The meeting convened April 17, 2012, and the agenda listed one item: Review Proposed Levy Rates for the Fiscal Year 2012-2013. A member moved to go into executive session according to §6-9A-4(A) and (B). The executive session called by the board president was not listed on the agenda. The official transcript of the meeting reported the president stated the following authorization and motion for the executive session: Matters arising from retirement, promotion, demotion, disciplining, resignation, discharge, dismissal, and so forth. And B, For the purpose of conducting a hearing on a complaint, charge, or grievance against a public officer, or employee. So having said that I will ask for a motion to go into executive session to discuss matters pertinent to those – one or more of those issues. The county superintendent had previously dealt with this complaint and explained the procedure to address the complaint and the resolution. The board president requested a board meeting with the employee present to discuss things he, the board member, had been hearing. The meeting was held May 1, 2012, in which the employee was requested to attend an executive session to discuss the incident. The OEPA Team interviewed the employee who stated he thought things had been resolved at a personnel meeting held with the superintendent and assistant superintendent and the employee and the employee's representative. e. Personnel Actions. Board member(s) have been openly vocal about personnel and employment of personnel. According to interviews, a board member's friend went through the application process for a job posting. The county went through personnel procedures and concluded the required background check which disclosed a police record; consequently, the applicant was informed that he/she could not be hired. This board member called the Director of Human Resources and indicated that this person could be hired for the position. Other examples were found in transcripts of board meetings in which this member stated that he received calls about a lost application or misplaced application. The personnel office researched this and reported at the next meeting that the applicant lacked the qualifications in the job posting. The board member also questioned loss of an application for another applicant, which was explained to him. He further stated that people were calling him and crying because of the way they were treated by a specific individual in the personnel office, publically stating the name of the county office staff member. 5. Board members did not exercise boardmanship and leadership as demonstrated by the following actions and behaviors. a. One board member wrote a letter to an office at the West Virginia Department of Education about a particular employee. The member stated, "As a board, if we had power of authority we could address that." This correspondence was not shared with the county superintendent. b. Board members did not participate on the steering committee for renewal of the school levy. Most said, "Dr. Paine told us not to be on the Steering Committee." Meeting transcripts showed that the superintendent invited and encouraged board members to participate on the Steering Committee to voice input. According to meeting transcripts, a board member stated that he could not get information about the manner in which the school excess levy was developed. However, the transcript of minutes indicated that the board was officially requested to participate on the Steering Committee. Board members expressed that they did not approve of some things in the levy call, specifically the ATV safety program and archery class while not providing input into the levy call. c. Open Meeting Law. The July 9, 2013, agenda for a regular meeting of the Board of Education of the County of Mingo listed the following items: I. Roll Call, II. Call to Order. III. Minutes, IV. Discussion of Williamson Middle School and Williamson High School Properties Attorney, Paul Pinson, V. Personnel, VI. Employee and Citizen Input, VII. Board Member Comments, and VIII. Adjournment. During the July 9, 2013, Mingo County Board of Education meeting, the president proposed to hire an attorney to represent the Board. The president called for a vote on this item, and the board voted four to one to hire an attorney to represent the board. This item did not appear in the published agenda prior to the properly and duly noticed Mingo County Board of Education meeting. The Open Governmental Meetings Act prohibits amending an agenda and adding items unless it is reported in the same manner as the agenda was originally posted at least two business days in advance of the meeting. Furthermore, the Mingo County Board of Education does not have legal authority to make personnel decisions pursuant to W.Va. Code §18-2E-5 with respect to the State intervention into all aspects of the local board's authority in the operation of the school system. INDICATORS OF EFFICIENCY 8.1.1. Curriculum. The school district and school conduct an annual curriculum audit regarding student curricular requests and overall school curriculum needs, including distance learning in combination with accessible and available resources. Findings Mingo County Central office staff meets with school principals and instructional coaches to audit the current programs by grade level. They analyzed the following: Purpose of program; frequency of delivery and by whom; required by (West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE), county, school, other); results based on data; alignment with WVBE expectations; and alignment with Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives. The proposed master schedule was then compared with West Virginia Board of Education Policy 2510 and revisions made accordingly. 8.1.2. Transportation. The school district evaluates the cost containment and effectiveness of the transportation system and provides students efficient transportation services consistent with State laws and policies. Findings 1. Mingo County School District transports approximately 4,000 students daily utilizing 55 school buses and nine substitute buses. Although all regular bus runs were made during the second semester of the 2012-2013 school year, six regular bus runs were not made during the first semester of this school year due to a lack of available substitute bus drivers. Finding a sufficient supply of certified drivers has been a problem in the past three years. The school system has made a serious effort to alleviate this issue and is improving. Currently, the system has seven certified substitute bus drivers with two additional substitute drivers in the certification process. This will bring them close to their desired number of 10 substitute bus drivers. The county continues to post for additional substitute bus drivers and provides certification programs to qualified applicants. 2. The county uses bio-diesel fuel, an on-line parts inventory system, and a scheduled preventive maintenance program to improve the efficiency of the transportation system. Bus routes are evaluated, assessed and adjusted for efficiency. According to Team interviews with the transportation director, all bus routes are within recommended guidelines for one-way travel time as described in West Virginia Board of Education Policy 4336. 8.1.3. Facilities. Schools are operated efficiently, economically, and without waste or duplication, and the number and location of schools efficiently serves the student population. (W. Va. Code §18-9D-15 and §18-9D-16 (d)) Findings 1. The maintenance department for Mingo County has been without a maintenance director for several years. This has caused a lapse in efficiency and effectiveness of the maintenance department. The current maintenance supervisor did not display the necessary leadership skills to run the crew effectively. Work ethics and proficiency were very poor among the staff since guidance and leadership were lacking. The maintenance secretary has been given a temporary limited leadership role over the maintenance staff and has been assuming most of the tasks and responsibilities of the director. The maintenance staff, however, displayed attitudes of resentment for the secretary's new role, creating tension and discontentment in the department. The Team recommended that Mingo County School District hire a maintenance director with strong leadership skills and a strong facilities management/operations background. Note: The Mingo County School District Superintendent was advised by the West Virginia Department of Education to not employ a maintenance director due to financial constraints. 2. The labor force of the maintenance department was being reduced, thereby, creating a need to supplement some of the duties that a full complement of staff would perform. The most prevalent need at this time is the maintenance of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and control systems throughout the county. Mingo County currently has only one HVAC technician for 14 schools and the other miscellaneous facilities operated by the school system. Basically, the only function that the technician can provide is reactive maintenance on the units that have failed. The existing HVAC systems are generally in poor condition and have not been maintained well. The units need to be cleaned and serviced annually, but the technician does not have enough time to perform these services on the equipment. The Team recommended that Mingo County School District pursue a preventive maintenance contract with a reputable HVAC service company that can perform these services on an annual basis to get the HVAC systems back to an acceptable condition. Painting is another service in which the current maintenance staff seemed to be deficient. Only a few maintenance staff members had the skills to paint or were willing to paint. A countywide painting program needs to be initiated to keep up the appearances of the schools, but with just a few qualified or willing painting staff, this has not been possible. The Team recommended that contract painters be hired to perform this duty. 3. Several issues needed to be addressed within the maintenance department. Maintenance staff members had been taking vacation days without providing the required 7-day notice. This caused scheduling conflicts when the supervisor did not know who was going to be off work. Staff members had also been taking sick days without calling in and disciplinary actions had not been taken. Money acquired from recycling materials such as steel and copper from school projects was not returned to the county school system. Maintenance staff members do not take the initiative to repair items they find in the schools, rather all work is deferred until someone reports the issue and a work order is provided. The maintenance shop facility and grounds were disorganized and presented a poor appearance. Maintenance staff members do not properly fully finish or clean up after their projects. Items such as restoring the insulation, painting, and cleanup were not provided and often old parts and materials were left on the roof or in the Mechanical Rooms. Facility information such as the O&M manuals, warranties, construction drawings and documents were not stored or maintained well to provide readily accessibility to the documentation by staff or contractors. 4. In most of the Mingo County School District facilities, including the Board of Education offices, maintenance facility, transportation facility, and all other auxiliary buildings, the controls for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems were never changed to operate in an unoccupied mode during holidays, school breaks, weekends or snow days. There are potentially 180 days during each year that the systems could be run at a lower operating expense. If this potential number of days of energy savings were added to the total number of snow days that occur each year, a very significant reduction of energy and the runtime on the HVAC equipment could be realized. Only two schools have HVAC control systems that can be programmed to automatically setback for non-school days or controls that can be remotely accessed to activate a snow day schedule. All other schools and facilities required local manipulation of the thermostats to achieve this type of operation. To implement this control strategy at each site, training will need to be provided for the designated staff members to properly change the thermostat settings for the non-school days, then back again to resume normal operation. Significant instant energy savings could be realized if the county adopted and implemented this type of control strategy or upgraded the control systems to automatically perform those functions. 5. Since most of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment in the schools were well past the life expectancy, replacement of these older units would also prove to be cost effective from both an energy and maintenance standpoint. Modern HVAC units are approximately 35-40 percent more efficient compared to the equipment installed in the 1990s. Since most of the HVAC units in the Mingo County School District are older than 15 years, replacement of the older units would yield a considerable annual savings. Additionally, the newer equipment would not be as prone to failure as the old units and would provide better learning environments with less maintenance. At this time, replacement of the older units is cost prohibitive for the county and the Team recommended that other methods of funding be investigated. Performance contracting services are typically a good solution to this issue as it would improve the efficiency of the HVAC, lighting, and electrical systems of each facility using the funds that would be saved from the improved equipment efficiencies and other improvements. 6. The maintenance staff members were often hindered from performing their duties due to a lack of access to the buildings. Although a centralized card access system is in place, all areas of the facility cannot be accessed when needed without the aid of local school staff. The card access system generally allows the staff access through the main doors, but keys are required to access locked classrooms, electrical rooms, mechanical rooms and all other locked areas. This is generally not an issue unless an emergency after-hours or when the maintenance staff works at the schools during holidays or breaks when the local school staffs are not present. The Team recommended that the maintenance staff be provided unrestricted access to critical areas of the facilities. 7. Another issue that hindered the efficiency of the maintenance staff is the slow acquisition of purchase orders for parts and materials. The average time to get a purchase order from the treasurer's office is more than two weeks. Some repairs and materials needed often cannot be delayed for this period of time which is causing the maintenance staff to purchase the needed items without a purchase order. While this is a violation of policy, many instances require unplanned and immediate purchases to maintain the school safety or maintain proper indoor environment. A method to expedite purchase orders for critical purchases is needed. A purchasing card or additional quarterly blanket purchase orders should be considered. 8. Energy management and utility tracking is one area that is completely lacking in the Mingo County School District. Mingo County had previously employed an energy manager, but the position proved to be ineffective and the position was eliminated. With proper training and guidance, a proactive person in this position could be very cost effective at reducing utility usage and costs. Currently, no method was in place to determine how effectively each facility is operated and whether or not sites are using their utilities wisely. 9. Many of the schools in Mingo County employed night shift custodians. These positions were originally used to provide a means of security for the buildings over the night. Since all facilities now have closed circuit television (CCTV) security cameras and card access security systems, the role of a staffed security force at night is no longer needed. The Team recommended that Mingo County School District evaluate the effectiveness and need for night shift custodians. 10. One of the duties of the maintenance department is to deliver mail and custodian supplies to the schools at least twice per week. This process requires 8-man hours of labor and the use of a ¾ ton service van to make a typical route of 60+ miles for each trip. The Team recommended that Mingo County School District investigate eliminating this duty by drop-shipping any and all materials to the schools and using the U.S. mail for postal items. Junk mail should be eliminated or correctly addressed to go to the correct school. 11. Technology advances in the equipment and controls used in newer school facilities are requiring more service calls to be issued to the vendors at a significant cost per visit. Although the maintenance staff received basic training on the systems that are put into the schools, the complexity of troubleshooting and maintaining these systems requires more training than what was provided by the initial training session. The Team recommended that the maintenance staff attend schools specialized in their fields of expertise to become proficient and certified with the systems. Specialized fields include: Fire alarm, card access, backflow preventers, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and controls. It should be the goal of the maintenance staff to become independent of vendor service calls. 8.1.4. Administrative practices. The school district assesses the assignment of administrative personnel to determine the degree managerial/administrative services provided schools establish and support high quality curriculum and instructional services. Findings 1. The administrative personnel needs were assessed to determine the administrative structure needed to support the consolidation of four high schools. It was determined through this process, to place a principal and three assistant principals at the new consolidated school. One factor in the selection of the assistant principals was the strength of the applicants. One assistant principal was selected based on strength in curriculum, another was selected based on strength in career/technical education, and the third assistant principal was selected based on strength in administration and athletics to serve as athletic director/assistant principal. 2. Attempts were made to equalize administrative personnel at the two high schools based on student enrollment. 3. With the consolidation of two schools next year (2013-2014), the county plans to have a principal and assistant principal in each elementary school, except the small Dingess Elementary School. 8.1.5. Personnel. The school district assesses the assignment of personnel as based on West Virginia Code and West Virginia Board of Education policies to determine the degree to which instructional and support services provided to the schools establish and support high quality curriculum and instructional services. Findings 1. A review of the county's enrollment data (2 nd month report) showed a decrease in enrollment of 145 students from 2009-2010 to 2012-2013. There was a decrease of 38 students from the 2011-2012 to 2012-2013; however, that decrease did not appear to impact personnel needs. The superintendent discussed county staffing and the county being over the school-aid formula by 22 professional and 64 service personnel positions. The superintendent and his staff are working to reduce the number of staff paid outside the formula and have identified both professional and service positions that the county board may be able to eliminate. The majority of the cuts, including two administrative positions (principals) result from consolidating four schools into two as Riverside Elementary School and Williamson Middle School will consolidate into Williamson School PreK-8. Matewan Elementary and Matewan Middle will consolidate into Matewan School PreK-8. Other positions may be eliminated due to a decrease in the number of students in an elementary classroom. Once teacher positions are eliminated and the enrollment increases, the county is looking at possible split grades to meet the pupil/teacher ratio in lieu of adding more staff. Additionally, the county has reduced two secretary positions in the county board office by reassigning duties to other secretaries within the building. As per the treasurer and the superintendent, positions outside the formula are paid from the county's excess levy funds. 2. When determining personnel needs for the upcoming year, the superintendent met with his county office staff team, made up of the assistant superintendent, administrative assistant, and human resources director to review data which had been collected relating to personnel needs for 2013-2014. This data included projected enrollments in grade levels at the elementary level and the number of teachers needed to meet the state mandated pupil-teacher ratio in grades K-6. At the middle and high school levels, the county office staff team reviewed class enrollments along with information, such as, student interest to determine teachers needed to implement required and required elective programs of study. The staff, along with the special education director, also looked at projected enrollments in special education classes and the number of teachers needed to meet the individualized education programs (IEPs) of special needs students. A change in individualized education program (IEP) recommendation to reduce the one-on-one personal care of students showed fewer personal care aides were needed. The County team also met with other appropriate program directors, such as, Title I, nutrition, transportation, etc., to determine personnel needs for each respective program. 3. The county office staff team gave careful consideration to providing personnel and program equity among schools. The number of cooks at each school was based upon the number of meals served. The number of custodians was based upon the amount of square footage of the building. 4. Subsequent to county staff meetings, the county team met individually with principals to review personnel needs the principals had determined for their respective schools for the upcoming school year. Once all information was gathered, the superintendent with his office staff team identified 27 professional and 35 service positions to be considered for elimination for 2013-2014. The county has notified, as required by West Virginia Code, all identified personnel who will be affected by the reduction-in-force. 5. The county contracts with RESA 2 for an instructional facilitator, two administrative coaches, and two administrative support positions. Other contracted services, such as Reading Interventionists, Parent Assistants, Special Education PERC, and LPNs are paid from Title I or special education funds. 6. The superintendent stated the lack of certified special education teachers is his biggest personnel concern. The assistant superintendent attends teacher recruitment fairs at Concord University, Marshall University, Fairmont State University, and Glenville State College in an effort to bring new teachers into the county. Other county personnel have participated in teacher recruitment fairs at West Virginia University and West Virginia State University. The county also recruits from the University of Pikeville and Midway College in Kentucky. 7. The county offers all required programs of study. Honors, advanced placement (AP®), dual credit, and EDGE courses are offered at both high schools. Nine AP® classes in the areas of English, mathematics, science (chemistry), and history are offered to students. Seven dual credit classes through Southern West Virginia Community College are offered along with several EDGE courses. With the consolidation into Mingo Central Comprehensive High School, students there, as well as Tug Valley High School, are provided low incidence classes at the school. If needed, through Polycom, classes from either Mingo Central Comprehensive High or Tug Valley High can be delivered to the other school. Virtual School courses are also available via the West Virginia Department of Education; however, this delivery method was not being used this school year. 8. All students in Grades 9-12 have Lenova Notebook (Laptop computers). The classes use digital textbooks. Student achievement is increasing at the elementary and high school levels. Instructional coaches have been employed to work specifically with teachers of middle school students in an effort to increase achievement of middle school students. County ACT scores were higher than the last four years. The dropout rate has declined during the past three years and is lower than the State average. 9. Instructional staffing appeared to be comparable at each school to provide instruction in art, music, and physical education. The county has no instructional itinerant teachers. Elementary level schools have the opportunity to select staffing to teach art, music, and physical education. For example, Dingess Elementary School identified music as a need and requested a full-time music teacher. The regular classroom teachers teach art and physical education. The school population which is 92 percent poverty now has exposure to music that it has not had in the past. The school has a winds orchestra. Some students are playing instruments including the piano. Comparable counselor and health services are provided to all schools. Counseling services are provided to Kermit K-8 and Dingess Elementary schools by one counselor. Gilbert Elementary School and Gilbert Middle School share a counselor. All other schools have full time counselors. 8.1.6. Regional Education Service Agency. The school district effectively utilizes Regional Education Service Agency programs and services or other regional services that may be initiated between and among county boards. Findings 1. RESA 2 provides assistance to low performing schools through extensive staff development programs to the school staffs and administrative coaches to provide embedded staff development at the schools. 2. Mingo County School District reported they are very satisfied with the excellent services they receive from RESA 2. 3. Mingo County School District has used the services of RESA 2 extensively. RESA 2 staff led trainings on how to improve scores on WESTEST2, Understanding the Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives, Depth of Knowledge/Rigor and Relevance, Student Engagement, Formative Assessment and Support for Personalized Learning (SPL). 4. RESA 2 also plays an active role with principal and teacher summer academies. 5. Mingo County School District contracts with RESA 2 to provide a (STEM) facilitator, Mathematics I coach, and administrative coaches. CAPACITY BUILDING 18.1. Capacity building is a process for targeting resources strategically to improve the teaching and learning process. School and county electronic strategic improvement plan development is intended, in part, to provide mechanisms to target resources strategically to the teaching and learning process to improve student, school, and school system performance. The Mingo County Superintendent of Schools has demonstrated the capacity for targeting resources strategically to improve the teaching and learning process. Evidence of this has been exhibited by elementary students in all subgroups achieving at or above the State level and the high school improving from the previous year's assessment. A continuum of school improvement has been developed and implemented that resulted in the school district improving across student subgroups, academic areas, and performance outcomes. The Mingo County Board of Education has not demonstrated the capacity to exercise board leadership, commitment, progress, cooperation, and fiscal responsibility. As a consequence, the school district superintendent and central office staff, schools and the community are affected by the actions and/or inactions of the local board of education. EARLY DETECTION AND INTERVENTION One of the most important elements in the Education Performance Audit process is monitoring student progress through early detection and intervention programs. Mingo County has experienced a decline in the county's fund balances that came about by construction cost escalation due to board member(s) filing legal action impeding implementation of the State Board approved Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan (CEFP) which involved constructing Mingo Central Comprehensive High School and the closure of four small high schools. This course of action also affected the completion of other projects in the CEFP and led to maintaining inefficient facilities and maintaining personnel over the State aid formula. These factors led to a decline in the county's fund balances each year from the Unrestricted Fund Balance History of $6,518,552 Fiscal Year 6-30-09 to $418,568 in FY 6-30-12. Consequently, the county superintendent has not replaced the Director of School Facilities and school reports reflect the outcomes of the absence of this position. Furthermore, all facilities "maintenance work, except emergency repairs or those that are determined to be absolutely necessary" was postponed per the direction of the West Virginia Department of Education. In spite of the lack of support, obstacles, and distractions to leadership and organization presented by member(s) of the board of education, the county superintendent and staff have concentrated on teaching and learning and successfully built a countywide culture that combines high expectations and the provision of strong support and empowerment of teachers. APPROVAL RECOMMENDATION The Office of Education Performance Audits recommends and a motion is requested that the West Virginia Board of Education approve the Mingo County Education Performance Audit Report as presented. MINGO COUNTY SCHOOL SUMMARY EDUCATION PERFORMANCE AUDIT \| School \| APM \| Findings \| Commendations \| Recommendations \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 54-101 Lenore K-8 \| \| 7.1.2; 7.2.2 \| None Identified \| None Identified \| \| 54-102 Mingo County Extended Learning Center \| \| None Identified \| None Identified \| None Identified \| \| 54-201 Burch Elementary \| \| 7.1.2 \| 7.1.3; 7.8.1 \| None Identified \| \| 54-207 Dingess Elementary \| \| None Identified \| 7.1.1; 7.1.2; 7.1.3; 7.8.1 \| None Identified \| \| 54-210 Gilbert Elementary \| \| None Identified \| 7.1.2; 7.1.3; 7.8.1 \| None Identified. \| \| 54-221 Riverside Elementary \| \| 7.1.2 \| None Identified \| None Identified \| \| 54-222 Matewan Elementary \| \| None Identified \| 7.1.3; 7.8.1 \| None Identified \| \| 54-223 Kermit K-8 \| \| 7.1.2 \| 7.8.1 \| None Identified \| \| 54-402 Williamson Middle Closed – End of 2012-2013 School Year \| 5.1.1 \| None Identified \| 7.1.2; 7.1.3 \| None Identified \| \| 54-403 Matewan Middle Closed – End of 2012-2013 School Year \| 5.1.1 \| None Identified \| None Identified \| None Identified \| \| 54-406 Burch Middle \| \| 7.1.2 \| 7.8.1 \| None Identified \| \| 54-407 Gilbert Middle \| \| 7.1.5; 7.2.3; 7.2.4 \| None Identified \| None Identified \| \| 54-507 Tug Valley High \| \| 7.1.2; 7.2.3; 7.7.2 \| 7.1.4; 7.8.1 \| None Identified \| \| 54-508 Mingo Central Comprehensive High \| \| 7.1.2; 7.7.2 \| 7.1.3; 7.1.7 \| None Identified \|
QuartzDesk JVM Agent Installation and Upgrade Guide for Standalone Java Applications QuartzDesk Version: 4.xMarch 3, 2020 Table of Contents Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 1. Purpose This document describes the installation and upgrade process for QuartzDesk JVM Agent 4.x in standalone Java applications. QuartzDesk JVM Agent is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) plugin that must be installed in all JVMs powering Quartz-based applications managed by QuartzDesk Standard or Enterprise editions. If you experience any problems installing or upgrading QuartzDesk JVM Agent, please let us know at email@example.com. Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 2. Definitions The following table lists all acronyms and shortcuts used throughout this document. The following table lists all locations and properties used throughout this document. Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 3. Requirements 3.1 Software Requirements 3.1.1 Operating System Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10. Linux (any distribution) with kernel 2.6.x and above. Solaris 11.x and above. 3.1.2 JVM Oracle JDK 8–13. IBM JDK 7. OpenJDK 8–13. 3.1.3 Database 3.1.4 Database JDBC Driver Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com \| Oracle \| Oracle JDBC driver available at \| \|---\|---\| \| \| http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/features/jdbc/index- \| \| \| 091264.html. \| \| \| For a comprehensive overview of JDBC driver versions vs. supported \| \| \| database versions, please refer to \| \| \| http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise- \| \| \| edition/jdbc-faq-090281.html#01_02. \| 3.1.5 QuartzDesk JVM Agent Library To install QuartzDesk JVM Agent, you need to obtain the QuartzDesk JVM Agent JAR. The latest version can be downloaded at www.quartzdesk.com (click Downloads → Latest Release → View files → quartzdesk-agent-x.y.z.jar). 3.1.6 QuartzDesk Public API Library QuartzDesk JVM Agent requires all applications with embedded Quartz schedulers deployed on the given JVM to have the QuartzDesk Public API Library on their class path. The library must be loaded by the same class loader that loads the Quartz API. The latest version of the QuartzDesk Public API Library can be downloaded at www.quartzdesk.com (click Downloads → Latest Release → View files → quartzdesk-api-x.y.z.jar). It is also available in the Maven Central repository – see http://search.maven.org/#search\|ga\|1\|quartzdesk-api. 3.2 Hardware Requirements QuartzDesk JVM Agent runs on any physical or virtualized hardware that supports the above software requirements. Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 4. Installation 4.1 Database Create a new database user named quartzdesk_agent (DB_USER) with an arbitrary password (DB_PASSWORD). Create a new QuartzDesk JVM Agent database named quartzdesk_agent 1 ( DB_NAME) owned by the DB_USER. If the database supports database schemas, create a new schema named quartzdesk_agent (DB_SCHEMA). The schema must be owned by the DB_USER. Make the created DB_SCHEMA the default schema of the DB_USER and/or add the schema to the DB_USER's schema search path. Please contact your DBA, or refer to the database engine documentation for instructions on how to complete the above database-specific tasks. Please note that you do not have to create any other database objects (tables, keys, indices etc.) in the QuartzDesk JVM Agent database. These objects will be automatically created by QuartzDesk JVM Agent during its first run. 4.2 JVM Agent Work Directory Create the QuartzDesk JVM Agent work directory (AGENT_WORK_DIR) anywhere on the local file system. The directory must be readable and writeable by the user the standalone Java application process runs under. Copy your QuartzDesk license key file (license.key) to AGENT_WORK_DIR. You can obtain a free 30-day trial license key at www.quartzdesk.com (open the Try / Purchase menu). Copy the QuartzDesk JVM Agent JAR file (quartzdesk-agent-x.y.z.jar) to AGENT_WORK_DIR. Open the QuartzDesk JVM Agent JAR file and copy all files from the extras/work directory into AGENT_WORK_DIR. If you cannot open the JAR file directly, rename it to .zip and then open it. Do not forget to rename the file back to .jar once you have extracted the required files. In the following figure you can see an example of a QuartzDesk JVM Agent work directory correctly set up on a Microsoft Windows machine. 1 If you use DB2, the database name length is restricted to the maximum of 8 characters. Please adjust the database name accordingly (e.g. qdagent). Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com QuartzDesk JVM Agent Installation and Upgrade Guide for Standalone Java Applications 4.3 JDBC Driver Download and install the JDBC driver for the created database. For a list of supported JDBC drivers please refer to chapter 3.1.4. Copy the JDBC driver JAR file to AGENT_WORK_DIR. Make sure the JAR file is readable by the user the standalone Java application process is started under. In the standalone Java application's startup script add the JDBC driver JAR file(s) to the JVM's boot class path (for Java 8) or to the JVM's module path (for Java 9–13). Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 4.4 JVM Agent Configuration Open the QuartzDesk JVM Agent configuration file AGENT_WORK_DIR/quartzdeskagent.properties. Based on the type and version of the database created in step 4.1, change the value of the db.profile configuration property according to the following table. Uncomment the Agent JDBC pool configuration section based on the QuartzDesk JVM Agent database type. Make sure the JDBC pool configuration sections for other database types are commented out (prefixed with '#'). The default sample quartzdesk-agent.properties file assumes the use of a PostgreSQL database. Adjust values of the JDBC pool configuration parameters to match your database configuration. You will typically need to change the default host value (localhost) in the jdbc.url parameter to point to DB_HOST. Please refer to the JDBC driver manual for a description of the JDBC URL format and related details. Set the value of the jdbc.pool.maxTotal JDBC pool configuration parameter to be 10-20% higher than the maximum number of concurrently executing Quartz jobs on the JVM QuartzDesk JVM Agent will be installed on. To adjust QuartzDesk JVM Agent logging parameters, edit the AGENT_WORK_DIR/logback.xml configuration file. The default sample logback.xml configuration file creates the QuartzDesk JVM Agent log under the AGENT_WORK_DIR/logs directory that is automatically created when QuartzDesk JVM Agent starts. Please refer to the Logback Manual for Logback configuration details. 4.5 Install JVM Agent 4.5.1 Windows Edit standalone Java application's startup script (typically with bat, or cmd extension) and add the following three JVM command line arguments to the list of JVM command line arguments already present in the script. Java 8 ``` -javaagent:AGENT_WORK_DIR/quartzdesk-agent-x.y.z.jar -Dquartzdeskagent.work.dir=<AGENT_WORK_DIR> -Xbootclasspath/a:<JDBC_DRIVER_JAR_FILE_PATH> ``` Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com ``` QuartzDesk JVM Agent Installation andUpgrade Guide for Standalone JavaApplications ``` Java 9–13 ``` -javaagent:AGENT_WORK_DIR/quartzdesk-agent-x.y.z.jar -Dquartzdeskagent.work.dir=<AGENT_WORK_DIR> --module-path <JDBC_DRIVER_JAR_FILE_PATH> ``` Example of a standalone application's Windows startup script with all required JVM parameters. ``` @echo off set "JAVA_HOME=d:/Java/Jdk13" set "QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR=d:/var/quartzdesk-agent.work/4.0.x" set "JAVA_OPTS=" rem Set application class path here. set "CLASSPATH=." rem Set JVM command line arguments here. set "JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -Xms250m" set "JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -Xmx500m" rem rem QuartzDesk JVM Agent JAR rem set "JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -javaagent:%QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR%/quartzdesk-agent4.0.0.jar" rem rem QuartzDesk JVM Agent work directory rem set "JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -Dquartzdesk-agent.work.dir=%QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR%" rem rem JDBC driver used by QuartzDesk JVM Agent rem rem For Java 8 rem set "JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -Xbootclasspath/a:%QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR%/postgresql9.3-1104.jdbc41.jar" rem For Java 9-13 set "JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% --module-path %QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR%/postgresql-9.31104.jdbc41.jar" %JAVA_HOME%/bin/java.exe %JAVA_OPTS% -cp %CLASSPATH% myapp.App ``` 4.5.2 Unix / Linux Edit standalone Java application's startup script (typically with sh extension) and add the following three JVM command line arguments to the list of JVM command line arguments already present in the script. Java 8 ``` -javaagent:AGENT_WORK_DIR/quartzdesk-agent-x.y.z.jar -Dquartzdeskagent.work.dir=<AGENT_WORK_DIR> -Xbootclasspath/a:<JDBC_DRIVER_JAR_FILE_PATH> ``` Java 9–13 ``` -javaagent:AGENT_WORK_DIR/quartzdesk-agent-x.y.z.jar -Dquartzdeskagent.work.dir=<AGENT_WORK_DIR> --module-path <JDBC_DRIVER_JAR_FILE_PATH> ``` Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 1 0 ``` QuartzDesk JVM Agent Installation andUpgrade Guide for Standalone JavaApplications ``` Example of a standalone application's Unix/Linux startup script with all required JVM parameters. ``` #!/bin/sh JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java" QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR="/opt/quartzdesk-agent.work/4.0.x" JAVA_OPTS= # Set application class path here. CLASSPATH="." # JVM command line arguments here. JAVA_OPTS="${JAVA_OPTS} -Xms250m" JAVA_OPTS="${JAVA_OPTS} -Xmx500m" # # QuartzDesk JVM Agent JAR # JAVA_OPTS="${JAVA_OPTS} -javaagent:${QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR}/quartzdesk-agent4.0.0.jar" # # QuartzDesk JVM Agent work directory # JAVA_OPTS="${JAVA_OPTS} -Dquartzdesk-agent.work.dir=${QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR}" # # JDBC driver used by QuartzDesk JVM Agent # # For Java 8 # JAVA_OPTS="${JAVA_OPTS} -Xbootclasspath/a:${QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR}/postgresql-9.31104.jdbc41.jar" # For Java 9-13 JAVA_OPTS="${JAVA_OPTS} --module-path ${QD_JVM_AGENT_WORK_DIR}/postgresql-9.31104.jdbc41.jar" ${JAVA_HOME}/bin/java ${JAVA_OPTS} -cp ${CLASSPATH} myapp.App ``` 4.6 Install Public API Library QuartzDesk Public API Library 2 works as an interface between the Quartz library 3 used by a Java application and QuartzDesk JVM Agent. QuartzDesk Public API Library must be loaded by the same Java class loader that loads the Quartz library. For standalone applications, the Quartz library is typically placed on the application's class path in its startup script. To install QuartzDesk Public API Library, it is only necessary to add the QuartzDesk Public API Library JAR on the class path. Please note that the installation of QuartzDesk Public API Library requires no application code changes. 4.7 Stop Application Stop the standalone Java application if it is running. 2 JAR file name: quartzdesk-api-<version>.jar 3 JAR file name name: quartz-<version>.jar or quartz-all-<version>.jar Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 1 1 Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 4.8 Start Application Start the standalone Java application, e.g. by executing its startup script. Wait for the application to start and check the application log for errors. Check the QuartzDesk JVM Agent logs (in AGENT_WORK_DIR/logs directory) for errors and verify the version number of the installed QuartzDesk JVM Agent. Verify that the application works as expected. 1 2 5. Upgrading 5.1 Stop Application Stop the standalone Java application if it is running. 5.2 Backup Backup your QuartzDesk JVM Agent database. We recommend performing a full database backup. Backup the contents of the QuartzDesk JVM Agent work directory. Store the backups in a safe place so that you can restore the original QuartzDesk JVM Agent version if the need arises. 5.3 Upgrade JVM Agent Delete the old QuartzDesk JVM Agent JAR file in AGENT_WORK_DIR. Copy the new quartzdesk-agent-x.y.z.jar to AGENT_WORK_DIR. Rename the AGENT_WORK_DIR/quartzdesk-agent.properties configuration file to quartzdesk-agent.properties.old. Open the QuartzDesk JVM Agent JAR file (quartzdesk-agent-x.y.z.jar) and copy the extras/work/quartzdesk-agent.properties configuration file to AGENT_WORK_DIR. If you cannot open the JAR file directly, rename it to .zip and then open it. Do not forget to rename the file back to .jar once you have extracted the required files. Adjust the values of the configuration properties in the new configuration file AGENT_WORK_DIR/quartzdesk-agent.properties to match your system setup. You can use the old configuration file as a reference. Please refer to 4.3 for a description of the configuration parameters that you need to adjust. 5.4 Upgrade Public API Library Upgrade the QuartzDesk Public API library on the standalone Java application's class path. Make sure the new library is included on the application's class path. Please refer to 4.6 for details. 5.5 Start Application Start the standalone Java application by following steps outlined in 4.8. Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 1 3 6. QuartzDesk 2.x to 3.x Migration Notes 6.1 Minimum Required Java Version QuartzDesk JVM Agent 3.x requires Java 7 or higher. 6.2 Configuration Properties Changes The following two quartzdesk-agent.properties configuration properties have been deprecated in QuartzDesk JVM Agent 3.x and will be removed in 4.x. Make sure your quartzdesk-agent.properties file uses the new property names. 6.3 Upgrade Steps To upgrade QuartzDesk JVM Agent 2.x to 3.x, apply upgrade steps outlined in 5. Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 1 4 7. QuartzDesk 3.x to 4.x Migration Notes 7.1 Minimum Required Java Version QuartzDesk JVM Agent 4.x requires Java 8 or higher. 7.2 Configuration Properties Changes The following two quartzdesk-agent.properties configuration properties have been deprecated in QuartzDesk JVM Agent 3.x and removed in QuartzDesk JVM Agent 4.x. Make sure your quartzdesk-agent.properties file uses the new property names. 7.3 Upgrade Steps To upgrade QuartzDesk JVM Agent 3.x to 4.x, apply upgrade steps outlined in 5. Copyright 2013-2020 QuartzDesk.com 1 5
AMENDED BYLAWS of UBTA-UBET COMMUNICATIONS INC. dba STRATA NETWORKS (Amended and Adopted on October 28, 2021) ARTICLE I MEMBERSHIP SECTION 1.1. Eligibility. Any person, firm, association, corporation, or body politic or subdivision thereof becomes a member of UBTA-UBET COMMUNICATIONS INC. dba Strata Networks (hereinafter called the "Cooperative" or "Co-op") upon receipt of retail telecommunications and information services (hereinafter referred to as "Services") from the Cooperative and complying with the following: (1) Agree to purchase Services from the Cooperative in accordance with established tariffs, price lists or contracts as well as pay other charges for Services that the member uses, and the Cooperative is obligated by law or contract to collect. (2) Agree to comply with, and be bound by, the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws of the Cooperative and any rules and regulations adopted by the Board. (3) Pay any membership fee as hereinafter may be specified; and (4) Have their primary residence or place of business (for business or political entities) within one of the geographic areas described in Section 4.2. The status of all memberships shall be as reflected upon the books of the Cooperative and no membership certificates will be issued. SECTION 1.2 Intent. The Cooperative is organized to provide Services to Members and nonmember patrons. It is the intent that the Members be those individuals and entities that have their primary residence or place of business (for business or political entities) in the geographic areas set forth in Section 4.2 and that all others receiving Services be nonmember patrons of the Cooperative, subject to the tariffs, price lists, contracts, rules, and regulations as the Cooperative may require. SECTION 1.3. Classes of Members. There shall be one class of members for this cooperative. The other terms of membership are set forth in these bylaws. A person may elect not to be a member. SECTION 1.4 Definition and Classifications. (a) In addition to the requirements in Section 1.1 the Board will determine under rules of general application the types and amounts of revenue streams, the definition of primary residence, and the types and amounts of patronage that give rise to the privileges and obligations of membership. (b) Exchange and interexchange carriers who participate with the Cooperative in the providing of Services to members are neither members nor patrons by virtue of division of revenue contracts, settlement or access arrangements and other charges these carriers pay in the providing of Services to their end users. The Board has the authority to determine all questions dealing with member or customer status as well as capital credit allocation issues for other users of the Cooperative's facilities. (c) Each time sharing or interval ownership premise is considered as a single corporate member. The corporation holding the property will be deemed to hold the membership. The owner of seasonal, recreational, and short-interval rental properties will not be a member. (d) No member may hold more than one membership in the Cooperative. No membership in the Cooperative shall be transferrable, except on the books of the Cooperative and as provided for in these Bylaws. (e) Membership for married couples who have a joint account for services will be a joint membership unless the couple requests otherwise and designates who will be the member. All provisions in these bylaws relating to the rights and liabilities of membership shall apply equally with respect to the holders of a joint membership. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following shall apply: (1) The presence at a meeting of either or both shall be regarded as the presence of one member and shall constitute a joint waiver of notice of the meeting; (2) The vote of either separately or both jointly shall constitute one joint vote; (3) A waiver of notice signed by either or both shall constitute a joint waiver; (4) Notice to either shall constitute notice to both; (5) Expulsion of either shall terminate the joint membership; (6) Withdrawal of either shall terminate the joint membership; (7) Either, but not both, may be elected or appointed as an officer or board member if individually qualified; (8) Upon the death of either spouse who is a party to the joint membership, such membership shall be converted to an individual membership in the name of the survivor. However, the estate of the deceased shall not be released from any debts due the Cooperative; (9) The Cooperative is entitled to rely on the representations of either spouse. Both spouses to the joint membership agree to indemnify and hold the Cooperative harmless from actions, conduct, or representations by either spouse and from actions taken by the Cooperative relying on representations of either spouse. (10) Any patronage credited to a joint membership will be owned jointly with rights of survivorship by both spouses and the Cooperative is authorized to issue checks for retired patronage in the name of either spouse. Receipt of a patronage payment by one spouse shall be considered receipt of payment by both spouses. (11) In the event of a dispute between spouses to a joint membership of which the cooperative is given written notice the spouses will need to resolve the issues in writing or by court order which writing, or order will be provided to the cooperative giving direction to the cooperative as to the action to be taken by the cooperative on the issue in dispute. If the cooperative incurs any legal fees or costs because of the dispute the parties will pay the cooperatives fees and costs, or those fees and costs will be deducted from credited patronage. (12) These provisions shall also apply to the successors or assigns of the spouses. SECTION 1.5. Membership Fees. There will be no membership fee subject to future adjustment as determined by the Board. SECTION 1.6. Purchase Of Services. Each Member, as soon as Service is available, shall take service from the Cooperative. The member shall pay therefor monthly at rates in accordance with either established tariffs, price lists or contracts as fixed by the Board, or, for the Services rendered by other carriers, at the rates which the Cooperative is obliged to bill and collect by contractual arrangements with other carriers. It is expressly understood that amounts received by the Cooperative for all Services in excess of cost are furnished by members from the moment of receipt as capital, and each member shall be credited with the capital so furnished as provided in these Bylaws. However, the Cooperative is not obligated to furnish such credits for Services which are not billed and collected by the Cooperative, even when such Services are partially rendered over the facilities of the Cooperative. Each member shall pay the above amounts owed by him to the Cooperative as and when the same shall become due and payable. SECTION 1.7. Termination Of Membership. (a) Any member may withdraw from membership upon compliance with such uniform terms and conditions as the Board may prescribe. The Board may, by the affirmative vote of not less than 2/3 of all the members of the Board, expel any member who fails to comply with any of the provisions of the Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, or rules and regulations adopted by the Board, but only if such member shall have been given written notice by the Cooperative that such failure makes him liable to expulsion and such failure shall have continued for at least ten days after such notice was given. Any expelled member may be reinstated by vote of the Board or by vote of the members at any annual or special meeting. (b) Upon the withdrawal, death, cessation of service or expulsion of a member, the membership of such member shall thereupon terminate and will be so recorded on the books of the Cooperative. Termination of membership in any manner shall not release a member or his estate from any debts due the Cooperative nor do unpaid bills release a member from his obligations under these Bylaws or rules and regulations approved by the Board. (c) A person whose membership has terminated may reapply for membership if that person meets the qualifications for membership set forth in these bylaws. ARTICLE II RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES OF THE COOPERATIVE AND THE MEMBERS SECTION 2.1. Service Obligations. (a) The Cooperative will use reasonable diligence to furnish adequate and dependable Services, but it cannot and does not guarantee uninterrupted Services nor will it always be able to provide every Service desired by each individual member. (b) Each member pledges to purchase Services from the Cooperative to the extent that its Services are able to meet the members' needs and are competitively priced. SECTION 2.2. Cooperation Of the Members In The Extension Of Services. The cooperation of members of the Cooperative is imperative to the successful, efficient, and economical operation of the Cooperative. Members who are receiving or who are requesting Service shall be deemed to have consented to the reasonable use of their real property for rights of way and to construct, operate, maintain, replace or enlarge telephone and/or communications lines, overhead or under-ground, including all conduit, cables, wires, surface testing terminals, markers and other appurtenances under, through, across, and upon any real property or interest therein owned or leased or controlled by said member for the furnishing of Service to said member, or any other member, at no cost to the Cooperative. When requested by the Cooperative, the member does agree to execute any easement or right-of-way contract on a form to be furnished by the Cooperative. SECTION 2.3. Nonliability For Debts of The Cooperative. The private property of the members shall be exempt from execution or other liability for the debts of the Cooperative and no member shall be liable or responsible for any debts or liabilities of the Cooperative. SECTION 2.4. Property Interest Of Members. Upon dissolution, after: (1) All debts and liabilities of the Cooperative shall have been paid; (2) All capital furnished through patronage shall be retired as provided in these bylaws; and (3) All membership fees shall have been repaid, the remaining property and assets of the Cooperative shall be distributed among the members in the proportion which the aggregate patronage of each member bears to the total patronage of all such members on the date of dissolution unless otherwise provided by law. ARTICLE III MEETING OF MEMBERS SECTION 3.1. Annual Meeting. The annual meeting of the members shall be held at a date, time and place within the Uintah Basin as selected by the Board and which shall be designated in the Notice of the Meeting, for the purposes of receiving a report on the election of directors, passing upon reports for the previous fiscal year and transacting such other business as may come before the meeting. Notice of the date, time and place of the annual meeting and the voting district from which a director will be elected will be given to the members in their monthly billing, or by electronic mail as provided in 3.10 and by publishing in newspaper(s) of general circulation in the Uintah Basin for two weeks. That notice will be given not less than 90 days from the date of the annual meeting. It shall be the responsibility of the Board to make adequate plans and preparations for the annual meeting. The Board may also provide for electronic transmission of the annual meeting to its members. Failure to hold the annual meeting at the designated time shall not work a forfeiture or dissolution of the Cooperative nor affect the validity of any corporate action. SECTION 3.2. Special Meetings. Special meetings of the members may be called by resolution of the Board, or by ten percent (10%) of all the members, and it shall thereupon be the duty of the secretary to cause notice of such meeting to be given as hereinafter provided. Special meetings of the members may be held at a date, time and place within the Uintah Basin as designated by the Board and shall be specified in the Notice of the special meeting. The Board may also provide for electronic transmission of the special meeting to its members. SECTION 3.3. Notice of Members' Meetings. Written or printed notice stating the place, day and hour of the meeting and, in case of a special meeting or an annual meeting at which business requiring special notice is to be transacted, the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called, and the notice shall list the names and voting district of the candidates for directorships and if the meeting will be transmitted electronically information regarding how to access that transmission, shall be delivered not less than ten (10) days before the date of the meeting, either personally or by mail, or by electronic mail at the direction of the secretary, or upon a default in duty by the secretary, by the persons calling the meeting, to each member. If mailed, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when deposited in the U.S. Mail, addressed to the member at the address appearing on the records of the Cooperative, with postage thereon prepaid. If sent by electronic mail, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when sent to the electronic mail address which the member has designated to receive notifications as appearing on the records of the Cooperative. The incidental or unintended failure of any member to receive notice of an annual or special meeting of the members shall not invalidate any action which may be taken by the members at any such meeting. SECTION 3.4. Postponement/Cancellation of a Meeting of the Members. In the event of inclement weather, the meeting of the members may be postponed by the President. In the event of the occurrence of an event that could adversely impact the health or safety of the members or employees or would violate governmental laws, rules, or regulations the meeting of the members may be postponed, held virtually, or cancelled by the Board. Notice of the adjourned, cancelled, or virtual meeting shall be given by the President in any media of general circulation or broadcast serving the area or by electronic notice to the electronic mail address which the member has designated to receive notifications as appearing on the records of the Cooperative. SECTION 3.5. Quorum. Business may not be transacted at any meeting of the members unless, there are present in person at least fifty (50) members. If less than a quorum is present at any special meeting, a majority of those present in person may adjourn the meeting to another time and date: provided that, the secretary shall notify any absent members of the time, date, and place of such adjourned meeting by delivering notice thereof as provided in Section 3.3. If less than a quorum is present at any annual meeting, the results of the director election will be reported and the reports from the Board and officers will be provided and then posted online. SECTION 3.6 Voting on Matters Other Then Electing Directors. Voting on matters that come before the membership at an annual or special meeting will be by secret ballot using electronic methods or such other method or methods as the Board of Directors determine. Only members present, in person, at the meeting may vote on business matters at the annual and special elections. All questions will be decided by the majority of the members at the meeting voting thereon, unless otherwise required by the Articles of Incorporation or these Bylaws. Elections of directors is governed by Article IV. SECTION 3.7. Requirements on Voting. Each membership shall be entitled to only one (1) vote upon each matter submitted to a vote at any meeting of the members. An entity that is a member (corporation, body, politic, etc.) shall designate or certify in writing the individual that will vote that entities' membership. The Board may set additional policies, methods, procedures, and guidelines regarding voting not inconsistent with these bylaws. SECTION 3.8. Proxies. Proxy voting will not be allowed at any election. SECTION 3.9. Order Of Business. The order of business at the annual meeting of the members, shall be conducted under policies established by the Board and under an agenda essentially as follows, except as otherwise determined by the members at such meeting: (1) Welcome and report on the number of members present in person in order to determine the existence of a quorum. (2) Reading of unapproved minutes of previous meetings of the members and the taking of necessary action thereon unless minutes presented for approval shall have been furnished by a timely mailing or have been distributed at the meeting to all active members present. In such case, the President may entertain a motion from the floor to dispense with the reading of such minutes. (3) Presentation and consideration of reports of officers, directors, and committees. (4) Report on the election of Directors (5) Unfinished business. (6) New business. (7) Adjournment. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Board or the members themselves may, from time to time, establish a different order of business for the purpose of assuring the earlier consideration of an action upon any item of business the transaction of which is necessary or desirable in advance of any other item of business; provided, that no business other than adjournment of the meeting to another time and place may be transacted until and unless the existence of a quorum is first established. SECTION 3.10 Electronic Notice. Any notice required by these bylaws to be given to a Member may be given by electronic mail. If sent by electronic mail, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when sent to the electronic mail address which the Member has designated to receive notifications as appearing on the records of the Cooperative. ARTICLE IV BOARD MEMBERS SECTION 4.1. General Powers. The business and affairs of the Cooperative shall be managed by a Board of ten (10) directors which shall exercise all of the powers of the Cooperative except such as are by law, the Articles of Incorporation, or these Bylaws conferred upon or reserved to the members. SECTION 4.2. Tenure of Office. Directors shall be elected by a secret ballot when there is competition for the Board seat(s) to be filled. They shall be elected by and from the members to serve a three (3) year term, or until their successors shall have been elected and shall have qualified. The terms of the directors shall be staggered to ensure continuity. Directors shall be elected as provided herein. SECTION 4.3 Voting Districts. The Cooperative is divided into ten (10) geographic service areas (herein referred to as voting districts). One director shall be elected from each voting district. Members shall be eligible to vote for every director. The geographic areas (voting districts) are described as follows: 1. Lapoint (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005.) 2. Neola (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005) 3. Altamont (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005.) 4. Tabiona (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005.) 5. Fruitland (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005.) 6. Flattop (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005.) 7. Randlett (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005.) 8. Roosevelt (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005.) 9. Duchesne (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005.) 10. Vernal (legal description as on file with the Utah Public Service Commission as of January 1, 2005.) Attached hereto is a MAP showing the geographic boundaries of each voting district. SECTION 4.4. Qualifications To Be Elected or Remain a Director. An individual shall be eligible to be elected and remain a director of the Cooperative who: (1) Has been a member, receives retail telecommunications and information services ("Services") and resides in the geographic area (voting district) to which he or she is elected for 365 days prior to filing for the position of a director. (2) Is NOT an employee of the Cooperative or in any way employed by or financially interested in a competing enterprise or a business engaged in selling communication services or communication supplies or maintaining communication facilities. (3) Is NOT closely related to an incumbent director or an employee of the Cooperative. As used here, "closely related" means a person who is related to the principal person by consanguinity or affinity, to the first degree or less – that is, a person who is either a spouse, child, parent, brother, or sister, by blood or in law, of the principal. However, no incumbent director shall lose eligibility to remain a director or to be reelected as a director if he becomes a close relative of another incumbent director or of a Cooperative employee because of a marriage to which he was not a party; neither shall an employee lose eligibility to continue in the employment of the Cooperative if he or she becomes a close relative of a director because of a marriage to which he or she was not a party. The Board may adopt a written policy which will govern the application in practice of this Bylaw section to assure no employee will suffer unjust or unreasonable discrimination because of marital status. (4) Is not more than 60 days delinquent on any bill, for services, owed to this cooperative, or any of its subsidiaries, while serving on the Board and to be elected to the Board the candidate shall not have been more than 60 days delinquent on payment for services provided by the cooperative or its subsidiaries for one year prior to applying for a position of director. (5) Has not been convicted of a felony. (6) Has not been an employee of the Cooperative or any of its subsidiaries for two years prior to the date of the election for that position as a director. To remain a director, the director must attend two-thirds (2/3) or more of the regular meetings during each twelve-month period beginning with the month of his/her election and continue to meet the other requirements set forth above. Upon establishment of the fact that a director or nominee is in violation of any of the provisions of this Section, that office shall be deemed vacant. Nothing in this Section shall affect in any manner whatsoever, the validity of any action taken at any meetings of the Board. SECTION 4.5 Voting for Directors. The election of directors, will be by secret ballot, using electronic, mail in, online voting methods or a combination thereof or such other method or methods as the Board determines. Only members may vote at the elections for directors. Each membership shall be entitled to only one (1) vote. An entity that is a member (corporation, body, politic, etc.) shall designate or certify in writing the individual that will vote that entities' membership. The Board may retain a third party or parties to conduct the elections of directors. SECTION 4.6. Candidate Process. A member who desires to run for election to the position of a director shall file in writing at the Cooperative office on forms provided by the Cooperative not less than 55 days and not more than 65 days from the date of the annual meeting at which the election for a director will occur for the geographic area (voting District) in which that individual resides. SECTION 4.7 Primary Elections. If more than two individuals file to run for election from a voting district then the Manager of the Cooperative shall, not less than thirty-five (35) nor more than fifty (50) days before the date of the annual meeting, schedule a meeting in that voting district or if there are not suitable accommodations in the voting district to hold the primary election then at a place designated by the directors. The purpose of that meeting will be for the members of that voting district to elect two (2) individuals to run for the directorship from that voting district and to conduct such other business as may be pertinent to that voting district. The primary election will be under the direction of the Manager or the Cooperative's attorney. Only members residing in the voting district and present at the primary meeting may vote at that election. The two individuals receiving the two highest number of votes will be the individuals listed on the final ballot. If the primary meeting cannot be held in person because of an event that could adversely impact the health or safety of the members or employees or would violate governmental laws, rules, or regulations the primary meeting may be held virtually and the primary election conducted online or by mail-in voting or combination thereof as determined by the Board. Dates relating to the annual meeting, director elections and other events impacted by changing the primary meeting may also be adjusted by the Board. Notice of the change in the primary meeting shall be given by the Board in any media of general circulation and by electronic mail to the members residing in the voting district in which the primary meeting was to be held. In the event two or less members file at the Cooperative office for the position of director then there will not be a primary meeting or primary election and that individual or individuals will be placed on the final ballot. SECTION 4.8. Election of Directors. The names of the individuals elected at the primary election or if two or less members file at the Cooperative office for the position of director then those individual or individuals shall be placed on the final ballot. Balloting for directors shall be by secret ballot as provided in 4.5. The Board of Directors will schedule the election sufficiently in advance of the date of the annual meeting so that the results can be announced at the annual meeting. The candidate from each voting district from which a director is to be elected receiving the majority of votes cast for that office shall be declared elected as a director. In the event of a tie vote the winner shall be determined by tossing a coin. The result of the election will be announced at the annual meeting or if the annual meeting is postponed the results will be announced by electronic mail to all members. In the event only one candidate from a voting district file for the position of a director there will not be an election for that position but that candidate from that voting district will be declared elected and become the director from that Voting district as of the date and opening time of the annual meeting. SECTION 4.9. Removal Of Board Members by Members and Resignations. Any member may bring charges against a Board member, relating to the duties and responsibilities of that Board member by filing with the secretary such charges in writing together with a petition signed by at least ten (10) percent of the members, and may request the removal of such Board member by reason thereof. Such Board member shall be informed in writing of the charges at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting of the members at which the charges are to be considered and shall have an opportunity at the meeting to be heard in person or by counsel to present evidence in respect to the charges; and the person or persons bringing the charges against him shall have the same opportunity. The question of the removal of such Board member shall be considered and voted upon at the meeting of the members. No director shall be removed from office unless by a vote of twothirds (2/3) of the members present from each voting district. A director may resign at any time by written notice delivered to the Board of Directors, the president or secretary of the Cooperative. A resignation is effective when the notice is delivered unless the notice specifies a future date. The pending vacancy may be filled before the effective date, but the successor shall not take office until the effective date. SECTION 4.10. Vacancies. A vacancy occurring in the Board shall be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the remaining Board members for the unexpired portion of the term. Any successor must reside in the same Voting district as the vacant directorship and have the same qualifications for office as set forth in Section 4.3 and 4.4. SECTION 4.11. Compensation. Board members may, as determined by resolutions or policies of the Board, (a) receive a fixed sum for each day or portion thereof spent on Cooperative business, such as attendance at meetings, conferences, and training programs or performing committee assignments when authorized by the Board, (b) be reimbursed for expenses, including spousal expenses, actually and necessarily incurred in carrying out such Cooperative business, or granted a reasonable per diem allowance by the Board in lieu of detailed accounting for some of these expenses, (c) be extended various forms of liability, life, health and accident insurance as well as participation in benefits provided to employees except for benefits based on salary, or be granted a set amount in lieu of receiving some of these benefits. No Board member shall receive compensation for serving the Cooperative in any other capacity, nor shall any close relative of a Board member receive compensation for serving the Cooperative, (except as an employee as authorized in these Bylaws) unless the payment and amount of compensation shall be specifically authorized by a vote of the members or the service by the Board member or his close relative shall have been certified by the Board as an emergency measure. For purpose of this section, close relative means parents, husband, wife, brothers, and sisters, by marriage or by adoption, and spouses of any of the foregoing. The written policy adopted by the board on nepotism pursuant to Section 4.3 shall also govern here. This provision does not preclude the payment of actual and necessary expenses incurred by spouses of board members or other individuals who, at the request of the board, assist in public relations and public service programs for the Cooperative or expenses incurred while traveling with Board members as authorized by the policy of the Board. SECTION 4.12. Rules, Regulations, Rate Schedules and Contracts. The Board of Directors shall have power to make, adopt, amend, abolish and promulgate such rules, regulations, rate classifications, rate schedules, contracts, security deposits and any other types of deposits, payments or charges, including contributions in aid of construction, not inconsistent with law or the Articles of Incorporation or these Bylaws, as it may deem advisable for the management, administration and regulation of the business and affairs of the Cooperative or, cause such to be submitted for any appropriate governmental regulatory approval. Further, the Board of Directors may constitute itself into committees for the purpose of studying and making recommendations to the full Board in the course of its decisional processes. SECTION 4.13. Accounting Systems and Reports. The Board of Directors shall cause to be established and maintained a complete accounting system of the Cooperative's financial operations and condition, and shall, after the close of each fiscal year, cause to be made a full, complete, and independent audit of the Cooperative's accounts, books and records reflecting financial operations during, and financial condition as of the end of, such year. A full and accurate summary of such audit reports shall be available at the Cooperative office for review by members. The Board may authorize special audits, complete or partial, at any time and for any specified period of time. SECTION 4.14. Employment Issues. No director is to contact the manager or supervisor regarding the employment of any individual. Any employment issues are to be discussed by board members only in regularly scheduled board meetings. ARTICLE V MEETINGS OF THE BOARD SECTION 5.1. Regular Meetings. A regular meeting of the Board shall be held without notice within 30 days after the annual meeting of the members. A regular meeting of the Board shall also be held monthly (or more often if required) at such time and place as designated by the Board. Such regular monthly meetings may be held without notice other than such resolution fixing the time and place thereof. Unless specifically prohibited by law, meetings, regular or special, may be conducted through the use of conference telephone or other communications equipment by means of which all persons participating in the meetings can communicate with each other. Such participation will constitute attendance and presence in person at the meeting of the persons so participating. SECTION 5.2. Special Meetings. Special meetings of the Board may be called by the President or by any three (3) Board members, and it shall thereupon be the duty of the secretary to cause notice of such meeting to be given as hereinafter provided. The president or Board members calling the meeting shall fix the time and place for the holding of the meeting. SECTION 5.3. Notice Of Board Meetings. The time, place (or telecommunications conference event) of each regular monthly board meeting shall be set annually by resolution of the Board. The board may from time to time change the date of any monthly regular board meeting by resolution. The date and purpose of any special meeting of the Board shall be delivered to each Board member either personally or by mail or electronic mail, at the direction of the secretary, or upon default in duty by the secretary, by the president or one of the Board members calling the meeting. SECTION 5.4. Quorum. A majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum, provided, that if less than such majority of the Board is present at said meeting, a majority of the Board present may adjourn the meeting from time to time; and provided further, that the secretary shall notify any absent Board members of the time and place of such adjourned meeting. The act of a majority of the Board members present and voting at a meeting at which a quorum is present shall be the act of the Board, except as otherwise provided in these Bylaws. Board members may not vote by proxy at regular or special Board meetings. SECTION 5.5. Unanimous Consent in Writing. Unless otherwise prohibited by law, Board actions may be taken without a meeting and without a vote if unanimous consent of the Board is obtained in writing setting forth the action taken, and the writing is signed by all Board members entitled to vote. ARTICLE VI OFFICERS SECTION 6.1. Number and Titles. The officers of the Cooperative shall be a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and such other officers as may be determined by the Board from time to time. The offices of secretary and treasurer may be held by the same person. SECTION 6.2. Election And Term of Office. The officers shall be elected by ballot, if there is a contest, and if not, by voice vote or any other method designated by the person presiding. They shall be elected annually by and from the Board, at the first meeting of the Board held after the annual meeting of the members. If the election of officers shall not be held at such meeting, such election shall be held as soon thereafter as conveniently may be. Each officer shall hold office until the first meeting of the Board following the next succeeding annual meeting of the members, or until a successor shall have been elected and shall have qualified. Except as otherwise provided in these Bylaws, a vacancy in any office shall be filled by the Board for the unexpired portion of the term. SECTION 6.3. Removal Of Officers and Agents By The Board. Any officer or agent elected or appointed by the Board may be removed by the Board for cause related to the position whenever in its judgment the best interests of the Cooperative will be served thereby. The officer against whom such charges have been brought shall be informed in writing of the charges at least ten (10) days prior to the Board meeting at which the charges are to be considered and shall have an opportunity at the meeting to be heard in person or by counsel and to present evidence in respect of the charges; and the person or persons bringing the charges against him/her shall have the same opportunity. SECTION 6.4. President. The president shall: (1) Be the principal executive officer of the Cooperative and unless otherwise determined by the members or the Board, shall preside at all meetings of the members and the Board; (2) Sign any deeds, mortgages, deeds of trust, notes, bonds, contracts, or other instruments authorized by the Board to be executed, except in cases in which the signing and execution thereof shall be expressly delegated by the Board or by these Bylaws to some other officer or agent of the Cooperative, or shall be required by law to be otherwise signed or executed; and (3) In general, perform all duties incident to the Office of President and such other duties as may be prescribed by the Board from time to time. SECTION 6.5. Vice President. In the absence of the president, or in the event of his/her inability or refusal to act, the vice president shall perform the duties of the president, and when so acting shall have all the powers of and be subject to all the restrictions upon the president. The vice president shall also perform such other duties as from time to time may be assigned to him/her by the Board. SECTION 6.6. Secretary. The secretary shall be responsible for: (1) Keeping the minutes of the meetings of the members and of the board in books or other medium (computer disks etc) prepared for that purpose; (2) Seeing that all notices are duly given in accordance with these Bylaws or as required by law; (3) The safekeeping of the cooperative books and records and the Seal of the Cooperative and affixing the Seal of the Cooperative to all documents, the execution of which on behalf of the Cooperative under its seal is duly authorized in accordance with the provisions of these Bylaws; (4) Keeping a register of the names and post office addresses, and electronic mailing addresses of all members; (5) Keeping on file at all times a complete copy of the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of the Cooperative containing all amendments thereto and at the expense of the Cooperative, furnishing a copy of these Bylaws and of all amendments thereto to each member when requested; and (6) In general performing all duties incident to the Office of Secretary and such other duties as from time to time may be assigned to him/her by the Board. The secretary shall have authority, with the approval of the Board, to delegate to the manager the authority to appoint employees of the Cooperative to actually carry out the responsibilities set forth in this Section; SECTION 6.7. Treasurer. The treasurer shall be responsible for: (1) Custody of all funds and securities of the Cooperative; (2) The receipt of and the issuance of receipts for all monies due and payable to the Cooperative and for the deposit of all such monies in the name of the Cooperative in such bank or banks as shall be selected in accordance with the provisions of these Bylaws; and (3) The general performance of all the duties incident to the Office of Treasurer and such other duties as from time to time may be assigned to him/her by the Board; provided, however, with respect to the duties and responsibilities of the treasurer, the Cooperative shall indemnify and hold the treasurer harmless against any and all losses, claims and/or damages which may be asserted against the treasurer, in his/her official capacity, unless such claim is a result of an act personally committed or omitted by the treasurer resulting in loss to the Cooperative. The treasurer shall have authority, with the approval of the Board, to delegate to the general manager the authority to appoint employees of the Cooperative to actually carry out the responsibilities set forth in this Section; SECTION 6.8. Manager/Chief Executive Officer. The Board shall appoint a Manager/CEO, who may be, but shall not be required to be, a member of the Cooperative. The Manager/CEO shall perform such duties as the Board may from time to time require and shall have authority as the Board may from time-to-time vest in him/her. SECTION 6.9. Reports. The officers of the Cooperative shall submit, at each annual meeting of the members, reports covering the business of the Cooperative for the previous fiscal year. Such reports shall set forth the condition of the Cooperative at the close of such fiscal year. ARTICLE VII INDEMNIFICATION OF OFFICERS, BOARD MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS SECTION 7.1. Scope Of Indemnification. The Cooperative shall indemnify any person who was or is a party, or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending, or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by, or in the right of the Cooperative) by reason of the fact that such person is or was a board member, officer, employee or agent of the Cooperative or who is or was serving at the request of the Cooperative as a board member, officer, employee or agent of another cooperative, association, corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against expenses (including attorney's fees) adjustments, fines and amounts paid in settlement) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding; provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner such person reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of the Cooperative, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe the conduct of such person was unlawful. The termination of any action, suit or proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction, or upon pleas of nolo contendere or its equivalent, shall not, of itself, create a presumption that the person did not act in good faith and in a manner which such person reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of the Cooperative, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had reasonable cause to believe that the conduct of such person was not unlawful. SECTION 7.2. Indemnification For Good Faith Action. The Cooperative shall indemnify any person who was or is a party, or is threatened to be made a party to, any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by, or in the right of, the Cooperative to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that such person is, or was, a board member, officer, employee or agent of the Cooperative, or is, or was, serving at the request of the Cooperative as a board member, officer, employee or agent of another cooperative, association, corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against expenses (including attorney's fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit, if such person acted in good faith, and in a manner such person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Cooperative. No indemnification shall be made in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which such person shall have been adjudged to be liable for negligence or misconduct in the performance of the duty of such person to the Cooperative, unless, and only to the extent that the Court in which such action or suit was brought shall determine upon application that, despite the adjudication of liability, but in view of all the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity of such expenses as the court shall deem proper. SECTION 7.3. Cost Of Defense Indemnified. To the extent that a board member, officer, employee, or agent of the Cooperative has been successful, on the merits or otherwise, in the defense of any action, suit or proceeding referred to in Sections 7.1 and 7.2, in defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, such person shall be indemnified against expenses (including attorney's fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection therewith. SECTION 7.4. Amount of Indemnification. Any indemnification under Sections 7.1 and 7.2 (unless ordered by a court) shall be made by the Cooperative only as authorized in the specific case, upon a determination that indemnification of the board member, officer, employee, or agent is proper in the circumstances because such person has met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in Sections 7.1 and 7.2. Such determination shall be made: (1) By the board by a majority vote of a quorum consisting of board members who were not parties to such action, suit, or proceedings; or (2) If such a quorum is not obtainable, or even if obtainable, if a quorum of disinterested board members so directs, by independent legal counsel in a written opinion; or (3) By the members. SECTION 7.5. Expenses Advanced. Expenses incurred in defending a civil or criminal action, suit or proceeding may be paid by the Cooperative in advance of the final disposition of such action, suit or proceeding, as authorized by the board in the specific case, upon receipt of a firm commitment by or on behalf of the board member, officer, employee or agent to repay such amount, unless it shall ultimately be determined that he is entitled to be indemnified by the Cooperative as authorized in this Article. SECTION 7.6. Rights Of Persons Indemnified. The indemnification provided by this Article shall not be deemed exclusive of any other rights, including the provisions of Utah Code Ann. Section 16-6a-901 et seq, (as amended) to which those seeking indemnification may be entitled under any bylaw, agreement, vote of members or disinterested board members, or otherwise, both as to action in his official capacity and as to action in another capacity while holding such office, and shall continue as to a person who has ceased to be a board member, officer, employee or agent, and shall inure to the benefit of the heirs, executors and administrators of such a person. SECTION 7.7. Insurance Coverage. The Cooperative shall purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a board member, officer, employee or agent of the Cooperative, or who is or was serving at the request of the Cooperative as a board member, officer, employee or agent of another cooperative, association, corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against any liability asserted against such person and incurred by such person in any such capacity, or arising out of the status of such person as such, whether or not the Cooperative would have the power to indemnify such person against such liability under the provisions of this Article. ARTICLE VIII NON-PROFIT OPERATION SECTION 8.1. Interest Or Dividends on Capital Prohibited. The Cooperative shall at all times be operated on a cooperative nonprofit basis for the mutual benefit of its members. No interest or dividends shall be paid or payable by the Cooperative on any capital furnished by its members. SECTION 8.2. Patronage Capital in Connection with Furnishing Telecommunications and Information Services. In the furnishing of services, the Cooperative's operations shall be so conducted that all members will, through their patronage, furnish capital for the Cooperative. In order to induce patronage and to ensure that the Cooperative will be operated on a non-profit basis, the Cooperative is obligated to account on a patronage basis to all its members for all amounts received and receivable from the furnishing of services in excess of operating costs and expenses properly chargeable against the furnishing of such services. All such amounts in excess of operating costs and expenses for services at the moment of receipt by the Cooperative are received with the understanding that they are furnished by the members as capital. The Cooperative is obligated to pay by credits to a capital account for each member all such amounts in excess of operating costs and expenses. The books and records of the Cooperative shall be set up and kept in such manner that at the end of each fiscal year the amount of capital, if any, so furnished by each member for services is clearly reflected and credited in an appropriate record to the capital account of each member, and the Cooperative shall, within a reasonable time after the close of the fiscal year, notify each member of the amount of capital so credited to his account; provided that individual notice of such amounts furnished by each member shall not be required if the Cooperative notified all members of the aggregate amount of such excess from services and provides a clear explanation of how each member may compute and determine the specific amounts of capital so credited to the member's account. All such amounts credited to the capital account of any member shall have the same status as though it had been paid to the member in cash in pursuance of a legal obligation to do so and the member had then furnished the Cooperative corresponding amounts for capital. The Cooperative shall also allocate profits and losses to its members who take services from its solely owned LLC (Uintah Basin Electronic Telecommunications LLC) on the same basis and terms as set forth in this Section 8.2. All other non-operating margins, except those derived from furnishing goods and services other than telecommunications and information services, shall, insofar as permitted by law, be used to offset any losses during the current or any prior fiscal year and, to the extent not needed for that purpose, either: (1) Allocated to its members on a patronage basis and any amount so allocated shall be included as part of the capital to be allocated to the accounts of the members in an equitable manner as approved by the Board, or (2) Used to establish and maintain one or more nonoperating margin reserves not assignable to patrons or members prior to dissolution of the Cooperative. SECTION 8.3 Dissolution-Liquidation. In the event of dissolution or liquidation of the Cooperative, after all outstanding indebtedness of the Cooperative shall have been paid, the outstanding capital credits shall be retired without priority on a pro rata basis before any payments are made on account of property rights of members. Section 8.4 Retirement of Capital Credits. If, at any time prior to dissolution or liquidation, the Board shall determine that the financial condition of the Cooperative will not be impaired thereby, the capital then credited to members' accounts may be retired in full or in part. All such allocations and retirements of capital shall be made by such method or basis, including as a credit to the member's accounts for past or future service, in such order and with such priority as the Board of Directors, in its discretion, determines to be in the best interest of the Co-op and its members. SECTION 8.5 Assignment. Capital credited to the account of each member shall be assignable only on the books of the Cooperative, pursuant to written instructions from the assignor and only to successors in interest, or successors in occupancy, in all or in a part of such members' premises served by the Cooperative unless the Board, acting under policies of general application, shall authorize other types of assignments. Members at any time may assign their capital credits back to the Cooperative and the Cooperative is authorized to negotiate capital credit settlement arrangements with bankrupt members. SECTION 8.6. Death - Capital Credits. Notwithstanding any other provisions of these Bylaws the Board, at its discretion, shall have the power at any time upon the death of any member, who was a natural person, if the legal representative of his/her estate shall request in writing that the capital credited to any such member be retired prior to the time such capital would otherwise be retired in a general retirement under the provisions of these bylaws, to retire capital credited to such member immediately upon such terms and conditions as the Board, acting under policies of general application, and the legal representatives of such member's estate shall agree upon; provided, however, that the financial condition of the Cooperative will not be impaired. The Board each year may set a total dollar amount that may be used to retire capital credit owed to an estate. SECTION 8.7. Minimum Payments. When the capital credits of any member, no longer receiving service from the Cooperative, comes to a total amount of less than a fixed sum determined by the Board, the same shall be retired in full with such retirements made only when and at the same time that a general retirement to other members is made. During a general capital credit retirement, no checks shall be issued for less than a fixed amount determined by the Board, and the amount of such unretired capital credits will be retired in the first following year when the total amount of capital credits qualifying for retirement exceeds that amount set by the Board, including the amount carried over. SECTION 8.8. Assignment And Gift by Failure To Claim. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the Bylaws or other provision of the membership certificate, if any member or former member fails to claim any cash retirement, capital credits, or other payment from the Cooperative on the last day of the year three years after the year in which the payment/credit was issued to him/her by notice or check mailed to him/her at the last address furnished by him/her to the Cooperative, such failure shall be and constitutes an irrevocable assignment and gift by such member or former member of such capital credit or other payment to the Cooperative. Failure to claim any such payment within the meaning of the section shall include the failure of such member or former member to cash any check mailed to him/her by the Cooperative at the last address furnished by him/her to the Cooperative. The assignment and gift provided under this section shall become effective only on the last day of the year three years after the year in which the payment/credit was issued and after sixty (60) days' notice by publication. Notice by publication is given by one insertion in a newspaper circulated in the service area of the Cooperative listing the names of those who for three years have failed to claim the credit or other payment. SECTION 8.9. Monies Received. Monies received pursuant to Section 8.8 shall be used for charitable, humanitarian, and educational purposes as provided by state statute and as determined by the Board. SECTION 8.10. Contractual Relationship. The members of the Cooperative, by dealing with the Cooperative, acknowledge that the terms and provisions of the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws shall constitute and be a contract both between the Cooperative and each member, and further, between all the members themselves individually. Both the Cooperative and the members are bound by such contract, as fully as though each member had individually signed a separate instrument containing such terms and provisions with the Cooperative and each of its members. SECTION 8.11. Business Dissolution - Capital Credits. Notwithstanding any other provisions of these Bylaws, the Board, at its discretion, shall have the power at any time upon the dissolution of a business entity that is a member, if the legal representative of the dissolving entity shall request in writing that the capital credited to any such member be retired prior to the time such capital would otherwise be retired in a general retirement under the provisions of these bylaws, to retire capital credited to such member immediately upon such terms and conditions as the Board, acting under policies of general application, and the legal representatives of such dissolved entity shall agree upon; provided, however, that the financial condition of the Cooperative will not be impaired. The Board each year may set a total dollar amount that may be used to retire capital credit owed to any dissolving entity. ARTICLE IX DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY SECTION 9.1. Disposition of Property. The Co-op may not sell, mortgage, lease or otherwise dispose of or encumber all or any substantial portion of its property unless such sale, mortgage, lease or other disposition or encumbrance is authorized at a meeting of the members thereof by the affirmative vote of not less than twothirds of all of the members of the Co-op, and unless the notice of such proposed sale, mortgage, lease or other disposition or encumbrance shall have been contained in the notice of the meeting; provided, however, that notwithstanding anything herein contained, the Board, without authorization by the members thereof, shall have full power and authority to authorize the execution and delivery of a mortgage or mortgages or a deed or deeds of trust upon, or the pledging or encumbering of, any or all of the property, assets, rights, privileges, licenses, franchises and permits of the Co-op, whether acquired or to be acquired, and wherever situated, as well as the revenues and income therefrom, all upon such terms and conditions as the Board shall determine, to secure any indebtedness of the Co-op to United States of America or any instrumentality or agency thereof; provided further that the Board may upon the authorization of a majority of the members of the Co-op present at a meeting of the members thereof, sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of all or a substantial portion of its property to another Co-op or foreign corporation doing business in this State pursuant to the Act under which this Co-op incorporated. ARTICLE X DISSOLUTION SECTION 10.1. Dissolution. The Cooperative may be dissolved by filing, as hereinafter provided, a certificate which shall be entitled and endorsed "Certificate of Dissolution of UBTA-UBET Communications Inc. and shall state: (1) Name of the Cooperative, and if such Cooperative is a corporation resulting from a consolidation as herein provided, the names of all the original corporations or cooperatives. (2) The date of filing of Certificate of Incorporation, and if such Cooperative is a Cooperative resulting from a consolidation as herein provided, the dates on which the Certificates of Incorporation of the original corporations were filed. (3) That the Cooperative elects to dissolve. (4) The name and post office address of each of its directors, and the name, title, and post office address of each of its officers. Such Certificate shall be subscribed and acknowledged in the same manner as an original Certificate of Incorporation by the president or a vice president, and the secretary or an assistant secretary, who shall make and annex an affidavit, stating that they have been authorized to execute and file such certificate by the votes cast in person of at least two-thirds (2/3) of its total membership voting without proxies and that the dissolution has been authorized by at least seventy-five percent (75%) of the holders of the indebtedness of the cooperative. A Certificate of Dissolution and a certified copy or copies thereof shall be filed in the same place as the original Certificate of Incorporation and thereupon the Cooperative shall be deemed to be dissolved. Such Cooperative shall continue for the purpose of paying, satisfying, and discharging any existing liabilities or obligations and collecting or liquidating its assets, and doing all other acts required to adjust and wind up its business and affairs, and may sue and be sued in its corporate name. SECTION 10.2. Distribution Of Surplus Assets on Dissolution. Any assets remaining after all debts and liabilities of the Cooperative shall have been paid shall be disposed of pursuant to the provisions of Section 2.4 above, provided however, that, if in the judgment of the Board the amount of such surplus is too small to justify the expense of making such distribution, the Board may, in lieu thereof, donate or provide for the donation of, such surplus to one or more non-profit, charitable or educational organizations that are exempt from federal income taxation. ARTICLE XI SEAL The Corporate Seal of the Cooperative shall be in the form of a circle and shall have inscribed thereon the name of the Cooperative and the words, "Corporate Seal, Utah". ARTICLE XII FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS SECTION 12.1. Contracts. Except as otherwise provided in these bylaws, the Board may authorize any officer or officers, agent, or agents, to enter into any contract or execute and deliver any instrument in the name and on behalf of the Cooperative and such authority may be general or confined to specific instances. SECTION 12.2. Checks, Drafts, Etc. All checks, drafts, or other orders for the payment of money, and all notes, bonds, or other evidence of indebtedness issued in the name of the Cooperative shall be signed by such officer or officers, agent or agents, employee, or employees of the Cooperative and in such manner, as shall from time to time be determined by resolution of the Board. SECTION 12.3. Deposits. All the funds of the Cooperative shall be deposited from time to time to the credit of the Cooperative in such institutions as the Board may select. SECTION 12.4. Fiscal Year. The fiscal year of the Co-op shall begin on the first day of January of each year and shall end on the thirty-first day of December of the same year. ARTICLE XIII MISCELLANEOUS SECTION 13.1. Membership In Other Organizations. The Cooperative may become a member or purchase stock in other profit or nonprofit organizations, associations, partnerships, or joint ventures when the Board finds that the general or long-term interests of its membership will be served by such investments or participation. SECTION 13.2. Waiver Of Notice. Any member or Director may waive in writing any notice of a meeting required to be given by these Bylaws. The attendance of a member or Director at any meeting shall constitute a waiver of notice of such meeting by such member or director, except in case a member or Director shall attend a meeting for the express purpose of objecting to the transaction of any business on the grounds that the meeting has not been lawfully called or convened. SECTION 13.3. Rules And Regulations. The Board shall have power to make and adopt such rules, policies, and regulations, not inconsistent with law, the Articles of Incorporation, or these Bylaws, as it may deem advisable for the management of the business and the affairs of the Cooperative. ARTICLE XIV AMENDMENTS These Bylaws may only be altered, amended, rewritten, or repealed by one of the following procedures: a. Upon a ninety percent (90%) vote of all directors after written notice is given to the members, or b. Upon approval of a seven of the ten voting districts by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members attending a voting district meeting specially called for that purpose. provided, however, that the provisions of Article IX relating to a major disposition of the Cooperative's property, and Section 10.1 relating to the dissolution of the Cooperative, may be altered, amended, or repealed only by the affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds (2/3) of all members of the Cooperative voting in person and without proxies.
Oriental COCOSDA: Past, Present and Future Shuichi ITAHASHI+, Chiu-yu TSENG, Satoshi NAKAMURA** * National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan, + National Institute of Informatics (NII), Tokyo, Japan Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan * ATR Spoken Language Communication Research Laboratories (ATR-SLC), Kyoto, Japan {firstname.lastname@example.org,email@example.com }, firstname.lastname@example.org ,email@example.com Abstract The purpose of Oriental COCOSDA is to exchange ideas, to share information and to discuss regional matters on creation, utilization, dissemination of spoken language corpora of oriental languages and also on the assessment methods of speech recognition/synthesis systems as well as to promote speech research on oriental languages. A series of International Workshop on East Asian Language Resources and Evaluation (EALREW) or Oriental COCOSDA Workshop has been held annually since the preparatory meeting held in 1997. After that, we have had a series of workshops every year in Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, India and Indonesia. The Oriental COCOSDA is managed by a convener, three advisory members, and 21 representatives from ten regions in Oriental countries. We need much more Pan-Asia collaboration with research organizations and consortia, though there are some domestic activities in Oriental countries. We note that speech research has become popular gradually in Oriental countries including Malaysia, Vietnam, Xinjang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, etc. We plan to hold future Oriental COCOSDA meetings in these places in order to promote speech research there. 1. Introduction It has been well understood that it is necessary to collect and maintain large amounts of speech data of various kinds, allowing unrestricted access so that they can be utilized for research and development as well as for recognizer performance assessment. Utilization of common speech corpora will increase repeatability and objectivity of speech research. From the linguistic or cultural viewpoint, it is necessary and important to preserve speech data of various languages, especially those that are becoming extinct. It is said that many local languages or dialects are disappearing by the day. Hence there is a pressing need to preserve natural record of such languages. This is another important purpose of speech databases. A collection of data to be used for this purpose is called a speech database or a speech corpus as shown in Fig. 1. Speech Research Objectivity of Research Speech Data Openness to the Public Related Information Cultural Legacy Preservation of Spoken Language Data Fig. 1 Necessity of Speech Corpora COCOSDA was established in 1991 to promote international cooperation in developing speech corpora and also in coordinating assessment methods of speech input/output systems (Campbell, 2000). It is an acronym of the International Coordinating Committee on Speech Databases and Speech I/O Systems Assessment. It holds meetings every year as a satellite workshop of ICSLP and Eurospeech (later INTERSPEECH) conferences. EuroCOCOSDA was established as a suborganization in 1993 and later we started the Oriental COCOSDA as described below. In the following, section 2 describes the history of Oriental COCOSDA briefly. Section 3 introduces organization of Oriental COCOSDA. Section 4 outlines the past annual meetings of Oriental COCOSDA, section 5 mentions the future plan, and section 6 concludes the paper. 2. Brief History At the COCOSDA Workshop in Yokohama, Japan, in 1994, it was proposed by S. Itahashi (first author of the present paper) that East-Asian countries set up an organization to exchange ideas, to share information, and to discuss regional issues on spoken language processing. East Asian languages exhibit a wide range of characteristics which result in very different problems from European languages (1) They embody considerable varieties arising from different language families; (2) They use different orthographic systems, such as Chinese ideographic characters, Korean syllabic alphabet, 753 and Japanese alphabet; (3) They use various systems of Romanization. It is quite natural to suppose that there would be ways of processing these languages which are different from and more suitable than those adapted to European ones. It had been recognized that it was necessary to create various kinds of speech and language corpora available for common use and to coordinate the system for utilization both in the process of research and development and in the performance evaluation of various speech systems. However, efforts to materialize this "recognition" were on a small scale and dispersive in oriental countries. We thought that it was a pressing need to coordinate these efforts from the viewpoints of not only the academic significance but also international cooperation of industry. There were already several organizations in each oriental country but unfortunately with little or no mutual communication. Considering that, it was necessary at first, to prepare a common framework step by step to collect, create, store, distribute and share the speech and language data for the progress in future research on speech and language and on related fields of research. Researchers representing China, Korea, and Japan agreed to set up such an organization that coordinates problems related to speech and text corpora, speech recognition and synthesis, and speech input/output systems assessment methods; we had come to establish Oriental COCOSDA. The purpose of Oriental COCOSDA is to exchange ideas, to share information and to discuss regional matters on creation, utilization, dissemination of spoken language corpora of oriental languages and also on the assessment methods of speech recognition/synthesis systems as well as to promote speech research on oriental languages. The Oriental COCOSDA Preparatory Meeting was held at the University of Hong Kong in 1997. After the preparatory meeting, we have had a series of workshops every year in Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, India, and Indonesia (Itahashi, 2004). 3. Organization The Oriental COCOSDA is managed by the convener, three advisory members from China, Japan and Korea, and 21 representatives from ten regions in Oriental countries including China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. There are some domestic activities in 754 Oriental countries. GSK (Linguistic Resources Association) was launched in Japan in 1999, SITEC (Speech Information Technology Industry Promotion Center) in Korea in 2001, and Chinese LDC in 2002. There is also CCC (Chinese Corpus Consortium) in China. We need much more collaboration with these organizations. 4. Outline of Annual Meetings The Oriental COCOSDA Preparatory Meeting was held at the University of Hong Kong in March, 1997. At the Hong Kong meeting, Prof. H. Fujisaki, Professor Emeritus of University of Tokyo, delivered an overview of COCOSDA and pointed out general and regional problems on corpus studies. Prof. S. Itahashi proposed to hold the first workshop of Oriental COCOSDA in Tsukuba, Japan in May, 1998. Prof. Fujisaki clarified the definition of "Oriental" could be twofold, regional and linguistic (non-European). It was discussed that members of Oriental COCOSDA should be either those who live and work in oriental districts, speak and study oriental languages or those who are interested in oriental language corpora and speech input/output systems standardization. It is understood that Oriental COCOSDA is a sub-organization of COCOSDA in the sense that the members of the former attend the meeting of the latter to report and discuss their activities. 4.1. Tsukuba Meeting The first meeting was held in Tsukuba, Japan in May, 1998 where 30 papers were presented. There were sessions on speech corpora, assessment, orthography and Romanization, and prosodic notation. The speech corpora session included corpora for synthesis, recognition, dialogue and text. The assessment session included that of synthesis and recognition. There were 54 participants coming mostly from Japan and some from China, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Prof. H. Fujisaki presented an overview on "International Efforts t owards Coordination and Standardization of Speech Databases and Speech Input/Output Assessment Methods" referring to the activities of COCOSDA, ELRA, and LDC. An invited lecture was given by Prof. H. Suzuki of University of Tsukuba "On the use of linguistic database for linguistic research." in which he mentioned the importance of database use in linguistics based on his experience in the early stage of the linguistic database development. The scale of the meeting was not so big, but it offered an opportunity for speech researchers of oriental languages the first significant step toward international sharing of speech corpora. 4.2. Taipei Meeting The second meeting was held in Taipei in May, 1999. We had about 110 participants including 70 from Taiwan and 40 from overseas, and about 10 more of on-site registration. The participants were mostly from Taiwan and international attendants came from Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, U.S.A. and France. We had 36 presentations, 4 invited talks and a panel discussion. The invited talks were given by Prof. H. Fujisaki on Information retrieval based on human-machine dialogue, Dr. B-H Juang of Bell Labs. Lucent Technologies on Experiment Design for Speech Recognition and Understanding, Dr. Khalid Choukri of ELRA/ELDA on European Language Resources Association, and Prof. K. Shikano of Nara Institute of Science and Technology on Volunteer-Based IPA Japanese Dictation Free Software Project. The main discussion in the panel was devoted to coordination issues such as national, regional, and international initiatives and programs, and to defining the new cooperative trends within language resources and evaluation seeking the right model for East-Asia considering experiences in North America and Europe. 4.3. Beijing Meeting The third meeting was held at Beijing International Convention Center in China on Mon. 16 Oct. just before ICSLP 2000. This time neither prior registration nor registration fee were necessary, which was different from the former two meetings. It was on a rather small scale, as the meeting was held adjacent to the parent COCOSDA meeting, but we had quite lively presentations and discussions with eight reports 755 presented. Prof. S. Itahashi presented a brief overview of Oriental COCOSDA activities in the opening remarks. Speakers from China, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand reported the speech-related projects and the present status of spoken language corpora creation. Dr. K. Tanaka from Japan introduced JEIDA standard of symbols for TTS synthesizers. Mr. I. Dawa focused on the Mongolian language. Dr. C.-Y. Tseng from Taiwan made a report on labeling emphasis in Chinese speech. Prof. L.-S. Lee from Taiwan, then convener of COCOSDA, stated the new organization and future activity plan of COCOSDA. Prof. L. Du from China concluded the workshop. 4.4. Taejong Meeting The fourth meeting was held in Taejon, Korea in August, 2001. It was a satellite event of ICSP (International Conference on Speech Processing) held also in Taejon. It was a one-day meeting and we had only 11 presentations of the reports, but we had participants not only from Korea but also from China, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia. It was hosted by the Speech Information Technology & Industry Promotion Center (SITEC) which was launched in May, 2001. The Center was supposed to be the Korean counterpart of LDC. It obtained similar amount of budget as LDC for its initial setup during the first five years; after that they are supposed to stand on their own feet and be self-supportive. 4.5. Hua Hin Meeting The 5 th meeting was held jointly with SNLP (Symposium on Natural Language Processing) in 2002 during May 9-11 in Hua Hin, Thailand. SNLP was initiated by NLP researchers in Thailand in 1993 and has been held biannually. There were about 100 participants mostly from Asia. We had five invited talks by four speakers: Prof. Emeritus H. Fujisaki of University of Tokyo on Information Retrieval and Modeling of Tonal Features of Speech. Prof. Fangxin Chen of IBM China Research Laboratory on Speech Synthesis for Tonal Languages, Prof. T. Tokunaga of Tokyo Institute of Technology on Natural Language Understanding and Action Control, and Prof. D. Yarowsky of Johns Hopkins University on Cross-Language Projection of Linguistic Knowledge. There were about 57 oral presentations including 28 regular papers, 17 short papers, 8 COCOSDA papers and 4 student papers. Among them, 23 were from Thailand, 14 from Japan, 5 from China, 3 from Korea and India, 2 from Taiwan and one from Malaysia, Indonesia and Guam except the student papers which were all from Thailand. General presentations were made in parallel for NLP and speech processing using two rooms. 4.6. Singapore Meeting The 6 th meeting was also held jointly with PACLIC (Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation) in Singapore in Oct. 2003 and 28 papers were presented. The participants were from Singapore, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea. There were two invited presentations: Prof. S. Itahashi of University of Tsukuba, Japan presented an "Overview of the East-Asian Activities on Speech Corpora and Assessment," and Prof. Fang Zheng of Tsinghua University, China talked on "Making Full Use of Chinese Speech Corpora." There were three sessions on Speech Input and Output, two sessions on Speech Corpora and the sessions of Assessment and Phonetic Systems of Oriental Languages of one session each. 4.7. Delhi Meeting The 7 th meeting was held in Delhi, India in Nov. 2004 together with iSTEPS (International Symposium on Speech Technology and Processing Systems) and also iSTRANS (International Symposium on Machine Translation, NLP and TSS). There were 13 invited talks and 53 presentations of speech-related papers and attended by over 150 participants coming mostly from all over India. International participants also came from Australia, France, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and U.S.A. In addition to oral presentations by authors, there were lively discussions throughout the meeting. The event also drew considerable local media coverage. 4.8. Jakarta Meeting The 8 th meeting was held in Jakarta in Dec. 2005. Initially, the workshop was planned to be held in Bali, but it was moved to Jakarta because of the bomb affair in Bali in October. There were 65 participants, mostly from Asia, and 22 presentations plus two invited talks. Among them, 9 were from Japan, 3 from China and Malaysia, 2 from Taiwan and Indonesia, and one from Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mongolia. There was one session in the morning, and two sessions in the afternoon. Among them, two sessions were for speech corpora, and one session for speech recognition, speech synthesis, speaker identification and spoken dialogue. On the third day, there was a city sightseeing tour. This time we had participation from Malaysia for the first time. The invited talks are as follows: Corpus and technologies for ATR speech-to-speech translation by Dr. Satoshi Nakamura of ATR, Japan and Characteristics of 756 Indonesian Language from Perspective of Language Technologies by Dr. A. A. Arman of ITB, Indonesia. 5. Future Plans The 9 th meeting is planned to be held in Malaysia in December 2006. Speech research has become popular gradually in Oriental countries including Vietnam, Xinjang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, etc. We are going to hold the Oriental COCOSDA meeting in these places in order to promote speech research there. We are also looking for other related conferences for possible joint sessions and/or special sessions to promote Oriental COCOSDA and its missions to research communities on speech and spoken language processing. 6. Conclusion This paper has introduced the development of Oriental COCOSDA. LDC in U.S.A. and ELRA in Europe have contributed to the creation, collection, and distribution of speech corpora. GSK, SITEC and the Chinese LDC are expected to play the role of LDC or ELRA in Asia. Continuous speech corpora, especially those containing spontaneous speech of Asian languages, are still in preparation. In the future, it will be increasingly necessary to enrich speech and language corpora, especially to promote the collection and utilization of Asian language corpora, of which either tones or pitch accents are distinct phonetic features for some and a large number of them use non-alphabetic writing systems. A recent milestone is the fact that the National Institute of Informatics in Japan has decided to start its activities on speech corpora together with GSK. This act will strengthen corpora resource sharing and standardization activities not only in Japan but also in East Asia. We therefore believe Oriental COCOSDA will continue to contribute to its cause and missions and play an ever more important role in the region. For more information please refer to the following URLs. http://www.slc.atr.jp/o-cocosda/ http://www.cocosda.org/ 7. References Campbell, N. (2000). COCOSDA – a Progress Report. Proc. LREC 2000, Athens, Greece, pp. 73-76. Itahashi, S. (2004). Overview of the Asian Activities on Speech Corpora and Standardization. Invited paper, Proc. iSTRANS-2004 and Oriental COCOSDA 2004, Delhi, India, pp. 3-11.
January 11, 2012 Ms. Kimberly Bose Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 888 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20426 Dear Ms. Bose: NOTICE OF STUDY DISPUTE FOR NEW DON PEDRO HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT, FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION PROJECT NO. 2299 The State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) is hereby filing a Notice of Study Dispute with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) regarding the study plan determination issued on December 22, 2011, for the New Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project (Project), Commission Project No. 2299. The Project is licensed to the Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts (Districts). The State Water Board has authority to issue a water quality certification under section 401 of the Clean Water Act for this relicensing proceeding and is therefore eligible to file a study dispute pursuant to 18 C.F.R. § 5.14. The State Water Board is mandated under provisions of the Clean Water Act to protect the beneficial uses established for the Tuolumne River as designated in the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board's Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River Basins. Before the State Water Board can issue a water quality certification for the Districts' Project, information will be needed that shows that operation of the Project under a new Commission license is consistent with both water quality objectives and the protection of beneficial uses. The study plan determination issued by the Commission does not sufficiently provide for the collection of information that the State Water Board believes will be required to make reasoned decisions concerning the issuance of water quality certification for the Districts' Project. The State Water Board is aware that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) also plan to file a Notice of Study Dispute with the Commission under their mandatory conditioning authority pursuant to section 18 of the Federal Power Act. The State Water Board supports these agencies in their study dispute regarding the need for information on fisheries resources, fish passage, and fishery habitat in the Tuolumne River both upstream and downstream of the Districts' Project. The Integrated Licensing Process (ILP) regulations [§ 5.14 (b)] require that a Notice of Study Dispute identify and provide contact information for the panel member designated by the disputing agency. At this time, the State Water Board identifies Mr. William Foster, NMFS Fisheries Biologist, to act as the agency panelist. However, the State Water Board leaves open the possibility of appointing another agency panelist, as time has not permitted sufficient discussions on this topic with personnel of USFWS and NMFS. E-FILE FERC NO. 2299 Mr. Foster has had no direct involvement with this Project's ILP, and therefore is not otherwise involved in the proceeding. § 5.14 (b). Mr. Foster's contact information is: William Foster, National Marine Fisheries Service, 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 5-100, Sacramento, California 95814. His telephone number is (916) 930-3617, and his email address is email@example.com. Finally, the State Water Board would like to reiterate what it has made clear previously, that the State Water Board intends to exercise its mandatory conditioning authority to the extent necessary to ensure that the operation of the Project under a new Commission license is consistent with both water quality objectives and the protection of the beneficial uses designated for the Tuolumne River. If this dispute process does not yield the study plans that the State Water Board needs to carry out its mandatory conditioning authority, the State Water Board may require such information under its Water Code section 13383 authority, to ensure that the State Water Board has the information necessary to issue a water quality certification for this Project. The State Water Board is filing this Notice of Study Dispute in a good faith effort to participate fully in the ILP. However, as is clear from the Commission's Final Rule and Tribal Policy Statement for the ILP, as revised February 23, 2004, the State Water Board's participation in this process does not affect the State Water Board's independent authority to require the Districts to produce data or information in the context of the water quality certification application. Additional information regarding the notice is contained in Attachment A. If you have any questions regarding this filing, please contact either Mr. Peter Barnes (Email: firstname.lastname@example.org; Phone: 916-445-9989) or Ms. Erin Mahaney (Email: email@example.com; Phone: 916-341-5187). Sincerely, ORIGINAL SIGNED BY: Thomas Howard Executive Director Attachment A cc: Modesto Irrigation District Attn: Melissa Williams P.O. Box 4060 Modesto, CA 95352 Ms. Pamela Creedon Executive Officer Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board 11020 Sun Center Dr. Suite 200 Rancho Cordova, CA 95670 Turlock Irrigation District Attn: Michelle Reimers P.O. Box 949 Turlock, CA 95381 Mr. Larry Thompson NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 8-300 Sacramento, CA 95814-4706 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISION Turlock Irrigation District Modesto Irrigation District New Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project Project No. 2299-075 Notice of Study Dispute State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) staff participated in the New Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project (Project; Commission Project No. 2299) relicensing proceeding currently before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission). State Water Board staff attended meetings and conference calls organized by Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts (Districts) throughout the study plan development process. State Water Board staff submitted scoping comments and preliminary study plan requests on June 9, 2011, and submitted additional comments on the Proposed Study Plan on October 24, 2011. The Districts subsequently filed with the Commission a revised study plan on November 22, 2011, which contains responses to comments and requests made by the Resources Agencies and Conservation Groups. The State Water Board submitted comments on the Districts' Revised Study Plan on December 7, 2011. The Commission issued its Final Study Plan Determination on December 22, 2011. State Water Board staff believes that the study plan determination issued by the Commission is inadequate by not providing for the collection of information that will be required for the State Water Board to make reasoned decisions concerning the issuance of water quality certification for the Districts' Project. As a mandatory conditioning agency and pursuant to 18 C.F.R. § 5.14, the State Water Board submits this document to the Commission as formal notice of study dispute. Agency Management Goals and Need for Information The State Water Board is mandated under provisions of the Clean Water Act to protect the beneficial uses established for the Tuolumne River as designated in the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board's (Regional Board) Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River Basins (Basin Plan). Before the State Water Board can issue a water quality certification for the Districts' Project, the State Water Board needs information showing that operation of the Project under a new Commission license is consistent with both water quality objectives and the protection of the beneficial uses designated for the Tuolumne River. The studies must have the geographic scope to fully capture Project effects and Project contributions to cumulative effects on beneficial use of the Tuolumne River and the waterways affected by the Tuolumne River. The studies assessing aquatic resources and aquatic habitats must be robust enough to identify Project impacts and identify appropriate management alternatives that will protect aquatic resources. Studies must include full disclosure of the water right claims being relied upon to operate the Project and to mitigate Project impacts. The State Water Board must be provided with this information in order to understand the existing and future impacts to aquatic resources in the Tuolumne River from the operation of the Districts' Project. Federal regulations governing the Integrated Licensing Process (ILP), which is being used for the Districts' Project relicensing, include guidelines regarding the development of studies to address information needed for the Commission proceeding. Part 5 of the Commission's regulations (18 C.F.R. § 5.9 (a)) describes the need for information and studies required for consultation under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and water quality certification under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. State Water Board staff believes that the Commission did not adequately address this regulation when it failed to incorporate the study plan requests made by the agencies responsible for determining the information needs for ESA consultation and Clean Water Act water quality certification. The State Water Board is aware that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are also planning to file a Notice of Study Dispute with the Commission under their mandatory conditioning authority pursuant to section 18 of the Federal Power Act. The State Water Board supports NMFS and USFWS in their study dispute regarding the need for information on fish passage, fisheries resources and fishery habitat in the Tuolumne River both upstream and downstream of Districts' Project. This information, which is not included in the Commission's study plan determination, is necessary in order for NMFS and USFWS to determine how best to exercise their authority pursuant to Section 18. The decision to exercise prescriptive authority with respect to fish passage cannot be made unless there is information on habitat conditions throughout the Tuolumne River. Areas of Dispute Water Rights The State Water Board appreciates the Commission's direction to the Districts to provide information on existing licenses, agreements and contracts that are not part of the licensing proceeding but include any streamflow-related requirements. The State Water Board would like to point out that not all water rights contain stream-flow related requirements, but do have constraints regarding the amount and timing of the diversions. In order to adequately inform licensing conditions, such constraints must be reflected in any water balance model. Reservoir Water Temperature Management Feasibility Study as proposed by the California Department of Fish and Game The Commission did not recommend that the Districts conduct this study as part of its Final Study Plan Determination, claiming that the study represents an assessment of potential protection, mitigation and enhancement (PM&E) measures. The State Water Board disagrees with this determination. The Tuolumne River is listed as impaired for temperature pursuant to section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (USEPA 2011). Such impairment can be directly tied to the Project and its operations, therefore meeting study criterion 5 of the ILP. This study will inform the State Water Board whether or not the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (2003) temperature criteria and habitat conditions in the lower Tuolumne River can be improved with water temperature management and the selective withdrawal of cold water from Don Pedro Reservoir. This information will be used by the State Water Board in the development water quality certification conditions as prescribed by Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. Other Throughout the study plan development process, the State Water Board has maintained its support of the specialized expertise of relicensing participants such as the California Department of Fish and Game, USFWS, and NMFS. We respect the ability of these agencies to rigorously evaluate the Project's impacts both on aquatic and terrestrial biological resources, which are integral components of the beneficial uses designated in the Basin Plan. State Water Board staff has consistently supported the study requests and proposals submitted by these resource agencies. The State Water Board finds that several of these requests for information put forth were not adequately incorporated into the studies that the Commission has ordered the Districts to carryout in the Final Study Plan Determination. The State Water Board supports these agencies in their disputes of the Final Study Plan Determination.
Agenda – Y Pwyllgor Deisebau Lleoliad: Committee Room 4 – Tŷ Hywel Dyddiad: Dydd Mawrth, 16 Mawrth 2021 Amser: 08.30 I gael rhagor o wybodaeth cysylltwch a: Graeme Francis – Clerc y Pwyllgor Kayleigh Imperato – Dipwrwy Glerc 0300 200 6565373 firstname.lastname@example.org Yn unol â Rheol Sefydlog 34.19, mae'r Cadeirydd wedi penderfynu gwahardd y cyhoedd o gyfarfod y Pwyllgor at ddibenion diogelu iechyd y cyhoedd. Bydd y cyfarfod hwn yn cael ei ddarlledu'n fyw ar www.senedd.tv 1 Cyflwyniad, ymddiheuriadau, dirprwyon a datganiadau o fuddiant (Tudalennau 1 – 69) 2 Deisebau newydd gyda ymateb o'r Llywodraeth 2.1 P-05-1104 Dylid gwneud i unrhyw gamau sy'n cael eu cyflwyno o ran Covid-19 fod yn destun pleidlais yn Senedd Cymru (Tudalennau 70 – 73) 2.2 P-05-1106 Cyflwyno cyllidebau iechyd personol a gofal personol yn Nghymru (Tudalennau 74 – 87) 2.3 P-05-1107 Caniatáu i gantorion / adloniant byw ailddechrau yn yr awyr agored (Tudalennau 88 – 89) 2.4 P-05-1110 Dylid adfer nofio am ddim i bensiynwyr (Tudalennau 90 – 92) 2.5 P-05-1120 Dylai Llywodraeth Cymru atal pob cyfnod o gyfyngiadau symud ar unwaith (Tudalennau 93 – 95) 2.6 P-05-1122 Caniatáu i rieni sydd newydd fabwysiadu ffurfio swigen gefnogaeth yn y cyfynghiadau lefel rhybudd 4 (Tudalennau 96 – 100) 2.7 P-05-1126 Caniatáu chwaraeon wedi'u trefnu yn yr awyr agored ar gyfer pobl ifanc o dan 18 oed fel bod Cymru'n gweithredu yn unol â'r rheolau haen 4 yn Lloegr (Tudalennau 101 – 103) 2.8 P-05-1149 Dylid ailgychwyn chwaraeon tîm i blant yn unol â Lloegr ar Fawrth 29ain 2021 (Tudalennau 104 – 108) 2.9 P-05-1133 Dylid addasu maes llafur hyfforddiant athrawon i gynnwys Hyfforddiant Trawsnewidiol a Deallusrwydd Emosiynol (Tudalennau 109 – 116) 2.10 P-05-1134 Cap all Welsh county council tax at 3%. A referendum of the public must take place to exceed 3% (Tudalennau 117 – 121) 2.11 P-05-1138 Profion COVID-19 wythnosol ar gyfer staff sy'n gofalu am bobl ag anghenion iechyd meddygol cymhleth (Tudalennau 122 – 125) 2.12 P-05-1140 Dylid adolygu'r canllawiau ar gyfer Prydau Ysgol Am Ddim, gan ddileu'r opsiwn ar gyfer dosbarthu parseli bwyd (Tudalennau 126 – 132) 2.13 P-05-1142 Cynllun Mynd Allan i Helpu Allan (Tudalennau 133 – 135) 2.14 P-05-1143 Ail-agorwch ysgolion yn llawn ar unwaith ar ôl hanner tymor mis Chwefror (Tudalennau 136 – 139) 2.15 P-05-1144 Ailagor canolfannau garddio yng Nghymru cyn gynted â phosibl (Tudalennau 140 – 143) 2.16 P-05-1145 Caniatewch i rieni plant ifanc yrru i ddefnyddio parciau a meysydd chwarae lleol yn ystod y cyfynghiadau symud haen 4 (Tudalennau 144 – 146) 2.17 P-05-1146 Dylid darparu map trywydd ar gyfer sut y gall priodasau gael eu cynnal yng Nghymru (Tudalennau 147 – 149) 2.18 P-05-1147 Dylid ei gwneud yn ofynol i bob ysgol ddarparu addysg fyw/addysg wedi’i recordio bob dydd i bob disgybl nad yw’n dychwelyd i’r ysgol (Tudalennau 150 – 154) Deisebau newydd heb ymateb o’r Llywodraeth 2.19 P-05-1103 Rhowch derfyn ar gymhwysor’ un cyfyngiadau Covid-19 ar draws Cymru gyfan (Tudalen 155) 2.20 P-05-1141 Dylid gwneud etholiad y Senedd yn deg – caniatáu danfon taflenni gwleidyddol dan gyfynigiadau symud (Tudalennau 156 – 157) 2.21 P-05-1148 Agorwch ysgolion yn llawn i bob oedran yng Nghymru fel y cam nesaf o 15 Mawrth (Tudalennau 158 – 162) 2.22 P-05-1150 Rhowch wyliau ardrethi busnes i safleoedd cartrefi gwyliau yng Nghymru, fel yn Lloegr (Tudalen 163) 2.23 P-05-1151 Dylid pennu dyddiad ar gyfer ailddechrau gweithgareddau wedi’u trefnu ar gyfer babanod a phlant bach (Tudalennau 164 – 169) 2.24 P-05-1152 Caewch yr ysgolion! Cadwch ein plant yn ddiogel. Oherwydd y cynnydd mewn COVID-19. Achubwch ein dyfodol (Tudalen 170) 2.25 P-05-1153 Dylid agor campfeydd awyr agored a chaniatáu chwaraeon awyr agored yng Nghymru yn yr un modd ag yn Lloegr ar 29 Mawrth (Tudalennau 171 – 173) 2.26 P–05–1154 Dylid ailagor y sector lletygarwch yn Nghymru erbyn 12 Ebrill 2021 (Tudalennau 174 – 175) 2.27 P–05–1155 Caniatáu chwaraeon dŵr diogel, gan gadw pellter cymdeithasol, yn ystod cyfnodau clo y coronafeirws (Tudalennau 176 – 181) 2.28 P–05–1156 Dylid cyfateb y cyllid ar gyfer busnesau bach yn ystod y cyfyngiadau symud gyda Lloegr – gan gynnwys y grant aigychwyn (Tudalennau 182 – 186) 3 Y wybodaeth ddiweddaraf am ddeisebau blaenorol Amgylchedd, Ynni a Materion Gwledig Mae'r tair eitem ganlynol wedi'u grwpio gyda'i gilydd i'w hystyried 3.1 P–05–856 Rhaid gwahardd gwerthu cŵn bach gan siopau anifeiliaid anwes a phob gwerthwr trydydd parti masnachol yn Nghymru (Cyfraith Lucy) (Tudalennau 187 – 188) 3.2 P–05–915 Galwad am well gorfodaeth o ffermydd cŵn bach yn Nghymru (Tudalen 189) 3.3 P–05–939 Gosod embargo ar unwaith ar drwyddedau bridio cŵn newydd, ar adnewyddu trwyddedau ac ar geisiadau cynllunio nes bod y rheoliadau'n addas i'r diben a nes bod modd eu gorfodi (Tudalennau 190 – 193) 3.4 P–05–895 Etifeddiaeth Rosa: Dylid cyflwyno cynllun i helpu pobl i gael hawl i ofal milfeddygol ar gyfer eu hanifeiliaid anwes (Tudalennau 194 – 196) 3.5 P–05–1003 Mynnu Asesiad o'r Effaith Amgylcheddol nawr ynghylch gwaredu mwd wedi'i halogi'n radiolegol yn nyfroedd Cymru (Tudalennau 197 – 226) 3.6 P-05-1010 Ymchwiliad annibynnol i'r llifogydd yn Rhondda Cynon Taf yn 2020 fel bod gwersi yn cael eu dysgu (Tudalennau 227 – 234) 3.7 P-05-1079 Dylid diogelu Gwarchodfa Natur Cynffig gan ddefnyddio pwerau prynu gorfodol (Tudalennau 235 – 241) 3.8 P-05-1097 Dylid gwahardd cewyll adar hela (Tudalennau 242 – 247) Iechyd a Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol 3.9 P-05-960 Dylid talu costau angladdau pob un o staff y GIG sy'n marw o Covid-19 neu gyda'r feirws (Tudalennau 248 – 252) 3.10 P-05-964 Dylid ymestyn absenoldeb â thâl a chymorth ariannol a ddarperir mewn ymateb i Covid-19 i staff cronfa GIG Cymru sy'n agored i niwed a staff sy'n feichiog (Tudalennau 253 – 255) 3.11 P-05-1029 Dylai Llywodraeth Cymru gyflwyno profion gorfodol ar yr holl deithwyr sy'n cyrraedd Maes Awyr Caerdydd (Tudalennau 256 – 259) 3.12 P-05-1116 Rhowch flaenoriaeth i bobl ag anabledd dysgu gael eu brechu yn erbyn COVID-19 yng Nghymru (Tudalen 260) Diwylliant, Chwaraeon a Thwristiaeth 3.13 P-05-1013 Rhowch gymorth ariannol i unigolion hunangyflogodedig yn niwydiant cerddoriaeth fyw Cymru (Tudalennau 261 – 264) Mae'r ddwy eitem ganlynnol wedi'u grwpio gyda'i gilydd i'w hystyried 3.14 P–05–1080 Cyflwyno deunyddiau dysgu gwrth-hiliaeth i blant mewn ysgolion yn Nghymru i leihau troseddau casineb (Tudalen 265) 3.15 P–05–1000 Ei gwneud yn orfodol i hanesion pobl dduon a POC y DU gael eu haddysgu yng nghwricwlwm addysg Cymru (Tudalennau 266 – 270) Tai a Llywodraeth Leol 3.16 P–05–1083 Dylid gwarchod lesddeiliaid yn Nghymru rhag talu am waith adfer cladin (Tudalennau 271 – 274) Economi a Thrafnidiaeth 3.17 P–05–943 Rydym yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i gymryd camau brys i sicrhau gwelliannau i'r A487 rhwng Gellilydan a Maentwrog (Tudalennau 275 – 276) 3.18 P–05–1061 Rhowch gefnogaeth ariannol i fusnesau Lletya Anifeiliaid Anwes (Tudalennau 277 – 280) 4 Adolygiad o ddeisebau sydd o dan ystyriaeth (Tudalennau 281 – 301) 5 Papurau i'w nodi 5.1 P–05–957 Gorsaf yn Sanclêr – Cefnogwch y cais am orsaf drennau yn Sanclêr (Tudalennau 302 – 303) 5.2 P–05–1017 Caniatáu i ddisgyblion wisgo mygydau ym mhob rhan o safle'r ysgol (Tudalen 304) 5.3 P-05-825 Diogelu ysgyfaint plant rhag llygredd niweidiol tra maent yn yr ysgol (Tudalennau 305 – 307) 5.4 P-05-882 – Trawsnewid yr ymateb i bobl hŷn sy’n dioddef camdriniaeth ddomestig – galw am weithredu (Tudalennau 308 – 309) 5.5 P-05-1077 Peidiwch â newid ffin bleidleisio de Ystrad Mynach (Tudalen 310) 5.6 P-05-812 Dylid gweithredu canllawiau NICE ar gyfer trin Anhwylder Personoliaeth Ffiniol (Tudalennau 311 – 312) 6 Cynnig o dan Reol Sefydlog 17.42 i benderfynu gwahardd y cyhoedd o’r cyfarfod ar gyfer y busnes a ganlyn: 7 Adroddiad Etifeddiaeth (Tudalennau 313 – 326) Mae cyfynigiadau ar y ddogfen hon P-05-1104 Dylid gwneud i unrhyw gamau sy’n cael eu cyflwyno o ran Covid-19 fod yn destun pleidlais yn Senedd Cymru Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Dave Smith, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 155 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae Prif Weinidog Cymru wedi bod yn ymgymryd â'r gwaith o basio rheolau ar fywydau'r cyhoedd heb gael cymeradwyeth gan gynrychiolwyr etholedig Senedd Cymru yn gyntaf. Felly nid yw'r rheolau'n ddemocrataidd. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Islwyn • Dwyrain De Cymru Annwyl Gadeirydd Ysgrifennaf mewn ymateb i’ch llythyr dyddiedig 16 Rhagfyr ynglŷn â deiseb yn gofyn am unrhyw cyfyngiadau rheoleiddiol mewn perthynas â coronafeirws i fod yn destun pleidlais yn y Senedd. Mae’r Rheoliadau Cyfyngiadau Coronafeirws yn cael eu gwneud o dan Ran 2A o Ddeddf Iechyd y Cyhoedd (Rheoli Clefydau) 1984. Mae Adran 45R o’r Ddeddf yn caniatâu i Weinidogion wneud rheoliadau cyn iddynt gael eu cymeradwy gan y Senedd, os ydynt o’r farn bod angen gwneud y rheoliadau ar frys heb i fersiwn ddrafft gael ei gosod gerbron y Senedd, a’i chymeradwyo. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru yn ymrwymedig i sicrhau bod y Senedd yn cael yr amser priodol ar gyfer ystyried pob cyfyngiad a chraffu arno. Rydym yng nghanol argyfwng iechyd cyhoeddus digynsail, a bu’n rhaid gwneud cyfyngiadau o dan y gweithdrefnau argyfwng gan fod angen eu gweithredu ar frys. Fodd bynnag, mae’r holl gyfyngiadau wedi cael eu trafod a’u cymeradwyo yn y Senedd. Hefyd, mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi cyflwyno nifer o gynigion i roi’r cyfle i Aelodau’r Senedd drafod newidiadau i gyfyngiadau. O dan Reoliadau Diogelu Iechyd (Cyfyngiadau Coronafeirws) Rhif 5 (Cymru) 2020, mae’n ofynnol cynnal adolygiad o’r cyfyngiadau bod 21 o ddiwrnodau er mwyn sicrhau eu bod yn gymesur, yn effeithiol, ac yn angenrheidiol. Dymuniadau gorau Bae Caerdydd • Cardiff Bay Caerdydd • Cardiff CF99 1SN Canolfan Cyswllt Cyntaf / First Point of Contact Centre: 0300 0604400 email@example.com • firstname.lastname@example.org Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. Tudalen y pecyn 71 We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. MARK DRAKEFORD Tudalen y pecyn 72 I think its an absolute disgrace that the 1st minister can bring in rules in the name of covid without a vote prior to the change. The prime example is the fact that supermarkets can't sell non essential.. essential items and this was brought in with no vote. This has resulted in me not being able to purchase toys for my son who is less than 1 years old and needs new toys frequently. There should be due diligence. Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Rhys Bowler, ar ôl casgli cyfanswm o 779 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae gan Rhys gyflwr Nychdod Cyhyrol Duchenne. Mae'n byw mewn ofn am ei fywyd bob dydd, ac yn cael ei adael ar ei ben ei hun am oriau'n gobeithio na fydd y peiriant anadlu y mae'n dibynnu arno yn torri. Rhaid iddo ddewis rhwng gofal cymdeithasol a arieniwr yn wael a phecyn Gofal Iechyd Parhaus y GIG sy'n golygu nad yw'n cael dewis pwy sy'n gofalu amdano. Pe bai Rhys yn byw yn Lloegr, byddai ganddo gyllideb iechyd bersonol, a fyddai'n caniatáu iddo ddefnyddio Gofal Iechyd Parhaus y GIG yn ogystal â gallu dewis pwy sy'n gofalu amdano. Nid yw hyn ar gael yng Nghymru. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Rhys ydw i, rydw i'n 33 oed ac yn byw gyda Nychdod Cyhyrol Duchenne ym Mhontypridd, Cymru. Mae gen i anawsterau symud sylweddol ac mae angen peiriant anadlu arnaf er mwyn anadlu. Rydw i wedi cyflogi fy nghynorthwywyr gofal fy hun ers degawdau ac mae gennyf lawer o brofiad o'u hyfforddi a'u cyflogi. Rydw i wedi cael profiadau gwael wrth ddefnyddio asiantaethau a pheidio gallu dweud fy marn o ran pwy sy'n gofalu amdanaf. Rydw i eisiau dewis fy nghynorthwywyr gofal fy hun. Rydw i eisiau gwybod pwy sy'n dod i'm cartref i'm helpu gyda fy ngofal personol, ac rwyf am iddynt fod yn bobl rwy'n ymddiried ynddynt ac sydd wedi'u hyfforddi o ran y ffordd orau i ddarparu gofal i mi. Peidiwch â gadael i'm profiad gael ei wastraffu! Rydw i eisiau Cyllideb Iechyd Bersonol er mwyn i mi gael gofal 24 awr a chael dewis pwy yw fy nghynorthwywyr gofal. Mae hyn wedi bod ar gael yn Lloegr Tudalen y pecyn 74 ers 2014, mae'n hen bryd i Gymru gymryd hyn o ddifrif a dechrau rhoi dewis a rheolaeth go iawn i bobl dros y gofal maen nhw'n ei gael. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad - Pontypridd - Canol De Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch iechi am eich llythyr dyddiedig 16 Rhagfyr, yn ceisio fy sylwadau am y ddeiseb yr ydych wedi ei chael gan Rhys Bowler ynghylch cyflwyno cyllidebau iechyd personol a gofal personol yn Nghymru. Y disgwyliad clir a diamws yng Nghymru yw y dylai'r ddarpariaeth o gofal iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol fod yn ddi-dor, yn integredig, ac wedi ei bersonoli, mewn modd sy'n galluogi'r unigolyn i barhau i gael llais a rheolaeth lle bynnag y bydd yn dymuno gwneud hynny. Fodd bynnag, fe wyddom, o'r profiadau personol sydd wedi cael eu rhannu gan Rhys Bowler ac eraill, fod y pryderon yn parhau ynghylch gallu pobl i ymarfer llais a rheolaeth dros eu gofal, mewn achosion lle na allant taliadau uniongyrchol o dan Ofal Iechyd Parhaus y GIG. Rydym yn deall pwysigrwydd parhad a dilyniant gofal i'r unigolion hyn, yn enwedig y rheini sydd fwyaf agored i niwed, a'r rheini sydd ag anghenion iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol cymhleth ac anghenion gofal personol. Deallwn hefyd y gofid mawr a achosir pan fo posiblirwydd bod unigolyn yn colli ei dîm o gynorthwywyr personol, sydd hwyraich wedi bod yn darparu gofal iddo ers nifer o flynyddoedd. Rydym yn cydnabod y bydd galluogi pobl i gael rheolaeth dros eu trefniadau gofal a chymorth eu hunain, drwy ddarparu gofal mwy hyblyg, yn gwella iechyd a llesiant unigolion, yn ogystal ag iechyd a llesiant eu teuluoeedd a'u gofalwyr. Rydym wedi ymrwymo i edrych ar wahanol opsionau sy'n ymwneud â'r rhyngwneb rhwng Gofal Iechyd Parhaus a thaliadau uniongyrchol, gan gynnwys ffyrrd o ddefnyddio taliadau uniongyrchol, ar gyfer derbynwyr y gofal hwnnw, a fyddai'n gyfwerth â chyllidebau iechyd personol. Byddwn yn edrych ar opsionau deddfwriaethol tymor hir yn ogystal ag ystyried unrhyw drefniadau dros dro a allai wella llais a rheolaeth yn y tymor byr i'r rheini sy'n derbyn Gofal Iechyd Parhaus. Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. Tudalen y pecyn 76 We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Mae fy swyddogion wedi gwahodd Rhys Bowler i ymuno â gweithgor i ystyried yr opsiynau ar gyfer rhoi sylw i'r materion hyn, unwaith yr ydym wedi adfer digon o'r pandemig i ganiatâu inni aildechrau ar y gwaith hwn. Yn gywir, Vaughan Gething AS/MS Y Gweinidog Iechyd a Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol Minister for Health and Social Services Dear committee, I have included a short video of my news interview. Also, I have included a copy of my response in word document format for ease of use. See appendix for testimony's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s12H34rB8VQ Thank you for your letter responding to the petition regarding the introduction of Personal Health Budgets and Personalised Care in Wales. It is refreshing to know that the Welsh government has acknowledged our struggles as people will advance care needs. And how hard we have fought for 24-hour care within our own control not governed by anyone only our want to control our destiny the way we want it! Using my own personal experiences as an example of the damage that not having 24-hour care does, I hope I will demonstrate to you how this legislation must change and change quickly. - This decision must be made with the utmost haste as many of us with advanced care needs, and life-limiting conditions, have short lives, and our conditions are often incurable and progressive. The clock is ticking for us, far quicker than the rest of society. "My life is limited, and I wish to live it, not spend my time fighting the Welsh government for a right which I believe should have naturally been bestowed to me. In 2017, I watched my poor brother die of this awful condition. He was 27, we hardly left the house because of how little care hours we had! We merely sat in his bedroom, and pondered the life we could have had, if we didn't have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and what we wished we could accomplish, if we had the right care! That was no life for my brother, his potential was trapped and wasted. I want to live before it's too late for me also, and fulfill my vast potential." "My complex care needs clearly mean I require 24/7 care, from at least my local authority, and my health needs undoubtedly make me eligible for CHC. I am dependent on a ventilator; without it I would die! However, I have my reasons for staying away from the CHC assessment! I have been repeatedly warned what would happen if I underwent the assessment and went to CHC. Ministers, it should never be a threat that if my health deteriorates, I will lose control and autonomy over my life! I would be forced to have a care agency who are not commissioned by myself, I could not decide who provides my care, whether I choose to employ my..." own personal assistants (as I have successfully done all my adult life), or commission an agency. To my mind this is completely unacceptable”. Reference Rhys Bowler letter to Julie Morgan shadow health minister. This Current pandemic shows the fragility of human life and indeed how short truly it is! It has offered the non-disabled populace a new perspective on what it means to be imprisoned within their own homes. My greatest fear which has me utterly terrifying is that the world will be coming out of lockdown and I will be still Here stuck as a prisoner remaining in my isolation, without the care I need to get out of my home and live. It really makes me feel disheartened, and hopeless. Key points “The clear, unambiguous expectation in Wales is for personalised, seamless integrated health and social care that enables individuals to maintain voice and control where they wish to.” - This currently falls short when it comes to individuals with complex care needs, who require CHC funding, and those who have joint funding, (additional NHS funding alongside local authority funding). - We have no voice or control over our care, when we are not able to receive direct payments under NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and do not have the ability to choose who cares for us. - Although we are proud welsh citizens who because of devolution have to be seen as individualised, but we must have parity with England and Scotland in terms of care. And Have the same opportunities as they do we are after all a united kingdom. - Bringing a welsh PHB into reality, and facilitating a direct payment format of care funding, would see the severely disabled people of Wales given the same rights and freedoms, that exist in the rest of the UK. - However, by not having the PHB here in wales, the welsh government are disabling us further! It goes completely against the social model of disability, which has been written and was addressed in a speech by the shadow minister, Jane Hutt, on international disability day. “We understand the importance of continuity of care for these individuals, especially those who are most vulnerable, have complex health and social care needs and those that require intimate care. The prospect of losing their team of personal assistants, who may have been providing care to them for a number of years, is understandably very distressing to them”. When I go to continuing healthcare! The NHS preferred care method would be an agency! I can tell you from my point of view, and the people I represent, we absolutely do not want agency care, to be forced upon us! - Agencies often struggle to provide, the individualized support, many like myself require. - They dehumanise, the individual that should be at the heart of it. - They do not have our best interests at heart! - And there are many more issues, which I could talk about for hours, but at the heart of nearly all the problems is money and control. “The fact of the matter is, not having the ability to choose who provides our care, is very distressing, for countless reasons”. Reference Rhys bowler speech to Jane Hutt - My needs are complex, but I do not require medically trained staff. I have a team of skilled personal assistants, who I employ myself. I have been doing this for 15 years, and I do not want to lose them, or the self-worth I get being an employer, and managing my own care. I merely need the additional joint funding via direct payments, to enable me to cover 24/7 care, rather than my current 108 hours. - In my fight for my own care and others, I have received legal advice, and been told I should not be made fearful that my future is in the hands of the local authorities and the local health board officers, who erroneously believe that Direct Payments cannot be facilitated. - Julie Morgan wrote in a statement to all, that there should be an unambiguous statement from Welsh Government, to health boards and local authorities, stating they must work together to meet people’s needs in a person-centred way. Continuing NHS Healthcare: The National Framework for implementation in Wales. Enabling individuals with care needs that require CHC funding to be able to maintain their independence, and facilitate them to keep their personal assistants, if that is their choice. Some Welsh health boards have agreed, in principle, to look at adapting how it can provide joint CHC funding, in the event that individuals are assessed as eligible for CHC funding. Alternatively, if individuals are not fully funded by CHC, and their care and support continue to be provided in a joint package of care, health boards have agreed to work with local Councils to ensure the continuation of existing care packages, through direct payments. In relation to Direct Payments, the Welsh Government’s 2014 Framework guidance advises (paras 4.46 – 4.50): If an individual has existing DP arrangements, these should continue wherever and for as long as possible within a tailored joint package of care. I believe this clause needs strengthening in the interim, to allow Direct Payments to be made more easily attainable, and available to those with joint packages of care. After the pandemic, these individuals should not fear that this will be taken away. I urge you to implement this immediately. Our thoughts on the proposal by the welsh government, to implement an independent user trust. - An IUT is described as similar to a PHB! It isn’t. - IUT’s are in fact one of the methods, that an individual can use to manage a PHB, when a direct payment is not possible. - So not a PHB, and not direct payments provided by the NHS. - IUT’s are not equal to PHB’s as they don’t provide us with a direct payment, giving us the choice of managing and purchasing our care directly. Putting us in control - IUTs, totally obscure the idea of independence. - IUTs fail to put individuals, at the heart of the decision-making process, instead taking away our choice and control over our care, which surely, we deserve. “We are committed to looking at different options around the interface between CHC and direct payments, including how direct payments may be used for CHC recipients, which would be equivalent to personal health budgets”. We are strongly believe that direct payments supplied by the NHS the way forward for Wales as; 1. It is a format that 100s of disabled individuals and their families are comfortable and familiar in using. 2. It provides a clear, unambiguous expectation that Wales wishes for a personalised, seamless integrated of health and social care, that enables individuals to maintain voice and control where they wish to. 3. If it is Wales intention is to pursue joint care packages, between local authorities and the NHS. Then it ensures consistency and a seamless merger of the two establishments in a familiar already proven and effective format. 4. If the reasoning for not implementing PHBs or an equivalent to allow the NHS to supply direct payments, is the possible misuse of NHS finances, then you merely have look at the individuals like myself, who will receive them, and thus achieve autonomy. 5. We are accountable adults, who have self-control over our lifes, and finances, so why suggest, we are now incapable of taking care of our care finances ourselves. We have been providing tax returns, and documentation of how we utilise our funding, since we first received direct payments from our local authorities. The only thing that makes us different from everyone else, is a physical disability, you should empower us, not discriminate. 6. A person who appreciates the funding as much as we would, would not abuse the system! 7. Independence to me and others with complex care needs, is as valuable as the very air we breathe, a direct payment provided by NHS to us, would be more precious than gold! We could live without the fear of inadequate care, from profit seeking care agencies, and thrive by giving us the choice of managing, and purchasing our care directly, through the channels that we choose. Putting us in control. “We will look at long term legislative options as well as considering any interim arrangements that could improve voice and control for CHC recipients in the short term”. “There are exceptions to the rule where direct payments have been granted for CHC and joint package recipients. I have seen it! I have witnessed it! I know it can happen! Cwm Taff health board have repeatedly said that it can’t happen, I know that this is untruthful! This maybe the hundredth time I am stating this! Why can I not be granted an exception? Whether if maybe Covid 19 that is allowing these direct payments or otherwise! Why can I not be granted an exception? I am deteriorating now! I have been deteriorating for the past 10 years! Yet I cannot get an increase from my local authority and I cannot get direct payments for the NHS! Minister how long must I wait!” Reference Rhys Bowler letter to Julie Morgan shadow health minister - During the pandemic some recipients of CHC and joint packages where granted special exceptions whereby the NHS supplied direct payments. - These people are now used to having their care under their control and have discovered a more efficient way of having the care provided. - Those recipients now need reassurance that their direct payments won’t be taken away from them when pandemic is over. My Personal Ordeal! “I’ll tell you one scenario, which I’m not just talking about if my ventilator cuts out unexpectedly, which would quickly lead to my demise, but a day that started off ordinary. My carer had just left after a quick call to feed and toileting me. I was very tired, and cold, as is often the case after physically exerting myself: being moved about and repositioned during toileting is tiring, and my muscles don’t retain heat very well. I needed to regain heat again quickly, or I’m not able to drive my chair. My usual solution to this problem, is my trusty hairdryer, which I keep on a table near my workspace; it’s positioned at the appropriate height to warm my hand up, controlled by a switch linked to my environmental controls, which I drive over to switch it on! Switching it on was successful as normal, “why wouldn’t it be, I do this all the time?” I warmed my hands and after a few minutes, they were more than comfortably warm, and I went to switch the hairdryer off.” The unthinkable happens! The power on my chair had cut out on me! I was going nowhere! Stuck 3 inches away from the searing heat of the hairdryer! My own personal hell began, it felt like an eternity! I could smell my skin was slowly cooking, my sentimental silver bracelet which I have always worn with pride, became an instrument of torture! It bore deeper into my blistering, slowly roasting flesh. The heat now so intense that it dried my tears, as they fell. My screams of agony muffled by the drone of the dryer. It is a hopeless feeling, when you know no help is coming for 5 hours I prayed, and I pleaded for an end to my agonizing ordeal. Eventually my prayers were answered, as my electric ran out, cutting my tormentors power supply! Leaving me in sweet blissful silence, and cold darkness. My ordeal was finally ended, with a carer arriving and calling an ambulance. I still get nightmares to this day, it scared me physically and mentally, and almost succeeded in slaying my independence as it temporarily turned me back into a child, who needed his mother! But me being the man I am, I quickly regained my hunger for independence. I told you this story, not for sympathy but so you can understand me more and see the lengths I am willing to endure to keep my independence!” Reference Rhys Bowler presentation to cross-party disability group. Conclusion Please help us to change the system for the good of those who wish to keep their independence, a God given human right which the government should be more than happy to bestow to us! We should not have to fight for this! I believe with your support to push for the implementation of PHBs, we can work towards an NHS Wales we can all be proud of and not just because of the bravery they’ve shown during the pandemic. Whose policies are more inclusive, more robust, and fit for the future? Let’s make Eniran Bevan a proud welsh man’s dream a true symbol of freedom just as our country has done for century’s! Appendix. Testimonies “I have a progressive muscle wasting disease, and have 24/7 care. Three years ago my life was torn from under me, as I began using NHS funding, and was told wrongly, that I must have an agency, and my direct payments stopped. Three agencies failed, and my independence was destroyed, my family relations were pushed to the limit, and my mental and physical health suffered. I have fought, with legal help, to get direct payments back via my local authority, with joint funding, which I now have. I live in fear that this will be taken away, and when my health needs become greater, I will be refused direct payments again and lose my wonderful and skilled staff. I’m the expert in my care, and agencies have proven not to be able to provide the support I need. A PHB or its equivalent would give me the option of using direct payments even with full CHC, and help me retain my fought for independence, I could continue to choose who cares for me, and thus get the best individualised care for me. I beg you to bring in this legislation, as quickly as possible, and reinforce the current framework to ensure joint packages can be facilitated and continue to be provided through direct payments. I fear for myself and others with complex needs, as we are being stripped of our choice and control over our care, because we live in Wales”. Reference ____________, condition Limb girdle muscular dystrophy 2e, Hails from Llandudno Conway. “I was fully able bodied before my disability in effect I had my life taken away from me. My condition means that all four of my limbs are affected, and comes with reduced hand function and mobility! I am now reliant on a wheelchair and have to be hoisted by carers. There are lots of manual handling and care support tasks needed in my daily life i.e. drinks, food prep, catheter care, bowels and managing medication! If these routines and maintained rigidly I can get symptoms of autonomic dysreflexia. Which is a very serious condition and is hazardous to my health! If ignored it could lead to a stroke and even death. Stating the obvious I can’t manage this on my own which is why I’m in need of 24 hour care. And liked Rhys bowler I cannot get it! I am not prepared go into environment where I lose all control over my care and independence. Currently I have 53.75 hours from my local authority but I obviously need more. The reasons why the PHB should be brought to Wales in my opinion, is firstly as they’ve stated in the care act to promote independence to have a voice and say/ Choice in who provides my care. To have a better quality of care. To have the care I deserve which I am entitled to! It shouldn’t be a luxury whether or not somebody should have it, and have a life of independence and freedom. I want the same opportunities I had before my disability. I’m still the same person just sitting down now! My injury was traumatic as you can imagine! And enough of a burden. My life shouldn’t be a burden as well. More importantly it will prove that my chair isn’t stopping me from fulfilling my life! To have some normality to achieve the life I had before this injury. Currently I have lack of support to get me where I want to be. My message to Vaughan Gething Mark Drakeford and the Welsh government is, I want to live! I want to be present! I want to be part of a community! I want to work! I want to be happy. I want to be healthy enough, so I can access more physio and become physically and mentally stronger. I want to get off antidepressants medication and mental health services! I want to get out of my bed and not feel so depressed. Please grant us our freedom and allow the NHS to supply direct payments”. Reference ____________, Condition Transverse myelitis. Hails from Bridgend “Like Rhys I also suffer with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I feel if you introduced a PHB in Wales it would be greatly beneficial to a lot of people as it would enhance care needs and give individuals a lot more choice and control of what best suits their care needs. With a care agency they try to dictate to you what will best suit you’re care needs also they can be unreliable as in can let you down by saying there’s no one to cover shifts etc. you’re not really given a choice of who comes to you. I’ve had my fair share of issues with the care agency I have and also with my health board so I feel as though I’d benefit with a PHB.” Reference __________, condition Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, hails from Pontyclun How it is in England! “I have Duchenne, like Rhys, and I’m at a similar level of progression of the condition. I’ve had challenges getting funding before, but unlike Rhys I had the option of getting a personal health budget PHB. I had a PHB since 2014 providing me with 24 hour care, but allowing me to have the choice over who cares for me, when they change shifts, and what they are allowed to do. It’s not without challenges managing a care team, and you have to do it professionally, but with a good team in place I have independence and freedom to live my life, work and have a real social life with my partner. It’s mind-boggling that Wales hasn’t introduced PHBs yet - there’s so much evidence that they work, and have been implemented really well in certain areas.” Reference __________, Condition: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Hails from Redding “I have an ultra-rare/unique condition that my consultant calls a “neuromuscular plus” condition, as it has features of other conditions too. I may never get a diagnosis, but my genome has been sequenced so maybe one day they’ll find out what it is. It means I have multiple organ failure, I am dependent on near-constant intravenous drips including TPN (IV nutrition), IV fluids and IV medications, I have a double lumen Hickman line giving access directly into my bloodstream and the tip of this line sits just inside my heart, I have a PEG draining my stomach 24/7, I have an Ileostomy (stoma bag) and a Urostomy (aka an Ileal Conduit, another stoma bag), require daily nebulisers and at times, assisted coughs with an LVR bag, I have buccal and patch medications, I use a powered wheelchair for mobility but need to spend a lot of time in bed. I live a full and active life, I work multiple jobs including working for charities, working as an independent advocate and support broker, project management, research work, consultancy and speaking, and I have my own business. I live at home with my mum Kate and Assistance Dog Molly and I have a Personal Health Budget for 24 hour care. I have: 16 hours per day (07.00-23.00) with a Band 5 or Band 6 Registered Nurse who we have trained in all my needs (as TPN and central lines are a specialist skill, not a universal skill, even for nurses) 8 hours overnight (23.00-07.00) with a PA 6 hours doubled-up with a PA alongside the nurse during the day (variable timings depending on activity/need). The reason I have nurses is because of the my TPN and IVs not being able to be a delegated task - well, in some areas TPN alone can be delegated to PAs but not the mixing and preparation of intravenous medications and administration via a central line, plus also there is a lot of clinical judgement in my care including fluid management and when to give extra IV fluids and how much, whether and when to give IV Paracetamol (there’s no set fever level), when to give IV antibiotics and how many doses to give, how to manage pressure care and wounds, etc. However, I have had 2 PHBs in my lifetime. In early 2014 I became one of the first people in Essex to be given a Personal Health Budget, but despite my needs being nursing based, they wouldn’t fund nurses and so my mum was told if she wasn’t prepared to do all my round the clock IVs and TPN, she could “dump [me] in a home”. So I fought for my mum to be paid to do my nursing-based tasks, since they couldn’t be managed otherwise and mum couldn’t continue working full time and caring full time (she used to have to keep popping home from work to do my IVs), eventually - after a fight they agreed to pay mum 3 hours a day to give 1 infusion (despite doing IVs 24/7) and that was enough for mum to give up work and do most of my care. Sadly, in 2015, my mum was diagnosed with a brain tumour and we had 3 weeks between her diagnosis and her surgery to put in place a 24/7, mostly nursing based care package. The CCG tried every which way to force me into a nursing home, but 6 days before mum’s op, they finally relented and gave me a package. I should really have 24 hour nursing (as overnight the PA can do nothing to help if my drips go wrong or I need an extra IV) but 16 hrs nursing and 8 hours overnight care was sufficient to manage my needs for 6 weeks whilst mum had her op and recuperated (yes, my mum was expected to go back to caring 24/7 6 weeks after brain surgery!). Unfortunately, my mum suffered a brain haemorrhage and then a catastrophic stroke after her operation. I had to fight to make my emergency package permanent. I had an agency providing the care (6 days was not long enough to set up a new PHB!) and I hated it, the agency weren’t great, I had no control or autonomy, they kept sending unsuitable staff, one nearly making 4 fatal errors had I not stopped her and despite this fact, the agency tried to continue sending her, all but 1 of the 35 odd carers they sent between 2015 and 2018 used to sleep on shift despite being an awake night, leaving me waking up my poorly, recovering mother to wake up the carer to care for me. Nurses weren’t much better. After about 3 months from that permanent extension, I said “I want a Personal Health Budget again, when can I go back on a PHB?” Finally in 2018, I moved my care worker support onto a PHB (Phase 1) and employed my own PAs, then this year (during lockdown) Phase 2 of my PHB was signed off and my directly employed nurses started. It’s a shame covid happened as otherwise my nurses would be transforming my life and giving me more independence from mum and I’d be able to do so much more now I had my own nurses and no agency, but their support will make an impact once life goes back to some version of normality. PHBs transformed my life. They allow me choice, control, freedom and flexibility to make my care work for me and to have the ability to be flexible in how the support is provided. I am able to choose who looks after me, what they do and how my care is provided. I can live the life I want to lead with my PHB. I even got aromatherapy massage training for my nurses and PAs funded in my new PHB to help with my pain relief. My PHB is saving the CCG (health board in Wales) over £100,000 per year compared with agency care. PHBs allow us to make better use of resources whilst giving me the control and choice I need. I cannot understand why Wales does not have PHBs! There's so much evidence of their positive impact.” Reference [redacted], Hails from Essex “As similarly to Rhys I'm a fellow chap living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and at the age of 36 I'm pushing the boundaries of what was originally expected life expectancy wise. As a resident of England I have access to a personal health budget, which has allowed me since 2013 to use money allocated to me to pay a care company to provide me with a bespoke package of carers/assistants I have chosen myself to do 2 12 hour shifts daily including awake at night. This has allowed me to have a life as independent as possible and enables me to do whatever any able-bodied person would do including living in my own home and trips both domestically and in Europe. I was unaware that our friends in Wales such as Mr Bowler did not have a possibility of such care, I feel that everyone should be able to live life to the full, something that a PHB definitely does. Hopefully we can make enough noise for the Welsh Assembly to take notice and make a change.” Reference [redacted], Condition: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, hails from Cornwall Eitem 2.3 P-05-1107 Caniatáu i gantorion / adloniant byw ailddechrau yn yr awyr agored Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Nicola Woodfine, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 605 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Caniatáu adloniant yn yr awyr agored. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr • Gorllewin De Cymru Annwyl Janet Diolch am eich gohebiaeth ar 16 Rhagfyr ynghylch deiseb P-05-1107 yn gofyn i Lywodraeth Cymru ganiatáu ailddechrau canu ac adloniant yn yr awyr agored. Yn dilyn cyhoeddiad y Prif Weinidog ar 19 Rhagfyr, mae Cymru wedi symud i rybudd lefel pedwar yn ein Cyllun Rheoli cyhoedddegig, sef y lefel uchaf o gyfyngiadau. Ar y lefel hon mae'n ofynnol i ni i gyd aros gartref i leihau'r risg o drosglwyddo a peidiô â gwneud unrhyw deithiau diangen. Yn sgil y cyd-destun ehanguach o ran iechyd y cyhoedd, mae ein rhaglen digwyddiadau prawf wedi'i gohirio. Yn ein Cyllun Rheoli, ein disgwyliad yw na fydd digwyddiadau prawf yn ailddechrau nes ein bod ar lefel dau ac na fydd digwyddiadau'n fwy cyffredinol, gan gyntanwyss digwyddiadau lle y byddai mwy o bobl yn bresennol, yn ailddechrau nes ein bod ar lefel un yn y cyllun. Bydd y Gronfa Adfer Ddiwylliannol gwerth £63m yn cefnogi'r sector ac yn sicrhau ei gynaliadwyedd hirdymor yn y cyfamser. Yn gywir, Yr Arglwydd Elis-Thomas AS/MS Y Dirprwy Weinidog Diwylliant, Chwaraeon a Thwristiaeth Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism Eitem 2.4 P-05-1110 Dylid adfer nofio am ddim i bensiynwyr Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Peter Roberts, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 78 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae cyfyngu nofio am ddim i amseroedd penodol yn golygu bod mwy o bobl yn y pwll ar yr un pryd, ac felly mae'n cyfyngu'n ddifrifol ar nofio. A minnau'n bensiynwr, nid wyf yn nofio yn rheolaidd mwyach. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Wrth i'r cyfyngiadau symud presennol gael eu llacio, mae ar lawer o bensiynwyr angen yr ymarfer corff na ellir ei gael ond drwy nofio; o brofiad, mae'r rhan fwyaf o bensiynwyr yn defnyddio pyllau nofio ar adegau tawel a'r tu allan i oriau brig. O ystyried y miliynau o bunnoedd sy'n cael eu gwario i geisio achub yr economi, mae'r arian a arbedir trwy dynnu nofio am ddim yn ôl yn swm diystyr. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • De Caerdydd a Phenarth • Canol De Cymru 8 Ionawr 2021 Annwyl Janet Diolch am eich llythyr ynghylch deiseb i adfer y cynllun Nofio am Ddim i bensiynwyr. Er fy mod yn gwerthfawrogi fod gan rai unigolion bryderon o hyd am y mater hwn, cyd-destun ehangach y penderfyniad i newid y drefn Nofio am Ddim oedd yr arolwg annibynnol o'r fenter a gomisiynwyd gan Chwaraeon Cymru. Er i'r arolwg ddangos i'r fenter Nofio am Ddim weld cryn Iwyddiant i ddechrau, nid oedd bellach yn ateb y gofyn ac nid oedd digon yn ei defnyddio. Hefyd, roedd angen ei halinio'n well â Gweledigaeth Chwaraeon Cymru ar gyfer Chwaraeon yng Nghymru a nodau lleisiant Llywodraeth Cymru os oedd y fenter am gyrraedd y rheini ddylai elwa fwyaf arni. Pobl ifanc a phobl dros 60 oed o ardaloedd difreintiedig yw blaenoriaeth y cynllun newydd. Mae Chwaraeon Cymru a Nofio Cymru'n gweithio gydag Awdurdodau Lleol a'u partneriaid i sicrhau bod rhaglen o sesiynau yn cael eu datblygu ym mhob pwll nofio cyhoeddus i ateb gofynion y ddau grŵp targed. Wrth reswm, mae Covid-19 wedi amharu'n fawr ar y rhaglen ac er ei bod wedi'i hadfer i raddau ledled Cymru, gyda'r rhain fwyaf o ardaloedd yn darparu o leiaf rhai o'r cyfleoedd nofio y gellid disgwyl iddynt eu darparu ar gyfer pobl dros 60 oed, gwaetha'r modd mae'r cyfan erbyn hyn wedi dod i stop. Bydd Llywodraeth Cymru a Chwaraeon Cymru'n parhau i weithio gyda'u partneriaid yn yr awdurdodau lleol i gael y cynllun yn ei ôl pan y bydd hynny'n bosibl o dan yr amodau ar gadw pellter cymdeithasol. Ystyrir bryd hynny wrth gwrs sut orau i gynnal y cynllun fel ei fod yn cyrraedd y gynulleidfa blaenoriaeth yn y ffordd fwyaf cyfleus fydd yn cael yr effaith fwyaf. Yn ogystal â'r fenter Nofio am Ddim, mae Chwaraeon Cymru a'i bartneriaid wedi bod yn edrych hefyd ar lansio y Cynnig 60 +: Y Cynllun Hamddena Egniol. Y bwriad gwreiddiol oedd ei lansio ym mhob awdurdod lleol ym mis Ionawr, ond gan fod y canllawiau Covid-19 yn newid o hyd, byddwn yn newid yr amseriad yn ôl y gofyn. Pan gaiff ei lansio, bydd y cynllun yn creu cyfleoedd ychwanegol ar gyfer pobl dros 60 yng Nghymru i fod yn gorfforol fywiog a byddwn yn defnyddio gwersi ei gyfnod o dri mis yn 2020-2021 i benderfynu sut i'w roi ar waith yn 2021-2022 a thu hwnt. Gan obeithio bod y llythyrau hwn wedi bod yn ddefnyddiol. Yn gywir, Yr Arglwydd Elis-Thomas AS/MS Y Dirprwy Weinidog Diwylliant, Chwaraeon a Thwristiaeth Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism P-05-1120 Dylai Llywodraeth Cymru atal pob cyfnod o gyfyngiadau symud ar unwaith Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Adrian Mark Phillips, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 56 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae'r gyfradd farwolaethau oherwydd Covid19 yn gymharol isel ac nid yw'n gwneud unrhyw synnwr i gymryd rheolaeth ddiangen dros boblogaeth Cymru a niweidio busnesau a bywoliaethau. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Nid oes dim cyfiawnhad dros weithredu’n ddidostur pan mai dim ond nifer fach o bobl sy’n marw o Covid19. Rydym yn mynnu bod Llywodraeth Cymru yn atal pob cyfnod o gyfyngiadau symud ar unwaith ac yn ailagor busnesau a chaniatáu i’r cyhoedd yn gyffredinol wneud eu penderfyniadau eu hunain am y ford y maent yn dewis byw. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gogledd Caerdydd • Canol De Cymru Annwyl Gadeirydd Ysgrifennaf mewn ymateb i’ch llythyr dyddiedig 5 Ionawr ynglŷn â’r ddeiseb yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i roi terfyn ar y cyfyngiadau symud. Mae Cymru – yn union fel gweddill y byd – wedi bod o dan gysgod pandemig y coronafeirws dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf. Mae llawer iawn o bobl wedi mynd yn sâl ac yn anffodus mae mwy na 7,000 o bobl yng Nghymru wedi marw o'r feirws ofnadwy hwn. Ar 14 Rhagfyr, cyhoeddwyd ein Cynllun Rheoli'r Coronafeirws wedi'i diweddaru. Mae'r cynllun yn nodi pedair lefel rhybudd, sy'n cyd-fynd â lefel y risg, ac yn amlinellu'r mesurau sydd eu hangen ar bob lefel, i reoli lledaeniad y feirws ac i ddiogelu iechyd pobl. Rydym wedi defnyddio arbenigedd Grŵp Cynghori Gwyddonol y DU ar Argyfyngau, a'n Grŵp Cynghori Technegol, i nodi'r ymyriadau sy'n gweithio a'r hyn yr ydym wedi'i ddysgu yn ystod y pandemig. Mae Cymru wedi bod ar lefel rhybudd pedwar – y lefel uchaf o gyfyngiadau – ers 20 Rhagfyr. Mae hyn wedi golygu ei bod yn ofynnol i bobl aros gartref. Mae manwerthu nad yw'n hanfodol, gwasanaethau cyswllt agos, campfeydd a chanolfannau hamdden, lletygarwch a lletyau wedi'u cau. Er bod y cyfyngiadau hyn ar bobl a busnesau ledled Cymru wedi bod yn heriol, oherwydd ymdrechion pawb rydym yn gweld gostyngiad cyson a chalonogol mewn achosion o'r coronafeirws ledled Cymru. Mae'r gyfraith yn ei gwneud yn ofynnol i gyfyngiadau yng Nghymru gael eu hadolygu bob 21 diwrnod er mwyn sicrhau eu bod yn parhau i fod yn gymesur ac yn effeithiol. Rydym wedi dechau cymryd y camau cynfaif tuag at lacio'r cyfyngiadau – dychwelod disgyblion y Cyfnod Sylfaen i'r ysgol yr wythnos hon (wythnos 22 Chwefror). Os bydd y sefyllfa iechyd y Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. Tudalen y pecyn 94 cyhoedd yn parhau i wella, rydym yn gobeithio y bydd mwy o blant yn dychwelyd i'r ysgol cyn gwyliau'r Pasg. Yn yr adolygiad tair wythnos diweddaraf o'r cyfyngiadau, dywedais y byddai Llywodraeth Cymru'n ystyried a ellir codi'r cyfyngiad aros gartref yn yr adolygiad nesaf yn ystod wythnos 8 Mawrth. Os yw hynny'n bosibl, byddwn hefyd yn ystyried dewisiadau i ddechrau ailagor manwerthu nad yw'n hanfodol a gwasanaethau cyswilt agos. Mae hyn wedi'i amlinellu yn fy natganiad ysgrifenedig yn: https://llwy.cymru/datganiad-ysgrifenedig-rheoliadau-diogelu-iechyd-cyfyngiadau-coronafeirws-rhif-5-cymru-2020 Rydym hefyd wedi cyhoeddi diweddariad pellach i Gynllun Rheoli'r Coronafeirws, sy'n ystyried effaith brechu ar y pandemig a phresenoldeb amrywiolion newydd o'r feirws. Mae'r diweddariad hwn ar gael yn https://llwy.cymru/cynllun-rheoli-roronafeirws-lefelau-rhybudd-yng-nghymru-llacior-cyfyngiadaun-raddol Gallwn i gyd fod yn falch o gynnydd rhagorol y rhaglen frechu yng Nghymru. Daw'r rhaglen ag addewid o ddyfodol mwy disglair, ond mae llawer i'w wneud eto. Mae'r cyfyngiadau'n parhau i fod yn angenrheidiol i atal y feirws rhag lledaenu ac i ddiogelu Cymru. Dymuniadau gorau MARK DRAKEFORD P-05-1122 Caniatáu i rieni sydd newydd fabwysiadu ffurfio swigen gefnogaeth yn y cyfyngiadau lefel rhybudd 4 Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Ruby Hampton, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 387 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Caniatáu i rieni sydd newydd fabwysiadu ffurfio swigen gefnogaeth os bydd rheol o’r fath yn cael ei chyflwyno ar gyfer rhieni newydd sydd â phlant o dan un oed. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Rwyf newydd weld deiseb yn galw am ganiatáu i rieni plant o dan un oed ffurfio swigen gefnogaeth. Mae'r ddeiseb yn nodi'n benodol 'Mamau sydd wedi rhoi genedigaeth yn 2020' oherwydd cydnabyddir bod bod yn fam newydd yn anodd hyd yn oed o dan amgylchiadau arferol. Byddai'r rheol newydd hon yr un fath â'r rheol sydd ar waith ar hyn o bryd ledled Lloegr. Yn anffodus, nid yw’n cynnwys rhieni sydd newydd fabwysiadu a allai fod yn hynod newydd i'r profiad o fod yn rhiant ond sydd â phlant dros un oed. Mae mabwysiadu babi o dan un yn anghyffredin iawn gan fod bron pob plentyn yn y system ofal am dros 12 mis erbyn iddo gael ei leoli gyda'i deulu parhaol. Mae mabwysiadu yn broses anodd ac ar ddechrau lleoliad mae'n hanfodol bod rhieni plant a fabwysiadwyd yn cael cefnogaeth anwyliaid i hwyluso'r broses o bontio i fod yn rhiant wrth ddatblygu perthynas â phlentyn newydd. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • De Caerdydd a Phenarth • Canol De Cymru 24 Chwefror 2021 Annwyl Gadeirydd DEISEB P-05-1122 CANIATÁU I RIENI SYDD NEWYDD FABWYSIADU FFURFIO SWIGEN GEFNOGAETH YN Y CYFYNGIADAU LEFEL RHYBUDD 4 Rwy’n ysgrifennu mewn ymateb i’ch llythyr dyddiedig 5 Ionawr sy’n gofyn am fy marn ynghylch y gallu i rieni sydd newydd fabwysiadu ffurfio swigen gefnogaeth yn y cyfyngiadau lefel rhybudd 4. Rydym yn cydnabod bod Covid-19 yn parhau i effeithio ar ein bywydau bob dydd ac rydym yn gwybod bod rieni newydd yn wynebu heriau ychwanegol yn sgil y cyfyngiadau presennol. Rwy’n cydnabod bod mabwysiadu yn arbennig o heriol yn y sefyllfa bresennol gyda’r cyfyngiadau yn ei gwneud yn anos cael at gymorth ar adegau. Mae'r pandemig hefyd wedi creu heriau ac ansicrwydd tebyg i lawer o bobl yng Nghymru. O ganlyniad, mae ein deddfwriaeth yn nodi y caiff unrhyw un gael cymorth ar sail dosturiol, pan fo arno ei angen a chan bwy bynnag y mae arno ei angen ar y pryd e.e. gan ffrindiau a theulu. Mae'r ddarpariaeth hon yn ddigon hyblwy i alluogi unrhyw un sy'n teimlo ei fod angen cymorth yn y cyfnod hwn i geisio cymorth. Mae hyn yn cynnwys teuluoeedd sydd newydd fabwysiadu ac sydd angen cymorth. Nodir hyn yng Nghanllawiau Covid-19 Llywodraeth Cymru sydd ar gael yma: https://llyw.cymru/ymweld-phobl-mewn-cartrefi-preifat-lefel-rhybudd-4 Er y caniateir cymorth ychwanegol, rwy’n annog pawb i ystyried yn ofalus beth yw'r peth mwyaf synhwyrol i’w wneud i ddiogelu eu teulu, eu ffrindiau a'u cymuned. Bae Caerdydd • Cardiff Bay Caerdydd • Cardiff CF99 1SN Canolfan Cyswllt Cyntaf / First Point of Contact Centre: 0300 0604400 email@example.com • firstname.lastname@example.org Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. Tudalen y pecyn 97 We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Mae'r rhain yn benderfyniadau anodd ac rydym bob amser yn ceisio cadw cydbwysedd rhwng anghenion unigol pobl a'n cyfrifoldeb i ddiogelu iechyd y boblogaeth a helpu i achub bywydau. Rwy'n ymwybodol bod y pandemig yn anffodus yn rhoi straen ychwanegol ar deuluoedd sy'n mabwysiadu yng Nghymru. Mae ein hasiantaethau mabwysiadu yng Nghymru ar gael i gynnig cymorth a chyngor i deuluoedd drwy gydol y pandemig ac mae'r Gwasanaeth Mabwysiadu Cenedlaethol yn rhoi'r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf i deuluoedd sy'n mabwysiadu ynglŷn â chael cymorth yn ystod pandemig Covid-19. Hyderaf y bydd yr wybodaeth hon o gymorth ichi. Dymuniadau gorau MARK DRAKEFORD Dear Mr Drakeford, First of all we want to thank you for your letter clarifying your position and explaining that we are one of many groups that come under the compassionate grounds section of the lockdown rules. This is useful for us to know and we will be able to seek some support now that those rules have been clarified. Unfortunately we are still extremely disappointed. In your letter you explain that you feel that the provision of compassionate grounds are 'sufficiently flexible to enable anyone who feels they are in need of help during this time to seek assistance which includes newly adopted families in need of support,' however, we as a community feel that this is very dismissive of us as new parents who have become new parents during an impossibly difficult time. On Saturday you announced that birth parents of children under the age of one will be allowed a support bubble. We would like to ask why this new rule was not inclusive of adoptive parents. As we are sure you are aware, most adopters become new parents to children who are over the age of one or who turn one relatively soon into their placement. My son turned one, four days after he came to live with me in June last year. Prior to this we had had our introductions delayed by 8 weeks, having to skype call our son 3 times a week instead of meeting him, we had to isolate for 3 weeks before we were able to meet him, not leaving the house for any reason at all, while also preparing to bring home a new baby. Once he moved in we were then faced with parenting our newly adopted one year old child during a global pandemic with absolutely no support. Eight months down the line, we sat and watched your announcement on Saturday, stating that you understand the isolation and difficulties that new birth parents face at home with a new baby. We were deeply saddened. My story is far from unique and I know many many other adopters who have been through equally as difficult a journey only to be told they are not eligible for support due to their children being over the age of one. Adoption is a difficult journey and during it we are told endlessly by social workers, how ESSENTIAL it is to have support, especially in the first year but also beyond. I am sure you are aware of this after speaking to the social worker who initially responded to me explaining that we were not entitled to support bubbles given the risk you felt was posed of us 'bubble hopping' We are not interested in 'bubble hopping' nor are we asking to be able to break or bend the lockdown rules. What we are asking for is equality and recognition. We have been forgotten throughout the pandemic and this has been made even more apparent since your announcement on Saturday. We are aware that many people have been left disadvantaged due to the pandemic but the rule that you announced on Saturday has specifically excluded us as a minority group. We would like to know why? We have the same trials as new birth parents.. I would actually argue we face MORE challenges due to the additional strains that come with adopting a child who may or may not have experienced previous traumas in their lives. We are aware that people are encouraged to apply to adopt in Wales due to the shortage of adopters available to give homes to the many children in need across the country. Yet we are discriminated against and forgotten during our time of need. Your letter in response to my petition would have been very welcomed if it had been accompanied with us being included in the new rule you announced on Saturday. Unfortunately, the letter accompanied with us being excluded from the new ruling has simply highlighted further how we are so frequently forgotten and dismissed as adoptive families. We as a community urge you to reconsider this position and to immediately amend the new ruling to include new adoptive families. Kind regards, Annex 1 Dear Mr Drakeford, I question why the need to specifically identify one group (new parents of children under one) that can form a support bubble when they too are surely covered by the compassionate argument? I suggest that the legislation is deliberately not specifically clear on this and that is why Welsh govt have now taken the step to be crystal clear for one specific group? We, as new adopters, have been abiding by the rule that we cannot form a support bubble based in advice given but now the implication is that we can, in fact we can seek support from wherever we choose...if that's the case then we want this spelled out clearly under the same legislation as new birth parents...we are not an add-on, we are facing the same challenges, and more.... Kind regards, P-05-1126 Caniatáu chwaraeon wedi’u trefnu yn yr awyr agored ar gyfer pobl ifanc o dan 18 oed fel bod Cymru’n gweithredu yn unol â’r rheolau haen 4 yn Lloegr Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Katharine Bradley, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 2,461 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae plant yng Nghymru wedi wynebu blwyddyn gythryblus iawn, gan orfod hunanynysu’n rheolaidd a cholli’r cyfle i gymryd rhan mewn chwaraeon. Mae chwaraeon yn rhan hynod bwysig o lesiant meddyliol a chorfforol. Caniateir sesiynau hyfforddi wedi’u trefnu yn Lloegr. Credwn y dylid caniatáu sesiynau o’r fath yng Nghymru hefyd. Mae iechyd corfforol yn arbennig o bwysig ar hyn o bryd. Ein hamddiffyniad gorau yn erbyn y pandemig hwn ac unrhyw bandemig yn y dyfodol yw bod yn iach ac yn heini. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gorllewin Casnewydd • Dwyrain De Cymru 26 Ionawr 2021 Annwyl Janet, Diolch am eich gohebiaeth ynghylch deiseb i ganiatáu i chwaraeon wedi’u trefnu ar gyfer pobl ifanc dan 18 ddilyn yr un Cyfyngiadau â Haen 4 yn Lloegr. Y sefyllfa bresennol yw bod Lloegr mewn Cyfyngiadau Symud Cenedlaethol Haen 5 ac mae'r cyfyngiadau yno yn cynnwys cau cyfleusterau chwaraeon a hamdden. Nid yw'n bosibl i Lywodraeth Cymru gynnig sylwadau ar unrhyw reoliadau a wnaethpwyd gan Lywodraeth y DU. Fel y dywedodd y Prif Weinidog ar 19 Rhagfyr, o'r 20 Ragfyr, mae Cymru wedi symud i lefel rhybudd pedwar yn ein Cynllun Rheoli cyhoeddedig, lefel uchaf y cyfyngiadau. Yn anffodus, er ein bod yn cydnabod yn llawn bwysigrwydd ymarfer corff ar gyfer ein llesiant corfforol a meddyliol, mae ein rheoliadau rhybudd lefel 4 yn datgan bod yn rhaid inni 'aros gartref' ar wahân' am resymau hanfodol. Golyga hyn bod yn rhaid i bob atyniad o dan do a thu allan gau. Nid yw cynnal gweithgareddau yn yr awyr agored, er yn fwy diogel, heb ei beryglon, ac mae'n golygu bod yn rhaid i bobl adael eu cartref pan nad yw'n hanfodol. Wrth iddi fynd yn oerach, tywyllach a gwlypach, mae'r amodau yn gwella i'r feirws. Mae dull gweithredu Cymru yn ystod y cyfyngiadau 'aros gartref', yn seiliiedig ar gyngor arbenigol ar ymddygiad, yn ei gwneud yn ofynnol i bobl deithio cyn lleied â phosibl. Mae pob ethriad i'r rheolau hyn, neu gonesesiynau mewn un maes, yn gwanhau y neges hon a gallai arwain at gamddealltwriaeth ymhlið y boblogaeth sy'n perygl bywydau. Fel y gwyddoch, mae ysgolion yng Nghymru bellach wedi cau ac mae disgyblion yn dysgu o gartref (ar wahân i aelwydydd gweithwyr allweddol), er mwyn atal trosglwyddiad y feirws ymhlið pobl ifanc. Mae caniatáu digwyddiadau chwaraeon i bobl ifanc wedi'u trefnu ar hyn o bryd yn tanseilio'r ymdrech honno ac effaith cau ysgolion. Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Mae dull Llywodraeth Cymru o fynd i'r afael â'r cyfynghiadau wedi bod yn seiliiedig ar y data a'r wyddoniaeth ddiweddaraf fel sy'n berthnasol i Gymru, ac yn seiliiedig ar y cyngor diweddaraf gan ein cynghorwyr gwyddonol a meddygol ein hunain. Mae hyn er mwyn cyfyngu ar y bobl yr ydym yn dod i gysylltiad â hwy, ac arafu trosglwyddiad y feirws. Drwy'r rheolau hyn, rydym yn ceisio cael cydbwysedd rhwng pwysigrwydd lles meddygiol a chorfforol pobl, ein heonomi a'r angen i bobl aros yn ddioleg a gwarchod y GIG. Ar hyn o bryd, mae'r sefyllfa yng Nghymru yn ddfrifol iawn – mae'r feirws yn bresennol ym mhob un o'n cymunedau lleol. Mae ein GIG dan bwysau. Rydym angen mesurau cryf i reoli'r feirws a gwarchod iechyd y cyhoedd. Mae angen hefyd i bawb helpu nid yn unig drwy gadw at y rheolau, ond drwy wneud newidiadau bychain i'w harferion a'u bywydau bod dydd a lleihau'r cysylltiad sydd gennym â phobl eraill. Mae'r feirws yn ffynnu ar gysylltiad dynol – pryd bynnag rydym yn treulio amser gyda neu yn agos at erall mae perygl y byddwn naill ai'n dal y feirws neu ei basio ymlaen. Byddwn yn lleihau'r risg hwn, ac yn lleihau y pwysau ar ein GIG, drwy effaith gronnol y newidiadau rydym ni wedi'u gwneud. Yr effaith gyfun sy'n gwneud y gwahaniaeth, nid perygl un gweithgarwch. Bydd adolygiad o'r cyfynghiadau bob tair wythnos. Bydd gweithgareddau chwaraeon, gan gynnwys y rhai hynny ar gyfer pobl ifanc dan 18, yn ail-ddechrau ar yr amser priodol, wrth i'r sefyllfa wella a'n bod yn gallu symud i lawr drwy'r lefelau rhybudd a amlinellir yn y Cynllun Rheoli. Rydym yn ymwybodol iawn o'r ymdrechion a'r aberth enfawr gan y cyhoedd a busnesau yng Nghymru i gadw Cymru yn ddiogel. Bydd Llywodraeth Cymru yn parhau i gynnig diweddariadau rheolaidd drwy'r Cynadleddau i'r Wasg ar Covid-19 dros y dyddiau a'r wythnosau nesaf. Rwy'n gobeithio bod hyn yn egluro'r sefyllfa bresennol ynghylch y rheoliadau. Yn gywir, Yr Arglwydd Elis-Thomas AS Y Dirprwy Weinidog Diwylliant, Chwaraeon a Thwristiaeth Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism P-05-1149 Dylid ailgychwyn chwaraeon tîm i blant yn unol â Lloegr ar Fawrth 29ain 2021 Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Dan McKenna, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 68 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Yn Lloegr heddiw, cyhoeddwyd y bwriad i ailgychwyn chwaraeon tîm i blant o Fawrth 29ain 2021 ymlaen (yn ddibynnol ar bedwar amod y mae'n rhaid eu bodloni wrth bob cam o lacio'r cyfyngiadau symud). Fodd bynnag, ar hyn o bryd nid yw Llywodraeth Cymru wedi sôn am ddyddiad pan all chwaraeon tîm ddychwelyd yng Nghymru. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Mae plant wedi gorfod aros gartref ers Rhagfyr 20fed, a chyfyngedig fy eu mynediad at ymarfer corff neu ryngweithio gyda'u ffrindiau a'u cyd-aelodau ar y tîm. Mae hwn wedi bod yn gyfnod heriol iawn gyda llai o gyfle i fod yn yr awyr agored yn ystod misoedd y gaeaf, ac iechyd corfforol a meddyliol o dan straen. Mae plant wedi cael amser anodd iawn yn ystod cyfyngiadau symud COVID-19, gyda tharfu difrifol ar eu bywydau bob dydd. Wrth i ddisgyblion ddychwelyd at ddysgu wyneb yn wyneb mewn ysgolion, mae'n hanfodol hefyd bod Llywodraeth Cymru yn rhoi blaenoriaeth ar y cyd â hynny i gael plant i gadw'n actif eto, cyn gynted â phosibl. Mae'r ddeiseb hon yn gofyn i Lywodraeth Cymru fynd i'r afael â'r mater hwn yn yr adolygiad 3 wythnos nesaf ar Fawrth 12fed 2021. Cyhoeddwch fap o'r ffordd ymlaen yn debyg i Loegr – sy'n cynnig dyddiad(au) clir ac amlwg – o ran ailgychwyn chwaraeon tîm i blant yng Nghymru. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Sir Drefaldwyn • Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch am eich gohebiaeth ynghylch deiseb P-05-1149. Er bod Llywodraeth Cymru yn cydnabod yn llawn bwysigirwydd ymarfer corff ar gyfer Iles corfforol a meddyliol ein plant, rydym yn parhau i fod ar lefel rhybudd pedwar lle mae'r cyfyngiadau llymaf ar 'aros gartref' mewn grym. Unwaith y bydd y rhain yn cael eu codi, byddwn yn symud i gyfnod pontio lle bwriadwn symud yn raddol, gam wrth gam, i lefel rhybudd tri. Dyma pryd y bydd plant dan 11 oed yn gallu cymryd rhain mewn gweithgareddau chwaraeon ac ymarfer corff. Ni all Llywodraeth Cymru wneud sylwadau ar unrhyw reoliadau a wneir gan lywodraeth y DU. Mae dull Llywodraeth Cymru o weithredu cyfyngiadau yn parhau i fod yn seiliiedig ar y data a'r wyddoniaeth ddiweddaraf sy'n berthnasol i Gymru, ac mae'n ystyried y cyngor diweddaraf gan ein cynghorwyr gwyddonol a meddygol ein hunain. Mae Cymru wedi cyflawni cynnydd mawr dros yr wythnosau diwethaf, ac nid dyna'r amser i ruthro i lacio rheolau yn rhy gyfylum. Bydd yr adolygiad 21 diwrnod nesaf yn cael ei gynnal ar 12 Mawrth. Fel rhan o'r broses hon bydd Gweinidogion yn parhau i ystyried pryderon a saibwyntiau'r cyhoedd, ochr yn ochr â'r cyngor a'r data arbenigol diweddaraf i Gymru a fydd yn llywio penderfyniadau ynghylch pa newidiadau pellach y gellir eu gwneud yn ddiogel. Fel y nodwyd ar 19 Chwefror rydym eisoes yn gweld bod rhai arwyddion cadarnhaol yn deillio o'r cyfyngiadau symud, gyda chyfraddau trosglwyddo'n gostwng a'r broses o gyflwyno'r brechiad yn mynd rhagddin dda. Wrth gwrs, rydym am ganiatâu i blant a phobl eraill ddychwelyd i weithgareddau fel chwaraeon tîm cyn gynted â phosibl, ond bydd angen gwneud y newidiadau hyn yn araf. Dim ond pan fydd y wyddoniaeth a'r data'n dweud wrthym ei bod yn ddiogel gwneud hynny y bydd rheolau'n cael eu llacio'n raddol. Mae'n bwysig nad ydym yn rhuthro i wneud unrhyw beth a allai arwain at don arall o heintiau cynyddol. Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Rydym yn deall yn iawn yr effeithiau y mae'r pandemig yn ei chael ar iechyd corfforol ac iechyd meddyliol ein plant, ond am gyfnod byr arall mae angen i ni gynnal y neges glir a chref hon. Rhaid i bob un ohonom fynd ati ar y cyd i ymladd y pandemig hwn er mwyn cadw ein hunain, ein hanwyliaid a'r cyhoedd yn ehangach yn ddiogel. Yn gywir Yr Arglwydd Elis-Thomas AS/MS Y Dirprwy Weinidog Diwylliant, Chwaraeon a Thwristiaeth Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism Dear Petitions, related to the petition I started in the subject of this message and in response to the letter from the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism I would like to make the following comments: 1. When will the government allow team sports to resume in Wales? England have announced outdoor organised sports will resume from March 29th - why are Wales not following suit? 2. If the government can not give a specific clear date to resume team sports for children, then please can they create a roadmap indicating what they hope to happen and when if of course certain targets are met with coronavirus cases, NHS and vaccinations roll out. Transparency from government is really important so the people of Wales can understand what is going to happen and when. People need information and are hoping as we move out of this lockdown that normal life can resume in a safe way as soon as possible. 3. Under 18s are the future sports talent of Wales and their growth and development is being severely hampered by being locked down. Sport needs to reopen outdoors in a covid safe way as soon as possible. It is simply not right that children are being stopped from developing in their chosen sports and they have missed so much development already over the last 12 months. 4. If schools are able to open securely then surely outdoor sports should open too? even if this is done gradually like Kirsty Williams is suggesting with secondary schools. Please provide evidence to prove why outdoor sports can not open at the same time as school's face to face learning. 5. Many children have to travel to play sports in Wales and are members of clubs that are more than 5 miles from their home. Again if the stay at home rule changes to stay local, please could the government try and move past the stay local rule as swiftly as possible so children can participate with their clubs should they be further than 5 miles from their home. If this isn't possible then please can you provide evidence why tourism may be potentially opening for Easter? Is this going to allow English residents to cross the border and travel into Wales / are Welsh residents able to take a 'holiday' but otherwise have to stay local? It doesn't seem to marry up I'm afraid. Thank you very much. Those are my only comments for now. I hope sincerely that the government will consider the mental and physical health of children and allow them to resume team sports asap. Kind regards, P-05-1133 Dylid addasu maes llafur hyfforddiant athrawon i gynnwys Hyfforddiant Trawsnewidiol a Deallusrwydd Emosiynol Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Tracey Jones, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 193 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae arolwg wedi darganfod fod hyd at 33.6% o athrawon yn dweud eu bod yn bwriadu gadael y proffesiwn. Ar hyn o bryd, rydym yn colli 42% o Athrawon Newydd Gymhwyso o fewn 2 flynedd oherwydd y llwyth gwaith a'r gorflinder. Bydd ychwanegu'r pynciau hyn at y maes llafur yn rhoi set sgiliau newydd i athrawon i'w helpu gyda'r pwysau ar hyn o bryd, a bydd y pynciau hyn yn galluogi ein cenhedlaeth nesaf o blant i ddatblygu gwydnwch a deall eu hemosiynau yn well. Mae niwrowyddoniaeth yn esblygu ac mae tystiolaeth yn dangos bod angen cryn newid. Bydd hyn yn cael cryn effaith ar iechyd meddwl ein cenhedlaeth nesaf o blant ac addysgwr. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Mae peidio â chynnig addysg am ein systemau mewnol a'r proses o feddwl yn achosi mwy o iechyd meddwl gwael. Wrth i amseroedd newid, rhaid i ni addasu. Fel cyn-athro, rwy'n deall y pwysau sydd ar y system. Bydd dysgu sgiliau cryf o ran deallusrwydd emosiynol, sgiliau meddal 'Alcemi laith' a hyfforddiant trawsnewidiol nid yn unig yn galluogi'r athrawon i reoli straen y rôl, ond hefyd yn helpu wrth feithrin cadernid meddwl. Yna, gallant drosglwyddo'r sgiliau hyn i ddisgyblion, gan greu diwylliant newydd o hunanymwybyddiaeth. Byddant yn deall: Effaith iaith ar y corff a'r technegau cwestiynu treiddgar a fydd yn caniatáu iddynt hunan-hyfforddi trwy gyfnodau o bwysau, a dysgu ein plant sut i hunan-hyfforddi Cael gwared ar batrymau iaith negyddol Deall beth sydd wrth wraidd ein harferion Ailfeddwl am eu deialog fewnol: patrymau meddwl strategol a rhyddhau emosiynau negyddol Hyfforddi eraill yn ystod cyfnodau tyngedfennol ac adegau isel: gan osgoi cynhyrfu'r dyfroedd. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Llanelli • Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch am eich llythyr ynghylch Deiseb P-05-1133 a gyflwynwyd gan Tracey Jones. Mae Addysg Gychwynnol i Athrawon (ITE) wedi cael ei diwygio'n sylweddol yn ystod y blynyddoedd diwethaf. Fe wnaeth Addysgu Athrawon Yfory https://llyw.cymru/adoilygiad-o-hyfforddiant-cychwynnol-athrawon-2015-addysgu-athrawon-yfory nodi'r angen i ddiwygio cynnwys rhaglenni Addysg Gychwynnol i Athrawon a'r ffordd y maent yn cael eu darparu. Nod hyn oedd paratoi athrawon dan hyfforddiant i gefnogi pedwar diben y cwricwlwm newydd i Gymru a mynd i'r afael â'r chwe maes dysgu a phrofiad er mwyn datblygu athrawon y dyfodol i ddiwallu anghenion pob dysgwyr. Mae'r meinï prawn ar gyfer achredu rhaglenni Addysg Gychwynnol i Athrawon wedi'u diweddaru i adlewyrchu'r newidiadau sydd eu hangen ac maent yn gosod y fframwaith ar gyfer datblygu rhagleni Addysg Gychwynnol i Athrawon. O'r herwydd, nid ydym yn argymell nac yn pennu'r cynnwys penodol sydd ei angen i fodloni'r meinï prawn hyn. Gellir gweld y meinï prawn yma: https://llyw.cymru/sites/default/files/publications/2018-09/meini-prawn-ar-gyfer-achredu-rhagleni-addysg-gychwynnol-athrawon-yn-gngymru.pdf Mae achredu rhagleni Addysg Gychwynnol i Athrawon yn broses annibynnol a gynhelir gan Gyngor y Gweithlu Addysg drwy'r Bwrdd Achredu Addysg Athrawon, sy'n penderfynu a yw'r rhaglen arfaethedig yn mynd i'r afael â meinï prawn achredu ac yn bodloni'r weledigaeth ar gyfer Addysg Gychwynnol i Athrawon yng Nghymru. O fewn y meinï prawn mae'n ofynol i ragleni roi cyfleoedd i athrawon dan hyfforddiant ddatblygu gwybodaeth a dealltwriaeth ddamcaniaethol gyfoes, yn ogystal â chael mewnwelediad ymarferol i'r ffordd y mae plant a phobl ifanc yn datblygu ac yn dysgu. Dylai hyn, ymysg pethau eraill, gynnwys: - datblygiad gwybyddol, cymdeithasol ac emosiynol plant a phobl ifanc • sut mae plant a phobl ifanc yn dysgu • y ffactorau a all hybu neu atal dysgu effeithiol gan gynnwys effaith cefndiroedd, hunaniaeth, gwerthoedd a chredoau dysgwyr • yr angen i ddarparu ar gyfer datblygiad holistaidd y dysgwr • pa mor ganolog yw llesiant i ddysgu effeithiol I gefnogi hyn rydym wedi comisiynu ein partneriaid mewn Prifysgolion i ddatblygu modiwlau cyfoethogi y bydd myfyrwyr rhaglenni Addysg Gychwynol i Athrawon a'r rheini sydd eisoes yn ymarferwyr yn gallu cael gafael arnynt. Bydd y modiwlau hyn ar gael yn fuan a byddant yn mynd i'r afael â'r canlynol: • Profiadau niweidiol yn ystod plentyndod • Llesiant – trosolwg o adnoddau • Rôl y Cynorthwyodd Addysgu wrth gefnogi llesiant y dysgwyr • Modelu dulliau o ymgysylltu â llesiant ar lefel ysgol gyfan ac ar lefel clwstwr • Anghenion Dysgu Ychwanegol • Cael mynediad at wasanaethau a mapio darpariaeth • Llesiant emosiynol a meddyliol • Arweinyddiaeth ar gyfer llesiant athrawon • Ymddygiad • Datblygiad plant • Niwroddatblygiad ac addysgeg Gyda'i gilydd, ar y cyd â hyfforddiant arall sydd ar gael, mae'r mesurau hyn wedi'u llunio i baratoi'r gweithlu i allu deall datblygiad dysgwyr a'u helpu i feithrin gwydnwch wrth ymateb i'r heriau y byddant yn eu hwynebu. Yn gywir, Kirsty Williams AS Y Gweinidog Addysg Minister for Education P-05-1133 Adapt the teacher training syllabus to include Transformational Coaching and Emotional Intelligence, Correspondence – Petitioner to Committee, 07.03.21 What are your thoughts on the attached document? We are slowly moving in the right direction, however the document doesn’t provide enough evidence of how much the key points below will be addressed within the Universities. My concern is that a ‘module’ might only slightly touch on these subjects. - Wellbeing – overview of resources - Modelling approaches to whole school and cluster level engagement with well-being - Emotional and mental well-being - Leadership for teacher well-being As an ex teacher myself with over 20 years in the profession, I believe that we can often stick a band aid on topics or just lightly cover them which doesn’t give us enough depth on the learning. As most of the World has come to recognise through Covid, building a resilient society will be key in moving forward, this cannot be done within a few modules during a three-year Curriculum. There is no accountability to how much the Universities need to invest in these modules. Moving into the 21st century we need to look at what Neuroscience, Emotional Intelligence, Transpersonal and Language Alchemy Coaching can teach us. Teacher practice needs to be diverse enough to support this evolution of change within our society – never has it been more important to learn about human behaviour to reinforce the notion that: ‘thoughts create our behaviour which in turn impacts productivity’ Enabling Psychologists, Neuro-scientists, Language Alchemy and Transpersonal Coaching specialists into our field to support with this key area of the ITE programme will assist us in being at the leading edge of teacher practice. Having been through the process myself can see that this is one of the main key components that’s missing from our Curriculum in firstly: retaining our staff and secondly: reducing staff sickness. We need to be working at the level of thoughts to improve the quality and consistency of ITE provision and introduce a new approach to initial teacher education. If this is essential to the government in achieving its wider ambitions for Educational reform in Wales, focusing in depth on the Human Behaviour, Emotional Literacy, Transpersonal and Language Alchemy coaching will be key. We could be the first Teaching Practice of its kind to invest in this area, this change will develop us as global leading-edge specialists. To develop this I propose: These areas to be placed into QTS status with a minimum of 20% of the full Teaching Practice to include: - Human behaviour - learning about ‘me’ who am I? How can I understand my behaviours, my triggers and my personal language, learning the dynamics of my mind (Emotional Intelligence) - Psychology and Neuroscience of the ‘adult’ not the child. - Transpersonal and Language Alchemy coaching (the internal and external coach) Does it adequately address the issues that you raised? It touches on these issues in a manner that’s unclear. It mentions modules. If the module for example is 4 weeks long and only one hour a week. That’s only 4 hours over 3 years. That’s not adequate enough time to change people’s unhealthy habits and enable them to learn how to reframe these habits and learn how to become robust teachers. It does need to include Emotional Literacy and Coaching. In the document ‘teaching-tomorrows- teachers’ states: If Wales was to achieve the school system that it needs and wants in the future, then it seemed clear to us that the teaching profession needs to provide a lead. Wales, needs a new form of professionalism amongst its teachers. It needs teachers who:* - accept and respond to demands for their accountability; - take personal and collective responsibility for professional development; Out of the 9 key points within the document only the above two lightly touch on our topics. To enable a teacher to fully embrace these two key areas they also need to have the emotional literacy to respond to various demands within the role and hold themselves accountable. Equipping our teacher students with emotional literacy will enable them to take FULL responsibility over their roles. Equipping them to be forward thinkers and practitioners that are able to focus on the solution and not the problem. - Do you have further questions in response? How will we hold Universities accountable to the depth of Emotional Literacy that needs to be taught within the teaching practice? Can these skills be included in the QTS status? How do we develop a mentally strong and robust group of teachers without these key components? How will we connect adult human behaviour into our ITE programme? Is there anything additional that you would like the Committee to know at this stage, either in response to this document or as an update to the Committee? My thoughts are that we are slowly moving in the right direction, however I don’t believe that our petition has been fully addressed. Since September 2020 to March 3rd 2021 I have personally coached over 130 Head Teachers and trained over 600 Senior Leaders and staff on resilience competency skills, Alchemy Coaching and our Advanced Leadership Programme here in Wales. The aim: supporting them to understand their behaviours, values, thought process and triggers. With many stating that they wished they had learned this within teaching practice. Many of our heads have stated without this training they would have left the profession. We recently held a brief questionnaire with the below questions with 162 people. \| \| yes \| no \| Possibly \| \|-----------------------------------------------------------------\|-----\|----\|----------\| \| 1. If we were to include 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Human Behavior' (Psychology), Transpersonal and Language Alchemy Coaching(TM) within our teaching practice do you believe we would create a more resilient and robust practitioner that could better cope with the pressures of the role? \| 148 \| 2 \| 12 \| \| 2. Do you believe that these skills are needed within the profession? \| 151 \| 2 \| 9 \| \| 3. Would you like to see these skills being added to the teacher practice curriculum? \| 149 \| 2 \| 11 \| In the document ‘Teaching tomorrow Teachers’ it states: If Wales was to achieve the school system that it needs and wants in the future, then it seemed clear to us that the teaching profession needs to provide a lead. Wales, needs a new form of professionalism amongst its teachers. To achieve this we need highly self aware individuals coming though the profession individuals who are robust to the system and can manage through pressured times. Teachers need to fully understand who they are to manage these situations well. Its their health and wellbeing at stake, if we had a robust teaching system we would, as previously stated: - Reduce Staff sickness - Retain teachers within the profession The document also states: Without effective leadership there will be little chance of the sector responding to the many challenges posed by the recommendations of the Donaldson Review. And without effective leadership there is little opportunity for the sector benchmark its current work nationally and internationally and to become a self-improving system. Given the current lack of leadership of the sector it is perhaps not surprising that the quality of the programmes is not as strong as it should be. Global corporate companies are shifting into emotionally intelligence led leadership, we are moving into a very different era of Leadership- the employee is the centre of the business, you want strategic visioning? you need Emotionally literate staff members on board. Your top CEO’s and Entrepreneurs work at this level, it accounts for 90/95% of leadership. Option 15.2 – A single university centre At the other end of the scale, it would be possible for Wales to develop a single national centre for teacher education. This can be seen as one of the top national centres in Europe – combined with it being a 4 year course – you could have the best ITE provision. This could become a leadership training hub and centre for excellence, moving into the 21st century we need to better equip our teachers and future generation of children with the appropriate tools enabling them to be better prepared for our future. Teacher practice needs to be diverse enough to support this evolution of change within our society. Creating a national centre could potentially attract: - Neuro science specialists into our field, enabling us to be on the leading edge of teacher practice. - Professors within Psychology to take an interest within our culture Having the 3 centres instead of 5 can also have a similar impact Thank you for taking the time in reading and listening to my points. P-05-1134 Capiwch holl dreth gyngor sir Cymru ar 3 y cant. Rhaid cynnal refferendwm o'r cyhoedd os dymunir mynd dros 3 y cant Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Gerald Newton Jones, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 524 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Dwi wedi bod yn byw yn Sir Conwy y rhan fwyaf o fy mywyd, cefais fy ngeni yn y Rhyl, o rieni o Gymru, ac erbyn hyn dwi wedi ymddeol ac fel pawb arall rydym wedi gorfod dioddef cynnydd o 14.5 y cant yn y dreth gyngor yn ystod y dwy flynedd ddiwethaf. Rydym ar fin cyrraedd sefyllfa lle y bydd yn rhaid i bobl sy'n byw ynghymeru naill ai leihau maint eu cartrefi neu symud i Loegr lle mae capio ar dreth o'r fath yn parhau i fod mewn grym. Bydd hyn, ynghyd â Llywodraeth Cymru a fydd yn rheoli 50 y cant o'n treth incwm cyn bo hir, yn gyrru pobl a busnesau allan o Gymru. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Mae'r dreth gyngor ar gyfer 2 o bensiynwr sy'n byw gyda'i gilydd mewn eiddo safonol y gwnaethon nhw ei adeiladu eu hunain bellach yn dileu dros 1/6 o gyfanswm incwm eu pensiynau. Yna, ar hyn o bryd mae £1000 o gyfanswm incwm eu pensiwn yn cael ei drethu ymhellach ar gyfradd o 20 y cant. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gorllewin Clwyd • Gogledd Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch iechi am eich llythyr 21 Ionawr at Rebecca Evans AS, y Gweinidog Cyllid a'r Trefnydd, ynghylch ystyriath y Pwyllgor Deisebau o ddeiseb yn galw am gap ar godiadau yn y dreth gyngor ac am y cyfle i amlinellu saffbwynt Llywodraeth Cymru. Fi sy'n ymateb gan mai fi sy'n gyfrifol am faterion cyllid llywodraeth leol. Fel y byddwch yn gwybod, er bod gan Llywodraeth Cymru rai pwerau yma, mae'r cyfrifoldeb dros bennu cyllideb pob cyngor, ac fel rhan o hynny, benderfyniadau ar y dreth gyngor, yn nwylo ei aelodau etholedig. Yn ystod ei bodolaeth hyd yn hyn saffbwynt Llywodraeth Cymru yw bod pennu cyllidebau a'r dreth gyngor yn agweddi hanfodol ar ddemocratiaeth leol. Ers 2010-11, bu'r polisi'n rhan bwysig o'r ymreolaeth a'r hyblygrywedd a roddir i'r awdurdodau lleol yng Nghymru i'w helpu i reoli'r heriau a achosir gan y cyfyngiadau ledled y DU ar wariant cyhoeddu. Mae hyn yn wahanol i Loegr lle y cyflwynodd Deddf Lleoliaeth 2011 ofynion ar gyfer refferenda lleol yn achos codiadau'r dreth gyngor sy'n uwch na'r trothwyon a bennir gan Llywodraeth y DU. O dan y ddeddfwriaeth (Deddf Cyllid Llywodraeth Leol 1988) mae gan Weinidogion Cymru bwerau i gyfyngu (capio) Gofyniad Cyllidebol awdurdodau lleol yng Nghymru. Mae'r pwerau'n ymneud yn benodol a'r Gofyniad Cyllidebol y mae awdurdod (awdurdod unedol neu'r Comisiynydd Heddlu a Throseddau) yn ei bennu yn hytrach na lefel ei dreth gyngor. Y Gofyniad Cyllidebol yw'r rhan o gyllideb awdurdod a ariennir trwy Grant Cynnal Refeniw, ardrethi annomestig a'r dreth gyngor (ynghyd â mân drwyddad ardrethi disgresiynol, a Grant yr Heddlu yn achos Comisiynwyr Heddlu a Throseddau). Mae'n hepgor y rhan o gyllideb awdurdod a ariennir trwy incwm o grantiau penodol, ffocedd a thaliadau lleol a chronefydd ariannol wrth gefn. Am y rheswm hwn, er mai'r Gweinidog Cyllid a'r Trefnydd sy'n gyfrifol am bolisi'r dreth gyngor, fy mhortffolio innau sy'n gyfrifol am benderfyniadau capio ochr yn ochr a'm cyfrifoldebau dros setliadau blynyddol llywodraeth leol. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru o'r farn y byddai capio gofyniad cyllideb awdurdod yn orfodaeth ddifrifol ar gyfrifoldebau aelodau a etholwyd yn lleol; ni ellid ei wneud yn fympwyol neu heb ystyriath ofalus. Os caiff capio ei orfodi, mae'r ddeddfwriaeth yn mynnu bod rhaid iddo gael ei wneud yn erb yn mein prawn penodedig. We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Byddai angen i'r meinï prawn – yn seiliedig ar egwyddorion gwario gormodol – gael eu hamlinellu cyn i'r awdurdodau bennu eu cyllidebau. Am y rheswm hwnnw, ni allai capio gael ei orfodi yn awr ar y gofynion cyllidebol y mae awdurdodau ledled Cymru wedi penderfynu a chytuno arnynt, yn dilyn ymgyngnhori ac ymgysylltu lleol. Byddai angen gallu cymhwysyo unrhyw egwyddorion o'r fath yn gyson ar draws awdurdodau, er bod modd pennu meinï prawn gwahanol ar gyfer awdurdodau unedol ac ar gyfer praesept yr Heddlu. Gallai'r egwyddorion gynnwys nifer o feini prawn, er enghraifft, codiadau canranol a / neu ariannol yn swm cyffredinol incwm y dreth gyngor, a / neu yn lefel treth Band D. Hyd yn oed os bydd angen mynd y tu hwnt i'r egwyddorion, gallai penderfyniad unrhyw Weinidog ynghylch a ddylid capio neu beidio gymryd i ystyriaeth ffactorau ac amgylchiadau lleol, er enghraifft, os oes rhaid i awdurdod ddelio â her ariannol benodol. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi darparu cynnydd mewn cyllid ar gyfer pob awdurdod yng Nghymru - cyfartaledd o 4.3% yn 2020-2021 a 3.8% dros dro yn 2021-22. Mae pob un o'r awdurdodau lleol bellach yn gwneud penderfyniadau anodd ynghylch darparu'r gwasanaethau yr ydym oll yn dibynnu arnynt. Mae'r dreth gyngor yn ffynhonnell sylweddol o cyllid ar gyfer y gwasanaethau lleol hynny ac mae'n bwysig bod gan yr awdurdodau ryddid i bennu eu blaenoriaethau gwario a'u lefelau treth gyngor eu hunain; awdurdodau statudol annibynol ydynt sy'n gyfrifol am reoli eu materion ariannol eu hunain; Wrth bennu eu cyllidebau a lefelau'r dreth gyngor, mae ar yr awdurdodau ddyletswydd i ystyried yn ofalus y cydwysedd rhwng cynnal gwasanaethau allweddol i gymunedau a chyfyngu'r baich ariannol y maent yn ei osod arnynt. Mae'n ofynnol i'r awdurdodau lleol ymgyngnhori ac ymgysylltu â'u cymunedau bod blwyddyn ar eu cynigion ar gyfer gwario a'r dreth gyngor ac am ddarparu gwasanaethau. Mae hyn yn cynnig cyfle i gymunedau lleol fynegi eu barn am y penderfyniadau y mae eu cyngor yn eu gwneud ynghylch y dreth gyngor a gwasanaethau lleol. Rwyf yn deall bod amgylchiadau'n anodd iawn i lawer o bobl ac aelwydydd ledled Cymru; yn fwy byth yn ystod her ddigynsail y coronafeirws ac yn dilyn blynyddoedd o gyni sydd wedi rhoi pwysau sylweddol ar wasanaethau lleol. Mae'r pandemig wedi effeithio'n sylweddol ar ystod eang o wasanaethau ac mewn ymateb i hyn, mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi darparu cyllid ychwanegol sylweddol i awdurdodau lleol yn ychwanegol at y setliad i sicrhau bod yr holl wasanaethau cyhoeddus yng Nghymru yn parhau i gael eu darparu. Mae'n bwysig cydnabod bod gan Lywodraeth Cymru nifer o gynlluniau i helpu pobl sy'n ei chael yn anodd talu biliau'r dreth gyngor, yn ogystal ag ystod o esempiadau a gostyngiadau eraill. Rydym yn darparu £244 y flwyddyn i gefnogi'r awdurdodau lleol i ddarparu Cynllun Gostyngiadau'r Dreth Gyngor. Mae'r cynllun hwn yn darparu cymorth uniongyrchol i aelwydydd trwy leihau biliau'r dreth gyngor i aelwydydd incwm isel. Cynllun gorffodol yw hwn y mae rhaid i bob awdurdod lleol ei ddarparu ac mae'n helpu bron 280,000 o aelwydydd yng Nghymru. Rydym hefyd yn ymchwilio i ddiwygiadau i'r dreth gyngor yn y dyfodol ac a allai fod yn fwy blaengar. Cyn hir byddwn yn cyhoeddi crynodeb o'n holl waith yn ystod y tymor hwn o'r Senedd, i lywio'r ddadl cyn y tymor nesaf. Yn gywir, Julie James AS/MS Y Gweinidog Tai a Llywodraeth Leol Minister for Housing and Local Government Tudalen y pecyn 119 I would just like to reiterate what I have stated in the petition. Being under Lockdown since this time last year due to age and medical conditions most of us have had to stay at home (we have not been out apart from the Garden) thus incurring around 2-3 times the energy costs used for home heating and hot water and of course as we are unable to visit the supermarkets for essential foodstuffs have been hit with a weekly online shop delivery of £7 per week. The expense of council tax regardless of income is a further Burdon that we (retired) have to endure regardless of the situation above or the pandemic. People on low pay, retired people (regardless of income) and young people are struggling yet the Council tax still increases every year for less and less services. 14.1% in Conwy the last 2 years has hit our pensions and incomes hard. Despite the current climate we are expecting increase around Wales of between 3 and 9% yet again. The general income pay rises as you well know is around 1% yet County councillors and your organisation is expecting pay rises of around 3-5% due to the ability of quoting and voting for their own pay rises. We taxpayers who pay the public sector do not have that luxury and those of us who have paid full income tax for over 50 years (and no pay increases during 8 years of the 80's) are finding the costs of living in our homeland is becoming too much. People who are hard working and worked hard to provide free public services for all are being driven to despair. Despite this hard work to enable them not to be a burden on the state and the fact many have their own homes, we are seen as a money pot by the Government and have to consider downsizing the homes we have lived in for decades. N Wales is not a healthy area to live due to the lack of industry/technology investment and it's blatantly clear many businesses are leaving the area and our young people following. However the population is being replaced with more and more well to do retirees from outside of Wales (nothing wrong with that) buying and paying over the "normal local" costs for housing pushing prices upwards and these new investors will (could) soon be a further burden on our public sector expenditure hence more c tax rises. The economy is collapsing and these rises are forcing us Welsh people out. The cap on c tax is only one part of the measures needed to instil confidence in the government but effectively c tax is the big issue for ALL residents of Wales. Two people should be able to enjoy retirement after a total of 90 years working (as in our case paying tax) without the thought of leaving their home due to ever increasing c tax rises which forces many to downsize and sell off to richer people from?? One final point:- Here in Conwy CC the public services have degraded to virtual non existent despite the 14.1% C tax rise. We pay 59 councillors over £2m per annum plus expenses yet they are allowed to agree their own pay rise of 4% and increase c Tax by 3%.-- This has nothing to do with the Covid-19 pandemic--it's just ??? Regards P-05-1138 Profion COVID-19 wythnosol ar gyfer staff sy’n gofalu am bobl ag anghenion iechyd meddygol cymhleth Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Leanne Collis, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 50 llofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae ein merch, Olivia, yn 17 oed ac mae ganddi anghenion iechyd meddygol cymhleth sy’n galw am ofal 24 awr. Mae hi mewn perygl o ddal y feirws angheul hwn bob dydd heb unrhyw system brofi!! Llofnodwch, plîs! Mae’r staff cymunedol rydym yn sôn amdanynt yn weithwyr rheng flaen sy’n gofalu am bobl agored i niwed, ac maent yn rhoi’r holl ofal personol ac yn cyflawni tasgau angenrheidiol yn y cartref sy’n ofynnol mewn amgylchedd ysbyty. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Mae profion wythnosol ar gael ar safleoedd y GIG Mae profion wythnosol ar gael mewn cartrefi gofal Mae profion wythnosol ar gael mewn cartrefi preswyl ysgolion arbennig Rwyf wedi cysylltu ag Iechyd Cyhoeddus Cymru, a gyfeiriodd y mater at ein bwrdd iechyd lleol, ond maent wedi GWRTHOD diogelu Olivia a phrofi ei staff! Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gorllewin Caerdydd • Canol De Cymru Diolch ichi am eich llythyr dyddiedig 25 Ionawr at y Gweinidog lechyd a Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol ynglŷn â rhoi profion wythnosol i staff sy’n gofalu am bobl ag anghenion meddygol cymhleth. Cafodd eich llythyr ei anfon ymlaen ataf i er mwyn imi ymateb, gan mai fi sy’n gyfrifol am y maes sy’n berthnasol i’r materion yr ydych yn eu codi. Yma yng Nghymru, mae diogelu ein GIG, a’n dinasyddion mwyaf agored i niwed, yn parhau’n ganollog i’n hymateb i COVID-19, ac un o flaenoriaethau ein strategaeth brofi yw galluogi gweithwyr iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol i barhau i ddarparu gofal i bobl mewn ysbytai ac mewn gofal sylfaenol, yn ogystal â lleoliadau gofal yn y gymuned. Ar 4 Rhagfyr, fe wnaeth y Gweinidog lechyd a Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol gyhoeddiad ynglŷn â darparu profion i’r staff iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol rheng flaen hynny nad ydynt yn rhan o raglen profi rheolaidd ar hyn o bryd. I ddechrau roedd y rhaglenn yn ei chyfanrwydd yn destun peilot braenaru i’n helpu i ddatblygu atebion i rai o’r rhwystrau a allai amharu ar ei heffeithiolrwydd, ond bellach rydym wedi dechrau ar y gwaith o roi profion rheolaidd i bob claf a phob aelod o staff iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol sy’n dod i gysylltiad uniongyrchol â'r cyhoedd. Rwyf wedi cynnwys dolen at y cyhoeddiad isod er mwyn ichi allu cyfeirio ato https://llyw.cymru/datganiad-ysgrifenedig-profion-covid-19-i-weithwyr-gofal-iechyd-gofal-cymdeithasol-staff-hosbis Bydd staff iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol yn cael eu profi ddwywaith yr wythnos – bob tri i bedwar diwrnod – gan ddefnyddio Dyfeisiau Lilif Unfordd. Mae'r profion hyn yn canfod presenoldeb antigenau feirysol COVID-19 o sampl ar swab, a gall gynhyrchu canlyniadau o fewn 30 o funudau, sy'n golygu bod unigolion sy'n cael prawf positif yn cael eu hadnabod a'i hynysu'n llawer cynt nag a fyddai'n digwydd drwy'r broses profion PCR, lle mae angen anfon y swab â'r sampl i labordy. Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Rwy'n gobeithio'n fawr y bydd y rhaglen yn helpu i leihau'r cyfraddau heintio yn ein cymunedau, er mwyn diogelu'r bobl hynny a fyddai mewn mwy o berygl pe baent yn dal y feirws, a dod o hyd i'r bobl sy'n heintus ond nad ydynt yn dangos symptomau. Yn gywir, Julie Morgan AS/MS Y Dirprwy Weinidog Iechyd a Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services RE: MY RESPONSE It states in the response from the Welsh Government that lateral flow testing has been rolled out in January to social care workers, we have not been included, the only question I have in response is when this will happen with our private package?? P–05–1140 Dylid adolygu'r canllawiau ar gyfer Prydau Ysgol Am Ddim, gan ddileu'r opsiwn ar gyfer dosbarthu parseli bwyd Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Sarah Rees, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 205 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Cafodd delweddau ofnadwy o barseli bwyd yn Lloegr eu dosbarthu, gan arwain at San Steffan yn ymrwymo i ddarparu talebau i bawb. Mae 3 chyngor yn dal i ddosbarthu parseli bwyd yng Nghymru. Mae teuluoeedd wedi rhannu delweddau o barseli sy'n brin iawn o ddewis sydd ddim yn bodloni gofynion dietegol, ac yn ôl adroddiadau, sy'n cynnwys cynnyrch ffres wedi mowldio. Dyw rhai rhieni ddim yno i dderbyn y parseli oherwydd eu bod yn y gwaith, a bydd eisiau bwyd ar y plant, o ganlyniad. Gwn beth yw'r stigma sy'n gysylltiedig â phrydau ysgol am ddim, mae'n bryd grymuso teuluoeedd a gadael iddyn nhw ddewis yr hyn y mae eu plant yn ei fwyta. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Yr arweiniad sy'n cefnogi rhieni orau yw ymrwymo i daliadau BACS yn ddiofyn, gyda thalebau'n cael eu darparu pan ofynnir amdanynt. Mae Sefydliad Bevan yn argymell y dylai pob awdurdod lleol ddarparu taliadau arian parod. I osgoi problemau gydag ansawdd y bwyd mewn parseli – a faint o fwyd sydd ynddynt – yn ogystal ag osgoi stigma. Mae'r Grŵp Gweithredu ar Dlodi Plant yn amlinelli pam mai arian parod yw'r dewis cyntaf: * Mae arian parod yn rhoi urddas i bobl trwy gael gwared ar y stigma sy'n aml yn mynd law yn llaw â defnyddio cefnogaeth mewn nwyddau, neu dalebau. * Mae taliadau arian parod yn cynnig dewis a rheolaeth trwy alluogi teuluoedd i ddefnyddio cefnogaeth mewn ffordd sy'n gweithio orau iddyn nhw, gan eu galluogi i ddiwallu'r anghenion lluosog sydd ganddyn nhw. * Arian parod yw'r hyn sy'n well gan y rhan fwyaf o deuluoedd incwm isel. * Mae arian parod yn dileu'r trefniadau cymhleth neu ddrud sy'n gysylltiedig â chyflenwyr cymorth mewn nwyddau. * Mae taliadau arian parod yn caniatáu gwell gwerth am arian i deuluoedd * Mae'n hwb i'r economi leol gan eu bod nhw'n fwy tebygol o wario'r arian gyda manwerthwyr lleol ac annibynnol, yn hytrach na mewn archfarchnadoedd. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • De Caerdydd a Phenarth • Canol De Cymru Annwyl Janet, Deiseb P-05-1140 Dylid adolygu'r canllawiau ar gyfer Prydau Ysgol Am Ddim, gan ddileu'r opsiwn ar gyfer dosbarthu parseli bwyd Diolch am eich llythyrr ynghylch Deiseb P-05-1140. Rwyf wedi nodi nifer o bwyntiau i'r Pwyllgor Deisebau eu hystyried isod. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi rhoi'r hyblygrywedd i awdurdodau lleol ddewis pa ddull o ddarparu prydau ysgol am ddim sydd orau i ddiwallu anghenion y boblogaeth y maent yn ei gwasanaeithu yn ystod y cyfnod pan nad yw disgyblion cymwys wedi gallu mynychu'r ysgol o ganlyniad i Covid-19. Rydym wedi annog awdurdodau lleol i weithredu nifer o systemau ochr yn ochr oherwydd ein bod yn ymwybodol iawn nad oes un dull unigol yn gallu diwallu anghenion teuluoedd pob disgybl cymwys o fewn ardal awdurdod lleol, yn enwedig teuluoedd mwy agored i niwed. Yn anecdotaidd, rydym wedi cael gwybod am deuluoedd nad oes ganddynt gyfrifon banc (ac felly nad dynt yn gallu derbyn taliadau BACs) a hefyd am bryderon awdurdodau lleol mewn nifer fach o achosion yn ymwneud â phlant agored i niwed lle mae perygl gwirioneddol na fyddent yn elwa pe ba taliad arian parod yn cael ei wneud i'w rhieni. Dywedwyd wrthym hefyd fod dosbarthu parseli o fwyd wedi rhoi cyfle amhrisiadwy i awdurdodau lleol wirio lles plentyn sy'n agored i niwed. Yn yr un modd, mewn rha'i ardaloedd lle mae gan archfarchnadoedd mawr bresenoldeb cyfyngedig ac nad oes slotiau trafnidiaeth neu gyflenwi ar gael am ba reswm bynnag, nid yw talebau'n fawr o ddefnydd. Mae gallu gweithredu nifer o systemau cyfochrog yn galluogi awdurdod lleol i ddiwallu anghenion niferus ac amrywiol eu poblogaeth gymwys. Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. Tudalen y pecyn 128 We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh and correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Deallaf fod y rhan fwyaf o awdurdodau lleol yn Nghymru ar hyn o bryd yn darparu prydau ysgol am ddim gan ddefnyddio naill ai taliadau arian parod neu dalebau. Mae awdurdodau lleol wedi ystyried y dull o ddarparu prydau ysgol am ddim y maent wedi’i fabwysiadu o ddifrif a gwn am o leiaf un lle mae'r mater hwn wedi’i ystyried a'r penderfyniad wedi’i wneud ar lefel y Cyngor. Nid yw fy swyddogion yn ymwybodol o unrhyw bryderon sy'n cael eu codi gan y teuluoeedd hynny y darperir talebau iddynt ac ni allaf weld unrhyw rinwedd o beidio â chaniatâu i awdurdodau lleol eu dosbarthu fel mater o drefn. Rwy’n ymwybodol bod dau awdurdod lleol (Caerffili a Phen-y-bont ar Ogwr) yn darparu parseli bwyd yn rheolaidd gydag Abertawe yn rhoi dewis o daliaid neu barsel bwyd i deuluoeedd cymwys. Efallai y bydd gennych ddiddordeb hefyd mewn gweld y fwydlen a gynigir yng Nghaerffili (https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/Services/Schools-and-learning/School-dinners-and-breakfast-clubs/COVID-19-Free-school-meals-delivery-service). Deallaf fod Caerffili a Phen-y-bont ar Ogwr yn gallu darparu ar gyfer y rhai sydd â gofynion dietegol arbennig. Mae'n bwysig cydnabod bod y deisebydd yn cyfeirio at ddelweddau o barseli bwyd o Loegr a achosodd helynt yn ddiweddar yn y cyfryngau. Arweiniodd yr helynt hwnnw at sylwadau cadarnhaol iawn gan deuluoeedd sy'n byw mewn dwy ardal awdurdod lleol ynghymer sydd ar hyn o bryd yn darparu prydau ysgol am ddim ar ffurf talebau bwyd fel mater o drefn. Amgaeaf ddolenni at ddwy erthygl yn y cyfryngau sy'n pwysleisiol hyn (https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/free-school-meals-food-wales-19607778 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/stark-contrast-between-free-school-23306723). Lle mae fy swyddogion wedi cael gwybod am bryderon unigol ynghylch cynnwys parseli bwyd, mae'r rhain wedi'u datrys drwy gyfeirio at yr awdurdod lleol dan sylw. Mae staff awdurdodau lleol ledled Cymru wedi gweithio'n eithriadol o galed i sicrhau nad yw disgyblion cymwys sy'n dibynnau ar brydau ysgol am ddim wedi gorfod mynd hebddynt am nad ydynt yn gallu mynychu'r ysgol oherwydd Covid-19. Credaf hefyd ei bod yn bwysig cydnabod bod ymdrech ychwanegol wedi'g wneud yng Nghaerffili i ddefnyddio cyflenwyr lleol sydd wedi cael eu taro'n arbennig o galed gan y pandemig. Ar y llaw arall, nid wyf yn ymwybodol o fawr o dystiolaeth sy'n awgrymu y byddai rhieni'n fwy tebygol o wario gyda manwerthwyr lleol, annibynnol, yn hytrach nag archfarchnadoedd (fel y nodwyd gan y deisebydd). Rwy'n gobeithio bod y wybodaeth rwyf wedi'i darparu yn ddefnyddiol i'r Pwyllgor Deisebau ac, os oes angen rhagor o fanylion, rhowch wybod i mi. Yn gywir Kirsty Williams AS/MS Y Gweinidog Addysg Minister for Education Response to Minister for Education & petitions Committee Free School Meals – use of food parcels Below are my thoughts in response to points raised by the Minister 1. We have encouraged local authorities to operate a number of systems in parallel because we are very conscious that one single method may not meet the needs of the families of all eligible pupils within a local authority area, particularly those of more vulnerable families. Whilst the Minister has continued to make the point that she has encouraged local authorities to operate a number of systems in parallel, what evidence can she provide for doing so? I have continually challenged Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC), since they implemented this system in April 2020 and at no point have they said they will look at offering a blended option. They have stated that there are insufficient resources within the council to operate a range of options. (see attached letter to Bethan Sayed MS) What support are the Welsh Government offering to enable local authorities to provide parallel options? 2. also, of local authority concerns in a small number of cases of some vulnerable children where there is a very real danger that they might not benefit if a cash payment is made to their parents. We have also been told that delivering a parcel of food has provided local authorities with an invaluable opportunity to check on the welfare of a vulnerable child. Safety of children is of course a priority; however local authorities are hiding behind this reason as an excuse for continuing to use a blanket approach in providing food parcels. Some of the reasons BCBC offer for continuing to use parcels are the risk of food shortages, when there have not been any food shortages since the early point of the lockdowns almost 12 months ago, and that their staff were undertaking the deliveries to ensure safeguarding and wellbeing. It must be noted that they ended these deliveries in April 2020 when they contracted The Real Wrap Co to take over the contract. I quote “Therefore, since April 2020, the local authority has contracted the Real Wrap Company to pack and deliver the food parcels directly to homes.” Therefore, giving the reason that the continued use of food parcels is to safeguard children is false. 3. Being able to operate a number of parallel systems enables a local authority to meet the many and varied needs of their resident eligible population. As aforementioned, neither Bridgend or Caerphilly are offering parallel systems. This is why I ask that the Welsh Government change their guidance to ensure that all local authorities operation more than one option, removing the blanket use of food parcels which is not suitable for all families. 4. You may also be interested to see the menu choices offered in Caerphilly Whenever challenged, the Welsh Government hold Caerphilly up as a positive example of food parcels. At no stage have the acknowledged that the food parcels being proffered in Bridgend are sub-standard and well below the weekly allowance of £19.50. Families regularly send me images of their parcels (see attached), and we undertake regular supermarket cost comparisons. The average supermarket cost of the Bridgend parcels is £10-11. 5. Where my officials have been made aware of individual concerns regarding the contents of food parcels, these have been resolved by reference to the local authority concerned. Having raised this issue at various stages with the Minister I would like to know where the mouldy and sub-standard food has been addressed with BCBC? 6. I also think it is important to recognise that in Caerphilly, additional effort has been made to make use of local suppliers who have been especially hard hit by fallout from the pandemic. Again, the focus is on the food parcel best practice in Caerphilly. I would like to ask her opinion on why Bridgend have contracted a Bristol based private company, The Real Wrap Co, who drive weekly trucks to Bridgend for deliveries. Some families have missed their delivery due to having to go out to work, others have simply been missed. BCBC themselves cite that they opted to use Real Wrap because they “The Real Wrap company was chosen to supply the food parcel, as they were already on a National Procurement Strategy (NPS) Framework for Wales, as they supply sandwiches to all hospitals in Wales, including Bridgend’s Princess of Wales Hospital.” I do not feel that this is a sufficient reason to precure 5,000 weekly food parcels to families across BCBC. If you refer to the images in their letter, you will also see heavy use of individually plastic wrapped items. I would like to know how these parcels fit BCBC’s responsibilities under the Future Generations Act? Surely a single glass jar of jam would suffice rather than individual plastic wrapped portions? 7. On the other hand, I know of little evidence that would indicate that parents would be more likely to spend with local, independent retailers, rather than supermarkets (as cited by the petitioner). Please see link to research from the Bevan Foundation, it clearly states that a benefit of offering cash payments is that families will spend this money in their local economy, as has clearly been seen across Wales during the lockdown periods. https://www.bevanfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/State-of-Wales-FSM.pdf - Does it adequately address the issues that you raised? The Ministers response does not adequately address why just two local authorities have continued to opt for a voucher only system. The Welsh Government focus on Caerphilly and do not address the concerns within Bridgend, of which she is well aware. This policy of giving families in poverty no choice other than food parcels is based on negative assumptions, which can clearly be seen in tweets made by BCBC _____. Parents living in the area contacted me having seen this exchange stating that the words used by the Councillor led them to become very upset and avoid social media due to the mental health impact of the comments made. I have these clear questions: - What support is being offered to local authorities to enable them to meet Welsh Government guidance and offer multiple options in parallel? - Will the Welsh Government change their guidance to ensure that all families are catered for and confirm that more than one option must be in operation? - Will families be reimbursed for the £10 per week they have missed in essential food times where these costs have been absorbed into the running costs of the food parcel system? - Will they investigate the procurement choices of BCBC in using The Real Wrap Co. because they deliver sandwiches to the NHS? - Have the Welsh Government any information to show that they have questioned the quality of the parcels in BCBC? I would like to thank the committee for taking the time to review these comments. As a child, I was in receipt of free school meals and still live with the long-term stigma that comes with being reliant on state benefits. It is for this reason that I have campaigned on this issue, as I am acutely aware of what value children place on themselves when those in authority believe that they are only worth couple of mouldy oranges and some loosely termed ‘recipes’. Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Jamie Price, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 261 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Ar ôl y gyfynghiadau symud cyntaf, gwariodd Llywodraeth y DU £500 miliwn ar y cynllun bwyta allan i helpu allan! Y tro hwn, dylid canolbwyntio ar iechyd! Gyda lefelau gweithgarwch corfforol wedi disgyn i lefelau nas gwelwyd erioed o’r blaen yn ystod y trydydd cyfnod hwn o gyfynghiadau symud a ffigurau iechyd meddwl yn saethu’n uwch nag a welwyd erioed o’r blaen, mae angen inni flaenoriaethu iechyd ar ôl y cyfnod clo! Byddai cynllun mynd allan i helpu allan ar gael i unrhyw un a fyddai am fynd i’r gampfa, pwll nofio neu gyfleusterau hamdden gyda phas diwrnod, i ddosbarth ffitrwydd neu weithgaredd ffitrwydd yn yr awyr agored. Gallai dynnu 50% oddi ar gostau unigolyn, wedi’i gyfyngu i uchafswm o hyd at £10 yr un. Byddai hyn yn gyfle i flaenoriaethu a gwella iechyd y genedl ar ôl y pandemig ac yn tynnau ychydig o’r pwysau oddi ar y GIG yn y dyfodol! Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gorllewin Caerdydd • Canol De Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch am eich gohebiaeth am ddeiseb P-05-1142. Mae pandemig y coronafeirws wedi cael effaith aruthrol ar weithgareddau dan do fel nofio a dosbarthiadau cadw’n heini. Dyna pam, dros y cyfnod clo, un o’r rhesymau prin pam y mae pobl wedi cael gadael eu cartref gennym yw er mwyn ymarfer corff yn yr awyr agored. Ers dechrau’r pandemig, mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi bod yn gweithio’n glos â’r sector chwaraeon ac â’r holl wasanaethau cyhoeddus, i gefnogi ffyrrd gwahanol o gynnal ac annog gweithgarwch corfforol fel mesur i gefnogi iechyd a lles. Rydym wedi cynnal nifer o gronfeydd a chynlluniau trwy Chwaraeon Cymru, y darparwr chwaraeon yng Nghymru. Yn 2020, cyhoeddodd Llywodraeth Cymru gronfa adfer chwaraeon a hamdden o £14m ar gyfer 2020-21 i helpu’r sector i wynebu heriau’r pandemig ac i helpu i sicrhau cynaliadwyedd mwy tymor hir. Nod y gronfa adfer chwaraeon a hamdden yw rhoi cefnogaeth hanfodol i glybiau a mudiadau chwaraeon, darparwr annibynnol a digwyddiadau chwaraeon sydd wedi dioddef yn sgil colli refeniw sylweddol dros y misoedd diwethaf. Mae arian y gronfa yn cael ei ddefnyddio hefyd ar gyfer arloesi yng nghhanolfannau hamdden ac ymddiriedolaethau hamdden awdurdodau lleol. Bydd hynny’n ategu’r arian a neilltuwyd o gronfa caledi Ilywodraeth leol ar gyfer costau uwch ac incwm a gollwyd. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru newydd gyhoeddi’r gronfa ‘darparwr preifat’ ar gyfer cefnogi darparwr gweithgarwch corfforol masnachol yng Nghymru. Ceir mwy o wybodaeth yma: https://www.chwaraeon.cymru/cronfa-darparwr-preifat-y-sector-chwaraeon/ Rydym wedi rhedeg cronfa gweithwyr llawrydd chwaraeon ac mae gennym Gronfa Cymru Actif sydd ar agor i glybiau a mudiadau cymunedol di-elw https://www.chwaraeon.cymru/cronfacymruactif/. Mae’r holl gronfeydd hyn yn bod i helpu darparwr y oroesi’r pandemig. Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. Tudalen y pecyn 134 We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Mae cynnyddu'r cyfleoedd ar gyfer bod yn gorfforol egnïol yn ganolog i sicrhau bod pobl ym rhob rhan o Gymru'n cadw'n iach ac yn dda. Dyma pam, fel rhan o Pwysau Iach: Cymru Iach, y gwnaethon ni fuddsoddi £500k i Chwaraeon Cymru allu datblygu Cynllun Hamdden Actif i Bobl 60+. Bydd hyn yn galluogi Chwaraeon Cymru i barhau i dargedu cyfleoedd gweithgarwch corfforol a chyfrannu at leihau anghydraddoldebau iechyd ymhliith pobl 60+ oed. Rwy'n ddioIchgar ichi am eich adborth ac rydym wedi'i ystyried. Rydym yn cydnabod ymdrechion ac aberth anferthol pobl a busnesau Cymru i ddioelu Cymru ac achub bywydau. Bydd Llywodraeth Cymru'n parhau i rannu'r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf yn rheolaidd trwy'r cynadleddau i'r wasg am Covid-19 a thrwy sianeli'r cyfryngau cymdeithasol yn yr wythnosau i ddod. Gan obeithio y bydd yr wybodaeth yn ddefnyddiol ac yn dangos ichi beth o'r gefnogaeth rydym yn ei darparu. Yn gywir, Yr Arglwydd Elis-Thomas AS/MS Y Dirprwy Weinidog Diwylliant, Chwaraeon a Thwristiaeth Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism P-05-1143 Ail-agorwch ysgolion yn llawn ar unwaith ar ôl hanner tymor mis Chwefror Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Charlotte Young, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 625 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Cafwyd tarfu enfawr ar addysg ein plant eisoes. Mae iechyd meddwl plant yn dioddef. Mae gan blant hawl i addysg – ni chawn nhw fyth yr amser hwn yn ôl. Nid yw dysgu o bell yn gweithio i blant ysgolion cynradd a’u teuluoedd. Mae rhieni o dan bwysau enfawr ac anghynaliadwy i addysgu eu plant gartref yn ogystal â gweithio. Mae brechu staff ysgolion yn cydnabod y rôl bwysig sydd ganddynt a bydd yn lleihau'r risg o gau ysgolion eto. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Bro Morgannwg • Canol De Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch am eich llythyr ar ran y Pwyllgor Deisebau, yn gofyn am sylwadau ar y materion a godwyd yn Neiseb P-05-1143 yn galw am ailagor ysgolion yn llawn ar ôl gwyliau hanner tymor mis Chwefror, cyn ichi ei hystyried yn ffurfiol. Ers cyflwyno'r Ddeiseb, mae pethau wedi symud ymlaen yn gyflym. Er bod y sefyllfa yng Nghymru a ledled y DU yn parhau'n ddifrifol iawn a bod cyfngiadau Lefel 4 mewn grym yng Nghymru ar hyn o bryd, mae Cam 1 y rhaglen frechu yn mynd rhagddo'n dda. Ar 05 Chwefror, [ysgrifennais] at bob pennaeth i amlinellu'r cynllun i'n dysgwy'r ieuengaf ddychwelyd i'w hysgolion yn ofalus. Dylai ysgolion baratoi nawr ar gyfer gweld dysgwyr oedran ysgol gynradd yn dychwelyd yn raddol a chynyddol ac mewn modd hyblyg ar ôl 22 Chwefror, os bydd cyfraddau'r coronafeirws yn parhau i ostwng. Bydd manylion pellach, a chynlluniau ar gyfer gweld dysgwyr oedran ysgol uwchradd yn dychwelyd i'w hysgolion, yn dilyn. Fodd bynnag, rydym i gyd yn gwybod bod y pandemig yn sefyllfa sy'n newid yn gyflym, sy'n aml yn ei gwneud yn anodd cynllunio ar ei gyfer, ac, ar adegau, mae wedi golygu bod angen newid ein cyngor ac fyr rybudd. Y rheswm am hyn yw ein bod yn parhau i adolygu'r sefyllfa'n gyson, ac mae penderfyniadau'n seilielig ar y cyngor meddygol a gwyddonol diweddaraf. Dyna hefyd pam yr ydym yn cynllunio dull gofalus a hyblyg o ailagor ysgolion ar gyfer dysgu wyneb yn wyneb. Fel Llywodraeth rydym yn deall yr heriau sy'n wynebu pob dysgwr, athro ac arweinydd o ganlyniad i'r pandemig, ac yn cydnabod bod hon wedi bod yn fwyddyn anodd i bawb. Rydw i'n deall yn llwy'r effaith barhaol cau ysgolion ar addysg ac iechyd a lleis emosynol a meddyliol dysgwy'r ynghymru, ac yn sylweddoli cymaint o siom oedd y tarfu pellach a fu Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. Tudalen y pecyn 137 We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. ar ddysgu wyneb yn wyneb dros yr wythnosau diwethaf. Bu’n rhaid i bob un ohonom addasu yn y cyfnod heriol hwn ac ystyried gwahanol ffyrdd o ddysgu. Gwyddom nad yw dysgu cyfunol yn gallu cymryd lle addysgu wyneb yn wyneb yn llawn, ac rwy’n cammol yr ymdrechion a wnaed gan staff addysg a phlant a’u gwydnwch a’u penderfyniad i barhau i addysgu a dysgu. Rydw i’n dal i gynnal trafodaethau gydag ysgolion, awdurdodau lleol, undebau a rhanddeiliaid eraill ynglŷn â mesurau y gellir eu cymryd i wneud iawn am addysg a gollwyd yn ystod y pandemig, ac ynghylch ffyrdd mwy diogel i ddychwelyd i addysgu mewn ysgolion. Yn y cyfamser, rydw i wedi rhoi amrywiaeth o fesurau ar waith i gefnogi dysgu o bell, gan gynnwys dysgu proffesiynol helath, buddsoddiad sylwedddol mewn dyfeisiau a’r Rhaglen Cyfilymu Dysgu well, gwerth £29 miliwn i recriviwtio, adfer a chodi safonau yn ysgolion Cymru. Gan adeiladu ar ganllawiau i gefnogi dysgu cyfunol, cyhoeddwyd canllawiau pellach i helpu ysgolion i gefnogi dysgwyr yn effeithiol yn ystod blynyddoedd eu harholiadau, i gefnogi dysgwyr agored i niwed ac sydd dan anfatais. Mae canllawiau a chyllid ychwanegol ar gael i ddysgwyr ag ADY, a chyhoeddwyd newidiadau i gymwysterau ar gyfer 2021. Mae'r Grŵp Cyngorhi ar Ddylunio a Chyflawni, swyddogion, a Chymwysterau Cymru wedi gweithio'n agos â'i gilydd ar y dull gweithredu a'r canllawiau ar gyfer proses asesu cymwysterau 2021. Rydw i'n amgáu dolen at wefan Cymwysterau Cymru sy'n galluogi ymarferwyr, dysgwyr a rhieni i gael yr wybodaeth ddiweddaraf am unrhyw newidiadau i'r broses asesu a allai ddigwydd wrth symud ymlaen, o ganlyniad i'r amgylchiadau eithriadol hyn. Mae lles emosiynol a meddyliol dysgwyr hefyd yn flaenoriaeth allweddol i Lywodraeth Cymru. Rwy'n ymwybodol y gall amser i fwrdd oddi wrth ffirndiau, teulu a'r ystafell ddosbarth gael effaith barhaol ar les dysgwyr. Roedwn yn gyfrifol am gynnull Grŵp Gorchwyl a Gorffen Cyd-Weinidogol ar Ddull Ysgol Gyfan o Ymdrin à Llesiant Emosynol a Meddyliol i roi cyngor ar y gwaith sydd ei angen i gefnogi lles dysgwyr, ac ar y cyd mae'r Gweinidog dros lechyd Meddwl, Llesiant ar' Gymraeg a minnau wedi sicrhau bod cyllid ychwanegol o £9.4 miliwn ar gael i gefnogi lles ac iechyd meddwl disgyblion a staff ysgol. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru hefyd yn cefnogi C.A.L.L. (y Llinell Cyngor a Gwrando Cymunedol), llinell gymorth ar gyfer Cymru sydd ar agor 24 awr bob dydd. Gall unrhyw un sy'n pryderu am eu lles eu hunain, neu les aelod o'r teulu neu ffirnid, gysylltu â C.A.L.L. gan ddefnyddio'r rhif ffôn am ddim 0800 132 737 neu drwy decstio HELP i 81066 am gyngor a chymorth cyfrinachol. O ran y rhaglen frechu, rydw i'n deall pryerdon athrawon ac eraill a allai gael eu heintio â'r feirws yn y gweithle. Fel y gwyddoch, rydym yn gweithio yn unol â'r amserlen flaenoriaeth a bennwyd gan y Cydbwyllogor ar Frechu ac Imlinneiddio (JCVI). Penderfynodd yr JCVI mai atal marwolaethau sy'n gysylltiedig â Covid a diogelu staff a systemau iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol ddyllai fod y blaenoriaethau cyntaf wrth fynd ati i gyflwyno'r rhaglen frechu. Mae hyn yn golgyu ein bod yn brechu pobl yn nhreñf risg glinigol, a bydd staff ysgol a gweithwyr allweddol eraill yn cael eu himiinneiddio yn dibynnau ar eu hoedran a'u risg. Yng Nghymru dechreuwyd cyflwyno brechlyn COVID 19 ar 8 Rhagfyr, ac mae aelodau o'r gweithlu addysg sy'n agored iawn i niwed yn glinigol ac sydd wedi bod yn gwarchod eu hunain, a'r rhai dros 50 oed wedi'u cynnwys yn Ngham 1. Mae staff ysgol sy'n darparu gofal personol i blant ag anghenion meddygol cymhleth hefyd wedi'u cynnwys yn y rhestr flaenoriaethau ynghyd â gweithwyr gofal cymdeithasol. Rydym yn aros am y wybodaeth ynglŷn ag amserlen flaenoriaeth Cam 2. Yn dilyn trafodaethau diweddar ynglŷn â'r angen am fesurau lliniaru ychwanegol mewn ysgolion, fel cyfarpar diogelu personol, byddwn, fodd bynnag, yn cyflwyno nifer o fesurau i roi lefel ychwanegol o sicrwydd i staff ysgolion ar gyfer dychwelyd yn ddiogel i addysgu wyneb yn wyneb. Mae hyn yn cynnwys dechrau rhoi profion ddwywaith yr wythnos i aelodau Tudalen y pecyn 138 staff, a rhoi rhagor o gymorth ariannol ar gyfer gorchuddion wyneb newydd o ansawdd uchel. Byddwn hefyd yn darparu £5 miliwn ychwanegol i gefnogi ysgolion, colegau ac awdurdodau lleol i fuddsoddi ymhellach mewn eitemau y mae eu hangen arnynt i gadw eu hadeiladau’n ddiogel. Diolch eto am gysylltu â ni, ac am roi cyfle i mi rannu’r wybodaeth hon. Rwyn sylweddoli bod rhieni, disgyblion a’r gymuned ehangach yn dymuno ein gweld yn dychwelyd yn llawn at addysg mewn ysgolion cyn gynted ag y bo modd. Rwyn eich sicrhau mai dyma yw ein huchelgais o hyd, ond rhaid inni gael ein harwain gan gyngor meddygol a gwyddonol a’r dystiolaeth sydd ar gael inni. Cofiwch mai diogelwch a lles myfyrwyr, staff ysgolion a’r gymuned ehangach, ac addysg barhaus dysgwyr, yw blaenoriaethau Llywodraeth Cymru yn ystod y pandemig hwn o hyd. Yn gywir Kirsty Williams AS/MS Y Gweinidog Addysg Minister for Education P-05-1144 Ailagor canolfannau garddio yng Nghymru cyn gynted â phosibl Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Nicola Pugh, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 11,217 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Dylid ailagor canolfannau garddio yng Nghymru cyn gynted â phosibl: – Mae garddio’n cadw pobl gartref – Mae garddio’n llesol iawn i’r meddwl a’r corff – Mae canolfannau garddio’n fannau mawr sydd â llawer o awyr iach, ac mae ganddynt fesurau diogelwch rhagorol – Ni ellir diffodd y gadwyn gyflenwi planhigion, a’i throi ymlaen eto. Mewn llawer o achosion, mae planhigion yn cael eu gwastraffu os na allant gyrraedd canolfannau garddio – Nid siopa ar-lein, clicio a chasglu a danfon i’r cartref yw’r ateb. Mae hyn yn arbennig o anodd ar gyfer canolfannau garddio annibynnol. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gogledd Caerdydd • Canol De Cymru Dear Janet, Thank you for your letter of 2 February regarding Petition P-05-1144 about the closure of garden centres in Wales under Alert level 4 restrictions. The Welsh Government recognises the incredibly difficult and uncertain circumstances currently being experienced by businesses, including garden centres. We are absolutely committed to providing the support and assurance needed. The Welsh Government introduced Alert Level 4 restrictions for Wales to reduce the spread of the virus. Coronavirus cases have been falling thanks to the efforts of everyone in Wales, and every vaccine delivered is a small victory against the virus. However, rates are still too high and our NHS remains under significant pressure. We need to keep going to bring the virus under control. We are clear that the ability to relax the current restrictions remains limited by the presence of the new variant, which is more transmissible than before. We recognise the enormous efforts businesses have made to become safe places. This requirement to close in Alert Level 4 is not a reflection on those efforts and we appreciate that some business environments make only a low or moderate contribution to the risk of transmitting the virus. Unlike in earlier lockdowns, at Alert Level 4 all shops and other types of businesses required to close can offer click and collect, online and delivery services to people’s homes. Last Friday, the First Minister confirmed the next three-week review of the regulations will consider the restrictions around non-essential retail. We know this remains an incredibly difficult time for businesses and we continue to do all we can to support them. In total the Welsh Government has ensured more than £1.75bn has reached the bank accounts of businesses since the beginning of the pandemic to help the deal with the pressures we are all facing. The Welsh Government’s financial assistance for businesses is in addition to UK Government schemes, making the support package in Wales the most generous anywhere in the UK. Yours sincerely Ken Skates AS/MS Gweinidog yr Economi, Trafnidiaeth a Gogledd Cymru Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales Re-open garden centres in Wales as soon as it is possible The Welsh garden retail sector has a total impact on GDP of £177 million annually (directly & indirectly) and supports 3,700 jobs directly. The Welsh ornamental horticulture sector as a whole supports 18,000 jobs directly and contributes £503 million annually directly to GDP. Welsh consumer spending on ornamental horticultural goods totals £430 million per annum. 1. The mental health and physical health benefits of gardening and plants are well documented. Springtime is now here and the public needs to be allowed access to plants and garden goods to enable them to garden at home and maintain good mental health & physical wellbeing. 2. First class social distancing. Garden centres offer light, airy, open spaces and plant sales mainly take place in outdoor spaces. Our trade body, the HTA, has developed an enhanced Safe Trading Protocol for garden retailers to enable them to implement the most stringent protocols at their premises. Sales data shows that shopping trends in garden centres have become focussed on plants and garden products while consumers are planning their purchases and making less journeys for shopping meaning less browsing time while in store. 3. Keeps people at home. Giving people something to do at home keeps them at home and gardening is not just for those with gardens, but for those with balconies, allotments, or window boxes. 3 million new gardeners across the UK have taken up the hobby since lockdown. In allowing people to visit a garden centre they have something to do at home. 4. Welsh growers are essential to our sector. This is a key time of year. Growers already have the crops growing on their nurseries, so need confidence there will be an outlet for their plants, and they will not have to be disposed of and the confidence to plant follow on crops. Similarly, without a date for reopening Welsh garden centres are experiencing severe difficulties in purchasing stock from growers. Welsh growers traditionally supply Welsh outlets, 60% of which are retailers, with a Welsh plant production industry worth £23 million. Supply of bedding plants to garden centres and DIY stores account for 70% of the value of bedding plants supplied by growers – of which 70% happens between March–June and 58% of hardy nursery stock sales are in March-June. 5. Garden centres are part of the ‘green economic growth’ agenda. They underwrite a production sector that is essential in fulfilling the Welsh Government’s environmental plan and the wider ambitions around climate change. 6. Click & collect & home deliveries, while welcome is not sustainable, particularly during the main season (March to June). They will not be able to fulfil the public’s demand for plants. The investment required for home deliveries (IT, staffing & vans required) prohibits meaningful income. Online typically accounts for 10% to 15% of industry sales. 7. Garden centres are local stores. In many rural areas garden centres operate as local community stores. Many offer a range of products including food halls, pet and aquatic supplies, bird care – which fall into the essential category. P-05-1145 Caniatewch i rieni plant ifanc yrru i ddefnyddio parciau a meysydd chwarae lleol yn ystod y cyfyngiadau symud haen 4 Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Alexander Edwards, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 58 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Ni all pob rhiant sydd â phlant ifanc gerdded yn ddiogel o'r tŷ i ddefnyddio parciau a meysydd chwarae e.e. wrth orfod cerdded ar hyd ffyrdd peryglus neu mewn ardaloedd gwledig. Mae manteision ymarfer corff a chwarae i plant ifanc wedi'u hen sefydlu. Ystyriwch ganiatâu i rieni plant ifanc yrru i barciau a meysydd chwarae fel y gallant chwarae ac ymarfer corff yn eu swigen a pharchu canllawiau COVID-19. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Wrecsam • Gogledd Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch ichi am eich llythyr 9 Chwefror ynghylch deiseb i ganiatáu i rieni plant ifanc yrru i ddefnyddio parciau a meysydd chwarae tra bo cyfyngiadau lefel rhybudd pedwar ar waith. Ni chaniateir teithio heb esgus rhesymol yn lefel rhybudd pedwar. Mae gan berson esgus rhesymol os yw’n teithio at ddiben sydd yn rhesymol angenrheidiol ac oes nad oes unrhyw ddewis arall ymarferol rhesymol. Darperir enghreifftiau o’r dibenion hyn yn Atodlen 4, Rhan 3 o Reoliadau Diogelu lechyd (Cyfyngiadau Coronafeirws) Rhif 5 (Cymru) 2020. Caniateir i barchiau a meysydd chwarae ar aros ar gyfer ymarfer awyr agored. Gall pobl ymwel â pharciau a meysydd chwarae gyda phobl eraill at ddibenion ymarfer corff ar yr amod eu bod yn dilyn y rheolau ynghylch gyda phwy y maent yn gallu ymarfer. Rhaid i ymarfer corff, gan gynnwys ymarfer mewn parciau a meysydd chwarae gael ei wneud yn lleol a dechrau o gartref. Ni ddyliid teithio pellter sylweddiol i unrhyw leoliadau, gan gynnwys teithio i lecynnau hardd, parciau a meysydd chwarae. Gwn fod y cyfyngiadau hyn yn gallu bod yn heriol, ond mae’n bwysig nad yw pobl yn teithio ar hyn o bryd tra bo'r risg o haint yn uchel ac wrth inni flaenoriaethu cael plant yn ôl i'r ysgol. Mae aros gartref ac ymarfer yn lleol yn bwysig wrth helpu i atal yr haint rhag lleadaenu a diogelu Cymru. Gall teithio er mwyn cymryd ymarfer olygu bod pobl yn ymgynnull mewn lecynnau hardd gan ei gwneud yn anodd i'r hedlu orfodi'r darpariaethau aros gartref. Mae hyn yn arbennig o bwysig ar hyn o bryd, gan mai'r ffurf gryfaf ar y feirws yn y gymuned yw'r amrywiolyn trosglwyddadwy iawn a nodwyd gyntaf yng Nghaint. Nid ydym am i'r feirws ddechrau ennill tir eto ar adeg pan fo achosion yn dechrau dod o dan reolaeth a phan fo cyfraddau brechu'n codi bob dydd. We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. O dan Reoliadau Diogelu Iechyd (Cyfyngiadau Coronafeirws) Rhif 5 (Cymru) 2020 rhaid adolygu'r cyfyngiadau bob 21 diwrnod er mwyn sicrhau eu bod yn gymesur, yn effeithiol ac yn angenrheidiol. Mae'r adolygiadau'n ystyried y dystiolaeth ddiweddaraf am y sefyllfa o ran iechyd y cyhoedd yn ogystal â'r goblygiadau economaidd-gymdeithasol a'r goblygiadau lleisiant ehangach. Mae achosion o'r coronafeirws yn parhau i ostwng ledled Cymru ac mae'r pwysau ar ein GIG yn dechrau gostegu. Er hynny, mae nifer y bobl sy'n profi'n bositif yn dal yn uchel ac mae gormod o bobl yn ddifrifol sâl ac yn yr ysbyty o hyd. Rhaid inni beidio â gadael i'r feirws ennill tir eto trwy lacio'r cyfyngiadau'n rhy fuan. Yn gywir, Julie Morgan AS/MS Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services Y Dirprwy Weinidog Iechyd a Gwasanaethau Gymdeithasol P-05-1146 Dylid darparu map trywydd ar gyfer sut y gall priodasau gael eu cynnal yn Nghymru Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Sara Robinson, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 1,273 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Dywedodd Prif Weinidog y DU y dylai priodasau ddechrau cael eu cynnal yn y ffordd arferol ar ôl y Pasg, ond nid oes dim arweiniad wedi’i roi yng Nghymru yn hyn o beth. Mae’n bwysig i’r economi bod priodasau’n cael eu cynnal unwaith yn rhagor, a hynny gan gynnwys brecwastau priodas. Gan fod priodasau yn cymryd misoedd i’w trefnu, fodd bynnag, mae angen i gyplau a busnesau sy’n ymwneud â’r sector priodasau gael arweiniad clir o ran sut y disgwylir i briodasau gael eu cynnal dros y misoedd nesaf. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Yn 2017 cynhaliwyd odddeutu 13,197 o briodasau (yn ôl ystadegau'r Swyddfa Ystadegau Cenedlaethol). Mae 95% o gyplau wedi gohirio eu priodasau, gyda llawer o'r rhain wedi'u trefnu ar gyfer eleni, ar ben y rhai a oedd wedi bwriadu priodi eleni. (Tasglu priodasau y DU). Felly mae’n bwysig darparu arweiniad clir cyn gynted ag sy’n bosibl i helpu i hybu’r economi drwy ganiatáu i briodasau gynnwys brecwastau priodas. Dylai hyn gynnwys nodi niferoedd, a gaiff eu pennu yn ôl gallu’r lleoliad, gan ystyried gofynion cadw pellter cymdeithasol a chan gynnwys profi torfol ar gyfer yr holl westeion cyn dod i'r briodas /digwyddiad. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Sir Drefaldwyn • Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru 5 Mawrth 2021 Annwyl Janet, Diolch am eich llythyr dyddiedig 9 Chwefror yn gofyn am farn ar ddeiseb P-05-1146 Dylid darparu map trywydd ar gyfer sut y gall priodasau gael eu cynnal yng Nghymru. Rwy’n deall yr effaith mae'r cyfyngiadau yma wedi ei gael ar gyplau sy’ eisiau priodi. Yn arbennig rwy’n deall yr ansicrywydd sy’n cael ei greu oherwydd ei bod yn amhosib rhagweld stad y feirws ar effaith caiff hyn ar gynlluniau. O dan gyfyngiadau cyfredol Lefel Rhybudd 4 mae’n bosib cynnal seremoni priodas mewn man addoli a Swyddfeydd Gofrestri, ac o 1 Mawrth bydd caniatâd i gynnal seremoni priodas neu bartneriaeth sifil mewn unrhyw leoliad sydd wedi’u cymeradwyo ag sydd â thrwydded i gynnal seremoni priodas neu bartneriaeth sifil sy’n cynnwys gwestai ac atyniadau twristiaid. Bydd y penderfyniad p’un ai i agor neu beidio yn un i’r sawl sy’n gyfrifol am yr adeilad. Yr asesiad risg bydd y person sy’n gyfrifol am yr adeilad yn ei baratoi fydd yn pennu’r nifer fydd yn medru cael ei gwahodd i fynychu’r seremoni. Medru’r cynnal brecwast priodas yn lefelau rhybudd 1 i 3 yn ddarostyngedig i unrhyw gyfyngiadau ar y sector lletygarwch. Mae'r nifer sy'n medru mynychu wedi ei rhagnodi yn y Rheoliadau ac yn amrywio yn ôl y lefel rhybudd fydd mewn grym ar y pryd ac os yw'r digwyddiad o dan do neu yn yr awyr agored. Nid yw'r ffigyrau yma yn cynnwys plant 11 oed ac iau. Mae'r nifer sy'n medru ymgynnull mewn digwyddiad cymdeithasol wedi eu cyfngu oherwydd bod y feirws yn ffynnu pan mae cyswllt agos estynedig rhwng pobl yn enwedig mewn cynulliadau cymdeithasol. Eglurir hyn yn y cyngor diweddar gan y Grŵp Cyngor Technegol - [y dystiolaeth bresennol mewn perthynas à phriodasau](#). We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Yn ogystal â disgrifio'r cyfangiadau ar gyfer pob lefel rhybudd, yn cynnwys y nifer gall fynychu derbyniaid priodas mae'r 'Cynllun rheolir coronafeirws: lefelau rhybudd yng Nghymru' hefyd yn disgrifio'r criteria ar gyfer symud o un lefel rhybudd i un arall. Nid yw'n cynnwys dyddiadau oherwydd nad yw'n bosib rhagweld pryd fyddwn ni'n cyrraedd y criteria i symud o un lefel rhybudd i un arall. Er bod rhoi'r rhaglen frechu ar waith yn cynnig anogaeth mae ansicrwydd yn parhau am gyflwr y pandemig, a'i effaith dychrynllyd sy'n golygu na fedwn symud ymhellach na'r cynllun rheoli ei hun. Ers dechrau'r pandemig mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi sicrhau bod mwy na £2 biliwn ar gael i gefnogi busnes gyda mwy na £1.7 biliwn mewn cyfrifon. Ar gyfer y cyfanygiadau diweddaraf mae £650 miliwn ar gael sy'n golygu bod pob busnes bach mewn adeilad ardrethol yn derbyn rhwng £6 mil a £10 mil. Yn ogystal mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi darparu cronfa £180 miliwn Cymorth Penodol i'r Sector yr ERF i'r sectorau Twristiaeth, Lletygarwch a Hamdden a'r gadwyn gyflwyni a fydda'i'n golygu er enghraift bod lleoliad priodas sy'n cyflogi deg aelod o staff yn derbyn hyd at £15 mil ychwanegol. Mae cronfeydd eraill o arian yn cynnwys y Gronfa Lawrydd a Chronfeydd yn ôl Disgresiwn sy'n cael eu gweinyddi gan Lywodraeth leol. Mae'r holl wybodaeth am unrhyw cronfeydd sydd ar gael ar https://businesswales.gov.wales/cy. Wrth gwrs bydd Llywodraeth Cymru yn parhau i werthuso'r gefnogaeth sydd agen wrth i'r sefyllfa ddatblygu gan gynnwys deall anghenion sectorau penodol wedi'u cydweddi gyda'r lefelau rhybudd yng Nghymru. Mae swyddogion a Gweinidogion yn cwrdd gyda'r Grŵp Rhanddeiliad Priodasau Cymru sydd wedi cael ei sefydlu gan y sector i drafod y sialensiau sy'n wynebu'r sector yn ystod y pandemig cyn cynnwys cynlluniau cefnogaeth ariannol, criteria ar gyfer ail-agor pan mae'n ddiogel i wneud hynny ayb. Mae'r trafodaethau yma yn ystyried yr effaith ar y gadwyn gyflwyni ehangach a'i cyplau sy'n cael ei heffeithio gan y pandemig. Yn gywir, Julie James AS/MS Y Gweinidog Tai a Llywodraeth Leol Minister for Housing and Local Government P-05-1147 Dylid ei gwneud yn ofynnol i bob ysgol ddarparu addysg fyw/addysg wedi'i recordio bob dydd i bob disgybl nad yw'n dychwelyd i'r ysgol Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Catherine Evans, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 308 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae ysgolion o hyd sy'n honni bod rhwystrau anorchfygol o ran darparu gwersi, bum wythnos i mewn i'r tymor ac am saith wythnos o'r flwyddyn academaidd hon. Nid yw hyn yn dderbyniol mwyach. Rhaid i bob plentyn gael mynediad cyfartal at addysg. Rhaid dod o hyd i atebion i'r rhwystrau hynny a rhaid addysgu pob disgybl. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Sir Drefaldwyn • Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru 5 Mawrth 2021 Annwyl Janet Diolch am eich gohebiaeth mewn perthynas â P-05-1147, sy'n cyfeirio at y gofyniad i bob ysgol ddarparu addysgu dyddiol byw / wedi'i gofnodi i bob disgybl nad yw'n dychwelyd i'r ysgol. Sylweddolaf nad oes unrhyw beth yn gallu cymryd lle dysgu wyneb yn wyneb yn uniongyrchol, a'n bod i gyd wedi gorfod addasu yn y cyfnod heriol hwn ac ystyried gwahanol ffyrdod o ddysgu. Rydym wedi rhoi ystod o fesurau ar waith i gefnogi dysgu o bell gan gynnwys dysgu proffesiynol helaeth, buddsoddiad sylweddol mewn dyfeisiau a'r Rhaglen Dysgu Carlam gwerth £29 miliwn i recriwtio, adfer a chodi safonau yn ysgolion Cymru. Er mai awdurdodau lleol ac ysgolion sy'n gyfrifol am ddarparu dysgu o hyd, fe'u hanogir i ddefnyddio'r modelau cyflwyno mwyaf priodol yn seiliedig ar eu gofynion unigol ac anghenion eu dysgwyr. Yn dilyn adborth gan ysgolion ac awdurdodau lleol, diweddarwyd canllawiau Llywodraeth Cymru ar 7 Ionawr i ddileu nifer yr ymarferwyr sydd eu hangen ar gyfer ffrydio byw er mwyn caniatáu hyblygrwydd a phenderfyniadau lleol (mae mwy o wybodaeth yn ddolen isod). Ffrydio byw a fideogynadledda: arferion ac egwyddorion diogelu Wrth ddatblygu eu dull ar gyfer ffrydio'n fyw, rhaid i ysgolion gynnal asesiad risg ac adolygu eu prosesau a'u gweithdrefnau diogelu er mwyn sicrhau diogelwch eu dysgwyr a'u staff. Dylai ysgolion hefyd barhau i roi sylw dyledus i'r canllawiau diwygiedig er mwyn sicrhau diogelu effeithiol, sy'n parhau i fod yn egwyddor annatod o ddysgu digidol. Mae Cymru mewn sefyllfa dda iawn i gefnogi ysgolion, ymarferwyr a dysgwyr yn ystod y cyfnod hwn gan fod gennym Hwb, ein llwyfan digidol cenedlaethol ar gyfer dysgu ac addysgu. Mae Hwb yn rhoi mynediad i’w ddefnyddwyr at amrywiawd o offer ac adnoddau dwyieithog, digidol am ddim. Mae ein cymorth dysgu o bell ar Hwb yn cynnwys adnoddau i gefnogi gweithgareddau dysgu o bell yn ogystal â dolenni i gyngor ar ieichyd a lles. Mae llwyfan Hwb Llywodraeth Cymru hefyd ar gael i ddysgwyr drwy Xbox a PlayStation: https://twitter.com/WG_Education/status/1323691431626760192?s=20. Rwy’n cydnabod yr heriau parhaus sy’n wynebu pob dysgwyr a’u teuluoeedd o ganlyniad i’r pandemig. Yn ddiweddar, rydym wedi sefydlu Gweithgor Dysgu Cyfunol, sy’n cynnwys swydddogion o Lywodraeth Cymru, awdurodau lleol a’r consortia rhanbarthol, a gofyn iddynt fynd i’r afael â materion yn ymwneud â mynediad cyfartal i ddysgu mewn cyfnodau o darfu yn y dyfodol a byddwn ymgysylltu â rhieni a dysgwyr. Rydym yn croesawu adborth i wella cymorth o bell yn y dyfodol i ddysgwyr drwy YouTube, a byddwn yn rhanhau unrhyw syniadau a gawn gyda’r grŵp hwn. Yn ogystal, efallai eich bod yn ymwybodol bod rhai sianeli teledu eisoes yn cynnig cymorth ychwanegol i ddysgwyr gyda dysgu gartref gan gynnwys y BBC ac S4C. Rwy’n eich sicrhau fy mod yn deall bod y misoedd diwethaf wedi bod yn straen ac yn heriol i lawer o ddysgwyr ac rwy’n cydnabod yr effaith y mae'r pandemig wedi'i chael, ac yn parhau i’w chael, ar ein dysgwyr. Mae'n amlwg nad yw llawer o ddysgwyr wedi datblygu cymaint ag y byddent o ran eu dysgu, ac rydym yn gwybod nad yw'r effaith wedi bod yn unffurf, gan fod y tarfu wedi effeithio'n anghymesur ar rai dysgwyr. Rydym yn archwilio pa fesurau ychwanegol y gallwn eu cymryd i fynd i'r afael ag amser dysgu a gollwyd ac yn gweithio'n agos a'n partneriaid addysg i ddatblygu'r mesurau hyn, a byddwn yn cyhoeddi Cynllun Adfer Dysgu maes o law a fydd yn amlinellu'r rhain yn fanwl. Mae pob opsiwn yn cael ei ystyried ar hyn o bryd gan gynnwys dychwelyd fesul cam, gweithredu rotâu ac addasu dyddiadau tymhorau. Mae llawer o'r opsiynau sy'n cael eu hystyried yn sicrhau bod ysgolion hefyd yn gallu cadw at weithrediadau'r ysgol. Bydd y Cynllun Adfer Dysgu yn nodi ein cynlluniau hirdymor i gefnogi pob dysgwyr i adfer o'r pandemig, a bydd yn ystyried sut y gallwn gefnogi'r grwpiau penodol hynny, fel y rhai sydd mewn blynyddoedd arholiad, y mae'r tarfu wedi effeithio fwyaf arnynt. Fel rhan o'r cynllun hwn, byddwn yn ystyried camau gweithredu a chymorth ar gyfer lles dysgwyr ac athrawon, gan ein bod yn cydnabod bod y rhain yn elfennau pwysig ar gyfer dysgu ac yn hanfodol ar gyfer adfer. Byddwch yn ymwybodol o'r cyhoeddiadau diweddar yr ydym wedi'u gwneud ynglŷn â dychwelyd i ddysgu yn yr ysgol yn ofalus ac yn raddol, gan ddechrau gyda'n dysgwyr ieuengaf o 22 Chwefror. Y nod yw gweld pob disgybl cynradd yn dychwelyd i ddysgu wyneb yn wyneb o 15 Mawrth ymlaen, ynghyd â rhai dysgwyr hŷn fel blynyddoedd 11 ac 13 mewn ysgolion a'r rhai sy'n gwneud cymwysteriau mewn colegau, a fydd yn dychwelyd i batrwm dysgu cyfunol. Bydd rhywfaint o hyblygrwydd hefyd i ddysgwyr blynyddoedd 10 a 12 ddychwelyd. Ar ben hynny, cyhoeddais gynlluniau ar 3 Mawrth i fwy o ddisgyblion Cymru gael cyfle i ddychwelyd i'r dosbarth cyn toriad y Pasg. Fe wnes i gadarnhau y bydd ysgolion yn cael cyfle i groesawu dysgwyr blynyddoedd 7, 8 a 9. Y nod yw rhoi cyfle i ddysgwyr weld eu hathrawon, gan ganolbwyntio ar faterion lles a pharatoi i ddychwelyd i'r ysgol ar ôl gwyliau'r Pasg. Bydd rhywfaint o hyblygrwydd i ysgolion ddewis sut i roi hyn ar waith, ac efallai y bydd yn cymryd rhai diwrnodau cyn iddynt fod mewn sefyllfa i gyfathrebu eu cynlluniau i rieni a dysgwyr. Mae'r penderfyniadau hyn, fel arfer, yn seiliiedig ar y cyngor meddygol a gwyddonol diweddaraf sydd ar gael. Yn yr achos hwn, mae hyn yn cynnwys diweddariadau gan y Grŵp Cynghori Technegol, a gyhoeddodd [bapur](#) ar 5 Chwefror lle nodwyd bod y gweliant yn sefyllfa iechyd y cyhoedd yn golygu bod modd i ni ystyried "dychwelyd yn rhannol ac yn raddol i ddysgu wyneb yn wyneb mewn ysgolion", a [chyngor](#) a roddwyd i'r Prif Weinidog gan Dr Frank Atherton, ein Prif Swyddog Meddygol. Rwy'n eich sicrhau chi yr hoffwn weld pob dysgwyr yn ôl yn yr ystafell ddosbarth cyn gynted ag y bydd yn ddiogel gwneud hynny. Fodd bynnag, blaenoriaeth Llywodraeth Cymru yn ystod y pandemig hwn o hyd yw diogelwch a lles myfyrwyr, staff ysgolion a'r gymuned ehangach, yn ogystal ag addysg barhaus ein dysgwyr. Yn y cyfamser, felly, byddaf i a'm swyddogion yn parhau i weithio gyda'n holl bartneriaid i sicrhau bod dysgwyr yn cael y ddarpariaeth ddysgu orau bosibl mewn amgylchiadau sy'n parhau i fod yn eithriadol o anodd. Yn gywir Kirsty Williams AS/MS Y Gweinidog Addysg Minister for Education Require all schools to provide daily live / recorded teaching to all pupils not returning to school: further comments. Thank you for the opportunity to share my views on the lack of online teaching during the lockdown period. Primary schools in Powys will have been closed for eleven weeks since September, by the time they reopen on March 15th. In that time, pupils attending my children’s school and, I believe, several other English-medium schools in the area have not been offered a single taught live or recorded lesson. Those attending Welsh-medium and bilingual schools have benefitted from between two and four hours’ live learning a day. Nationally, I am aware of primary schools offering full days of live teaching. The disparity amounts to discrimination in my opinion. In defence of the decision not to teach online, I was told by my children’s headteacher that it was planned with developing independent learners in mind, in line with the new Curriculum for Wales – a Curriculum which is not yet in place; and a disingenuous way of justifying what has become nearly three months without teaching. It is astonishing that children who missed a term of teaching in 2019-2020 would be expected to continue to learn independently from resources of variable quality for a further prolonged period. Evidence from the Education Endowment Foundation shows that there is no need for all children to be taught live all day, but that daily live and recorded teaching is part of the blended model; a finding supported in Welsh Government’s own definition of blended learning. I’m aware that live teaching all day, every day would be difficult for many families to facilitate, but there is no justification for offering none at all. Children’s learning should not take second place to adults’ lifestyles and it is reasonable to expect parents to facilitate some daily participation in online teaching. Of course, there is the simple solution of recording lessons so that they are available at families’ convenience, but apart from face-to-face teaching, nothing can replace live lessons for enabling children to interact with their peers. Kirsty Williams mentions that safeguarding may be consideration for some schools. In our experience, all work has been set via Teams (it doesn’t correspond with the materials on Hwb). If safeguarding is a concern preventing live teaching, I fail to see how this is not also the case for any online remote learning, given that all discussion boards and private messaging facilities are visible to any member of a household with access to the device being used anyway. I am concerned that the learning deficit due to Covid has been exacerbated for those attending schools refusing to teach online, compared with their peers both regionally and nationally who have benefited from regular live teaching. The majority of children who haven’t been taught will not be in groups identified for intervention under the Learning Recovery Plan. Kirsty Williams touches on deprivation in her somewhat generic response but doesn’t acknowledge that school were able to make face-to-face provision for pupils without access to devices or internet as vulnerable learners. All pupils could and should have been taught online. This has been a disappointing missed opportunity for schools to operate more safely in the interests of all stakeholders. Secondary school pupils will soon return to school on a rota basis but I’m afraid I no longer have faith in Welsh Government to guarantee them quality blended learning while they are at home. We are repeatedly warned that the pandemic is not over, and I am not confident that this will be the last closure. The Minister must improve blended learning provision by requiring schools, by law, to deliver high quality daily online teaching in the event of further primary school closures, and immediately in the case of secondary pupils returning to school part time. This should not be at the discretion of headteachers and would bring Welsh schools into line with what has been on offer to pupils in England since October. P-05-1103 Rhowch derfyn ar gymhwysor un cyfyngiadau Covid-19 ar draws Cymru gyfan Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Mark James Simpson, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 7,995 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae cyfraddau heintio Covid-19 yn amrywio'n fawr ar draws Cymru. Mae cyfraddau rhai ardaloedd ymysg yr uchaf yn y DU ac mae rhai ymysg yr isaf. Mae llawer o filltiroedd yn aml rhwng yr ardaloedd â'r cyfraddau uchaf ac isaf. Mae cyfyngiadau Covid-19 yn achosi difrod economaidd aruthrol, diweithdra cynyddol a chau nifer helaeth o fusnesau. Pan fydd cyfraddau'n uchel iawn, mae'n bosibl mai cyfyngiadau llym yw'r unig ffordd o reoli lledaeniad yr haint ond, pan fo cyfraddau'n isel, mae'r difrod economaidd a'r niwed iechyd yn anghymesur o uchel. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Mae'r rhan fwyaf o fusnesau yn ardaloedd gwledig Cymru, lle mae cyfraddau heintio'n tueddu i fod yn isel, yn fregus iawn a bydd rhagor o gyfyngiadau sy'n effeithio ar eu gallu i fasnachu'n gorfodi llawer mwy i gau'n barhaol. Bydd hyn yn cael effaith ddinistriol ar ardaloedd lle mae diweithdra eisoes yn uchel a chyflogau'n es na'r cyfartaledd cenedlaethol, gan orfodi llawer o bobl o oedran gweithio i adael ardaloedd gwledig, yn aml am byth. Cydnabyddir bod effeithiau andwyol y cyfyngiadau ar iechyd pobl yn cyfrannu'n helaeth at y nifer fawr o farwolaethau ychwanegol sy'n digwydd yn ystod y pandemig nad ydynt yn deillio o haint coronafeirws. Yr unig ffordd o leihau'r difrod economaidd a'r niwed iechyd a achosir gan gyfyngiadau Covid-19 wrth reoli cyfraddau heintio mewn ardaloedd â chyfraddau uchel yw defnyddio dull gweithredu haenog, fel sydd wedi'i wneud yn gyson ac yn llwyddiannus yn yr Alban a Lloegr. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Ynys Môn • Gogledd Cymru P–05–1141 Dylid gwneud etholiad y Senedd yn deg – caniatáu danfon taflenni gwleidyddol dan gyfyngiadau symud Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Cadan ap Tomos, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 93 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Rydym yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i sicrhau bod etholiad nesaf y Senedd yn rhydd ac yn deg, drwy adael i ymgyrchwr gwleidyddol ddanfon taflenni â llaw yn ddiogel dan gyfyngiadau symud. Mae’n rhaid i bob pleidleisiwr gael cyfle teg i glywed gan ei ymgeiswyr a gwneud penderfyniad gwybodus ynghylch sut i bleidleisio. Danfon taflenni yw'r ffordd fwyaf hygyrch i ymgeiswyr roi gwybod i bobl lle y maent yn sefyll. Byddai gwahardd danfon taflenni gwleidyddol yn rhoi mantais annheg i'r pleidiau mwyaf sydd â mwy o arian a dylanwad. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Mae Chloe Smith, Gweinidog y Cyfansoddiad yn Llywodraeth y DU, wedi cyhoeddi na chaniateir danfon taflenni gwleidyddol gan wirfoddolwyr dan reolau cyfyngiadau symud Lloegr. A hynny er nad oes cyfyngiadau'n cael eu gosod ar y Post Brenhinol, cwmniau danfon eraill, na danfon taflenni masnachol gan fusnesau. Disgwylir i'r Cyfrifiad fynd rhagddo ym mis Mawrth, er bod hyn yn golygu bod angen i filoedd o weithwyr ddanfon taflenni a churo ar ddrysau ar draws y wlad, yn atgoffa pobl i lenwi a dychwelyd eu ffurflen Cyfrifiad. Mae gwariant plaid wleidyddol eisoes yn cael ei reoleiddio gan y gyfraith cyn etholiadau'r Senedd. Mae'r rheoliad hwn ar waith gan ddisgwyl y byddai'r pleidiau bellach yn ymgyrchu. Yn ystod pandemig, diogelwch sydd o'r pwys mwyaf. Ond os bydd yr etholiad yn mynd rhagddo ym mis Mai, mae'n rhaid i Lywodraeth Cymru ganiatáu i actifyddion gwleidyddol ymgyrchu, ar yr amod eu bod yn cymryd rhagofalon diogelwch wrth wneud hynny. Byddai gwahardd danfon taflenni gwleidyddol yn taflu amheuaeth ar degwch unrhyw etholiad. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad - Ceredigion - Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru P–05–1148 Agorwch ysgolion yn llawn i bob oedran yng Nghymru fel y cam nesaf o 15 Mawrth Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Edina Potts-Klement, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 2,094 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae addysg plant wedi cael ei ddrysu am bron i flwyddyn. Nid ydynt wedi bod i’r ysgol ers cyn y Nadolig. Mae’r straen ar eu hiechyd meddwl ar ei anterth. Rhoddwyd addewid y byddent yn flaenoriaeth ond nawr gyda’r achosion o covid yn gostwng, rydym yn gweld agor siopau nwyddau nad ydynt yn hanfodol yn cael ei ystyried cyn i’r plant ddychwelyd i’r ysgol. Mae rhai bellach ar y dibyn ac yn methu wynebu 6 wythnos arall o ddysgu gartref heb obaith/dyddiad ar gyfer dychwelyd. Peidiwch â gadael plant Cymru i lawr! Agorwch bob blwyddyn ysgol. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Mae llawer o blant yn dioddef, nid yn unig yn addysgol, ond hefyd yn emosiynol. Ond eto, mae’n edrych fel pe bai hyn yn cael ei ddiystyru a’r effaith andwyol y mae cau ysgolion yn ei chael ar blant yn cael ei hanwybyddu. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Caerffili • Dwyrain De Cymru Comments for petition “Fully open schools for all ages in Wales as the next step from 15th March” Key points: Fully open schools because: - of the detrimental effects of lockdowns on children’s mental and physical health: 1. “For some children education is their only way out of poverty; for others school offers a safe haven away from a dangerous or chaotic home life. Learning loss, reduced social interaction, isolation, reduced physical activity, increased mental health problems, and potential for increased abuse, exploitation, and neglect have all been associated with school closures. Reduced future income and life expectancy are associated with less education. Children with special educational needs or who are already disadvantaged are at increased risk of harm. The 2019 report of the children’s commissioner for England estimated that 2.3 million children in England were living in unsafe home environments with domestic violence, drug or alcohol abuse, or severe mental problems among parents. These long term harms are likely to be magnified by further school closures.” (Closing schools is not evidence based and harms children \| The BMJ) 2. “The UK children’s commissioners have all pointed out the harms of closing schools to the wellbeing of children and young people. Many pupils may never be able to catch up on lost time in school, and vulnerable teenagers are falling through gaps in the school and social care systems. There is no substitute for face-to-face learning. In the absence of strong evidence for benefits of school closures, the precautionary principle would be to keep schools open to prevent catastrophic harms to children.” (Closing schools is not evidence based and harms children \| The BMJ) 3. “Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Professor Sally Holland, released the findings of her second survey into how young people are faring during the crisis, she warned that the pandemic was having a "crushing impact" on under 18s. In the survey, named Coronavirus and Me, children shared their views and experiences of the pandemic. Though responses varied, a "worrying" number of youngsters described the devastating impact the last 12 months had had on their lives. The report found that as well as loneliness, not being able to see friends is having the biggest impact on children’s lives, followed by not being able to see other family members and school and college closures. A worrying 15% of seven to 11 year-olds reported feeling lonely “most of the time”. On learning remotely more than half of 12 to 18 year-olds said they enjoyed learning at their own pace from home, but many worried about falling behind with learning. Levels of confidence and motivation with education decreased with age. A large majority of 15 to 18 year-olds are concerned about falling behind, their qualifications and 69% report low motivation to do school work. Problems are worse for those who are disadvantaged. Disabled children and teenagers were more likely to worry about coronavirus and feel sad and unsafe. Those from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority groups were more likely to feel lonely and less likely to say they feel safe than their peers.” (https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/lonely-frustrated-angry-children-teenagers-19820279) - there is insufficient evidence of the role of school closures in minimising covid-19 transmission. 1. Although school closures reduce the number of contacts children have, and may decrease transmission, a study of 12 million adults in the UK found no difference in the risk of death from covid-19 in households with or without children. Only 3% of people aged over 65 live with children. The overall risk to children and young people from covid-19 is very small, and hyperinflammatory syndrome is extremely rare. In-person learning increases teachers’ exposure and might be expected to increase their risk of becoming infected, but accumulating evidence shows that teachers and school staff are not at higher risk of hospital admission or death from covid-19 compared with other workers. Teacher absence because of confirmed covid-19 in England was similar in primary and secondary schools in the autumn term, despite secondary schoolchildren having much higher rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover teacher absence decreased in tier 3 regions during the November lockdown despite schools remaining open. The role of children in community transmission is not clear. Recent infection surveys using PCR tests, show that around 0.5-1% of children have a positive result, and school closures mean it has not been possible to obtain evidence regarding the spread of the new variant in schools. However, earlier studies, including from Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, in which all individuals were tested regardless of symptoms found transmission rates to be low, particularly among primary schoolchildren. Ecological studies and descriptive studies of viral prevalence within schools show that it reflects community prevalence but is not higher. International modelling studies which estimate that school closures have a meaningful effect on reducing transmission rates are all confounded by the near simultaneous introduction of multiple interventions (including lockdowns, curfews, closures of bars and restaurants). Moreover, they do not account for indirect effects of school closures which prevent parents from working outside the home. A systematic review of observational studies showed that in those studies with lowest risk of bias, school closures had no discernible effect on SARS-CoV-2 transmission. (Closing schools is not evidence based and harms children \| The BMJ) - It was promised back in March 2020 (UK wide) that schools would always be the last to close and the first to open. - Non-retail and tourism shouldn’t be back ahead of education. - They have fully opened in England on the 8th March. (The scientific evidence for England and Wales should be the same.) - In 2020, after the October half term firebreak in Wales, years 7 & 8, were able to return to school. They were categorised the same as primary school children who posed little threat of transmission. Testimonials of parents whose families have been struggling: “I have a child in year 10 that has not physically been to school since 3rd December due to the year group needing to self isolate and the extended lockdown. He has an IEP but as he doesn't need extensive support and is not under social services, he is not considered vulnerable even though he struggles with learning at home. He told me that he hates home schooling. I have another child in year 4 that has completely disengaged with learning at home. Myself and my husband both work full time and we despair at how far our children have fallen behind. We are a 1st world country with a second rate standard of education and little regard for our children's well-being and social skills. It's not acceptable.” Sue Price “I have 3 children 14,11 and 9 and have worked full time throughout. I have since last week decided to reduce my working days to 2 per week (which financially is entirely untenable) but have had to do so as am so concerned about the mental health of my two eldest. Both were positive, enthusiastic, happy, hopeful teens pre Christmas and now they are entirely despondent and have no hope. It’s heart breaking to see how this welsh government have torn them apart. I myself lobbied hard from last March for their fair right to an education but now I too am finished for. Nothing left in the tank and racked with worry for my kids.” Nikki Guyer “I used to have a very sporty confident 15 year old son who enjoyed every day of his life, he was a member of a football team both in school and out of school, he was working towards his black belt in karate, his school grades and attitude of life was so positive. I don’t recognise my son now, every day is spent in his bedroom staring at a screen, this is not school!! when online lessons are cancelled he goes back to bed. I try to encourage him I really do but i’ve given up now because how can I give him hope when I don’t see any. Only the other day he said to me “mum this is it isn’t it, there’s no school for me any more.”. This broke me and I had to walk out of the room and cry. i can’t do this any more, I just want my son to have a happy life.” Ruth Hilmi It is clear that children have the least to gain and the most to lose from school closures. It is also evident that the school closures are causing damage in yet unknown proportions when the evidence for the benefit of them is insufficient. The Welsh government must protect the rights of children and fully open the schools. P–05–1150 Rhowch wyliau ardrethi busnes i safleoedd cartrefi gwyliau yng Nghymru, fel yn Lloegr Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Denise Evans, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 640 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Ym mis Mawrth 2020, cyhoeddodd Llywodraeth y Deyrnas Unedig y byddai’n rhoi gwyliau ardrethi i’r diwydiant lletygarwch a hamdden. Yn yr un modd â’r Alban, rhoddodd Llywodraeth Cymru ryddhad ardrethi i fusnesau sydd â gwerth ardrethol o dan £500,000. Cafodd llawer o fusnesau eu heithrio o’r gwyliau ardrethi oherwydd bod eu gwerth ardrethol dros £500,000. Mae’r rhan fwyaf o’r safleoedd hyn yn rhannu bil yr ardrethi rhwng perchnogion y carafanau, felly nid ydym yn cael budd o’r gwyliau ardrethi ar yr adeg anodd hon, pan fyddai’r arian ychwanegol yn gymorth mawr. Mae pob un ohonom yn parchu dewis Llywodraeth Cymru i gau’r ffiniau er mwyn atal y feirws rhag lledaenu. Fodd bynnag, yn gyfnewid am hynny, hoffem ofyn am gymorth gan Lywodraeth Cymru drwy beidio â rhoi terfyn uchaf ar gyfer ryddhad ardrethi. Byddai hyn o gymorth mawr i berchnogion cartrefi gwyliau sydd ddim wedi gallu manteisio ar y rhyddhad ardrethi hyd yn hyn. Rydym am gael yr un rheolau ag sydd yn eu lle yn Lloegr. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gorllewin Clwyd • Gogledd Cymru P-05-1151 Dylid pennu dyddiad ar gyfer ailddechrau gweithgareddau wedi’u trefnu ar gyfer babanod a phlant bach Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Kate Worgan, Tots Play Cardiff North, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 1,756 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Rhwng mis Medi a mis Rhagfyr 2020, roeddem wedi gallu cynnal dosbarthiadau wyneb yn wyneb y tu mewn, gan ddilyn deddfwriaeth Llywodraeth Cymru i’r llythyren. Ni chawsom unrhyw achosion o’r feirws yn y dosbarthiadau ac roeddem yn hynod ddiwyd a rhagweithiol o ran creu amgylchedd diogel i ddosbarthiadau, tra hefyd yn darparu’r holl fuddiannau y gall dosbarthiadau eu cynnig i rieni a gofalwyr, a’u plant ifanc. Rydym yn dal i gynnal dosbarthiadau ar-lein ond mae angen dyddiad arnom i allu dod â dosbarthiadau wyneb yn wyneb yn ôl. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Yn aml, mae plant ifanc wedi cael eu hanwybyddu yn y pandemig hwn, yn yr un modd â’u rhieni. Mae wedi bod yn gryn bryder i ni bod rhieni wedi’u hynysu, ac effaith hynny ar eu hiechyd meddwl yn ystod y flwyddyn ddiwethaf. Gyda theuluoedd yn byw ymhellach oddi wrth ei gilydd, agwedd hanfodol ar feithrin rhwydwaith cymorth yw gallu cwrdd â rhieni eraill â phlant ifanc, mewn amgylchedd diogel a chroesawgar. Bu cyfle i wneud hynny mewn dosbarthiadau babanod ar-lein, ond gall ceisio ymgysylltu â phobl nad ydych wedi cwrdd â nhw eto fod yn anodd. Mae plant ifanc nad ydyn nhw'n mynd i feithrinfa breifat wedi colli'r cyfle, a'r holl fuddiannau a ddaw o gymdeithasu â babanod a phlant, sy'n rhan enfawr o'u datblygiad. Maen nhw hefyd wedi colli'r cyfle i archwilio gweithgareddau datblygu a bod ar eu hennill yn sgil hynny, ynghyd â gweithgareddau sy'n hybu'r broses o fondio rhwng rhiant a phlentyn. Mae gwir angen i rieni allu ailddechrau ein dosbarthiadau'n ddiogel. At hynny, mae angen hyn arnom ni fel sector, er mwyn i'n busnesau barhau i fod yn hyfyw. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gogledd Caerdydd • Canol De Cymru Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to submit our further comments on our petition for your consideration. I set up this petition on behalf of all Baby & Toddler classes in Wales, as well as on behalf of all the Parents, Carers and young children who access our Services. I have run Tots Play Cardiff North Baby & Toddler Play classes in Cardiff for nearly 7 years, as well as being a Mum to two young children myself. In Wales, we are so lucky to have such a diverse range of classes on offer for Baby & Toddlers, from Baby & Toddler Sign Language to Sensory Play, from Baby Massage to Swimming classes. These developmental activities are so important to young children's early development, as is the socialisation and learning through play that they benefit from from classes. Babies and Toddlers learn using their whole bodies and all of their senses, so classes provide a range of activities to help develop these. They also learn so much through play. Not all Babies and Toddlers have a chance outside of classes to socialise, in normal times let alone these times. Not all young children attend private nursery. Classes like ours provide them with a safe, nurturing space where they can explore and play with other young children and enjoy and benefit from all the activities we all offer. Some lockdown Babies have never seen another Baby in real life, which is just so heartbreaking. All children have missed out on so much over the last year, but with Wales now starting to unlock again, we really need to make sure the Babies and Toddler in Wales are not forgotten about. Its not just the young children who benefit though. Its mainly Mums that come along to classes, although Dads, Grandparents and Carers come along too. Baby & Toddler classes are so important to Mums in particular for meeting other Mums with children of a similar age, who they can then develop friendships with week on week at classes. This is vital for them to help to build up their social support networks. With so many families living further and further away now, new Mums really need to be able to develop these friendships and support networks so that they have that crucial support in the early days and beyond. This is vital to their well being and mental health. Being a new Mum can be an extremely isolating time if you don't have the opportunity to get out and build these friendships. We help support Mums who are finding making friends hard and also Mums who are suffering with PostNatal Depression through various different means. A very big part of what we do is with our Mums at heart. Many of the services that new Mums would normally be able to access regularly have ceased or been greatly reduced during these times. For example, many of our Parents have never seen their Health Visitor, when this would normally have been a service they could have accessed weekly at Clinics. We are often thought of as 'playgroups', but we are really very different to these. We are structured, planned and prepared classes delivered in warm and welcoming environments. Many Classes in Wales have been able to still operate via Online classes, but not all have been able to do this and many have lost their income totally. Our sector is mainly made up of self employed people. Not everyone in our sector has been able to access Grants. Some classes have had to close for good. Online classes have been a lifeline, to us and to Parents, but they just aren't the same as being in the same room together. We use a wide range of equipment at face to face classes and most Parents don't have access to this in their homes. We have had to limit the activities we are doing Online to ones they can join in with with items they have to hand at home. Social interaction Online for both Parents and the young children is also totally different, although as a sector we have tried so very hard to provide opportunities for parents and the children play and chat 'together' online, this is just not the same as at face to face classes. Support for online classes is dropping massively and we aren't sure how much longer we can survive as a sector online. Most of us operate in line with School term times and with the Spring/Summer Term now approaching fast most of us are now having to rebook our class spaces. With Parents unsure of what format our classes will be in and with many of them no longer wanting to attend Online classes, bookings are massively down for next term as we don't have a date to be able to return to face to face classes. Safety wise, as a sector we went above and beyond to make sure our classes were safe last term (we were able to operate indoor classes between September and December 2020). We operated in freshly cleaned rooms, cleaned and sanitised all kit and contact areas in between uses and we sat Parents at measured 2 meter distances. Parents queued outside at a Social Distance wearing masks and they didn't take their masks off until they were seated at their spots. If they needed to move around the room, for example to use the baby changing facilities, they put their masks back on. Parents were asked to not chat in the car parks before and after class in groups of more than 4, to stay at a social distance and to keep their masks on, as per the last Guidance for our Sector in December 2020. Hand sanitiser was used by everyone on entry and exit to the building. We made safety announcements at the start and end of classes, to remind Parents what we all needed to do to keep each other safe. Class Leaders wore masks to greet and wave off everyone plus when we moved around the room, for example with a bubble machine. We sanitised toilets and light switches in between classes and windows were kept open to allow for ventilation. We used microphones so we didn't project our voices and we stopped singing to prevent droplets. The Guidance was ever changing, but we adapted and kept pushing to ensure the safety of our parents and children, as well as for our own families at home. I can't explain to you how much extra work this was and how exhausted we Class Leaders were, but we will continue to do all this and more to ensure our classes are safe. England have a date of 12th April to be able to reopen Baby & Toddler classes, but we have so far been overlooked as a sector for being able to reopen by Welsh Government. There is so much confusion within our sector over when we are able to return to face to face classes. Now we have been named in Legislation as Organised Children's activities (which happened only very recently in November/December 2020), it states that we are unable to operate face to face classes in Tier 4. In Tier 3 we are able to return back to our classrooms. Unless we are named as a sector which can reopen before then, we are very concerned that it will be a long time before we are able to return to face to face classes. We really need a clear indication of when we can expect to be able to resume our classes. So much planning and preparation goes into every single class, we also really need to be given notice in advance of when we can go back, like other sectors are being given. I asked my Mums last week why they feel they & their children need to go back to face to face classes and I was overwhelmed by the number of responses as well as the content of that they said. This was what prompted me to set up this petition and to then spend a massive amount of time (as well as home schooling and working) to try and get word out more widely in Wales. I'd like to share a few of their comments with you please... "Having a baby is fun & exciting but also scary, daunting & a complete minefield, even if you have done it before! Having a baby in the middle of a pandemic is a whole different level of scary, with new worries & anxieties thrown in. Having barely seen anyone for months, starting face to face Tots Play classes was amazing. Not only did my baby actually get to see other real life babies, it also gave me some adult conversation, support & encouragement from other parents, going through similar things. The end of the face to face classes has been really sad. Kate has done such a good job at keeping us busy & entertained with online classes & they are so appreciated, but nothing can compare to watching your baby interact with & smile at other babies & get excited when you enter the class because she knows she is going to have fun! We always felt really safe at class & there were lots of measures in place to keep us protected & remind us to be careful. I'm back in work in a few months but really hope we can attend some face to face classes before this time as the experience is invaluable to both myself & my daughter." "Face to face classes have always been an essential part of mine and my daughter's routines. We went into lockdown when she was 1 and for the past year she has missed out on key opportunities to socially engage and interact with her fellow peers. Tots Play has done an amazing job transferring classes online but obviously does not provide the same interaction you would get when other children are present and able to engage together. I feel so sad she has missed out on this and very much look forward to when face to face classes can resume once more. During the easing of lockdown when face to face could resume for a period, I felt very safe entering into the space with my daughter. All covid procedure's were strictly adhered to and felt relaxed for my daughter and I to come and participate in the classes. I feel this sector has been massively overlooked and should be considered highly as a key part of a preschool child's development. I very much hope that with spaces as safe and secure as they have always been, that face to face classes can resume very shortly and once again our little people can flourish together." "Where to begin with how important these classes are?!?! Not just for the social interaction for babies (which for most will be their first) but for the support as new mums too!! If you could see all the little faces just light up seeing other babies, discovering new sensory toys, music, singing... you would see how priceless this is. Zoom classes are better than nothing but babies just don't respond to a screen like the real thing! I feel so sad that soon I will be back working full time and have barely had any opportunity to give my baby these invaluable experiences... For us new Mums, the support from Health Visitors has been significantly reduced due to the pandemic, so just having the opportunity to talk to other mums who are going through it as well makes you feel like you are not alone, and we actually learn a lot from each others experiences! The few classes we went to before this lockdown were very well managed in terms of social distancing so there is no reason why they can’t start up again asap in my opinion. I would have zero concerns about the safety of myself or my baby." Having a date to be able to return to face to face classes would mean that our sector is able to continue to provide these much needed services in the future and to ensure that our Parents, babies and toddlers in Wales are no longer missing out on our important Services. Thank you very much for reading Kate Worgan Class Leader and Franchisee Tots Play Cardiff North P-05-1152 Caewch yr ysgolion! Cadwch ein plant yn ddiogel. Oherwydd y cynnydd mewn COVID-19. Achubwch ein dyfodol Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Amy Hughes, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 1,585 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Gan fod ysgolion ac adeiladau eraill nad ydynt yn hanfodol wedi ailagor, mae COVID-19 wedi dechrau cynyddu eto. Drwy gadw'r ysgolion ar gau ac addysgu plant gartref neu drwy alwadau fideo hyd yn oed, rydym yn helpu i atal COVID-19. Rydym yn helpu i achub ein GIG, aelodau ein teulu a'n dyfodol! Mae sawl ffordd o addysgu plant heb beri risg iddyn nhw ac i bobl eraill. Caewch yr ysgolion. Gwnewch ystafelloedd dosbarth ar-lein er mwyn ei gwneud hi'n ddiogel. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Dwyrrain Abertawe • Gorllewin De Cymru P-05-1153 Dylid agor campfeydd awyr agored a chaniatáu chwaraeon awyr agored yng Nghymru yn yr un modd ag yn Lloegr ar 29 Mawrth Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Keri Mckibbin, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 272 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Rydym yn rheoli campfa ym Mhorth Tywyn. Mae gennym 8,000 troedfedd sgwâr o le yn yr awyr agored, ac rydym wedi cael adborth hynod gadarnhaol o'r sesiynau hyn yn yr awyr agored a oedd yn dilyn y rheolau cadw pellter cymdeithasol. Mae'r cyfnod clo wedi gwneud niwed i lawer o'n haelodau, gan godi gorbryder, straen, ofn ac iselder. Mae pob un yn dweud bod ein sesiynau yn yr awyr agored wedi cadw'r cyflyrau hyn draw ac wedi bod yn help aruthrol drwy gyfnod anodd iawn. Nid oes modd gorbwysleisio eu heffalith ar iechyd meddwl ac iechyd corfforol, a byddai'n hwb enfawr i fywyd cymunedol Cymru. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Mae gwyddonwyr SAGE, sy'n cyngori Llywodraeth y DU, yn dweud bod ymarfer corff yn yr awyr agored yn ddiogel ac yn argymell pawb i wneud ymarfer corff unwaith y dydd. Wrth wneud hyn, rydym yn cynnal yr holl brofion tymheredd, yn diheintio'r holl gyfarpar a ddefnyddir rhwng sesiynau, ac mae pawb yn trin ei gyfarpar ei hun. Mae'n siŵr ei bod yn llawer gwell ymarfer corff mewn amgylchedd proffesiynol rheoleddig, gan roi hwb i iechyd y gymuned. Bu timau chwaraeon lleol hefyd yn arsylwi ar yr amodau llym hyn drwy gydol y cyfnodau y caniatawyd iddynt chwarae, a bydd ymateb cadarnhaol gan Lywodraeth Cymru yn cael effaith bwerus iawn ar blant ac oedolion yng Nghymru. Mae chwaraeon ysgol yn Lloegr, er enghraifft, yn dechrau ar 8 Mawrth, eto ar gyngor gwyddonwyr. Dewch i ni gael Cymru i fynd eto a pheidio â syrthio y tu ôl i Loegr. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Llanelli • Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru Thanks for your kind help and a lot of people want to get back exercising at least outside, and lots of kids want to get back playing sport too. The effect on their mental health has been very damaging and sport and exercise will begin to build back their confidence and self-esteem after a long lockdown again. It’s disheartening for a lot of our members, and parents of kids who could be playing sport, to see long lines outside of people queueing for fast food outside in many fast food establishments, in burry port alone last weekend, there were thousands of people there throughout the day not always distancing, and then we aren’t allowed to play sport or exercise in sanitised and strictly socially distanced conditions. The UK government were given evidence 17th February that gyms has only 1.7 cases per 100,000 visits and they couldn’t prove that started in gyms either, this is far lower than shops for example. With obesity a big factor in covid hospitalisations and deaths the government clearly says, we should be only strengthening our people’s immune systems through exercise and eating well, instead fast food places have been deemed “essential” throughout. Gyms in Wales have been already closed 39 out of 49 weeks since the first lockdown. The welsh government is currently listening to jan 8th TAG scientists “evidence” saying that gyms are “unsafe”, they didn’t take into account the facts that we sanitise equipment after every use in between exercise, and everything is spotlessly clean, far safer than supermarkets. We have a 8000 square feet purpose built for exercise that we have already demonstrated perfect for socially distanced exercise. I have messages every day of our members struggling with mental health, and the SAGE scientists have already deemed it safe in England for the outside sports facilities to safely reopen march 29th, surely this will only be a very positive event for our exercise and sports starved communities? Yours in health, Tudalen y pecyn 172 Hello, I'm writing in to provide comments on the sports/fitness industry reopening. I am a qualified fitness professional of 8 years, as well as being a competitive athlete. In that time I've witnessed the importance health and fitness has, not only physically but also mentally. I have suffered from depression, as well as a lot of people I've trained, the rate of suicide in England alone increased by almost 10% in 2020 compared to the previous year, resulting in a rise of almost 5 thousand deaths or serious self-inflicted injuries, with the majority attributed to men. Even in the bodybuilding community we have lost notable figures, elite athletes like Sandoe who took his own life last year, a man who on the face of it appeared to have a successful career and life, lost a battle to the internal struggle that so many of us face on a day-to-day basis. Claims of gyms being a priority were told to us by the government at the beginning of February, yet no date has even been announced of when gyms can reopen. It is critical that gyms receive a date within the coming weeks or we'll risk death by suicide becoming a higher killer in Wales than even COVID. The only facts presented to us have been that gyms have shown one of the lowest transmission rates and a much greater impact to health and mental benefits. I believe it is no longer an excuse to keep gyms and fitness closed when we are seeing higher infection areas like schools and shops receive priority. With the rate of unemployment, disabilities or weather conditions, "training at home out outdoors" is not viable for everybody and the majority have suffered already. I believe it's time to stop that suffering. Thank you. P-05-1154 Dylid ailagor y sector lletygarwch yn Nghymru erbyn 12 Ebrill 2021 Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Lyndsey Groundwell, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 157 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Gyda'r llacio arfaethedig o ran cyfyngiadau ar wyliau yng Nghymru a nodi strategaeth godi cyfyngiadau gan Lywodraeth y DU, rydym ni'n credu ei bod bellach yn bryd ailagor yn barhaol y sector hwn sy'n amhrisiadwy yn economaidd ac yn gymdeithasol. Wedi'r cyfan: - Mae lefel rhybudd y Gwasanaeth Iechyd wedi'i ostwng oherwydd bod llai o fygythiad yn sgil y feirws; - Cymru sydd wedi rhoi'r ganran uchaf o ddosau cyntaf o'r brechlyn COVID-19 - Ni sydd â'r nifer isaf o achosion fesul 100,000 ymhliith cenhedloedd y DU, sef 75.4 - sy'n debyg i'r gyfradd a welwyd ym mis Medi – ac mae meinu prawf eraill a fodlonwyd yn golygu bod Cymru bellach wedi syrthio i lefel rhybudd 2 ar hyn o bryd. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Mae llawer o dafarndai Cymru yn ganolbwynt cymunedau, yn darparu man lle gall pobl alw heibio a siarad â phobl eraill o'u cymuned leol, ac mae hynny'n helpu pobl i deimlo'n llai ynysig. Mae'r budd hwn i bobl i'w gael yn "lleol" yn benodol, ac yn aml caiff hyn ei anwybyddu. Mae lletygarwch yn cynnwys tafarndai, bwytai a chaffis, sy'n denu pobl o bob rhan o'r gymdeithas ac sy'n darparu ffynhonnell incwm amhrisiadwy i'r gadwyn gyflenwi ehangach. Byddai penu dyddiad, fel 12 Ebrill, yn caniatáu amser i'r cwmniâu hanfodol hyn gaffael a gweithgynhyrchu'r cyflenwadau y bydd eu hangen arnynt ar gyfer ailagor lleoliadau. Y llynedd, ailagorodd y sector yng Nghymru ar ôl y sector yn Lloegr, ac o ganlyniad gwelwyd refeniw Cymru yn mynd dros y ffin. Hyd yma, bydd lletygarwch wedi bod ar gau am ddu Basg, dau ŵyl y Banc, Calan Gaeaf, Noson Tân Gwyllt, y Nadolig a'r Flwyddyn Newydd, diwrnod Santes Dwynwen, diwrnod Sant Ffolant, cystadleuaeth Rygbi'r 6 Gwlad a hefyd Dydd Gŵyl Sant Padrig a Dydd Gŵyl Dewi. Ni fydd llawer o fusnesau yn goroesi oni chyflymir y cam i ailagor y sector lletygarwch yma. Tudalen y pecyn 174 Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad - Dwyrain Caerfyrddin a Dinefwr - Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru P-05-1155 Caniatáu chwaraeon dŵr diogel, gan gadw pellter cymdeithasol, yn ystod cyfnodau clo y coronafeirws Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Tavi Murray, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 1,447 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae gweithgareddau ac ymarfer corff yn yr awyr agored yn hynod fuddiol i iechyd meddwl ac iechyd corfforol pobl. Gofod glas: mae camlesi, afonydd, llynnoedd a'r arfordir yn ffynonellau lleisiant gwerthfawr a diogel, a wrthodir i ni yng Nghymru ar hyn o bryd. O ganlyniad i hyn mae llawer ohonom yn dioddef o heriau iechyd meddwl gwirioneddol. Rydym yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i ddileu'r ymadrodd sy'n awgrymu bod pob math o chwaraeon dŵr yn cael ei wahardd yn ystod cyfnodau clo a chaniatáu mynediad at ofod glas lleol ar yr amod bod cyfyngiadau teithio yn cael eu dilyn. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Rydym i gyd yn cytuno y dylem "osgoi gweithgareddau sy'n golygu cryn dipyn o risg" yn ystod cyfnodau clo beth bynnag fo'r amgylchedd lle mae'r rhain yn cael eu cynnal, er mwyn gwarchod y gwasanaethau brys. Fodd bynnag, gofynnwn i Lywodraeth Cymru ddileu'r ymadrodd sy'n awgrymu bod pob math o chwaraeon dŵr yn y categori hwn. Gall gweithgareddau dŵr fel caiacio, canŵio, syrffio, chwaraeon padlo a nofio yn yr awyr agored ddarparu ymarfer corff rhagorol a diogel ynghyd â buddion iechyd meddwl enfawr. Rydym yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i aralleirio'r Cwestiynau Cyffredin hyn i ddarllen yn syml: "Gan mai un o ddibenion y cyfyngiadau yw lleihau'r pwysau ar y GIG yng Nghymru, dylech osgoi gweithgareddau sy'n golygu cryn dipyn o risg." Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gŵyr • Gorllewin De Cymru Additional information to support Senedd petition 244739: “Allow safe, socially-distanced watersports during coronavirus lockdowns” This petition was started by kayakers and has been signed by many other watersports participants including wild swimmers, dinghy sailors, surfers etc, both recreational and competitive. Wales is home to a large, thriving community of people whose passion for outdoor recreation is central to their identity and quality of life. This community is composed of individuals from all walks of life, including those born and bred in Wales and those coming to live in the country from other parts of the UK. Many water sports participants report that engagement in these activities is a central part of their lives, their ‘recreation’ offering physical, emotional and spiritual nourishment. Within this community are many people drawn to the coastline, rivers and lakes of Wales. These rich natural resources provide sources of physical and mental wellbeing, essential adventure, and a sense of location and identity. Successive lockdowns in Wales have required “swimming or other exercise at sea, or in lakes, rivers or other waterways” to be avoided. We understand the Welsh Government position is that water sports are to be avoided to reduce the pressure on rescue services and NHS. We disagree with this position for the following reasons: 1) The likelihood of accidents or rescues is extremely low, given the available data from the RNLI / Wales’ Drowning Prevention Strategy 2020-26. Significant factors: Seasonal considerations combined with activity type and intention show that committed water sports participants, accessing local water resources, are highly unlikely to encounter difficulties in their chosen activities. Welsh Government has stated that ‘one rescue at this time would be one too many’, presumably in terms of pressure on rescue services and health care. We believe that this is a false premise, given the enhanced risk of hospitalisation / health issue / death that water sports enthusiasts are exposed to as a result of the prohibition of their chosen activity. These risks include increased likelihood of injury or death as result of engaging in walking, running and cycling on Wales’ highways. Tragically, there have been numerous examples of such accidents during each lockdown in Wales (see stories below). 2) Mental health issues will be increased among sectors of the population denied life-affirming activities central to their sense of physical and mental wellbeing. Negative behavioural responses are rising in Wales (diet, exercise, alcohol, drugs, social media, sedentary lifestyles), which represent an enormous future challenge to the health of the nation. We would argue that ‘one life ruined by lockdown is one life too many’ in response to the Welsh Government’s current prohibition of water sports during Alert Level 4. Who is affected? The Watersports participation survey shows canoeing is the most popular boating activity with around 3% of the population taking part. Canoe Wales has a membership of 3,800 members across all age groups. This number does not include many more paddle sport enthusiasts in Wales who are not members, estimated at over 50,000 regular participants. Surfing tends not to organise into formal clubs and associations; so estimated numbers are less clear. However, research by the surfing industry estimates 25,000 Welsh residents participate in surfing. This total (close to 1% of the population) seems a conservative estimate, given the excellence of the Welsh coastline for surfing, and the proximity of many residents to the coast. The UK Outdoor Swimming Society has 100,000 members - on a pro rata basis, it is likely that at least 5,000 members are Wales residents. Again, open water swimmers tend to organise informally, and it is highly likely that a significantly greater number of people in Wales regularly engage in open water swimming. Other popular watersports include sailing and rowing. In summary, it is clear that watersports have significant participation levels in Wales. These people are currently denied access to the activities that are vital for their wellbeing. Personal stories This petition was created in response to personal stories from individual watersports participants in Wales who are facing significant well-being challenges during lockdown. We were overwhelmed by the response, and it has been very challenging to cut this document down to the required 4 pages as there was more than double the content that would fit, thus very few of the stories can be fully reported. Please note some people felt unable to reveal their significant disabilities because this document will become public and they did not want to be identifiable. One noted: “it is common for cold water swimming groups to include many people with both visible and invisible disabilities it is inclusive and can be safely open to many”. These participants include: • A disabled watersports athlete who cannot participate in walking or running, currently unable to participate in her usual exercise on flat water and now left as her only choice exercise on a recumbent She wrote: “I’m really struggling having my safest outdoor sports option removed from me as someone who has more limited options to exercise… I’m very exposed on the roads … and with autumn leaves, low sun, slippery roads and gusty winds I lose traction on my drive wheel with hills”. - Female, 59, self-employed “I took up sea kayaking about 18 months ago. I have bad arthritis in feet, knees and hands and so it is imperative that I keep moving. I’ve had to give up walking any distance because of the pain in my feet so kayaking has been a brilliant way to keep my body moving, supple and cardio fit. I’m currently feeling very out of condition and I find it hard to stay motivated too. I run my own business and frankly this recent lockdown has been very tough.” - Young members of GB teams & Welsh squads unable to train, who are having to deal mentally with watching their counterparts elsewhere improve, while their own hard-won abilities slip away. - Female, Canoe Slalom Athlete, 14, Welsh Talent Squad “Having not had the same rules in England, Scotland and Wales has meant that the paddlers I compete against have different conditions to train under… All of this has seriously affected me because my dream is to represent my country but with each session that I miss, I fall further behind my peers who are able to take advantage of their home nation opening up facilities. My frustration sometimes causes me to start arguments with those closest to me. I’m aware of it at the time but I just need to release it so I don’t internalise it… I have dreams of getting to the Olympics. I have spent 4 years getting to this point. I have given up going out with friends and going on holidays because I am dedicated to my sport and in return, I feel my sacrifices of a normal childhood and teenage years has all been for nothing.” - Male, 16, GB Freestyle team I have found going from training 3 or 4 times per week to not even being able to get in a kayak incredibly hard. It is worse seeing the social media posts of all my friends around the rest of the UK and the world out paddling – I just want to be there with them. Kayaking has been the focus of my life for the last 7 years and gives me the energy and motivation for life. I have wanted to be a World Champion since I was 9 and it has been so tough not being able to train for over 6 months of the last year when my competitors are still out on the water, when the planned Worlds this summer is my last chance as a Junior. I have so much extra training to make up for. Parent: Outdoor activity is so important and without it my teenage son just becomes an online gaming zombie. I can’t wait until he can get back on the water and back to normal. There are so many benefits of kayaking, fitness, fresh air, mental problem solving and many friendships. Kayaking is the perfect socially distanced activity as the boat and paddle naturally makes everyone keep a distance. - Male, Intensive Care Consultant, Wales “Kayaking has always been time-out from working life: to be out on the open sea, engrossed in the elements of wind and wave. Sometimes using every part of my body and brain to control my boat in challenging sea conditions. Other times, a meditation of watching the horizon as I place one more stroke into the water, then another and another until many thousand strokes later I have reached that distant point. There has been none of that for too long. I work in Intensive Care where I am a Consultant - it has been the hardest and longest year of my medical career. I have been at work in the hospital night and day. I have been at work at home constantly reading, looking for better ways to treat this new disease. I try to think about the patients who survived Covid. I remember those who didn’t: I remember reassuring them that they would probably be ok; I remember putting them on a ventilator; I remember phoning their partners when they died. I want time, space and peace to let those memories subside.” - Female, open-water swimmer, Anglesey “As an open water Coldwater swimmer and part of a very supportive group of women who swim regularly together in small groups in the sea it seems one of the least risky activities through lockdown. People change on the beach in the fresh air with good distance between each other and are in the water with good distance from each other at least 2 m. It is very good for mental health and well-being, provide some social contact but not close, is outdoors in the fresh air and promotes exercise as well as the scientifically documented benefits of cold-water swimming preventing dementia, high blood pressure and anxiety closed.” - Female, Nurse, N Wales “Kayaking is part of my identity; it is what I have lived for on my rare days off for years and I am well able to make safe decisions for myself within this sport. I have never required medical attention or rescue services in 15 years. I miss it dearly and it would have been of great benefit to me to relax and unwind on the sea after work-days spent nursing patients in challenging conditions during this pandemic. Kayaking, particularly on the sea can be achieved with absolute covid-19 appropriate social distancing requirements, paddling within ones own abilities, no car sharing required.” - Female, Ceredigion, University researcher “Dwi’n mwy lwcus i byw yn Nghymru, mewn ardal pert iawn. Llynedd, ledled pan oedd na cyfynghiadu am aros yn lleol, oedd hi’n bosib i nofio yn yr afon ac yn y mor, a chaicio yn r ardal lleol, heb risg a heb gormod o bobl. Dydy hi ddim yn glir i fi os mae na tystiolaeth i cefnogi yr reholau am peidwch i nofio neu gwneud chwaraeon dwr. Mae na cysylltiad crif rhwng iechydd meddwl ac treulio amser yn y byd natur, ac y polisi erbyn chwaraeon dwr a hyn o bryd yn creu problem i lot o honom ni.” - Male, 49, Window cleaner, S Wales “I’ve been kayaking for about 9 years. I started when we had some really serious family problems. Just an hour on the water kept me sane. Helped me through another week. I find just an hour once a week sea kayaking or surfing helps to lift my spirits. I feel so happy and alive. My wife said the money spent on the kayak was money well spent she could see the positive effect it has on me.” - Female, 54, Planning section leader “I have worked throughout the pandemic in manufacturing, my job is extremely stressful and my escape to reduce my stress is kayaking, as I am not allowed to go on the sea my stress levels have increased, thus increasing my migraine frequency as a result for the duration of lockdown I have had to have extra medication from my doctor to control the migraine, I feel depressed and am unable to understand how if I lived in England during lockdown I would still be allowed to access the sea? Kayaking is a socially distance sport, and it is a sport which helps immensely with mental fatigue. As a result of not kayaking my fitness levels required for kayaking have seriously dropped, mental health has declined, motivation has disappeared, and I feel in a rut.” - Male, 54, director of sea kayaking company “I started my company in 2007 to share my love of sea kayaking with others. Winter is a time for me to up skill, to keep above the game, to relax and enjoy the area I love, which is Anglesey. To have this taken away, a blue space of freedom, has been very challenging to my mental health and something I never could have believed would happen. I’ve always loved water and It pains me as I cycle past looking out to sea, knowing I’m not allowed to access and engage, despite my knowledge, skills, qualification and experience. I wonder why England and Scotland are allowed, yet those of us that live in Wales are not.” - Male, 44, Quality control “I’ve been working from home since March 2020. As a result, my work life balance has suffered, which has affected my mental and physical wellbeing to very significant and negative extent. In the past I would go sea kayaking to relieve stress and reset, but the terms of the most recent Welsh lockdown have prohibited that. I’ve felt the loss greatly, particularly as it is my belief there is no better way to exercise at a safe social distance from the rest of society.” - Female, Valleys, 50s “I’ve become quite reliant on outdoor swimming in recent years to deal with depression and anxiety and maintaining my physical well-being. It benefits me in two ways: firstly, the cold water itself (the benefits of which are widely recorded) and secondly, the action of swimming outdoors in a lake. I get a feeling of freedom that I get nowhere else. In fact, I have recently been prescribed diazepam for severe anxiety as an alternative to outdoor swimming which seems to me to be an odd public health policy. Physically, I have a lot of muscular and joint pain these days which can make walking unpleasant, but all my aches and pains disappear in water which means that I can exercise without pain. I can only do this in water” - Male, 65 years, retired customs officer “I consider the paddling restrictions to be detrimental to my health and well-being and overall, not to be well justified. I suffer from levels of depression. Outdoor exercise is the way I successfully help myself deal with this condition. Not being able to conduct this important physical and mental outdoor activity has sunk me at times and made feel less positive about myself and events. I consider kayaking to be a generally safe outdoor activity and far safer than e.g. cycling which is allowed under Covid restrictions in place. I am an experienced cyclist. However earlier this year carefully cycling I was hit full on by an 88 yr old driver who completely at fault who drove across my path to turn right at speed. Immediate impact sent me over her car. The police and two ambulances attended the scene. My serious injuries now, 9 weeks later, leave me in difficulty and pain walking. I cannot agree or accept that kayaking is more dangerous than the cycling. It’s very obvious I think that the reverse is the case and the restrictions on kayaking should be lifted.” - Male, 57 years, Upholsterer “The lockdown has affected my well being quite a bit…apart from the usual stresses and anxiety that most people have endured this year. Not being able to go out and paddle has reduced my confidence, ability to deal with normally easy occurrences, that happen throughout the day… I have a Work life, a Home life (sort of) but the gel that keeps it all together, which is paddling.. is not there..” - Male, 54, Conwy, Information Analyst “The no paddlesport has affected my mental health during lockdown, it has been made worse by the fact that the other nations have been able to paddle. Kayaking is my passion and my release from day to day stress. We have spent years training to make Paddlesports a low risk sport and it should be recognised as a key exercise like walking and cycling” - Male, 53, Architectural technologist “As a 12 y.o. kid, surfing was my escape from family life which wasn’t the best. Despite living 14 miles from the coast, I would strap my surfboard to my homemade trailer on my bike and ride to the beach. I used to think of it as “my place to be” not realising the benefits it was bringing me. For the past year I have worked from home, visiting sites to carry out surveys to make them a safer working environment during Covid. These have included buildings with high proportion of persons that have tested positive. This, together with excessive working hours, demanding deadlines to ensure the safety of others in their workplace is extremely stressful, which is affecting my mental health. There are days where I just do not want to speak to people, my work phone will ring or ping with an email notification and I feel my stress levels going through the roof… being on or in the sea or rivers is my release from stress, reorders my mental state of mind, just as it did when I was 12. I feel that the benefits of kayaking and the sea have been completely overlooked.” - Male, 55, Self Employed “It is with full understanding the impact that the Pandemic has had and the need to restrict people’s socialisation. However, I fail to see why experienced Kayakers are prohibited from paddling when the risk factor of injury and/or physical contact, compared to other permitted activities is low! … I feel strongly that the recent restrictions have had an immeasurable impact on the wellbeing of myself and many people in the paddle sport industry.” - Male, 52, Self Employed, Carmarthenshire “As we all know access to the outdoors brings great benefits to mental and physical wellbeing, keeping people fit and emotionally balanced during an extremely difficult time. I have been working throughout the restrictions and I have witnessed people mountain biking, surfing, horse riding, walking etc which adds to the frustration that watersports are currently banned. The activity of sea kayaking was my release after working all week, a time to recharge and relax that is well suited to social distancing. Everyone involved takes this activity very seriously and spends a great deal of time, money and effort on training to understand this environment, its risks and how to stay safe. I urge you to allow us to enjoy the many benefits to be gained from it.” - Male, 67, Semi-retired construction manager “I started kayaking when I was 14 and still at school. ‘Just add water’ sums up my life. Any spare time has been spent on or in water be that sea, river or lake. I used to enjoy lots of forms of exercise including running and cycling. However, age is now taking its toll and I struggle to cope with these but I can still paddle. Due to personal circumstances I do not see or speak to anyone in the mornings unless I go to work. Even then I rarely come into contact with likeminded people. Virtually all of my friends are kayakers but I never get to see them. My children have left home and I have not seen my Mother or one of my daughters for over a year. Being completely locked down is certainly taking its toll mentally. I find conversation is drying up and I have become more inward looking. There is nothing to talk about and no one to talk to anyway. I really need to get out, see some friends and have something to look forward to. I can safely do this in a kayak… If Covid does not get me depression will.” - Female, Gwynedd “It’s now close to a year of various restrictions relating to kayaking. I find it difficult to understand why I am able to cycle from home along busy roads … yet I cannot paddle my sea kayak on the virtually empty sea. I live alone and am desperately suffering from lack of social interaction on top of physical fitness and mental well-being. How often are we being told of the benefits of taking part in activities in the outdoors? I consider kayaking to be one of the best activities to do this while socially distancing in a non-contact sport.” - Female, 36, coach & GB Freestyle Team, Llangollen “As paddlers returned to paddlesports after the first lockdown, I saw the curative effects of being in and on water in action. I felt first-hand and observed the same feeling of knots of anxiety melting away as soon as we launched our boats into the water. Those who’d suffered great mental anguish were almost immediately happier, calmer and more able to deal with life’s challenges. This lockdown has been extremely hard on almost everyone’s mental health. For paddlers, not having access to water has taken away a very effective coping mechanism… I have been in some very low and dark places mentally since December. There is going to be a nationwide mental health crisis to deal with as we come out of this. You should be looking to encourage all free, COVID-safe avenues for people to be able to protect and improve their mental health.” - Male, gas engineer “Well personally, kayaking has always been about escapism, I go to work, which can be quite stressful in the line of work that I do… fixing gas escapes in the highway, getting out away from the masses and traffic is how I deal with this, not being able to so as along with other issues contributed to my high stress levels and bouts of depression…” We call on the Welsh government to remove the statement that states “for example swimming or other exercise at sea, or in lakes, rivers or other waterways” as activities to be avoided and allow safe, socially-distanced watersports during coronavirus lockdowns. P-05-1156 Dylid cyfateb y cyllid ar gyfer busnesau bach yn ystod y cyfyngiadau symud gyda Lloegr – gan gynnwys y grant ailgychwyn Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Sally Gillard, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 2,458 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Yng Nghymru, busnesau bach sydd wedi cael y lefel isaf o gyllid allan o holl wledydd y DU yn ystod y trydydd cyfnod clo cenedlaethol – er iddynt fod o dan gyfyngiadau symud am gyfnod hirach. O heddiw ymlaen, cyhoeddodd Rishi Sunak grant ailgychwyn ar gyfer busnesau bach i helpu gydag ailagor busnesau. Rwy’n annog Lywodraeth Cymru i gefnogi ein busnesau lleiaf yn iawn, a darparu grantiau sy’n cyfateb i’r hyn a roddir i berchnogion busnesau bach yng ngwledydd eraill y DU. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Rishi Sunak – cyllideb mis Mawrth 2021 Gallwch weld cymhariaeth o gyllid holl wledydd y DU ar gyfer cyfnod clo 3 drwy wirio cyllid pob gwlad ar wefannau llywodraethau. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Pontypridd • Canol De Cymru Firstly, I would like to thank you for discussing our petition. We would like to ask the Welsh Government to re-evaluate their funding for the smallest businesses in Wales, and to match it with that of England's for this lockdown. The Welsh Government has made continuous claims that our funding package in Wales has been the most generous. I would like a public response from the Government on how they came to the calculations which enables them to freely make this claim in the media? For most small businesses in Wales, we have received the smallest package of support for this lockdown of all UK nations. At the beginning of the pandemic, a £10,000 or £25,000 grant was distributed to all businesses with an RV under £51,000 for a period of closure from the end of March through to June/July. This was uniform across the UK. For this current lockdown, which in Wales began on December 20th, most businesses have received the sum of £6,000 or £10,000 for almost the same time frame - with businesses also being forced to close for their busiest period of the year. Many hospitality businesses will have already placed orders for food and alcohol prior to the lockdown announcement, resulting in huge wastage and losses for these businesses. Comparably, in England an identical business would have received a one-off payment of £4000, with a further £2001 paid every 42 days - they were also able to trade during Christmas week. In Northern Ireland, a business is receiving £800 per week of closure, and in Scotland where they actually have the most generous package, they are receiving - a one-off payment of £6000 with a further £2000 per month. I have attached a document comparing all UK nations. This is based on the NDR Grants. I understand that the counter argument from the Welsh Government will be that they have announced a unique fund - Economic Resilience Fund - however, only for the firebreak lockdown could this even be considered to be a generous offer. Most businesses failed to meet the criteria for these funds. The stipulations often excluded businesses below the VAT threshold, or whose business falls in the non-essential retail category (most businesses) and those able to claim SEISS. Round 3 of the ERF was also project-based and closed within 72 hours. Furthermore, the most recent fund excludes non-essential retail again in addition to businesses with less than 10 full-time employees. I would also like to question why the number of employees is relevant when the cost of employees are covered mostly by the furlough scheme? The overheads of a business in the same size premises and the same rateable value will not differ substantially, whether they have 4 or 14... employees - with the exception of NI contributions. I would understand those who employ more receiving a slightly larger sum to offset this, but to exclude all businesses on the basis of employee number seems unjustified, as the number of businesses in Wales who won’t meet this criteria is in the vast majority. Additionally, many of these businesses are categorised under non-essential retail, but are however service based industries, such as hair salons, beauty salons, barbershops, and like ourselves, a photographic studio. These businesses are unable to operate any take-away or click and collect services, resulting in a zero turnover for the period of closure. Most of our smallest businesses in Wales employ less than 10 full time employees, and are run by sole traders or partnerships. This means that they will have received a total of £6000-£10000 for their premises costs (which is insufficient for most, as it barely covered their rent), but have also had no income in this time due to the SEISS last being paid in November/December with no further grant until the end of April. This is resulting in many business owners running up to thousands of pounds in debt. For direct comparison; A hair salon in Wales, with a RV of £10000 and 4 employees will have received a total of £6000 to cover December 20th-March 31st. A hair salon in England, with a RV of £10000 and 4 employees will have received a total of £8097 to cover January 5th-March 31st. How is it fair that a business in the River Wye, which meets the exact same criteria as a business in Monmouthshire, but there is a disparity of over £2000 in their funding, yet the business in Monmouthshire also had to shut for Christmas week. For businesses with a larger RV, this disparity is even larger. Additionally, in England they have announced re-start grants to help businesses regain their footing. Non-essential retail will be receiving grants of upto £6000, while hospitality, leisure and close contact services will be receiving upto £18000. No such support has been announced as of yet in Wales. A sum of £740 million has been provided to Wales for additional business support, so I would like to ask how this will be allocated? I would also quickly like to mention that this petition was started just days ago, and received a total of 2455 signatures. I agreed for the petition to be cut short for it to be discussed by yourselves before the election, however I am more than confident that had the petition run for the full month that we would have exceeded 10,000 signatures – so we do have a huge support for our cause. Thank you for taking the time to discuss our petition, and I look forward to your response. Kind Regards, Tudalen y pecyn 185 \| RATEABLE VALUES \| Under £12000 (£15k in England/N.I) \| Over £12000 (£15001-£51000) \| £51000+ \| \|-----------------\|----------------------------------\|-------------------------------\|--------\| \| Wales \| 2 payments of £3000 \| 2 payments of £5000 \| \| \| England \| £4000 plus £2001 per 42 days of closure \| £6000 plus £3000 per 42 days of closure \| £9000 plus £4500 per 28 days of closure \| \| Scotland \| £6000 plus £2000 per 4 weeks of closure \| £9000 plus £3000 per 4 weeks of closure \| \| \| N.Ireland \| £800 per week \| £1200 per week \| £1600 per week \| Totals based on 12 weeks of restrictions \| \| Under £12000 (£15k in England/N.I) \| Over £12000 (£15001-£51000) \| £51000+ \| \|----------------\|------------------------------------\|-------------------------------\|--------\| \| Wales \| £6000.00 \| £10000.00 \| \| \| England \| £8002.00 \| £12000.00 \| £18000.00 \| \| Scotland \| £12000.00 \| \| £18000.00 \| \| N.Ireland \| £9600.00 \| £14400.00 \| £19200.00 \| P-05-856 Rhaid gwahardd gwerthu cŵn bach gan siopau anifeiliaid anwes a phob gwerthwr trydydd parti masnachol yng Nghymru (Cyfraith Lucy) Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan C.A.R.I.A.D., ar ôl casglu 11,195 o lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb Rydym yn galw ar Gynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru i annog Llywodraeth Cymru i weithredu gwaharddiad ar werthu cŵn bach gan siopau anifeiliaid anwes a phob gwerthwr trydydd parti masnachol. Mae gwaharddiad ar werthu cŵn bach gan drydydd partïon am elw wedi'i enwi'n 'Gyfraith Lucy' ac fe'i cyhoeddwyd yn ddiweddar yn Lloegr. Mae cefnogaeth enfawr gan y cyhoedd, y cyfryngau ac ar draws y pleidiau i Gyfraith Lucy, ac rydym yn galw ar Gynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru i annog Llywodraeth Cymru i gyflwyno Cyfraith Lucy yng Nghymru fel mater o frys. Mae tynnau cŵn bach oddi ar eu mamau i'w gwerthu yn aml yn creu cŵn sâl, trist, wedi'u trawmateiddio, sy'n camweithredu. Dylid gallu gweld cŵn bach gyda'u mam yn y lle y cawsant eu geni. Mae eu cludo i le gwahanol ar gyfer eu gwerthu yn niweidiol o ran eu lles. Nid yw rheoleiddio gwerthu cŵn bach yn fasnachol gan drydydd partïon yn effeithiol i atal niwed iddynt, ac felly mae gwaharddiad yn angenrheidiol er lles cŵn bach. Caiff cŵn bridio a gedwir mewn ffermydd cŵn bach eu cuddio o olwg y cyhoedd ac yn aml maent yn dioddef trawma corfforol a seicolegol am flynyddoedd. Mae rheoleiddio gwerthu cŵn bach yn fasnachol gan drydydd partïon yn aneffeithiol o ran atal niwed i gŵn bridio ac mae gwaharddiad ar drydydd partïon ar werthu cŵn felly yn angenrheidiol er eu lles. Byddai gwaharddiad ar werthu cŵn bach gan drydydd partïon yn cael effaith gadarnhaol ar gŵn bridio, ac yn sicrhau eu bod yn weladwy, a byddai'n galluogi'r cyhoedd i weithredu ar gyngor arfer gorau i weld ci bach gyda'r fam ble y'i ganwyd. Hefyd, ar hyn o bryd mae rhai pobl sy'n ffermiuo cŵn bach heb drwydded, a smyglwyr cŵn bach, yn defnyddio trydydd partïon trwyddedig i werthu eu cŵn bach, ac mae hyn yn gwneud yn bosibl iddynt weithredu heb gael eu dal, a heb i awdurdodau lleol fonitro iechyd a lles cŵn bridio a chŵn bach. Mae rheoleiddio gwerthu cŵn bach yn fasnachol gan drydydd parti yn aneffeithiol wrth atal ffermio cŵn bach yn anghyfreithlon a smyglwyr cŵn bach, ac felly mae angen gwaharddiad ar drydydd partion o ran gwerthu cŵn, i ddiogelu cŵn, cŵn bach a'r cyhoedd, yn ogystal ag i atal gweithgarwch troseddol. Nid oes dim manteision lles o werthu cŵn bach drwy werthwyr masnachol. Mae'r arfer hwn dim ond yn golygu bod cŵn bridio yn cael eu cadw o lygad y cyhoedd. Yn ogystal â phryderon am les anifeiliaid, mae gwerthiant gan drydydd partion yn creu risgau ychwanegol i iechyd a diogelwch y cyhoedd. Mae gwerthiant cŵn bach yn uniongyrchol gan fridwyr neu ganolfannau achub cŵn adnabyddus yn amddiffyn pob parti, yn sgil rhagor o dryloywder ac atebolrwydd. Gallai gwaharddiad ar fargeinio am gŵn bach er elw godi safonau iechyd a lles ar gyfer cŵn bridio a chŵn bach, yn ogystal â darparu diogelwch y mae mawr ei angen ar gyfer y cyhoedd. Mae gweithredu Cyfraith Lucy yng Nghymru hefyd yn hanfodol i fynd i'r afael â'r difrod a wnaed i enw da Cymru, sy'n parhau i gael ei gydnabod fel canolbwynt o ran ffermio cŵn bach yn y Deyrnas Unedig. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr • Gorllewin De Cymru P–05–915 Galwad am well gorfodaeth o ffermydd cŵn bach yng Nghymru Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Laura Clays, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 112 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Yn dilyn y ffilmiau brawychus o ffermydd cŵn bach yng Nghymru, mae angen i ni weld gwell gorfodaeth o drwyddedu ffermydd cŵn bach gan gynghorau lleol yng Nghymru. Argymhellion: Cau ffermydd cŵn bach sydd ddim yn bodloni'r meinu prawf gofynnol Erlyn ffermydd cŵn bach sy'n rhoi lles anifeiliaid mewn perygl Gwell tryloywder o ymweliadau wedi'u rheoleiddio – dylai fod cofnodion cyhoeddus fel y rhai a gyhoeddir gan yr Asiantaeth Safonau Bwyd ar sgoriau hylendid bwytai. Dylai'r cyhoedd allu adolygu'r cofnodion arolygu. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Alun a Glannau Dyfrdwy • Gogledd Cymru P–05–939 Gosod embargo ar unwaith ar drwyddedau bridio cŵn newydd, ar adnewyddu trwyddedau ac ar geisiadau cynllunio nes bod y rheoliadau'n addas i'r diben a nes bod modd eu gorfodi Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan C.A.R.I.A.D., ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 1,738 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Yn dilyn rhaglen ddogfen a ddarllledwyd ar BBC One Cymru nos Lun 30 Medi 2019, yn tynnau sylw at gyfylwr dychrynlydd y fasnach cŵn bach gyfreithlon, drwyddedig a reoleiddir yng Nghymru, ffaeleddau'r broses arolygu, yr anghysonderau a'r camgymeriadau yn adroddiadau arolygu trwyddedau'r Cyngor a'r canllawiau gofidus, yn aml, a roddir gan filfeddygon i arolygwyr trwyddedau (nad ydynt yn arbenigwyr ym maes lles anifeiliaid) ar ffitrwydd cŵn bridio, rydym yn galw ar y Gweinidog i ymyrryd ar unwaith a rhoi cyfarwyddyd i holl gynghorau Cymru i osod embargo ar unrhyw drwyddedau newydd, ar brosesau adnewyddu trwyddedau ac ar geisiadau cynllunio'n ymwneud â bridio cŵn nes bydd ymchwiliad llawn wedi'i gynnal i'r ffaeleddau hyn: Ffaeleddau rydym wedi bod yn darparu tystiolaeth arnynt ers blynyddoedd i Lywodraeth Cymru a chynghorau sydd, yn eu tro, wedi'u hanwybyddu neu eu diystyru. Nid oes unrhyw ddiben parhau i roi trwyddedau bridio cŵn o dan yr amgylchiadau dan sylw. Byddai gwneud hynny'n caniatáu i system drwyddedu ddiffygiol barhau, gan beryglu lles cŵn bridio a chŵn bach yn y sefydiadau hyn ac yn rhoi ymdeimlad ffug o sicrwydd i'r cyhoedd a fydd yn credu ei bod yn iawn iddynt brynu ci gan sefydiad sydd wedi'i drwyddedu o dan y drefn bresennol. Mae'n amlwg ei bod yn anodd i'r cyhoedd wahaniaethu rhwng fferm cŵn bach trwyddedig a didrwydded a chan fod y Gweinidog ei hun wedi ymrwymo i gael gwared ar ffermydd cŵn bach yng Nghymru, mae'n sefyll i reswm y bydd hi am gymryd y camau mwyaf priodol, a hynny ar unwaith, i sicrhau bod hyn yn digwydd nawr. Er ein bod yn croesawu'r addewid i gynnal adolygiad brys o'r system drwyddedu bresennol, nid yw hyn yn mynd yn ddigon pell. Hyd nes y bydd Llywodraeth Cymru yn gosod rheoliadau cadarn, newydd ac addas i'r diben, ni ddylid cymeradwyo unrhyw drwyddedau newydd, ni ddylid adnewyddu unrhyw drwyddedau ac ni ddylid cymeradwyo unrhyw geisiadau cynllunio i adeiladu sefydiadau bridio cŵn newydd neu i ymestyn sefydiadau bridio presennol. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad - Gogledd Caerdydd - Canol De Cymru I am pleased to announce I have today laid the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Wales) Regulations 2021 alongside the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum and a Plenary debate on them will be held on 2 March 2021. As I advised in my Written Statement of 5 October 2020 my commitment is to introduce a ban on the commercial third party sales of puppies and kittens in Wales before the end of this Senedd. These Regulations will change the licensing arrangements for the sale of animals as pets in Wales, which includes a ban on the commercial third party sale of puppies and kittens. Optimising welfare standards across Wales is a priority and the intention of the new Regulations is to promote responsible breeding and ensure puppies and kittens are bred in suitable conditions. I have always maintained a ban on its own cannot tackle all the problems associated with puppy trading. The proposed ban is one part of the work associated with improvements in welfare standards at dog breeding establishments which include tackling barriers to enforcement. I am also pleased to advise, working closely with Local Authorities, work is also underway in relation to tackling barriers to enforcement of the Animal Welfare (Breeding of Dogs) (Wales) Regulations 2014. A three year Welsh Government funded project, which includes enhancement of training and better guidance for inspectors and improved use of resources within Local Authorities and across Wales, has been established and is being led by Local Authorities in Wales. We will continue to work with key stakeholders, including Local Authorities and the other Administrations to ensure we introduce changes which will have a lasting impact on the welfare standards of dogs and cats bred in Wales. DATGANIAD YSGRIFENEDIG GAN LYWODRAETH CYMRU TEITL Ail-osod Rheoliadau Lles Anifeiliaid (Trwyddedu Gweithgareddau sy'n Cynnwys Anifeiliaid) (Cymru) 2021 drafft DYDDIAD 03 Chwefror 2021 GAN Lesley Griffiths AS, Gweinidog yr Amgylchedd, Ynni a Materion Gwledig Er mwyn mynd i'r afael â chamgymeriad bach, ond pwysig, yn y fersiwn gwreiddiol a gyflwynwyd ar 27 Ionawr, gyda gofid, mae'n rhaid i mi ddweud y byddaf yn gosod fersiwn newydd o Reoliadau Lles Anifeiliaid (Trwyddedu Gweithgareddau sy'n Cynnwys Anifeiliaid) (Cymru) 2021 drafft cyn bo hir. Bwriad cyffredinol y polisi y tu ôl i'r Rheoliadau hyn, a fydd yn disodli adran 1(1) o Ddeddf Anifeiliaid Anwes 1951, yw adlewyrchu arfer gorau wrth werthu cwn a cathod Bach. Mae caniatáu i drydydd partion masnachol werthu cwn a cathod Bach yn golygu, yn y rhan fwyaf o achosion, na fydd prynwyr yn gweld y ci na'r gath fach yn rhyngweithio â'r ast/fam neu'r brodyr a'r chwiorydd. Mae swyddogion yn gweithio'n gyfylm i ddatrys y mater ac mae dyddiad dadl newydd wedi'i bennu ar gyfer 23 Mawrth 2021. Ni ragwelir y bydd yr oedi hwn yn effeithio ar y dyddiad y daw'r rheoliadau hyn i rym, sef 10 Medi 2021. P–05–895 Etifeddiaeth Rosa: Dylid cyflwyno cynllun i helpu pobl i gael hawl i ofal milfeddygol ar gyfer eu hanifeiliaid anwes Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Linda Joyce Jones, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 95 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Rydym yn galw ar Gynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru i ofyn i Lywodraeth Cymru gyflwyno cynllun i helpu perchnogion cyfrifol anifeiliaid anwes i gael hawl i ymgynghoriadau milfeddygol wyneb yn wyneb a gofal ar gyfer eu hanifeiliaid. O eleni ymlaen bydd gan Lywodraeth Cymru bwerau trethu cyfyngedig eu hunain am y tro cyntaf. Ers blynyddoedd lawer mae pobl gyffredin wedi cael trafferthion i dalu costau byw sylfaenol, ac mae hyn yn parhau. Nid oes dim amheuaeth ynglŷn â'r manteision i iechyd meddwl a llesiant pobl o gael anifail anwes. Mae llawer o'r anifeiliaid yn dod yn rhan o'r teulu. I bobl sy'n byw ar eu pennau'u hunain neu'n anghysbell, gall yr anifail fod yr unig gwmni sydd ganddynt. Mae gwyddoniaeth filfeddygol, fel y rhan fwyaf o broffesiynau, wedi esblygu'n gyflyn dros y blynyddoedd diwethaf. Mae Llawfeddygon Milfeddygol, nyrsys milfeddygol a'u staff cymorth sy'n gweithio ar y "rheng flaen" yng Nghymru yn gwneud hynny o dan amgylchiadau heriol iawn yn aml. Mae'n dda gweld bod eu corff Ilywodraethol, sef Coleg Brenhinol y Milfeddygon (RCVS) wedi cydnabod hyn yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf ac wedi cymryd camau i geisio cefnogi llesiant iechyd meddwl o fewn y proffesiwn. Ond yn wahanol i iechyd dynol yng Nghymru, nid oes gwasanaeth am ddim ar gael gan y Gwasanaeth Lechyd Gwladol ar gyfer anifeiliaid pan fyddant ei angen, bedair awr ar hugain y dydd, saith diwrnod yr wythnos. O dan adran 3.16 o Ddeddf Lles Anifeiliaid (Cymru a Lloegr) 2006, cyfrifoldeb y perchnogion yw darparu ar gyfer pum angen llesiant sylfaenol anifeiliaid, a'r pumed o'r rhain yw ei "amddiffyn rhag dioddef poen, anaf a chlefyd". Gwybodaeth ychwanegol: Tudalen y pecyn 194 Mae'r maes yswiriant ar gyfer anifeiliaid anwes wedi ffynnu yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf. Ond gall llawer o berchnogion cyfrifol barhau i gael trafferth i gael gwarchodaeth yswiriant ar gyfer eu hanifeiliaid anwes. Mae hyn yn sgîl cyflyrau sydd eisoes yn bodoli, cŵn sydd wedi'u heithrio oherwydd deddfwriaeth benodol ar fridio, neu lawer o anifeiliaid anwes sydd, yn syml, angen rhagor o driniaeth na'r hyn y mae polisi yswiriant eu perchnogion yn ei ganiatâu. Mae rhai sefydliadau'r trydydd sector, fel yr elusen filfeddygol PDSA, wedi ceisio llenwi'r bwlc h ers sawl blwyddyn. Maent wedi gwneud gwaith clodwiw, ond yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf maen nhw, hyd yn oed, wedi gorfod gwneud y penderfyniad torcalonnnus i gwtogi ar eu darpariaeth. Nid oes gan rai ardaloedd yng Nghymru ddim ysbytai anifeiliaid na chlinigau milfeddygol o fath yn y byd a ddarperir gan elusennau. Mae tuedd bryderus hefyd i berchnogion droi at fforymau ar y cyfryngau cymdeithasol i gael cyngor ar faterion clinigol, yn hytrach na mynd â'u hanifeiliaid i bractis milfeddygol. Rwy'n adnabod pobl sy'n ateb llinellau ffôn cymorth ar ran elusennau anifeiliaid. Dywedant wrthyf fod y duedd hon yn cael ei ailadrodd. Gyda'm cefndir i ym maes achub anifeiliaid, rwyf wedi bod yn argyhoeddedig ers blynyddoedd lawer fod nifer cynyddol o anifeiliaid anwes yn cael eu gadael neu eu rhoi mewn canolfannau achub, yn rhannol, oherwydd nad yw pobl yn gallu ariannu gofal milfeddygol ar eu cyfer. Mae'r canolfannau achub yng Nghymru yn orlawn, ac mae'r holl ystadegau sydd ar gael yn dangos bod achosion o'r fath, ac unrhyw erlyniadau sy'n deillio ohonynt, yn codi. Yn gyntaf, byddai cynllun o'r fath yn helpu anifeiliaid anwes a'u perchnogion. Byddai hefyd yn helpu'r rheini sy'n gweithio ar y rheng flaen yn y canolfannau achub anifeiliaid, ac yn sicr yn helpu'r proffesiwn milfeddygol yng Nghymru, sydd hefyd ar adegau yn gweithio mewn amgylchiadau heriol tu hwnt. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Senedd - Arfon - Gogledd Cymru Tudalen y pecyn 195 4 Mawrth 2021 Annwyl Janet, Diolch am eich llythyr dyddiedig 09 Chwefror ynglŷn â Deiseb P-05-895, Etifeddiaeth Rosa. Fel yr amlinellwyd yn fy llythyr blaenorol, rydym yn parhau i weithio'n agos gyda'r Rhwydwaith Lles Anifeiliaid (AWNW) a rhanddeiliaid eraill, gan gynnwys y BVA (Cymdeithas Milfeddygol Prydain). Byddwch yn sylweddoli bod yr effaith y mae'r achosion o Covid-19 yn parhau i'w chael wedi golygu bod blaenoriaethau wedi newid wrth inni fynd i'r afael â meysydd megis gwaith i ddarparu gwasanaethau sy'n diogelu iechyd y cyhoedd, yn diogelu anifeiliaid rhag clefydau statudol ac yn sicrhau nad yw lleis anifeiliaid yn cael ei beryglu. Mae'r pwysau ar wasanaethau milfeddygol wedi bod yn aruthrol ac maent wedi gorfod penderfynu ble a sut i hoelio'u sylw yn ystod y cyfnod anodd hwn. Ar hyn o bryd, mae'n flin gennyf na allaf roi amserlen fanwl ar gyfer ailgydio yn y gwaith cwmpasu hwn, ond byddaf yn rhoi'r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf ichi pan fydd hynny'n bosibl. Cofion, Lesley Griffiths AS/MS Gweinidog yr Amgylchedd, Ynni a Materion Gwledig Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs P-05-1003 Mynnu Asesiad o’r Effaith Amgylcheddol nawr ynghylch gwaredu mwd wedi’i halogi’n radiolegol yn nyfroedd Cymru Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Cian Ciaran, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 10,692 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Rydym ni, sy’n llofnodi isod, yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i ddefnyddio Deddf yr Amgylchedd (Cymru) 2016 mewn perthynas ac ansicrwydd, a sicrhau bod Asesiad llawn o’r Effaith Amgylcheddol yn cael ei gynnal cyn bod modd gwaredu unrhyw waddod pellach o orsaf pŵer niwclear Hinkley Point yn Cardiff Grounds. Peidiwch â gadael i Lywodraeth Cymru dorri ei chyfraith ei hun! Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Rhaid i’r asesiad o’r effaith amgylcheddol ddarparu Data sylfaenol manwl am ymddygiad a thynged deunydd sy’n cael ei waredu yn Cardiff Grounds; Dadansoddiad radiolegol llawn, gan gynnwys allyrru gronynnau alffa; Asesiad manwl a chyfoes o effeithiau radiolegol posibl ar boblogaeth de Cymru; Rheoli llygryddon niwclear ar y tir yn hytrach na’u gwasgaru ar y môr; Parchu cytundebau ynghylch gwaredu morol; Gwarchod Afon Hafren. Rydym hefyd yn galw ar y Senedd nad oes buddiannau niwclear yn dylanwadu ar yr Asesiad o'r Effaith Amgylcheddol. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Senedd - De Caerdydd a Phenarth - Canol De Cymru Dear Ms Finch-Saunders, Thank you for your letter of 21 December regarding Petition ‘P-05-1003 Demand an EIA now on the dumping of radioactively contaminated mud in Welsh waters’. This has been passed to me for response by Clare Pillman. Update on the marine licencing process for this application Since we last wrote to you on 3 August 2020 in connection to this petition, we have made further progress with our pre-application processes associated with this proposed disposal activity, namely: - On 15 September 2020, we notified EDF Energy that we had approved its sampling plan. NRW is therefore satisfied that the sediment sampling and analysis plan is sufficient for the characterisation of the sediment to be dredged and to support a marine licence application for disposal of the dredged material at sea. - On 2 October 2020, EDF Energy announced its intention to carry out an EIA as part of its future marine disposal licence application and formally withdrew its request for an EIA screening opinion from NRW. - On 12 October 2020, in accordance with Regulation 5 of Marine Works (EIA) Regulations (2017), NRW confirmed with EDF that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will be required for the dredge disposal marine licence application. All these steps have been publicly communicated and are available from our web-site; https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/news-and-events/statements/marine-licence-to-dispose-dredged-material-off-the-coast-of-south-wales/?lang=en At a recent meeting with representatives of EDF Energy we were informed that the submission of their marine licence application is now expected in January 2021. Response to the further comments made by the petitioners in their recent correspondence We note that the petitioner has requested you to forward their scoping proposals to NRW for consideration. As detailed above, the scope of the EIA is restricted to the requirements of the Marine Works (EIA) Regulations (2017) and EDF have committed to undertaking the associated EIA as part of its licence application. EDF have withdrawn their EIA screening request and do not intend to request a Scoping Opinion from NRW. Consequently, we now need to await the formal submission of the marine licence application and its supporting documentation. Given its profile, our determination of the application will include an 8-week public consultation, and this would be the appropriate time for the Petitioner and any other interested party to comment on any element of the application. I would reiterate that our determination process will ensure that we only issue licences for material that is safe for disposal following a thorough assessment of the evidence that supports the application. Kind regards, Tudalen y pecyn 199 Misleading information from the Environment Agency concerning evidence for Plutonium Microparticles in the Hinkley Point sediment The National Resources Wales (NRW) report Response to report NRPB-M173 has been brought to my attention. It is undated and has no identifier, but hopefully can be located from the title. The NRW report contains a number of misleading statements that I assume originated with the nuclear regulator the Environment Agency (EA). I would appreciate this report being forwarded to the EA with a request that they give immediate attention to the questions and requests raised. I would be grateful to be copied into the email correspondence as it will be clear from Refs. 1 and 2 (attached) that I have relevant expertise. NRW’s contacts may wish to question me directly. 1) It is a matter of public record (Hansard, 19582) that the Hinkley Point A reactors ‘could’ be used to produce Plutonium for the weapons programme but the regulator (EA) has no evidence that they were ever used to produce Plutonium for the weapons programme. Moreover, were Plutonium produced in the Hinkley Point A reactors, this could not have been extracted from the fuel as this could only take place during the fuel repossessing at NRP’s such as Sellafield. As Ref.1 describes, in 2000 the Ministry of Defence reported that it had found 0.37 tonnes of weapons grade plutonium, the origins of which they could not identify. The calculations which we published in 1985 [2] show that the UK Magnox reactors produced 0.36 tonnes of weapon’s grade plutonium in their early years, the bulk of this from Hinkley Point A (HPA). This is relevant to the discussion of Plutonium Microparticles (PMPs). The requirement to extract the fuel while the plutonium was still weapons grade and to get it to Sellafield before the start of the NPT (which would forbid the practice), resulted in more than half the HPA core being extracted in 1968 with equipment designed to change 20% of the core a year. This resulted in the accidents which compromised the Magnox cladding of the spent fuel elements. Then in 1969, according to a MAFF report [3], an accidental release of sulphuric acid into the pond resulted in “irreparable damage.....to the particularly large amount of spent fuel that was there at the time.....not merely corrosion of the magnox which has in some cases disintegrated completely, but extends......to extensive surface corrosion of the uranium itself.” Whoever at the EA wrote that plutonium could only be extracted at Sellafield in appears unaware that these accidents were the origin of the plutonium in the waste discharge recorded in NRPB-M173. This prompts the first question for the EA: Q.1 When the original decision was taken in 2018 to dredge and dump the sediment without alpha testing, were those who took the decision aware of the extent of the accidents recorded in Ref. 3 and the plutonium record in liquid waste in NRPB-M173? 2) Over many years of annual monitoring, and to the best of our technical advisors’ knowledge, hot particles have never been identified around the Hinkley area. The high levels emitted by these particles will mean that they would have been detected by gamma spectrometry in the first instance. Furthermore, no hot particles have been identified in the previous subsurface or surface sediment samples taken for the previous dredging application for Hinkley Point. Plutonium Microparticles were identified in the liquid waste discharged from HPA by their alpha emissions recorded in NRPB-M173 (red line in Fig. 1). All the plutonium signal recorded in NRPB must have come from particles of less than 5 micron diameter as this is the size of the filters at the exit of the cooling ponds. Note the MNP peak in 1982 is larger than the original peak due to the accidents in 1969. Clearly a lot more PMPs got through the filters in 1982 but there is no sign of a peak in the dotted blue line, which is the gamma signal. The PMPs in the Hinkley sediment do not emit gammas and cannot be identified by gamma spectroscopy. Q.2 What do the EA records indicate was the origin of the large number of PMPs emitted in 1982? Q.3 Were any alpha measurements made on liquid discharges from HPA in later years than 1984. If so, please provide them. If not, why not? Q.4 Have those dealing with the clean up of the HPA cooling ponds measured the plutonium content of the sludge at the bottom of the ponds? 3) …..levels of Americium-241 measured by gamma spectrometry can be used to infer the presence of ……some radioisotopes of Plutonium – as they would be expected to behave similarly in the environment. Plutonium concentrations are estimated using a model that assumes their activities are proportional to the ratio in Sellafield discharges………… Alpha spectrometry has not been necessary for the samples from the Hinkley dredge area as the doses from all contributing radionuclides, including measured concentrations of Americium-241 and those estimated for Plutonium concentrations, were not exceeded. The bulk of the plutonium in sediments in the Hinkley area probably originated in the discharges from the HPA cooling ponds. Your model can therefore be refined: 1) The correction for Americium-241 decays can start from 1968, the most likely date for generation. 2) Our calculations estimate that the isotopic ratio of Plutonium-241 in these discharges was \[ \text{Pu-241/all isotopes} = (3.05 + 0.39/-0.25)\% \text{ by weight.} \] Finally two requests: Request 1. Please use your model to recalculate the plutonium concentrations from the measured Americium-241 in the dredge area referred to above, using these two corrections and compare the results with safety limits. Request 2. Given that Fig. 1 clearly shows that the HPA PMPs are not detectable by gamma emission, we request that all samples be tested for PMPs by techniques such as those used in Ref. 4, whether or not they show a gamma signal. References 1) K.W.J.Barnham et al., Nature, 407, 833, (2000). (attached) 2) K.W.J.Barnham et al., Nature, 317, 213, (1885). (attached) 3) MAFF “Liquid Waste Disposal Authorisation, CEGB Hinkley Point”, PDRW (69) 74 4) S.R.Aston. D.J.Assinder and M.Kelly, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (1985),20,761-771 Production and destination of British civil plutonium K.W.J. Barnham, D. Hart, J. Nelson and R.A. Stevens The amount of plutonium produced by the Magnox reactors belonging to the CEGB and SSEB is estimated using three different methods which give similar results for total plutonium production. The difference between this total and the UK civil plutonium inventory is 6.3 ± 0.8 tonne. This balance was apparently sent to the United States in exchange for fissile material for UK military requirements. The US destinations published by the UK government appear to accommodate significantly less plutonium. We believe that if the international non-proliferation regime is to be strengthened, all links between civil and military nuclear programmes should be broken. If such links existed in the past the details should be clarified, effective safeguards introduced to prevent re-occurrence and information made available to allow compliance with the safeguards to be monitored. Within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) these injunctions clearly apply to the three nuclear powers which are signatories of the treaty, Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States. Accordingly, we have set out to determine, for the case of the United Kingdom, how much plutonium has been produced in its civil reactors. Because much of the information required for such an investigation is not available, we have used three methods to estimate the total plutonium production. We believe our calculations are an interesting demonstration of the precision with which the production of fissile material such as plutonium-239 may be inferred from published data about reactor operations. The British situation is complicated by the arrangement sanctioned by the mutual defence agreements with the United States under the terms of which$^1$ plutonium from the British civil programme has been transferred to the United States in exchange for highly enriched uranium and tritium required for the British military programme. British government spokesmen have stated$^2$ that no plutonium from the British civil reactors operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and the South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) has been used for military purposes in Britain and that none of the plutonium transferred to the United States has been so used. Our calculations, however, lead us to conclude that the civil uses for British plutonium in the United States do not fully account for the missing material. We have also encountered what we believe are serious shortcomings in the procedures for plutonium accountancy in Britain. An earlier version of this paper was first submitted for publication in June 1984 and presented at the Sizewell Inquiry in October 1984$^3$. The CEGB responded$^4$ with a number of criticisms, which they did not quantify on advice from the Department of Energy. We have investigated all these criticisms and incorporated some changes. These make only small differences to our numerical results. Yield and burn-up The British Magnox reactors with which we are concerned are graphite-moderated reactors using natural uranium fuel. A series of these reactors were built in Britain primarily for production of military plutonium. The first of these, at Calder Hall in Cumbria, was commissioned in 1956; others followed at Chapelcross in Scotland. We are not here concerned with the production of plutonium at these reactors, but at the civil reactors designed on similar principles but operated by the electricity utilities. Our first objective is to calculate the total quantity of all plutonium isotopes produced per tonne of original fuel as a function of the total thermal energy generated by a tonne of fuel, called the burn-up, $B$, in units of MW-days per tonne (MWd/te). We represent plutonium isotope production by the function $G(B)$, in units of kilograms per tonne (kg/te). This can be obtained by the numerical solution of the equations$^5$ giving as a function of irradiation time the concentrations of the principal isotopes of uranium (235 and 238) and of plutonium (239 to 242 inclusive). The burn-up, the energy released by fission of uranium 235 and 238 and of plutonium 239 and 241, is a by-product of these equations. We correct the energy release for radiative capture effects as in ref.6. The cross-sections we use$^7$ depend on the mean neutron temperature which we take to be the mean moderator temperature $T_m$, and on the proportion of epithermal neutrons in the total neutron spectrum governed by the parameter $r$. Resonance absorption and fission are corrected by the adjustment of the uranium-238 cross-section using parameters for each reactor given by IAEA$^8$. A detailed description of our calculations will be published elsewhere. There are no direct tests we can make of our $G(B)$ on data for the CEGB and SSEB reactors. The only clear information published on plutonium production in Magnox reactors concerns the military reactors at Calder Hall. Figures by Tyror$^9$ and Griggs and Harper$^10$ illustrate plutonium production and isotopic composition as a function of burn-up for a typical point in the Calder Hall reactor core. At a moderator temperature appropriate to Calder Hall and with $r = 0.055$, we find our $G(B)$ reproduces these curves very closely. Our best fit to the Tyror curves for isotopic composition is obtained with a fast fission factor of 1.02, corrected for fast radiative captures, as used by Griggs and Harper$^10$, rather than using 1.03, as quoted by the IAEA$^8$. The major difference in $G(B)$ between Calder Hall and the civil Magnox reactors arises from different moderator temperatures$^8,11$. For each civil reactor we use the $G(B)$ described above evaluated at the temperature appropriate to that reactor$^8,11$. The effect of changing other parameters is considered later. Table 1 Comparison of isotopic ratios in spent fuel dispatched 1978–84 with predictions for discharges 1977–83 \| Plutonium-239 \| Sum all plutonium isotopes \| \|---------------\|---------------------------\| \| \| G(B) predictions 1977–83 \| CEGB dispatch data 1978–84 \| \| Bradwell \| 0.730 \| 0.744 \| \| Berkeley \| 0.740 \| 0.721 \| \| Hinkley Point A \| 0.740 \| 0.725 \| \| Trawsfynydd \| 0.719 \| 0.717 \| \| Dungeness A \| 0.703 \| 0.719 \| \| Sizewell \| 0.718 \| 0.716 \| \| Oldbury \| 0.704 \| 0.708 \| \| Wyfia \| 0.705 \| 0.710 \| \| Mean \| 0.720 \| 0.720 \| Table 2 Uranium fuel (tonnes) discharged from CEGB and SSEB power stations 1963–72 \| Fiscal year \| Bradwell \| Berkeley \| Hinkley Pt \| Trawsfynydd \| Dungeness \| Sizewell \| Oldbury \| Wylfa \| Hunterston* \| \|-------------\|----------\|----------\|------------\|-------------\|-----------\|---------\|--------\|-------\|-------------\| \| \| IME \| SUB \| BEST \| IME \| SUB \| BEST \| IME \| SUB \| BEST \| \| 63–64 \| 44 \| 40 \| 44 \| 45 \| 49 \| 45 \| 6 \| 63 \| 6 \| \| 64–65 \| 83 \| 93 \| 83 \| 60 \| 43 \| 60 \| 33 \| 63 \| 67 \| \| 65–66 \| 133 \| 120 \| 133 \| 188 \| 147 \| 188 \| 10 \| 63 \| 10 \| \| 66–67 \| 117 \| 120 \| 117 \| 128 \| 147 \| 128 \| 47 \| 63 \| 47 \| \| 67–68 \| 97 \| 120 \| 97 \| 118 \| 147 \| 118 \| 208 \| 63 \| 208 \| \| 68–69 \| 74 \| 74 \| 110 \| 110 \| 440 \| 408 \| 408 \| 73 \| 73 \| \| 69–70 \| 94 \| 94 \| 118 \| 118 \| 174 \| 174 \| 170 \| 173 \| 173 \| \| 70–71 \| 93 \| 106 \| 116 \| 118 \| 100 \| 105 \| 155 \| 142 \| 167 \| \| 71–72 \| 81 \| 68 \| 106 \| 104 \| 18 \| 13 \| 52 \| 158 \| 145 \| * Calendar year basis, given by first year in first column. † Based on rate for April–August 1968. ‡ Assuming proposed curve followed. § Ref. 18. \|\| Ref. 15. This $G(B)$ refers to a point within the reactor core. The spatial variation of neutron flux in the core gives rise to a spread in the irradiation of the fuel elements in any particular channel. We have investigated typical axial variations of burn-up for a Magnox reactor and used such a variation to obtain a channel-averaged $G(B)$. As $G(B)$ is approximately linear over the appropriate range of burn-ups, averaging reduces $G(B)$ by only 1–2 per cent. Possible radial variations in burn-up have also been investigated. Though the neutron flux falls at large radius, we find that for sensible refuelling procedures in the steady state, radial averaging compensates in part for the effect of axial averaging. A comprehensive reactor-average of $G(B)$ is not feasible in the absence of detailed information on refuelling schemes. Henceforth we use a $G(B)$ that is channel-averaged only, noting that this will underestimate the real situation. We have been unable to find detailed information against which to test our $G(B)$ for civil Magnox reactors apart from Fig. 5 of the sixth report of the Royal Commission on Environmental Protection (the “Flowers Report”), which gives the rate of plutonium production for a “power” reactor. Our original interpretation of this unreferenced figure as typical of civil Magnox reactors has been criticized by the CEGB, but our $G(B)$ does reproduce this curve well at a temperature within the range appropriate to civil Magnox reactors. As an additional test, we have compared the isotopic ratios resulting from our calculations with the data provided by the CEGB on the isotopic composition of fuel dispatched from their Magnox stations for the six fiscal years 1978–84. We believe that the isotopic composition of the fuel dispatched should approximate to that of the fuel discharged one year earlier. Table 1 shows the good agreement between our predicted isotopic ratios, calculated at the average of the discharge burn-ups for the appropriate years (as in Method A below) and the CEGB dispatch data, giving confidence in our extrapolation of the Calder Hall fit. Fuel discharges Fuel discharges from 1971–72 onwards have been provided by the British government in response to parliamentary questions, but the government has refused to give information on fuel discharges for the 1960s. The figures in Table 2 in the column headed “SUB” are derived by subtraction of the numbers of fuel elements discharged by certain dates given in various sources. For five stations, refuelling curves to mid-1968 are given in an Institute of Mechanical Engineers symposium (IME) on the refuelling of gas-cooled reactors. Bearing in mind that the SUB data for 1965–68 are averaged over three years, the two sources are in reasonable agreement. The refuelling policy adopted at Magnox stations in their early years was to follow an “ideal refuelling line” with the total spent fuel discharged, $\Sigma D$, increasing linearly with “core-average” irradiation $$B = (\Sigma E_i)/M \quad \text{MWd/te} \quad (1)$$ up to a predetermined maximum burn-up $B_{\text{max}}$. Here $\Sigma E_i$ is the total thermal energy generated (in MWd) and M is the total mass of uranium in the core. If this “ideal refuelling line” is followed, then all of the initial charge will have been discharged by the time the “core-average” burn-up reaches $B_{\text{max}}$. In addition, if each $D_i$ discharged is replaced by an equal amount of fresh fuel, then when $B_{\text{max}}$ is reached the core will contain fuel with all burn-ups equally represented. This is the ideal steady-state situation. The refuelling curves available show that the Magnox stations fell behind the ideal refuelling line in the early years, but that in the late 1960s, strenuous efforts were made to increase refuelling rates until the ideal, or a line parallel to it, was attained. When more experience was acquired, $B_{\text{max}}$ was increased, so that the steady-state description only approximately represents the situation in the 1970s. The effects of such factors will be considered later. Two of our models require $E_i$, the thermal energy generated. For CEGB stations we have obtained these by fiscal year from the CEGB and parliamentary answers and for Hunterston A by calendar year up to 1982 from the SSEB and fiscal year subsequently. The models Given the fuel discharges of Table 2 and $G(B)$, only the burn-up at which the fuel was discharged is needed to calculate the plutonium production. The CEGB, however, have refused to provide average discharge burn-ups. In method A, we have taken discharge burn-ups from a number of sources. For other years we linearly interpolate between these published figures or between the earliest published figure and zero burn-up on starting up. We then calculate plutonium discharge using these discharge burn-ups, the fuel discharges of Table 2 and our channel-averaged $G(B)$. The totals to 31 March 1985 for each reactor are presented in Table 3. Method B also uses the fuel discharge figures of Table 2, but attempts a more detailed calculation of burn-ups using figures on the thermal energy generated per year. We increment the core-average burn-up by $E_i/M$ each year and determine the burn-up each batch would receive by mid-year. Discharged fuel is replaced by equal amounts of fresh fuel, the burn-up of which we increase by the core average in subsequent years. When all the initial charge is discharged, we then discharge the fuel loaded in the first year assuming a policy of “first in, first out”. Using a computer program for the book keeping, we find that the burn-ups of the spent fuel discharged in the steady state are similar to but in general slightly lower than the discharge irradiances assumed in Method A. This result is expected as we calculate an average burn-up and in practice chan- © 1985 Nature Publishing Group nels with higher than average burn-up will be preferentially discharged. As a result Method B probably underestimates plutonium discharged and overestimates plutonium in core. In fact the total plutonium in core at 31 March 1985 according to Method B is 9.6 te to be compared with the value of 9.5 te quoted to the nearest half-tonne in a parliamentary answer, suggesting that this can only be a small effect. We determine plutonium discharge at each burn-up from $G(B)$ and the size of the batches. The results obtained from Method B are presented in Table 3. A further test of Method B is provided by the plutonium content of the fuel dispatched from CEGB stations in the years 1978-84. Seven CEGB stations keep discharged fuel in cooling ponds where the fuel cannot remain indefinitely because the cladding would corrode. The average time between discharge and dispatch for the fuel in ref. 14 was 1.2 years. However this average probably includes Wylfa which has a dry store. We believe that, for the stations with cooling ponds, the total plutonium dispatched over a six year period should be similar to the total of the plutonium produced in a similar period starting one year earlier. We compare CEGB dispatch data with appropriate Method B production figures in Table 4. Note that the reactor-to-reactor variation given by Method B is similar to that in the CEGB data and overall our predictions are a 3.6% underestimate. The CEGB have refused to publish totals of plutonium in the ponds at the start and the end of the six-year period which could discredit or confirm our calculations. Method C uses the total thermal energy generated and does not use any figures for spent fuel discharged. The principle of the method is to assume that the "ideal refuelling line" was followed. If a linear rise to a certain maximum value of burn-up ($B_{\text{max}}$) is assumed then the energy extracted from fuel in core on rise to steady state, $$E_c = \int_0^{B_{\text{max}}} B \, dD = MB_{\text{max}}/2$$ and $E_s$ is equal to $E_d$, the energy extracted from the fuel discharged in this period. If in the steady state the amount of fuel $D_s$ is discharged at the burn-up, $B_{\text{max}}$ over a period of time in which thermal energy $E_s$ is generated, then it is straightforward to show that to keep the steady state situation constant $$D_s = E_s/B_{\text{max}}$$ Therefore total thermal energy generated $$E_T = E_c + E_d + E_s = MB_{\text{max}} + D_s B_{\text{max}}$$ Plutonium production can similarly be divided into three parts. Plutonium in core at start (and end) of steady state $$P_c = \int_0^{B_{\text{max}}} G(B) \, dB = \frac{M}{B_{\text{max}}} \int_0^{B_{\text{max}}} G(B) \, dB = P_e$$ where $P_d$ is the plutonium discharged in the rise to the steady state. Plutonium discharged in steady state $P_s = D_s G(B_{\text{max}})$. Therefore total plutonium production (including plutonium in core) after substitution from (3) is given by $$P_T = \frac{E_s G(B_{\text{max}})}{B_{\text{max}}} + M \left[ \frac{2}{B_{\text{max}}} \int_0^{B_{\text{max}}} G(B) \, dB - G(B_{\text{max}}) \right]$$ Hence, if the ideal refuelling line was followed, the total plutonium production when total thermal energy $E_T$ has been generated is determined in terms of one parameter, the steady-state burn-up $B_{\text{max}}$. In Table 3 we present the total plutonium discharged for each station by 31 March 1985 using a $B_{\text{max}}$ which is the average of the discharge burnups in Method A for each station for the 10 years prior to 31 March 1985. When $B_{\text{max}}$ is calculated for shorter periods or from equation (2) the totals for individual reactors vary in the range $\pm (0-3)$ per cent. This suggests that the method chosen to determine $B_{\text{max}}$ is not \| Year \| Bradwell \| Berkeley \| Hinkley Point A \| Trawsfynydd \| Dungeness A \| Sizewell \| Oldbury \| Wylfa \| Hunterston A (Calendar Years) \| \|------\|----------\|----------\|-----------------\|-------------\|-------------\|----------\|--------\|-------\|-------------------------------\| \| 63–64\| 0.02 \| 0.03 \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| 64–65\| 0.09 \| 0.06 \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| 65–66\| 0.19 \| 0.28 \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| 66–67\| 0.20 \| 0.25 \| 0.05 \| 0.02 \| 0.04 \| 0.01 \| \| \| \| \| 67–68\| 0.21 \| 0.24 \| 0.32 \| 0.04 \| 0.16 \| 0.03 \| \| \| \| \| 68–69\| 0.16 \| 0.21 \| 0.81 \| 0.11 \| 0.28 \| 0.26 \| 0.01 \| \| \| \| 69–70\| 0.20 \| 0.26 \| 0.29 \| 0.33 \| 0.34 \| 0.25 \| 0.07 \| \| \| \| 70–71\| 0.23 \| 0.26 \| 0.17 \| 0.33 \| 0.37 \| 0.34 \| 0.14 \| \| \| \| 71–72\| 0.15 \| 0.24 \| 0.02 \| 0.17 \| 0.28 \| 0.29 \| 0.20 \| \| \| \| 72–73\| 0.20 \| 0.25 \| 0.15 \| 0.03 \| 0.19 \| 0.30 \| 0.18 \| 0.02 \| 0.21 \| \| 73–74\| 0.16 \| 0.26 \| 0.30 \| 0.61 \| 0.22 \| 0.29 \| 0.32 \| 0.07 \| 0.27 \| \| 74–75\| 0.18 \| 0.20 \| 0.36 \| 0.32 \| 0.34 \| 0.30 \| 0.23 \| 0.18 \| 0.26 \| \| 75–76\| 0.19 \| 0.23 \| 0.28 \| 0.25 \| 0.31 \| 0.32 \| 0.24 \| 0.11 \| 0.12 \| \| 76–77\| 0.19 \| 0.24 \| 0.32 \| 0.19 \| 0.32 \| 0.30 \| 0.25 \| 0.18 \| 0.12 \| \| 77–78\| 0.20 \| 0.10 \| 0.28 \| 0.11 \| 0.15 \| 0.29 \| 0.30 \| 0.18 \| 0.20 \| \| 78–79\| 0.15 \| 0.15 \| 0.27 \| 0.25 \| 0.17 \| 0.26 \| 0.18 \| 0.25 \| 0.28 \| \| 79–80\| 0.11 \| 0.21 \| 0.29 \| 0.30 \| 0.08 \| 0.21 \| 0.30 \| 0.48 \| 0.29 \| \| 80–81\| 0.01 \| 0.09 \| 0.36 \| 0.13 \| 0.00 \| 0.35 \| 0.28 \| 0.70 \| 0.21 \| \| 81–82\| 0.01 \| 0.00 \| 0.25 \| 0.27 \| 0.05 \| 0.18 \| 0.25 \| 0.57 \| 0.15 \| \| 82–83\| 0.13 \| 0.06 \| 0.29 \| 0.35 \| 0.22 \| 0.25 \| 0.63 \| 0.22* \| \| 83–84\| 0.15 \| 0.02 \| 0.28 \| 0.28 \| 0.25 \| 0.25 \| 0.28 \| 0.35 \| 0.18* \| \| 84–85\| 0.17 \| 0.07 \| 0.29 \| 0.26 \| 0.23 \| 0.21 \| 0.23 \| 0.63 \| 0.22* \| Total discharge method B: 3.30, 3.71, 5.51, 4.58, 3.99, 4.66, 3.69, 4.46, 3.82, 37.72 Total discharge method A: 3.45, 3.75, 5.47, 4.39, 3.95, 4.57, 4.13, 5.03, 3.96, 38.69 Total discharge method C: 3.09, 3.69, 5.55, 4.66, 3.80, 4.50, 3.70, 4.82, 3.67, 37.49 Includes 1.25 x (discharge '82) to bring Hunterston to 31–3–83 † Fiscal years for Hunterston Table 4 Comparison of Method B predictions for plutonium production 1977–83 with CEGB figures for dispatched fuel 1978–84 \| Station \| Plutonium produced during 1977–83 Method B (te) \| Plutonium dispatched during 1978–84 CEGB (te) \| \|-----------------\|--------------------------------------------------\|-----------------------------------------------\| \| Bradwell \| 0.605 \| 0.594 \| \| Berkeley \| 0.613 \| 0.637 \| \| Hinkley Point A \| 1.846 \| 1.898 \| \| Trawsfynydd \| 1.625 \| 1.565 \| \| Dungeness A \| 0.672 \| 0.834 \| \| Sizewell \| 1.510 \| 1.600 \| \| Oldbury \| 1.563 \| 1.607 \| \| Total \| 8.434 \| 8.745 \| An interesting result of Method C is that from equation (4) $P_r$ consists of two parts: a first (larger) term which is proportional to $E_r$, and a second (smaller) term which is always positive. The method used by Hesketh\textsuperscript{34} and by Simpson\textsuperscript{1} to estimate $P_r$ assumes a quoted value for plutonium production per unit of electrical energy generated which for constant thermal efficiency means they were assuming plutonium production proportional to $E_r$. Since the second term in (4) is always positive, such estimates must be underestimates of $P_r$ as Hesketh claimed. Our calculations suggest that the second term is approximately 2.4 te, summed over all the Magnox reactors. The possible end uses of plutonium depend critically on its isotopic composition. We have calculated using Method B the plutonium discharged in two plutonium 240 purity bands 0–7 per cent and 0–15 per cent and the results are shown in Table 5. The 15 per cent figure is important because we know there is currently no plutonium of Pu 240 content less than 15 per cent in the civil stockpile\textsuperscript{9}. The plutonium of Pu 240 content less than 7 per cent would be particularly useful for military purposes, though plutonium of considerably worse purity could be blended with very high-purity plutonium to form acceptable weapons-grade plutonium. To put the numbers in Table 5 in perspective, Lovins states that the critical mass for weapons-grade plutonium with a reflector is less than 5kg\textsuperscript{9}. Plutonium balance Plutonium must be ‘lost’ because reprocessing is not 100 per cent efficient. It may either be contained in solid or liquid waste, or discharged into the Irish Sea. By 1974 solid waste accumulated at Sellafield contained a little under half a tonne of plutonium\textsuperscript{13}. It was anticipated that the corresponding figure for plutonium losses would not be so great over subsequent years. The Department of Energy have refused to answer parliamentary questions requesting an update of this figure\textsuperscript{37} though they have admitted\textsuperscript{38} that only about half of the quantity arises from CEGB and SSEB spent fuel. From radiological data\textsuperscript{39,40} on discharges of plutonium isotopes into the sea we calculate that approximately 280 kg of plutonium has been lost in this way up to end 1983. According to a recent parliamentary answer approximately 70 per cent of this arises from CEGB and SSEB spent fuel\textsuperscript{41}. In total we assume 0.5 ± 0.2 te of plutonium from the civil stockpile has been lost during reprocessing. In Table 6 we show the total of plutonium in core and discharged according to Methods A, B and C at the four dates for which official information on plutonium stocks is available\textsuperscript{16,33,35,41}. We note that the three methods give differences of 2 per cent or less for the plutonium total at each date. This agreement suggests that uncertainties in exact refuelling policy including discharge figures for the 1960s are not very important when considering the total of plutonium produced. This is supported by the small changes in the total of −0.5 per cent when SUB figures rather than BEST (Table 2) are used in Method B, and +1.7 per cent when a uniform discharge throughout the year is assumed rather than mid-year discharge. The three methods also calculate discharge burn-up differently. Hence the similarity of results suggests that systematic errors due to the lack of detailed knowledge of the burn-up variation within the reactor are probably smaller than the differences between the totals of the three methods. All three methods assume the same $G(B)$ which for the civil reactors cannot be directly checked against published data. As a test of the sensitivity of our results to our choice of $G(B)$ we investigate the effect of using a worst-case $G(B)$ specified by parameters at the extent of the range which is reasonable: a fast fission factor of 1.033; $r = 0.07$; higher $T_m$ where there is ambiguity in the literature. This $G(B)$ for a Calder Hall temperature lies well below the Tyror curve and the agreement with the isotopic ratios in Table 1 worsens, but the plutonium total according to Method B falls by only 1.5 per cent. Given that our channel-averaged $G(B)$ underestimates the reactor averaged situation by approximately 1 per cent, we feel that the error on the missing plutonium given below accommodates such systematic effects. According to Method B the total plutonium increase between 31 December 1981 and 31 March 1985 is 7.7 te. This agrees with the difference calculated from the parliamentary answers of 7.5 ± 0.5 te. Since an interpolation is required to produce plutonium totals at 31-12-81 it is probably safer to compare the difference between totals in 31-3-85 and 31-3-83 which is 4.9 te predicted by Method B and 5.0 ± 0.5 te in the parliamentary answers. Missing plutonium We conclude from Table 6 that the amount of plutonium unaccounted for is 6.8 ± 0.8 te according to our preferred Method B. After subtraction of the 0.5 ± 0.2 te lost in reprocessing (which is not included in the subtotal of civil stocks\textsuperscript{42}), the missing balance is 6.3 ± 0.8 te. It is interesting to note that our estimate for the balance agrees with the figure of 6.667 te which was expected to be the maximum involved in the exchange\textsuperscript{1} between the United Kingdom and the United States, based on costs in the US Enabling act. Previous studies of UK plutonium production have arrived at the following estimates for the balance of civil plutonium: Durie and Edwards\textsuperscript{43}, 14.5 te; Hesketh\textsuperscript{34}, 3.4 te; Simpson\textsuperscript{1}, 3.3 te. As discussed earlier we believe that approximately 2.4 te should be added to both the Hesketh and Simpson estimates. Their estimates would then be in agreement with ours. Simpson favoured 3–4 te for the amount consigned to the US on the basis of the amount of plutonium produced by 1969. On 1-4-69 plutonium in their spent fuel arriving at Windscale became the property of the CEGB rather than the UK Atomic Energy Authority. The CEGB has stated\textsuperscript{44,45} that fuel reprocessed prior to 1 --- Table 5 Production of high purity plutonium (te) for all CEGB and SSEB stations \| Plutonium 240 \| Sum all plutonium isotopes \| \|---------------\|----------------------------\| \| \| 0% – 15% \| 0% – 7% \| \| Up to 31–3–69 \| 2.3 ± 0.4 \| 0.2 ± 0.1 \| \| From 31–3–69 \| 0.8 ± 0.2 \| 0.07 ± 0.02 \| \| to 31–3–71 \| 1.1 ± 0.2 \| 0.09 ± 0.05 \| --- Table 6 Total plutonium (discharged and in core) from Methods A, B, & C and comparison with Parliamentary Answers \| DATE \| COL 2* \| Method A \| Method B \| Method C \| \|------------\|--------\|----------\|----------\|----------\| \| \| Sub-total of civil stockpile (te) \| Total including core as in COL 2 (te) \| Difference from COL 2 (te) \| Total discharge +core (te) \| Difference From COL 2 (te) \| Total discharge +core (te) \| Difference from COL 2 (te) \| \| 31–12–81 \| 33.0 \| 40.00 \| 7.00 \| 39.60 \| 6.60 \| 39.09 \| 6.09 \| \| 31–3–83 \| 35.5 \| 43.32 \| 7.82 \| 42.44 \| 6.94 \| 41.76 \| 6.26 \| \| 31–3–84 \| 38.0 \| 45.40 \| 7.40 \| 44.87 \| 6.87 \| 44.03 \| 6.03 \| \| 31–3–85 \| 40.5 \| 48.19 \| 7.69 \| 47.32 \| 6.82 \| 46.33 \| 5.83 \| \| Mean difference \| \| \| 7.48 \| 6.81 \| \| \| 6.05 \| * Figures as quoted in Parliamentary Answers April 1969 provided the plutonium sent to the United States. Our Method B gives $3.5 \pm 0.4$ te as the total produced by mid fiscal-year 1968–69, which is consistent with Simpson’s estimate. If the plutonium unaccounted for is to be reduced to the amount produced by mid-year 1968–69 our calculations would need to overestimate production by 9 per cent. However, comparison with the CEGB dispatch data suggests that our calculations are a 3.6 per cent underestimate. Furthermore our figure cannot be a 9 per cent overestimate since the adjusted Method B total of plutonium in core on 31 March 1985 would then be 8.8 te which is incompatible with the figure of 9.5 te quoted in the parliamentary answer to the nearest half-tonne. US plutonium use According to the government$^8$ the bulk of the civil plutonium sent to the US is in the inventory of one fast research reactor, the zero power plutonium reactor (ZPPR), “in the core” of another, the fast flux test facility (FFTF), and “a sizeable quantity was used to make californium for medical purposes. The remaining small quantity is in use for experimental purposes elsewhere in the civil programme, for example at Argonne and Batelle.” ZPPR has an inventory of 3.8 te, of which a “portion” of the 3.4 te of fuel-grade plutonium came from the United Kingdom$^7$. FFTF only went into operation in 1981, has a core loading of 550 kg plutonium-239 and only a “small portion” of FFTF fuel was supplied by the United Kingdom$^7$. It has been estimated that at most a few hundred kilograms of its inventory of 2.9 te came from the United Kingdom$^8$. The amount of plutonium used for californium production has subsequently been revealed as 200 kg$^7$. If 200 kg is a “sizeable quantity” then the “remaining small quantity” in use at Argonne and Batelle is insignificant. We therefore estimate that the total UK plutonium in the destinations listed by the government is likely to be less than 4.0 te. The UK civil plutonium in these destinations could be considerably less if UK military plutonium was involved, as is possible$^9$. Hence on the basis of our best Method B estimate we believe that at least $2.3 \pm 0.8$ te of UK civil plutonium is in destinations other than those given by the government. Conclusions The agreement between our three methods suggests that, despite the absence of public data on fuel discharges in the 1960s, it is possible to calculate the total plutonium produced by the civil Magnox reactors to a reasonable accuracy. We conclude that $6.3 \pm 0.8$ te of civil plutonium, approximately one-sixth of the total civil stockpile, are currently missing. We believe there is at least 2 te of UK civil plutonium in destinations other than those admitted in parliamentary answers. Until this is clarified the suspicion will exist that these destinations could be military. Our calculations agree with the rather limited data available on plutonium production in civil Magnox reactors: parliamentary answers; isotopic ratios in CEGB dispatch data; and the “Flowers Report”. Indeed they underestimate plutonium production when a comparison is made with CEGB dispatch figures. In view of our findings we believe it is important that the UK government provides a much fuller explanation of the fate of civil plutonium produced during the 1960s, publishes more detailed information on civil plutonium production since 1971 and accepts effective safeguards on all civil nuclear facilities. This should include the currently unsafeguarded Magnox reprocessing line at Sellafield which handles both civil and military plutonium and which has been the subject of continuing conflict between the government and EURATOM (the appropriate safeguards agency) since the United Kingdom joined the EEC$^{10}$. We also find it most unsatisfactory that the government refuses to publish information on plutonium production by individual civil reactors even in recent years$^1$, that this information is not supplied to EURATOM$^8$, and that the CEGB removes the necessary data from its computer records$^3$. Only by clarifying the extent of past links between civil and military nuclear programmes in the United Kingdom and by implementing procedures to prevent any such future re-occurrence can the government and the nuclear industry hope to strengthen the international non-proliferation regime. Such clarification would now be timely with the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference under way in Geneva. We are grateful to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Union of Concerned Scientists for providing financial assistance, to Scientists Against Nuclear Arms and the European Proliferation Information Centre for their support, to the London New Technology Network for the use of computing facilities, to Rob Edwards, Dafydd Elis Thomas M.P. and Tim Williams for seeking out information and to Zoe Saunders for help with computing. Useful discussions were also held with Norman Dombey, Professor P.J. Grant, Ross Hesketh and John Simpson. K. W. J. Barnham is at the Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ, UK; D. Hart is in the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TU, UK; J. Nelson is at London New Technology Network, London NW1 9ES, UK; R. A. Stevens is at Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, California 95051, USA. --- 1. Simpson, J. The Independent Nuclear State, (Macmillan, London, 1983); Dombey, N. The Guardian, London, 3-12-81. 2. Official Report of the House of Commons, Hansard (hereinafter referred to as OR), 9-3-85, Col 402. 3. Simpson, J. Independent Documents, CND/8-131, CND/S/167 (ADD1, ADD2, ADD3), (1984). 4. Sizewell Inquiry Documents, CEGB/P1 (ADD12, ADD13), (1984). 5. Grant, P. J. Contemporary Reactor Physics, (Pergamon, Oxford, 1966); Jakeman, D. Physics of Nuclear Reactors, E.U.P., London, 1966). 6. James, M.F. J. Nucl. Energy 23, 517-536, (1969). 7. AEEW-R 94, (AEA & AWE, Aldermaston, 1961). 8. Directory of Nuclear Data, IAEA, Vienna: Vol IV, (1962); Vol VII, (1968); Vol X, (1976). 9. Tyror, J.G. Developments in the Physics of Nuclear Power Reactors, 47-93, IAEA, (1973). 10. Gregg, G.F. & Harper, R.G., TRG Report, 958(W), UKAEA, Harwell, (1984). 11. Nuclear Engineering International, Power Reactor Supplement (Annually). 12. Duckworth, F.C. & Greenwood, D.R. Nuclear Energy 20, 133-139, (1981). 13. Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 6th Report, Cmnd 6618, (1976). 14. Sizewell Inquiry Documents, CND/S/167, (1984). 15. OR., 12-3-83, Col 377. 16. OR., 25-1-85, Col 545. 17. OR., 4-7-85, Col 198. 18. Communications from Miller, D. R., Chairman, SSEB to Edwards, R. 24-10-83 and 22-3-84. 19. OR., 22-2-85, Col 617. 20. OR., 22-2-85, Col 617. 21. Evans, D.T. et al. Jr. Nucl. Energy Soc. 4, 217-226, (1965). 22. Moore, R.V. J. Nucl. Energy Soc. 8, 123-132, (1969). 23. Power Engineering International 14, 737-739 (1969). 24. Harris, J.E. et al. Proc. 4th U.N. Conf., Geneva 1971 10, 167-178, (1971). 25. Dixon, F. & Simmons, H.K. Jr. Nucl. Energy Soc. 13, 9-38, (1974). 26. Atomic Mech. Engr. 183, Pt 3G, (1969). 27. Communications from Drew, R.K. CEGB to Edwards, R., 21-11-83 and 30-3-84. 28. OR., 4-7-85, Col 308. 29. Df/274, Ref. [1], 1979-80, Ref. [31], 1981-85, Ref. [11]; Berkelon and Brussel, 1968-69, Ref. [32], Hunterston, 1965-68, Ref. [26]. 30. Operating Experience with Nuclear Power Stations in Member States, IAEA, Vienna, (Annually). 31. James, M.F. J. Nucl. Energy 20, 127-132, (1981). 32. Harris, J.E. CEGB Research, Dec 1974, 29-35, (1974). 33. OR., 23-7-85, Col 473. 34. Hesketh, R.V., Science and Public Policy, 9, 64-70, (1982). 35. OR., 27-7-83,Cols 439-440. 36. Lovins, A.B., Nature, 283, 817-823, (1980). 37. OR., 20-3-85, Col 516. 38. OR., 15-3-85, Col 301. 39. The Risks of Leukaemia and other Cancers in Seascale from Radiation Exposure, NRPB-R171, National Radiation Protection Board, (1984). 40. OR., 4-7-85, Col 219. 41. OR., 1-4-82, Col 168. 42. OR., 20-3-85, Col 516. 43. Dafydd Elis Thomas, R. Fuelling the Nuclear Arms Race Pluto, London, (1982). 44. Communication from Bonner, F.E. CEGB to Hesketh R.V., 26-5-84. 45. Sizewell Inquiry Transcript, Day 283, p.72G (1984). 46. OR., 27-7-82, Col 438-8. 47. Communication from Hodel D. P. US Secretary of Energy to Ottinger, R. L., 5-3-84. 48. Communication from Hoening, M. to Edwards, R., 3-5-84, and Sizewell Inquiry Documents CND/P/1 (1984) 49. Avery, D. G. Sizewell Inquiry Transcript, Day 274, p.53B, (1984). 50. Sizewell Inquiry Transcript, Day 274, p.61B-65G (1984). 51. Communication from Walker, P. Secretary of State for Energy to Dafydd Elis Thomas MP, 11-6-85 and Ref [16]. 52. OR., 1-4-85, Col 465. 53. Sizewell Inquiry Transcript. Day 193, p.14H (1984). Careers in science offer women an unusual bonus: immortality Sir — I was alarmed to learn in your Opinion article$^1$ that President Clinton’s National Science and Technology Council was “toothless” in its failure to address the shortage of women and minorities in science, technology and engineering, and that this situation could have “devastating” consequences by 2050 for the US economy and scientific leadership$^2$. An analysis of death notices and obituaries in Nature every 10 years from 1949 to 1999, and in Science every 10 years from 1949 to 1969 (after which it stopped regularly publishing these) suggests a way of increasing the number of women scientists dramatically. As I show here, women scientists rarely die. Once word of this acquired immortality gets out, women should flock to scientific careers. Of 1,184 obituaries in a three-year period coded for year of publication, sex, age at death, cause of death (if known) and field$^3$, women accounted for 49 of 917 (5.3%) in Science and 13 of 267 (4.9%) in Nature; of the 44 commemorated in both journals, two were women. Science carried 3.43 times more obituaries than Nature; but the proportion of women remained constant at about 5% in each journal. The dramatic increase in the number of women entering science, technology and engineering during the past 40 years (in which the number of female doctorates has grown at more than twice the rate of that for men, averaging 7.5% per year$^4$) coincided with acquisition of immortality in increasing numbers of these women. Although women in the physical sciences were represented by 4.8% of the death notices in Science and 8.3% of the obituaries in Nature in 1969, by 1979 there were none — they had become immortal (see Fig. 1). Since women received only 2.2% of US doctorates in engineering by 1978, more time is needed to assess the degree, if any, to which women in this field have acquired immortality. Women in the life sciences started to become immortal in 1979, but immortality is not yet fixed in this group, since one obituary appeared in 1999 — a year after women received 45.4% of the doctorates in that field (see Fig. 1). This trend is also found in other scientific and science-related fields of endeavour. The fact that women were featured in some obituaries between 1949 and 1969 for all fields except engineering demonstrates that noteworthy women were contributing to scientific and scholarly endeavours half a century ago. As more females received doctorates over subsequent years, however, the numbers of obituaries for women decreased to zero in the physical sciences, social sciences, education, humanities and other categories. One may therefore conclude that women in these fields no longer die. The big question, of course, is what are the factors that led to their immortality? Is there a gene that predisposes women scientists to live for ever? If so, I propose the name foy (fountain of youth), and suggest that the researchers at DREADCO look into this. Dean Falk Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, Albany, New York 12222, USA 1. Nature 404, 795 (2000). 2. Wadman, M. Nature 404, 800 (2000). 3. [http://www.nndc.gov/ske/sts/rs/rs00410.htm#start](http://www.nndc.gov/ske/sts/rs/rs00410.htm#start). 4. Nature 404, 795 (2000). Did civil reactors supply plutonium for weapons? Sir — We welcome the recent publication by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) of the first official inventory of the country’s military plutonium$^1,2$. The report contains a remarkable admission$^3$: “These figures show that the weapon cycle stockpile is in fact some 0.3 tonnes larger than the amount of plutonium the records indicate as available”. Hence, the MOD was not aware of the existence of 60 bombs’ worth of weapons-grade plutonium. The report does not attempt to identify the origin of this plutonium, simply quoting “From unidentified sites, 0.37 tonnes”, despite there being very few sources of weapons-grade plutonium. We believe some calculations we published 15 years ago$^4$ can help the MOD identify the source. In their early years (1963–72) the UK’s civil Magnox reactors produced significant amounts of weapons-grade plutonium. In 1984 it was admitted that it was reprocessed at Sellafield in the same line, and at the same time, as the weapons-grade plutonium from military reactors$^5$. British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, the plant operators, admitted that they called the weapons-grade plutonium “military” irrespective of origin. It would have been consistent with these practices if all weapons-grade plutonium was shipped to the MOD’s Aldermaston site. The government stated in 1983 that there was no weapons-grade plutonium in the civil stockpile$^6$. Today, the UK government refuses to quantify plutonium production from civil reactors for these early years. In 1985 we published an estimate of $(0.36 \pm 0.11)$ tonnes for the total weapons-grade plutonium produced by the UK civil reactors$^7$. This agrees remarkably well with the MOD figure of 0.37 tonnes for plutonium of unknown origin. We conclude that about 11% of the Enigma thief stole a very special machine Sir — Natasha Loder writes (Nature 407, 278; 2000) that the particular kind of four-rotor Enigma machine used by the German Abwehr — and stolen from Bletchley Park earlier this year — is very rare, and that the only other known example is owned by the US National Security Agency. This is correct. But, rare though the Abwehr versions are, there are several other four-rotor Enigma machines in existence and available to collectors by legal means. I myself own one: No. 877, bought at Sotheby’s in March 1994 (it was previously sold at Phillips in April 1993). At least three others were sold at Phillips and Sotheby’s during the 1990s. E. T. Hall Beenhams, Railway Lane, Littlemore, Oxford OX4 4PY, UK plutonium in UK nuclear weapons originated in civil reactors. The MOD reports do not separate the transfer data into weapons-grade and non-weapons-grade plutonium, and there are no data on production in the country’s dedicated military reactors at Calder Hall and Chapel Cross. We call on the MOD to provide this information. Similar data have been made public in the United States$^1$. The UK government is now in an anomalous position, having published the military stockpile while refusing to publish similar figures for civil plutonium. We request that they do so, and clarify the contradictory statements that have been made to Parliament about the fate of civil plutonium. The Magnox reactors have entered their shutdown phase and are again producing significant amounts of weapons-grade plutonium. The UK government has recently decided to restrict information on plutonium production in civil reactors$^2$. One hopes that history will not repeat itself. K. W. J. Barnham$^$, J. Nelson$^$, R. A. Stevens$^†$ Physics Department, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2BW, UK †Join Systems, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA 1. Plutonium and Aldermaston: An Historical Account* (Ministry of Defence, London, 2000). http://www.fas.org/news/uk/000414-uk2.htm 2. Historical Accounting and Plutonium (Ministry of Defence, London, 2000). http://www.fas.org/news/uk/000414-uk3.htm 3. Barnham, K. W. J., Hari, D., Nelson, J. & Stevens, R. A. Nature 317, 213–217 (1985). 4. Layfield, F. Sizewell B Public Inquiry: Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations (Department of Energy, London, 1987). 5. Hansard 27 7–83, cols 439–440 (1983). 6. Plutonium: The First 50 Years (Department of Energy, Washington DC, 1986). 7. Barnham, K. W. J., Nelson, J. & Stevens, R. A. Nature 395, 739 (1998). --- Achievers should stay to aid Brazilian science … Sir — The Opinion article “Genome sequencing for all” (Nature 406, 109; 2000) exposed a patronising view of research in developing countries. In my view, Nature could have used its valuable space to tackle more interesting, painful yet real issues surrounding scientists in developing countries (see the News feature “A springboard to success” in Nature 407, 440–441; 2000). For example, why was the Brazilian paper celebrated in your Opinion article an exception rather than the rule? Local antinationalism has allowed imperialism from industrialized countries to survive for centuries. So, although I understand the views of the Brazilian scientists abroad “who frequently decide not to return, citing a lack of scientific opportunity”, they are also being used as cheap labour in rich countries. Hence they are perpetuating an unfair situation by their short-sightedness and selfishness (very often their studies have been funded by Brazilian public money). By leaving Brazil they may well avoid having to carry out less ‘important’ or ‘glamorous’ science. But they also lose the chance to involve themselves in relevant issues such as the dismantling of Brazil’s public university system, or to claim the right to better jobs and working conditions, or to build a better future for themselves and for future generations. Maria J. Hötzel Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, CCA-Departamento de Zootecnia e Desenvolvimento Rural, Rodovia Admar Gonzaga, 1346 Itacorubi 88.034.001, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil 1. Nature 406, 826 (2000). 2. Walker, G. Yeast Physiology and Biotechnology 16–17 (Wiley, Chichester, 1998). --- If free speech costs lives that’s a high price to pay Sir — Stewart et al. are right to remind us that the 17 years following the discovery of HIV have been a long time (Nature 407, 286; 2000). Both of us lost grandparents and great-grandparents to tuberculosis. One might have thought that in the hundred or more years since Robert Koch discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis (without fulfilling all his postulates), we would have done a little better than the state we are in today: some 1.7 billion infected, with an annual death rate of 1.8 million. Of course we could all agree on tuberculosis being caused by another, as yet undiscovered, microbe riding on the intimate coat-tails of M. tuberculosis. Then perhaps the lack of progress would make sense. Paradigm lost. In an earlier life one of us was valet to the French philosopher Voltaire. I remember cleaning his room one day, coming across a letter to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. As a Huguenot, I rejoiced at the remark, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. What is not widely known is the next sentence: “My only question, Sir, is whether the columns of Nature are appropriate”. We are staunch believers in the right to free speech, but is Nature the appropriate place to militate in favour of the pre-Copernican model of the universe or the existence of phlogiston? After all, there is Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, when it’s not raining. To demand the right of reply or equal time on such matters is a trick the creationists have used. HIV causes AIDS. Problems arise when the proposed alternative costs lives. Simon Wain-Hobson, Robin A. Weiss† Unité de Rétrovirologie Moléculaire, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris cedex 15, France* †Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences, University College London, 46 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JF, UK To Petitions Committee secretariat GeigerBay response to NRW letter to the Committee chair P-05-1003 Demand an EIA now on the dumping of radioactively contaminated mud in Welsh waters. Direct comments on the letter 1. The NRW acceptance of EDF’s sampling plan had deficits – a) no transparency; b) no answer on refusal to detect nuclear microparticles via CR-39 (TASTRAK) process; c) omission of bio-toxicity tests (OSPAR/IMO procedure) 2. NRW decision (12 Oct.) that EIA is required was on the basis that the company withdrew the screening application. Our lawyers detailed that the Marine Works EIA legislation does not allow withdrawal, but does require NRW to make a reasoned decision. NRW was unable to answer why they did not follow the EIA Regs. 3. NRW write the scope of the EIA is restricted to the requirements of the Marine Works (EIA) Regulations (2017). While EDF has not sought a Scoping Opinion, that does not remove the need to face issues of deciding which issues are in scope (by Schedule 2) 4. NRW do not suggest that any of the 11 issues in our 21 October briefing (Annex on Scope of the EIA) are not in-scope. We ask the Petitions Committee to ask NRW to scrutinise EDF’s submission to ensure it cover these 11 issues and others, in deciding if the necessary EIA information is included. They should consult the EIA consultation bodies on this insofar as they lack in-house expertise (CEFAS to be excluded due to conflicting interest). The EIA Regulations specify very wide scope (Marine Works EIA 2017 Schedule 2) In the 2020 sampling consultation, NRW declared various issues “out of scope” when that was wrong or at least contestable. The Committee should ask for an open and transparent process for deciding arguments on scope within the EIA Regs. The EIA requirements are very widely drawn. We find NRW interpreted them only narrowly for the screening application. Our lawyers found this by FoI requests; NRW’s response just “noted” their criticisms of the inadequacies, saying the application was withdrawn. That was no reason for their accepting too narrow a screening application. The screening request had to describe the nuclear power station ‘project’ - it didn’t – nor did it describe the particular purpose of installing a cooling water system for extracting seawater (which kills much of the marine life) and returning contaminated water to the Marine Protection Area (MPA). The EIA screening application covered only the dumping scheme itself. The two responses to NRW from Cardiff and from the VoG Councils on the screening request raised the basic planning-law issue, that EDF’s proposal is an amendment to the 2012/13 nuclear power station planning consent. They suggested this defines the ‘project’ to which the EIA screening and scoping regulations apply, implying EDF’s screening application was inadequate. While MLT’s case officer had accepted it, NRW were unable to supply our lawyers LeighDay with a “completeness check” record. NRW replied their Marine Advisory Service provides the advice to ensure compliance on scope. The Advisory Service reply (appended Memo, [redacted] to MLT, 17 Sept 2020) did not mention the issue. EDF’s parallel application to the MMO As EDF submitted an EIA for dumping at the Portishead dump-site a month ago. This covers only the dumping scheme for that site, so we expect they will submit a similarly narrow-scope application for Cardiff. It talks only of the dumping ‘scheme’ and fails to describe the nuclear power station ‘project’. The Committee should emphasise to NRW that to be acceptable for the EIA Regs, the application has to describe the nuclear power station ‘project’ with its cooling water system and alternatives to it that avoid the fish-kill and harm to the MPA (designated in 2018 by the Welsh and English governments), giving environmental reasons for the choice. Screening assessment of NRW Marine Advisory Service (appended 17 Sept Memo) This document had to be obtained via FoI, after NRW refused it on the grounds that EDF’s screening application was withdrawn. The Memo questions particular assertions of EDF and details several areas requiring specific information to assess possible impacts. One issue is the claim that the Cardiff site is ‘dispersive’, in view of the mounds of sediment visible on the seabed in April 2019, months after being dumped (Titan survey). The Marine Licensing Team (MLT) and CEFAS previously insisted the site is dispersive, with the MLT approving CEFAS’s 2020 amended version of the Titan Environmental report to include a ‘residual survey offset’ that made the total amount remaining on the seabed appear very small. The Memo did not accept that, seeing that the mounds were quite prominent and grab samples showed some to be a different ‘sediment matrix’. The Marine Advisory Service report shows firmly on several grounds that EIA is needed. It implies there should have been EIA in 2017 when NRW and the Minister misled the Petitions Committee and Senedd in saying EIA was not needed. Expanded number of issues in-scope On the above arguments, we urge the Petitions Cttee to reject NRW’s implication that the EIA Regs are “restrictive” of the scope. We are able to argue that all of the 11 issues we proposed in October (see Annex) can be justified as “in scope”. We have found further evidence that expands the scope: a) In 2012 the EA suggested dumping outside the SAC/MPA in the Holm Deep. EDF need to disclose why they rejected this in favour of Cardiff. b) In 2010 the EA published Cooling Water Options for the New Generation of Nuclear Power Stations in the UK SC070015/SR3). This advised land-based cooling systems for nuclear plants where the adjacent sea is sensitive for conservation, fish hatching/breeding or at-risk species (EPS, eels, etc.). EDF need to disclose how they considered this. c) Most of the dumped mud does not disperse to sea, but deposits on existing mud or blows onto land; EDF must address this rather than claim standards applying to dumping at sea. d) The Cdf dump-site has never been reviewed re. the Habitats and EIA legislation so the fate of the dumped mud, its dispersal around the estuary and transfer of pollutants (nuclides and chemicals) to land and foodstuffs as well as marine life has to be fully described. e) Wales National Marine Plan, section on dredging and dumping, does not including capital dredging for non-port facilities; EDF must supply evidence that their dumping is covered. f) Welsh waste policy (Towards Zero Waste) virtually excludes dumping waste from English projects in Wales; what exceptional reasons do EDF give? Further evidence on Nuclear Discharges Prof Keith Barnham of Imperial College has written a memo for the Petitions Committee on suspicions that emitted nuclear fuel microparticles are buried in the sediments. The plutonium-containing microparticles (PMPs) were produced and discharged from Hinkley-A. He shows errors in NRW’s dismissal of such ‘hot’ fuel particles. The memo points out there were accidents with unloading magnox fuel elements in 1968 and 1969, which would have released many fragments into the cooling pond; “extensive surface corrosion of the uranium itself” was reported due to accidental acid spill. Prof Barnham then shows data of the strong excess of alpha emissions compared with gamma-emissions in the discharges. The records he reports (graph in the memo) show an alpha excess in 1978 and a bigger one in 1982 and ’83. NRW wrote that “would have been detected by gamma spectrometry in the first instance”; they are wrong as the alpha-emitting isotope is dominant in Hinkley-A fuel, while the commonly dominant Pu-241 inferred from Am-241 emissions is only 3% (not the normal 90%). NRW write too that “no hot particles have been identified in the previous… sediment samples”, yet they were tested only for gamma emission and the PMPs have very little. Also CR-39 detectors (next section) have to be used to detect concentrated micron-sized emitters, which spectrometry misses. The strong alpha excess in 1982-3 indicates that not just liquid but unusual amounts of sludge were discharged from the cooling pond at that time. PMPs are largely very dense metal which normally stays within the pond; they drop into the sediments not far from the discharge point, depending on the tidal conditions. Prof. Barnham in his memo has formulated 4 questions that we’d like NRW to address. EDF try to confuse the public and avoid the issue of PMPs by talking of ‘alpha particles’. These atomic particles are far, far smaller – 10 trillion times less massive than a plutonium micro-particle PMP. This huge factor explains why a single PMP can be detected via an exposure time of days or weeks (gamma exposures are limited to 1-3 days due to cost). The huge factor also explains why a single PMP is dangerous to health if inside a human organ. Testing for alpha emitters from ‘hot’ fuel particles Children with Cancer UK (CwC) pointed out NRW had been misled by CEFAS in dismissing the CR-39 tests for alpha emissions. We append their letter to NRW (CwCUK toMLT 17Jun'20) In appendices to their letter, CwC supplied the scientific evidence that CR-39 detectors are well-used and practical - TASL (Track Analysis Systems Ltd, Bristol). Alpha radiation makes tracks a few tens of micrometres into TASTRAK (name for their propriety material). It provides a cheap method to detect microfragments of fuel containing Pu, U etc. from a multiplicity of tracks concentrated around a point focus (Picture below). These are the big danger to humans if they get into the body via inhalation or food. Alpha spectroscopy was likely to miss them since the range of alphas in matter is under 0.01mm. NRW did not disclose in writing why they rejected the CwC information: a) The MLT asked CEFAS as EDF contracted agents to consider including CR-39 detection. b) Apparently CEFAS refused and the MLT caved in, letting them continue with their alpha spectroscopy that was likely c) NRW declined to retain sediment samples for further testing via CR39 etc. (saying they trusted CEFAS, notwithstanding their acting as EDF contractors) d) CRIIRAD are comparable professionals and criticised CEFAS’s previous gamma spectroscopy; the MLT could commission them to audit the CEFAS result as NRW’s advisors on this topic are CEFAS e) NRW must now be prepared to commission CR-39 testing. Bristol University’s Prof. Denis Henshaw has informed us he could take this on. His unit uses TASTRAK for the UK’s radon programme and he is a world expert in the field. Would the Petitions Cttee therefore tell NRW that the scope of tests for alpha-radioactive particles is too narrow, that they need to include CR-39 testing, and suggest they contract with Prof Henshaw to investigate portions of the core samples extracted by EDF? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9th March 2021 Figure: Microscopic round and oval pits in the surface of a plastic sheet of CR-39 (TASTRAK) burned by alpha rays from a micron-sized PMP some 10 micron above the sheet. Background counts are show by EDF have conceded to pressure for an EIA, but perhaps not asked for advice on what it should cover – that is a formal “scoping opinion” [1]. Remember that Geiger Bay went to the High Court in Sept 2018 as EDF claimed to have carried out an EIA of the dumping operations. We showed they had not, and they had to concede in Court. At this stage the ‘scope’ of the EIA is all important. Let the Senedd have a say - the Petitions Committee should collect views and evidence, including on the aspects outlined in the Petition. When the EIA results come through, Senedd can help to secure independent expert reviews of its many facets. 1. The London (anti-dumping) Convention implemented in UK law forbids sea dumping unless strict and detailed assessments have been carried out. The IMO (International Maritime Organisation) issues updates - the latest Dredged Material Assessment Guidelines in 2014 tightens pressure to avoid sea dumping where possible. The EIA must therefore address all the issues in that guidance and in particular detail the alternative re-use or disposal routes. 2. Welsh policy in the Public Health Wales Act prescribes participative Health Impact Assessment for major projects of high public concern. NRW says it’s ‘best practice’ in developing projects [2]. NRW should have foreseen the need for HIA from the high public concern experienced in 2018. It normally forms part of a planning EIA for addressing impacts on humans, so should be in the scope this time. 3. Baseline data on the Severn Estuary: the current Environmental Management Scheme (EMS) is very incomplete. NRW say several designated features, including the fish assemblage, are in an unfavourable state. This needs detailing before dumping any more Hinkley mud, as this is quite different from port dredgings. Knowledge on the fate of dumped sediments – where they land up on mudbanks and saltmarsh including in river estuaries - is essential for dumping in any Special Area of Conservation and particularly one containing European Protected Species. The EIA needs baseline data on artificial nuclide levels in the south Wales coastal environment, focussing on ones likely to be released. Tests in Somerset’s tidal river Parrett revealed nuclides far up-river, but none have been done in the Welsh Rhymney, Wye and Usk. 4. Microparticles of plutonium etc. as predicted from the Hinkley nuclear discharges: radon-type detectors (tracks in CR39 plastic) are best to detect alpha-emitters in micro-particles, which are the most dangerous when inhaled into the human body. EDF’s consultants CEFAS refused it and NRW omitted it from the testing spec. The EIA should provide information from the alternative testing methods, try them out on the samples, and compare results. EDF should share portions of their samples for independent testing; as was done by the Environment Agency with samples from the river Parrett, where the independent CRIIRAD testing proved superior to CEFAS’s tests for EDF. 5. Assessment of several alpha and beta emitting radio-nuclides ignored by EDF and NRW (Sr-90, Tc-99, S-35, C-14, H-3) was recommended by the independent CRIIRAD (report 18-32, May 2018, Radiological analysis… close to the Hinkley Point power stations) which found radio-toxic americium (Am-241) from nuclear discharges. These alpha and beta emitters are relevant because they and not the gamma emitters are relevant for assessing harm to wildlife and humans from ingestion. Only Am-241 and H-3 of CRIIRAD’s list are in NRW’s testing advice, while EIA’s have to be comprehensive. 6. modelling of potential impacts on the human population, to beach users, seafood eaters and others inhaling microspray and mud particles contaminated by Hinkley nuclides. A model was developed for Cumbria by AEA Harwell, which can be adapted with local data and a local habits survey for the South Wales coast population. It includes nuclide transfer to land, such as Hinkley microparticles carried ashore by winds. This model requires collecting much local baseline data. 7. Processes that bioconcentrate and magnify nuclear and chemical pollutants in the Estuary waters and the food chain need assessing under IMO dredged material guidelines (2014). Several chemical pollutants in the Hinkley mud exceed UK Action Level-1. The IMO in this case requires ‘detailed assessment’, where testing of the bio-mechanisms and biosensitivity takes months and gives uncertain results. An EIA has to use the best available science and describe uncertainties. The alternative of managing chemical and nuclide-contaminated wastes on land is normally preferred and must be assessed too. 8. Dredged material intended for disposal is subject to waste management law. The proximity and self-sufficiency principles in Wales’s Waste Strategy (Towards Zero Waste 2010) say options for managing Hinkley wastes in England must be covered - dumping or reuse options (eg. in bunds on the power station site) and any reasons given against be critically assessed in the EIA (cf. ‘geographical circumstances’ of TZW). 9. The OSPAR treaty requires us to return nuclides in the sea to historical levels (pre-nuclear power) by the 2020s and artificial nuclides to near zero. Uranium emissions last century with plutonium discharges from Hinkley continuing till 2014 gave fall-out and drop-out over Bridgwater Bay. The potential breach of OSPAR through releasing plutonium etc. buried in the mud, needs addressing in the EIA. 10. The EIA has to describe the central purpose of the project, to construct a system for extracting cooling water from the estuary, returning it 10°C warmer, and the consequential effects. These include mass fish-kill, the discharge of dead and maimed fish into the Severn Estuary, discharged biocide chemicals used to clear Hinkley pipework, and killing or harming any individuals of European protected species (EPS) of fish, as well as the critically-endangered European eel. If any EPS would be harmed, the EIA has to show there is no practicable alternative [3]. 11. The EIA has to face the possibility that the Environment Agency might cancel the 2013 licence for water abstraction, because (as the EA say re. the recently announced public inquiry[4]) it’s not compatible with the Conservation of Habitats & Species Regs. Also face the possibility that NRW will reject the dumping application. The EIA should therefore describe what alternative cooling systems they could fall back on (as in countries which ban the use of seawater that’s poorer in ecology than Bridgwater Bay). Cardiff 16 October 2020 [1] The Minister writes (12 Oct.) that scoping discussions are underway, but this would contravene the EIA rules on the scoping process. She also wrote that scoping is a technical and regulatory matter for NRW, which is at best misleading as NRW has to consult quite widely. [2] HIA should be considered as best practice in the development of all programmes and projects. [https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/area-statements/natural-resources-wales-approach-to-impact-assessments-of-area-statements](https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/area-statements/natural-resources-wales-approach-to-impact-assessments-of-area-statements) [3] The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 [4] [https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/psc/ta5-1ud-nnb-generation-company-hpc-limited-2](https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/psc/ta5-1ud-nnb-generation-company-hpc-limited-2) Marine Licence consultation: REQUEST FOR SCREENING OPINION Hinkley Point C Disposal Licence Reference number: SC2005 Applicant: Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions UK Ltd, on behalf of NNB Generation Company Response to email from [redacted] dated 21 August 2020 Summary NRW Marine Licence Team has received a request for a screening opinion to ascertain whether the above proposal, will require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the submission of an Environmental Statement (ES), to support an application for a Marine Licence for the disposal of sediment comprising dredged arisings from capital and maintenance dredging associated with offshore marine infrastructure preparation and construction at Hinkley Point C, to Cardiff Grounds Disposal Site. A previously granted Marine Licence (12/45/MLv1) for disposal of such material to the Disposal Site was valid from 22 March 2018 to 04 March 2019. With this licence having expired, the Applicant intends to submit a new licence application for use of the Disposal Site and extend the scope of the licence, to cover the disposal of a greater volume of dredged sediment. Documents Submitted Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions UK Ltd (May 2020) EIA screening report NRW Advisory Comments: NRW Advisory have considered the information provided in the EIA screening report. It is the view of NRW Advisory that the proposal should be subject to EIA given the sensitivity of the location and the potential for likely significant effects, including cumulative effects. As we are still awaiting the results from the 2020 sediment surveys, we do not believe that at this stage we can agree with the proposed outcomes of “no likely significant effect” which is stated for all parameters considered in the EIA screening report provided by the Applicant. It is also the view of NRW Advisory that, on the basis of the information provided, we cannot conclude that the proposal will have no likely significant effect, either alone or in combination with any other plans or projects, with respect to the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. We therefore recommend that an Appropriate Assessment is undertaken. Further reasoning and justification is provided in the comments below: Physical Processes From a marine physical process perspective, we believe an EIA is required to ensure no significant environmental effects. Justification is provided in the comments below. 2. Site Description and Proposed Scheme Under section 2.1.2. the Applicant states that the 10 years maximum annual input to Cardiff Grounds has been 786,826m3. The Applicant is proposing to add an additional 600,000m3 of sediment, which is almost double the site’s annual deposition, therefore the extra pressure to the disposal site will need assessing. Whilst NRW agree that the site is acting as a dispersive disposal ground, the current sediment that is disposed here constitutes recently accumulated fines from ports and harbour entrances and therefore very different to what is being proposed in section 2.3.4. which is a mix of clay, silt, sand and gravel. In section 2.3.1., the proponent states that they previously had a licence for 300,000m³; however, NRW Advisory believe this to be misleading as the final monitoring report (Cefas Report TR492) under licence 1245MLv1, states that a smaller proportion was disposed, 57,958m³. On the returned monitoring although we agreed, as stated previously, that the site was acting as a dispersive site, in the difference bathymetric plots: ‘individual disposal events can be used to clearly identify changes in bed elevation (i.e., erosion or accretion) associated with “real” events and those attributed primarily to the offset. For example, Figure 6 (2D) and Figure 7 (3D) illustrate a series of four discrete disposal events along a transect (“Transect 01”), with each disposal identified as two parallel lines of deposited material (i.e., accretion), consistent with material being released through the hopper doors of a dredging vessel.’ The dredge release was therefore still very much apparent at the time of monitoring and had not dispersed. As the nature of the site overall had not changed and was still dispersing, concerns were not raised, however with the new application we would advise this is assessed within the EIA process. In section 2.3.4. there is an indication that the sediment that will enter the disposal site will be a matrix of clay, silt, sand and gravel. Although the receiving site may be of this composition, the dispersive nature and behaviour may be changed and will unlikely be able to move large aggregated clumps of clay or the gravel fraction and therefore this could be a permanent addition. We relate to the above point in which mounds were evidently recorded through previous monitoring. No indication has been presented of the amounts of each sediment type likely to be deposited. In section 2.3.7. it is stated likely that post-disposal bathymetric surveys and grab sample analyses of the disposal site will be conducted; further information would need to be presented here under EIA for consideration. 3. EIA Screening Assessment In section 3.3.16, the Applicant suggests any benthic communities will have readily adapted to disposal material at the site, however the sediment that is being proposed to be deposited will be a different nature to that primarily disposed of in the past and therefore we disagree with the assessment of ‘unlikely to be significant’. In 3.3.17 it is proposed that an effect on the benthic fauna is ‘unlikely to be significant’, however no assessment of fractions of the sediment matrix is included, to understand how the sediment will behave. Paragraph 3.3.30 embodies the two main concerns from a physical perspective, firstly the amount the Applicant wants to dispose of is almost double that which is already going into the site on an annual basis. The sediment that has proved the site to be dispersive is of a different nature to that the Applicant wishes to dispose of, and no quantitative assessment has been presented on what the sediment composition is and how it will behave. We are therefore unable to agree that any effect is ‘unlikely to be significant’. Cumulative Effects The cumulative section of the EIA screening currently fails to acknowledge the different nature of the sediment to be deposited and the fact that all licences could dispose concurrently, no assessment is made at present. There is also no sediment deposition plan provided. In a previous licence, we believe the Applicant agreed to ‘spread out the deposits over the entire grounds’. However, in the recent bathymetric reporting, if the artefacts that have been captured are from NNB GenCo previous deposits, this shows a large proportion of sediment deposited in the southern section. Marine Water Quality From a marine water quality perspective, we believe an EIA is required. Justification is provided in the comments below. The comments provided herein relate to the marine water quality specialism, where we are typically interested in suspended sediment (typically of fines for long time periods), nutrients, oxygen, bacterial concentrations, temperature and salinity, and contaminants such as heavy metals and other substances. Under biodiversity (pg 15), we agree that likely significant effects could include contaminated sediment and suspended sediment (via change to sediment regime). However, we note that the risk of spills has not been included here although is included elsewhere in the screening report. The impact of spills on biodiversity should be considered. With reference to the Coastal Management (pg 17) and Cumulative Effects (pg 26-27) sections, we note that volumes of sediment to be released via combined licences are over twice as much as the historic average and Hinkley C alone would produce nearly as much as the historic average. Even though the current licensed amount is > 1,000,000 m3 (3.3.83), we do not believe that necessarily means that much has been deposited. Furthermore, the total of all combined licences for 2021 (3.3.82) would total > 1,600,000 m3 and we do not believe there is evidence to say this will not have an impact on water quality. While it is temporary (3.3.84) on geological timescales, there has been no assessment of what the impacts would be over the year when all discharges will be in operation. Furthermore, we have not been provided sufficient evidence to say all discharges will not occur at the same time. Therefore, we disagree that an assessment under EIA is not needed. While potential for spills has been included in the document, there is no assessment of its significance with either the Marine Geology and Contamination section (pg 18) or the Major Accidents and Disasters section (pg 20-21). We note that the documentation states that regulations and codes will be followed, but there is no specific mention of a management plan to be drawn up for this specific piece of work. We recommend that a contingency plan be drawn up for potential spills. While HRA does not allow mitigation to be included at screening stage, EIA does and so if the Applicant can evidence mitigation, it can be screened out of the EIA. In terms of contaminated sediment, we are led to read reference 19, the Hinkley C ES which was completed in 2011. Contaminant concentrations have been averaged over the whole depth of the core (18.5.43 of the ES). We are concerned that we are not able to examine the depth profile of the sediment where it may be expected that surface samples will be more contaminated. Depending on how dredging is carried out, it is possible to suppose that contaminated sediment could all be discharged at one time and deeper, non-contaminated sediments at a later date. We do not, therefore, believe it appropriate to depth-average the contaminant results. Furthermore, there were PAH exceedances of CEFAS action level (AL) 1 and the Canadian TEL (Threshold Effects Level) and PEL (Probable Effects Level), plus exceedances of PCBs above CEFAS AL 2; very little information is provided on metals. We would advise the Applicant to provide the raw data in order for us to make an assessment and compare to the CEFAS action levels. In this case, as we do not have sight of the full dataset, we would advise that we do not agree with the conclusion that there will not be significant impacts. However, as we are expecting results of a 2020 survey (3.3.18 pg 15) to be submitted a further, up-to-date assessment can be made then. Water Framework Directive NRW Advisory believe it pertinent to take this opportunity to advise the Applicant that the disposal site they propose to use lies within the Severn Lower WFD water body and as such, the project will need to consider any potential effects on the WFD status and objectives of this and any other hydrologically connected water bodies where there is a pathway for effect. Benthic Ecology Based on the information presented it has not been possible to rule out adverse effect on habitat features of conservation importance (SAC, Section 7 Environment Act) in relation to the current proposal. Therefore, we advise a full EIA should be undertaken. 2. Site Description and Proposed Scheme Section 2.1.3 – As well as being Annex 1 SAC biogenic reef feature (EC Habitats Directive 1992), the Honeycomb worm reef (Sabellaria alveolata reef) is also recognised under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 as a habitat of principal importance to Wales. This habitat feature has previously been identified at the Cardiff Grounds disposal site. The Proposed Scheme Section 2.3.4. - The predicted volumes of sediment disposal totalling a maximum of 600,000m³ are significantly greater than those previously licenced for the site, taking the total well over previous maximum annual permitted volumes. Therefore a full assessment of all potential environment impacts on habitats of conservation importance, including biogenic reef - Sabellaria alveolata should be undertaken. The significant proportion of capital dredge material – up to 380,000 m³ could potentially lead to a significantly higher proportion of larger fraction material being deposited on the site which may affect the potential fate and dispersive nature of these sediments. Further assessment is needed to avoid negatively impacting (through smothering) the habitat features present. The relatively shallow nature of the disposal site also compounds active dispersal (depending on a number of factors i.e. sediment fraction, tidal flows, dredge vessel behaviour etc…) all of which need to be assessed in more detail. Section 2.3.5 - The deposition of material described in this section may cause a detrimental effect (through smothering) of the biogenic Sabellaria alveolata reef feature present at this location. No information has been presented to demonstrate how impacts will be avoided. 3.3 EIA Screening Assessment Biodiversity Section 3.3.15 - Deposition of material directly onto the seabed will inevitably have the effect of smothering any habitats present, as well as any species present in the area. However, it is noted that the receiving environment is a site which has already been... approved for the disposal of dredged material from a number of projects; therefore, any communities present will have developed a tolerance to frequent activity and changes in the seabed present. This, combined with the generally impoverished nature of seabed communities, means that effects are unlikely to be significant. – We consider that due to the proposed increase in sediment volumes (above anything previously licenced), likelihood of increased sediment fractions and uncertainty regarding the dispersive potential of any material deposited – adverse effects on site features cannot be ruled out. Therefore, we are unable to agree with the Applicant’s assessment of ‘effects are unlikely to be significant’, and request that a full EIA be undertaken to fully understand the potential impacts on benthic ecology and habitat features of conservation importance. We also note that no assessment of the potential impacts related to the spread of marine invasive non-native species has been undertaken. This should be incorporated into the EIA. Cumulative Effects Section 3.3.79 - The Applicant has failed to identify the cumulative effect of other users disposing at the Cardiff Grounds disposal site which would potentially result in total annual volumes well over previous amounts. This, as well as the variation and uncertainty over the type of sediment (sediment fractions) to be deposited, related to the predominantly ‘capital’ nature of dredging activities, means that any cumulative effects have been poorly assessed. Further assessment is therefore required. Marine & Diadromous Fish Species If there will be changes to the habitats within the Severn Estuary from the disposal of the sediment, then this has the potential to result in significant effects upon designated fish species of the Severn Estuary, and upstream SACs, that use the habitats as foraging, nursery or spawning grounds. We are also awaiting the results of the 2020 sediment testing. If there are issues with contamination of the sediment to be disposed of and this cannot be mitigated by other actions (i.e. avoiding dredging particular areas or disposing the sediment by other means), then disposal of the sediment has the potential to result in significant effects upon designated fish species of the Severn Estuary, and upstream SACs. Both of these impact pathways will need to be assessed as part of the HRA, conducted for the activity due to its location and presence of impact pathways to features of the Severn Estuary SAC/SPA/Ramsar site and upstream SACs. These impact pathways could also be considered to be likely significant effects under the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 (as amended) for which an EIA should be conducted. --- Senior Marine Advisor Marine Area Advice and Management Team Dear [Redacted], Re: Response to N.R.W. Hinkley Point C sediment sampling plan consultation SP1914 – Position Statement I am writing with my colleague [Redacted] at Children with Cancer UK. My affiliations and short CV are given below. We have noted the following response on page 42 of the Position Statement. Page 42: “Alpha particles can be easily detected using CR-39 Track Etch detectors. Unfortunately, these methods detect the interaction of an alpha particle or a neutron with the detector but do not indicate any other information such as their type of isotope. It is the chemical form of a radioactive material that dictates how it is metabolised by the body, therefore measuring alpha particles alone will not provide useful information.” In relation to the sections I have highlighted in red, I fear the statements are not correct and it appears that your advisors are unaware of the use of CR-39 as a quantitative alpha-particle detector, enabling energy, activity, size and shape of so-called “Hot Particles” to be determined, both from natural and discharge alpha-emitters. Over a 24-year period, I held Medical Research Council (MRC) Programme & Project Grant funding, specialising in the uptake, distribution and retention of alpha-emitting particles in the human body. This includes the development of CR-39 measurement technologies, described below. In the mid-1990s, we carried out monitoring inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone, funded by the UK Department of Health. We collaborated with Dr Oleg Bondarenko, a Chernobyl scientist who spent 6 months as a visiting scientist in our laboratory in the Physics Dept at Bristol University. Dr Bondarenko found examples of hot plutonium particles in many forms, including coated on small, millimetre-sized, pieces of fuel rods from the Reactor 4 explosion. I am enclosing a copy of Barnham et al 1985, “Production and destination of British civil plutonium”. We have noted in Table 3, the discharges from Hinkley point A, the highest of all of the sites quoted. I assume you are fully aware of the radiological importance of alpha-emitters. Relevant alpha-energies are some 10 times higher than relevant beta or gamma-energies. Together with the alpha-particle Quality Factor of 20, this means that an alpha-particle radiation dose is around 200 times higher than that for beta-particles or gamma-rays of the same activity. We feel it essential to include alpha-emitters as part of your monitoring exercise. In this regard, CR-39 Track Etch plastic detectors offer specific information as follows: - Activity, size and shape of “Hot” alpha-radioactive particles in an unconcentrated sample. - Detectors can be exposed in air, in the ground or in water in situ or in samples taken to the laboratory. - Ability to separate natural background from anthropogenic/discharge sources. - Ability to detect very low levels/fluxes of such particles. - Automated image analysis can allow initial scanning of large areas of the plastic detector, prior to more detailed analysis of candidate “hot” particles. - Relatively inexpensive when seen alongside radiochemical assay. - Ability to demonstrate the specific absence of or limits to the presence of discharge sources. This would be re-assuring to all concerned. I will illustrate the above with reference to the following attached papers. 1. Barnham KWJ, Hart D, Nelson J, Stevens RA. 1985. Production and destination of British civil plutonium. Nature 317:213–217 – as described above. 2. Fews AP, Henshaw DL. 1982 High resolution alpha-particle spectroscopy using CR-39 plastic track detector. Nuclear Instruments & Methods, 197:517-529. – see limiting 20 keV resolution in fig 14. This paper illustrates the alpha-particle energy resolution that can be obtained. 3. Fews AP, Henshaw DL. 1982. Analysis of uranium fragments found in the human lung. In: Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors pages 717–720 (Eds P H Fowler and V M Clapham) Pergamon Press, (1982) – see figs 1, 2 and 3. Note that these naturally occurring uranium- and thorium-bearing minerals were found at autopsy retained in the lung airways. Note from figure 3, the unique signature compared with discharge particles. 4. Henshaw DL, Allen JE, Keitch PA, Close JJ. 1997. Elevated levels of $^{210}$Po in human fetal tissues from mothers living near the Severn Estuary. 12th Symposium on Microdosimetry, Oxford, 29th September - 4th October 1996. In: Microdosimetry an Interdisciplinary Approach, (Eds D T Goodhead, P O’Neill and H G Menzel), Royal Society of Chemistry, ISBN 0-85404-737-9, (1997). I do not have a hard copy of this paper to hand, but as part of an autopsy investigation into still-births, we found an association between levels of naturally-occurring Pb-210 supported Po-210 in the fetal skeleton and proximity of mother’s residence to the Severn Estuary. This is indicative of natural pollution being made airborne in the turbulent estuary and being carried over Avonmouth and Bristol in the prevailing south-westerly wind. 5. Henshaw DL, Allen JE, Keitch PA, Randle PH, 1994, The spatial distribution of naturally occurring 210Po and 226Ra in children’s teeth. International Journal of Radiation Biology, 66:815-826 – see all figures, especially fig 3. This is an example of a micro-distribution of alpha-activity in the body, in this case in the teeth of children. 6. Henshaw DL, Keitch PA, James PR. 1995. Lead-210, polonium-210 and vehicle exhaust pollution. The Lancet, 345, 324-325 – see table. This paper illustrates some features of retention of alpha-emitters in children’s teeth in relation to air pollution sources. 7. Zorri V, Remetti R, Capogni M, Cotellessa G, Falcone R. 2017. Feasibility study on the application of solid state tracks detectors for fast surveys of residual alpha contamination in decommissioning activities. Radiation Measurements 107:111–114. – see figs 3 & 4. Figures 3 & 4 show specific examples of alpha-particle clusters from plutonium hot particles. 8. Bondarenko OA, Salmon PL, Henshaw DL, Ross AN. 1995. Alpha-particle spectroscopy with TASTRAK (CR-39 type) plastic, and its application to the measurement of hot particles. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, A369:582-587. – see figs 1 & 2. Figures 1 & 2 show examples of an automated analysis procedure for hot particles in CR-39. 9. Bondarenko OA, Korneev AA, Onishchuk YN, Berezhnoy AV, Aryasov PB, Antonyuk D, Dmitrienko AV. 1999. Application of SSNTD for maintenance of radiation and nuclear safety of the Sarcophagus. Radiation Measurements 30:709–714. – see fig 5 and sect 4. Fig 5 is an example of size and activity hot particle determination with respect to the situation at the Chernobyl Sarcophagus. 10. Calderón-Garcidueñas et al 2008. Long-term Air Pollution Exposure Is Associated with Neuroinflammation, an Altered Innate Immune Response, Disruption of the Blood-Brain Barrier, Ultrafine Particulate Deposition, and Accumulation of Amyloid β-42 and α-Synuclein in Children and Young Adults. Toxicologic Pathology, 36:289-310 – see figs 4 & 5. This paper is included in response to your comment above: “It is the chemical form of a radioactive material that dictates how it is metabolised by the body”. This is correct but please bear in mind that there are many examples [as in 3 above] of the retention of insoluble particles in the body. Figs 4 & 5 in Calderón-Garcidueñas et al 2008 provide examples of ultrafine air pollution particles mapped in the brain of children and young adults at autopsy. I am retired now, but it would be possible to train others to use this technology, possibly at Bristol University. May I please ask you and your advisors to consider what I have said here so that we can open a dialogue of how best to proceed? Children with Cancer UK could consider a pilot study in the Severn Estuary which we could start immediately to test the feasibility of our proposals. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Best regards [Redacted] Signed [Redacted] Professor [Redacted], B.Sc., Ph.D., Fellow Collegium Ramazzini CwC UK Honorary Scientific Director and Emeritus Professor of Human Radiation Effects University of Bristol. 17/06/2020 Countersigned for the charity: Signed [Redacted], CwC UK Trustee 17/06/2020 Further affiliation of Professor [Redacted]: Emeritus Professor of Human Radiation Effects Atmospheric Chemistry Group School of Chemistry University of Bristol Cantocks Close, Bristol, BS8 1TS Short CV. My early training and research was in Nuclear, Particle and Astrophysics, but later changed direction. I am now Emeritus Research Professor in Human Radiation Effects at Bristol University, with over 40 years' experience, 24 years with Medical Research Council (MRC) grant support. I have over 260 scientific publications, including expert evidence to the MoD, the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE), the Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation (AGNIR) and other committees in the UK and abroad. I was for 10 years Associate Editor of the International Journal of Radiation Biology, IJRB. Encl. Nine attachments accompany this letter sent by email: papers 1–3 and 5–10 [there is no attachment 4 – paper not available] P-05-1010 Ymchwiliad annibynnol i'r llifogydd yn Rhondda Cynon Taf yn 2020 fel bod gwersi yn cael eu dysgu Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Heledd Fychan, ar ôl casglu 274 llofnod ar bapur a 5,743 ar-lein, sef cyfanswm o 6,017 llofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Rydym ni, y rhai sydd wedi llofnodi isod, yn mynnu bod Llywodraeth Cymru yn cychwyn ymchwiliad llawn, annibynnol, agored a chyhoeddus o ran y llifogydd i gartrefi a busnesau ledled Rhondda Cynon Taf yn 2020, a bod camau priodol yn cael eu cymryd i unioni unrhyw broblemau fel gellid osgoi difrod tebyg rhag digwydd eto. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Mae pobl a busnesau ar draws Rhondda Cynon Taf angen ymchwiliad i'r llifogydd sydd wedi taro cyn gymaint o'n cymunedau eleni, gyda rhai yn cael eu heffeithio deir gwaith ers mis Chwefror. Mae'n bryd i leisiau a phrofiadau pobl a busnesau Pontypridd, Trefforest, Ffynon Taf, Trehafod, Cilfynydd, Rhydyfelin, Nantgarw, y Ddraenen Wen, Hirwaun, Abercwmboi, Aberpennar, Pentre, Treorci, Treherbert, Maerdy, Porth ac eraill gael eu clywed, fel bod gwersi yn cael eu dysgu ar gyfer y dyfodol. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Pontypridd • Canol De Cymru Dear Janet, Thank you for your letter of 25 January, regarding an independent inquiry into the 2020 floods in Rhondda Cynon Taf. The flooding we witnessed across Wales in 2020 and more recently last month, was distressing to all those affected. We saw the wettest February on record last year. Whilst the number of properties affected and the damage and losses caused is devastating, this would have been a lot worse without the network of flood defences which operated successfully to prevent or reduce further flooding. Data from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) show that over 9,000 homes were protected from flooding on the River Taff alone last February. Across Wales, that figure rises to around 73,000 with many more benefitting from smaller defences managed by the Local Authorities. Following the devastating flooding in February we acted swiftly to work with Risk Management Authorities (RMA) to provide emergency funding at 100% of the cost of the work to make immediate repairs to damaged flood assets. As a Government we also provided funding to flooded households to help with recovery costs. As you heard in the recent debates around an independent inquiry in December, and again last month, I do not feel this is necessary given the ongoing work of the Local Authority to investigate the flooding alongside the review carried out by NRW. However, I do wish to respond to the questions asked by the petitioner and set out in the conclusion of the letter from the Petitions Committee. 1) Will the reports provide adequate answers so as to prevent flooding of this scale from occurring again? Despite our ongoing investment, we cannot stop all flooding from occurring. Through our interventions, we can help to reduce this risk, but not remove it completely. Residents should make sure they are prepared and have adequate insurance. The Section 19 reports set out the powers and responsibilities of our RMAs (NRW, Local Authorities and water companies), to address the flooding. Under Section 13 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, RMA’s must co-operate with other relevant authorities in the exercise of their flood and coastal erosion risk management functions. The Section 19 reports should be written collaboratively, especially where there is more than one source identified. However, no report on its own fixes flooding, and neither can a defence remove all risk. It is about managing that risk effectively and making appropriate improvements which the appropriate RMA(s) should undertake, with support from WG. 2) Will the reports provide adequate answers to inform a whole Wales plan and approach to flood prevention? Whilst the Section 19 reports provide useful information to the impacted Local Authority and relevant agencies, our national approach to managing risk is set out in the National Strategy for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management which I published last October. 3) Will the reports provide an insight into the impact the floods have had on both the physical and mental health of those affected? Section 19 reports can set out recommendations for future improvements which, where appropriate to the local area and community, could include physical and mental health support to those impacted. This is not set out as a requirement in legislation of the Section 19 reports, however we do approach this in our National Strategy. The link between flood risk and mental health is well established. Providing services that raise awareness of flood risk, providing flood warnings, and information on what to do before, during and after a flood are key to the delivery of the FCERM objective of ‘preparedness and building resilience’ and helps reduce anxiety associated with flooding. NRW and Local Authorities can utilise revenue funding to carry out community awareness raising work to help residents at risk of flooding to understand that risk and plan for it. 4) Will the reports give confidence to businesses based in the areas affected that every possible measure that could reduce the risk of future flooding has been taken by all stakeholders and agencies or will businesses relocate because of the uncertainty? Businesses need to make their own decisions regarding relocation based on the risks they face and whether this risk can be accepted or not. Those decisions can be informed by the information available in our flood maps and the actions of the RMA(s) managing that risk. In December I announced an additional £95,000 revenue funding for each of our Local Authorities which can be used to complete their Section 19 reports, this comes on top of record levels of revenue funding for Local Authorities this year and 100% funding support for flood risk management assets damaged in storm events. Yours sincerely, Lesley Griffiths AS/MS Gweinidog yr Amgylchedd, Ynni a Materion Gwledig Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs Dear Chair, Many thanks for affording me the opportunity to respond once again on the Petition calling for an Independent Inquiry into the Floods in RCT in 2020. I am disappointed, but not surprised by the responses received, especially the Ministerial response. Having seen Pontypridd come close to flood once again last month, and witnessed the distress of those previously affected, I am more convinced than ever that an Independent Inquiry is needed. It was a matter of pure luck that flooding didn’t occur again, and I find it unacceptable that not more has been done to better understand the pattern and causes of flooding all across Wales in response. It is not cost effective for Government, nor strategic, to simply be providing funds to patch-up and fix previous defences which have proven inadequate in light of climate change. This is now urgent, and I find it irresponsible of our Government to not be more proactive and open in supporting businesses and residents who have been flooded to find the answers they deserve into what has gone wrong and why in recent years; whether anything could have been done differently to protect some of the homes and businesses and further, what is the risk to their homes and businesses in light of climate change and more frequent and extreme weather events. The Section 19 reports will not provide these. I will comment first of all on the Ministerial response: In response to the first question, the Minister states: “Despite our ongoing investment, we cannot stop all flooding from occurring. Through our interventions, we can help to reduce this risk, but not remove it completely. Residents should make sure they are prepared and have adequate insurance.” As I have stated in previous correspondence, I understand that we cannot stop all flooding from occurring. But we can do more to better understand what happened and why if our approach to flooding is to as effective as possible. The Natural Resources Wales report into the floods clearly stated that they were significantly understaffed. We need to understand why this happened and if this, along with other decisions taken eg the felling of trees and cutting back of forestry, or lack of maintenance of drains, culverts and flood defences, were contributing factors to some homes and businesses being flooded. These are all unanswered questions, and work should have begun in seeking these answers a year ago. An Independent Inquiry is the only way the true risk to homes and businesses can be assessed. It is disappointing too that the Minister still puts the emphasis on businesses and residents, not understanding that there is little they can do to prepare for six feet of water coming into their homes and that for many, insurance is either now impossible to obtain or they are costed out of insurance. Many of the communities affected last year are not affluent ones, and the Government should be much more supportive of them than this. In the answer to the second question, the Minister states: "Whilst the Section 19 reports provide useful information to the impacted Local Authority and relevant agencies, our national approach to managing risk is set out in the National Strategy for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management which I published last October." Yet again, the Strategy does not provide answers into what went wrong and why, and neither does it provide any assurances for homes and businesses in the future. If the strategy is delivered, they will be made more aware of the risk, but not afforded the answers into why they were flooded in 2020 and neither will this strategy help protect them in the future nor support them to cope with floods and issues with matters such as insurance. A strategy has to be based on an understanding of the situation now faced by so many communities across Wales who are at risk of flooding, and why the Government’s response over the past decade has not been effective. In response to the answer to the third question, if she has not already read the testimonies previously submitted to this committee, I would urge the Minister to read them to understand the trauma that many people continue to suffer. They are available here: https://busnes.senedd.cymru/documents/s105130/21.09.20%20Gohebiaeth%20Deisebydd%20at%20y%20Pwyllgor%20Saesneg%20yn%20unig.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1AtKE-NoXsPNlaEojinz99OLSoa3S5t5IG1kFRwkjnDe2YI_upHn35_e0 A programme recently broadcast on S4C also evidenced this, and be watched here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p096b9x When we came close to flooding again last month, I received phone calls with people crying and texts where they were telling me they simply could not go on with this continued risk. There are children traumatised, not able to sleep and scared in their own homes and people can’t afford to move elsewhere. All they want are answers and greater support. Yet this Government denies them both, and repeated requests from Councillors for counselling have also not been progressed. I have also been contacted by people from other parts of Wales, that have been following this petition, wanting to know how they can get the answers they deserve as well and greater support. The current approach of the Government is not working. I am shocked by the Minister’s fourth response, and that there is no concern for the future of the Treforest Business Estate in particular – a Business Estate which has been invested in heavily by Welsh Government and where so many businesses which are important for the local and Welsh economy are based. Why is the Government not working with these businesses and being more proactive in supporting them? Many cannot now be insured because of flooding, and if they were to be flooded again, would close. This is not good enough as a Government response. The key question for me has not been answered – why is the Welsh Government against an Independent Inquiry when it would be a crucial piece of work to better understand the funding and strategy required for the future? If the Government is serious about instigating a national conversation about flooding, then it needs to provide people affected with answers. In relation to the response from Natural Resources Wales, I would like to make the following reflections: - NRW does not voice an opinion here, but it is clear from the response that an Independent Inquiry would be beneficial to their work as it would provide much of the action that is needed by providing answers into what went wrong so that lessons can be learnt for the future: “The February 2020 floods should be a pivotal moment for flood risk management in Wales, and we must use the lessons learnt during those events to drive forward the action needed to adapt to the challenges of the future.” - Further Mr Evans states: “The Welsh Government recently launched its own Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy. In it, they state that we can’t stop all flooding and one of the aims of the strategy is to spark a conversation on how we manage flood risk in the future.” This conversation is yet to progress, and yet is seen as being key to our approach to flooding in the future. Who is leading on this, and how? - Mr Evans also states: “The scale of the challenge before us means that we cannot address the issues on our own, nor without significant investment and resources. We also need to deliberate on what level of service Wales wants and is willing to pay for from its flood risk authorities.” I would like to know who is progressing this work as well. Surely an Independent Inquiry would greatly assist this work? - Finally, Mr Evans writes “Only by taking a holistic approach can we make the best decisions about the actions and investments needed to mitigate future risks of flooding.” An Independent Inquiry would inform that holistic approach, by providing answers into what went wrong and why. The Welsh Government wants there to be a national conversation to determine this, but this will remain aspirational at best if we do not see a concerted effort to better understand the risks and investment required. The questions posed above are ones that should be directed to Welsh Government, to understand why there has been underinvestment in Natural Resources Wales and how that is being addressed. I believe from my informal conversations with Natural Resources Wales that this would be welcomed. I have also shared these responses with my fellow Plaid Cymru Councillors on Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, and Councillor Shelly Rees Owen has reiterated the need for greater support and counselling for those affected. No bespoke package of support has been provided by anyone, and it is expected that counselling requirements would be provided via normal routes. Pentre also continues to be at risk of flooding, and despite the work that has been carried out there are still issues and blocked pipes. Residents do not feel reassured. During the heavy rain a few weeks ago, Cllr Rees-Owen was contacted by a resident. They live near the Pentre Culvert and were told by a worker that rain brought more debris down the mountain and it blocked the new outlet to the culvert sending the water up over the top of it and into the old outlet. Workers manned the culvert all night and had to remove debris as it fell. I am aware that the term of this Government is fast coming to an end, but the issues of flooding will not disappear. There are far too many unanswered questions, and communities across Wales deserve answers and greater support. I hope a new Welsh Government will instigate an Independent Inquiry as a matter of urgency. I hope the Petitions Committee can continue to support this fight for justice. Kind regards, Cllr Heledd Fychan, Pontypridd Town Ward. P–05–1079 Dylid diogelu Gwarchodfa Natur Cynffig gan ddefnyddio pwerau prynu gorfodol Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Steven Preddy, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 8,435 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae un o’r gwarchodfeydd natur gorau yngh Nghymru o dan fygythiad. Mae angen rheoli’r cynefinoedd twyni tywod o bwysigrwydd rhyngwladol yn Nghynffig, neu fel arall byddant yn colli eu gwerth eithriadol. Cyngor Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr oedd yn gwneud y gwaith hwn ers blynyddoedd lawer, ond bu’n rhaid iddo roi’r gorau i’r gwaith oherwydd pwysau ariannol. Nid yw perchennog y safle, sef corff cyfrinachol ac anatebol o’r enw Corfforaeth Cynffig, wedi bod yn barod i gytuno ar unrhyw gynlluniau ar gyfer y dyfodol. Efallai mai prynu gorfodol yw’r unig ddewis sydd ar ôl. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Caiff twyni tywod Cynffig eu cydnabod fel Ardal Cadwraeth Arbennig, sef dynodiad cadwraeth natur uchaf Ewrop. Mae gan Gorfforaeth Cynffig statws elusennol, ac felly mae’n ofynnol iddo, yn ôl y gyfraith, wneud penderfyniadau er budd y cyhoedd. Bu Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru, sef asiantaeth cadwraeth natur gyhoeddus y wlad, yn ceisio trafod gyda’r gorfforaeth i sicrhau dyfodol y safle, ond mae’r trafodaethau hyn wedi cyrraedd pwynt amhosibl ei ddatrys. Nid fu’r Gorfforaeth yn barod i gytuno i unrhyw un o’r opsiynau a ginigwyd, er nid yw’n eglur pam. Mae’n bryd i’r penderfyniad gael ei gymryd allan o’u dwylo. Mewn achosion eithriadol, pan fydd budd amlwg i’r cyhoedd, mae gan Lywodraeth Cymru y grym i brynu’n orfodol er mwyn amddiffyn safle fel Cynffig. Nid oes yn rhaid i orchymyn prynu gorfodol fod yn gostus: nid oes gwerth masnachol i’r safle, ac felly nid oes dim rheswm pam na all Corfforaeth Cynffig ei werthu i Lywodraeth Cymru am swm enwol. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad - Dwyrain Casnewydd - Dwyrain De Cymru Dear Ms Finch-Saunders, Thank you for your email of 9 February, regarding Petition P-05-1079 Safeguard Kenfig Nature Reserve using compulsory purchase powers (attached above and below for reference). Clare Pillman has asked me to respond to you in my capacity as Head of Operations for South Wales Central. Over the last 12 months Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has been working closely with the trustees of the Kenfig Corporation Trust (KCT), providing support and advice to enable the necessary arrangements to be put in place to protect and enhance the special features of the site. During this time, several options have been discussed about how the Nature Reserve could be managed. This discussion has considered the constitution of KCT and our wish to sign a Management Agreement with them that will safeguard the site. I can report that we are very close to agreement with KCT and expect a formal Management Agreement to be resolved soon. NRW has also worked closely with KCT in the recruitment and appointment of a Reserve Manager. We are very pleased to say that this has resulted in an appointment being made and a Warden will be in post at the Nature Reserve from the 1st March 2021. With both a site warden and a Management Agreement in place, requiring oversight and regular checks by NRW officers, there is no reason to believe Kenfig Nature Reserve cannot continue to provide a great resource for local people and visitors whilst protecting and enhancing its special conservation features. Your sincerely Mike Dear Chair, Our client: Kenfig Corporation Trust We have been instructed by Kenfig Corporation Trust ("The Trust") in relation to your letter of 9th February 2021, the content of which has been carefully considered by the Board of Trustees. Background The Trust is a charitable institution governed by a constitution and overseen by a passionate and committed Board of Trustees from various different backgrounds. At the heart of its objects is a commitment to ensuring that the Kenfig Nature Reserve ("Reserve") is monitored and preserved for the benefit of the local Kenfig residents as well as other visitors. For 25 years Bridgend County Borough Council ("The Council") leased the Reserve from the Trust on a full repairing and maintaining basis. In 2019 this lease came to an end and the Council handed the Reserve back to the Trust. Prior to the lease concluding the Trust began to explore what options would be available to it. Discussions were entered into with various bodies and organisations. However, no firm agreement could be reached. The Trust, as well as the Council before it, enjoyed a good relationship with Natural Resources Wales ("NRW"), which is the body tasked with supervising that the Reserve was being maintained in accordance with professional and scientific recommendations. As a direct consequence, it appeared pragmatic for NRW to become custodian and manager of the Reserve for the next 20-25 years. The Committee, however, will no doubt be aware that budgets for organisations like NRW are continually under pressure. As a consequence, funding for the running of the Reserve was a key issue in the discussions that took place. The Trust was keen to procure a commitment that there would be additional investment and the ring fencing of funds generated by income bearing activities on the Reserve. Regrettably, NRW could not assure the Trust that such revenue raised would be retained and reinvested on such terms; NRW had numerous commitments and it would need flexibility as a consequence. Understandably the Trust was hesitant to agree terms which would not ensure a financial commitment of re-investment, which was something appreciated by NRW. As a consequence, it was agreed that the most pragmatic way forward would be for NRW to work in partnership with the Trust and provide its professional expertise and guidance. Over the last 25 years the Reserve had generated very little revenue for the Trust as most of it was leased to Bridgend County Borough Council for a nominal rent. During the Council’s tenancy, subsidies became available for landowners and/or occupiers where the land was utilised for grazing. The Reserve has a significant number of acres that would qualify for such grants. However, information on the level of revenue actually being paid to the tenants on the Reserve was not readily forthcoming. Having sought legal advice the Trust eventually established what had been paid through a Freedom of Information Request to the Welsh Government. At this point it learned that the subsidies paid to sub-tenants on the land had been significant. There were hundreds of thousands of pounds available that could be reinvested each year as well as used to develop further commensurate activities. Despite these funds having been available to Bridgend Council, there had been no attempt by it to seize the same and reinvest the revenue into the Reserve so as to improve facilities and/or attract more visitors. Indeed, upon handover of the lease, large parts of the Reserve and its buildings had fallen into disrepair and Bridgend Council were required to pay compensation so as to make good the dilapidations. The Trust was not prepared to allow a repeat of the same. If the Trust were to recover control and full autonomy over the Reserve, there was no reason why it could not access these same subsidies. If it did then the money received would be re-invested directly back into the Reserve and provide critical funding for necessary upgrades as well as to develop other areas of the land so as to create further tourist attractions. The Trust has minimal running costs and, even allowing for the employment of key staff, there would remain sufficient funds so as to promote investment and development. The Committee will no doubt already be familiar with the letter from Lesley Griffiths AM to the Committee, which confirms that NRW and the Trust will be working together so as to achieve the above outcome. There is no doubt in the mind of the Trustees that the Trust will be capable of fulfilling its obligations and working towards delivering a much-improved Reserve. This in turn will generate further revenue and hopefully attract outside interest as well as private sector investment. However, given that this a new venture it does take time for the Trust to set up the necessary legal and commercial infrastructure so that the project can move forward in accordance with the professional advice and guidance that the Board has received. The additional revenue available from the grazing will allow the Trust to employ a full-time warden on terms similar to that established by Bridgend Council, as well as other support staff so as to ensure that, once COVID restrictions allow, investment can be made which adds tangible improvements to the Reserve. The Trust has already received significant interest from key partnerships and is excited at the opportunities which now lie ahead. Assertions made in the Petition. It may assist the Committee if the Trust also addresses some of the allegations levied against it as part of the Petition. "Bridgend Council carried out this work for many years but has had to withdraw due to financial pressures". The above statement is inaccurate; the Council’s lease of the Reserve reached its natural end and there was no commitment for the Council to continue operating the Reserve after the expiry of its lease. There was always revenue available to Bridgend Council had they sought to review their current land use. "The site’s owner, a secretive and unaccountable body called the Kenfig Corporation, has not been prepared to agree any future plans". The assertion that the Trust is secretive and unaccountable could not be further from the truth. As a charitable Trust, aside from its constitutional governance, our client is answerable to the Charity Commission and all its financial information is publicly available. The Trust and NRW have provided regular updates to the media as well as other interested groups. Indeed, it appears from the further responses provided by the Petitioner that, contrary to what has been asserted, the progress of discussions with NRW and the Trust’s intentions herein are already public knowledge. It is therefore difficult to reconcile upon what basis the Trust is being secretive. Further, the Trust has not been prepared to agree a deal which is not in the best interests of the Reserve. Summary Given the investments that the Trustees have made to date, the petition is both a disappointing and frustrating development for the Board. The commentary associated with the Petition paints a wholly inaccurate and misleading picture of the current position. Regrettably the Petitioner, Mr Preddy, made no approach to the Trust to determine these issues before proceeding with the petition and making public his views. Had such steps been taken then Mr Preddy would have learned that: - The Trust and NRW have only discounted the possibility of NRW taking over the entire Reserve and retaining any income from the same; - NRW remain committed to providing advice and support to the Trust with its future management and investment plans; - NRW will inevitably be involved in any future management of the Reserve. As the body responsible for monitoring and policing the area of Special Scientific Interest, NRW will need to be assured that the proposals advanced by the Trust are viable and will otherwise ensure statutory compliance. At this point in time they are fully supportive of the Trust’s intentions and remain committed to the same; - The option of the Trust having full control of the Reserve and retaining all income arising from the same will offer significant future re-investment opportunities and allow the Trust access to revenue it has previously been denied; - The Trust will at all times have the support of not only NRW but also its panel of professional advisers. The Trust fully acknowledges that the size and complexity of the Reserve habitat will require it to seek assistance from both professional and lay volunteers alike; The Reserve has been underfunded for many years and the Trust could not in good conscience allow this to continue where both alternative and viable options existed; The Trust has otherwise had control of the Reserve since 2019; in that time the same has been managed appropriately with NRW expressing no concerns. For the avoidance of doubt the Trustees have always sought to manage public interest as best they can by providing suitable updates and releases as and when appropriate. At all times the Trustees have communicated progress to the media, local councillors, Assembly Members and other organisations promptly. The Trustees remain alive to their duties and have done all they reasonably can in the circumstances. The Trust acknowledges public interest and is under no illusion as to the task which is at hand, hence why it has adopted the considered and cautious approach it has to date. Whilst the land has been tenanted by the Council for the last 25 years, the Trust has still had overall responsibility for the same as the landowner. It is therefore very much aware of how the Reserve needs to be managed and what steps need to be taken so as to ensure compliance with any statutory requirements. The Trust strives to be as open and accountable as it can be. However, at the same time it needs to handle commercially sensitive negotiations with the appropriate level of care and confidentiality required. Inevitably there will be times when its ability to provide comprehensive detail about its plans will be restricted by this duty. Further, given the level of interest it is of paramount importance to the Trustees and their partners that any proposals are fully assessed, workable and capable of being delivered. We trust that the above addresses the issues and provides suitable comfort to the Committee. We look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, Huttons Tudalen y pecyn 241 Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan y Cynghair yn erbyn Chwaraeon Creulon, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 5,287 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Amcangyfrifir bod miliynau o ffesantod a phetris yn cael eu ffermio'n ddiwydiannol yng Nghymru bob blwyddyn fel y gellir eu saethu am 'sbort'. Er mwyn eu bridio, mae degau o filoedd o adar yn eu cadw'n gaeth mewn cewyll, yn aml am lawer o'u hoes bridio. Mae cewyll yn greulon ac mae anifeiliaid yn dioddef o'u herwydd. Yn flaenorol, mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi nodi ei chefnogaeth i Gymru ddod yn geneil ddi-gewyll. Rydym yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i wahardd defnyddio cewyll ar gyfer cynhyrchu adar hela. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Gall byw mewn caeill trallod ac anafiadau, ac nid yw'n darparu'n llawn ar gyfer anghenion nac ymddygiad naturiol yr adar. Gall yr adar ddioddef, ymysg pethau eraill, ddoluriau traed agored poenus, ymosodiadau a achosir gan straen, ac anafiadau sy'n deillio o'u hymgeision niferus i ddianc. Er mwyn lleihau ymddygiadau problemus sy'n gysylltiedig â'u cadw'n gaeth, megis pigo adar eraill, gellir hefyd ddefnyddio dyfeisiau fel atalyddion plastig, sy'n cael eu gwthio i'w ffroenau. Mae ffesantod a phetris yn greaduriaid lled-wyllt eu natur, sy'n gwneud effaith y cewyll arnynt yn waeth fyth. Serch hynny, nid ydyn nhw hyd yn oed yn dod o dan y rheoliadau sylfaenol a ganiateir i anifeiliaid fferm eraill nac yn cael eu harchwilio'n rheolaidd. Mae ymchwiliadau wedi datgelu achosion o dorri canllawiau, megis defnyddio cewyll moel dro ar ôl tro, a gadael ffesantod marw mewn cewyll yn ddigon hir iddynt gael eu canibaleiddio. Hyd yn oed mewn cewyll a ddisgrifir fel rhai 'wedi'u cyfoethogi', gallai fod cyn lleied ag un glwyd i'w rhannu, llen blastig a rhywfaint o borfa artiffisial. Ni waeth a yw'r cewyll sy'n eu cadw'n gaeth yn rhai moel neu'n rhai 'wedi'u cyfoethogi', mae adar hela'n dioddef. Mae gan Lywodraeth Cymru y pŵer i ddod â'r arfer hwn i ben. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gogledd Caerdydd • Canol De Cymru Dear Janet, Thank you for your letter of 9 February, regarding Petition P-05- P-05-1097 Ban game bird cages. I am sure you will understand the unprecedented position we find ourselves in due to the ongoing pressures of the Covid situation and following transition out of the European Union. It is for these reasons that the review into the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds is currently on hold. Any future changes made to the current Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds or welfare legislation will be made with due consideration given to all stakeholder feedback along with relevant research, analysis and evidence. The existing Welsh Government Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes was developed in consultation with stakeholders including representatives from the shooting industry and welfare organisations. The purpose of the Code is to provide practical guidance in relation to Section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. My officials advise that any concerns about a specific gamebird rearing premises should be reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) or relevant Local Authority. They are responsible for the delivery and enforcement of animal health and welfare provisions on behalf of the Welsh Government. The Code recommends that barren raised cages for breeding pheasants and small barren cages for breeding partridges should not be used and that any housing system should be enriched i.e. larger than raised cages. Whilst raised cages are permitted by law, it is important to note that the welfare of gamebirds is covered by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The Act makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal and also contains a duty of care so that those responsible for an animal must take reasonable steps to ensure its welfare. My officials will be contacting all relevant stakeholders when we are in a position to progress with this work. Yours sincerely, Lesley Griffiths AS/MS Gweinidog yr Amgylchedd, Ynni a Materion Gwledig Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Minister’s reply to correspondence from the Committee Chair following the Committee’s most recent consideration of our petition. We do of course appreciate the challenges that have been caused by Brexit and the unforeseen Covid pandemic. However, we are concerned that the review of the Code of Practice was already delayed in that it was started much later than other reviews of welfare codes applicable to other species. We are keen that much needed improvements in welfare standards, for which there is overwhelming public support, are not delayed any longer than is absolutely necessary. Recent opinion polling conducted by YouGov in January 2021 on behalf of the League highlights clearly that the vast majority of people in Wales want higher welfare standards for ‘game’ birds – 72% believe that cages used for breeding ‘game’ birds should be banned. We and other stakeholders met with officials earlier in 2019, to give our views on how the code should be revised. We remain unclear about the status of the draft, revised code which was circulated to stakeholders in November 2019 and whether further revisions are being considered. This draft shared with us contains no changes of substance compared with the current code and the changes are mainly to the preamble only. In advance of writing to the Committee today, we asked permission of the relevant officials to share the draft document with the Committee so that it could see how little has been changed, but this permission was refused. There are no routine inspections of ‘game’ bird rearing sites carried out in Wales, whether planned or unannounced, in contrast to the regimes which govern the welfare of other species e.g. farmed animals. This, along with the fact that ‘game’ bird breeding sites are on private land, makes it very difficult for evidence of welfare issues to be gathered. It does not, however, mean that none exist. The Welsh Government appears to be content that the code of practice, and the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act, provide sufficient protection for the welfare of ‘game’ birds. We have previously asked via Senedd questions for Welsh Government to provide details of the inspections of gamebird premises carried out by both APHA and local authorities in recent years to assess compliance with the code. It seems from their responses that this information is not held centrally. We argue that this makes it difficult for the government to make a proper assessment that the code is actually protecting the welfare of ‘game’ birds. We are in the process of sending Freedom of Information requests to the relevant bodies to collate this information ourselves. We maintain however that even if followed to the letter, the provisions of the code do not prevent ‘game’ birds from suffering. The Minister’s reply does not address the Committee’s minuted agreement at its last meeting to seek clarification as to why the Minister is not minded to act to move further to prohibit the practice of caging birds for this purpose. We have not had sight of the letter sent by the Committee to know if this was included but we would also like to have clarification of this from the Minister given that it is the main point of our petition. To the best of our knowledge, the code review did not include within scope the issue of whether the use of cages in ‘game’ bird breeding should be restricted or banned. The code itself, whether the current version or the draft revised version, does not prohibit their use nor does it contain measures which fully mitigate the cruelty and suffering that their use causes to the birds. This is why we submitted the petition initially, to highlight both the need for cages to be banned to protect the welfare of the birds, and the public support for such measures. We hope that this letter is a useful update and explanation for the Committee and that this important issue will be given the further consideration it deserves. With best wishes Tudalen y pecyn 247 P–05–960 Dylid talu costau angladdau pob un o staff y GIG sy’n marw o Covid–19 neu gyda’r feirws Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Profs Jane Henderson & Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 414 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Rhoesant eu bywydau i achub ein bywydau ni. Rydym yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i dalu costau angladdau holl staff y GIG sy’n marw o Covid–19 neu gyda’r feirws Mae angladd symli yn costio £4,000 ar gyfartaledd. Rydym yn gofyn i Lywodraeth Cymru sicrhau bod teuluoedd sydd wedi cael profedigaeth yn cael mynediad at arian ar unwaith i dalu costau angladdau. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Ffynhonnell cost yr angladd https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/help-paying-for-a-funeral Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Senedd • Gorllewin Caerdydd • Canol De Cymru 5 Mawrth 2021 Annwyl Janet, Diolch iechi am eich llythyrr 9 Chwefwr ar ran y Pwyllgor Deisebau ynghylch ariannu costau angladd holl staff y GIG a fu farw o Covid-19. Yn fy llythyrr atoch dyddiedig 3 Tachwedd 2020 nodais sut yr oeddwn yn ystyried ariannu costau angladd staff y GIG a fu farw o Covid-19. O fewn hyn, amlinellais sut yr ymchwiliwyd i hyn. Yn bennaf ystyriodd fy swyddogion a oedd unrhyw gynlluniau yn bodoli a allai gael eu haddasu at y diben hwn megis y Cynllun Claddu Plant. Ystyriwyd sefydlu cynllun newydd ond y farn oedd nad oedd yr opsiynau hyn yn ymarferol. Yn y bôn, y tri phrif reswm dros hyn yw: - Byddai nodi'r rhai sy'n weithwyr y GIG yn anodd i'r awdurdodau lleol wrth weinyddu cynllun o'r fath. Yn wahanol i'r cynllun claddu plant, lle mae eu dyddiad geni a'r dyddiad y buont farw ar gael yn hwylus, ni fyddai proffesiwn y person yn cael ei ddangos ar eu tystysgrif marwolaeth. Felly, bydd anawsterau wrth weinyddu'r cynllun, sicrhau cadarnhad o gymhwysedd ac fe fyddai'n creu baich ychwanegol ar gyflogwyr y GIG a'r awdurdodau lleol mewn cyfnod anodd; - Byddai angen rhoi ystyriaeth i gymhwyster gweithwyr allweddol rheng flaen eraill. Byddai'n annheg darparu hyn i un grwp o weithwyr rheng flaen yn unig; a - Byddai'r amserlen ar gyfer sefydlu'r cynllun yn cymryd llawer o wythnosau/misoedd a byddai angen ystyried sut y gellid ad-dalu'r costau claddu sydd eisoes wedi'u talu gan deuluoeedd Byddai ad-dalu ôl-weithredol hefyd yn creu gofynion gweinyddol ychwanegol. Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. Tudalen y pecyn 249 Rwyf yn sylweddoli y bydd y penderfyniad yn eich siomi ond rwyf yn gobeithio y byddwch yn cydnabod ein bod wedi ymchwilio i'r cynllun a'r goblygiadau cysylltiedig cyn gwneud y penderfyniad hwn. Gobeithio y bydd yr wybodaeth hon o gymorth i chi. Yn gywir, Vaughan Gething AS/MS Y Gweinidog Iechyd a Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol Minister for Health and Social Services Dear the Petitions committee I write once again the challenge the minister’s reluctance to fund the funerals of NHS staff who die as a result of covid during the pandemic. I have addressed many of the issues in the many previous submissions and remind the committee, once more, that this issue arose following a friend dying of covid whilst working as a nurse in Cardiff and her family having to run a Crowdfunder to cover the cost of the funeral. This is not the Wales that I want to live in and that is why with my co-petitioners we brought this to the Welsh government nearly a year ago. I have addressed many of the ministers issues in the past but I will address the three from his letter of 5th March below. 1. The minister claims it would be difficult to identify NHS workers for the administration of the scheme. It seems likely that all NHS staff will have a payroll number. This is something that we have suggested could be managed through the funeral parlours who could request this information from anyone wishing to take up the scheme. They could then act as a single point of contact for confirmation. Alternatively given that the government is funding a specific life assurance payment to NHS staff (Nursing Times link below) announced by government in April 2020 it seems that the government is able to identify people who are eligible, and that process should be matched. 2. I am sure that both the petitioners and the petition committee would welcome an extension of the scheme beyond simply NHS staff to other frontline care workers. It may help to address the first point to ensure that all health and social care workers who provide publicly funded hands-on care for people who have contracted COVID-19 or work in settings where the virus is present are eligible for this money. This would bring the scheme in line with the life assurance scheme and therefore make it perfectly simple to identify the same cohort who would be made eligible by the scheme. It does not make sense to argue that no one can have anything because someone else hasn’t had it, we would never make progress if society followed this rule. The government life insurance scheme has made it clear that we recognise the above and beyond the effort being made by our healthcare staff in the pandemic and whilst I would not personally mind it being extended far wider the ministers other concerns with the practicality of the scheme would suggest that matching the eligibility to the government’s life assurance scheme would reduce some of his administrative concerns. 3. The minister states that the time frame for setting up the scheme is ‘many weeks/months’ yet this petition has been with the Welsh Government for many months so the time frame problems appeared to be entirely of the minister’s own making. Retrospective reimbursement may be problematic but is not as problematic as the family of a nurse who has died of covid desperately trying to find money to pay for a funeral. It seems egregious for the minister to use the ‘it’ll take a long time’ argument having been responsible for many iterations of this petition without resolution. I therefore recommend the petitions committee take this to the floor of the Senedd or directly to Mark Drakeford for decision. I think it's time for leaders in the Welsh assembly to make it clear whether they think that we the taxpayers should or should not pay for the cost of funerals for health care workers who have died as a result of covid in the pandemic. To continue to run down the clock on this petition does not reflect well on those involved. If providing a few 1000 pounds it's too much to ask then say so. If it's possible to fund grant schemes for other aspects of the pandemic it's possible to do so for NHS staff. This is simply a question of priorities and the choices that our representatives are making. As the elections fast approach it seems sensible that our representatives make that decision and defend it at the ballot. Jane Henderson On behalf of the petitioners https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/coronavirus/government-will-pay-60000-to-families-of-nurses-who-die-in-service-28-04-2020/ P-05-964 Dylid ymestyn absenoldeb â thâl a chymorth ariannol a ddarperir mewn ymateb i Covid-19 i staff cronfa GIG Cymru sy’n agored i niwed a staff sy’n feichiog Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan David Adam Clarke, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 174 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae’n bosibl na fydd staff cronfa GIG Cymru sy’n agored i niwed, sydd angen cael eu diogelu neu sydd wedi bod yn feichiog am gyfnod o dros 28 wythnos yn elwa ar yr un cymorth ariannol na’r un mesurau diogelu ag a ddarperir gan fyrddau iechyd i staff amser llawn y GIG. Mae rhai o staff cronfa GIG Cymru, fel cynorthwywyr iechyd, nyrsys a bydwragedd ac eraill, wedi bod yn gweithio yn y GIG ers blynyddoedd, a dyma yw prif ffynhonnell eu hincwm. Mae’n bosibl y bydd staff cronfa sy’n agored i niwed neu’n feichiog yn wynebu dewis rhwng gweithio neu beidio ag ennill cyflog, a hynny ar yr amod bod gwaith amgen yn cael ei gynnig iddynt beth bynnag. Os gwelwch yn dda, cefnogwch staff cronfa’r GIG. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Mae Deddf Cydraddoldeb 2010 yn gwarchod pobl agored i niwed rhag gwahaniaethu (o dan y pennawd anabledd), yn ogystal â phobl sy’n feichiog neu ar gyfnod mamolaeth. O dan Ddeddf Iechyd a Diogelwch yn y Gwaith 1974, yn ogystal â Rheoliadau Rheoli Iechyd a Diogelwch yn y Gwaith 1999, mae’n rhaid cynnal asesiadau risg mewn perthynas â staff cronfa’r GIG mewn perthynas ag argyfwng Covid-19. Mewn sefyllfaeodd lle nad oes modd i’r staff cronfa dan sylw weithio, neu lle na ellir cynnig gwaith arall iddynt, mae’n bosibl y bydd y staff hynny yn cael eu gadael heb incwm. Yn y cyfnod digynsail hwn, dylai Senedd Cymru, GIG Cymru a’r byrddau iechyd perthnasol ymestyn cymorth ariannol a mesurau diogelu i staff cronfa’r GIG. Ar hyn o bryd, mae’n bosibl y bydd staff cronfa’r GIG yng Nghymru yn wynebu dewis rhwng gweithio neu aros gartref heb gymorth ariannol. https://www.rcn.org.uk/get-help/rcn-advice/bank-workers https://www.rcm.org.uk/media/3896/2020-04-21-occupational-health-advice-for-employers-and-pregnant-women.pdf https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/nhs-southmead-hospital-furlough-coronavirus-4082655 Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Senedd • De Clwyd • Gogledd Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch yn fawr ichi am eich llythyr pellach dyddiedig 26 Ionawr ynglŷn â deiseb P-05-964, yn gofyn imi gyhoeddi neges glir y dylid ymestyn absenoldeb â thâl a chymorth ariannol a ddarperir mewn ymateb i Covid-19 i staff cronfa GIG Cymru sy'n agored i niwed a staff sy'n feichioq Nid yw safbwynt Llywodraeth Cymru wedi newid. Er ein bod yn deall y sefyllfa a'r cyfyngiadau sy'n effeithio ar weithwyr cronfa y gofynnwyd iddynt warchod eu hunain, rydym eisoes wedi gofyn i'r Ymddiriedolaethau a'i Byrddau lechyd edrych eto ar amgylchiadau unigol lle mae effeithiau'r sefyllfa wedi peri peri anawsterau, ac i ystyried a fyddai'n bosibl darparu cymorth penodol. Rydym felly'n parhau i gynghori unigolion i gysylltu â'r Ymddiriedolaeth neu'r Bwrdd lechyd y maent wedi gwneud gwaith cronfa ynddynt i drafod eu sefyllfa'n uniongyrchol. Yn gywir, Vaughan Gething AS/MS Y Gweinidog lechyd a Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol Minister for Health and Social Services P–05–1029 Dylai Llywodraeth Cymru gyflwyno profion gorfodol ar yr holl deithwyr sy’n cyrraedd Maes Awyr Caerdydd Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Lawrence Evans, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 184 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Oherwydd y coronafeirws, mae’n ofynnol ar hyn o bryd i deithwyr fynd i gwarantîn wrth gyrraedd Maes Awyr Caerdydd o restr o wledydd Ewropeaidd a rhyngwladol. Mae hyn wedi arwain at ostyngiad yn nifer y teithwyr sy’n defnyddio’r Maes Awyr i fynd allan o’r wlad ac i ddod i mewn iddi, at golli refeniw i gwmni’au hedfan sy’n cefnogi ein Maes Awyr cenedlaethol, a cholli refeniw i Faes Awyr Caerdydd Cyf, a diffyg hyder yn y diwydiant twristiaeth oherwydd bod angen i deithwyr fynd i gwarantîn ar ôl dychwelyd o wledydd penodol. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Gweithredir Maes Awyr Caerdydd gan gwmni hyd braich o Lywodraeth Cymru, sydd wedi buddsoddi’n sylweddol yn y Maes Awyr a’i gyfleusterau / staff. Os caniateir i sefyllfa bresennol cwarantîn gorfodol barhau bydd dirywiad trychinebus yn nifer y teithwyr yn arwain at golledion ariannol sylweddol i bawb dan sylw, sef, y Maes Awyr, y cwmni’au hedfan a’r teithwyr y mae’n rhaid iddynt, mewn llawer o achosion, benderfynu a ddylent roi’r gorau i’w cynlluniau teithio, y talwyd amdanynt eisoes, oherwydd y cyfyngiadau cwarantîn pan fyddant yn dychwelyd adref. Mae llawer o wledydd ledled y byd eisoes yn gweithredu’n llwyddiannus system profion dau gam ar deithwyr wrth iddynt gyrraedd eu tiriogaeth a phrofi eto bum niwrnod yn ddiweddarach. Dylid cyflwyno hyn ym Maes Awyr Caerdydd i dawelu meddwl y cyhoedd sy’n teithio y gall eu hediad / gwyliau fynd ymlaen heb ragor o ansicrwydd, pryder a cholli arian a dalwyd. Byddai hyn hefyd yn dod â rhywfaint o sicrwydd unwaith yn rhagor i'r cwmnïau hedfan hynny sydd eisoes wedi buddsoddi ym Maes Awyr Caerdydd, a helpu i gadw eu gwasanaethau ar gyfer y dyfodol. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad - Ogwr - Gorllewin De Cymru Dear Janet, Thank you for your letter of 18 December regarding petition P-05-1029 on the introduction of Mandatory Testing of Passengers arriving at Cardiff Airport. Your letter has been transferred to me as the issue rests within my portfolio. Please accept my apologies that you did not receive a letter in response to your original letter of 11 September. The Welsh Government aims for a four nations approach as far as possible on international travel regulations and works with counterparts to co-ordinate a proportionate response to manage the health risks posed by travellers arriving in Wales. The situational context has changed significantly since September last year when the travel corridors arrangements were in place and the issues presented by the new coronavirus variants of concern were yet to be understood. From 18 January the travel corridors were suspended until further notice and all people travelling to Wales or the UK were required to provide evidence of a negative covid test taken 72 hours prior to departure. People were required to isolate at home for 10 days. On 12 February advice received from the Joint Biosecurity Centre indicated that it was difficult to fully assess the public health risk posed by the incidence and spread of variant strains of coronavirus. Enhanced measures have been introduced to manage those risks. These enhanced measures include a new testing system for persons aged 5 years or over arriving into Wales (subject to a limited number of exemptions), requiring them to book and undertake testing on day 2 and 8 of their isolation period. Negative results does not reduce the 10 isolation period. More significant risks are associated with arrivals from “red list countries” and in order to further protect against the risk of community transmission of variant strains additional measures have been introduced. This includes prohibiting a person who has been in a red list country in the last 10 days from entering Wales from 4am on 15 February. Failure to comply with this restriction will be a criminal offence, liable to a fine. Such travellers must arrive at a designated port in England or Scotland and are required to complete a 10 day managed quarantine period in accordance with regulations that came into force on Monday 15 February 2021. The regulations are reviewed every 28 days and the restrictions may be adjusted in light of the latest assessment of health risks in terms of both importation and community transmission especially in respect of the new variants. The current testing arrangements are considered in the context of those reviews. I hope that you find this information helpful. Yours sincerely, Vaughan Gething AS/MS Y Gweinidog Iechyd a Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol Minister for Health and Social Services P-05-1116 Rhowch flaenoriaeth i bobl ag anabledd dysgu gael eu brechu yn erbyn COVID-19 yng Nghymru Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan John Gillibrand, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 1,913 llofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Gyda'r newyddion mawr bod brechlyn COVID wedi'i gymeradwyo ac y bydd yn dechrau cael ei gyflwyno'n fuan – mae'n hanfodol cael hyn yn gywir. Nid yw'r rhesstr bresennol o'r rhai a fydd yn cael eu brechu gyntaf yn rhoi blaenoriaeth i bobl ag anableddau dysgu – er ei bod CHWE GWAITH yn fwy tebygol y byddant yn marw o'r coronafeirws yn ôl lechyd Cyhoeddus Lloegr (nid yw ystadegau Cymru wedi'u cyhoeddi eto). Hyd yn oed yn waeth, mae'r rhai ag anableddau dysgu rhwng 18 a 34 oed 30 gwaith yn fwy tebygol o farw. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Rwyf wedi dechrau'r ddeiseb hon i bobl ag anableddau dysgu gael eu cynnwys yn rhesstr y rhai â blaenoriaeth oherwydd fy mod yn ofni dros fy mab. Mae'n oedolyn ifanc sy'n byw mewn gofal amser llawn – pe bai'r coronafeirws yn lleadaenu i'r cartref gofal, gallai fod yn ddinistriol iddo, ac eraill ag anableddau dysgu y mae'n byw gyda hwy, ac ar draws y DU. Mae angen i ni sicrhau y caiff y grŵp hwn ei ddiogelu ac rwyf am weld rhesstr o'r rhai sydd â blaenoriaeth ar gyfer brechu sy'n ystyried y rhai â chyfraddau marwolaethau uwch o COVID-19. Dylai pobl hŷn gael eu brechu gyntaf, ond dim ond chweched ar y rhesstr yw pobl, fel fy mab, y mae'r feirws yn risg fawr iddynt – does bosib bod arnom angen strategaeth wedi'i thargedu'n well wrth ddechrau'r cynllun brechu? Llofnodwch fy neiseb fel na chaiff pobl ag anableddau dysgu eu hanghofio wrth i'r goleuni ym mhen draw'r twnnel ddod i'r golwg. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Gwyr • Gorllewin De Cymru P–05–1013 Rhowch gymorth ariannol i unigolion hunangyflogedig yn niwydiant cerddoriaeth fyw Cymru Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Peter Phillips, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 189 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Nid yw Llywodraeth Cymru wedi nodi pryd y bydd perfformiadau cerddoriaeth fyw yn gallu ailddechrau ar ôl i'r cyfnod cloi ddod i ben. O ganlyniad, ni all unrhyw un sy'n gweithio yn y diwydiant cerddoriaeth fyw yng Nghymru ennill bywoliaeth. Mae'r Cynllun Cymhorthdal Incwm Hunangyflogaeth yn dod i ben ar 17 Awst. Ar ôl y dyddiad hwnnw, os bydd Llywodraeth Cymru yn parhau i wahardd perfformiadau cerddoriaeth fyw, dylai fod yn orfodol i'r Llywodraeth ddarparu cymorth ariannol uniongyrchol i unigolion hunangyflogedig yng Nghymru sy'n ennill bywoliaeth yn y diwydiant hwn. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr • Gorllewin De Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch am eich llythyr dyddiedig 27 Ionawr ynghylch y Gronfa Gweithwyr Llawrydd ac unigolion hunangyflogedig yn y sector cerddoriaeth fyw. Wrth ddatblygu'r Gronfa Gweithwyr Llawrydd daeth yn amlwg bod diffyg data a thystiolaeth ynglŷn â maint, cyfansoddiad ac effaith economaidd y gymuned gweithwyr llawrydd yn Nghymru. Er gwaethaf yr her hon, drwy dri cham cyntaf y Gronfa Gweithwyr Llawrydd, gwnaethom gefnogi 3,584 o unigolion gydag £8.9 miliwn o gyllid. Mae Llywodraeth Cymru wrthi'n gweithio gyda'r Awdurdodau Lleol i adolygu allbynnau'r cronfeydd sy'n cynnwys cynnal ymchwil ansoddiol i'r holl ddata a gesgler drwy broses ymgeisio'r tri cham cyntaf, a hynny fel blaenoriaeth. Dyma fydd dechrau'r ymrwymiad gan Lywodraeth Cymru i ddatblygu sylfaen dystiolaeth a naratif cryfach ynghylch pwysigrwydd y gymuned gweithwyr llawrydd i economi Cymru. Ar 10 Chwefror, cyhoeddwyd bod Llywodraeth Cymru yn darparu cymorth pellach o £8.9 miliwn i'r gymuned gweithwyr llawrydd, sy'n cynnwys cylch newydd o gyllid cymorth gan y Gronfa Adferiad Diwylliannol a fydd yn golygu y bydd pob un o'r gweithwyr llawrydd a gefnogir eisoes yn cael £2,500 ychwanegol i'w cefnogi drwy'r cyfnod estynedig hwn o lai o weithgarwch. Mae rhagor o fanylion ar gael yn: https://llyw.cymru/89-miliwn-pellach-i-gefnogi-gweithwyr-llawrydd-y-sector-creadigol/?_ga=2.97809501.37338191.1612801670-1688538354.1555322058 Rydym yn croesawu derbyn gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Byddwn yn ateb gohebiaeth a dderbynnir yn Gymraeg yn Gymraeg ac ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi. Tudalen y pecyn 262 Yn gywir, Yr Arglwydd Elis-Thomas AS/MS Y Dirprwy Weinidog Diwylliant, Chwaraeon a Thwristicaeth Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism In his letter of 12 February, the Deputy Minister acknowledges the Welsh Government’s lack of understanding in respect of the Welsh freelancer community and outlines an intention to conduct qualitative research, which in turn will be the start of a commitment to develop a stronger evidence base and narrative. However, with a nebulous objective and no firm indication of a timeline, this undertaking is meaningless and provides no direct, immediate financial help to those freelancers who have been denied any assistance to date by the woefully inadequate Freelancer Fund. The people who have been excluded to date will continue to be denied any immediate assistance as the Welsh Government appear to be intending to use the new round of funding to provide further support to members of the freelance community who have already been supported. In my previous two responses to letters from the Deputy Minister, I made the point that the Freelancer fund is defective for a number of reasons including subjective underwriting discriminating against certain sectors of the arts, and also applications have been supported on a first-come basis with awareness of the fund poorly communicated in the first place. In short, those who were lucky enough to get through the door will be receiving more support, whilst those with their noses pushed against the outside continue to be deprived of any financial help. Furthermore, the Deputy First Minister has not responded to the requests of the Petition Committee when they asked for urgent consideration be given to better compensate people not supported so far by the Freelancer Fund. Nor has the Deputy Minister adequately addressed the clarification further requested in respect of clarification for self-employed support within the arts sector, specifically the professionals that are the subject of this Petition. Finally, I would ask the Petition Committee to continue their previous support for some sort of ‘bounce back’ fund designed to assist artists and crew working within the pub music sector, a part of the music scene that Wales has rightfully been famous for. P-05-1080 Cyflwyno deunyddiau dysgu gwrth-hiliaeth i blant mewn ysgolion yng Nghymru i leihau troseddau casineb Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Fatima Altaiy, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 4,053 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae angen addysgu plant sut i fod yn wrth-hiliol. Er y bydd cyflwyno hanes pobl dduon a pobl groenliw i'r cwricwlwm yn fuddiol dros ben, mae angen i blant gael sgyrsiau uniongyrchol am hiliaeth a sut i fod yn wrth-hiliol. Bydd hyn yn lleihau'r achosion o fwlio mewn ysgolion ac yn caniatâu i blant dyfu i fyny mewn amgylchedd amlddiwylliannol, waeth p'wn a ydynt wedi'u hamgylchynu gan ddiwylliannau eraill ai peidio. Fel hyn, bydd plant yn deall diwylliannau eraill ac yn gorchfygu stereoteipio a gwahaniaethu. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Canol Caerdydd • Canol De Cymru P-05-1000 Ei gwneud yn orfodol i hanesion pobl dduon a POC y DU gael eu haddysgu yng nghwricwlwm addysg Cymru Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Angharad Owen, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 34,736 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae Prydain – gan gynnwys Cymru – wedi elwa o wladychiaeth a chaethwasiaeth am ganriffoedd. Mae angen i hyn gael ei gynrychioli yn y cwricwlwm. Yn aml iawn, mae'r Ymerodraeth Brydeinig yn cael ei mawrygu, ac effaith fyd-eang gwladychiaeth Prydain yn cael ei thanbrisio. Adlewyrchwyd hyn yn y cynnwys a addysgir. Mae angen newid gwirioneddol a sylwedol. Mae gwaddol caethwasiaeth a gwladychiaeth yn cael effaith wirioneddol ar gymunedau Pobl Dduon a Lleiafrifoedd Ethnig ledled Prydain heddiw, ac mae angen i system addysg Cymru gydnabod hyn. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • De Clwyd • Gogledd Cymru Re: - Petition P-05-1080 Introduce anti-racist teaching materials to children in schools in Wales to reduce hate crimes Children need to be educated on how to be anti-racist. Although introducing POC and black history into the curriculum will be extremely beneficial, children need to have direct conversations about racism and how to be antiracist. This will reduce bullying in schools and allow children to grow up in a multi-cultural environment, regardless of whether that have been surrounded by other cultures or not. This way, children will understand other cultures, and defeat stereotypes and discrimination. SRtRC Response Introduction: Who we are and what we do Show Racism the Red Card Wales (SRtRC) is an anti-racism education charity that was established in 1996. The Wales office was set up in 2006 and since then, we have worked with approximately 160,000 children, young people and adults. The organisation utilises the high-profile status of sport and sports stars to offer up relatable role models in a bid to help tackle racism in society. This is achieved through the delivery of education workshops in schools, workplaces and at events held at local sports clubs or stadia. We currently deliver all our workshops and training sessions online. Workshops with children Our workshops with children focus on increasing understanding of racism, exploring skin colour, nationality, culture and religion through activities and discussion. The activities involve challenging stereotypes and developing critical thinking skills. Racist language and terminology are also addressed, resulting in children having a greater understanding of the meaning and history behind certain words. Workshops with teachers and school staff Our teacher training sessions help teachers to recognise and respond to racist incidents as well as embed anti-racist practises into their classroom. These sessions range from one-off twilight sessions to series of workshops that participants attend over a longer period. Workshops are often tailored to the requirements of each school or educational setting. Racism in schools – our work in relation to the report Increase in racism in schools Even though we are not a reporting body, the charity records all communication relating to workshop enquiries, including those related to a racist incident. This is usually in the form of phone calls from teachers or parents who have been made aware of incidents. SRtRC’s database for the academic year 2018-2019 shows a 26.2% increase in such communications of racist incidents compared to the previous year, 2017-2018, with the number of all enquiries around workshop bookings rising just 8.9% in comparison. As such, the increase appears to be disproportionately driven by racist incidents that are occurring, rather than simply proactive educators looking to undertake preventative work. Alongside this, the charity has both qualitative and quantitative evidence of negative ideas of individuals or groups of various ethnicities, religions (linking Islam to terrorism), nationalities, and cultures (particularly Gypsies / Roma / Travellers). Some examples of racist incidents that have been disclosed are provided below: - “A year 5/6 pupil pulling hijab off another child.” - “Comments from year 4 child “Wouldn’t want to sit next to a black man on a bus” - “Children using the ‘N’ word towards each other” - “Student picked on because he is from Syria and ‘must be a terrorist’ and ‘takes all our jobs’” - “Year 1 pupil had been told by a fellow pupil in class he was not going to go in her group as he doesn’t like brown people” - “There has been an incident in school today where a little girl has used racist language to hurt someone’s feelings (P-word)” - “A year 9 pupil hit another pupil because they didn’t like their accent. A year 8 pupil told their friend that they would rub bacon on another (Muslim) pupil’s face.” Further examples can be found in the attached document ‘Teacher/School Support Survey: Show Racism the Red Card Survey Results’ (CONFIDENTIAL). Our 2020 report Racism in Wales? Exploring Prejudice in the Welsh Education System further indicates that racism is widespread across the Welsh school system. Over 1000 teachers and teaching staff took part in the online survey. In addition, qualitative consultations were carried out with 428 pupils. We recognise that this is a small percentage of the school workforce and pupils in Wales and feel we should draw attention to the fact that even within this small sample, a significant number of racist incidents are disclosed. The disparities between teachers reporting racism and pupils' experiences of racism also suggest that racism is being greatly underestimated by teachers and learning support staff. We also hold a large volume of anecdotal evidence of racism collected through experience of working in schools. There is a grave cause for concern that on some occasions, racism in schools has not been taken seriously or dealt with in an appropriate manner. We speculate that a lack of clarity in reporting procedures/Prevent duty guidelines could be contributing in part to the issue. However, we also note that occasionally, people who hold significant positions of power in school and government have demonstrated a lack of urgency and priority when supporting schools on racism. We would be happy to share some examples in a private meeting. Teaching anti-racism and teacher confidence The report indicates that most teachers have not received any anti-racism training and admit to lacking confidence in recognising, responding to and reporting racism. 89% of survey respondents said that they believe that anti-racism education should be embedded in the curriculum, however, the percentage of educators teaching anti-racism has fallen since our 2016 study. Lack of time and a lack of confidence were cited as the main challenges, suggesting that anti-racism is not being embedded into the curriculum. This is concerning when considering the plethora of incidents reported in the previous paragraphs. Example of good practise - reduction of racist bullying - ‘Racist Incident Log’ data from a case study in a school in Wales showed that the number of racist incidents that occurred halved after the intervention. The number of pupils involved in those incidents fell by 62.5% to just 3 pupils. Post intervention survey question: Has the work with SRtRC had an impact in your school? Please comment. ‘Yes it has. During the project we experienced less incidents of racist language. This is evidenced through our bound book.’ ‘Yes. The use of racist language has reduced considerably.’ ‘Yes. The number of incidents have decreased since SRtRC started working with our learners. The learners seem to have more of an understanding of the impact of the language they use.’ Shifting School Culture Away From Racism: A Case Study, Show Racism the Red Card, 2019 SRtRC Recommendations 1. Maintain the focus on embedding anti-racism organically through classroom resources, the use of role models and offering exposure to a diverse range of stories and examples. 2. Provide funding to ensure that every teacher in Wales receives anti-racism training focused on recognising, responding to and reporting racism, as well as challenging unconscious bias. 3. Ensure all educators are aware of places to access anti-racism resources. 4. The teaching workforce must be more diverse to reflect the changing student population in Wales. 5. Schools should be effectively monitored to ensure that they are consistently recording and reporting racist incidents and acting upon this information. There should be a duty placed on schools to report this data to the LA or WG. 6. Welsh Government should consider producing an annual statistical bulletin providing the data SRtRC currently has to acquire via FOI requests. 7. Estyn should include a specific question around racism on inspection questionnaires to develop a more complete picture of the extent of the issue. 8. Ensure all schools have an anti-racism champion who ensures pupil voice in reporting racism, be that through buddy systems, school councils or anonymous reporting systems. 9. Offer opportunities to staff to improve their knowledge around a range of religions to support the teaching of compulsory religious education. 10. The promotion of anti-racism through all areas of learning should be covered by all educators, from developing empathy through literature to offering diverse examples in science and technology. 11. Educational institutions should have the support and time to assess their needs and develop an appropriate action plan to embed an anti-racism approach within their daily practice. Conclusion Teaching and embedding anti-racism in the Welsh education system is both vital and long overdue. In addition to introducing anti-racist teaching materials, teachers must be trained so that they are confident and competent in dealing with and responding to racist incidents in schools. In addition, robust recording and reporting procedures should be made a requirement and adhered to by all schools. The teaching workforce must be more diverse to reflect the changing student population in Wales. Additional training and resources should be provided for schools to ensure all individuals are comfortable in developing an antiracism ethos throughout the Welsh education system. For this anti-racist work to be most effective, a strong commitment to anti-racism is required from governors, local authorities, consortia and Welsh Government. P-05-1000: Black and POC UK histories to be taught in the Welsh education curriculum in future Britain -including Wales- benefited from colonialism and slavery for centuries. This needs to be represented in the curriculum. The British Empire has often been glamorised and the global impact of Britain’s colonialism downplayed. This has been reflected in the content taught. There needs to be real and significant change. The legacies of slavery and colonialism have very real impacts on BAME communities across Britain today, and the Welsh education system needs to recognise this. SRtRC Response SRtRC believes that anti-racism should be embedded in the school curriculum and that in order to be most impactful, anti-racism education needs to be part of a wider and holistic system of anti-racism work. Central to this work is the vision that a balanced view of history is taught in every school in Wales. The new curriculum provides an opportunity to personalise learning and embed anti-racism within all areas of learning. We believe the teaching of Black and POC UK histories will contribute to greater understanding of people who arrived in the UK from colonies and former colonies and increase children’s understanding of themselves and their society today. This understanding will be an essential contribution to increasing community cohesion and the development of anti-racism work in schools. References - Shifting School Culture Away From Racism: A Case Study, Show Racism the Red Card, 2019 - INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING CONFERENCES ACADEMIC YEAR 2018-19, Show Racism the Red Card, 2019 - Teacher/School Support Survey: Show Racism the Red Card Survey Results. (CONFIDENTIAL) - Racism and anti-racism in the Welsh education system, Show Racism the Red Card, 2016 - Racism in Wales? Exploring Prejudice in the Welsh Education System, Show Racism the Red Card, 2020 - Manifesto for Change: Using Education to End Racial Inequality Across the Nation, Show Racism the Red Card Yours sincerely Sunil Patel – Senior Campaign Manager Show Racism the Red Card (Wales) P–05–1083 Dylid gwarchod lesddeiliaid yng Nghymru rhag talu am waith adfer cladin Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Carl Tubbs, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 133 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae miloedd o lesddeiliaid fflatiau yng Nghymru yn wynebu biliau enfawr i dalu am waith adfer cladin a ffurflen EWS1 i gadarnhau nid yn unig nad oes cladin deunydd cyfansawdd alwminiwm (ACM, fel yn achos fel Grenfell) ond hefyd nad oes 'deunydd llosgadwy', ni waeth a oedd yr adeiladau wedi pasio'r rheoliadau o'r blaen ai peidio. Dylai costau'r gwaith atgyweirio hwn gael eu talu gan y Llywodraeth a'r cyngorau gan fod llawer o lesddeiliaid yn methu eu fforddio. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol: Nid lesddeiliaid a ddylai fod yn gorfod talu am y gwaith atgyweirio hwn, gan fod y gwaith yn cyrraedd y safon gywir cyn i Lywodraeth y DU gyhoeddi ei chyngor newydd ym mis Ionawr 2020. Ni allwn werthu, nac ailforgeisio, ein fflatiau hyd nes y bydd y gwaith wedi cael ei gwblhau, a hynny oherwydd bod benthycwywr morgeisi yn penu gwerth SERO iddynt, gan fod ein cartrefi bellach yn cael eu hystyried yn 'anniogel'. Yn Lloegr, mae'r Gronfa Diogelwch Adeiladau yn cael ei defnyddio i helpu'r atgyweiriadau ar adeiladau dros 18 metr, ond mae Llywodraeth Cymru yn defnyddio'r arian hwn ar gyfer COVID-19 yn lle. Dylid defnyddio arian Llywodraeth Cymru at yr un diben yng Nghymru ac ar gyfer pob adeilad sy'n fflatiau – gan nad yw'r cyngor newydd ar gyfer adeiladau dros 18 metr yn unig. Er bod y pandemig yn bwysig, mae angen i lesddeiliaid fod yn ddiogel yn eu cartrefi. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-1-billion-building-safety-fund-to-remove-dangerous-cladding-from-high-rise-buildings https://medium.com/never-fear/the-grenfell-fire-that-continues-to-burn-7325ca87788c https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/cardiff-bay-flats-victoria-wharf-18935612 Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • De Caerdydd a Phenarth • Canol De Cymru Annwyl Janet, Diolch am eich llythyr pellach dyddiedig 9 Chwefror 2021 ynghylch Deiseb P-05-1083. Mewn perthynas â’ch ymholiad am werth y cyllid canlyniadol y mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi’i gael o ganlyniad i wariant ar y mater hwn gan Lywodraeth y DU, cafodd Llywodraeth Cymru swm canlyniadol o £58.873m mewn cyfalaf ac £1.177m mewn refeniw. Yn unol â’r trefniant datganoli, mae cyllid canlyniadol yn rhan o Gyllideb Llywodraeth Cymru ac mae’n cael ei ddyrannu gan y Cabinet i ymateb i’r anghenion ar’ amgylchiadau penodol yng Nghymru. Fel y soniais yn fy ateb blaenorol, roedd Gweinidogion Cymru yn gwneud penderfyniadau anodd iawn ar y pryd ynghylch sut y byddai arian yn cael ei wario yng Nghymru yn sgil pandemig y coronafeirws. Fodd bynnag, rydym yn parhau i fod wedi ymrwymo i gymorth ariannol i helpu i ariannu gwaith adfer mewn ffordd sy’n deg i lesddeilaiad a threthdalwyd. Rydym wedi ymrwymo £10.5m i adfer adeiladau yn y sector cymdeithasol eleni a £32m o gyllid i gefnogi gwaith adfer ar gyfer y sector preifat a chymdeithasol yn 2021/22. Ein bwriad yw sefydlu cynnig cyllid i Gymru sy’n mynd ymhellach na’r hyn a gynigir yn Lloegr. Fel y gwyf trigolion mewn adeiladau uchel iawn, nid yw mynd i’r afael â materion cladin yn unig yn mynd yn digon pell. Bydd y gronfa y bwriadwn ei chynnig yn helpu gyda bob math o waith adfer adeiladau, gan edrych y tu hwnt i gladin i gynnwys adraniad, deunyddiau atal tân ac – yn bwysig iawn – systemau rhybuddio, gwacáu a llethu tân. Rydym am sicrhau nid yn unig bod adeiladau preswyl uchel iawn yn cael gwared ar yr holl risgau diogelwch tân ond hefyd eu bod mewn sefyllfa dda i ddiogelu bywyd ac iechyd pe bai tân yn digwydd. Tudalen y pecyn 273 We welcome receiving correspondence in Welsh. Any correspondence received in Welsh will be answered in Welsh and corresponding in Welsh will not lead to a delay in responding. Mae hwn yn fater cymhleth a'r cymhlethod hwn sy'n pennu cyfymnder symud ymlaen â'r gwaith hwn; nid yw'n adlewyrchiad o unrhyw ddiffyg ymrwymiad i gefnogi'r rhai yr effeithir arnynt. Byddwn yn rhoi rhagor o fanylion i'r Pwyllgor am y cylid a gynigir cyn gynted ag y gallwn. Cafwyd datblygiadau diweddar hefyd a allai fod â goblygiadau pellach o ran cylid canlyniadol i Gymru yn y maes hwn. Efallai eich bod yn ymwybodol bod Robert Jenrick, yr Ysgrifennydd Gwladol dros Dai, Cymunedau a Llywodraeth Leol gyda Llywodraeth y DU, wedi cyhoeddi cylid ychwanegol ar 10 Chwefror i fynd i'r afael â chladin annioel yn Lloegr a mesurau ehangach i wella diogelwch adeiladau. Roeddwn yn siomedig bod cyhoeddiad mor arwyddocaol â hwn, ar bwnc o ddiddordeb cyffredin lle ceir elfennau o gydweithio a lle nad yw rhai materion wedi'u datganoli, wedi'i wneud heb unrhyw ymgynghori ymlaen llaw, nac unrhyw ymgysylltu ar lefel ystyrlon rhwng Llywodraeth Cymru a Llywodraeth y DU. Rwyf wedi ysgrifennu at yr Ysgrifennydd Gwladol dros Dai, Cymunedau a Llywodraeth Leol yn mynegi fy siom ac yn gofyn am eglurhad ar fyrder ar fanylion elfennau allweddol y cyhoeddiad hwn. Nid yw'n glir eto pa gyllid y gallai Cymru ei gael o ganlyniad i'r cyhoeddiad hwn. Rwyf wedi gofyn am ragor o fanylion am hyn. Rwy'n disgwyl y dylai Cymru gael ei chyfran deg o gyllid o ganlyniad i ymrwymiadau gwario yn Lloegr. Bydd hyn yn ein helpu i allu cyflawni'r hyn y mae angen inni ei wneud yng Nghymru, o ran diogelwch adeiladau. Rydym wedi dweud yn glir bod diogelwch adeiladau yn flaenoriaeth i'r llywodraeth hon ac unwaith y cawn eglurder ynghylch faint o arian ychwanegol y bydd Cymru'n ei gael, bydd y Gweinidogion gyda'i gilydd yn penderfynu sut i ddefnyddio'r yr arian hwnnw. Rwyf wedi cyhoeddi datganiad ysgrifenedig am gyhoeddiad Llywodraeth y DU ac ymrwymiadau ariannu a wnaed yng Nghymru i gefnogi gwaith adfer adeiladau: https://llyw.cymru/datganiad-ysgrifenedig-diogelwch-adeiladau-cyhoeddiad-llywodraeth-y-du Gobeithio bod yr wybodaeth hon yn ddefnyddiol i chi ac aelodau'r Pwyllgor. Yn gywir, Julie James AS/MS Y Gweinidog Tai a Llywodraeth Leol Minister for Housing and Local Government P–05–943 Rydym yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i gymryd camau brys i sicrhau gwelliannau i'r A487 rhwng Gellilydan a Maentwrog Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Carron Jones, ar ôl casglu 2,595 o lofnodion ar-lein a 2,855 ar bapur, sef cyfanswm o 5,450 o lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Rydym ni'n gofyn i Lywodraeth Cymru gymryd camau brys i sicrhau fod gwelliannau pendant yn cael eu gwneud i'r A487 rhwng Gellilydan a Maentwrog yn dilyn y damweiniau trist a thorcalonnus sydd wedi digwydd yno yn y ddwy flynedd ddiwethaf. Mae'n rhaid i ni wneud yn siŵr fod newid pendant yn cael ei wneud i'r ffordd rhag i drychinebau o'r fath ddigwydd eto. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Dwyfor Meirionnydd • Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru Diolch am eich llythyr dyddiedig 9 Chwefror ynghylch Deiseb P-05-943 Rydym yn galw ar Lywodraeth Cymru i gymryd camau brys i sicrhau gwelliannau i'r A487 rhwng Gellilydan a Maentwrog. Gwnaethom welliannau ar hyd y darn hwn o'r ffordd yn gynnar yn 2020. Roedd hyn yn cynnwys cyfyniad cyflymder newydd o 40mya yn ogystal â gwelliannau marcio ffyrd, arwyddion a rhywstrau diogelwch. Gwnaed gwaith ail-wynebu helaeth hefyd a oedd yn cynnwys gosod wyneb ffirthiant uchel. Ar hyn o bryd rydym yn monitro cydymffurfiaeth â'r terfyn cyflymder newydd drwy offer mesur a byddwn yn parhau i fonitro'r adran hon ar gyfer unrhyw welliannau diogelwch pellach. Yn gywir Ken Skates AS/MS Gweinidog yr Economi, Trafnidiaeth a Gogledd Cymru Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales Cyflwynwyd y ddeiseb hon gan Ryan Lee, ar ôl casglu cyfanswm o 2,144 lofnodion. Geiriad y ddeiseb: Mae'r grantiau diweddaraf sydd ar gael ar gyfer busnesau mewn ardaloedd cyfyngiadau lleol neu yn grantiau datblygu busnes. Mae nifer o fusnesau Lletya Anifeiliaid Anwes y tu allan i ardaloedd cyfyngiadau lleol wedi sylwi bod nifer y cwsmeriaid wedi lleihau i ddim. Ni ellir defnyddio'r Grantiau Datblygu Busnes i dalu biliau misol. Mae angen cymorth ariannol ar fusnesau Lletya anifeiliaid anwes nawr i'w hatal rhag mynd i'r wal. Mae cannoedd o swyddi a chartrefi mewn perygl heb gefnogaeth ariannol ddigonol. Gwybodaeth Ychwanegol Mae busnesau Lletya anifeiliaid anwes wedi ymdrechu i gadw'r drysau'n agored i helpu staff y Gwasanaeth Iechyd sy'n gweithio oriau hir wrth frwydro i ymdrin â Covid-19, ac maent wedi helpu i ofalu am anifeiliaid anwes pobl sydd wedi bod yn yr ysbyty. Mewn llawer o achosion, mae cael un neu ddau anifail anwes i ofalu amdanynt ar y tro yn costio rhagor iddynt nag y maent yn ei ennill, a chyda rhagor o filiau gwresogi a goleuo dros fisoedd y gaeaf bydd llawer o'r busnesau yn cael eu gorfodi i gau, ac yna ni fydd y gwasanaeth hanfodol hwn ar gael. Mae'r rhain yn fusnesau a oedd yn llwyddiannus cyn Covid-19 a byddant yn llwyddiannus eto, cyhyd ag y caiff rhywbeth ei wneud i'w diogelu. Etholaeth a Rhanbarth y Cynulliad • Preseli Sir Benfro • Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru Dear Janet Thank you for your letter of 16 February regarding financial support for pet boarding businesses. Unfortunately, the Welsh Government does not deem kennels and catteries eligible for the non domestic rates (NDR) system linked Restrictions Business Fund grants. However, it will be for local authorities to determine if businesses are similar in nature to those or not. Although kennels and catteries are not eligible for non-domestic rates (NDR) system linked Restrictions Business Fund Grants, discretionary support will continue to be available through local authorities in Wales for businesses not on the NDR system who are materially impacted. Discretionary grants of up to £2,000 will be available and it will be for local authorities to determine applications. Further information is available at; https://businesswales.gov.wales/coronavirus-advice/restrictions-business-fund-local-authorities In addition, alternative funding can be accessed such as the UK Government Bounce Back Loans https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-coronavirus-bounce-back-loan and the Development Bank of Wales has loan and equity funding available immediately to Welsh businesses https://developmentbank.wales/ We will continue to do all we can to support Welsh businesses through these incredibly difficult times and consider options beyond the current package of support. Yours sincerely Ken Skates AS/MS Gweinidog yr Economi, Trafnidiaeth a Gogledd Cymru Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales Thank you for your continued efforts in this matter. Since the last meeting the Welsh Government have since clarified the position regarding kennels and catteries and have instructed councils to pay out the discretionary grant to those who have had a significant loss of income. My own council originally refused to pay out, using Ken Skates letter to the petitions committee as justification to do so. They have now re assessed and payed out. I believe this ‘clarification’ came about because of the pressure put on by members of our industry, BBC Wales and yourselves, which is very much appreciated. However, while this action gives a short term lifeline to the industry, it doesn’t protect us in the long term and we face the same fight again in the future. One simple action could secure our industry and jobs in the long term, we ask to be classified as a travel and tourism sector industry. Any assistance you can give to achieve this would be very welcome. Adolygiad o'r deisebau sy'n cael eu hystyried ar ddiweddi y Pumed Senedd Dyddiad: 11 Mawrth 2021 Diben 1. Mae'r papur hwn yn gofyn i'r Pwyllgor adolygu'r deisebau y mae'n eu hystyried ar hyn o bryd a chytuno ar ba rai y dylid eu cyflwyno i'r Chweched Senedd i'w hystyried ymhellach a pha rai y dylid eu cau. Cefndir 2. Gan ragweld diweddi y Senedd bresennol, gofynnodd y Pwyllgor i'r ysgrifenyddiaeth nodi pa ddeisebau y gellid eu cyflwyno i'r Senedd nesaf i'w hystyried gan ei bwyllgor olynol, a pha ddeisebau y gallai'r Pwyllgor hwn ystyried eu cau. Cynhaliwyd ymarfer tebyg ar ddiweddi y Pedwerydd Cynulliad. 3. Mae 127 o ddeisebau'n cael eu hystyried gan y Pwyllgor ar hyn o bryd (h.y. rhai sydd wedi'u trafod ar o leiaf un achlysur ac nad ydynt wedi'u cau). Wrth benderfynu faint o ddeisebau i'w cyflwyno i'r Senedd nesaf, dylai'r Pwyllgor nodi hefyd bod 77 o ddeisebau'n casglu llofnodion ar hyn o bryd. Bydd y rhain hefyd yn cael eu cyfeirio i'w hystyried yn y Chweched Senedd os byddant yn casglu digon o lofnodion. 4. Mae'r ysgrifenyddiaeth wedi paratoi dau dabl i'r Pwyllgor eu hystyried. Mae'r tabl yn Atodiad A yn rhoi trosolwg o'r deisebau y gallai'r Pwyllgor fod eisiau ystyried eu cyfeirio at y pwyllgor a fydd yn gyfrifol am ddeisebau yn y Chweched Senedd. Mae'r tabl yn Atodiad B yn cynnwys y deisebau y gallai'r Pwyllgor ystyried eu cau. Nid yw'r deisebau y trefnwyd i'w trafod yn ystod cyfarfod y Pwyllgor ar 16 Mawrth 2021 wedi'u cynnwys yn y tablau hyn. Cam i'w gymryd: 5. Gwahoddir y Pwyllgor i ystyried y cynigion isod. \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P-05–859 Dylid Darparu Tai Plant yng Nghymru i Blant sy'n Dioddef Camdriniaeth Rywiol \| 227 \| Ionawr 2019 \| Saith achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn i'w bwylIgor olynol ystyried y ddeiseb ar ôl cyhoeddi'r gwerthusiad o brosiect peilot y Lighthouse Project yn Llundain yn 2021. \| \| P-05–912 Cynorthwyo teuluoeedd sy'n colli plant a phobl ifanc yn sydyn ac yn annisgwyll \| 5,682 \| Tachwedd 2019 \| Dau achlysur \| Gohiriwyd dadl a drefnwyd ar gyfer mis Mawrth 2020 oherwydd pandemig y Coronafeirws. Mae'r deisebydd wedi gofyn a gaiff y ddeiseb ei phasio i'r Chweched Senedd i gael ei hystyried. \| \| P-05–914 Mynediad cyfartal i ofal iechyd ar gyfer yr anabl \| 121 \| Tachwedd 2019 \| Pedwar achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am ymateb i gynigion y mae wedi'u gwneud i Lywodraeth Cymru. \| \| P-05–924 Sicrhau bod Llysgenhadon Llesiant ym mhol ysgol yng Nghymru \| 297 \| Ionawr 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Ni fu'n bosibl i'r Pwyllgor gymryd tystiolaeth bellach gan y deisebwyr (disgyblion ysgol) oherywdd effaith y pandemig. \| \| P-05–937 Dylid stopio berwi cramenogion yn fyw (cimychiaid, crancod, \| 2,008 \| Chwefror 2020 \| Tri achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn cadw golwg ar y sefyllfa yn sgil adolygiad annibynnol, a gomisiynwyd gan Defra a'r Llywodraethau datganoledig, a ddisgwyli'r yng ngwanwyn 2021. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|----------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------\| \| cimychiaid afon, corgimychiaid ac ati) \| \| \| \| \| \| P–05–954 Deiseb yn galw am ymchwiliad cyhoeddus gan Lywodraeth Cymru i gam-drin plant hanesyddol ar Ynys Byr \| 5,088 \| Gorffennaf 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor nad oedd llawer o opsiynau ar gael iddo ac i gadw golwg ar y sefyllfa. Mae'r deisebwr wedi gofyn am i'r ddeiseb gael ei chyflwyno i'w hystyried yn y Chweched Senedd. \| \| P–05–974 Dylid sicrhau bod technoleg yr aelodau prosthetig a ddarperir gan GIG Cymru cystal â'r hyn a geir yng ngweddill y DU. \| 561 \| Medi 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i gyfeirio'r ddeiseb i'w hystyried yn y Chweched Senedd. \| \| P–05–1001 Cynnal ymchwiliad annibynnol i'r dewis o safle ar gyfer y Ganolfan Ganser Felindre newydd arfaethedig \| 5,348 \| Medi 2020 \| Pedwar achlysur \| Cynhaliwyd dadl yn y Cyfarfod Llawn ar 3 Mawrth. Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am ymateb i ohebiaeth bellach a anfonwyd at Ymddiriedolaeth GIG Prifysgol Felindre. (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P–05–1018) \| \| P–05–1018 Cefnogaeth ar gyfer y cynlluniau \| 11,392 \| Medi 2020 \| Pump achlysur \| Cynhaliwyd dadl yn y Cyfarfod Llawn ar 3 Mawrth. Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am ymateb i \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| arfaethedig presennol i adeiladu Canolfan Ganser Felindre newydd ynghaerdydd mewn unrhyw ymchwiliad yn y dyfodol \| \| \| \| ohebiaeth bellach a anfonwyd at Ymddiriedolaeth GIG Prifysgol Felindre. (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P-05-1001) \| \| P-05-1035 Dylid caniatáu i bartneriaid genedigaeth fod yn bresennol adeg sganiau, dechrau esgor, yn ystod yr enedigaeth ac ar ôl yr enedigaeth. \| 7,326 \| Tachwedd 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am y wybodaeth ddiweddaraf gan y Llywodraeth yn dilyn dadl a gynhaliwyd yn y Cyfarfod Llawn ar y pwnc. \| \| P-05-1040 Cyflwyno moratoriwm ar gymeradwyo unrhyw losgyddion gwastraff newydd ar raddfa fawr yn Nghymru. \| 938 \| Tachwedd 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Ysgrifennodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn am ymateb pellach gan Lywodraeth Cymru. \| \| P-05-1041 Polisi a chyllid clir ar gyfer ysbytai a chartrefi gofal ar gyfer ymweliadau rhithwir yn \| 187 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Ysgrifennodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn am ymateb gan Fforwm Gofal Cymru. Mae'r rheolau'n dechrau cael eu llacio mewn perthynas â chartrefi gofal ar hyn o bryd. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| ystod cyfnodau o gyfyngiadau symud \| \| \| \| \| \| P–05–1045 Dylai penderfyniadau ar y cyd ac adolygu cynlluniau gofal iechyd meddwl misol fod yn ofyniad cyfreithiol \| 1,462 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Ysgrifennodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn am ymateb pellach gan Lywodraeth Cymru. \| \| P–05–1046 Ailstyried y cyfnod clo ac ymchwilio i dystiolaeth wyddonol nad yw'n gweithio a'i fod yn achosi mwy o niwed \| 2,189 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am ymateb i'r ddeiseb gan Lywodraeth Cymru. \| \| P–05–1056 Rhowch rymoedd i Awdurdodau Lleol reoli'r farchnad dai yn ardaloedd gwledig a thwristaidd Cymru \| 5,386 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Mae dadl wedi'i threfnu ar y ddeiseb yn y Cyfarfod Llawn ar gyfer 17 Mawrth. \| \| P–05–1062 Rhoi'r gorau i'r prawf rt–PCR i brofi ar gyfer \| 96 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am ymateb i'r ddeiseb gan Lywodraeth Cymru. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| COVID-19, gan nad yw'n addas i'r diben \| \| \| \| \| \| P-05-1068 Caniatáu cyfarfodydd ymbellhau cymdeithasol mewn gerddi preifat i ddilyn y wyddoniaeth ac osgoi teimlo'n ynysig \| 273 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Dau achlysur \| Ysgrifenodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn am ymateb pellach gan y Llywodraeth. \| \| P-05-1069 Arbed y tir fferm a'r caeau gwyrrd yn Cosmeston \| 5,272 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i gadw golwg ar gamau nesaf y broses gynllunio a gofyn i'w bwyllgor olynol adolygu'r ddeiseb yn y Chweched Senedd. \| \| P-05-1071 Dylid argraffu rhif cofrestru cerbydau ar becynnau bwyd brys a werthir drwy ffenest y car \| 8,341 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. Cyhoeddwyd strategaeth 'Mwy nag Ailgylchu' a chynllun atal sbwriel yn ddiweddar. \| \| P-05-1073 Sefydlu ac adeiladu cangen newydd o Amgueddfa Cymru sy'n \| 103 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Ysgrifenodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn am ymateb gan Amgueddfa Cymru – Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| canolbwyntio ar ran Cymru mewn trefedigaethedd \| \| \| \| (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P-05-1086) \| \| P-05-1078 Cynnyddu cylid ar gyfer gwasanaethau iechyd meddwl a gwella amseroedd aros i bobl sydd angen help mewn argyfwng. Mae angen newid! \| 5,159 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cynhaliwyd dadl yn y Cyfarfod Llawn ar y ddeiseb ar 10 Mawrth. Mae'r Pwyllgor lechyd, Gofal Cymdeithasol a Chwaraeon hefyd wedi gwneud gwaith yn y maes hwn. \| \| P-05-1086 Dylid creu Amgueddfa Genedlaethol ar gyfer Hanes a Threftadaeth Pobl Dduon ac Asiaidd a Lleiafrifoedd Ethnig \| 490 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Ysgrifennodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn am ymateb gan Amgueddfa Cymru – Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru. (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P-05-1073) \| \| P-05-1092 Peidiwch a gohirio etholiadau mis Mai 2021 \| 470 \| Chwefror 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am ymateb pellach gan y Llywodraeth. \| \| P-05-1094 Rhoi terfyn ar ddirywiad treftadaeth Pontypridd – achubwch y Bont Wen \| 304 \| Chwefror 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor wedi gofyn am y wybodaeth ddiweddaraf gan Gyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Rhondda Cynon Taf. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P-05-1112 Helpwch gymunedau yng Nghymru i brynu asedau cymunedol: Gweithredwch Ran 5, Pennod 3 o Ddeddf Lleoliaeth 2011 \| 655 \| Chwefror 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i gyflwyno'r ddeiseb i'w hystyried ymhellach yn y Chweched Senedd gan y bydd gwaith ymchwil sy'n cael ei wneud gan Lywodraeth Cymru yn cael ei gyhoeddi yn y gwanwyn. \| \| P-05-1129 Mae angen cymhwysio mesurau deddfwriaethol nawr i weithredu argymhellion Comisiwn y Gyfraith i ddiddymu Lesddaliad \| 425 \| Mawrth 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn i'w olynnydd ystyried y ddeiseb. \| \| P-05-1130 Dylai Llywodraeth Cymru ail-brynu ac adnewyddu Coleg Harlech \| 6,666 \| Mawrth 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn i'w olynnydd ystyried y ddeiseb. \| \| P-05-1132 Cychwyn Ymchwiliad Barnwrol Annibynnol i Fwrdd Iechyd \| 126 \| Mawrth 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|----------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------\| \| Prifysgol Cwm Taf Morgannwg \| \| \| \| \| \| P-05-1135 Cyllid wedi'i dargedu ar gyfer canolfannau addysg awyr agored preswyl, sydd bellach yn methu â gweithredu am 12 mis. \| 1,181 \| Mawrth 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i ofyn i'w olynudd ystyried y ddeiseb. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P-05-771 Ailystyried y penderfyniad i roi'r gorau i Grant Byw'n Annibynnol Cymru a'r angen i gefnogi pobl anabl i fyw'n annibynnol \| 631 \| Hydref 2017 \| 13 achlysur \| Bu oedi gyda'r gwaith o gwblhau ailasesiadau derbynwyr blaenorol y Gronfa Byw'n Annibynnol yn sgil y pandemig. Yn flaenorol, cyhoeddodd y Pwyllgor adroddiad ac roedd y deisebydd yn fodlon ar y cyfan â phenderfyniad y Llywodraeth i adolygu derbynwyr yn unigol. \| \| P-05-774 Ewch Heibio'n Llydan ac yn Araf (Cymru) \| 1,755 \| Hydref 2017 \| Tri achlysur \| Gofynnodd y Pwyllgor am gyfarfod rhwng y deisebwyr a'r Llywodraeth. Ni chafwyd diweddariadau pellach. \| \| P-05-783 Sicrfau Cydraddolddeb Cwricwlwm i Ysgolion Cyfrwng Cymraeg e.e. Seicoleg TGAU \| 652 \| Tachwedd 2017 \| Deg achlysur \| Yn aros am ganlyniadau gwaith gan Gymwysteriau Cymru. Ymgynghoriad Gymwysteriau Cymru ar gynigion ar gyfer pynciau tan 9 Ebrill 2021, gyda chymwysteriau i'w cynllunio erbyn 2024. \| \| P-05-786 Arbedwch ein cefn gwlad – dylid adolygu TAN 1 \| 706 \| Tachwedd 2017 \| Wyth achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor wedi bod yn aros am diweddariad gan y Llywodraeth ar y camau sydd i'w cymryd yn dilyn ymgynghoriad ar ddiwygiadau i adran dai Polisi Cynllunio Cymru. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P-05-798 Gwasanaethau cymorth i ddynion sy'n ddioddefwyr traes yn y cartref i gael eu rhedeg a'u cylldio'n annibynnol \| 138 \| Chwefror 2018 \| Naw achlysur \| Mae'r Llywodraeth bellach wedi dirymu Nodyn Cyngor Technegol (TAN) 1 (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P-05–881) \| \| P-05-803 Mae ein byd naturiol yn cael ei wenwyno gan blastigau untro...mae'n bryd cyflwyno treth! \| 102 \| Mawrth 2018 \| Saith achlysur \| Mae'r Llywodraeth wedi codi nifer o faterion yn ymwneud â'r ddeiseb gyda Llywodraeth Cymru, ond heb wneud llawer o gynnydd. Mae'r Llywodraeth wedi mynnu bod gwasanaethau cenedlaethol i ddynion ar gael drwy Gynllun Dyn a Byw Heb Ofn. \| \| P-05-805 Rhoi chwareae teg i Athrawon Cyflenwi \| 1,425 \| Mai 2018 \| 11 achlysur \| Bydd y Pwyllgor yn cyhoeddi ei adroddiad ar y ddeiseb yn ystod mis Mawrth 2021. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P–05–806 Rydym yn galw am roi rhif Tystysgrif Mynediad i bob safle busnes yng Nghymru, yn debyg i'r Dystysgrif Hylendid Bwyd. \| 3,040 \| Ebrill 2018 \| Chwech achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am y wybodaeth ddiweddaraf am gynigion i'r Llywodraeth ddatblygu prosiect peilot mewn partneriaeth ag Anabledd Cymru a'r deisebwyr. Mae'n debyg bod y pandemig wedi effeithio ar y gwaith hwn. \| \| P–05–814 Pob adeilad newydd yng Nghymru i gael paneli solar \| 72 \| Mai 2018 \| Dau achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am ganlyniad adolygiad y Llywodraeth o Ran L o'r rheoliadau adeiladu. \| \| P–05–831 Rhowch ddiweddar yr annhegwch a'r gwahaniaethu yn y cymorth ariannol a roddir i ddioddefwyr sgandal gwaed wedi'i heintio yng Nghymru \| 159 \| Medi 2018 \| Saith achlysur \| Yn aros am ganlyniad cyfarfodydd a drefnwyd rhwng y Llywodraeth, Haemoffilia Cymru a'r Grŵp Trawsbleidiol ar Waed. Mae'r Llywodraeth wedi cyfeirio at waith i adolygu manteision y cynllun yng Nghymru. \| \| P–05–832 Diwygio'r Cod Derbyn i Ysgolion ynghylch Plant a Anwyd yn ystod yr Haf \| 241 \| Medi 2018 \| Pump achlysur \| Mae'r pwyllgor yn aros am ymgynghoriad ar newidiadau yn y cod derbyn i ysgolion, nad yw wedi'i gyhoeddi. Mae'n bosibl bod y pandemig wedi achosi oedi. \| \| P–05–846 Achub Ysbyty Tywysoeg Philip Llanelli \| 12,745 \| Tachwedd 2018 \| Chwech achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i gadw golwg ar y seyllfa o ystyried nad oedd newidiadau yn cael eu \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| \| \| \| \| cynnig i Ysbyty'r Tywysog Philip. Ni chodwyd unrhyw gynigion pellach. \| \| P-05–849 Dylai pob dyn yng Nghymru gael mynediad drwy'r GIG at y profion diagnostig gorau posibl ar gyfer canser y prostad \| 6,345 \| Rhagfyr 2018 \| Chwech achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn cadw golwg ar weithredu cynllun sganio mpMRI yng Nghymru, yn dilyn cyngor newydd gan NICE. \| \| P-05–853 Na i gau Cyffordd 41 o gwbl \| 473 \| Ionawr 2019 \| Tri achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn cadw golwg ar ganlyniadau monitro a chynigion pellach gan y Llywodraeth. Mae'n bosibl bod y pandemig wedi achosi oedi. \| \| P-05–863 Galwn ar Lywodraeth Cymru i ddarparu cynhrychion hylendid am ddim i bob menyw mewn cartrefi incwm isel \| 141 \| Chwefror 2019 \| Pedwar achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am y wybodaeth ddiweddaraf am y cynnydd gan y Llywodraeth. Ers hynny mae'r deisebydd wedi nodi ei fod yn fodlon â'r sefyllfa. \| \| P-05–869 Datgan Argyfwng Hinsawdd a gosod targedau di-garbon ym mhob polisi \| 6,148 \| Mai 2019 \| Pump achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn cadw golwg ar y sefyllfa yn sgil gwaith sy'n cael ei wneud gan y Pwyllgor Newid Hinsawdd, Amgylchedd a Materion \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| \| \| \| \| Gwledig. Cyflawnwyd y camau sylweddol y gofynnwyd amdanynt drwyddeiseb (datgan argyfwng hinsawdd). \| \| P-05-870 Gadewch i ni Sicrhau y Caiff Calon Pob Person Ifanc (10–35 oed) ei Sgrinio \| 3,444 \| Ebrill 2019 \| Pedwar achlysur \| Yn sgil penderfyniad Pwyllgor Sgrinio Cenedlaethol y DU i beidio ag argymell sgrinio'r boblogaeth yn systematig ar gyfer cyflyrau cardiaidd, gofynnodd y Pwyllgor am farn elusennau eraill ond ni chafwyd dim. \| \| P-05-881 Trwsio ein system gynllunio \| 250 \| Mehefin 2019 \| Tri achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor wedi bod yn aros am y wybodaeth ddiweddaraf am y camau sydd i'w cymryd gan y Llywodraeth yn dilyn ymgynghoriad ar ddiwygiadau i adran dai Polisi Cynllunio Cymru. Mae'r Llywodraeth bellach wedi dirymu Nodyn Cyngor Technegol (TAN) 1. (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P-05-786) \| \| P-05-886 Stopio'r Llwybr Coch (coridor yr A55/A494) \| 1,409 \| Mehefin 2019 \| Naw achlysur \| Bydd y ddeiseb yn cael ei chau ar ôl i ymateb Llywodraeth Cymru i'r adroddiad a gyhoeddodd ar 2 Mawrth gael ei dderbyn. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P-05-889 Labelu Cig o anifeiliaid sydd wedi’u lladd mewn modd crefyddol \| 348 \| Gorffennaf 2019 \| Un achlysur \| Mae’r pwyllgor yn aros am ddatblygiadau pellach yn dilyn ymadawiad y DU â'r UE. Mae'r gwaith ar Farchnad Fewnol y DU yn parhau ac felly nid yw'n eglur a fydd Llywodraeth Cymru yn ennill cymhwysedd yn y maes hwn. \| \| P-05-901 Gwahardd Gwerthu Ffwr Anifeiliaid yng Nghymru \| 3,098 \| Hydref 2019 \| Dau achlysur \| Mae’r pwyllgor yn aros am ddatblygiadau pellach yn dilyn ymadawiad y DU â'r UE. Mae'r gwaith ar Farchnad Fewnol y DU yn parhau ac felly nid yw'n eglur a fydd Llywodraeth Cymru yn ennill cymhwysedd yn y maes hwn. \| \| P-05-904 Gwahardd y defnydd o anifeiliaid mewn syrcasau a sioeau teithiol yng Nghymru \| 1,649 \| Tachwedd 2019 \| Un achlysur \| Daeth Deddf Anifeiliaid Gwyllt a Syrcasau (Cymru) 2020 yn gyfraith yng Nghymru ar 7 Medi 2020 yn dilyn deiseb flaenorol. Ymddengys nad oes camau pellach i'w cymryd ar y mater hwn yn fuan. Rhoddwyd cyfle i'r deisebwr roi sylwadau yn hydref 2020. \| \| P-05-919 Peidiwch â chyflwyno'r syniad i drwyddedu cwn sioe, cathod sioe a cheffylau a ddangosir \| 4,241 \| Rhagfyr 2019 \| Un achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor yn aros am benderfyniadau Llywodraeth Cymru ynghylch cynllun trwyddedu arddangosfeydd anifeiliaid ar ôl ymgynghori, yn dilyn arwydd gan y Gweinidog na fyddai'r \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|----------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------\| \| \| \| \| \| gweithgaredd y cyfeirir ato yn y ddeiseb yn cael ei gynnwys. Mae’n bosibl bod y pandemig wedi effeithio ar y gwaith. \| \| P-05-927 Cyfleusterau toiled Changing Places \| 1,273 \| Ionawr 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Mae’r pwyllgor yn aros am ymgynghoriad ar newidiadau yn y Rheoliadau Adeiladu i wneud darpariaeth cyfleusterau toiled Changing Places yn ddisgwyliedig mewn rhai adeiladau newydd. Cyhoeddwyd yr ymgynghoriad ym mis Chwefror 2021 tan Ebrill 2021. \| \| P-05-936 Cynnig Prawf Sgrinio Canser y Coluddyn ar ôl 74 oed \| 69 \| Chwefror 2020 \| Tri achlysur \| Nid yw cyngor presennol Pwyllgor Sgrinio Cenedlaethol y DU (UKNSC) yn cynnwys sgrinio'r boblogaeth ar ôl 74. Blaenoriaeth y Llywodraeth yw ehangu'r sgrinio i bobl rhwng 50 a 59 yn unol ag argymhelliad UKNSC. \| \| P-05-940 Gostwng nifer y llawdriniaethau a gaiff eu canslo \| 100 \| Mawrth 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Mae’r Pwyllgor yn aros am ddata gan y Llywodraeth. Ers cyflwyno'r ddeiseb, mae'r sefyllfa wedi newid oherwydd y pandemig. \| \| P-05-944 Gwrthdroi'r toriadau i wasanaethau \| 953 \| Mawrth 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i gadw golwg ar y sefyllfa er mwyn ailedrych ar y ddeiseb o bosibl os bydd gwasanaethau rheilffyrdd yn dychwelyd i \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| trenau cymudwyr yng Ngogledd-ddwyraint Cymru \| \| \| \| amserlenni safonol yn ystod y cyfnod hwn. Mae’n aneglur pryd y bydd hyn yn digwydd oherwydd y pandemig. \| \| P–05–965 Annog y Llywodraeth i gyflwyno ward ar wahân, heblaw'r ward famolaeth, ar gyfer teuluuoedd sy'n colli plentyn drwy gamesgoriad. \| 52 \| Gorffennaf 2020 \| Tri achlysur \| Rhoddodd y Pwyllgor grynodeb o'r dystiolaeth a gasglwyd gan fyrddau iechyd i'r Llywodraeth. \| \| P–05–975 Ailustyriwch y codiad i'r dreth gyngor ar gyfer ail gartrefi tra'i bod yn anghyfreithlon i deithio i ail gartrefi. \| 68 \| Gorffennaf 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Mae'r Pwyllgor wedi bod yn aros am ymateb gan Gyngor Sir Penfro. Cyfrifoldeb awdurdodau lleol unigol yw materion. \| \| P–05–977 Ailagor gwasanaethau deintyddol cyffredinol llawn yng Nghymru fel sydd wedi digwydd yn Lloegr \| 7,583 \| Gorffennaf 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i gadw golwg ar y sefyllfa ac aros am ddiweddarriad pellach gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P–05–980 Ymestyn grantiau ar unwaith i fusnesau bach yng Nghymru nad ydynt yn cael eu cynnwys yn y Rhyddhad Ardrethi Busnesau Bach \| 130 \| Gorffennaf 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Gofynnodd y Pwyllgor am rago'r wybodaeth am faint y disgresiwn sydd ar gael i awdurdodau lleol o ran darparu cyllid i fusnesau y tu allan i Ryddhad Ardrethi Busnesau Bach. Cadarnhawyd bod disgresiwn yn bodoli mewn perthynas â deisebau eraill. \| \| P–05–1027 Caniatáu clybiau pêl-droed domestig Cymru i chwarae gemau cyfeillgar, a chaniatáu cefnogwyr i fynd i'r gemau \| 2,045 \| Hydref 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Mae'r pwyllgor yn cadw golwg ar y seyllfa oherwydd newid yn y rheolau presennol ledled y DU o ganlyniad i adfywiad y pandemig. Newidiodd yr amgylchiadau oherwydd symud i Rybudd Lefel 4. (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P–05–1101) \| \| P–05–1028 Llaciwch y cyfyngiadau gormodol i ganiatáu i raliâu chwaraeon modur gael eu cynnal yng Nghymru. \| 3,889 \| Hydref 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Mae'r pwyllgor yn cadw golwg ar y seyllfa oherwydd newid yn y rheolau presennol ledled y DU o ganlyniad i adfywiad y pandemig. Newidiodd yr amgylchiadau oherwydd symud i Rybudd Lefel 4. \| \| P–05–1037 Caniatáu i blant fynd i mewn i ardaloedd \| 9,867 \| Tachwedd 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Mae'r pwyllgor yn cadw golwg ar y seyllfa oherwydd newid yn y rheolau ledled y DU o \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| dan gyfyngiadau symud i barhau i hyfforddi gyda'u clybiau chwaraeon \| \| \| \| ganlyniad i adfywiad y pandemig. Newidiodd y seyllfa ers cyflwyno'r ddeiseb oherwydd i Lywodraeth Cymru osod rheolau cenedlaethol. \| \| P-05-1050 Ei gwneud yn ofynnol i'r Senedd gynnal pleidlais i gymeradwy cyfyngiadau lleol cyn eu gweithredu \| 127 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim \| \| P-05-1053 Cadwch gampfeydd ar agor ac ystyriwch eu bod nhw mor bwysig â siopau, os cyflwynir cyfyngiadau symud cenedlaethol unwaith yn rhagor \| 20,616 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Trafodwyd y ddeiseb yn y Cyfarfod Llawn fel rhan o ddadl ar fynediad at chwaraeon a gweithgaredd corfforol yn ystod cyfyngiadau symud. \| \| \| \| \| \| Mae deisebau eraill ynghylch ailagor campfeydd yn cael eu hystyried ar 16 Mawrth. \| \| P-05-1054 Mae'r sector gwalt a harddwch wedi profi ei fod yn ddiogel o ran COVID-19. Peidiwch â'n cau \| 6,074 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Mae'r pwyllgor yn cadw golwg ar y seyllfa oherwydd newid yn y rheolau presennol ledled y DU o ganlyniad i adfywiad y pandemig ac i \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| a pheryglu swyddi yng Nghymru unwaith yn rhagor. \| \| \| \| aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| P-05-1057 Cynyddu nifer y bobl sy'n cael mynd i dderbyniadau priodas. \| 984 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. Mae deiseb arall ynghylch pryd y gall priodasau ailddechrau yn cael ei hystyried ar 16 Mawrth. \| \| P-05-1063 Dylid agor cyrsiau golff gan eu bod yn chwarae rôl hanfodol o ran gwella iechyd corfforol ac iechyd meddyliol \| 6,317 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Trafodwyd y ddeiseb yn y Cyfarfod Llawn fel rhan o ddadl ar fynediad at chwaraeon a gweithgaredd corfforol yn ystod cyfyngiadau symud. Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| P-05-1072 Ymchwilio i'r pwerau sydd gan Senedd Cymru mewn perthynas â gwahardd therapi newid cyfeiriadedd rhywiol. \| 144 \| Rhagfyr 2020 \| Dau achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P-05-1082 Gadewch i gorau ymarfer dan do os ydyn nhw'n cynhyrchu asesiad risg llawn i atal haint C-19 \| 498 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| P-05-1084 Dysgwch blant Cymru am sut y gwnaeth Cymru wladychu Patagonia \| 103 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| \| \| \| \| Mae'r Bil Cwricwlwm ac Asesu (Cymru) bellach wedi'i basio gan y Senedd. \| \| \| \| \| \| (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P-05-1098) \| \| P-05-1085 Gwneud hyfforddiant gwrth-hiliaeth yn orfodol i bob Cynghorydd etholedig ac Aelod o'r Senedd yng Nghymru" \| 142 \| Chwefror 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P-05-1087 Rhowch derfyn ar ynysu torfol gan blant ysgol iach! \| 1,177 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| P-05-1091 Dileu Bagloriaeth Cymru orfodol i fyfyrwyr sydd am fynd i'r Brifysgol \| 63 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| P-05-1096 Dileu Addysg Cydberthynas a Rhywioldeb o'r elfen orfodol o Fil Cwricwlwm 2020 \| 5,307 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i gadw golwg ar y mater yn sgil gwaith craffu parhaus ar y Bil Cwricwlwm ac Asesu (Cymru). Mae'r Bil Cwricwlwm ac Asesu (Cymru) bellach wedi'i basio gan y Senedd. Ni chytunwyd ar welliannau i ddileu Addysg Cydberthynas a Rhywioldeb o agweddau gorfodol y Cwricwlwm. \| \| P-05-1098 Dylai rôl Cymru yn hanes trefedigaethol Prydain fod yn bwnc gorfodol mewn ysgolion. \| 50 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. Mae'r Bil Cwricwlwm ac Asesu (Cymru) bellach wedi'i basio gan y Senedd. \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y sefyllfa bresennol \| \|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|------------------\|------------------------------------------\|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P-05-1084) \| \| \| \| \| \| P-05-1101 Caniatáu i gefnogwyr fynychu digwyddiadau chwaraeon yng Nghymru \| 105 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Mae'r pwyllgor yn cadw golwg ar y sefyllfa oherwydd newid yn y rheolau presennol ledled y DU o ganlyniad i adfywiad y pandemig. Newidiodd yr amgylchiadau oherwydd symud i Rybudd Lefel 4. (Deiseb wedi'i grwpio gyda P-05-1027) \| \| P-05-1102 Caniatáu o leiaf un rhiant neu warcheidwad i wyllo gemau pêl-droed sydd wedi'u trefnu i blant \| 52 \| Ionawr 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd. Ni chafwyd dim. \| \| P-05-1111 Rhowch y £7 miliwn yn ôl yn y gronfa Trawsnewid lechyd Meddwl \| 255 \| Mawrth 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y Pwyllgor i aros am sylwadau gan y deisebydd, gyda'r bwriad o gau'r ddeiseb ar 16 Mawrth pe na bai dim yn dod i law. \| \| P-05-1115 Atal fferm solar anferth fydd yn dinistro dolydd hynafol ger y Fenni \| 258 \| Chwefror 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cytunodd y pwyllgor i gadw golwg ar y ddeiseb tan ddiwedd tymor y Senedd. Mae gan y datblygwyr tan fis Ionawr 2022 i gyflwyno cais a fydd yn cael ei ystyried yn Ddatblygiad o \| \| Teitl y ddeiseb \| Llofnodion \| Cyfarfod cyntaf \| Y nifer o weithiau y cawsant eu hystyried \| Y seyllfa bresennol \| \|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------\|------------\|----------------\|------------------------------------------\|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\| \| P-05-1137 Galwad ar i Lywodraeth Cymru roi cylid teg i Lyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru \| 14,338 \| Chwefror 2021 \| Un achlysur \| Cyhoeddodd y Llywodraeth gyllid ychwanegol ar gyfer Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru. Darparwyd sylwadau pellach y deisebydd i'r Llywodraeth eu hystyried. \| Dear Janet, Thank you for your letter of 25 June to Grant Shapps, supporting a new railway station in St Clears. I am replying as the Minister responsible for this area. I apologise for the long delay in responding to you. The Department for Transport has launched a £500 million Restoring Your Railway Fund. We are inviting MPs, local councils and community groups across England and Wales to propose how they could use funding to reinstate axed local services and restore stations. There are two areas within the Restoring Your Railway Fund that may be of interest to you. The first is the Ideas Fund, which is about levelling up and improving connections to communities. It is inspired by communities affected by Beeching cuts, but not limited to Beeching line restoration. The second area within the Restoring Your Railway Fund is the New Station Fund, which you mention in your letter. The New Station Fund will benefit some areas that may never have been served by rail. And this is just the beginning. As we assess and develop schemes, there is the ambition to expand the funding available. Ultimately our plan is to level up local economies across the country, improving access to jobs and education and boosting the wider region. The criteria for the Ideas Fund are different to the criteria for the New Station Fund. The Ideas Fund is for early stage schemes, whereas the New Station Fund is for much further advanced schemes. It is possible that a scheme will exit from the Ideas Fund once it has progressed to the Strategic Outline Business Case stage to be proposed for further funding from the New Station Fund. You can find additional information about both of these funds on GOV.UK$^1$ which you might find useful. Thank you again for your email raising this matter with me. I hope this information is helpful. Yours sincerely, Chris Heaton-Harris MP Minister of State for Transport $^1$ www.gov.uk/government/collections/restoring-your-railway-fund Dear Janet, Thank you for sending me the additional correspondence from a petitioner that you have received in connection with P-05-1017 Allow pupils to wear masks in all areas of the school. The information has been passed to policy leads for consideration as part of the ongoing review process into face coverings in schools. Yours sincerely Kirsty Williams AS/MS Y Gweinidog Addysg Minister for Education Dear Janet, Thank you for your letter of 26 October regarding petition P-05-825 on protecting children's lungs from harmful pollution whilst at school. I am grateful to you for sharing the petitioner’s latest comments on the Clean Air Plan for Wales: Healthy Air, Healthy Wales and our White Paper on a Clean Air Bill for Wales. I am pleased to read the positive comments from the petitioner on our work so far and am keen to continue working closely with them to develop and implement policies to further improve air quality in Wales. However, I note several specific concerns raised by the petitioner and hope to offer some assurances below. Funding at a Local Authority level The petitioner has concerns regarding financial implications for Local Authorities delivering air quality improvements. For instance, through smoke control and tackling air pollution from domestic combustion. This was an issue identified through the consultation on our Clean Air Plan for Wales. We received feedback from Local Authorities across Wales, highlighting the need to ensure there is sufficient funding for any extra duties we place on them. We are working with Local Authorities in Wales, as we develop the Clean Air Bill for Wales, to ensure we fully understand impacts of new legislative duties on them. New responsibilities will be assessed and appropriately funded to ensure we deliver the best outcomes for public health and the environment. The petitioner calls for a detailed analysis of the monitoring measures undertaken in areas of known air quality issues in Local Authorities where Local Sustainable Transport Covid Response funding was granted this year. The primary purpose of this funding was to introduce temporary measures to improve the safety and conditions for sustainable and active travel modes. Overall, I am supportive of proposals which can deliver potential air quality benefits if modal shift is achieved. But, I am aware road space reallocation can increase congestion and worsen air quality. Not all funded measures are expected to have a direct impact on air quality. However, a condition of funding was for air quality to be monitored in areas where such measures are being introduced and there are known air quality issues. Local Authorities are, otherwise, already required to monitor air quality within their areas under the Local Air Quality Management regime. I agree we should seek to retain the improvements to air quality which have resulted from working from home. Welsh Government has publicly stated its intention to develop a hybrid workplace model, where staff can work in the office, at home, or in a hub location. The aim is this will enable 30% or more of workers to work remotely, helping reduce air pollution and congestion, and improving work-life balance for employees and employers. Exclusion Zones In our Clean Air Plan for Wales, we committed to further examine the evidence base for strengthening anti-idling measures. As part of our White Paper on a Clean Air Bill for Wales, we will seek to strengthen powers to address road vehicle idling, subject to the outcome of further examination of evidence. My officials are currently considering the use of school exclusion zones as a measure to reduce air pollution. They hosted a webinar on Clean Air Day which explored this matter as part of our wider proposals to enhance Local Air Quality Management and anti-idling provisions through the Clean Air Bill for Wales. WHO Guidelines As the petitioner notes, we have committed to new evidence-based, health-focused targets for fine particulate matter (which take account of stringent World Health Organisation guidelines values). We will consult on our pathway to new air quality targets through our consultation on a White Paper on a Clean Air Bill for Wales. We do not yet know whether it is possible to achieve the WHO guideline everywhere across Wales, and how and by when it could be achieved, if it is possible. Future targets for ambient levels of fine particulate matter need to be underpinned by the right evidence and metrics to achieve the most effective improvement, supporting the delivery of our well-being goals. I have convened a Clean Air Advisory Panel to provide advice and recommendations to the Welsh Government on air quality matters in Wales, including the development of new targets for particulate matter. White Paper on a Clean Air Bill for Wales The petitioner expressed concern at the lack of detail in the Clean Air Plan regarding the content in the White Paper on a Clean Air Bill for Wales. When the Clean Air Plan was published in August, it was not possible to provide more detail on content of the White Paper as my officials were still in the process of developing evidence and engaging with relevant stakeholders. More specific and detailed information on new air quality legislation proposals will be included in the consultation on the White Paper on a Clean Air Bill for Wales. I look forward to receiving the petitioner’s views on this White Paper, which I intend to publish before the end of this Senedd term. In relation to the request to introduce the Clean Air Plan for Wales in the Senedd, I have previously made a statement on the consultation draft. Our proposals in relation to the Clean Air Act will be introduced to the Senedd for scrutiny early next year. I hope this information is helpful. Yours Sincerely, Lesley Griffiths AS/MS Gweinidog yr Amgylchedd, Ynni a Materion Gwledig Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs Dear Janet, Thank you for your letter dated 18 November. I acknowledge there are high numbers of older people experiencing abuse, and that the COVID pandemic has made this group of victims particularly more vulnerable. I am committed in ensuring that the issues raised in the petition are all dealt appropriately and with consideration. Welsh Government will continue to work closely with, the Older People’s Commissioner, to ensure there is adequate support and appropriate accommodation to enable older people fleeing domestic abuse. This year we have invested over £1.3 million for disbursed community accommodation for those for whom refuge might not be the right answer, including older people. Recognising the impact COVID restrictions would have on all victims of violence and abuse, we launched a multi-media campaign in April this year. The campaign ‘Home shouldn’t be a place of fear’ reminds victims that services are still operating, and to encourage bystanders and concerned others to access help and information. Home shouldn’t be a place of fear has been shared widely across TV, Radio, National and local news and press, online, and with support of community networks such as pharmacies, local supermarkets and police forces, reaching the most vulnerable. We developed the campaign with the support of the VAWDASV Communication group, which Dewis Choice is a member of, ensuring that the needs of older people are considered throughout our communications. Another multimedia phase of the campaign is planned for the New Year. I understand the Commissioner recently wrote to ONS raising her concern about data collection for older people. I will ensure that officials continue to represent Welsh Government in the Commissioners meetings. Yours sincerely, Jane Hutt AS/MS Y Dirprwy Weinidog a'r Prif Chwip Deputy Minister and Chief Whip Dear Janet, Thank you for your letter of 16 December 2020 about Petition P-05-1077 Stop the voting boundary change to Ystrad Mynach south. I note the decision reached by the Committee that no further action is to be taken and that the petition is now closed. I am grateful to you for providing me with the petitioner’s further comments on this matter and I can confirm I will consider these alongside others I have received about the Final Report of the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission which proposes changes to the County Borough of Caerphilly electoral arrangements. I issued a written statement setting out the position relating to the current Programme of Electoral Arrangements Reviews for Principal Councils. I attach a link to the statement for ease of reference. https://gov.wales/written-statement-programme-electoral-arrangements-reviews-principal-councils-current-position The statement makes reference to a small number of reviews which have attracted a significant amount of representations. These include the final recommendations for the future electoral arrangements in the County Borough of Caerphilly. The statement confirms during the coming months I will be considering carefully the points raised during the representation period which will inform future decisions. Yours sincerely, Julie James AS/MS Y Gweinidog Tai a Llywodraeth Leol Minister for Housing and Local Government 12 Chwefror 2021 Annwyl Janet Deiseb P-05-812 Dylid gweithredu canllawiau NICE ar gyfer trin Anhwylder Personoliaeth Ffiniol Diolch am eich llythyr dyddiedig 10 Chwefror ynghylch y ddeiseb uchod. Yn y llythyr hwnnw, roeddch yn ceisio gwybodaeth ynghylch a yw'r Pwyllgor lechyd, Gofal Cymdeithasol a Chwaraeon wedi gwneud unrhyw waith crafu ar weithredu canllawiau NICE yng Nghymru. Mewn ymateb i'r cwestiwn yn eich llythyr, gallaf gadarnhau bod y Pwyllgor lechyd, Gofal Cymdeithasol a Chwaraeon yn ystyried canllawiau NICE lle bo hynny'n berthnasol yn ystod ein gwaith crafu, er enghraifft mewn perthynas â gwaith y Pwyllgor ar wasanaethau endosgopi yn 2019, neu'r gwaith ar strategaeth genedlaethol ddrafwt Llywodraeth Cymru ar ddementia yn 2017. Yn ein hadroddiad etifeddiaeth, rydym yn disgwyl cynnwys amlinelliad o'r materion y bydd ein Pwyllgor olynol yn y Chweched Senedd o bosibl yn dymuno eu hystyried. Byddwn yn cynnwys cyfeiriad at awgrym y Pwyllgor Deisebau mewn perthynas â gweithredu canllawiau NICE yng Nghymru. Diolch i chi am ymgysylltu'n gyson â'r Pwyllgor lechyd, Gofal Cymdeithasol a Chwaraeon ar y materion trawsbynciol hyn. Yn gywir, [Signature] Dr Dai Lloyd AS Cadeirydd y Pwyllgor Iechyd, Gofal Cymdeithasol a Chwaraeon Tudalen y pecyn 312 Mae cyfynigiadau ar y ddogfen hon Tudalen y pecyn 313
https://www.mariebergstedtartist.com Instagram: marie47bergstedt Facebook: marie.bergstedt.79 SELECT JURIED, CURATED, and INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS 2024 "Personal Structures", Art Biennial Venice, ITALY; Invited by The European Cultural Centre ``` 2024 "Fiber in 3D", Fiber Art Now Magazine, Juried by the Fiber Art Now Creative Team 2023 "Korea Bojagi Forum2023", City Hall Citizen's Gallery, Seoul, KOREA, Jurors:Kim Chandong, Beatrijs Sterk, Yosi Anaya 2023 "From Lausanne to Beijing"- Shanghai Songjiang Special Edition, Tsinghua Holdings Habitat Development Art Museum, Invited. 2023 "International Fiber Arts XI", Sebastopol Center for the Arts, CA, Jurors: Ann Johnson & Judith Content 2023 "Crocker Art Museum 2023 Art Auction", Sacramento, CA, Juried by the Museum's curators 2023 "Transition & Innovation", Art Museum RIGA BOURSE, Riga, LATVIA, Six International Jurors 2023 "The 11th International Mini Textile and Fibre Art Exhibition 'Scythia', Ivano-Frankivs'k UKRAINE 2023 "Fiber Reimagined", Gravers Lane Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Juror: Bruce Hoffman 2023 "2023 Left Coast Annual", Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA, Juror: Renee Villasenor 2023 "Irreversible", Miami Dade College, Hialeah Campus, Floria, Curated/Invited by Noor Blazekovic 2023 "Safe Keeping", 108/Contemporary, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Juror: Anita Fields, Sponsor: Surface Design Association 2023 "Women Artists Making Their Mark", O'Hanlon Online Gallery, Mill Valley CA, Jurors:Donna Seager/Suzanne Gray 2023 "Fresh Art 2023", Marin Society of Artists online, CA, Juror: Donna Seager, Honorable Mention 2023 "Women in Art, 2023", Las Laguna Art Gallery online, Laguna Beach, CA 2023 "The Sheridan Prize for Art", San Francisco Bay Area; Honorable Mention in Women Artists Category 2023 "Imprisoned" Studio Art Quilt Associates Virtual Gallery, Curator: Mieke Leenders 2023 "Fiber Dimensions at Smith Ranch", San Rafael, CA 2023 "Fiber Dimensions at the Bay Model", San Rafael CA 2022 "From Lausanne to Beijing International Fiber Art Biennale", Yunnan Museum, CHINA, Invited 2022 "Personal Structures", Art Biennial Venice, ITALY; Invited by The European Cultural Centre 2022 "World Textile Art 10th International Biennial", Miami FL, USA, Invited by Pilar Tobon 2022 "Dollhouse: Art as Serious Play", ARC Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Invited by Pricilla Otani & Tanya Willkinson 2022 "Finding Your Thread", Timeless Textiles Gallery, Newcastle East, AUSTRALIA; Invited by Anne Kempton 2022 "Art Quilts 2", Sanchez Center for the Arts and Mistlin Gallery, CA, Selections juried by SAQA Northern CA 2022 "Feminist Connect" Charles Adam Studio Project, Lubbock, Texas; Invited by Sally Brown and Leslie Sotomayor 2022 "Humanity", ART FLUENT online gallery; Curated/Juried by Amy Matteson Neil and anonymous committee 2022 "Fresh Art 2022", Marin Society of Artists, San Rafael, CA; Juror: Jen Tough 2022 "The Sheridan Prize for Art", San Francisco Bay Area competition; Honorable Mention in Sculpture Category 2022 "Small Works Members Exhibition", Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 2022 "FORECAST//RECAST", Surface Design Association, Chehalem Cultural Center, Oregon; Juror: Tanya Aguinigua 2022 "FOMENT", San Francisco Art Institute Alumni Exhibition, Studio Judy G, Watsonville, CA 2021 "The Sheridan Prize for Art", San Francisco Bay Area competition; First Prize Award in Women Artists Category 2021 "Lin LeCheng and his friends", Tsinghua Holdings Habitat Museum, Shanghai; Invited by Lin LeCheng 2021 "Ain't the Archies", Timeless Textiles Gallery, Newcastle East, AUSTRALIA; Invited by Anne Kempton 2021 "11th Lausanne to Beijing Biennale", (2020-21online); juried by 21 international art leaders, Excellence Award 2021 "The 10th International Biennial Exhibition of Mini Textile Art "Scythia", Frankivs'k UKRAINE; Curated 2021 "Crocker Kingsley 2021", Blue Line Arts, Roseville, CA; Juror: Carrie Lederer 2021 "Art Quilts 2", California Heritage Museum, Santa Monica, CA: Jurors: Toby Smith, Michael Trotter, Helen Harding 2021 "Intersect Chicago", Moved to Online because of COVID, Chicago, Illinois, SAQA, Juror: Barbara Lee Smith 2021 "The Second Half"' Las Laguna Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2021 "Artopia", San Fernando Valley Arts and Cultural Center, Encino, CA; Juror: Quinton Bemiller 2021 "Eye of the Beholder", Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Jurors chosen by the director 2021 "Repurposeful", Randall Museum, San Francisco, CA; Jurors: Chris Boettcher, Jeanne Gerrity, Christine Koppes 2021 "All About Women". Marin Society of Artists, San Rafael, CA; Jurors: Josh Paquette & Josh Otten 2021 "In All Their Glory", Poway Center for the Performing Arts, CA; Curated by Heather Urquhart and Kathy Piper 2020 NINETEEN JURIED AND INVITATIONAL EXHIBITS INCLUDING: 2020 "TexpoART", Textile Art International Triennial, National University of Arts & Romanian Artists Union, ROMANIA 2020 13th International Textile Art Biennial "Scythia", UKRAINE, juried by Scythia Organizers 2020 "Work in Process" Pre-Biennial World Textile Art Online, Santiago, CHILE, panel of WTA jurors ``` Marie Bergstedt 1 2020 2020 2020 " Festival of Quilts" ,Birmingham, England, Intersect Chicago: The Future of SOFA Judge's Choice Award for Art Quilts (exhibitor and webinar peresenter), Chicago, IL; Juror: Jane Sauer " MFA Never",Root Division, San Francisco, CA; Jurors: Kevin B. Chen, Eleanor Harwood, & Marie Martraire 2020 " Amendments" , YUMA Art Center,Yuma, AZ, Juried by Yuma Art Symposium ``` 2020 "Well-Behaved Women: Celebating 100 Years of Women's Suffrage", Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, Indiana, Invited by Director Janet Bloch 2020 "SAQA 3-D Expression", Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, New York, (traveling) 2020 "Spinning Yarns", ACCI, Berkeley, CA. Invited by curator Melissa Woodburn 2020 Crocker Art Museum juried Art Auction 2020, Sacramento, CA 2020 "Women Artists Making Their Mark", O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley,CA; Jurors:Donna Seager & Suzanne Gray 2019 ELEVEN JURIED AND INVITATIONAL EXHIBITS INCLUDING: 2019 "World Textile Art VIII Bienal" International de Arte textil Contemporaneomento, Madrid, SPAIN, Jurors: Velta Raudzepa (Latvia), Marta Kowalewska (Poland), Tania Pardo (Spain) 2019 "Beyond the Surface", SDA Biennial, St. Louis, Missouri, Second Place Award, Jurors; Jim Arendt & Jo Stealey 2019 "Mill Hands", Solo Exhibit, Prairie Ronde Gallery, Vicksburg, Michigan; Invited by John Kern 2019 "The Festival of Quilts", NEC, Birmingham, ENGLAND 2019 "SAQA 3D Expression", Gerald Ford Presidential Museum, Michigan & traveling, Ohio, Mississippi 2019 "FOLKSY", Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Dowell, MD,Jurors from Smithsonian Institution 2019 "Resolutions", Solo Exhibit, Canessa Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Invited by Zach Stewart 2019 "ITAB IV International TECHstyle Art Biennial", San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, CA; Jurors: Nathalie Miebach, Clay Bavor, Janet Echelman 2019 "Teapots! 13th Invitational Exhibition", Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, PA; Invited by Amy Morgan 2018 SEVENTEEN JURIED AND INVITATIONAL EXHIBITS INCLUDING: 2018 "Chaozhou International Embroidery Art Biennale", Chaozhou City Museum, China: " "Specially Invited Artist" by Executive Curator Lin LeCheng 2018 "Liberty", ARC Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Juror's Award by Donna Seager 2018 "10th From Lausanne to Beijing International Fiberart Biennale, Beijing, CHINA; Council of Jurors 2018 "Revelations", Solo Exhibit, Throckmorton Theatre, Mill Valley, CA; Invited by Ronie Dalton & Margaret Moster 2018 "Fiber Art in A Care Narrative", Tsinghua University, Beijing, CHINA; Invited by Kelly Liang 2018 "The Museum of Curious Perceptions", Pajaro Valley Arts Gallery, Watsonville, CA; Invited by Rose Sellery 2018 Fourth Wall Gallery, Two-person exhibit with Roz Ritter, Oakland, CA, Invited by Susan Aulik 2018 "Valdosta National 2018", Dedo Maranville Gallery, Valdosta State Univ., GA; Juror: Linda Hall Honorable Mention 2017 TEN JURIED AND INVITATIONAL EXHIBITS INCLUDING: 2017 "FIBER ARTS VIII", Sebastopol Center for the Arts, CA; Jurors: Eszter Bornemisza,Wendy Lugg, Jason Pollen 2017 "FACETS", Blue Line Arts, Roseville, CA; Small-Group show, Invited by Tony Natsoulas 2017 "Teapots! 11th Invitational", Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, Invited by Amy Morgan 2017 "Out of the Ordinary", Artik:Art & Architecture, San Jose, CA, Invited by Kathryn Funk 2016 THIRTEEN JURIED AND INVITATIONAL EXHIBITS INCLUDING: 2016 "World of Threads Festival", www. whimsical, wacky and Wild, CANADA; Curators: Dawne Rudman & Gareth Bate 2016 "Wedding Dress: Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow", San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, CA; Invited by Kate Eilertsen 2016 "Fiberart International 2016", Pittsburgh, PA, People's Choice Award at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts 2016 "Four Your Entertainment" Invitational Exhibition, somethings looming gallery, Reading PA 2016 "By Hand", Blue Line Arts, Roseville, CA; Juror: Elizabeth R. Agro, First Place 2016 "Outside the Line", Marin Society of Artists, San Rafael, CA; Juror: Stuart Wagner Honorable Mention 2016 "Threads", Annmarie Sculpture Garden, MD; Juror: Renate Maile-Moskowitz, Juror's Award 2016 "2016 NICHE Awards", American Made Show, Washington DC, Finalist 2015 SIX JURIED AND INVITATIONAL EXHIBITS INCLUDING: 2015 Solo Exhibition, Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery, Coastal Carolina Univ; Invited by Director James Arendt 2015 "Bold Expressions", Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Carmichael, CA; Juror: Margot Schulzke Best of Show Award 2014 FOURTEEN JURIED EXHIBITIONS INCLUDING: 2014 "BeachComber Art", Annmarie Sculpture Garden, Dowell MD; Jurors:Mark Haddon & Jenny Walton Awarded Future Exhibit 2014 "29th Tallahassee International", Florida State Univ. Gallery, Jurors: Carrie Anne Baade & John Mann 2014 "Me, Myself & I", some things looming gallery, Reading, PA; Juror: Bruce Hoffman Awarded Future Exhibit 2014 "Reflections", Main Gallery Solo: Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, CA; Invited by: Sandra Hemsworth Petrich 2014 "Constructed Visions", St. Louis Artists' Guild, Clayton, MO; Juror: Erin Furimsky Elaine Small Award 2013 THIRTEEN JURIED EXHIBITIONS INCLUDING: 2013 "Threads", Tubac Center of the Arts, Tubac, AZ: Juror: Kay Khan Best of Show Award ``` Marie Bergstedt 2 ``` 2013 "Fresh Art", Marin Society of Artists, Ross, CA; Juror: Rene de Guzman First Place Award 2013 "Relativism": TWO PERSON EXHIBIT, Merced College Art Gallery, CA, Curated by Susanne French & College Faculty 2013 "FiberArt 2013 International", Pittsburgh, PA and traveling to San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, CA 2013 "Fantastic Fibers 2013", Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY; Juror: Rusty Freeman Second Place Award 2006 -2012 FIFTY EIGHT FIBER ART EXHIBITIONS 1979-1986 MORE THAN 30 JURIED EXHIBITIONS, including two solo and four 2/3-person exhibits of photography. AWARDS IN ADDITION TO THOSE APPEARING UNDER EXHIBITIONS ABOVE 2007-2013 11 awards in fiber not listed above.1979-1985 9 awards for photography, drawing, and painting; purchase awards and touring exhibits ``` BIBLIOGRAPHY AND PRESS 2023 SF Senior Beat, "Buttons, strings and fabric scraps...", by Tom Carter, San Francisco, CA, April 7, 2023. 2023 Fiber Art Now Magazine, "Fiber Reimagined", Spring Edition, page 29. 2022 Diseno Interior,"Puntada Power", La Reinvencion del Textile en Arte, by Pilar Gomez, Rodriguez, Image pg. 57. 2021 Artists of the Bay Area, Curated by Jenn Tough Gallery, USA, 2022. 2021 Fiber Art in a Care Narrative, by Kelly Liang, 4 images and text pages 122-123, published in Chinese. 2021 Artistonish Magazine, June 2021 issue. Juried international competition www.artitonish.com 2021 20 Years of Review and Reflection: "From Lausanne to Beijing", Kelly Liang, Chinese Academic Journal Pg 123 2020 The Beacher, "Celebrating 100 Years of Women's Suffrage". 7-16-2020, pgs 5-6, Linda Weigel 2020 Fibre Arts Australia fibre e.zine, 2 double pages, invited for first publication. 2019 WTA Biennial in Madrid:https://www.textile-forum-blog.org/, Beatrijs Sterk. 2019 South County News, "Prairie Ronde Artist Residency Chooses Vicksburg Native", Sue Moore, 8-2019, Issue 75, Page 34. 2019 Zhuangshi China, "The Exploration of New Era Fiber Art", 2019.3 pgs 52-57, by Hong Xingyu 2018 World Affairs Pictorial - ART, "From Lausanne to Beijing", pg. 24, November 2018, China 2018 In a Different Voice, Fiber Art In A Care Narrative, by Kai Liang, Beijing, China 2017 SAS PYRAMID editions, Paris, France, pages 250-254, Invited by Charlotte Vannier 2017 Artistry in Fiber Sculpture, VOL. 2, invited by co-editors E.Ashley Rooney and Anne Lee, Schiffer Publishing 2016 Sacramento Bee, "By Hand 2016" weaves together winning works, Victoria Dalkey, 1-27-2016 2016 Fiber Art Now Excellence in Fibers online selections for 1st Annual Exhibition 2015 2015 Portraits Exhibition, Artist Portfolio Magazine; Issue 25, Page 27 2014 TextileArt around the World, Textile-link books, Ruurloseweg, The Netherlands 2014 LES FEMMES FOLLES: The Women 2013, (Les Femmes Folles Books, 2014, edited by Sally Deskins) 2014 Anthology of Contemporary Textile & Fibre Art, 1 st Place Award Cover & 4-page spread, Mar 2014,Canada 2014 The Ultimate Guide to Art Quilting, Linda Seward (UK), Sixth & Spring Books, New York 2014 Hidden Treasures Art Magazine Yearbook, HT Art Magazine Publishing, Croydon/Surrey UK 2014 "Me, Myself and I:Redefining the self-portrait", Ron Schira, Reading Eagle, PA, May 4, 2014, pg E13 2013 Stories We Tell, Book in support of women artists sponsored by Women's Caucus for Art, pg 75 2013 "Marie Bergstedt",K.O. Jewel.com, Precious Media, September 1, 2013 2013 "Fantastic Fibers 2013" , Fiber Art Now, pg.58, Volume 2, Issue 4, Summer 2013. 2013 FIBERART INTERNATIONAL 2013, Textile Forum, pg. 14, 1/2013 March, German magazine. 2013 FIBERART INTERNATIONAL, embroidery, pg.11, May/June 2013, UK magazine. 2010-2021 Eleven additional books and news articles. 1979 – 1986 Five news articles and three catalogs for photography. INTERVIEWs and Invited Blogposts 2022 Art Spiel: Feminist Connect, Sally Brown in conversation with Marie Bergstedt, Amy Chaiklin, and Laurence de Valmy 2022 Shout Out, https://shoutoutsocal.com/meet-marie-bergstedt-visual-artist/, July 12, 2022 2021 Timeless Textiles Gallery, Anne Kempton, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v+VHmL8v0sOfw&t=2s 2021 Fiberart International: Interview with Marie Bergstedt, by Katie Bulova, June 30, 2021 2021 Les Femmes Folles: Feminists Connect, Curator: Sally Deskins Brown 2020 SAQA and Intersect Chicago: The Future of SOFA, Zoom Panel, November 11, 2020 2019 Yuma Symposium Blog, by 2020 Presenter Marie Bergstedt, November 14, 2019 2019 Prairie Ronde, Taylor Kallio, Aerial Media, Kalamazoo, Michigan, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EAvI2hT75MfAO21l0ezoi0zQ_knzDKqb/view?usp=sharing 2019 Create Whimsy, https://createwhimsy.com/projects/spotlight-marie-bergstedt-sculptural-mixed-media-artist/ 2015 - 2012 Five additional interviews Marie Bergstedt 3 ARTIST RESIDENCIES 2019 Artist Resident,Prairie Ronde Artist Residency,Vicksburg, Michigan 2018 Artists in Action,Annmarie Sculpture Garden, & Arts Center,Dowell, MD 2015 Artist Fellow, Lucas Artists Programs, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA 2012 Artist Resident,The Studios of Key West, Florida WORKSHOPS/LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS by Marie Bergstedt: 2021-2023 Three annual conferences: International Scientific and Practical Conference, Kherson,UKRAINE, 2020 Artist Presenter: Yuma Art Symposium and Arizona Western College, Yuma, AZ 2017-2022 Thirteen additional lectures and two workshops in colleges and art centers Marie Bergstedt 4
DRAFT THE GLOBAL FUND ON HIV/AIDS AND HEALTH AFRICAN CONSUTATIVE MEETING ON COUNTRY LEVEL ISSUES Lilongwe, Malawi 12 and 13 November 2001 Background Africa with an estimated 797 million people that is 13 percent of the world's population and 23 percent of the world's total land area) has recorded about 25 million cases of HIV/AIDS out of the 34.5 million cases recorded worldwide. This constitutes 72% of the World's total. Of the total deaths from HIV/AIDS of 18.8 million Africa Sub-Sahara alone has recorded 14.8 million, either 78.7% of the World's total. The trend has continued to grow with increase in new cases seen in young men and women. Today, the continents average HIV/AIDS prevalence is put at 8.7% with some countries in the continent having an average of 33% seroprevalence rate among the adult population. Most affected are women, who constitute 55% of all cases recorded. So far a staggering number of orphans from HIV/AIDS have been reported in the continent and this figure continues to grow. Of the 13.2 million cumulative number of orphans worldwide, 12.1 million are in Africa. In many countries of the region, HIV/AIDS had severely affected the GDP and had turned ground all economic gains of the last two decades. Despite this sign of hopelessness, some countries have achieved great results. Uganda, for example brought its estimated prevalence rate down to around 8% from a peak of close to 14% in the early 1990s with strong prevention campaigns, and there are encouraging signs that Zambia's epidemic may be following the course charted by Uganda. Uganda's progress is shown in the figure below. In addition to the menace of HIV/AIDS and its impact on the growth of African region, other infectious diseases such as Malaria and Tuberculosis (TB) continue to grow affecting the continent with even more devastating effects. Malaria alone is estimated to affect almost 300 million clinical cases of malaria occur worldwide each year and over one million people die (see Annex Table 8). About 90% of these deaths occur in sub-Sahara Africa, where young children are the most affected. Malaria is directly responsible for on in five childhood deaths in Africa and indirectly contributes to illness and deaths from respiratory infections, diarrhoeal disease and malnutrition. Though malaria is still a big problem, huge progress has been made since the beginning of the century; its recent resurgence in Africa contrasts dramatically with the global decline in mortality since 1900. Additionally, one third of the world's population is infected with tuberculosis (TB); 7.89 million TB cases occurred in 1997 and some 1.86 million deaths occur annually. Most cases (95%) and deaths (98%) occur in developing countries. The HIV has fundamentally changed the epidemiologist of TB. Globally, 8% of TB cases are due to HIV, but in sub-Saharan Africa the percentage is much greater – up to 80% in some countries. Multi-drug resistance of TB is on the rise - currently standing at 1-2% of all cases, in some countries the problem is very much greater. It is because of this devastating effect of these diseases on the African Continent and the visible progress made by some countries in fighting them that the African Leaders, supported by the United Nations, some International agencies and countries hosted two Summits on Rollback Malaria in the year 2000 in Abuja and the African Heads of State Summit on HIV/AIDS, TB and other Related Infectious Diseases again in Abuja, Nigeria, April, 2001. This summit came out with a specific declaration on how to fight these diseases in the Continent and Abuja declaration and Framework for Action Plan for the continent was designed. It was at the Abuja HIV/AIDS Summit, the UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Anan pronounced the need to establish a Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. This pronouncement was subsequently supported by the European Union, G-8 and many other International Organizations and countries. The fund is suppose to be complimentary and is to be designed to help fill the gaps in our efforts in fight these diseases worldwide. The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) is in the process of being established and had already started attracting additional and complementary resources from public-private institutions. A Transitional Working Group (TWG) under the leadership of Dr Chrispus Kiyonga of Uganda has been established and is charged with the responsibility to take forward and finalise preparatory arrangements, with the intention that the fund shall be operational by 15 December 2001. A Technical Support Secretariat (TSS) located in Brussels is assisting the TWG in its work. The fund will have as its core function support to country programmes. It will support innovative programmes and interventions that have high impact, measurable success and sustainable results on decreasing morbidity and mortality as they relate to HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria and on the improvement of quality of life. To facilitate access to the fund, this country consultative meeting on regional basis is being called to acquire necessary information that could aid effective utilization of the fund from country to country. These consultations will consider diversity of culture, modes of transmission of these diseases, behavior pattern, health systems, existing health care facilities and infrastructure and national control programmes in the region. The Africa Consultative meeting will therefore provide the opportunity for obtaining country level input, experiences and views on how the Fund should be operated to the full benefit of the region. The consultation in Malawi is part of a series of consultations co-ordinated by the Technical Support Secretariat. It is scheduled to feed into the preparations for the second meeting of the Transitional Working Group scheduled for 22nd – 24th November, where governance, country processes and decision making (eligibility) vis-à-vis the new fund will be the main points on the agenda. The MEETING in Malawi will be briefed on the status of preparatory work for Fund operations and provide space for dialogue and comments. Special focus will be on country level processes and operations, including implications of contextual diversity, relationship to national health systems and ongoing development processes, eligibility for funding, requirements of country proposals, priority setting and decision making, co-ordination and implementation mechanisms. In setting up new mechanisms for the new Global Fund, it is important to build on these experiences. The consultation in Malawi will be divided between plenary sessions and group work and a written report will be produced at the end. Names and positions of the nominated representatives from your country should be forwarded by fax or e-mail to the Conference Secretariat as soon as possible and by 5 th of November at the latest. Please use the attached registration form. Objectives The consultative meeting will provide an opportunity for additional African countries other than those represented in the TWG, to advise on suitable mechanisms for the new fund at country level. A special concern is to ensure that the fund can build on and support existing country systems and development processes. The objectives of the African Consultative meeting therefore are: * To inform countries of background and progress on establishing the Fund * To inform countries of Title, Principles, and Scope of the Fund that agreed upon by TWG in the first meeting on 11-12 October 2001 * To obtain suggestions on?: o How the Fund can best match resources with priorities and needs of countries in Asia and Pacific Regions. o How the Fund can support the expanded coverage of prevention, care support and treatment activities for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, with a good balance among the three diseases and choices of intervention o Ways of effective operation in conflict or disaster situations * To discuss issues of governance, eligibility criteria, country processes, accountability and technical review and advise process of the Fund o Funding process within countries? * To identify how to enhance comprehensive dialogue and coordination among many actors including government organizations, non-governmental organizations, private sector, international organization, bilateral and multilateral collaborations at the country level in dealing with HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria and seeking supports from the Fund. Expected Outcome * Countries are informed and prepared to engage in the Fund when it becomes operational * Countries contribute to their thoughts, position and suggestions as regard to the preparation documents of governance, eligibility criteria, country processes, accountability and technical review and advise process of the Fund. This will be an important input for the TWG 2 nd meeting in November 2001. Location Le Meridien Capital Hotel, Lilongwe, Malawi Telephone: (+265) 773 388 Fax: (+265) 771 223 Rooms are reserved from 11 to 14 November. Dates of the Meeting 12 th to 13 of November 2001 Participants Representatives of National governments (see attached list of countries invited), NGOs from East, West and Southern Africa and a few bi-lateral partners, UN agencies, OAU and some International Agencies and some umbrella NGOs and other representatives of the private sector and representatives from the TWG and TSS will attend the consultations. You are kindly requested to identify one NGO representative from your country in addition to two government representatives at senior civil servant level. It is recommended that the NGO representative come from a strategic, umbrella NGO which can represent a broader network. In order to make recommendations from the consultations operational, it is recommended to include the working Chair of your National AIDS Commission or similar body if applicable, as well as one government representative with responsibilities for health sector planning and co-ordination or development/financial planning. Host The Government of Malawi Funding The Governments of Denmark, Malawi, Norway and Sweden have graciously agreed to sponsor the two-days consultation meeting on country processes and country perspectives, in Lilongwe, Malawi. The TSS provides technical inputs to the consultative meeting The sponsors will cover air tickets (normally on economy class), accommodation, meals and a small allowance (in accordance with the Norwegian Government's Travel Regulations) during the stay in Malawi. As soon as your nominations are received, PTA for air tickets will be forwarded to a travel agent in your capital, and details on collection of PTAs will be sent to you as soon as possible. Please note that you may need a visa to enter Malawi. (Participants from Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, and Zambia do not need visa). Visa can be arranged at the airport provided all required information has been forwarded to the conference secretariat in advance, ref. registration form. Organizers: Governments of Malawi, Denmark, Norway and Sweden supported by the TSS For any inquiries of a practical/logistical nature, please contact the Conference Secretariat, Management International, Private Bag B418 Lilongwe 3 Tel: +265 756 094 or +265 756 286 Fax: +265 756 097 E mail: firstname.lastname@example.org or Ms. Tessie Ali The Royal Norwegian Embassy, Lilongwe Tel: + 265 774 211 Fax: + 265 772 845 E-mail: email@example.com For questions or comments regarding the agenda, informal consultations prior to the meeting itself or follow-up of the consultations, please contact Dr A. Nasidi +32 2 234 6362 (or care of Laurence Vercammen), TSS (+32 2 234 6350, fax +32 2 234 6349, email: firstname.lastname@example.org). or Mr Bjørn Skogmo (+ 47 22 24 35 67, fax + 47 22 24 38 43, e-mail email@example.com). PROPOSED AFRICA CONSULTATIVE MEETING 12-13 November 2001 Lilongwe, Malawi Background [TO FIT IN ONE OF TWO SHORT PARAGRAPHS ON THE SITUATION OF THE DISEASES IN AFRICA] To help reduce the disease burden of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in every part of the world, including Africa, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) has been established to attract additional and complementary resources to fight these diseases through a public-private partnership. As a financial instrument the Fund will finance country-led processes. Consultations with intended recipient countries will, therefore, provide the information necessary to help set up and operationalize the Fund. There is significant diversification in terms of culture, behavior patterns, health system, health care facilities and infrastructure and how they respond to the epidemic within countries and with specific regions. Thus Africa regional consultations will provide specific country level input, experiences and views on how the Fund should operate in Africa and within specific African countries. Objectives The objectives of the regional consultations are: * To inform countries of the background and progress on establishing the Fund * To inform countries of the Title, Principles, and Scope of the Fund agreed upon by the TWG at the meeting on 11-12 October 2001 * To identify o How the Fund can best match resources with priorities and needs of countries in Africa. o How the Fund can support the expanded coverage of prevention, care support and treatment activities for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, with a good balance among the three diseases and choices of interventions o Ways of effective operation in failed state, conflict or disaster situations * To discuss issues of governance, eligibility criteria, country processes, accountability and technical review and advise process of the Fund * To identify how to enhance comprehensive dialogue and coordination among key actors (including government institutions, non-governmental organizations, private sector, international organization, bilateral and multilateral entities) at the country level in dealing with HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria in relation to support to be received from the Fund. Expected Outcome * Countries are informed and prepared to engage in the Fund when it becomes operational * Countries contribute their ideas, position and suggestions as regard to the governance of the GFATM as well as its eligibility criteria, country processes, accountability methods, technical review and advice processes. This will be important input for the TWG meeting of November 2001. Location Lilongwe, Malawi Time 12-13 November 2001 Participants {{{LIST INVITED COUNTRIES}}} Host The Government of Malawi Financing The financers of the meeting (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) with interested recipient countries and the TSS. Organizer The financing partners and TSS will contract an organization – preferably from Africa – to manage practical and logistical organization of the meeting, and contract an individual or organization to prepare a report of the consultation. The resident Danish, Norwegian and Swedish embassies will contribute. PROPOSED PROGRAM DAY 1 DAY 2 09.00-11.00 Working session 3 Introduction and Plenary on Country Process (Norway/Mabope) * Proposal preparation * Coordination * * Planning and application Role of NGOs and External Partners * Monitoring and evaluation * * Funding process Role and accountability of stakeholders Key documents to be used as background papers for Country Consultation 1. Title, Principles, Purposes and Scope of the Fund 2. Governance, accountability and technical review and advise process 3. Country process a. Proposal preparation, funding process, monitoring and evaluation process b. Roles and accountability of stakeholders 4. Eligibility criteria 5. Fiduciary 6. Legal issue 7. Key questions that will be discussed during the country consultation
https://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article4075 Gender and Capitalism Closing the Conceptual Gap - Features - Sexual politics - Publication date: Wednesday 10 June 2015 Copyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine - All rights reserved This text raises the question of a unified theory of social relations. Cinzia Arruzza's essay "Remarks on Gender" reminds us of the debates, left dormant for decades, around creating a unified theory of capital. However, Arruzza's path toward that unification is one that abdicates the possibility of locating gender and race as part of the abstract, logical, or "essential mechanisms" of capitalism, opting instead to incorporate these pervasive relations as aspects of capitalism's historical and concrete unfolding. This rejection of gender and race as part of the inner logic of capital is not particular to Arruzza. It is standard practice within Marxist-feminism, as well as other tendencies which attempt to argue for the importance of axes of violence, oppression, or exploitation beyond class (e.g. race, sexuality, gender) within the capitalist mode of production. The possibility that gender and race are somehow inherent to the inner logic of capital is not rejected because the attempts to prove it have failed – it is dismissed out of hand, before any attempt has been made. Hypotheses which do locate gender or race in the essential logical structure of capital are so rare or unpopular that Marxist critics like Arruzza do not even feel the need to argue against that possibility. It is taken for granted that these relations do not appear in capital's inner logic, in the abstract structure at the heart of capitalism. While joining, albeit ambivalently, in this out-of-hand dismissal (see below), Arruzza also brings some important critiques to bear upon this and other erroneous resolutions to the question at hand. Arruzza's essay lays out three common approaches taken by feminists who care to attend to capitalism: "dual systems theory," "indifferent capitalism," and the "unitary thesis." I would like to add another category, what I provisionally call systemic fundamentalism. With this approach, I associate some theorists who Arruzza has designated within dual systems theory, such as Christine Delphy. Arruzza criticizes Delphy for holding that patriarchy is a system of exploitation more fundamental than capitalist class relations, and upon which capitalist class relations are established. Arruzza's primary critique of this perspective is that it implies the existence of class relations between women and men, and hence "irreconcilable antagonisms" between the two genders, of which she finds no evidence (more on this below). But more importantly for my designation of "systemic fundamentalism," Arruzza critiques Delphy for arguing that patriarchal class relations would trump capitalist class relations – deflating the importance of one system by emphasizing another more fundamental and essential one. Arruzza writes: "In ‘The Main Enemy,' Delphy insists that being a member of the patriarchal class is a more important fact than being part of the capitalist class." For Delphy, on Arruzza's reading, the system of patriarchy is more fundamental than that of capitalism. Arruzza's central critique of our next approach, dual systems theory (or triple, for those who deign to acknowledge race relations), is that they do not attribute to patriarchal or racial systems their own internal force of self-reproduction, which is ostensibly the most basic requirement for the existence of an independent mode of production. Arruzza aptly notes that the only formidable attempt to articulate this force has been in ideological or psychological terms, as an independent system of signs. She dismisses these on the basis of their implausibility, their close tarrying with fetishistic and ahistorical notions of psyche. She criticizes most dual systems theories for taking economics to be the purview of capitalist social relations, while ideological and cultural forms are the terrain of gender and racial processes. Finally, Arruzza rightly criticizes the lack of "organizing principle" or "logic" to the "Holy alliance" of systems which would explain their interrelation. This downfall can also be attributed to the "intersectionality" approach – which, while constituting an important intervention into legal theory (the genesis of the term), and serving as a useful shorthand for people who want to say that they care about all three and don't privilege one over another, nonetheless leaves the details of these relations entirely vague. However, Arruzza takes most issue with her third approach, the "indifferent capitalism" approach – and appropriately so, since it is the most formidable in contemporary Marxist and communist thought. For some thinkers that adhere to the "indifferent capitalism" approach, capitalism's abstract indifference to gender and race means that capitalism is in fact beneficial for women in general, and/or for racial minorities, in certain contexts. Arruzza writes, for instance, that "some claim that within capitalism women have benefited from a degree of emancipation unknown in other kinds of society." However some people who take up the "indifferent capitalism" approach do attend to the importance of racial and gender relations, arguing that the logical "indifference" of capital to race and gender is complicated by the historically ubiquitous role of gender and race, which re-inscribes gendered and racial oppression through contingent historical processes. On this reading, gendered and racial oppression are relatively inescapable because of how extensively they have permeated capitalism, historically. In posing her own chosen hypothesis, that of a "unitary theory" of capitalist and patriarchal social relations, Arruzza chooses the excellent foil of Ellen Meiksins Wood, a proponent of the "indifferent capitalism" approach, who staunchly argued that race and gender only have a "contingent and opportunistic relationship" to capital, not a necessary one. She summarizes Wood's perspective thus: "Capitalism is… not structurally disposed to creating gender inequalities." However, Arruzza makes a substantial concession to Wood: It is perhaps difficult to show at a high level of abstraction that gender oppression is essential to the inner workings of capitalism… If we were to think of capitalism as "pure," that is, analyze it on the basis of its essential mechanisms, then maybe Wood would be right. However, this does not prove that capitalism would not necessarily produce, as a result of its concrete functioning, the constant reproduction of gender oppression, often under diverse forms. Here we find a relatively straightforward argument for the logical indifference but historically-concrete necessity of gender to capital – something she seems to cast doubt upon earlier in the piece when she writes, in her critique of the "indifferent capitalism" perspective, that some of this perspective's adherents "maintain that we should carefully distinguish the logical and historical levels: logically, capitalism does not specifically need gender inequality and could get rid of it; historically, things are not so simple." Elsewhere she again proposes this perspective, which she seemed at first to critique, but now in a positive light: "In order to respond to the question of whether it is possible for women's emancipation and liberation to be attained under the capitalist mode of production, we must look for the answer at the level of concrete historical analysis, not at the level of a highly abstract analysis of capital." There is some tension here. At the same time as she she states that on the most abstract level, we may not find gender within the defining characteristics of capital, Arruzza also criticizes the "indifferent capitalism" thesis for arguing that capitalism is not structurally disposed to creating gender inequalities, and that capitalism "has an essentially opportunistic relation with gender inequality." For a moment, let us look back to Delphy, and the "systemic fundamentalism" approach that I added to Arruzza's list of approaches to the gender/capital question. The problem with this perspective was that it displaced the importance of capitalist social relations by emphasizing the more fundamental and essential relations of patriarchy. Arruzza's version of a "unitary thesis" does the opposite – it logically displaces gender relations in favor of the more fundamental relations of capital (which ostensibly do not necessarily include gender). She insists upon avoiding the economic reductionism that is taken up by some Marxist theories of capital, and on this point she is undeniably correct. [1] But on Arruzza's account, whether or not the inner laws of capital are exclusively economic, we still do not find gender there. Nor race, which enters for Arruzza primarily as a complication, along with class, to straightforward gender relations. While Arruzza does not firmly state that gender cannot be understood logically or in the abstract forms of capital, she casts doubt on this possibility and instead moves to a discussion of ostensibly non-abstract historical processes in order to locate the reproduction of gender in capital. Arruzza introduces the concept of "social reproduction," modifying it from its more traditional definition as "the process of reproduction of a society in its totality" to a more focused definition of social reproduction generated by the Marxist-feminist tradition, in which "social reproduction designates the way in which the physical, emotional, and mental labor necessary for the production of the population is socially organized: for example, food preparation, youth education, care for the elderly and the sick, as well as questions of housing and all the way to questions of sexuality." Arruzza lauds the concept for "enlarging our vision of what was previously called domestic labor," thereby extending our analysis "outside the walls of the home, since the labor of social reproduction is not always found in the same forms." [2] Social reproduction here appears to designate processes and relations that are both logically and historically necessary. This necessity functions, for Arruzza, to subvert the problem of considering gendered dynamics (such as domestic life, gendered divisions of labor in the factory) and some racial dynamics (immigration, racial divisions of labor) as "contingent." In other words, I understand Arruzza to be saying something like this: since this category of social reproduction circumscribes the essential gendering and racializing processes within capital – whether they take place in the waged sphere or not – and we can say with certainty that this category of activity is necessary to capital, then on this basis we can argue for the deep necessity of gender and race to capital. However, what remains logically and structurally contingent is the anchor between these necessary forms of social reproduction (e.g. housework, slave labor) to gender and to race. On Arruzza's account, it appears to be this association between certain activities on the one hand, and gender or race on the other hand, that is historically constituted. To put this point slightly differently: whereas capital will always require members of working class to do unwaged activity such as childrearing and dishwashing, and will always engage in exploitative forms of social differentiation in which some people are cast out of work, enslaved, or otherwise hyper-exploited, it appears as if it is not "necessary" that these dynamics are associated with gender or race. Her discussion beautifully sets in relief the question she doesn't ask: how can race and gender relations be located within the logical understanding of the capitalist mode of production? Some people working within the communizing current have importantly approached this question, [3] attempting, in the words of Gonzalez and Neton, to "delineate categories [of gender] that are as specific to capitalism as ‘capital' itself." [4] The way that Arruzza frames her discussion of social reproduction allows the question to emerge in an interesting way. She acknowledges that certain forms that exceed waged labor are logically necessary to capital – e.g. unpaid housework. [5] She also acknowledges that women are intimately connected to this necessary form of work. However, that connection remains contingent – women and social reproduction could, theoretically, be decoupled. But what if we were to collapse the set of necessary social relations associated with women in capitalism and the category of women in capitalism. What if "woman" was nothing but the formal category of people who are on one side of specific set of social relations, similar to the way in which the proletariat is nothing but the formal category of people who are on one side of a specific set of social relations. In the case of the proletariat, the social relations consist in being those who own nothing but their own labor power, which they must sell in order to make a living, and be subject to the threat of being cast out of labor pool by capital. In the case of "women", or perhaps more effectively and accurately "feminized people" (see below), this set of essential social relations certainly involves the bulk of what Arruzza refers to as "social reproduction." This set of relations has been generally been theorized by some working within a communization framework as a distinction between two gendered spheres immanent to the capitalist mode of production. Recently, these spheres have been further specified in terms of the non-social [6] or the abject [7], but I'm sure all interested parties would agree it requires far more thought and study. Further, it seems clear that the category woman is insufficient, and that a more dynamic concept such as "feminized people" may serve both to emphasize the fact that it is a process and a relationship, and that the people in question are not always women. This also entails a richer understanding of the social relations involved, including, for example, sexual violence, which is something which can be easily left to the side in theories of social reproduction, but which is certainly fundamental to the gender relation. As I've argued elsewhere: "Understanding sexual violence as a structuring element of gender also helps us to understand how patriarchy reproduces itself upon and through gay and queer men, trans people, gender nonconforming people and bodies, and children of any gender." [8] I also believe it is also one of the ways to render internal to a theory of gender the way in which some women, particularly trans women, women of color, and poor women, experience on average far higher levels of susceptibility to violence and appropriation. At the moment, such acknowledgments still remain sidebars to our theorizing, as is made quite clear by the preceding sentence. The question is: how do we develop our categories in a way that integrates these elements more deeply and integrally, in a way that subverts these superficial nods? Arruzza's formulation carries another confusing implication: it suggests that that relations of social reproduction, like housework, latch onto gender and become entwined with it. This implies that gender must then stand autonomous from those social relations, as waiting to be used in some sense. Here is where the "indifferent capitalism" thesis comes in through the backdoor, and we find ourselves back at the initial critique of an "opportunistic relationship" between gender and capital. We also abruptly encounter the question of what exactly is gender, then, and from whence does it come? So let us close the conceptual gap between "feminized people" and the material relations they have in capital. A similar move is essential for the category of racialized/ethnicized people. To this end, Cedric Robinson's work is extremely effective. In Black Marxism, he argues forcefully for the necessary role of what he calls "racialism" in the establishment and reproduction of capitalism, as a process with its own rationale that is immanent to capital's rationale, rather than as a contingent adjunct to the class relation. [9] His work, for one, along with the Afro-Pessimist concept of "social death" [10] points towards defining that set of social relations which would be the real content of the category of racialized people in capitalism. Chris Chen has recently mobilized this work, along with an analysis of paradigms in racialism and race studies, towards the goal of accurately specifying the relation between race and capital, arguing that "‘[r]ace' is not extrinsic to capitalism or simply the product of specific historical formations such as South African Apartheid or Jim Crow America. Likewise capitalism does not simply incorporate racial domination as an incidental part of its operations." [11] While Marxist critics have contended that relations of race and gender appear too malleable and complex to be articulated as structural and abstract, [12] the class relation is no less blurry and porous – there are as many exceptions to the basic definition of working class as there are to the basic definition of feminized people and racialized people. Surely miners and clerical workers and sailors and nurses are no more or less logically united as "the working class" by their relation to capital than feminized or racialized people are? And there are innumerable exceptions to the strict definition of the proletariat amongst those we would surely like to include within that class that will struggle and win against capitalism: semi-proletarianized seasonal migrant laborers who retain cultivated land; petit bourgeois who own their own businesses and storefronts; religious communities or leaders who live off donations; and, most famously, the lumpenproletariat. In this text, I am more concerned with closing the conceptual gap referenced above than I am with nailing down the specificity of these relations that reproduce gender and race. That latter project is, in the end, the more important one, but here my goal is merely to show that if we are truly committed to a rigorous and unifying theory of capital, we must consider the possibility that race and gender are as logically necessary as class is to this mode of production. We must follow this hypothesis as far as it takes us. There has not yet been any good reason established as to why we should turn back from it. This path would entail the rigorous investigation of what those relations truly are. It would invariably render our understanding of capital more accurate, providing a more effective conceptual whetstone on which to sharpen our practical weaponry. On a different note, it is important to challenge Arruzza's statements about the negligible benefits of patriarchy to men. She suggests that "A man would lose nothing, in terms of workload, if the distribution of care work were completely socialized instead of being performed by his wife. In structural terms, there would be no antagonistic or irreconcilable interests." But this is far from the case: it is not possible for many elements of the hierarchized gender relation to be socialized. Men benefit directly and indirectly from the unpaid invisible work that women do, as well as from the relations of domination which are inherent aspects of the capitalist gender relation. Specific activities within the sphere of unwaged work can be socialized, but there will always necessarily remain a sphere of un-socialized work, and women – or feminized people – will, for the most part, do it. It is also not possible for coercive relations of secretive sexual abuse to be socialized. It is not possible for violent forms of control and psychic isolation and domination to be socialized. These are essential components of the gender relation which bolsters men's power, of the mechanisms by which men obtain and protect power, resources, acquiescence. There is no reason for men to let go of them anymore than there is reason for capitalists to socialize their profits. The gender relation, like the class relation, is, even in the abstract, not exclusively "economic." Similarly, the direct and indirect material benefits of racialization to white and non- or less-racialized people are profound, and have been defended to the death throughout the history of capital. Neither can the particular relations of exploitation and oppression that characterize racialism or racialization be considered socializable. They are dynamics which cannot be ameliorated by even the best capitalist planning; to the contrary, capital is in part these processes of racialization/ethnicization. These processes include, at least, (1) the permanent and semi-permanent marginalization from remotely stable wage labor: as there will, definitionally, always be a group marginalized in this way, that group is thereby a racialized/ethnicized group. In Chen's words, "The expulsion of living labour from the production process places a kind of semi-permeable racialising boundary bifurcating productive and unproductive populations even within older racial categories: a kind of flexible global colour line separating the formal and informal economy, and waged from wageless life." [13] Those who are not marginalized in this way, and hence who are less racialized/ethnicized, will defend any threat to their position. In the United States, working class whites have fought back vehemently on every possible battlefield when black people have fought to gain access to waged economic stability. Also essential to racialization/ethnicization is (2) the vulnerability to untimely death, which is a vulnerability inherent to some large section of the proletariat no matter what. On this reading, the creation of this section is a racializing and ethnicizing process, and so the group which experiences this vulnerability has and will be, for the most part, racialized and/or ethnicized. In the words of Ruth Wilson Gilmore, "Racism, specifically, is the state-sanctioned or extralegal production and exploitation of group-differentiated vulnerability to premature death." [14] Finally, this type of unifying theory which closes the gap ("unifying" rather than "unitary" here is meant to acknowledge that the picture will never be complete, will always entail further detail and nuance, a re-scaffolding – which is not to doubt our access to truth and accuracy, but to acknowledge our finite limits) subverts the "common sense" of Arruzza's point that triple systems theory is intuitive because these relations "manifest themselves" independently. She writes that "those who have developed an awareness of gender inequality usually experience and perceive it as determined by a logic that is different and separate from capital." In concordance with the arguments of many feminist theorists of color that race, gender, and class never appear as distinct, [15] or of working-class feminist theorists who describe their inability to disaggregate their gender oppression from their class oppression, [16] of trans women activists and theorists who articulate the mutual constitution of of these axes with transmisogyny, [17] and of prison abolitionists who, in their work, are fully confronted with the imbrication of race, class, sex, gender, sexuality, and so forth, [18] we must acknowledge that for many people, these things do not tend to manifest themselves independently. To some they appear independent while to others they appear unified, and while that poses some interesting questions, it is beyond the scope of my concerns here. I believe that when we understand class, feminization, and racialization as different organs in a body, different laws within an ecosystem, or whatever metaphor we choose to use for different but mutually constituted parts within a whole, it is unquestionable that at every moment all of them are really at play. Their appearance depends on many things, including an individual's situation within the whole. I welcome Arruzza's reopening of these debates with tremendous warmth and excitement, and I offer my critiques and questions in comradeship to the project of a unifying theory of a capitalism in which, by Arruzza's words, "It is evident that social relations include relations of domination and hierarchy based on gender and race that permeate both the social whole and daily life." May 4, 2015 This article is part of a dossier entitled Gender and Capitalism: Debating Cinzia Arruzza's "Remarks on Gender" published on Viewpoint Magazine. [ 1 ] It is less clear whether or not Arruzza believes that the inner laws of capital are themselves “purely economic.” This essay assumes, following Marx’s work in the Grundrisse and throughout the volumes of Capital , that the essential inner laws of capital are not confined to an economic sphere. [ 2 ] Note that the Marxist-feminist use of the term reproduction and other complementary concepts is aptly problematized by Maya Gonzalez and Jeanne Neton in “The Logic of Gender” in Endnotes , Vol. 3. [ 3 ] See Gonzalez and Neton, op. cit; P. Valentine “The Gender Distinction in Communization Theory,” in Lies: A Journal of Materialist Feminism Volume 1, 191-208; Bernard Lyon, “The Suspended Step of Communisation” in SIC: International Journal for Communisation ; Théorie Communiste, “Response to the American Comrades on Gender.” . , [4] Gonzalez and Neton, 57. [5] Many Marxists who oppose logical understandings of race and gender also acknowledge this; see, for example, David Harvey Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). [6] See P. Valentine, op. cit. [7] See Gonzalez and Neton, op. cit. [8] Valentine, op. cit., 204. [9] Cedric Robinson, Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2000 [1983]). [ 10 ] See, for example, Frank Wilderson III, “Gramsci’s Black Marx: Whither the Slave in Civil Society?,” Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture 9.2 (2003), 225-240; and Jared Sexton “The Social Life of Social Death: On Afro-Pessimism and Black Optimism,” InTensions 5 (Fall/Winter 2011), 1-47. [ 11 ] See, for example, exchanges between David Harvey, Alex Dubullay, and myself regarding Harvey’s recent book. [12] Chen, op. cit. [13] Chen, op. cit. [14] Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 28. [ 15 ] See, for example, bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman? (Boston: South End Press, 1981), as well as Sojourner Truth’s own words and work; Sharon Patricia Holland’s The Erotic Life of Racism (Durham: Duke University Press, 2012); Lakeyma King, “Inversions & Invisibilities: Black Women, Black Masculinity, & Anti-Blackness” and Pluma Sumac’s “Notes on Prostitution”, both forthcoming in Lies: A Journal of Materialist Feminism , Vol. 2. [16] See, for instance, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz' Outlaw Woman: A Memoir of the War Years, 1960-75 (San Francisco, City Light Books, 2002); Michelle Tea's Rent Girl (San Francisco, Last Gasp Books, 2004); and Selma James's Sex, Race, and Class (Oakland: PM Press, 2012). [ 17 ] See Susan Stryker’s film Screaming Queens ; also, recent interviews with Laverne Cox, for example here . [ 18 ] See, for example, both Angela Davis and Dean Spade’s work, nicely epitomized in speeches found here (Davis) and here (Spade) .
March 2015 QATAR SELECTED ISSUES This Selected Issues paper for Qatar was prepared by a staff team of the International Monetary Fund as background documentation for the periodic consultation with the member country. It is based on the information available at the time it was completed on March 6, 2015. This Selected Issues paper has benefitted from discussions with staff from the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Qatar, and the Ministry of Development and Statistics. The policy of publication of staff reports and other documents by the IMF allows for the deletion of market-sensitive information. Copies of this report are available to the public from International Monetary Fund Publication Services PO Box 92780 Washington, D.C. 20090 Telephone: (202) 623-7430Fax: (202) 623-7201 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org: http://www.imf.org Price: $18.00 per printed copy International Monetary Fund Washington, D.C. © 2015 International Monetary Fund IMF Country Report No. 15/87 March 6, 2015 QATAR SELECTED ISSUES Approved By Juha Kähkönen Prepared By Alberto Behar, Bahrom Shukurov, and Andrew Warner with support from Juan Carlos Flores and Sarah Knight. CONTENTS STRENGTHENING FISCAL POLICY AND FISCAL FRAMEWORKS IN QATAR ___________ 4 D. Towards productivity-led growth _____________________________________________________ 23 QATAR STRENGTHENING FISCAL POLICY AND FISCAL FRAMEWORKS IN QATAR 1 Fiscal policy remains sustainable, but given the large drop in oil prices, revenue-raising and expenditure-containing measures need to be considered to ensure intergenerational equity. Measures aimed at containing current spending, prioritizing capital expenditure, and raising non-hydrocarbon revenues would help bring fiscal policy back to consistency with intergenerational equity. Strengthening fiscal frameworks would help achieve the desirable fiscal policies. 1. This paper proposes ways to ensure that sustainable fiscal policy is maintained in the medium to long term in Qatar. It provides an overview of government's revenue and expenditure developments. The paper discusses various measures to increase nonhydrocarbon revenue such as broadening corporate income tax and introducing a low rate-broad based value added tax. The paper also proposes measures to contain expenditure growth—controlling the public wage bill, reducing subsidies, freezing administrative expenses, and prioritizing investment projects. It also proposes ways of strengthening fiscal frameworks to support fiscal policy implementation, and presents the Korean experience in setting up a successful medium-term expenditure framework. A. Sustainable Fiscal Policy Revenue and expenditure path 2. Total revenue and expenditure of central government have increased substantially since 2000 in real terms (Figure 1). Driven by increases in the oil price and hydrocarbon production, real total revenue grew by 20 percent on average in FY2000-13. Such strong growth in revenue allowed increasing total expenditure substantially, by more than 15 percent on average in real terms in the same period. 1 Prepared by Bahrom Shukurov. 3. Central government revenue depends strongly on hydrocarbon prices and production (Figure 2). While direct oil and gas revenue amounts to about 60 percent of total revenue, more 2 than 90 percent of total revenue is in fact hydrocarbon revenue (in FY2013). Practically all of investment income and bulk of corporate income tax comes from Qatar Petroleum (QP), Qatar's largest public enterprise comprising upstream and downstream hydrocarbon companies. Nonhydrocarbon revenue consists of corporate income tax of 10 percent levied on foreign companies, withholding tax of 5 to 7 percent levied on certain payments to non-residents, customs duties of 5 percent, and some fees. Sources: Country authorities; and IMF staff estimates. 1/ Dividends paid by Qatar Petroleum and other state-owned enterprises. 2/ About 85 percent of corporate income tax comes from Qatar Petroleum. 4. Total expenditure of central government increased because of strong growth in both current and capital spending (Figures 3, 4). Current expenditure grew by about 15 percent on average in FY2000-13 in real terms, out of which wages increased by 11 percent annually. Wage growth was especially sizable in the last five years, reaching about 20 percent on average annually, not least due to the complex geopolitics of the MENA region. Capital expenditure rose more strongly, by about 25 percent annually in FY2000-13 in real terms, as Qatar has been implementing its ambitious National Development Strategy. As a result, the share of capital expenditure in total expanded from 10 percent in FY2000 to 29 percent in FY2013. Relative to GDP, total expenditure stayed unchanged in the same period as higher capital expenditure was offset by lower current expenditure. Figure 3. Government Expenditure, FY2000-14 (In real QR billions) (In percent of GDP) Subsidies 5. Low energy and fuel prices resulted in large subsidies, direct or implicit, as in other GCC countries (Table 1). On-budget subsidies in Qatar amounted to 2 percent of GDP in 2010; implicit energy subsidies are estimated at 3.5 percent (IMF, 2014). 3 Water subsidies may also be sizable, as water consumption rates and technical losses are high in Qatar, as in other GCC countries (Box 1). Subsidy reforms so far were mainly raising retail gasoline and diesel prices (in 2011 and 2014), which are still way below international market levels (by about 50 percent compared to the US prices). 3 The on-budget subsidies data are available for 2004-2010 and derived from the GFS Yearbook. The split between food and energy subsidies is not available. The 3.5 percent of GDP in energy subsidies is estimated by the IMF for 2011. The 2014 IMF paper uses the international fuel price as the benchmark price to estimate the cost of subsidies (the country would generally incur an opportunity cost if it simply sold the fuel at the domestic production cost). Box 1. Water Consumption in the GCC On a per capita per annum (pcpa) basis, GCC countries consume about 65 percent more water than the world average — 816 cubic meters (m3) pcpa, versus 500 (m3) pcpa. Renewable resources, notably from rainfall and groundwater are in short supply, and these countries depend on desalinating seawater, which is energy intensive, imposing a cost on the economy and the environment. For example, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consume between 10 and 39 times the amount of renewable water available to them, depleting their aquifers at much faster rates than they can be replenished by rainfall. Only Oman comes close to having enough water from renewable sources to meet its domestic demand. Reflecting the average population growth of about 3 percent and a sizable influx of expatriates since 1970, per capita freshwater availability dropped substantially, from 680 cubic meters in1970 to 180 cubic meters in 2000. The water shortages are expected to deteriorate further, if population continues to grow at the same speed. To satisfy the growing demand, the GCC has been building and operating costly desalination plants. Desalination provides two-thirds or more of the potable water used in most of the GCC, but it carries enormous economic and environmental costs. Despite a considerable improvement in efficiency in the last decades, the cost to desalinate seawater is still a relatively expensive way of producing potable water. Moreover, seawater desalination is an energy-intensive process, accounting for 10–25 percent of energy consumption in the GCC on average (about 50 percent in Qatar). The desalination process has increased the temperature and salinity of the Gulf, with the latter estimated to have risen by around 2 percent over the last 20 years, with a negative impact on marine life and ecosystems. Inefficient agriculture, weak institutional arrangements, and poor management practices present a significant drain on water resources. Demand from the agriculture sector in the GCC constitutes up to 80 percent of total water demand (the sector enjoys quite a few privileges such as the absence of agricultural water tariffs and various incentive programs that result in excessive cultivation of water-intensive crops and depletion of groundwater). At the same time, agriculture contributes only a few percentage points of GDP to the GCC's economies. There are also enormous irrigation losses, up to 40 percent. Some of the GCC countries are now trying to limit water overconsumption in agriculture (e.g. by encouraging local farmers to grow crops that need less water and phasing out projects to export wheat). Weak institutional arrangements and poor management practices are also contributing to wastefulness of water resources. On average, a little over 20 percent of domestic water is either lost to leakage or is not metered. Sizable subsidies finance the inefficient structure that results in high water consumption rates and presents fiscal risks in the long term. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates consume almost twice as much as the global average for water consumption, while other GCC countries are also above the global average. While data on water subsidies in the GCC are generally not available, they may reach up to a few percentage points of regional GDP. Rationalizing the water usage and reducing waste could reduce consumption substantially (up to 40 percent in Qatar, for example). Intergenerational equity 6. While fiscal policy was consistent with intergenerational equity until recently, with lower oil prices, the situation has changed. The significantly lower oil prices led to nonhydrocarbon deficits higher than the relevant intergenerational equity thresholds by about 5 percent of non-hydrocarbon GDP. 4 The fiscal break-even oil price of general government is estimated to rise to $77 per barrel by FY2020, an indication of emerging risks associated with permanently low oil prices (the fiscal break-even price taking into account the returns and capital gains of the QIA is projected at $68 by FY2020). Existing fiscal buffers allow Qatar to implement policy adjustment in a gradual manner. Expenditure measures 7. Containing current spending and prioritizing capital expenditure would help achieve intergenerational equity, while buttressing fiscal sustainability. Policies should include the following: - Controlling the public wage bill. The authorities need to develop a clear medium-term strategy for the public wage bill and conduct civil service reviews to help identify and gradually eliminate non-essential positions. This would help keep wages broadly constant as a share of GDP going forward. - Freezing administrative expenses between FY2016 and 2020 would provide substantial savings in current expenditure (these expenses increased by 25 percent on average annually between FY2008 and 2012). - Reducing subsidies while gradually eliminating them altogether for producers. Raising electricity, water, and fuel prices, while protecting those in need, modernizing agriculture, collecting more renewable water, and improving allocation and stemming water losses through better regulation would help strengthen fiscal positions and/or increase priority expenditure such as education and health. - Prioritizing investment projects would also help control spending growth. Smooth spending path would reduce overheating risks in the short term and overcapacity risks in the medium term. Capital spending should be based on a careful scrutiny of public investment projects and not deviate from the resource envelope prepared by the new Public Investment 4 This analysis estimates the government spending path and related nonhydrocarbon deficits that deliver a constant real per capita annuity to finance budget spending after hydrocarbon revenues are exhausted. The calculations are made under plausible assumptions about the time horizon of hydrocarbon resource depletion, the real rate of return on financial assets, oil prices, inflation, and population growth. Management unit at the MOF. 5 - A contingency plan for spending, including for capital projects, is needed given the fiscal risks. Any reforms should be accompanied by a communication strategy and targeted mitigating measures to reduce implementation risks. Revenue options 8. Parallel efforts to raise nonhydrocarbon revenues would strengthen sustainability and intergenerational equity. Two main principles should guide tax policy making in Qatar given its significant surpluses from hydrocarbon revenues. First, low tax rates and very broad bases generally would not affect investor and consumer behavior. This principle would also be consistent with economic diversification strategy. Second, a corporate income tax (CIT) with broader coverage, which could be achieved by including Qatari (and GCC) companies, would be seen as more equitable by foreign investors. In addition, a broadened CIT, if applied to unincorporated companies, could provide some progressivity in taxation and would lessen the need to introduce a general income tax on individuals. This measure is estimated to yield 2 percent of non-hydrocarbon GDP (Table 2). 9. The value added tax (VAT) would serve well as a low rate-broad base tax. VAT is generally viewed as the most stable revenue source, which has the least detrimental effects on investments. In such a macro-fiscal environment as in Qatar, a low rate, for example 5 percent, VAT could be considered. A broad-based consumption tax such as VAT would raise revenue proceeds at a low efficiency cost. At the same time, its equity implications would be relatively insignificant and tax administration would receive a significant and positive boost. The progress in this area depends on how soon VAT frameworks are agreed within the GCC, which are committed to implement a VAT in the medium term. 6 10. Fees and charges for government-provided services should not be seen as a substitute for taxes. If fees are lower than the cost of government goods and services (other than public goods and services), raising those fees would be a welcome step. Raising fees for revenue generating purposes could, however, become a complex and inefficient process. A number of relevant shortcomings are as follows: (i) fees distort supply and demand by (for example) encouraging government to keep supplying goods and services it is not efficient at producing; (ii) fees are inequitable and not transparent; (iii) fees are generally more expensive to administer. In 5 New investment spending in the context of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and FIFA Cup 2022 is QR 600 billion over the next 10 years. 6 The GCC policy framework sets out the basic parameters under which countries are to develop their VAT, including for intra-GCC trade, but considerable flexibility is left to countries in the policy and administrative design of their national VAT. Each country is expected to enact its own VAT legislation. addition, the only way to tax private transactions would be to extend fees to private contract – for example, in the form of stamp duties. The alternative to the fee system would be to introduce a single-rate transaction tax on provision of all goods and services, whether by government or private entities (e.g. VAT). Impact of fiscal measures 11. These illustrative revenue and expenditure options could result in substantial savings in the medium term. Freezing administrative expenses and removing water and electricity subsidies could generate savings of about 4.5 percent of non-hydrocarbon GDP in the medium term. Applying the CIT of 10 percent to Qatari and GCC companies and introducing a 5 percent VAT could yield another 3.5 percent of non-hydrocarbon GDP (Table 2). B. Strengthening Fiscal Frameworks 12. Qatar has taken steps in the past towards introducing a medium-term budget framework (MTBF), but with limited success. The MTBF was supposed to focus on a 3-year period, with the budget approval done on an annual basis for the upcoming fiscal year. However, the MTBF in Qatar has remained a stand-alone, internal document and has not been integrated in the regular budget process. Given the lack of a strong budget framework, expenditures were repeatedly raised from planned levels during the fiscal year (with current spending being the driving force). Spending and revenue outcomes have typically been far above the initial budget allocations due to low oil price assumptions (e.g. $65 in the last three fiscal years). Moreover, supplementary spending decisions have often been made on an ad-hoc basis. 13. To accelerate budget reforms and ensure their effective implementation, the new Minister of Finance has revamped the MOF's organizational structure and initiated a more rigorous approach to reform implementation. 7 - The Macro-Fiscal Unit (MFU) has been established in the MOF as part of the new Research and Studies Department (RSD). The MFU's tasks are to conduct macroeconomic modeling and forecasting, which will be used by the Public Budget Department (PBD) and the newly created Public Investment Management Department (PIMD) in preparing annual and medium-term budgets. The Statistics unit, another unit of the RSD, will build and regularly update a database of fiscal and economic data. - Another crucial component of budget reforms—the introduction of the Government Finance Management Information System (GFMIS)—started in 2013 and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2015. The GFMIS will connect all spending institutions with the MOF to transparently allocate, use, control, and monitor public resources in all ministries. It will strengthen many areas of public finance management, including public investment, governance, risk, and compliance management. The Statistics unit is expected to start supplying GFS 2001 fiscal data to the MFU at end-2015. - The MOF has started to develop performance-based budgeting to align government spending with the government's goals emphasizing the link between planning, funding, and the expected results in terms of outcomes. MOF issued a budget circular (on a pilot basis) with instructions for the Ministry of Health to prepare its performance-based budgets until FY 2016. Going forward, the performance-based budgeting will be applied to all ministries, which will be required to provide performance indicators for outcomes achieved under approved budgets. To facilitate this process, the MOF has established a Performance-Based Budget Committee and Task Force in coordination with other ministries to lead the design and implementation of the State of Qatar performance-based budget framework. - To facilitate the reforms, the Fiscal Policy Committee has been established in the Ministry of Finance, headed by the Minister. 14. Korea's experience in introducing medium-term budgeting can identify useful policy lessons. As in Qatar, there were no imminent serious fiscal issues in Korea. Rather, there was widespread perception in the country of the need of budget reforms. Supported by top policy makers, Korea successfully introduced the MTEF in 2004 to incorporate longer term perspectives into the regular budget process. The Korean case highlights the importance of (i) having strong support for a MTEF from top decision makers; (ii) finding ways of integrating a MTEF into the budget process; and (iii) building capacity of relevant stakeholders (Box 2). 7 Korean experience suggests that while macroeconomic momentum is important to start budget reforms, it is not sufficient for proper implementation of those reforms. The support of top policy makers significantly boosts the implementation of budget reforms. Box 2. Korea's Experience in Introducing Medium Term Budgeting 1 The Korean case is interesting because there were no urgent serious fiscal issues to commence the reforms. The medium-term expenditure reform (MTEF) was initiated because of a strong demand for budget reform agenda from a new administration and widespread perception in civil society organizations and public officials of the need for PFM reform. The MTEF was introduced to incorporate longer term perspectives such as increasing government debt, aging population, and increasing social welfare spending, into annual budget process. The MTEF or "National Fiscal Management Plan" (NFMP) was introduced in Korea in 2004 and has been successfully implemented since then.² The reform package consisted of MTEF, top-down budgeting, performance-oriented budgeting, and an integrated financial management information system. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MSF) prepares macroeconomic projections for the next four years; line ministries provide cost estimates of their programs and submit their own medium-term fiscal plans. Based on these, the MSF develops the first draft of the NFMP that covers major policy directions, the fiscal aggregates, and tentative ceilings for line ministries. The Fiscal Strategy Cabinet Meeting is then held to finalize the spending ceilings for line ministries. Subsequently, guidelines to budget preparation are issued to line ministries, which develop budget requests for submission to the MSF. Following negotiation between line ministries and the MSF, the NFMP and budget draft are finalized. Each NFMP covers five years: the current year, the budget year, and three following years. The NFMP is a rolling document, which is revised every year. The Korean case provides three main policy implications for MTEF reform. - First, strong support from top decision makers is crucial for MTEF to cover the entire government. In the Korean case, the support of top decision makers sustained the medium-term budgeting reform until the institutionalization of MTEF in the National Assembly was achieved. - Second, a MTEF must be integrated into the budget process. In the Korean case, the link between the MTEF and annual budgeting was top-down budgeting. This implies that the MSF had an important task of preparing credible spending ceilings with the active involvement of the central budget office, which is responsible for annual budgets. As Korean reformers realized, a MTEF developed without the cooperation of the budget office is unlikely to maintain credible spending ceilings. As a result, a MTEF may not be integrated into annual budgeting in practice. - Third, enhancing the capacity of line ministries was essential to fully realizing the benefits of a MTEF. With the reform, line ministries' budget divisions required the capacity to develop ministerial budget drafts, aligned with government-wide priorities. To strengthen the ministerial budget divisions, the MSF upgraded the teams' status and added personnel. Successful medium-term budgeting reforms usually require plans for building the capacity of stakeholders that will implement the reforms. 1 Based on Achieving Medium-Term Expenditure Framework Reform, a Case Study of Korea, The World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, 2013. ² An earlier attempt at a MTEF took place in Korea in 2001 focusing on integrating the existing medium-term plan into a regular budget process and aligning resources with the policy directions of the government. This attempt failed mostly because of lack of support from top policy makers. 15. The paper proposes the following phases of strengthening a medium-term budgeting approach in Qatar. - First phase (to be completed by mid-2015). The MFU would prepare a top-down resource envelope, or in other words the medium-term fiscal framework (MTFF), which is basically a macroeconomic framework projecting revenues, expenditures, nonhydrocarbon balances, and debt projections and risk assessment. The MFU would also prepare a medium-term fiscal strategy document that would serve as the basis for annual budget preparation, translating the MTFF into a statement on fiscal policy priorities. Fiscal risk analysis indicating the sensitivity of fiscal plans to different macroeconomic, hydrocarbon sector, and contingent liabilities' assumptions would also be part of this document. The authorities are on track to complete this phase on time. - Second phase (to be completed by end-2016). The authorities would match a top-down resource envelope with a bottom-up estimation of the costs of existing policy (or in other words preparing the MTBF). The PBD would engage in bottom-up reviews by scrutinizing sector policies aiming at integrating the bottom-up sector programs with the top-down resource envelope. At the end of this phase, a MTBF would be fully functioning and integrated in the annual budget process. - Third phase (to be completed by end-2017). Once the MTBF is fully-functioning, the authorities would gradually turn it into a performance-based medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF). As mentioned above, the MOF has already embarked on developing performancebased budgeting. This work should continue in parallel with the first two phases of budget reforms proposed above. This will result in enhanced capacity of line ministries and will facilitate the completion of the fourth (final) phase of reforms. At this phase, budget funding will be linked to results (shifting the focus from controlling inputs to controlling outcomes and allocating resources according to the results achieved by programs). Sectoral ministries and agencies should have medium-term sector strategies in place, which need to be regularly updated, and thus will need to develop competency in policy analysis and performance management. 16. A MTBF would result in improved fiscal discipline and greater predictability and credibility of the budget, while a subsequent MTEF would ensure resources are better allocated. Strengthening fiscal discipline is especially important in the context of an ongoing large investment program. Avoiding frequent mid-year budget amendments would help anchor fiscal policy and support macroeconomic stability. A strong MTBF would provide a disciplining device to help build buffers and resilience when hydrocarbon prices are high, while providing more clarity about the government's fiscal policy intentions. The formulation of the MTBF would also provide a helpful platform for a political discourse over the appropriate spending and savings levels. A MTEF would lead to better resource allocation through linking policy, planning, and budgeting, and therefore, more efficient use of public finances. 17. It is important that the medium-term budgeting is fully integrated in the regular budget process. In practice, achieving such integration is challenging and a MTBF/MTEF can remain a stand-alone document. For a MTBF/MTEF to successfully integrate in the regular budget process, credible top-down resource envelope will need to be developed (during the first phase as mentioned above), while close coordination among the relevant departments at the MOF would be essential. It will also be important that to solve any budget issues line ministries communicate with the MOF through a relevant sector team, rather than going directly to different units and departments. 18. Strong Public Finance Management (PFM) systems and increased guidance by flexible fiscal rules are also important components of the needed budget reforms. These include firm expenditure controls and timely and reliable fiscal reporting based on international standards. Preparing for an adoption of some flexible fiscal rules could delink spending decisions from volatile revenues (e.g. the structural balance rule, or the nonhydrocarbon primary balance rule, or the expenditure rule). 8 Expanding fiscal coverage to include extra-budgetary revenues and expenditures, state-owned enterprises and other government-related entities would help better assess the impact of public sector spending on the economy. Greater transparency of fiscal accounts is also essential: an accurate assessment of the Qatar's fiscal position is difficult given limited disclosure of financial transactions and no official information on the size of the sovereign wealth fund. C. Conclusions 19. Fiscal policy remains sustainable, but given the large drop in oil prices, revenue-raising and expenditure-containing measures need to be considered to ensure intergenerational equity. Driven by increases in the oil price and hydrocarbon production, total revenue and expenditure of central government have increased substantially since 2000, presenting risks for fiscal sustainability in the medium to long term, especially in the context of low hydrocarbon prices. Measures aimed at containing current spending, prioritizing capital expenditure, and raising nonhydrocarbon revenues would help bring fiscal policy back to consistency with intergenerational equity. The proposed measures include controlling the public wage bill, freezing administrative expenses, reducing subsidies, and prioritizing investment projects. Broadening CIT to include Qatari (and GCC) companies and introducing a low rate-broad based consumption tax such as VAT could also be considered. 20. The paper proposes several phases of strengthening a medium-term budgeting approach in Qatar. During the first phase (by mid-2015), the MFU would prepare a top-down resource envelope, or a MTFF, and a medium-term fiscal strategy document with fiscal risk analysis, translating the MTFF into a statement on fiscal policy priorities. The second phase (by end-2016), 8 For policy options in this area, see, for example, Towards Stronger Fiscal Policy and Institutions in the GCC, IMF staff paper prepared for the 2012 GCC Annual Meeting of Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors. would cover the preparation of a fully functioning MTBF. At the end of this phase, a MTBF would be integrated in the annual budget process, resulting in improved fiscal discipline and greater predictability of the budget. During the third phase (by end-2017), the authorities would gradually turn the MTBF into a MTEF, with budget funding linked to results leading to better allocation of resources. Sectoral ministries and agencies would develop competency in policy analysis and performance management. Strong PFM systems and increased guidance by flexible fiscal rules are crucial components of these budget reforms. References Achieving Medium-term Expenditure Framework Reform, A Case Study of Korea, Policy Research Working Paper, World Bank, January 2013 Achieving a sustainable water sector in the GCC: Managing supply and demand, building institutions; PWC, 2014. Energy Subsidy Reform: Lessons and Implications, IMF, 2013 Fiscal Policy in Qatar, Selected Issues Paper, IMF, January 2012 Medium-term Budget Framework in Qatar, Selected Issues Paper, IMF, December 2012 Qatar National Development Strategy 2011-2016 Regional Economic Outlook, Middle East and Central Asia, IMF, October 2014 Subsidy Reform in the Middle East and North Africa, IMF, 2014 Towards Stronger Fiscal Policy and Institutions in the GCC; IMF staff paper prepared for the 2012 Annual Meeting of Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors of the GCC Water Resources in the GCC Countries: An Overview; Water Resources Management 14: 59–75, 2000. BREAKING DOWN QATAR'S RAPID GROWTH: INPUT GROWTH OR PRODUCTIVITY OR BOTH? 1 Qatar has recorded impressive rates of output growth, but inputs such as employment and the capital stock have grown almost as fast, leaving little or no productivity gains. Looking forward, declining population growth and investment rates imply a fall in GDP growth unless productivity accelerates. Measures to support productivity growth include enhanced public investment efficiency, human capital development, and further progress in improving the business environment. A. Introduction 1. This paper assesses the relative contributions of inputs and productivity to Qatar's recent growth performance. Qatar's hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon GDP have grown rapidly. However, immigration has expanded the labor force and government capital projects have increased the capital stock. Faced with the prospect of declining population growth and investment, the sustainability of future growth merits scrutiny. This paper contributes to the analysis by describing the contributions of input growth to output growth. It assesses what role, if any, has been played by productivity growth and discusses which policies could help raise it. 2. The structure of the paper is as follows: Section B compares Qatar's headline GDP growth performance with that of other fast-growing countries before describing increases in the population and capital stock. Section C adjusts for rises in the employment-to-population ratio and human capital stock in order to calculate changes in labor productivity and in total factor productivity. Section D offers an indication of what slowing input growth would imply for GDP growth while suggesting policies that could help raise productivity growth. B. Output Growth and Input Growth 3. Qatar is in a small club of fast-growing economies. In 2008, the Commission on Growth and Development identified thirteen economies that had achieved an average annual GDP growth rate of 7 percent for 25 years or more, including Hong Kong (China), Malaysia, Singapore, and Oman. 2 The year the report was published (Growth Commission, 2008), Qatar attained this threshold, reaching an average of 7 percent in the years 1984 to 2008. Extending this to 1984 to 2013, growth was 7¾ percent per year. In the non-hydrocarbon sector, Qatar's annual growth was 8¼ percent over the same period – comfortably exceeding the 7 percent threshold. 1 Prepared by Alberto Behar and Andrew Warner with excellent research assistance from Juan Carlos Flores. 2 Other economies include Botswana, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malta, Taiwan Province of China, and Thailand. India and Vietnam were anticipated to achieve this threshold shortly after publication. Oman averaged 7 percent growth per year from 1960 to 1999. 4. Growth in per capita terms was much lower . Qatar's population grew by almost 7 percent per year over the same period. Thus Qatar's per capita GDP grew by about 1 percent per year in years 1984 to 2013. For selected comparators that the Growth Commission identified, including Oman, per capita GDP grew faster. Saudi Arabia and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) also had low or negative per capita GDP growth (Figure 1). When broadening the comparators to all countries, Qatar's per capita GDP growth places it in the lowest third of all countries world-wide (Figure 2). 5. GDP per-capita growth in the past 10 years has been more rapid in the nonhydrocarbon sector than in Oil and Gas. Sales of Natural Gas surged in 1997 as the production from Qatar's North Field came on line (Figure 3). This caused total GDP to grow by 30 percent in 1997. The rise in nonhydrocarbon GDP dates from around 2004, as major construction projects began to be implemented, boosting GDP in Construction, Transportation and Storage, Hotels, Banking and Finance, and Government. 6. Government spending has affected output through the demand channel thanks to special supply conditions. Qatar is a geographically small economy that is highly dependent on inputs from abroad. Since Qatar imports labor at globally-determined international wage rates and capital at given world prices, it faces less-binding supply constraints than other countries. The surge in oil-financed aggregate demand, particularly in the past decade, has boosted output a la Keynes but not for Keynesian reasons, as there is little economic slack in a traditional sense. Supply Sources: Country authorities; and IMF staff calculations. 1/ Data from 1999. 14 Figure 2. Real per Capita GDP in 189 Countries, 1984–2013 (Average annual percent change) Sources: World Development Indicators, World Bank; and IMF staff calculations. constraints have emerged primarily in land equipped with conveniences such as water and sewerage connections and electricity. Qatar has experienced some bouts with high inflation when immigration has been so fast as to put pressure on available land and suitable housing. 7. Spending on public investment itself creates GDP growth immediately, but should be distinguished from the productivity effects of these investments. Government investment accelerated markedly to a peak in 2007 and generally remains high (Figure 4). This pattern coincided with the pattern for both overall and non-hydrocarbon GDP growth. However, the correlation between GDP growth and government investment spending has been a contemporaneous association reflecting the contribution of investment to aggregate demand. Any impacts in boosting productivity in other sectors would come after the structures are completed, and should operate with a lag of many years since it takes years for investments to be completed. Thus the evidence that the association is contemporaneous supports the demand effect of the investment and not necessarily the effect on productivity. 8. Growth in the capital stock has been very high; it is estimated to have peaked around 2008. The capital stock for the whole economy in Qatar is estimated using data on real gross fixed capital formation, the perpetual inventory equation, a depreciation rate of 5 percent, and various assumptions on the initial capital output ratio in 1980. A lower assumed capital output ratio in 1980 results in higher growth in the capital stock. But this difference in the growth rates is virtually nil by the late 2000s (Figure 5). 9. Estimates of Capital Growth in the non-hydrocarbon sector are also high, and peaked the non-hydro sector over the three years 2011-2013 Figure 6. Estimated Capital Stock (non-hydro economy), 1987–2013 (Annual percent change) around 2009. Gross capital formation in averaged 16 percent of the whole economy and 29 percent of the non-hydro economy. Applying this 29 percent figure to non-hydro GDP for earlier years, a time series for the non-hydro investment and the non-hydro capital stock may be estimated. This procedure results in the following estimates of growth of the non-hydro capital stock. Once again, assumptions about the capital output ratio in 1980 do not have much impact on the estimated growth rates after the year 2000. The growth rate in the non-hydro capital stock is estimated to have been above 12 percent after 2007 and to have peaked in 2009 (Figure 6). C. Productivity 10. Migration of workers has been the driving force behind high population growth and caused the employment-population ratio to rise dramatically. Qatar's population rose from approximately 650 000 in 2001 to 1.9 million in 2013. 3 The employment-to-population ratio rose from 48 percent in 2001 to 68 percent in 2007 and more than 85 percent in 2013. As a result, growth in GDP per worker has been slower than growth in GDP per population (Table 1). This is illustrated in the case of the non-hydrocarbon sector, which appears to be growing fast in per-capita terms but not in per-worker terms (Figure 7). 180 Figure 7. Non-hydro GDP and Labor Productivity, 1980–2013 (Thousand 2004 Riyals per worker or person) 11. Labor productivity in the non-hydrocarbon sectors has fluctuated in recent years without showing a clear upward trend. Labor productivity in manufacturing declined between 2001 and 2009 before rebounding in 2012 and then declining slightly in 2013 (Figure 8). Labor productivity in construction has fluctuated around a low level since 2001. Labor productivity in Trade, Hotels and Restaurants rose between 2001 and 2006, but has remained roughly constant since 2006. Measured labor productivity in Government rose sharply after 2012; but this simply measures the rise in the average salary in the public sector. 4 3 Reported data are annual averages. 4 Labor productivity is measured by value-added divided by employment (VA/L) and value-added in turn is the sum of total payments to labor plus profits (VA=wL+Profits). Therefore labor productivity is also the sum of the average wage plus profits per worker (VA/L=w+Profits/L).Hence in sectors such as government where profits are low or zero, VA/L may be considered a measure of the average wage or salary in the public sector. Employment data comes from (continued) 12. A possible explanation for low labor productivity is the shift of labor to the construction sector, as construction has lower-than-average productivity. Construction employment as a share of the total did rise dramatically between 2001 and 2008, from just under 20 percent to over 45 percent. But it has declined since 2008, to about 37 percent in 2013. Hence the shift to construction may account for low productivity growth between 2001 and 2008, but not between 2008 and 2013. 13. However, when employment shares are held fixed, the overall picture on labor productivity trends is not substantially different. The employment share in construction was at its lowest in 2001 and highest in 2008. When total labor productivity is re-calculated using constant labor force shares (either 2001 shares or 2008 shares), the overall picture is the same: declining labor productivity between 2001 and 2008, and constant labor productivity between 2001 and 2013. Given that labor productivity rose in the government sector, which is equivalent to the average wage in government rising, this means that labor productivity in the market sectors declined between 2001 and 2013. 14. Schooling Attainment continues to grow in Qatar and accelerated after 2005. Human capital can also increase output per worker. Research using data for 2005 or before concluded that Qatar had relatively low levels of educational attainment for its level of GDP (IMF, 2011). Updated data for 2010 however from the original source indicates a faster increase between 2005 and 2010 (Table 2). While the average years of schooling in the population age 25 or over increased by 2 percent per year between 2000 and 2005 (from 6.42 to 7.10), it increased by 3.5 percent per year between 2005 and 2010 (7.10 to 8.45). Following Hall and Jones (1999), this is translated into a human capital index using returns of schooling data in Psacharopoulos (1994). Between 2005 and 2010, the human capital index in Qatar grew at an average annual rate of 2.46 percent per year from 2.34 to 2.64. the data on the economically active population by sector from the labor force surveys. Labor productivity data are thus only available for years in which there was a survey. Table 2. Average Years of Schooling in the Population Over Age 25 15. Total factor productivity measures how efficiently all inputs are used in production. Building on the earlier analysis of output per worker (labor productivity), total factor productivity (TFP) growth is a measure of how productivity of all inputs combined has evolved. Estimates of TFP growth are based on the equation: In which A g is total factor productivity growth, K g is growth in the physical capital stock, L g is growth in the number of workers, and H g is growth in human capital. 0.5 to keep the estimates comparable to IMF (2011). 5 Table 3 shows the estimates separately for the whole economy and the non-hydrocarbon economy between 2006/7 and 2013. An average for the years 2006 and 2007 was used as a starting point because 2006 was an unusually high year for labor productivity. 16. TFP growth was negative over the period 2006/7-2013, as rapid output growth did not keep pace with even faster input growth. For the whole economy, output grew at an average annual rate of 12.26 percent; physical capital 13.16 percent; employment 14.46 percent; and human capital 2.46 percent; for an estimated TFP growth of -2.78 percent (Table 3). Given that some analysts do not include human capital in TFP calculations, note that if human capital growth were not included TFP growth would instead have been -1.55 percent. Turning to the non-hydrocarbon 5 The conclusions are robust to the choice of this parameter within plausible ranges. Lower values of α would translate to slightly lower productivity growth because K L H g g g . economy, our estimates are that TFP growth was -0.39 percent or 0.84 percent (if human capital growth was not used in the calculation). Therefore, whether one looks at labor productivity growth or TFP growth, both estimates suggest that productivity growth in Qatar in recent years has been low. D. Towards productivity-led growth 17. Hydrocarbon output growth is projected to be low, leaving the non-hydrocarbon sector as the main contributor to growth going forward. Reflecting a voluntary gas investment moratorium and maturing crude oil fields, hydrocarbon output is expected to be broadly flat over the medium term. The authorities are executing a $200 billion infrastructure program to advance economic diversification and view preparation for the FIFA 2022 World Cup as an intermediate step in their long term plan to lay the foundation for sustained growth in the non-hydrocarbon sector. 18. Lower input growth implies lower GDP growth going forward. The United Figure 9. Impactof Slowing Input Growth on Output Growth 1/ Nations 6 has projected population growth to slow to a standstill, and the Qatari leadership has pointed in particular to high population growth and high immigration as something they do not wish to continue indefinitely. 7 Government spending plans indicate investment will peak this decade, which our calculations suggest would result in a slowdown 6 http://www.escwa.un.org/popin/members/qatar.pdf 7 See Qatar National Vision 2030 Source: IMF staff calculations. 1/ Simulated medium-term impact on GDP growth of fall in employment and government investment growth to zero by 2020, relative to 2006/7-2013 average. in the pace of growth in the capital stock to about 9 percent in 2020. In our simple framework, this reduction in input growth implies a fall in medium-term output growth of about 9 percent from the 2006/7-2013 averages (Figure 9). 8 Consistent with this, the baseline forecast is a deceleration of growth to about 4 percent in 2020. 19. Productivity and human capital growth accelerations could compensate. So far, the combined contributions of TFP and human capital growth have been negligible. If TFP growth rises and the provision of human capital accelerates, some of this reduction in growth may be mitigated. Some recent improvements in project selection and execution could lead to longer-lasting TFP growth, but this would represent a break from the past. Redoubled efforts would be needed to generate productivity and human capital accelerations: - Boosting investment efficiency to raise the productivity of physical capital. As government investment will remain significant in the near future, one big opportunity to improve public capital productivity is to strengthen public investment selection and management. Although comparable to GCC peers, the efficiency of Qatar's public investment appears to be lagging behind resource-rich advanced economies. Qatar has launched important reforms by establishing a new public investment management department at the Ministry of Finance. The critical tasks of this department should include (a) obtaining objective information to better estimate the returns of the public investments, and (b) ensuring that expenditure decisions react to this information properly. Such steps form a key component of a package of measures to improve the public investment management process, the mediumterm budget framework, and other fiscal institutions (See the previous Selected Issues Paper and the Qatar 2014 Article IV Selected Issues Paper). - Increasing the quantity and quality of human capital. Although Qatar's increase in the average years of schooling has been impressive by global standards, the increase did not quite match those of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, where schooling attainment still exceeded that of Qatar in 2010. It is also important to distinguish between the quantity and quality of education. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) database indicates that, despite signs of notable improvement, Qatar still ranks below global norms in terms of tests in primary school. Although there is no automatic and guaranteed link between educational attainment and productivity, further investments to increase enrollments and improve the quality of educational curricula may be an important avenue for increasing productivity. Given the reliance on foreign labor, further measures to target those foreign workers possessing scarce skills should be explored. 8 GDP growth is positive despite zero public investment growth mostly because the capital stock continues to grow. Investment growth of zero still leads to growth in the capital stock if investment as a share of GDP is sufficiently large to compensate for depreciation in the existing capital stock. As a further stark example, growth rates of zero in the labor force and the capital stock would reduce their contribution to output growth by more than 12 percent, leaving output growth close to zero. - Other measures could also support productivity growth. Specific measures to raise productivity include simplifying business administration to encourage entrepreneurship, improving contract enforcement to facilitate lending, increasing labor market mobility for foreigners to improve the quality of matches between workers and vacancies, and addressing logistics bottlenecks to reduce storage costs and waiting times. References Commission on Growth and Development (2008), "The Growth Report: Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development", World Bank, Washington. Hall, Robert E. and Charles I. Jones "Why do Some Countries Produce so much More Output per Workers than Others?" The Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1999. International Monetary Fund (2014), "Qatar: Selected Issues I: Assessing Efficiency of Qatar Public Investment", IMF Country Report 14/109. (Washington, International Monetary Fund). International Monetary Fund (2011), Staff Report for the 2010 Article IV Consultation, IMF Country Report No. 11/64 March 2011 Psacharopoulos, George, ''Returns to Investment in Education: A Global Update,'' World Development, XXII (1994), 1325–1343. WHAT DRIVES INFLATION IN QATAR? 1 In Qatar double digit inflation has given way to single digit inflation in recent years, prompting differing views about the driving forces. This paper test many views against each other and finds that the evidence supports a simple and slightly non-standard inflation model in which migration and global forces play key roles. Going forward, inflation monitoring should focus on rates of migration and population growth, global inflation trends, as well as domestic credit growth. A. Background 1. Qatar faces a mix of possible inflationary and deflationary trends. Currently inflation is fairly low (2¾ percent per year as of December 2014) but there are underlying economic forces that could move it in either direction. Inflationary forces related to the public infrastructure program are reflected in the strong increases in the housing and rental prices. Deflationary forces include the decline in commodity and energy prices, especially over the last six months, and the overall deceleration of inflation in key markets such as the European Union. 2. Qatar has previous experience with double digit inflation. Since the economic boom in Qatar commenced after 2002 the inflation rate has at times reached high levels – for example 14.7 percent per year in the first quarter of 2007 (figure 1). This inflationary episode followed many years in which the price level was fairly constant (figure 2). 3. This backdrop places a premium on understanding how various factors affect inflation in Qatar. Over the past ten years, inflation has been linked in various writings to many factors. These include the currency peg of the Riyal to the US dollar, as a depreciating dollar is feared to raise prices of euro-denominated imports, changes in global food and energy prices, high government spending, and even the stance of US monetary policy (CNN February 2008), as cuts in 1 Prepared by Andrew Warner. Annex II was contributed by Juan Carlos Flores. US interest rates were alleged to put pressure on the Qatari authorities to cut domestic interest rates and boost domestic aggregate demand. 2 In Qatar, the media focus on global prices, the exchange rate, high government spending and high rents as the causes of inflation. Some academic analysts have stressed the role of global commodity and food prices, and the exchange rate. Garriga and Armesto (2008) cite the non-traded model to argue that inflation in Qatar should come down to two forcing variables: the US/Euro exchange rate and Oil prices: "A falling dollar contributes to inflation in dollar-pegged economies by raising the domestic-currency prices of tradable goods (such as manufactured goods and many types of food). Rising oil prices make individuals wealthier and encourage them to buy more tradable goods as well as non-tradable goods (such as houses and land), increasing the relative prices of goods and services produced within the country." Kandil and Morsy (2011) claim that inflation should be a function of six variables; oil prices, government spending, inflation of trading partners, the nominal exchange rate, food prices and the business cycle. 4. Given the large number of factors alleged to affect inflation, there is a need for a model and empirical testing to determine which are truly important. This paper presents tests of various explanations for inflation against one another using both annual data and quarterly data. It finds results that obtain consistently in both kinds of data. Instead of some of the popular explanations for inflation, it finds that the migration rate, putting pressure on land and housing prices, has been a key driver of inflation along with global inflation and, to some degree, the rate of domestic credit growth. Several other common explanations for inflation are rejected in favor of these variables. B. Review of the Data 5. The price level in the economy outside the Oil and Gas sector first started to rise significantly in 2002. As is apparent in figure 2, the rise in the non-hydrocarbon price deflator began in 2002. A traditional framework that can account for this is the non-traded model which predicts that a rise in oil prices should be inflationary, other things constant, because it raises demand for non-traded goods and increases its equilibrium relative price. If nominal traded prices are fixed by world prices, this rise will increase overall inflation. The evidence appears to confirm this broad prediction because, as figure 2 shows, the price level in the rest of the economy, the so called non-hydrocarbon economy, first started to rise at about the same time as the price of oil started to rise in 2003-4. 2 http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/01/31/qatar.economy/index.html?iref=24hours 6. However, quarterly inflation is not strongly associated with changes in global commodity prices. Although there is a positive long-term association between the price level of hydrocarbon GDP and the price level of the rest of GDP (figure 2), short run changes are not strongly associated. Crude oil prices and global food prices have fluctuated at high frequencies in recent years but the simple association with Qatar's quarterly CPI inflation is not visually strong (figure 3,A and B). 7. Credit growth was positively associated with inflation in some periods, but there were times when the two appeared unrelated. Credit growth coincides with the 2006-2008 inflation acceleration (figure 3, C), but there are periods of fast credit growth (2003-2004, or 2012-2013) that are not associated with acceleration in inflation. Thus credit and monetary growth appears to correlate with inflation in some periods but not in all periods. The lack of a relation may occur in periods where credit growth finances purchases of imported goods whose domestic price is tied down by the exchange rate peg and world prices. 8. Overall inflation is however strongly associated with one component of the price index, namely housing and rental prices. Next we turn to data that hint at additional, nonstandard explanations for inflation. First note the strong association between inflation in real estate prices and inflation in the overall consumer price index: 9. Dividing the price index into three components, housing prices are by far the most volatile, with other components weakly associated with housing prices and rents. In figure 5, the three major components of the (non-fuel) CPI basket are shown separately. This includes a proxy for housing prices (includes cost of rent, housing, and utilities), services (primarily social and health services and entertainment), and other goods (including food, clothing, transport goods, appliances and traded communications equipment). 10. An unconventional variable to account for inflation is the rate of inward migration. This works through a specific demand channel: migrants demand housing, the supply of housing the supply of land connected to key utility services is fixed in the short run, so migration bids up house prices and rents and services connected to housing. 11. Migration surged between 2005 and 2008. The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics provides data on rates of natural increase in the population derived from birth and death rates. These allow estimation of what the population would have been without migration. The difference between actual population and this series provides estimates of net migration (table 1). The table shows that the annual rate of in-migration during 2005-08 was fully 15 percent or more of the previous year's population. As these migrants arrived demand rose strongly for non-traded housing and services. This put upward pressure on non traded prices and causes inflation unless there was a compensating increase in supply of housing and services. Since the supply of prepared land and housing is fixed in the short run, this migration can affect prices immediately. Indeed, the annual migration rate is strongly associated with inflation (figure 3, D). Table 1. Population and Migration Estimates, 2000-14 Empirical Tests using Annual Data 12. In regressions using annual data, migration and advanced country inflation perform better than M1 growth and oil price inflation. Major candidates for variables to affect inflation include money growth, global inflation, oil price growth, migration and global GDP growth. A regression testing the significance of these variables in explaining annual CPI inflation shows that the M2 money supply growth and crude oil price inflation are not statistically significant and are defeated by the migration and advanced country inflation variables. Inflation also appears to be associated with advanced country GDP growth. 13. Advanced country GDP growth appears to affect inflation but this result is probably mislabeled, as it works as a dummy for the year 2009. The second regression in table 2 shows that when 2009 is removed from the sample, this variable loses its explanatory power. Thus advanced country GDP growth has no estimated impact on Qatar inflation outside of 2009. Given that 2009 was an eventful year, this variable could be picking up much else besides the growth rate, such as temporary expectations of a collapse in the global economy. Since 2009 was arguably a special year, further regressions simply use the 2009 dummy variable as a control rather than continuing with the advanced country growth variable. 14. A parsimonious model of inflation includes only three variables. Putting the preceding results together, a simple, but well-fitting, model for inflation in Qatar includes world inflation, migration, and the 2009 dummy variable (Table 3). This 3-variable model achieves a higher adjusted R2 than the original five-variable model and fits the data closely (figure 6). Table 3. Simple Inflation model Figure 6. Fit of the Annual Inflation Model, 2002–14 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 15. Tests reject several additional variables in favor of this model. As shown in table A1, this model was tested against a number of other variables. These include credit growth, M1 growth, M2 growth, nominal consumption growth, global Oil price inflation, Global food price inflation, and two measures of the business cycle, the deviation of GDP growth from trend and the deviation of NonOil and Gas GDP from trend. Each of these additional variables proved insignificant when tested against the three variables in the benchmark model. 16. Simulations suggest that variation in migration and advanced-country inflation each account for approximately half of the variation in inflation over 2002-2013. The influence of an explanatory variable depends on both the size of the estimated coefficient and the variability of the variable. As indicated in the table below, the variability of the migration variable, as measured by the standard deviation over the sample period, was 0.061. When multiplied by the estimated coefficient of 0.403, variation in this variable explains 2.5 percentage points of variation in inflation. The same calculation for advanced-country inflation shows that it explains 3.2 percentage points of variation in inflation. The sum of these two impacts, 0.057, is a large share of the overall variation of inflation of 0.068, as measured by its standard deviation. Empirical Tests using Quarterly Data 17. The same model was estimated with quarterly data; the data reject lagged impacts in favor of a simpler specification. Variables that are available on a quarterly basis since 2003 include inflation, oil price growth, nominal effective exchange rate growth, credit growth, money supply growth, advanced country inflation and GDP growth. The migration data were converted from annual to quarterly by interpolating and smoothing the annual data. A regression was first estimated using the same two variables that proved significant in the annual regressions, migration and advanced country inflation, yet this time including lags to allow for delayed effects given the higher frequency data. The migration variable was so highly correlated with its first lag that the regression was unable to estimate the separate impacts – a classic case of multicolinearity. The regression also strongly preferred the contemporaneous rather than the first lag of the advanced-country inflation variable. Further lags were tested but were not significant. Notably, the 2009 dummy is not required to fit the data well. 18. The model continues to reject other explanations for inflation. A large set of regressions with additional variables is shown in table A2. The variables include two measures of money supply growth (M1 and M2), credit growth, government expenditure growth, growth in a world crude oil price index, growth in a world food price index, and depreciation in the nominal effective exchange rate. Since the Riyal is pegged to the US dollar, depreciation in this variable primarily reflects changes in the USD/Euro exchange rate, with a strengthening of the Euro (an increase in the index) possibly raising the domestic currency price of foreign-sourced goods denominated in Euros. 19. Money and credit growth variables are now statistically significant, unlike the results using annual data, but several other variables remain insignificant. The results reported in Table A2 show that nominal money and credit growth are now statistically significant. In contrast, there is little evidence that real growth in fiscal expenditures, oil price inflation, food price inflation and nominal effective exchange rate depreciation (vis-a-vis the Euro) significantly affected inflation. 20. The explanatory power of the quarterly model using migration, external inflation, and domestic credit growth, is strong. The migration and advanced country inflation variable continues to perform strongly in all regressions. The best-fitting regression includes three variables: migration, advanced-country inflation and credit growth. The figures below show the statistical fit for each of these three variables. They also reveal which quarters are not well-explained by the model. These are 2009Q1, 2007Q2 and 2008Q2 (denoted 2009m3, 2007m6 and 2008m6 in the figures). C. Interpretation of the Results 21. The model offers a succinct interpretation of Qatar's inflation history. Inflation was driven to abnormally high levels during 2004-2006 because of the high rates of inward migration prompted by the surge in capital spending and construction starting around 2004. The sharp drop in inflation in 2009 was lead by a decline in the growth rate of housing prices. House price growth turned negative in early 2009 and migration rates plummeted about the same time. Both events were likely a reaction to the sharp decline in global economic prospects during autumn 2008. As uncertainty around what would happen to global economic conditions after 2009 dissipated (in particular the risk that there would be a global depression with possibly negative rates of inflation), domestic inflationary pressures re-emerged. However, capital accumulation and housing construction had been occurring over time so that supply shortages were much less binding at the end of the decade than they had been at the middle of the decade. Rates of migration have declined and advanced country inflation is also lower. Hence the new equilibrium after 2011 shows lower inflation than during 2004-2006 when supply bottlenecks were more binding. 22. Oil price changes appear to be a fundamental cause of inflation but not a proximate cause of inflation. Variables such as oil prices may indeed be inflationary in an ultimate sense; they just do not operate as the immediate, proximate cause of inflation. The wealth that hired the migrants ultimately came from oil and gas revenue. However given that income can be saved, the spending increases that trigger inflation do not have to coincide quarter by quarter with changes in the oil price. 23. Credit and money growth trigger inflation only under certain conditions. Large exogenous increases in credit and money that create nominal growth in demand that is faster than growth in aggregate supply will be inflationary. This kind of autonomous credit growth may simply not have happened in the time period under examination. Instead the credit growth we observe in the sample could have financed the migration increase, as some of that spending may have been financed by credit (one can see positive association between migration and credit growth in part of the sample but not all). But this means that the credit growth was endogenous and not causal. Finally, some of the credit growth probably financed purchases of imports (investment goods) and did not fall on non-traded goods and services and hence did not show up as a driver of inflation. 24. Other variables may be inflationary but did not change over the sample period. A third category of variables, notably the nominal effective exchange rate, did not change substantially during the sample period. It may not show up as inflationary simply because it was not altered during the sample. This does not mean that it is unimportant for inflation; it was a lever that was not deployed. 25. Looking forward, inflationary pressures have generally declined, predicting lower inflation, but renewed inflation from land and housing pressures remains a risk. The model suggests that the important sources of inflation in Qatar include inflation overall in the rest of the world rather than inflation in very specific prices such as food or energy, and second, fast population growth driven my high rates of migration, and to a lesser extent domestic credit growth. Lower rates of global inflation and lower rates of migration (compared to the mid-2000s) foretell lower inflation going forward. Nevertheless, migration rates have picked up in recent years and so have real estate prices, suggesting that this is an important area for surveillance. 26. The models findings can be useful in devising a simple inflation early warning exercise for Qatar (Annex II). Besides the usual variables reflecting growth and detailed CPI and PPI components, policymakers should pay enhanced attention to population and migration data, as well as the dynamics of credit and money to discern future inflation trends. At present, the early warning table reveals the contrast between domestic developments, which are largely inflationary given strong population growth, and the global environment, which will tend to reduce Qatar's inflation given the sharp drop in the international commodity prices and advanced economy inflation. Annex I. Descriptive Statistics Table A1. Descriptive Statistics of Data Used in Annual Regressions QATAR 38 INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND Annex III. Regression Tables Table A3. Regression results explaining Annual Inflation in Qatar 2002-2013 (dependent variable is annual percent change in the CPI) t-statistics in parentheses * p<0.01, p<0.05, * p<0.1 Table A4. Regression results explaining Quarterly Inflation in Qatar 2002-2013 (dependent variable is percent change in the CPI, yoy) References Carlos Garriga and Michelle T. Armesto A Stronger Dollar Raises Inflation in the Gulf Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Economic Synopsis, 2008 Kandil, Magda and Hanan Morsey, Determinants of Inflation in GCC, Middle East Development Journal, Vol. 3, No. 2 (2011) 141–158. 40
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Summit 1 Simon and Schuster Unlock the groundbreaking advances of deep learning with this extensively revised edition of the bestselling original. Learn directly from the creator of Keras and master practical Python deep learning techniques that are easy to apply in the real world. In Deep Learning with Python, Second Edition you will learn: Deep learning from ﬁrst principles Image classiﬁcation & image segmentation Timeseries forecasting Text classiﬁcation and machine translation Text generation, neural style transfer, and image generation Deep Learning with Python has taught thousands of readers how to put the full capabilities of deep learning into action. This extensively revised second edition introduces deep learning using Python and Keras, and is loaded with insights for both novice and experienced ML practitioners. You'll learn practical techniques that are easy to apply in the real world, and important theory for perfecting neural networks. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the technology Recent innovations in deep learning unlock exciting new software capabilities like automated language translation, image recognition, and more. Deep learning is becoming essential knowledge for every software developer, and modern tools like Keras and TensorFlow put it within your reach, even if you have no background in mathematics or data science. About the book Deep Learning with Python, Second Edition introduces the ﬁeld of deep learning using Python and the powerful Keras library. In this new edition, Keras creator François Chollet oﬀers insights for both novice and experienced machine learning practitioners. As you move through this book, you'll build your understanding through intuitive explanations, crisp illustrations, and clear examples. You'll pick up the skills to start developing deep-learning applications. What's inside Deep learning from ﬁrst principles Image classiﬁcation and image segmentation Time series forecasting Text classiﬁcation and machine translation Text generation, neural style transfer, and image generation About the reader For readers with intermediate Python skills. No previous experience with Keras, TensorFlow, or machine learning is required. About the author François Chollet is a software engineer at Google and creator of the Keras deeplearning library. Table of Contents 1 What is deep learning? 2 The mathematical building blocks of neural networks 3 Introduction to Keras and TensorFlow 4 Getting started with neural networks: Classiﬁcation and regression 5 Fundamentals of machine learning 6 The universal workﬂow of machine learning 7 Working with Keras: A deep dive 8 Introduction to deep learning for computer vision 9 Advanced deep learning for computer vision 10 Deep learning for timeseries 11 Deep learning for text 12 Generative deep learning 13 Best practices for the real world 14 Conclusions Principles of Political Economy: book 1. Production. book 2. Distribution. v.2. book 3. Exchange. v. 3. book 4. Economic progress. book 5 The economic functions of government Allyn & Bacon is a dynamic course for international communication with the ﬂexibility to ﬁt any teaching situation. It sets a new standard, using the natural language that people really speak. How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work Elsevier Health Sciences Learn math in a guided discovery format. These "teaching textbooks" are designed to let students learn at their own pace. Summit Math books are for curious students who want learning to feel like a journey. The scenarios are arranged to show how new math concepts are related to previous concepts they have already learned. Students naturally learn at diﬀerent paces and these books help teachers manage ﬂexible pacing in their classes. Learn more at www.summitmathbooks.com. Topics in this book: Introduction to exponential patterns Exponential sequences Connecting exponential growth and percent changes Exponential decay Exponential functions Exponents review Equations review Writing an exponential function, given 2 points Graphs of exponential functions More exponential scenarios Cumulative review Answer key Book description: In this book, students learn that exponential patterns come from repeated multiplication. They also learn that exponential patterns can be viewed as repeated percentage changes. They investigate scenarios that involve both exponential growth and decay. They learn how to graph exponential functions. They also learn how to use systems of equations to ﬁnd the equation for an exponential function when they know 2 points. This book builds on Algebra 1: Book 1 and Algebra 2: Book 6. Student testimonials: "This is the best way to learn math." "Summit Math books are unlike typical textbooks. It doesn't matter how you learn or what speed you go at...you can learn at your own pace while still understanding all the material." "Summit Math Books have guided me through algebra. They are the stepping stones of what it takes to think like a mathematician..." "I really enjoy learning from these books...they clearly demonstrate how concepts are built over other concepts." "You don't just memorize, you actually understand it." Parent testimonials: "Summit Math Books not only helped my daughter learn the math, they helped her to love learning math in and of itself! Summit Math books have a fun, self-paced way to explain math concepts..." "I am absolutely thrilled with this math program. The books are so well organized and the content builds from one lesson to the next." "We are really impressed and grateful for our boys' understanding of what the math means, not just how to get problems right...we should all learn to understand math this way." "As the mother of a teenage daughter who previously had occasional diﬃculty in math, it was refreshing to watch her actually enjoy her math class and to understand the subject matter without struggling" "I have three kids that have used Summit Math. Using these books, they have more freedom to learn and explore at their own pace during class, with notes already incorporated within the book." Teacher testimonials: "Summit Math allows students to work at their own pace which allows me the opportunity to provide individualized attention to those who need it..." "Summit Math emphasizes understanding concepts rather than memorizing rules. Students take ownership while acquiring the necessary skills to solve meaningful math problems..." "It has been a real beneﬁt having problem sets that are explicitly designed to guide students through the development of their understanding of the how and why behind the concepts they are studying." See more testimonials at www.summitmathbooks.com. 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Mat regularly advises clients on the prohibited transaction rules, on IRA/LLC structures, on real estate and private company investments, and on UBIT and UDFI taxes. Mat has also successfully represented self directed IRA owners before the IRS Appeals Oﬃce and the U.S. Tax Court. To view testimonials for the book, and for additional self directed IRA resources, please visit the author's site at www.sdirahandbook.com The Self Directed IRA Handbook Allyn & Bacon From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York's work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 diﬃcult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There's a reason Alison Green has been called "the Dear Abby of the work world." Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the oﬃce because they simply don't know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You'll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit "reply all" • you're being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate's loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager "A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green's] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work."—Booklist (starred review) "The author's friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers' lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience."—Library Journal (starred review) "I am a huge fan of Alison Green's Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, conﬁdence, and a sense of humor."—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide "Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but ﬁrm way."—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together Selective Anatomy Vol 1, 2nd Edition-E-bookSummit 1 with ActiveBook and MyEnglishLab The new multi-level exam preparation series for Cambridge ESOL exams which inspires students to better exam results. Text-book of Physiology Simon and Schuster With its fresh new look, the third edition of the Summit program helps develop conﬁdent English speakers who are able to navigate a host of social and professional situations.This two-level course provides high-intermediate learners with an integrated set of global communication skills. It delivers immediate, demonstrable results through its goal- and achievement-based pedagogy and continual recycling of language.The two levels of Summit can be used with Top Notch as the ﬁfth and sixth books in a complete six-level series. Summit 1 covers competencies from B2 to B2 #43 Prep Manual for Undergraduates Oxford University Press This package consists of the Summit 1 Student Book with ActiveTeach, plus access to MyEnglishLab: Summit and Workbook 1. Summit helps the highintermediate learner continue to grow through a balanced development of both ﬂuency and accuracy. 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Extensive printable resources including extension activities, Summit TV activity worksheets, workbook answer keys, and audioscripts. MyEnglishLab: Summit A powerful online learning tool for personalized practice and assessment - an available option to complement the Student's Book. Assign activities and track student and class progress. Also includes Summit TV video online with activities. 1 Government Contracts Made Easier: Second EditionLongman Publishing Group With its fresh new look, the third edition of the Summit program helps develop conﬁdent English speakers who are able to navigate a host of social and professional situations. This two-level course provides high-intermediate learners with an integrated set of global communication skills. It delivers immediate, demonstrable results through its goal- and achievement-based pedagogy and continual recycling of language. The two levels of Summit can be used with Top Notch as the ﬁfth and sixth books in a complete six-level series. 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Dvd With Activity Worksheets Cambridge University Press Summit 1 with ActiveBook and MyEnglishLabPearson Education ESL An Authoritative Guide for Self Directed Retirement Plan Investors and Their Advisors Ballantine Books This market-leading textbook has been fully updated in response to extensive user feedback. It includes a new chapter on joints and veins, additional examples from around the world, stunning new ﬁeld photos, and extended online resources with new animations and exercises. The book's practical emphasis, hugely popular in the ﬁrst edition, features applications in the upper crust, including petroleum and groundwater geology, highlighting the importance of structural geology in exploration and exploitation of petroleum and water resources. Carefully designed full-colour illustrations work closely with the text to support student learning, and are supplemented with high-quality photos from around the world. Examples and parallels drawn from practical everyday situations engage students, and end-of chapter review questions help them to check their understanding. Updated elearning modules are available online (www.cambridge.org/fossen2e) and further reinforce key topics using summaries, innovative animations to bring concepts to life, and additional examples and ﬁgures. Summit Math Algebra 2 Book 1Allyn & Bacon "I'm someone who will push you beyond all reasonable limits. Someone who will ask you not to just fulﬁll your potential but to exceed it. Someone who will expect more from you than you may believe you are capable of. So if you aren't ready to go to work, shut this book." --Pat Summitt Pat Summitt, head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols, was a phenomenon in women's basketball. Her ferociously competitive teams won the NCAA championship in 1996 and 1997 and made her the winningest coach in NCAA Division 1 women's history. Summitt wrote the ﬁrst motivational book by a high-achieving female coach. In Reach for the Summit, she presented her formula for success, which she called the "Deﬁnite Dozen System." In each of the book's twelve chapters, Summitt talked about one of the system's principles--such as responsibility, discipline, and loyalty-and showed how to apply it to your own situation. Pat Summitt used her own remarkable story as a vehicle for explaining how anyone can transform herself through ambition. Through many amusing anecdotes and a few very painful memories, she revealed her mistakes and triumphs as a beginning basketball player, as an Olympic athlete, as a Division 1 coach, and as a mother. Although Summitt was not born to the easy life--she was born into a hard-working farm family in a remote corner of Tennessee--she became one of the most successful and highest-paid coaches in the country. She candidly talked about how she turned her losses into wins and then showed how you can do the same. Wonderfully entertaining and brilliantly instructive, Reach for the Summit discloses the winning secret to building a principled system and making it to the top at whatever you do. Pat Summitt's story will motivate you to achieve in sports, business, and the most important game of all--life. Text-book of physiology v. 2, 1900Longman Publishing Group Discourse analysis is the study of spoken and written language in its social and psychological context. This book explains the relevant theory, and applies it to classroom activities designed to improve students' discourse skills. The teacher is then shown how these activities may be further developed in speciﬁc teaching situations. As Tilt, Perry, Sammi, and Dominic prepare to ascend Mt. Everest, they must deal with low supplies, high altitude, dangerous terrain, government oﬃcials, sabotage, and an approaching storm. Learning SparkO'Reilly Media The second edition of this book is thoroughly updated in accordance with the competency-based curriculum of anatomy. Text is written in simple and easy-to-understand style in question-answer format which helps the student in quick learning and revision. Volume I covers the syllabus of Paper I of University Examination. Ideal for undergraduate students of medical, dental, paramedical and nursing courses Additional Feature Complimentary access to full e-book Thorough revision of all the chapters Emphasis on systemize presentation of information and relevant from examination point of view Addition of many new line diagrams to facilitate greater retention of knowledge Improvement and revision in earlier diagrams and tables Additional informationof higheracademic value presented in a simple way in N.B. to make it more interesting for readers Bulleted points help inrapid revision and self-assessment before examination Additional Feature Complimentary access to full e-book Coverage of the competency codes integrated within the text as per new competency based undegraduate curriculum. Ask a Manager Oni Press This package consists of the Summit 1 Student Book with ActiveTeach and Workbook 1. Summit helps the high-intermediate learner continue to grow through a balanced development of both ﬂuency and accuracy. Summit oﬀers a unique conversational syllabus and extensive opportunities for discussion, debate, presentations, and projects as well as contextualized grammar review, expansion, and practice. Summit prepares students for academic study through development of word skills, reading and listening skills and strategies, and critical thinking. The second edition oﬀers both online and oﬄine solutions with the following new technology: ActiveBook Each Student's Book includes the digital course book with the complete audio program and extensive extra practice in all skill areas, including reading, listening, and speaking. Printable reading glossaries, "can-do" SelfAssessment charts, and more. ActiveTeach Each Teacher's Edition and Lesson Planner includes the digital Student's Book with interactive whiteboard tools for zooming in, writing, highlighting, and more — with a "save" option. Instant access to the complete audio program andSummit TV video program. Extensive printable resources including extension activities, Summit TV activity worksheets, workbook answer keys, and audioscripts. MyEnglishLab: Summit A powerful online learning tool for personalized practice and assessment — an available option to complement the Student's Book. Assign activities and track student and class progress. Also includes Summit TV video online with activities. MyEnglishLab Summit 1 Printed Access Code Rowman & Littleﬁeld Now in its second edition, this book focuses on practical algorithms for mining data from even the largest datasets. View from the Summit Anchor Learn math in a guided discovery format. These "teaching textbooks" are designed to let students learn at their own pace. Summit Math books are for curious students who want learning to feel like a journey. The scenarios are arranged to show how new math concepts are related to previous concepts they have already learned. Students naturally learn at diﬀerent paces and these books help teachers manage ﬂexible pacing in their classes. Learn more at www.summitmathbooks.com. Topics in this book: Plotting points on a graph Graphing a line using an equation and a T-chart Graphing a line using its intercepts Constant rates The slope of a line Writing a line's equation in Slope-Intercept Form Parallel and perpendicular lines Scenarios that involve linear equations Linear inequalities Cumulative Review Answer Key Book description: This books builds on the introduction to rates at the end of Algebra 1: Book 1. Students learn that a constant rate of change produces a linear relationship. They learn about x- and yintercepts and they graph equations in Standard Form. After they learn about slopes of lines, the book introduces them to equations in SlopeIntercept Form and guides them through scenarios that include graphing lines in that form and writing equations to model linear relationships. Students also learn about parallel and perpendicular lines. Near the end of the book, they learn how to graph linear inequalities. Student testimonials: "This is the best way to learn math." "Summit Math books are unlike typical textbooks. It doesn't matter how you learn or what speed you go at...you can learn at your own pace while still understanding all the material." "Summit Math Books have guided me through algebra. They are the stepping stones of what it takes to think like a mathematician..." "I really enjoy learning from these books...they clearly demonstrate how concepts are built over other concepts." "You don't just memorize, you actually understand it." Parent testimonials: "Summit Math Books not only helped my daughter learn the math, they helped her to love learning math in and of itself! Summit Math books have a fun, self-paced way to explain math concepts..." "I am absolutely thrilled with this math program. The books are so well organized and the content builds from one lesson to the next." "We are really impressed and grateful for our boys' understanding of what the math means, not just how to get problems right...we should all learn to understand math this way." "As the mother of a teenage daughter who previously had occasional diﬃculty in math, it was refreshing to watch her actually enjoy her math class and to understand the subject matter without struggling" "I have three kids that have used Summit Math. Using these books, they have more freedom to learn and explore at their own pace during class, with notes already incorporated within the book." Teacher testimonials: "Summit Math allows students to work at their own pace which allows me the opportunity to provide individualized attention to those who need it..." "Summit Math emphasizes understanding concepts rather than memorizing rules. Students take ownership while acquiring the necessary skills to solve meaningful math problems..." "It has been a real beneﬁt having problem sets that are explicitly designed to guide students through the development of their understanding of the how and why behind the concepts they are studying." See more testimonials at www.summitmathbooks.com. Exponential Functions Pearson Education ESL 2 Summit 1 Second Edition Workbook Answ 2020-12-30
0. Executive summary 1. Contextual analysis 1.1 Mano River Sub - regional Influences Liberia and Sierra Leone are active members of the Mano River Union (MRU) established in 1973 by both governments together with those of Guinea Conakry and Côte d'Ivoire Coast to foster economic development and political corporation in the sub-region. The Mano River sub region is a home of 42.4 million people suffering from the social and economic consequences of past political instabilities in this troubled sub-region. Borders within Mano River are highly porous making populations prone to spread of contagious infections (e.g. EVD) and other nefarious activities. The secretariat of MRU is housed in Sierra Leone and there exist various thematic networks and groupings within the association operating in the sub-region with which WaterAid trans-boundary program could engage for greater leverage and impact. Working closely with the secretariat, the Sustainable and Thriving Environments for West Africa Regional Development (STEWARD) program is supporting countries of MRU to improve their Natural Resource Management (NRM). Other sub-regional CSOs are the Mano River Youth Parliament and Mano River Women's Peace Network with a focus on capacity building, human right advocacy and social development buttressing government efforts by ensuring peaceful coexistence, stability and national development in both countries 1.2 The Dynamics in Liberia and Sierra Leone: Emerging from the most devastating civil wars (Liberia 1989-1997/1999-2003, and Sierra Leone – 1991-2002) that ravaged the greater parts of the economy, displaced the populations and destroyed infrastructure, Liberia and Sierra Leone were severely hit by an outbreak of Ebola which nearly paralyzed the flourishing social and economic progress made since 2006. Spreading from Guinea through Liberia to Sierra Leone, the number of cases and fatality of the Ebola virus in less than twelve months surpassed the combined 20 EVD outbreaks since 1976. There have been 27,000 1 (of which 375 were health care personnel) cumulative Ebola cases, with over 11,000 (of which 189 were health care workers) reported deaths as of mid-June 2015 in the three countries. The fatality rate was higher among the poor and women as they are the primary care givers in the communities. A significant number of children were orphaned by EVD and some families were completely wiped out. Schools were closed for several months and normal social and economic activities disrupted. Other impacts were job losses and low outputs of services, agricultural and manufacturing sectors resulting to contraction of domestic revenue. Liberia, and later Sierra Leone were declared Ebola-free towards end of 2015. The crisis showed weaknesses of existing infrastructure and institutions, unable to respond to the additional strain. Many, like the health systems have been weakened further. Poor hygiene conditions and use of unsafe water have been identified as key underlying factors for thousands of deaths prior and during the Ebola outbreak. Ineffective WASH sectors will further hinder recovery and development efforts in both countries. In response to the $3.2 billion appeal by Governments of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone in July 2015, there were donor pledges of $3.4 billion in the next 2 years to help the 3 countries recover from the Ebola epidemic. Prevention and building resilient public health systems including IPC 1 United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMeeR), (infection prevention and control) will be priority programs. Major donors are World Bank, African Development Bank, European Union and USAID. The Socio-cultural overview: Liberia and Sierra Leone have growing human populations (4.3 million in Liberia and 6 in Sierra Leone 2 ) with increasing urbanization. 36.5% of Liberians live in Monrovia and other urban settlements; and 29.8 % of Sierra Leoneans are in Freetown and the district capitals. Urban migration has generally been employment-driven as jobseekers are lured by the recent surge in the service sector in Freetown and Monrovia, and to lesser extent by growth in the service and micro-enterprises in the secondary urban centres and district capitals. Both countries are of young populations with ages 15 to 24 years constituting 20.67% of total population in Liberia (LISGIS, 2008), and 18.8% of Sierra Leone's population. Sierra Leone's literacy rate was 44% (SLIHS, 2011) showing 56 percent of adults over the age of 15 had never attended formal school. With Liberia's national literacy rate of 59 percent, 3 only 56 percent of girls and 39 percent of boys have never attended school. 4 Majority of youth entering the labor market have low educational levels and limited vocational skills. The effects of the past wars deprived them of their social rights, excluded them from economic and social opportunities leaving them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Providing youth with greater access to livelihood training, combined with tangible opportunities for employment is critical for Liberia and Sierra Leone. Major health priorities in Liberia and Sierra Leone are: human waste management, personal hygiene and maintaining safe-water-chain to prevent diarrhoea or other faecal-oral transmitted diseases. Sierra Leone is the second highest in the world in terms of child mortality with 1,360/100,000 live births, and Liberia is at 725/100,000 live births. Hygiene promotion linked to public health programming will present an opportunity for WaterAid to contribute to achieving the goals of Global Action Plan for Pneumonia & Diarrhoea (GAPPD) and A Promise Renewed (APR) which are both designed to end preventable maternal and child deaths. Key Issues Inequalities are prominent features in Liberia and Sierra Leone's poverty profiles. Wealth is concentrated and it has continued to increase in few hands, while the poor have been getting poorer. Gini coefficient 5 s was: Sierra Leone 0.32 in 2011 6 (f and 0.382 for Liberia 7 in 2013, which are all high by international standards and suggests that differences between poor and better-off households are high. The disparity between high and very low income earners in both countries can be attributed to levels of education, employment and corruption in high offices resulting to increasing incidences of poverty. Also, the differences in mean per capita consumption between rural and urban areas in Liberia remain a major concern. Inequality in 2 UNDP Human Development Report, 2014; - The primary blockages to the WASH sector in Liberia and Sierra Leone are related to policy implementation, dissemination and sector monitoring; and service delivery including resource mobilization and low government capacity – particularly at the decentralized level. - Low sector financing with barely 1% of the respective GDPs in both countries towards budgetary allocations for WASH since 2011 - Poor WASH governance - institutional weaknesses in governing WASH service delivery present a significant obstacle to universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Structural factors affecting WASH services delivery are high level corruption and poor governance arrangements. - Poor hygiene behaviours and poor environmental sanitation resulting to polluted water sources are major causes of infections, water-borne diseases and recent contagious Ebola. - Increasing populations and urbanization are presenting water scarcity for 3.5 million people; and based on the current population trends, additional 1.4 million will face acute WASH shortages by 2020. - There are an estimated 4 million inhabitants in both urban and rural communities practicing OD in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Waste management in all municipalities is constrained by inadequate resource allocation to Municipal Councils for collection and disposal. As a result, wastes generated are indiscriminately disposed off in the communities. 3 State of the World Children's Report, Statistical Report, 2012, UNICEF - Social exclusion resulting to inequitable access to quality WASH, denying over 500,000 poor and marginalized people in satellite and fractured communities, and 1.9 million people living in hard- 4 Ibid 5 measure the difference between the highest and the lowest income groups 6 Poverty Profile for Sierra Leone, World Bank, June 2013. 7 Development Indicators, World Bank, Accessed October, 2013 Sierra Leone is showing a negligible downward trend. However, the overall decrease in inequality can largely be attributed to convergence between Freetown and other urban areas, and by rural areas catching up with urban areas generally. Between 2003 and 2011 all five components of inequality in Sierra Leone decreased. The share attributable to differences in mean per capita consumption between rural and urban Sierra Leone decreased substantially as rural areas with bulk of the population experienced overall higher levels of growth. The economic backgrounds of Liberia and Sierra Leone are characterized by agriculture, fisheries, forestry and mining. Construction and petroleum are other contributors to Liberia's economy. The economies are driven partly by increased activities in the mining sector, which along with the increasing ODAs, foreign lending, and liberalized fiscal and free market policies were expected to continue performing well in the medium-term if both countries were not hit by EVD. In the recent past, both economies were emerging to be resilient with steady growths in real GDP (Liberia 8.1%), and (Sierra Leone – 11.3%) well above the ECOWAS average. However, the real growth projections in 2014 sharply declined in all the two countries as a result of massive deceleration in economic and financial activities due to the worst ever EVD outbreak combined with sluggish agriculture in both countries and global fall in prices of major export commodities cocoa, coffee, rubber and iron ore. In Liberia, real GDP growth was revised from pre-Ebola forecast of 5.9 per cent to 0.3 per cent, while growth in Sierra Leone decline to 4.0 per cent from the projected11.3 per cent. Both countries are among the world's poorest states on the UN Human Development Index: Liberia - 175 and Sierra Leone at 183 8 . With an overall poverty rate of about 64% for Liberia (World Bank, 2013), and about 52.9% (Poverty Profile of Sierra Leone, Central Statistics, 2011) for Sierra Leone, the young people are at high risk of becoming the next generation of impoverished citizens, unless substantive measures are taken to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. Liberia and Sierra Leone are building strong private sector enabling environments through the liberalization of private sector investment regulations and the removal of other restrictions. Liberia's Private Sector Development Program is helping the country reform its investment climate, attract and promote quality investment, and galvanize the growth of small and medium enterprises 9 (SME). Through its Private sector development strategy, Sierra Leone is addressing crucial challenges to private sector development in the country, especially the key constraints of access to finance and low SME capacity. Political influences and institutional arrangements: Liberia and Sierra Leone are now stable with active governments and their line ministries. Basic human rights are respected and both countries are developing vibrant societies. Liberia has delegated administrations into the Counties, while Sierra Leone is consolidating its gains and developing the processes with its district levels decentralized local governance. Both governments are committed to sustainable human development and there are enormous supports from international partners towards their efforts. They have developed WASH policies in which the governments subscribed to people's rights to water and sanitation and, right to water was recently enshrined in Sierra Leone's draft Constitution consequence of the on-going reform process. However, both governments are inadequately responsive to the increasing demands for social services since the civil crises due to capacity and resource constraints. The debt relief on Liberia (2008 HIPC 'decision point') led to a rapid increase in social development and significant rise in ODA, which temporarily minimize the impact of the global economic depression. Sierra Leone's aid inflows have been more constant. High level corruption and weak government institutions in both countries are underpinning the much 8 UNDP Human Development Report, 2014 9 www.ifc.org/.../liberia_private_sector_ needed social development programmes. Social services are often under-budgeted, and citizens are largely not holding their governments accountable for their actions. WASH governance in Liberia is fragmented – roles and responsibilities that are shared among several ministries are not clearly defined; and there is virtually no integration of WASH planning and budgeting processes of the recurrent and development budgets. Broader reforms have been attempted towards improving the WASH governance by appointing the National Water Resources and Sanitation Board (NWRSB), and discussions on establishing the WASH commission is in progress. This is a major step towards realizing the goals in sector governance. Despite President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's efforts as the Goodwill Ambassador for WASH in African, Liberia's budgetary allocations to the WASH sector since after the war is repeatedly negligible. Sierra Leone created the Ministry of Water Resources while sanitation and hygiene remain in the Ministry of Health. Substantial shares of recurrent and development expenditures in the Ministry of Water Resources are presently donor-financed - mainly African Development Bank, DfID and UKAID. Institutional arrangements for hygiene promotion have not been clearly defined in both countries. Technology: Majority of improved water points in Liberia and Sierra Leone are manually hand-dug wells fitted with hand-pumps, of which 80% are the Afridev model (in Liberia); and India Mark (II) pump (in Sierra Leone) constituting 64% of all manual pumps and 27% of all water-points. The Water Point Mapping (2012) in Sierra Leone showed that out of a total of 28,845 water points mapped; only 18,808 are functional. This means that one third of these facilities (32.7%) are dysfunctional. A similar exercise in Liberia showed that out of 10,000 water points mapped, only 6,015 (60.1%) are technically functional points providing safe water drinking. Community management and maintenance of WASH facilities has ever been challenging due to resource constraints, lack of skilful local pump-maintenance artisans and inadequate spare part supply chains. Introduction of appropriate technologies in both countries are required, calling for a technological shift from hand dug wells to boreholes, tube-wells and mechanized water systems in the long-term. A major technology challenge in the WASH sector has been the sustainability of hand-dug wells, some of which breakdown before the design lifetime. A study conducted by JMP (WHO/UNICEF, 2009), showed that boreholes and tube-wells will appear resilient to the effects of climate change. In Liberia and Sierra Leone, mobile phones programmed with software packages AKVO flow/GIS are used for baseline data collection. These phones are now used extensively across the sector for updating existing databases. Mobile phone penetration rate in both countries are above 70% but substantially low penetration of internet. The legal frameworks addressing the growing challenges of WASH are the Environmental Protection Act (2000) for Sierra Leone, and Environmental Protection and Management law (2002) for Liberia, which are providing comprehensive legislation on matters relating to public health including control of diseases, environmental sanitation, and regulation of drugs. Other regulatory frameworks for the WASH sector in Sierra Leone are entrenched in the National WASH Policy but these frameworks are not effectively enforced. Similarly, key legal frameworks to regulate provision of WASH services in Liberia are entrenched in The Liberia WASH Compact (2011) and WASH Sector Strategic/Investment Plans (2012 – 2017). The regulatory frameworks are weak and the entrenched performance criteria of the sector in both countries are poorly monitored. There are policy statements aiming at the regulations of water sector standards and tariffs, and water quality testing, but checks and balances in the enforcement of these policies are all ineffective. However, right to water was recently enshrined in Sierra Leone's draft Constitution consequence of the on-going reform process which provides CSOs the legal framework to hold government to account. Key environmental features in Liberia and Sierra Leone are the numerous rivers and tributaries of water bodies with valuable mineral deposits. Both countries have tropical climates and are among the wettest countries in the world with an average rainfall of 3,445mm per year (in 2013) for Liberia, and an average rainfall of 2,526mm (in 2011) for Sierra Leone. The two countries contain over 60% of West Africa's rainforest including 2 of the last 3 large remaining rainforests in the West African sub-region. There are some 2.8 million hectares of forest land in Sierra Leone covering 38.5% land mass with an average annual deforestation rate of 0.7%. In Liberia, there are some 3.1 million hectares of forest land covering about 32.7% of land mass with an average annual deforestation of 1.8% (World Resource Institute, 2006). Deforestation by the increasing logging companies and the many Chinese timber merchants are major threats to the Liberian and Sierra Leonean forest and water resources. Hence, both countries are facing the effects of climate in the mediumterm. Mining is a significant sector to both Liberia and Sierra Leone as they are endowed with vast metallic and non-metallic minerals 10 . Since the cessation of hostilities both countries succeeded in attracting massive foreign direct investment in their mineral sectors. There is heavy presence of multi-national companies with strong political connections in both Liberia and Sierra Leone. Liberia granted concession agreements to 6 iron ore mining companies, 17 gold and diamond mining companies (with mining concessions covering an operational area of 113,256 hectares), and petroleum exploration rights to 10 companies; while Sierra Leone granted over 10 giant companies, 12 medium-level and 15 subsidiary industrial companies with concession licenses since 2002. Majority of gold and diamond mining creeks are located in swamps, while some deposits are found under water in rivers and tributaries. The water bodies are often polluted by mining activities rendering such resources unsuitable for both agricultural and domestic uses. 1.3 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Liberia and Sierra Leone: i) Access to Safe Water in Liberia since 1995 to 2011 was 45% coverage, and that of Sierra Leone was 30% 11 . With the fast-tracking WASH programming in both countries, significant progress has been registered towards meeting the MDG water targets with 63% coverage in Sierra Leone and 76% coverage 12 in Liberia. Both countries are lagging behind the universal coverage on safe water by 37% in Sierra Leone and 24% for Liberia. There are estimated 1.1 million Liberians and 2.4 million Sierra Leoneans that are impacted by safe water scarcity. Of those impacted, 1.9 million people live in areas of physical water scarcity where demand is generally greater than available supply. Another 1.6 million people are facing economic water scarcity, where institutional and financial factors caused inequitable access to safe water among the local populations despite an available natural supply. With regard to water safety and quality, there are many polluted improved water sources linked to poor sanitation and hygiene behaviours in both rural and urban cities. In 2011, World bank/WSP tested 1000 water points in Monrovia and found 58% of the samples showing presence of E. coli, which is an indicator of widespread faecal contamination. Contamination of water during transportation and storage, sharing water containers and cooking pots are common in the communities. Challenges with water quality testing are low human and technical capacity, and lack of functioning labs. 10 Gold, diamond and iron ore; bauxite (for Sierra Leone) and oil (for Liberia). 11 2013 Update: Progress on sanitation and drinking water – Unicef and WHO publication 12 2014 Update: Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation- Joint Unicef and WHO publication ii) Improved sanitation coverage 13 in Liberia at 17% in 2015 shows an increase of only 4% over the last 20years from 13% in 2011. Similarly, sanitation coverage in Sierra Leone has only increased by 2% over the last 25years from 11% in 2005 to 13% in 2015. With these trends and pace, there is no likelihood of reaching universal access to sanitation in 15 years as targeted in the sustainable Development goals. Demographic and Health Survey reports of both countries (2013) estimated 354,750 inhabitants in urban communities and 2.4 million rural Liberians were practicing open defecation (OD) in 2013. Similarly, about 106,750 urban and 1.2 million rural Sierra Leoneans were practicing OD. Inadequate policy and strategy implementation, and enforcement of legislation on waste management in both countries can be the cause of poor environmental sanitation. Waste management in the municipalities of both countries is constrained by inadequate resource allocation to Municipal Councils for collection and disposal. As a result, wastes generated are indiscriminately dumped, or disposed through open burning and burying. The poor drainage system in Monrovia is resulting to frequent flooding; and inadequate municipal & housing planning are serious public concerns in Freetown. The current landfills in both municipalities are poorly managed and industrial recycling is non-existent in both countries. Although WASH operatives in Liberia and Sierra Leone reported that Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) programs are beginning to register successes in some rural communities, the concept has been strongly challenged due to community inability to deliver on rural sanitation as more ODF communities are progressively reversing to OD status. iii) Hygiene: Barriers and challenges to environmental sanitation, polluted water sources and contamination of water from collection to consumption, poor food are associated with poor hygiene behaviors in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Clinical records showed that majority of deaths in the communities were attributed to diseases spread through unsafe water, poor sanitation, and poor personal hygiene behaviours (Oxfam 2013). Cholera, malaria and diarrheal diseases were the main culprits in Liberia 14 . There are evidences of poor hygiene practices (for example, poor personal cleanliness, inadequate hand washing with soap and use of unsafe water) in urban slums and rural communities. Another hygiene challenge in rural communities is low access to soap. Even when soap is available, it is typically used for laundry and bathing instead of hand-washing (Ministry of Health, Sierra Leone, 2014). In Sierra Leone only 22% of households had a place to wash their hands prior to the Ebola crisis, and majority of schools do not have such facilities. However, there was an increase in number of households practicing hand-washing - 33% in urban areas and 17% in rural areas 15 to step-up Ebola prevention measures. Nonetheless, only 33% of those places with hand washing facilities had soap. This represents 55% in urban areas compared to 12% in rural areas (SLDHS, 2013). Commonly practiced unhygienic behaviors in both countries are poor food handling and storage, dirty dwellings, kitchen and latrine facilities, food and water contamination and poor eating habits (particularly habits associated with rotten/dried bush meat). It is also challenging to maintain the "safe water chain" - a series of safe water practices from water point to withdrawing water from storage. There is little understanding of the connectivity in water safety. Once the chain is broken, the domino effect will be towards the end of the chain. Oxfam baseline survey in Liberia found majority of water collection and storage containers dirty, uncovered and at high risk of contamination. 13 WHO/Unicef Joint Monitoring Programme Database- accessed 15th May, 2015 14 Baseline Study, Oxfam 2013 15 Impact of Ebola on West Africa, 2015 vi) Deprivation, exclusion and inequality: A WASH policy of 250 – 500 persons per water point 16 is not benign to hundreds of small satellite communities less than the stated populations. It is estimated that over half million people live in small fractured rural communities in post-war Liberia and Sierra Leone. As WASH programming is governed by this policy in both countries, such small communities in hard-to-reach areas are often excluded and denied of safe water and other WASH-related services. Rather than the governments providing WASH to all its citizens based on their level of need, services are unevenly distributed with larger communities capturing the benefits. v) WASH in health and Education Liberia: About 55% of 4,460 schools in Liberia do not have access to functional water supply systems/facilities, 43 per cent are without basic sanitation facilities, and only 18 per cent have permanent hand washing facilities. Schools with sanitation facilities have on average; 118 boys per latrine and 113 girls per latrine - which is above the national ratio of 50 boys per latrine and 25 girls per latrine. Assessment in health institutions showed that 38% of existing facilities in Liberia lack access to even rudimentary levels of WASH (WHO, 2014). Recent monitoring reports 17 further showed that 23.2% of clinics visited lack potable water supply (and among those with access, only few have water systems connected to the facilities), 21% are without incinerators, 95.3% of them exhibited poor medical waste management whist 6.9% of the clinics do not have hand washing facilities. Sierra Leone: Recent assessment showed that 71% of primary health units have access to water throughout the year, whilst 14% have no access at all. Tonkolili (35%), Pujehun (27%) and Kambia (26%) have the worst levels compared to the national average. The report further showed that all the health units have hand-washing facilities, but only 39% have functional incinerators and the main waste management method in these health units is burning in pits (UNICEF, 04/2015). Forty-three out of 50 Ebola treatment centres (ETCs) in Sierra Leone met minimum IPC standards (WHO, February 2015). Only 20% of schools in rural Sierra Leone have access to improved water source (UNICEF, 2013). A national assessment indicates significant variances between districts. About 83.4% of schools in Tonkolili and 80.2% of schools in Kailahun do not have access to safe water facilities (UNICEF, MEST, 02/2015; Education Cluster, 02/2015). 1.4 Other Players in WASH Governments of Sierra Leone and Liberia and their assigned ministries and institutions are the main service providers in WASH. Although heavily dependent on aid, the stable and democratic governance and open door policies in both countries have stimulated rapid and diverse actors in the sector. The communities are not actively engaged in their own WASH services delivery and they are not claiming their rights to WASH from duty bearers. Responsibilities for maintenance and sustainability of water points had always been challenging to communities due to resource and capacity constraints. Donors are supportive of the alliance building among INGOs to increase their reach and impact on service provision. The WASH consortia (including WaterAid) in Liberia and Sierra Leone have built a solid foundation for advocacy and influencing work in the sector. Contracting firms in Sierra Leone are trying to dominate the donor landscape. There are active CSOs engaged in WASH advocacy in Liberia and Sierra Leone that the trans-boundary program can engage. 16 National WASH Policies, Liberia and Sierra Leone 17 Division of Environmental and Occupational Health (Mohs, 2015), Major official donors for Liberia are USAID and Germany; and DfID and JICA are the biggest donors for Sierra Leone. Key multilateral donors for both countries are the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and European Union (EU) and UN agencies. In addition to UN Systems (as recovery and development partners - UNMIL, UNMISL, Unicef, WHO, UNFPA and UNHCR), other official donors for WASH programming in both countries are ECHO and Irish Aid. In adherence to the Paris Declarations - Aid Effectiveness, major donors are re-directing funding towards the two governments. Aid disbursement flows in both countries showed a declining trend since 2010. ODA to Liberia constitutes 67% of the 2014/2015 national budget of US$660,236,000, and 51% of Sierra Leone's national budget in 2014. This shows their high level dependency on aid to fund development programs. Private sector participation in WASH financing and programming in Liberia and Sierra Leone is negligible. Funding from major multi-national companies in discharging their Corporate Social Responsibilities is directed towards other sectors. However, many companies in both countries are potential funding opportunities for WASH programming. The activities of mineral water companies in supplying drinking water to the local populations in both countries are very significant. They are the main sources of drinking water in urban Liberia and Sierra Leone. The regulatory frameworks to ensure water safety are poorly monitored. There are regulations to ensure standards, tariffs and water quality testing, but the checks and balances in the enforcement of these regulations are left to chance. There are SMEs participating in urban sanitation and waste management in the two countries. These private contractors are unable to meet local demands. 2. WA Trans-Boundary Role and Niche: WaterAid commenced its Trans-boundary programme in Liberia and Sierra Leone in late 2009 as a pilot to learn about working in post-conflict contexts while responding to the increasing demand for WASH services. The pilot programme was reviewed in 2012 with recommendation to scale up to a full-fledged programme in Liberia and Sierra Leone. An unprecedented outbreak of EVD disrupted activities and scaled back operations and plan to move to a full – fledged CP. Full scale operations resumed in January 2015, with focus on delivering WASH related interventions as a response to the EVD emergency. Consequently, WA supported recovery and stability initiatives. WaterAid have successfully established strong presence in three counties in eastern Liberia and Cape Mount in Western Liberia along Sierra Leone border; and three districts in east and Southern Sierra Leone combining service delivery with policy influencing and capacity building support. The approach is built around a single management structure, with the program design focusing on sub-regional influencing, knowledge management and technical cooperation between Liberia and Sierra Leone. Policy advocacy and influencing have been the entry point and highlights for our programming in both countries. We succeeded in influencing key WASH development policies, plans and budgets in both countries. Other players in the sector recognized WaterAid as a key player in promoting people's rights to WASH. Since our inception, we were approaching WASH as a human right. This approach contributed towards increasing access to WASH services and empowering the poor and marginalised people to participate in national development. While working in both countries, we were reaching deprived, excluded and marginalized families in most remote communities, where others are not venturing. We demonstrated scalable models of integrated approach to WASH as a right. Our supported WASH facilities are friendly to physically challenged persons, children and the downtrodden in society. We've constantly challenged our thinking and engaged the communities where we work to adopt our WASH technologies and lead the transformative change process. This is what we stand for and set us apart. The trans-boundary programme is assuming a strategic role in both countries, and as a catalyst in the sector – while mobilising and empowering people to demand, we were supporting the system to effectively respond and deliver on its mandate in hard-to-reach remote communities. Links and exchanges between our service delivery and CSO advocacy partners across the two countries which is positively encouraged, have given us the opportunity to maximise learning and increase synergy among them. Cross border knowledge management - learning and sharing, technology dissemination; alliance building among Mano River WASH actors; building civil society platforms to facilitate communicative learning between our CSO partners; drawing strength from diversity in the two countries; and technical cooperation between the two governments will remain the hallmark of our cross-border programming. The cross-border learning approach is encouraged in all programme designs, and this will become an increasing feature of our trans-boundary programming. Our Niche - Trans-boundary programming: The trans-boundary program will continue to capitalize on its experiences and cross-border evidence-based lessons to influence policy and practices, and promote equality in access to WASH. - E&I service delivery in Sierra Leone and Liberia: WaterAid have developed a relatively strong track record of supporting, strengthening and scaling-up national WASH institutions that will enhance WASH services are equitable and inclusive. Our approach is ensuring we reach the unserved in the most hard-to-reach areas and all our programme are inclusive and facilities are accessible by all categories users including PLWD, women, children, etc. - Integrated challenge on WASH poverty and injustice Capitalize on our excellent relationship with the goodwill ambassador for WASH and launching an integrated campaign on universal access to WASH. We will maintain and deepen the quality and intensity of our engagement with government and CSO partners in policy advocacy and influencing sustainability of WASH service delivery in the country. We have been instrumental in enforcing WASH policies, influencing government's commitments towards WASH sector budgetary allocations. We are now seeing our small victories translated into Sector Implementation Plans (SIPs), to which donors are expected to make significant contributions. WaterAid will emphasize this drive, and move into new forms of advocacy to ensure that government obligations and donor commitments are translated into action, while ensuring accountability to the local populations. In Sierra Leone, WaterAid is known for our evidence-based approach and piloting projects of innovative concepts like Self supply and Sector learning. The innovations were 'new' (in Sierra Leone and Liberia), and successfully added value to the sector. We will continue to nurture and scale-up such innovations. With our DWA programming, our partners are increasing access to WASH services in deprived and marginalized communities where others are not reaching. In Liberia, we are known for our policy advocacy and influencing efforts, supporting other service providers in fulfilling their duties in WASH service delivery. We supported the government in developing the National WASH Compact and establishing the National Water Resources and Sanitation Board (NWRSB). We succeeded in influencing key WASH development policies, plans and budgets in the two countries. In this way, WaterAid is reaching millions of people in Liberia indirectly. Other players in the sector recognize us as a key player in promoting people's rights to WASH. Our advocacy and influencing efforts are complemented by our evidence-based program learning on the ground, informed by our wealth of international experience which added value to the weak WASH sectors needing well-informed guidance. Our emphasis on learning, and strong focus on policy advocacy and influencing towards multi-sectoral solutions to WASH crisis gained us the reputation as one of the leading WASH agencies in both countries. Programme diversity remained a strong feature for us during the pilot phase, and this will continue in the next five years. Our profile is increasing, and this has opened new doors for strategic partnerships with relevant government line ministries and civil society organizations in order to reach more families and communities with WASH. From pilot programming, we are now modelling long-term right-based participatory approaches, supported by our trans-boundary learning and evidences of best practices to address the WASH needs of millions of people in Liberia and Sierra Leone. In line with our global strategy, WaterAid's business model in these countries will give a significant weight to hygiene promotion, without relegating sanitation and safe water supply wherever we work. We will seek more strategic partnerships and catalyse continued support through people cantered hygiene promotion that contributes to the transformative changes required for the most marginalised communities to gain access WASH services. Based on our changing context, we will re-orientate our current partnership arrangements with CSOs and adjust accordingly to ensure that we remain effective and efficient in what we seek to do in the next five years by: - Engaging partners on integrated demand-driven programming that promotes user ownership and management, and encourages a three-pronged approach – promoting the software healthy hygiene behaviours that guaranteed sustainable environmental sanitation, complimented by safe water supply and supported by an enabling environment. - Supporting and building capacities of local government decentralized WASH governance structures (County and District) to establish and fund county/district (or cluster) WASH Promotion Centres for supporting community-based WASH committees in hygiene promotion; and community-based Wat-san artisans on maintenance and repairing of WASH facilities. - Increasing attention to advocacy and influencing sound WASH policies at national level and local level citizen engagement (CE) with people-cantered advocacy by ensuring grassroots application of rights-based approaches that contributes towards marginalised communities gaining access to WASH. - Building alliances with sub-regional CSOs including Mano River Youth Parliament and Mano River Women's Peace Network in lobbying and influencing all duty bearers (governments, international institutions and better-endowed sections of society) to fully discharge their responsibilities towards our behaviour change campaigns and universal access to WASH. - Providing youth with greater access to WASH skills and other livelihood training, combined with tangible opportunities for employment as Wat-san artisans is critical for our WASH programming in Liberia and Sierra Leone. - In the broader framework of WASH rights, building platforms for environmental protection - lobbying and influencing governments to enforce regulatory frameworks that will minimize the level of environmental degradation caused multi-national mining corporations and Chinese timber merchants to mitigate the effects of climate change 3. Theory of change 3.1 Transformative change process WaterAid trans-boundary program in Liberia and Sierra Leone subscribe to our shared global vision. We believe that universal access to basic WASH by 2030 will be achieved in both countries with healthy hygiene behaviours underpinned by improved sanitation, safe water supply and water safety management through inspired citizens and families, empowered communities, CSOs and other service providers supported by enabling environments; and state institutions that are accountable and committed to lead the transformative change. Therefore, our primary focus will be hygiene behaviour change: undertaking a bold paradigm shift to emphasize hygiene, which is the human capital in WASH. We believe that emphasis in promoting improved hygiene behaviours and sanitation without relegating safe water supply can generate changes in this human factor and yield healthy hygiene behaviours among the local populations and thereby secure sanitary environments where people will no longer indiscriminately dispose of their waste and defecate openly. This will prevent water source pollution, spread of contagious diseases such as EVD and cholera; and a "safe water chain" will be maintained to provide safe drinking water at household level. The current population trends showed that additional 1.4 million will face acute WASH shortages by 2020. We further believe that transformative change will be achieved when national service delivery programs are strengthened and scaled up to address the increasing urbanization and populations which are presenting water scarcity for 3.5 million people. Social exclusion resulting to inequitable access to quality WASH is increasing, and affecting the lives of women and children (especially girls in learning institutions) and communities in hard-to-reach areas; and denying over 500,000 people of their rights to quality WASH in Liberia and Sierra Leone. In our advocacy efforts, the trans-boundary programme will engage both governments to address the inequalities. We believe that holistic mode of partnership with the service providers, CSOs and CBOs and our District Wide Approach (DWA) with partners to undertake initiatives that will target excluded groups, the poorest and most marginalised communities will result to equitable and sustainable access to WASH services. WaterAid in Liberia and Sierra Leone believes that these efforts will have a profound impact on the lives of people and will result in transformative outcomes in minimizing inequalities. Communities do not have the capacity to exclusively take-up their basic services deliveries, and are unable to hold their governments accountable for poor service delivery. The transboundary programme believes that engaging our service delivery partners on integrative WASH programming to empower communities and their youth to support their demanddriven WASH Initiatives will result to sustainable WASH services at local level. WaterAid in Liberia and Sierra Leone believes that low government capacities, poor WASH governance and low sector financing must be addressed to achieve universal access to WASH by 2030. We further believe that universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene can only be achieved in both countries, if the governments establish effective institutions with sound policies, programmes and clear roadmaps for WASH programming. Low WASH sector financing in both countries requires a serious attention. With the growing donor fatigue, the trans-boundary programme believes that engaging both governments to increase WASH sector allocations; lobbying the growing private sector and decentralized local governments to finance WASH initiatives; and encouraging our service delivery partners to diversify their funding sources – attracting interested donors to invest in WASH will increase investment in WASH. As data accuracy is a major challenge, WaterAid believes that supporting both governments to establish reliable WASH data bank will improve sector planning, coordination and decision-making. WaterAid institutional mapping and impact measurement will be promoted to develop knowledge and document evidence base practices in order to improve the quality of our transformational change process. We finally believe that implementation of sound regulations and enforcement of policies to reduce environmental degradation due to rapid deforestation and pollution of water bodies caused by the numerous mining and logging will mitigate the effects of climate change in Liberia and Sierra Leone. 3.2 Conditions for Change to Happen The proposed transformational change can happen if peace and stability continues with smooth political transition in both countries. Stable economies, willingness and commitments of governments to commit more funds to the WASH sector will be essential. The following conditions of change are fundamental for universal access to WASH in Liberia and Sierra Leone: Condition 1: Committed and Accountable Governments Accountable Governments committed to universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene demonstrated by resource allocation particularly increased sector financing and policy support; effective decentralized governance structures and systems. Also, governments enacting and enforcing regulatory frameworks minimizing environmental degradation caused by multi-national mining corporations and Chinese timber merchants to mitigate the effects of climate change Condition 2: Effective WASH Institutions and Governance: Effective WASH governance institutions demonstrated by efficient systems and processes: transparent roadmaps, policies and budgets; improved sector planning and coordination; improved program quality, learning and documentation; and policy implementation and enforcement. Condition 3: Empowered Communities and their CBOs demanding their rights and taking collective actions Empowered communities and their organizations become primary stakeholders in their WASH service delivery, actively taking collective actions and responsibilities in promoting improved hygiene behaviors. Trained and empowered youth actively maintaining local sanitation facilities and improved water sources as community-based Wat-san artisans. Condition 4: Changing hygiene behaviours: Hygiene promotion becoming the centre-piece in WASH programming to secure healthy hygiene behaviours among the local populations resulting to sanitary environments with unpolluted water sources; and sustained "safe water chain" at household level. 3.3 Drivers of Change We believe that strong political will and commitments of both governments will support the crusade towards achieving our WASH goals. Existence of sound WASH governance and critical engagement with committed service delivery and CSO partners will support our efforts towards universal WASH coverage. Empowered Communities taking collective actions will drive the change and deliver lasting improvements towards hygiene, environmental sanitation and safe water supply. There are SMEs participating in urban sanitation and waste management; and the many companies in both Liberia and Sierra Leone are potential funding opportunities for WASH programming. Pathways: The following pathway summarizes our Theory of Change: Goal: Healthy hygiene behaviours with equitable access to sanitation and safe water Challenges and underlying Causes a) Improved and Sustained Hygiene Behaviours b) Increased access to equitable & sustainable sanitation c) Improved access to equitable & sustainable safe water Core Outcomes Poor hygiene behaviours and poor environmental sanitation resulting to polluted water sources are major causes of infections, water-borne diseases and recent contagious Ebola. Increasing urbanization and populations are presenting water scarcity for 3.5 million people; and based on the current population trends, additional 1.4 million will face acute WASH shortages by 2020. Social exclusion resulting to inequitable access to quality WASH. Low government capacities, poor WASH governance and low sector financing must be addressed to achieve universal access to WASH. Communities do not have the capacity to exclusively take-up their basic services deliveries, and are unable to hold their governments accountable for poor service delivery. d) Empowered Citizens demanding Rights and taking collecti eactions Programme interventions a) Building partnerships and alliances for Sustainable WASH service b) Building local capacities (service providers, CSOs and delivery communities/CBOs) in support of demand-driven WASH Initiatives WASH service delivery and policy enforcement (for sound environmental c) Support governments by strengthening systems and capabilities for protection) d) Policy advocacy influencing and promoting good WASH governance Game-changers a) Committed and accountable government – and their strong WASH institutions b) Strong and committed service delivery and CSO partners c) Empowered Communities and their CBOs d) Private sectors – the many multi-national companies and SME participating waste management Assumptions - Peace and stability continues with smooth political transition in both countries - Committed and Accountable Governments - Stable economies, willingness and commitments of governments to commit more funds to the WASH sector in both countries - Strong WASH Governance - Empowered Communities and their CBOs demanding their rights and taking collective actions 4. The Strategic Choices and Priorities 4.1 Our strategic Intent The trans-boundary programme and its CSO partners shared our corporate mission as articulated in the global strategy: 'to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalized people by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene". We intend to promote people's rights to WASH while aiming for ensuring sustainable WASH services delivery, universal reach and access to quality WASH and promoting healthy hygiene behaviours at local level. As a trans-boundary programme we will continue to learn and increase our experiences of working in post-conflict contexts, while addressing key challenges that keep poor and marginalized people in perpetual WASH poverty in our context. We will support and engage duty bearers and other service providers to strengthen their systems and processes, advocate for pro-poor WASH policies and influence the desired transformational changes. Based on our changing context, WA trans-boundary programme will position itself to achieve and ensure: - Improved and sustained hygiene behaviours for securing increased sanitation and sustainable safe water supply by employing holistic approaches in integrated WASH programming through partnership with services providers, CSOs and communities in charge, supported with the tools they need to find solutions and transform their WASH needs. Outcome one with sustainable service delivery strategy - Rights, equity and inclusion by engaging and influencing governments and other service providers to fulfil their duties in creating access to sustainable WASH services for all their citizens, especially women and children (particularly girls in learning institutions) and hard-to-reach communities. Our District Wide Approach (with service delivery partners) steered through local leadership and active people's participation (citizen engagement approach) will work to address the underlying causes of exclusions. Outcome one with policy advocacy and influencing strategy. - Empowered citizens demanding rights and taking collective actions - our strategy will be more integrative and responsive to peoples' WASH needs as defined by them; and ultimately empowering communities and their CBOs to manage their own WASH resources, set their own priorities, and indeed control their own lives – our second core outcome. Our service delivery partners will train and equip local youth to become effective community-based Wat-san artisans for sustaining sanitation and safe water infrastructure. Our Core Outcomes - Strong and committed WASH Governance: We will continue to play the critical role in supporting the government and service providers by influencing appropriate WASH policies, and creating a popular base of support that will strengthen the systems and capabilities required to deliver sustainable hygiene behaviours, sanitation and safe water supply – our third core outcome. While subscribing to the actualization of WaterAid shared global mission and strategy aims, our transboundary programme commits itself to achieve the above three core outcomes. We will further invest in partnership and linkages with private sector, and other game‐changers that have potential to solve long‐standing WASH challenges; and build effective WASH sector capacity to provide the required services over the long term. Our new business model will underpin by our commitment to measuring results. Therefore, we will upgrade our capacity to implement our paradigm shift towards sustainable WASH delivery services. Trans-boundary Programme We will build on the positive cross-border relationships we've established with stakeholders (governments, donors, CSOs, private sector and Mano River sub-regional groupings, etc.) and nurture a profile of service delivery and CSO partners in order to maximise learning and increase synergy in WASH programming. More finely tuned and targeted sub-regional advocacy and alliance building efforts will be further developed; and new relationships with programmes and organizations of shared vision, and other regional agencies and donors to influence access to quality WASH services; and there exist real potential to do so. Our strategic intent for the trans-boundary program is to promote basic WASH rights in both countries while making such rights and services more accessible and responsive to poor and marginalized people. Our paradigm shift We intend to ensure sustainable WASH services by promoting good hygiene behaviours to secure sanitary environments and maintain "safe water chain" in providing safe drinking water to families. We will further expand our partnership model by making communities and their organizations primary stakeholders in their basic service delivery to secure sustainable and integrated WASH at local level. Leadership in the sector: The trans-boundary programme is aiming for sector leadership in both Sierra Leone and Liberia. We will nurture our relationship with the Goodwill Ambassador to occupy a strategic position in our advocacy and influencing work and secure the desired sector leadership in Liberia. We will underscore alliance building by creating common platforms to address WASH related issues, support and influence local governments at County level to respond to WASH needs of all citizens. We will help generate and sustain positive linkages between people and organizations within civil society committed to universal access to WASH. 4.2 Strategic Directions and Goals: (clarifying our road map we will travel on to achieve the strategic goals in the next five years) Our theory of change and strategic intent presented us the road map for the next five years, and this will show how we will advance towards our trans-boundary core intent and focus in making contributions towards our global vision and aims. It presented four mission-related strategic directions as follows: Strategic Direction Meaning Strengthening systems and capabilities that drives the outcomes we seek in sustainable and equitable WASH service delivery Sustainable WASH service delivery Policy advocacy and influencing Trans-boundary programming Championing the rights of the poor and promoting commitment among Governments and service providers to support our strategic intent by bringing in resources and influencing policy cross border knowledge management, alliance building among WASH actors; supporting civil society platforms and, drawing strength from diversity in the two countries to support our strategic objectives. a) Sustainable WASH service delivery: Aligned to WaterAid global strategy aims, the trans-boundary program seeks to reduce WASH injustice and work towards achieving universal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Our programs will place people's experiences of social exclusion at the centre of our interventions and support them on their rights to WASH. The trans-boundary program will approach hygiene behaviour change by developing pro-hygiene beliefs and attitudes among the local populations, secure sanitary environments to prevent improved water sources from pollution and maintain "safe water chain" to provide safe drinking water at household level. This will contribute to our global strategy aims as we empower communities to demand their rights and take collective actions in managing their WASH services, influence positive hygiene behaviours and establish WASH resources in learning and health institutions with an integrated sector wide approach. b) Policy advocacy and influencing: The trans-boundary program will develop its advocacy and influencing strategy, and identify appropriate agenda for situational research for pro-poor WASH policy advocacy. Country teams will build their capacities to engage in responsible advocacy work. Their advocacy work and policy influencing will ensure a long term positive effects of quality WASH on the lives of deprived and excluded families and communities. The trans-boundary program shall balance its advocacy and program work in addressing root causes of WASH injustice. We will approach advocacy in a non‐confrontational way, and only where the approved agenda supports our work, based on best practices or proven evidences. With this strategic roadmap we shall be promoting basic WASH rights of people in Liberia and Sierra Leone, support and engage both governments to establish accountable and committed WASH Governance to reduced social exclusion and inequality in access to WASH services. c) Trans-boundary programming will increase the visibility of our good work, our profile in the WASH sector and our ability to harness the power of our service delivery and CSO partners, sub-regional agencies and donors to support our core intent. We will further use appropriate media in order to make known our work as a trans-boundary program, and maintain the positive relationship and rootedness with our service delivery and CSO partners. We will support our partners to establish and develop non-confrontational civil society platforms to advocate for sound natural resource management related to activities of numerous multi-national corporations in mining and forest sectors. With this roadmap, we will solicit to improve the viability and efficiencies of local partners as organs of civil society with effective knowledge management and learning centres catalysing change by promoting basic WASH rights in Liberia and Sierra Leone 5. Programmatic approach WaterAid – Liberia and Sierra Leone will consolidate its gains from the trans-boundary pilot phase, and establish a new flexibility in WASH programming aligned to the global strategic aims and approach. Our approach to tackling WASH poverty will be holistic, seeking to understand and act on the overall context, needs, aspirations and circumstance of the poor and marginalized people. Trans-boundary program shall conduct an applied research on appropriate approaches to inform knowledge and innovative technologies in hygiene behaviour change programming. Our commitment to self-sustaining and cost-effective methods gives us significant credibility with partners, governments and donors. Thus, we will scale-up the impact of our programs through our partnership work on the ground, carefully designed to influence the governments and donors, whether through replication of our successful models or through wider policy change. be a facilitator and catalyse the transformational change process. Our pro-poor policy advocacy and influencing will focus on supporting the two governments and their WASH institutions, other service providers and CSO partners to strengthen the systems and processes required in actualizing the rights of the poor and marginalized people to safe water, sanitation and hygiene services. This shift from basic needs approach to rights-based approach will challenge the prevailing social exclusion and unequal access to quality WASH services. We recognize that sustained WASH outcomes depend on partnership with service providers, CSOs and communities in charge, supported with the tools they need to find solutions and transform their basic rights. Participatory approaches practiced in our work with communities reflect our fundamental commitment to the innate worth and capacity of the people and their right to lead their lives on their own terms. This made us believe that transformational change can come from within the communities. They also give meaning to our conviction that the poor and marginalized people themselves can be the main actors in their WASH service delivery. WaterAid is also promoting entrepreneurial approaches as well as embracing a new model of doing business – integrated challenge on WASH poverty and injustice, and ensuring equity in access to service delivery. These will be our new and innovative ways to engage and work with partners at all levels: a) At community level, we will be promoting inter-sectoral approaches, providing catalytic and continuous support for scaling up sustainable community WASH services, and building community awareness and local capacities that will enable communities become primary stakeholders in managing their safe water, sanitation and hygiene resources. We will support our service delivery partners to good hygiene behaviours with a strong focus on improving local sanitation practices while securing water quality and hygiene at the household level. We employ a right-based approach that will empower communities to understand and demand their WASH rights, while holding service providers accountable for their actions. Our aim in the communities is effective partnership with service delivery partners, CBOs and empowered communities demanding rights and managing their own WASH resources. b) At District/County/Municipal level, we will strengthen local government capacity and enable them in delivering equitable and sustainable WASH services. We shall support government WASH line ministries to create strong institutions at the intermediate level (district, county and municipal), since they are critical to supporting community managed service provision, which is in turn essential to the sustained scaling up of WASH coverage. Our shift towards urban WASH programming (municipalities) targeting the urban poor and slum dwellers will be significant for our vision and universal access to WASH. c) At national level, our aim is to work with both governments to develop institutional capacities and establish robust WASH governance, which is in turn essential to increase sector financing and strengthening of systems and processes to reach many more people with quality WASH. We will support the governments to establish strong and accountable WASH governance, provide evidences of underlying causes of social exclusion on access to quality WASH and influence service providers to address these inequalities. d) At Transboundary/ Mano River level, our presence in both countries provides us the unique opportunity to respond to emerging issues such as Transboundary water resources management, WASH related emergencies, high level influencing and WASH sector Knowledge Management in the fragile Mano River Basin the which uniquely positions us within WaterAid West Africa. The presence of sub-regional blocks like the Mano River Secretariat, West Africa Health Organization, the West Africa Journalists Network etc. provides us tremendous opportunities to harness a sub-regional approach that will make huge impact within the WASH sector in Liberia, Sierra Leone and beyond. 5.2 Core Programmatic Approaches \| \| Approach \| \| Location \| \| How we will do business to achieve the objectives \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| District Wide Approach \| District Wide \| Community \| \| Community engagement and building capacities of WASH committees and local WASH artisans; Water and sanitation planning and management (O&M); Holistic and participatory programming in community-based sanitation and water security; Promotion of household sanitation, water security; and point of use treatment Integration of WASH into village economies (e.g. micro-finance) to sustain the supply chain. \| \| \| \| Approach \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| District County Municipality \| \| Collaborate & enable county/district local governments take central role in WASH programming: Promote entrepreneurial approaches and mainstream WASH in district/City wide plans; Information sharing and building capacity to improve coordination, monitoring & accountability. \| \| \| \| \| National \| \| Policy formulation and creating linkages; and mainstreaming WASH in national programmes; Source funding and advocate for increased sector financing and investment; Building capacity to improve coordination, monitoring and accountability. \| \| \| Sector strengthening \| \| Community \| \| Build capacity of community level WASH structures (WASH committees); Establish community and school health clubs for hygiene monitoring and policy enforcement; Strengthen community leadership for WASH service delivery. \| \| \| \| \| District/County/ Municipality \| \| Strengthen capacity of county/district structures to improve coordination and accountability; Support inter-sectoral approaches to maximize WASH policy implementation and enforcement. \| \| \| \| \| National \| \| Build capacity of government designated institution play a central role in WASH service delivery; Support governments to coordinate sector, harmonize approaches and strengthen WASH institutions with coherent systems, structures and processes. \| \| \| Human Rights- Based Approach \| \| Community \| \| Baseline surveys to learn community level social exclusion and inequity; Develop community resiliency and build capacity to enable them take collective actions; Engage partners on targeted WASH service delivery in favour of excluded people; engage communities in water and sanitation planning and management (O&M); raise community awareness on their WASH rights and responsibilities. \| \| \| \| \| District County Municipality \| \| Collaborate at district/county level; Analyse district / county policies and assess implementation. \| \| \| \| \| National \| \| Support policy formulation processes and create policy linkages Engage national institutions & service providers on targeted WASH service delivery; Mobilise non-state actors to advocate and influence equitable access to quality WASH services. \| \| \| Citizen Engagement Community Development \| \| Community \| \| Awareness raising and community-based capacity building and empowerment; Mobilize local resources and support community engagement with duty bearers. \| \| \| \| \| District/County/ Municipality \| \| Awareness raising, capacity building and support district planning and implementation processes; Coordination and collaboration while facilitating \| \| \| \| National \| \|---\|---\| \| Partnership \| Community \| \| \| District/County/ Municipality \| \| \| National \| \| Hygiene Behaviour Change \| Community \| \| \| District/County/ Municipality \| \| \| National \| \| \| Community \| \| \| District/County/ Municipality \| 5.3 Our Core Shifts Our emphasis on hygiene behaviour change is to maximize the benefits of access to improved water and sanitation services for enhanced health and dignity among the local populations. Our key shifts will be: a) Moving on our traditional approaches focused on knowledge sharing, but emphasize innovative and creative approaches in creating sustained behaviour change b) Promoting WASH rights as the focus in all our work; and tackle constraints imposed by power relations and state institutions. c) Connecting more with governments at local and national levels to attain the desired public health. d) Moving away from ad-hoc resource allocation for hygiene work towards adequate resource allocation for long term efforts on hygiene behaviour change While in sync with our global shift in programmatic approaches – human rights-based approach (HEBA), district wide approach (DWA), sector strengthening and hygiene, the trans-boundary new shifts include holistic and community empowerment approach, research and development, and urban WASH programming. Promoting WASH rights as the focus in all our work, working in partnership and alliances is central in our programmatic approach. We are not just a player, but will remain a role model, a driver and in leadership of the transformational change even in hard-to-reach districts or counties. 5.4 Developing our core programme Areas: In our theory of change and intent, we have articulated the three (3) major outcomes we expect the CPS to contribute to: improved hygiene behaviours, increased access to equitable and sustainable sanitation and, improved access to equitable and sustainable safe water sources. To achieve these, we have to define core program areas in which we will focus our program, communication, funding and learning efforts. We have also defined key interventions in the following table to guide what we do on the ground on each of these core program areas. \| \| Program \| \|---\|---\| \| \| Areas \| \| WASH Governance Programme \| \| \| WASH Service Delivery Programme \| \| 5.5 Program Geographical Location This strategy is emphatic about our direction and the geographical locations of our programming. The passion for our theory of change; niche; strategic intent and priorities; districts or counties with major WASH challenges; and the presence of other sector players are key determinants of our programmatic locations. These factors motivated our long-term work in the following geographical locations: \| \| Country \| \| County/District \| Core Program Areas \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Liberia \| \| Urban Montserrado \| \| \| \| \| \| River Gee \| \| \| \| \| \| Grand Kru \| \| \| \| \| \| Gbarpolu \| \| \| \| \| \| Grand Cape Mount \| \| \| \| Sierra Leone \| \| Urban - Freetown \| \| \| \| \| \| Urban - Bo \| \| \| \| \| \| Kailahun \| \| \| \| \| \| Kenema \| \| \| \| \| \| Pujehun \| \| \| WaterAid will shift our service delivery, with a focus on generating real 'on the ground' evidence through continuous analysis and practices along the Mano River border between Liberia and Sierra Leone. WaterAid will phase-out of Maryland county in Liberia which is sufficiently served by proliferation of service providers including UNICEF and move to Gbarpolu County one of the least served counties with WASH services. In Sierra Leone we will also shift from Bonthe where the local governance and people have been unresponsive to Kailahun District which share greater part of its border with Gbarpolu County in Liberia. In both countries, we will initiate urban programme with a focus on urban sanitation and hygiene, and integrated WASH (in health and education) services. Partnerships (see annex on partnerships) Alliance building and partnerships programming remains fundamental to the achievement of our strategic priorities and program goals. The trans-boundary will engage a holistic model of partnership with service providers, CSO and CBOs in WASH programming. We shall create strategic alliances and partnership platforms with both WASH and non-WASH players for pro-poor policy advocacy; and influencing governments to prioritise WASH in National and State agenda. We will support both governments on the development of strong WASH governance structures and increase sector financing for universal access to hygiene and sanitation services safe water supply. We shall continue our critical engagement in pro-poor policy advocacy and influencing, and service delivery with our service delivery and CSO partners as the centre-piece of our programmatic approaches in the WASH sector. With our catalytic and supporter role, we will continue to enhance capacities of partner organisations and inspire them to assume leadership roles in the campaign for WASH rights of the poor and marginalized people. Our role in shaping WASH sector strategies and policies of both governments will require skilled management of our relationships with them and this in turn, will require the continuity of our leadership role in the sector for the next two to three years. 6. High Level Success Measurement. 6.1 Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (PME): Liberia and Sierra Leone are of a complex operating environment. Therefore, WaterAid's new program direction of our cross-border initiatives demands the use of evaluation as a crucial tool to inform programming, and enable the country teams make hard choices based on available best evidences. The country teams shall be collecting and analysing information on the outcomes of our programs as a basis for judgments, to improve effectiveness, and/or inform our decisions about WaterAid existing and future programming in both countries. The trans-boundary programme shall engage on performance management Key Strategic Actions - In setting-up a critical M&E foundation for impact assessment and program learning, the trans-boundary programme will recruit highly qualified personnel to be responsible for the management of our in-house databank, while ensuring relevant data are translated into user-friendly documentations for organizational learning. - The trans-boundary programme will build staff capacity and invest in developing an M&E Conceptual Framework that will support us in developing logical frameworks that lay out pathways to results with critical intermediate points and suggested indicators; provide a mechanism for monitoring, reporting and evaluating program performance to assess results against the target objectives; serve as a tool for the regular identification of lessons learned in implementation and providing space for critical reflection and learning; and provide the mechanism that will allow us to demonstrate results to both governments, donors, partners and allies, as well as communities. 22 Country teams will prepare on a yearly basis an inventory of evaluations to be undertaken during the following fiscal year, as well as those completed. In general, programs for evaluation shall follow set timeframes. The trans-boundary programme shall develop log-frames for all active projects, conduct periodic joint monitoring involving our partners and communities as well, provide annual reports of our program performance and document evidence-based best practices and lessons for organizational learning. (Managing for Results) with a systematic process of monitoring achievements of our WASH programs; collecting and analysing performance data to track progress toward planned results; and using such information in our pro-poor policy advocacy and influencing; while we communicate the results to promote organizational learning with our partners and other stakeholders. Monitoring of results and evaluation of impact of our programs will be underscored in the next five years. Our Results Framework (FR) presents outcomes of our strategic actions, aligning and building into achievements towards our core outcomes. The framework in this transboundary strategy plan (TSP) is showing the hierarchy of outcome indicators with cause-andeffect linkages between the intermediary results and the next level objectives. 6.2 Impact Measurement and Learning: Our impact assessment and organizational learning approach will be designed to promote the development of knowledge in country offices, and the synthesis of on-the-ground learning to inform WaterAid program design and practice in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The aim is to develop knowledge and document evidence-base practices in order to improve the quality of our WASH programming. The main activities will include piloting new research and evaluation methods; demonstrate evidences with regards to hygiene promotion and environmental sanitation as a pre-condition in securing safe drinking water at household level; mainstreaming WASH in health and learning institutions in order influence their inclusion in national policies; share learning both locally and with WaterAid globally, and educate stakeholders and policy makers; disseminate and spread promising and proven practices, as well as multiplier effects of our trans-boundary initiatives and innovations; and organize trainings, workshops and inter-agency sharing and learning. Organizational Learning: The trans-boundary programme will promote organizational learning and coordinate best practices to provide space for new initiatives and innovations. Country teams will establish internal data warehouses (databank) to support current and future organizational data requirements; build staff analytical capacity and establish a strong impact assessment and learning office; and facilitate the conduct of program reviews. Mid-term TSP evaluation: During the planned period, we will conduct a mid-term review of this trans-boundary strategy plan: measuring changes (outcome indicators/results as set in the Result Framework below) attributable to our interventions. This mid-way performance evaluation will determine how the TSP is being implemented; how it is perceived and valued; its relevance, and whether expected results are occurring; and other issues that are pertinent to WaterAid program direction in Liberia and Sierra Leone. WALS CPS 2016 / 2021 – Annex on Results Framework (RF) for Performance Evaluations \| \| \| Core Outcome 1 \| \| \| Core Outcome 2 \| Core Outcome 3 \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Improved and Sustained Hygiene Behaviours \| Improved and \| Increased access to \| Improved access to \| Empowered Citizens \| Strong and committed \| \| Intermediary \| \| Sustained Hygiene \| equitable & \| equitable & \| demanding Rights and \| WASH Governance \| \| Results (IR) 1 \| \| Behaviours \| sustainable \| sustainable safe \| taking collective \| \| \| \| \| \| sanitation \| water \| actions \| \| Improved Improved and . Increased personal sustained access to safe Number of empowered communities demanding their WASH rights Improved WASH Governance and Accountability: \| Cause – and – effect Linkages for attainment of Core Outcomes \| Number of people practicing hand washing with soap Number of community- based hygiene and health talks conducted Number of communities covered with hygiene promotion campaigns Community & school health clubs established Public hand washing stations established in strategic locations Increased access to hygiene IEC/BCC materials Hygiene promotion IEC/BCC materials produced and approved \| %age of h/h with adequate sanitation whose excreta are safely managed Increased awareness on improved sanitation practices Community- based sanitation monitoring conducted Number of community- based sanitation campaigns conducted Increased access to sanitation IEC/BCC materials Sanitation IEC/BCC materials produced and approved \| %age of population using improved drinking water sources Increased access to safe water in small and hard-to- reach communities Increased access to safe water sources in health & learning institutions and communities Reduction in number of dysfunctional water points Effective supply chain for water point maintenance Appropriate improved technology for water point construction \| Community- based hygiene promoters trained and engaged Community- based WASH committees established and trained Improved Community participation & ownership of WASH facilities Improved community awareness of rights and responsibilities Improved CBO & CSO partner capacities Effective partnership with CSOs, CBOs and empowered communities \| Increased joint Monitoring WASH policies implemented and enforced Improved effectiveness and efficiency among local partners Partners Accountable with effective MIS Responsive private sector Consistent and visible WaterAid sub-regional Profile Improved WaterAid grant portfolio lts One (IR1) \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Pathways of M&E \| indicators towards \| the core outcomes \| – Intermediary Resu \| lts One (IR1) \| 7. Resource and organisational development plan (2 pages max.) 7.1 Organizational Development The expansion of the programme to a full-fledged programme will require a new structure with clear roles and responsibilities, decision making rights, sound policies and procedures for implementation and utilization of the organization's resources fit within the global management process. The Transboundary Programme will develop effective IT, HR, Admin and Finance systems and procedures supported by strong internal structures and policies including leadership, ways of working and people to enhance overall organizational performance in line with our aspirations and growth trajectory. Effective leadership of the programme will be achieved by recruiting, retaining and strengthening the Senior Management Team of the programme and support the growth and development of middle management and technical core through a well-organized human capacity development and succession policy and planning process. We will develop policy framework and procedures to guide our ways of working and inform our strategy implementation. These will help to support decision making at the right level and to ensuring that they are efficient and relevant to the new strategy. This will support change management, organizational learning and high performance country programme teams. We will continue to analyse and manage risk and, maintain strong internal control systems in order to increase our operational efficiency and effectiveness, safeguard our assets and records, and provide reliable financial and programmatic information at all times. 7.1.1 Human Resource Development (HRD): We have identified capacity and skill gaps, and developed a comprehensive plan as part of the Strategy development process to bridge the gaps. In order to support the execution of our programmatic plan, improvements in our people will focus on enhancing employee ability to manage the paradigm shift and effectively deliver on programme objectives, maintaining the WaterAid values, culture and norm in keeping with our leadership behaviour and performance management systems. We seek to better equip staff members with leadership and people management skills at multiple levels to lead and manage organizational performance. Our human resource strategy will continue to focus on recruiting, and developing highly skilled and motivated individuals to create a diverse and high performing team. Staff motivation and empowerment will be enhanced through an effective people management and capacity development process to develop and retain talents. 7.1.2 The Structure: Changes in the structure will be made to reflect the new strategic shifts and ways of working to support programme delivery in relation to the growth trajectory of the programme. These will cut across strategic, tactical and operational levels and will include developing leadership, managerial and technical capacities in relevant areas to enhance effective performance. The proposed new structure will be comprised of 4 departments (CR and Governance; People, OD & Administration; Finance & IT; and Programme & Policy) each led by a head of department. Currently the Head of POD is shared with WAG, however the CP shall have a separate POD. The proposed strategy suggests 30 new positions of which 9 exist in the current structure. The 21 vacant positions will be recruited staggeringly over a two-year period beginning with 7 to happen in FY 2016/17 and the remaining 14 will be recruited in year 2. 7.1.3 Communications – a key organizational implication: Given that people's behaviour change communications is one of our emphases to support the strategic shift, it will be crucial to strengthen our learning, packaging/documentation and communication systems and processes. Therefore, the trans-boundary programme will develop a comprehensive communications strategy that is aligned with the strategic shift. We shall also improve information management including the sharing and flow of information through appropriate channels and strengthen the close link between program and policy functions in our partnership, advocacy and influencing efforts. Programme and policy staff will identify and document the best practices relevant for dissemination to key stakeholders such as the WaterAid network, government and other service providers, existing and potential donors, the media and other key audiences. Learning (M&E) and communication function will support this link by developing innovative and impactful communication and knowledge products towards achieving our programme and advocacy goals. 7.1.4 Organizational Growth: Current staff portfolio is not gender balanced especially at the SMT level. Balancing the gender ratios will be our priority effort in the next five years. Given the strategic shift in the trans-boundary programme, both in terms of programmatic approaches and organizational growth, the required skills mix within the organisation will change. We will implement the strategic actions in the following organizational growth framework that will excel us occupy a strategic position in countries as a leading agency in the WASH sectors promoting people's right to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. 7.2 Fund Raising As a trans-boundary programme, we will build constructive relationships by improving our partnership management, donor retention, compliance and performance for enhanced grant acquisition. We will further ensure timely response in donor communication, and establish integrated management systems to support grant acquisition. Country offices shall ensure efficient project cycle management to maintain our good reputation and donor commitment for continued funding. Donor landscape is changing in Liberia and Sierra Leone, as major official and humanitarian donors are shifting attention to other emergency prone countries. Also in-line with the Paris Declaration - 'Aid Effectiveness', bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors are directing bulk of their funding to governments. We will scan the donor market and engage on intelligence gathering in consultation with our regional and international office staff to support the trans-boundary resource mobilization efforts. Staff capacity enhancement on vibrant program development will be underscored to generate more revenue from diverse sources - new and existing supporters and donors. We will develop & implement a five-year resource mobilization plans, conduct donor mapping and document findings, produce monthly grants tracking reports and develop relationships with both regional & in-country major donors. 7.2.1 Our Fund Raising Strategy - Grants Business Cycle Our Major funding sources for WASH programming in Liberia and Sierra Leone are largely limited to bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors. The transnational programme will increase efforts in securing funding from Government agencies, and by developing business partnership with the corporate sector, foundations and philanthropies. We shall implement the following grant business cycle in the next five years: a) Branding for improved visibility and profiling: WaterAid Transboundary (Liberia and Sierra Leone) will improve the visibility by engaging on profile building through appropriate use of media to share experiences and best practices by making our work known, while maintaining positive relationships and rootedness within both countries. We shall engage on viral messaging – of our successful high profile initiatives out on to the social networking sites which donors actually want to download rather than feeling like they're being spammed. We will further conduct project visits for potentially interested major donors in both countries - organising specific trips with targeted donors to run a showcase of our top projects prior to formal negotiations for funding. b) Intelligent gathering, trend analysis and donor mapping The transnational programme will create systems and function (Fund Raising & Grants Manager) to engage on national, regional and international intelligence gathering on major official donors, corporate sector and philanthropies. We will conduct a detailed analysis of donor landscape and identify those that WaterAid could partner with for 3-5 years. c) Lobbying and advocacy: We will promote regional/sub-regional dialogue and understanding on people's right to WASH in both Liberia and Sierra Leone with the aim of increasing corporate/private investment in the sector. This will be followed by soliciting funding of sub-regional (Mano River) from donor institutions. d) Engaging Philanthropy, corporate donors and governments Approach major donor individuals are becoming a major method of fundraising around the world. We will identify and develop a portfolio of potential donor individuals and carefully engage them for funding programmes of their interest. The transnational programme will further engage interested multi-national mining companies/corporations, Foundations and governments of Liberia and Sierra Leone for funding WASH programmes through its partners. e) Information, communications and liaison The Country offices will create a data base of the country profile for good proposal development and generation to be managed by and the Fund Raising Grants Function. We will develop flyers and publicize our core activities and uniqueness, inform the target audience of our niche competences and success stories in Liberia and Sierra Leone; and to strengthen our public relations activities. We shall establish a network with the local media, in order to obtain and exchange accurate and updated information about the transnational programme. Also establish internet connectivity with our partners by keeping them updated of all WaterAid's programme activities, changes, challenges and initiatives. f) Professional grant management: The transnational programme will maintain a grand style of grant management process as follows: i) Offer to the donor a highly professional and cost effective option ii) Implement high quality work at a competitive price iv) Report to the donors in a first rate manner (narrative and financial reports) iii) Keep existing donors happy to fund us and v) Publicize our good work through Public Relations. 7.2.2 Funding Sources: In the long term, the trans-boundary programme will pursue a grant portfolio that explores and maximize all funding sources to enable us secure a more balanced funding mixed from donors (60%), government (30%) and private sector sources (10%). We will solicit funding from three sources: a) Unrestricted Pool: Funds sourced from unrestricted revenue raised for the overall organization and/or direct funding to support the activities outlined in the strategy, as well as leverage donor funding. b) Donor Funding: We shall establish a strong fund raising and grant management function that will explore donor funding with innovative proposals. c) New Moneys: Funds generated from private companies, foundations and government contracts through in-country fund raising efforts. Summary of Projected Costs There are two key drivers of our ability to fulfil this TSP -- program (service delivery and WASH Governance) and revenue generation. As such, these two areas will receive the highest proportion of planned investment through the strategy. It is our intention to prioritize spending in order to ensure that 85% of our revenue is invested in programs. Additional investments in capacity building, partnership and service delivery overheads will result from increased restricted and unrestricted revenue that we will realize during this plan period. We will also underscore the importance of strengthening organizational capacity that will enable us to effectively and efficiently run our business. Therefore, significant spending will be focused on increasing capacity with new competencies, systems development and transboundary visibility. 7.2.2 Budget Five years' budget for Liberia – WLR is estimated at £6,210,408 while for Sierra Leone at £ 5,724,194. 0,408 Annexes - Log frame, your one-stop reference that covers the entire strategy – purpose (strategic intent) strategic objectives and your measures of success - Risk management plan - Partnerships - Detailed 5 Years Budgets.
Tales From the Emerging World Global Real Estate: One Size Doesn't Fit All EMERGING MARKETS EQUITY TEAM\| MACRO INSIGHT \| AUGUST 2023 In June, one of New York's most prominent real estate owners ceased making payments on a $240 million loan and instead handed back the keys to 61 Broadway, an iconic building near Wall Street with 40 stories of office space. It was the latest in a succession of major institutional owners choosing to walk away from trophy buildings and costly mortgages as they wrestle with postpandemic changes in workplace habits. But beyond the headlines, the story of global real estate is more nuanced. The anemic return to the workplace in the U.S. has resulted in many once-bustling office towers now operating at half capacity, putting pressure on developers who need to pay back their loans or refinance at higher rates. The total outstanding debt for real estate stands at $1.8 trillion with some $165 billion coming due this year. In contrast, the U.S. residential market has shown remarkable resilience driven by limited supply and pent-up demand from families seeking larger homes and an increasing number of millennials, benefiting from a tight job market, a generous stimulus package and a moratorium on student debt. Despite rising mortgage rates, the market is unlikely to experience a correction like we have seen in the past, as almost 60% of housing stock is held by those aged 55 and older who are typically reluctant to sell and surrender low mortgage rates obtained pre-pandemic. The median age of U.S. housing stock is now at a post-war high of 40 years. While the U.S. residential market is strong, other developed economies face vulnerabilities due to the widespread use of variable mortgages. Unlike U.S. home loans, which typically have fixed rates for long durations, borrowers in countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Sweden have adjustable mortgages that will reset to higher interest payments. On the contrary, other European countries like Italy and France, where a higher portion AUTHORS JITANIA KANDHARI Head of Macro & Thematic Research, Emerging Markets AUDREY MUHIRWA Senior Associate Emerging Markets Equity Team of the housing stock is owned outright without a mortgage, are insulated from rising rates. A disparity between emerging markets and developed economies arises when comparing house-price-to-income ratios, revealing affordability gaps within the global real estate market. Lower house-price-to-income ratios in emerging markets indicate that incomes are growing faster than home prices, creating a more favorable environment for potential home buyers. Several factors, such as lower land and construction costs, relaxed regulatory barriers and reduced speculative investment inflows signify a healthy real estate market, making investments in real estate a compelling opportunity. However, income growth in several developed economies has failed to keep pace with real estate prices, hereby eroding affordability. Real estate prospects in emerging economies vary significantly depending on the country. China, for instance, has an 80% home ownership rate, but an excessively supplied housing market, declining affordability in Tier 1 cities and limits to local government revenues from land sales has dampened real estate investment. The government is trying to rightsize the sector as it accounts for 2.5 times the country's GDP, as compared to 1.5 times in the U.S., and contributes about 25% to the economy. The fall in property prices is keenly felt, as the typical Chinese household has two-thirds of their wealth tied up in real estate. Structural factors such as shifting demographics, slowing income growth and an unwinding of 15 years of speculative excesses have set the property market on a downtrend trajectory. In stark contrast to China's property woes, India's real estate is bottoming out as more of its population migrates to cities, increasing the need for housing and high affordability. House prices in India are 3.2 times average income, compared to 6.7 times in China. Nominal wage growth of around 8% should fuel demand, at a time of declining supply amid industry consolidation. The real estate sector further benefits from the strong financial health of property developers, consumers and banks which together serve as another tailwind for the market. Shifts in global trade patterns will favor select markets in Mexico and some ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries which stand to gain as companies follow a "China Plus One" or nearshoring strategy. Mexico is experiencing an increased need for more industrial space as companies diversify their supply chains away from China. In the Philippines, commercial property sales have rebounded to 70% of pre-COVID levels. Singapore, with DISPLAY 1 its skilled workforce and advanced infrastructure, attracts tech firms expanding in the region. Both residential and commercial real estate are entering an expansion cycle of construction activity. In the Middle East, Dubai's low taxes, warm weather and lax restrictions had lured expats over the years. Russia's invasion of Ukraine added another stream of new residents. More than 4,000 high-net-worth individuals settled in the UAE last year, pushing up apartment prices 14% and rents by 27% in 2022. Saudi Arabia is currently in the midst of massive construction projects, including the Riyadh Airport expansion and smart cities like NEOM and the Red Sea Project, designed to increase annual visitors by 100 million by 2030. While U.S. office towers remain empty, the country's residential market dynamics are much more favorable -- employment remains strong, borrowers have better credit and loan delinquencies are low. We'll be watching the impact of interest rate increases on variable mortgages and China's struggles to fix its property market. But in many other emerging economies, we expect to see a new real estate investment cycle driven by high growth, limited supply and secular demographic trends that will create opportunities as interest rates decline. Risk Considerations: There is no assurance that a portfolio will achieve its investment objective. Portfolios are subject to market risk, which is the possibility that the market values of securities owned by the portfolio will decline and that the value of portfolio shares may therefore be less than what you paid for them. Market values can change daily due to economic and other events (e.g. natural disasters, health crises, terrorism, conflicts and social unrest) that affect markets, countries, companies or governments. It is difficult to predict the timing, duration, and potential adverse effects (e.g. portfolio liquidity) of events. Accordingly, you can lose money investing in this portfolio. Please be aware that this portfolio may be subject to certain additional risks. In general, equities securities' values also fluctuate in response to activities specific to a company. Investments in foreign markets entail special risks such as currency, political, economic, market and liquidity risks. The risks of investing in emerging market countries are greater than the risks generally associated with investments in foreign developed countries. The risks associated with ownership of real estate and the real estate industry in general include fluctuations in the value of underlying property, defaults by borrowers or tenants, market saturation, decreases in market rents, interest rates, property taxes, increases in operating expenses and political or regulatory occurrences adversely affecting real estate. 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LOK SABHA ___ SYNOPSIS OF DEBATES (Proceedings other than Questions & Answers) ______ Tuesday, March 17, 2020 / Phalguna 27, 1941 (Saka) ______ THE COMPANIES (AMENDMENT) BILL,2020 THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR) moved for leave to introduce a Bill further to amend the Companies Act, 2013. SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB opposing the motion to introduce the Bill said : We had deliberated on this subject a number of times. More than 100 amendments were proposed by the Standing Committee and subsequently, the Government accepted some of them and also added some more. Then, 117 amendments came again to this House with the amendment of this Companies (Amendment) Bill. I would like to mention here that last year, the Companies (Amendment) Bill was introduced, and again now, another amendment is being introduced today. In this new Amendment Bill, the Government has sought to decriminalise and reduce penalties for other offences. Government's argument is that they are promoting 'ease of doing business'. But I would like to ask whether this is an opportune moment for such steps. We have a large private bank that was about to fail, and is now being rescued. Why is it happening that the Government has to bring amendments after amendments to these laws? Is it because there is an adhocism in approach? If these Bills were referred to the Standing Committee, a holistic view could be taken, and there would not have been any need to come to this house again and again. PROF. SOUGATA RAY: It seems to me that the Government is heavily influenced by the representatives of the Industry Chambers. Whatever they are saying is good for 'ease of doing business' and it is being accepted. The only thing I want to mention is that one of the great boons of the 2013 Companies Act was that it introduced the concept of the Corporate Social Responsibility. There are many companies which are not observing the Corporate Social Responsibility. Now, they have even relaxed the provisions with regard to the Corporate Social Responsibility. This is lightening and relaxing the corporates in the name of 'ease of doing business'. So, some strict provisions should be there in the Companies Law. SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY: The Bill was enacted during the UPA regime but this Government, after various amendments, is trying to decriminalise several offences specified under the Act. The Government is bringing in as many as 75 amendments. The Government is trying to decriminalise the corporate sector only to plunder and loot the country with impunity. This Government has been diluting the CSR regime in order to facilitate the corporate sector. These are nothing but to appease the corporate sector. That is why, I am opposing the introduction of this Bill. SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR: This Bill seeks to decriminalise minor procedural and technical defaults which do not involve fraud or injury to the public interest. It is going to reduce the burden on the NCLT for compounding of offences and the criminal court where the prosecutions are today filed for those minor defaults. We could see the number of cases pending in these courts. There are only technical and procedural defaults which are being decriminalized. So, the Government are not reducing the CSR obligations but only easing the procedural requirements. This is the second phase of decriminalisation process which we have started through the Companies Amendment Bill, 2019. The Companies Act, 2013 had been passed in the year 2013 where a number of technical and procedural defaults have been criminalised. We have already made CSR spending mandatory in the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The issue is that our Government is committed towards ease of doing ethical business and ease of doing honest business which is very important. I think there should be a conducive environment where the industry should grow and generate employment. These amendments are very important if India has to become a five-trillion dollar economy. Therefore, I would request to introduce the Bill. The Bill was introduced. _____ MATTERS UNDER RULE 377 1. SHRI CHHEDI PASWAN laid a statement regarding setting up of mineral based industry in Rohtas district, Bihar. 2. SHRI ASHOK MAHADEORAO NETE laid a statement regarding need to run a train between Gondia in Maharashtra and Dongargarh in Chhattisgarh 3. SHRI DEVAJI PATEL laid a statement regarding need to link Sirohi district in Rajasthan with air services. 4. SHRIMATI MALA RAJYA LAXMI SHAH laid a statement regarding grievances of people of Tehri district Uttarakhand displaced due to Tehri dam. 5. SHRI S. MUNISWAMY laid a statement regarding need to construct a Water Storage Reservoir/Dam in Kolar Parliamentary Constituency, Karnataka. 6. SHRI RAJVEER DILER laid a statement regarding need to provide stoppage of Swarna Shatabdi Express (train no. 12003) at Hathras Railway Junction, Uttar Pradesh. Laid on the Table as directed by Chair. 7. DR. RAMAPATI RAM TRIPATHI laid a statement regarding construction of an underpass across railway line in Deoria Parliamentary Constituency, Uttar Pradesh. 8. SHRI CHATTAR SINGH DARBAR laid a statement regarding need to formulate a national policy for welfare of farmers in the country. 9. SHRI GOPAL JEE THAKUR laid a statement regarding need to take steps for conservation and promotion of Mithila Institute of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning in Darbhanga, Bihar. 10. DR. SUJAY VIKHE PATIL laid a statement regarding including Ahmednagar under Swadesh and Prasad Scheme. 11. DR. DHAL SINGH BISEN laid a statement regarding need to ensure participation of farmers in plantation drive in the country. 12. SHRI BHANU PRATAP SINGH VERMA laid a statement regarding four-laning of stretch of NH-27 in Kalpi Nagar in Jaluan Parliamentary Constituency, Uttar Pradesh. 13. SHRI R.K. SINGH PATEL laid a statement regarding need to provide adequate compensation to farmers who lost their crops due to adverse weather conditions in Banda and Chitrakoot districts in Uttar Pradesh. 14. SHRIMATI MEENAKASHI LEKHI laid a statement regarding increase in virus outbreak. 15. SHRI GURJEET SINGH AUJLA laid a statement regarding Income Tax Holiday to textile goods industries. 16. SHRI H. VASANTHAKUMAR laid a statement regarding need to sanction funds from the Central Road Fund for repair of State Roads in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. 17. SHRI GAUTHAM SIGAMANI PON laid a statement regarding Levying of GST on Agro Industry. 18. SHRI S. RAMALINGAM laid a statement regarding Production of Wind Energy in Tamil Nadu. 19. SHRI RAGHU RAMA KRISHNA RAJU laid a statement regarding sanction and release of funds under NREGS to Andhra Pradesh. 20. SHRIMATI PRATIMA MONDAL laid a statement regarding making Chandkhali Halt Station functional. 21. SHRI KAUSHLENDRA KUMAR laid a statement regarding need to undertake caste census in Census 2021. 22. SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB laid a statement regarding Implementation of MGNREGS in Odisha. 23. SHRI RAM SHIROMANI VERMA laid a statement regarding need to establish a Technical University and Research Centre and Vocational University in Shrawasti parliamentary constituency, Uttar Pradesh. 24. SHRI P.R. NATARAJAN laid a statement regarding need to review the decision regarding reduction of ESI contribution. 25. SHRI MOHANBHAI SANJIBHAI DELKAR laid a statement regarding reservation of Adivasi people of Dadar and Nagar Haveli in Government jobs. 26. SHRI N.K. PREMACHANDRAN laid a statement regarding functioning of Kollam Parvathy Mills. _______ AIRCRAFT (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2020 THE MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS; MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI HARDEEP SINGH PURI) moving the motion for consideration of the Bill, said: The amendments which are very specific in nature emanate from the fact that three of the bodies, namely the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau control 'Civil Aviation'. These have been operating under executive order. The Indian Civil Aviation Sector has grown exponentially. It is today the world's third largest domestic civil aviation market. Today, it is on the way to becoming the world's third largest civil aviation market. But as we have felt for a long time and as our membership of the Chicago Convention and ICAO, their audits have pointed that these three crucial agencies of the civil aviation sector have been operating under an executive order. The need, therefore, is to give them statutory backing and that is a limited purpose of these amendments. Now, it stands to reason that the civil aviation governance structure, which involves not only the Central Government but also all the constituent stakeholders like the DGCA, BCAS and the AAIB, must have statutory provision. They must be constituted under a law, and that is the purpose of this amendment to the Act. I just want to conclude by saying that the civil aviation sector, which has been a critical driver of economic growth so far in all these years, will grow from strength in spite of facing a number of challenges. DR. M. K. VISHNU PRASAD initiating said: The Bill gives a statutory status to the Directorate of Civil Aviation, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Aircrafts Accident Investigation Bureau. The Government has the full power to constitute and appoint the Director Generals. There is no doubt about it. In a clause saying that the Central Government can issue the directions to each of these organisations in the public interests. I do not know why is the 'public interest'. Will these three Director General go against the interest of the public? This Government should run in the interest of the public only. The centralisation of power is the crux of these Amendments. It also enhances the fine to the maximum limit for breaches under this Bill which is from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 1 crore. I would like to know whether this fine is applicable to individual or it is applicable to Government agencies like these Director Generals? The Government says that they have 80 sites to be sold and that is how, they can survive. Basically, the aviation sector in recent times is undergoing a turbulent time. This is because of the imposition of heavy aviation fuel tax. Price is not at all standard in the civil aviation sector. The passengers are facing a heavy problem. We will have to have some kind of price regulations because air travel is not a luxury anymore. Air India is facing a lot of difficulties in paying salaries to its employees in time. I would request the hon. Minister to look into the matter. I would urge upon the hon. Minister to consider the proposal of an airport in Cheyyar, which is my constituency. I hope that this Government will pay more attention to it and it comes up with a comprehensive Bill. SHRI JAYANT SINHA: The Aircraft Act, 1934 was urgently required to be amended in order to sort out the complex issues related to the aviation sector. The aviation sector has witnessed exponential growth. Today, we have 105 operational airports and very soon we will have more than 200 operational airports. We have achieved this unprecedented status so very quickly to become the third largest aviation market domestically in the world and very soon, domestic-plusinternational. One of the most important programmes that we have undertakn in the aviation sector in the last few years is UDAAN i.e. ' Ure Des Ka Aam Nagrik '. There is an Air Seva Programme through which any grievance can be logged through a mobile app, through a website and through various forms of social media as well. This is the only such consumer grievance redressal mechanism around the world and this is a notable innovation that we have brought into air travel to make air travel even better. Some years back the Government had introduced 'No Fly List'. All the personnel engaged in the aviation sector have worked day and night in tracking and screening of Corona virus. Although our aviation sector is functioning quite well, 3 important regulatory agencies need to be given statutory recognition. With this Bill these agencies will be made statutory bodies. This will improve our safety ranking. Now, petty offences will become compoundable. This amendment was necessary for reforming this sector. I would request all the Members to support this Bill. SHRI KALYAN BANERJEE: This amendment will really strengthen the main statute itself. There is a need to make more stringent provisions for the employees of the Airlines. Behaviour of the pilots and crew members with passengers is not at all good. If the Government thinks fit, a law can be brought to deal with the staff misbehaving with the passengers. We are totally against the privatisation of Air India especially because this is not a loss making company and is a national carrier. So, I would urge the Government to reconsider its decision of disinvestment in Air India. SHRI C. N. ANNADURAI: The objective of this Bill is to improve upon the safety and security standards in this sector. India has the distinction of being the third largest civil aviation market in the world. Our country, being the signatory to the Chicago Convention, is required to ensure international standards of safety requirements for civil aviation. Enhancement of fine from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 1 crore for violators of security is justifiable for the sake of enhanced security. Air worthiness aspect of aircraft and proficiency of flight crew and ground engineers is vital for safety and security of the passengers. An airport at Tiruvannamalai under UDAN Scheme may be given priority. I oppose privatisation of Air India. With these observations, I commend that the Bill may be passed after incorporating my suggestions. SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT: Our aviation sector is in crisis for the last several years. In my view the Air India should not be privatised. Today, the Airlines do not treat the passengers properly but there is no provision to take action against them. Passenger safety should be the prime objective. But the security personnel at airports harass the passengers in the name of frisking. There is a need to provide financial support to Air India and not to privatise it. SHRI PINAKI MISRA: I rise to support this Bill. I am sorry to say that the Government has reduced the budgetary allocation to this Ministry. I don't know how the Ministry will give statutory flavour to the BCAS, the AAIB and the DGCA. It is important for us to come in line with ICAO. Legal teeth have been given to the Board. India is now at third position in the world in terms of its civil aviation potential. With a huge 400 million strong middle-class the passenger traffic in this country obviously has to boost every single year. Despite that, we have seen that airline after airline has failed in this country. Indian carriers' potential for projected cumulative losses for 2019-20 is supposed to be Rs.7800 crore. India has one of the highest aviation fuel tax in the world. Today, when oil prices are below 30 dollars, I believe this is the time when the aviation sector should be bailed out with aviation fuel cost. I am completely one with the Minister in attempting the sale of the Air India. I do not believe that every nation has a national carrier. Those days are gone. There is no reason for the Government to be in the business of running airlines and hotels. We support this Bill and all the good initiatives and good endeavours which the hon. Minister is bringing in this aviation sector. SHRI SUNIL KUMAR PINTU: By amending the Section 2 of the Aircraft Act, 1934, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is being set up. I would like to draw the attention of the Ministry that permission is being granted to the flights without proper examination of the condition of the aircraft. There should be a check on the arbitrary charging by the Airlines on ticket cancellation and its modification. The maximum ticket cost may be fixed so that the Airlines may not be able to charge fares arbitrarily. An airport be constructed in Sitamarhi as it is the birth place of Mother Sita. The airport at Darbhanga and Purnia be opened for public service at the earliest. There is an urgent need for an international airport at Nalanda. I support this Bill. KUNWAR DANISH ALI: There should be a check on the tickets being sold by the Airlines on exorbitant rates. It should be ensured that those who had to go on Umrah and have cancelled their tickets due to Corona Virus get their money back from travel agents. There should be a Clause in terms of those new airports which are being privatized that the number of passengers, the uses of commercial space and the revenue generated therefrom must be shared with the Government. SHRI B.B. PATIL: Once these amendments are passed, the Government would have the power to issue directions to review in public interest, any order passed by the DGCA, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. The Bill intends to regulate the areas of air navigation. It will increase safety and security of air transport in the country. An audit by ICAO showed that the safety score of India declined to 57.44 per cent in 2018 from 65.82 per cent in 2017. The score was far less than Nepal and Pakistan. With the successful implementation of the UDAN scheme, the aircraft carriers and operators have increased. The Government just cannot let a private player exploit different consumers. Aeronautical tariffs and charges need to remain within manageable limits. The Government has approved to set up five small airports in Telangana. I would like to request the hon. Minister to get those approved airports constructed at the earliest. SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE: Today, the entire civil aviation industry is going through probably one of its most difficult times. UDAN is a very good scheme but there is connectivity issue at Aurangabad Airport. I am not against privatization at all. But if you sell Air India, will UDAN Scheme still exist? Today, you will have to restructure loans of all these airlines for the reason of fuel prices. So, what is the thinking of this Government about the fuel? It is because the fuel is one of the reasons why these airlines are bleeding. Right now all the airlines are bleeding but banks are not going to wait for the moneys to be paid. So, what are you going to do to make sure that they are alive. Even today, for an airlines flying 5000 hours, still got to go to Singapore because we do not have the infrastructure that this Government had committed for. There are now Drones and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. What is the safety, security and privacy of them? Will they come under this Bill? SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY: This Bill contains amendments regarding air navigation service about which I discuss in this House frequently. The best air navigation service of the world – air traffic controllers, with strength of around 3000, is in India. Their role is quite significant in keeping our air travel safe. If ICAO audit is done today of the Patna airport then it will get a poor rating. Looking at the current condition of the Patna airport, the Government has sanctioned Rs.1200 crore but even one per cent of operational advantage of this amount is not achieved. Secondly, in Bihta, neither Boeing 777 nor other Boeing and Jumbo jets can land, nor CAT-3 can be installed there. New airport is being shifted from Patna to Bihta. There is not even one per cent operational advantage there. Today, in India, we need 1000 pilots but we are able to train only 250 pilots. 750 pilots spend from 70 lakh rupees to one crore on their training abroad. India is losing at least 500 million dollars of its hard currency on training abroad. SHRI E. T. MOHAMMED BASHEER: There are a lot of crises in the Aviation Sector. For the past one year, the ATF price has been increasing in an alarming way. We have to address this point. I am of the opinion that the Government must have power in controlling the prices of tickets. The Government must also address the high airport charges levied by the AAI. We must have best training for the pilots and other ground staff. But we should be conscious about the social responsibility of aviation companies. ADV. A. M. ARIFF: There is no need to have DG to control the three authorities already in place. The Centre wants to appoint their own people for the total control of this sector. The Bill has completely side-lined the judiciary which is against natural justice. The Bill does not have clarity on who will be the Appellate Officer. The minimum penalty under this Act has been cut down which is wrong. The aim of this Bill is to help privatisation of Air Sector. The Kerala State is opposing privatisation of Trivandrum Airport. I request you to consider the request of the State Government of Kerala to keep running the Airport at Trivandrum. I would request the Government to issue an Order in case of cancellation of pre-booked ticket due to Covid-19 there would be no cancellation charges in any of the Airlines. SHRI BENNY BEHANAN: It is indeed ironical that we can send astronauts to Space in spaceships built in India but cannot build aircraft for our people to travel. There need to be serious efforts to examine this issue. The Government should include aircraft manufacturing technology in its Make in India programme. SHRI RAGHU RAMA KRISHNA RAJU: I am of the opinion that the penalty should be increased a little more to ensure security. The number of air traffic control staff should be increased. As regards drones, there should be clarity as to how we are going to deal with them. There should be enough security personnel at the counters. Air India's present status should be maintained. The Government should identify some temple cities and develop airports there. SHRI SYED IMTIAZ JALEEL: The majority of the people in this country wants Air India to continue flying. The passengers' safety and security issues should not be compromised. Some private airlines are operating with faulty engines. This should not be allowed. The Government should make serious efforts to revive Jet Airways. As regards the Hajjis, I would like to say that in my Constituency Aurnagabad all the pilgrims are informed, at the last minute to shell out Rs. 34,000 to fly from the airport. The Government should start international flights from Aurangabad airport. SHRI M. SELVARAJ: I condemn the move of selling of Air India to private sector parties. The Bill should have a provision explaining what kind of financial compensation can be provided to the critical or dead passenger. An Armed Forces Aircraft was crashed in Chennai. The Ministry should expedite the investigation into the matter and place the report before Parliament. The announcements in the flight have to be made in regional languages too. I request the Government to provide one air station at Nagapattinam. I would also like to request the hon. Minister to provide direct flights from Tiruchirappalli to Delhi. SHRI N.K. PREMACHANDRAN: The safety and security of air travel should be given utmost priority. Air safety violation or breach of air safety is recurring day-by-day. That has to be dealt with stringent laws. I appeal to the hon. Minister that the aircraft with faulty engine should never be used. I have two other suggestions. One is regarding the airfare. During the festive season very hefty charges are imposed on the person returning from Gulf countries. I would like to seek a reply from the hon. Minister with regard to the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. SHRI HANUMAN BENIWAL: I demand that BCAS, DGCA and AAI must also be given enforcement powers in order that they may punish the defaulters. No way should there be any compromise with Civil Aviation Security. Section 12 of the Act should be suitably amended. The security of all the airports of the country should be handed over either to CISF or to some other Government agency. The private Agencies placed for the security of luggage at the International Airports should be done away with. As regards the move to privatise Air India I would simply say that the Government of India must not hand over Air India to any private entity. On a number of occasions security personnel deployed at the Airport misbehave with the passengers. This aspect should be particularly taken care of. SHRI P. RAVEENDRANATH KUMAR: I hope merger of these three bodies under the Government would make the functioning of these bodies more effective. At the same time, I would like to inform that there is no regulation in the fare of flight journeys and request the hon. Minister to inform about the monitoring mechanism constituted by the Government to regulate ticket charges being collected by various flight operators. UDAN-RCS seeks to develop a sustainable air network in over 400 Tier-2 cities across India. My Theni Parliamentary Constituency should be included therein. I request the Government to include the airport at Madurai in the list of BASA with several other countries. SHRI BHAGWANT MANN: I welcome the Aircraft Amendment Bill, 2020 because the law should also be updated with the changing technology. I urge upon the Government to accord top priority to the safety of passengers in the aviation sector and put a check on the compromise with safety standards with a view to earn more profit by private companies. The surge fares levied by the airlines, in view of the demand, should be curbed. There is a need to provide air connectivity from Chandigarh and Amritsar to Vancouver, Toronto and Melbourne and also set up state-of-art aircraft companies in the country so as to make India self-reliant in Aviation Sector. SHRI H. VASANTHAKUMAR: There is a need to construct an airport in my Parliamentary Constituency of Kanyakumari and resolve the difficulties coming in its way. I urge upon the Government to restore the picture of Shri K. Kamraj at the Chennai airport of Kamraj Domestic Terminal. SHRI DNV. SENTHILKUMAR S. : I would like to bring it to the kind attention of the hon. Aviation Minister that in spite of the DGCA's Directives of 2018, no aircraft follows the regional announcements. There are regional advertisements being displayed inside the aircraft but the announcement in the regional language is not given importance. I would like the hon. Minister to take care of students got stranded abroad due to closure of University with the help of Indian Embassies and get them back to India in this pandemic situation. SHRI SANJAY SETH: I support the Aircraft Act, 2020. A common citizen of the country can fly under the UDAN scheme. I would like to congratulate and express thanks to Department of Civil Aviation who have installed national flag on all airports and taking care of all passengers arriving from abroad in airports of the country in view of Corona virus. SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY: The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020 has the aim and objective of streamlining the lacunae and deficiencies in this sector. Aviation sector is registering a growth of more than 50 per cent. But there is a shortage of pilots, pilot training institute and even traffic management systems in the sector. The Government should ensure that the whole process of disinvestment of Air India is transparent. Efforts should be made to improve the condition and save Air India. MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility is a growing industry of the world today, its services can be taken to save Air India. Attention should be paid towards security lapses in Indian airports which are continuing unabated. Economic survey reveals that 2000 airports will be required in the coming 18 years. Hence, the number of Pilot Training Institutes should be increased. Appropriate steps should be taken for drone management which are threat to our security. Air ambulance facility should be provided to common man. THE MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS, MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI HARDEEP SINGH PURI) replying said: This amendment is being brought in 2020 to try, to a limited extent, to bring the Indian Aircraft Act of 1934 upto date in the important area of aircraft and civil aviation security, management of the regulator, DGCA. Today, we have no choice but to ensure that these three bodies crucial to the functioning of the civil aviation sector in India, have the position as statutory bodies. The issue of shortage of ATCs has been raised here. We have a total number of 3,500 very qualified Air Traffic Controllers today. In the last two or three years, we have recruited another 1,000 ATCs and next year, we will be recruiting another 250 ATCs. So, there is no shortage of ATCs. About the issue of affordability of air fares, I want to state that our civil aviation sector today stands deregulated. The Government does not set air fares. Today air travel is no longer a luxury and it is a necessity, so, we have to make sure that air fares are affordable but airlines also must be viable. The cost of the ATF constitutes 40 per cent of the overall operating cost of an airline. Therefore we must rationalize the tax structure on ATF and it needs to be brought under GST with full input tax credit and it should be linked from petrol and diesel. There is some code of conduct inside an aircraft. Therefore, we have Civil Aviation Regulation. The CAR shows complaints of a particular kind need to be addressed. If somebody misbehaves in an aircraft, every airline is required to follow a procedure set out by the DGCA. According to that procedure, the complaint has to come from the pilot of the aircraft who makes the complaint. Then, the aviation company sets up an internal committee. That committee makes the determination. I want to bring the issue of zero tolerance on security. Anyone who threatens the physical security of an aircraft, inside the aircraft, while it is airborne, deserves no consideration. We are taking up with all the airlines collectively and individually that courtsies should be shown to the hon. Members with a separate queue for them to facilitate ticketing and entry etc. I want to address one of the very important issues raised about the DGCA, that is on the other hand, it says that some particular kinds of incidents have taken place but on the other hand, it is taking no action. DGCA as a regulator was amongst the first globally which started taking cognizance of 320 New Pratt &Whitney Engines and decided that no aircraft would take to the skies unless it has one engine which was otherwise not part of this category. So, these engines have already been changed. Some issues were raised again on affordability. According to IATA's estimate, global aviation may lose between 63 billion US Dollars and 113 billion US Dollars on account of the coronavirus. So we cannot be immune from this virus. In order to make the system viable, the airlines have to survive also. So, we need to take a judicious look at both air fares and the viability of airlines. Air India is a first-rate asset. It has about 120 planes. It flies to 50 international destinations and 80 domestic destinations. It has very well qualified and experienced engineers and pilots. But today Air India's annual loss should be about Rs.7,000 crore to Rs.8,000 crore. It has an accumulated loss of about Rs.62,000 crore. They tied to government, finds themselves at a complete disadvantage vis-à-vis private carrier. A private carrier is will take cut-throat decisions for every dollar on the spot whereas it will have to go through the tendering process and if it does that, it has to face our own agencies thereafter. On the last occasion, our inability to sell Air India was on account of the fact that we wanted to withhold 25 or 26 per cent. We are losing Rs. 26 crore per day. We have decided that we will ensure the interest of staff of Air India. Air India has not recruited for many years. Therefore, there is no extra staff. In any case, whoever buys the airlines will need the people, the pilots, the engineers, the cabin crew, in order to run the airlines. So, we will ensure that our people who have served the nation with great distinction in Air India are taken care of. Making a particular airport, an international airports all demand-driven. We are willing to setup the infrastructure but those who operate the flight will make a decision based on the business potential and based on the viability of the route. Insofar as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones are concerned, according to current assessment, 3- 4 lakh drones should operate in our airspace. We need a policy in this regard and we have started working in this direction. We also need to make sure that the drones should get registered. The Bill as amended was passed. _______ MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2020 THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE, MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES (DR. HARSH VARDHAN) moving the Motion of Consideration of the Bill said: This amendment to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, is proposed with a view to increase upper gestation limit for the termination of pregnancy, and also for strengthening access to comprehensive abortion care under strict conditions without compromising service and quality of safe abortion. When this original Bill was brought in 1971, India was amongst one of the first few countries in the whole world to legalise abortion in order to provide legal and safe abortion services to women who required to terminate a pregnancy due to certain threptic or humanitarian grounds. However, with the advancements of medical technology for safe abortion, there is a scope for increasing upper gestational limit for terminating pregnancies. This Bill is a step towards the safety and wellbeing of women and will enlarge the ambit and access of women to safe and legal abortion without compromising on safety and quality of care. This Bill also ensures dignity, autonomy, confidentiality and justice for women who need to terminate pregnancy. In the last decade several writ petitions have been filed before various Courts, seeking permissions for aborting pregnancies at gestational age beyond the present permissible limit on the grounds of foetal abnormalities or pregnancies due to sexual violence forced on women. Before bringing this Bill we had a very extensive consultative process with all the possible stakeholders. The Bill provides for requirement of opinion of one registered medical practitioner for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks of gestation; requirement of opinion of two registered medical practitioners for termination of pregnancy for 20 to 24 weeks of gestation; enhancing the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for such category of women as may be prescribed by rules in this behalf; non-applicability of provisions relating to the length of pregnancy in cases where the termination of pregnancy is necessitated by the diagnosis of any substantial foetal abnormalities diagnosed by a Medical Board; and strengthening of protection of privacy of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated. Now, the failure of contraceptive clause has been expanded to woman and her partner. This is a very progressive legislation. It is a long-awaited amendment and it has been discussed in great detail by everyone. On a number of occasions, various courts have mentioned that there should be review of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 and that is the reason why we have brought this amendment before the august House. SUSHRI S. JOTHIMANI initiating said: Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is a very significant step in the right direction. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 is in place in India. Though this Act has legalized abortion with a gestation period of 12 to 20 weeks, it failed to keep pace with the current social, medical and technological developments. Finally, the time has come to amend the 49-year old law on medical termination of pregnancy. This Bill has extended the pregnancy termination time period from 20 weeks in the principal Act to 24 weeks. It has also enhanced the gestation limit for 'special categories' of women which includes survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women and minors. It also protects the privacy of women. Significantly, the Bill also applies to unmarried women. However, I also want to raise certain concerns regarding the Bill. The preference for a male child keeps sex determination centres in business in spite of their illegal status. Women will be forced by their partners or husbands to abort the child. This has to be taken care of. A woman who does not fall into the special category would not be able to seek an abortion beyond 20 weeks, even if she suffers from a grave physical or mental injury due to pregnancy like miscarriage. Though the Bill has clause for confidentiality, yet does not ensure privacy for women, girls under POSCO due to the requirement of mandatory reporting under POSCO. It can act as a deterrent for adolescent girls from accessing safe abortion services in situations where the perpetrator is a family member. The Bill still does not allow abortion on request at any point after pregnancy. There is an acute shortfall of almost 75 per cent of gynaecologists at CHC level across in the country. In such a scenario, no undue burden should be placed on women and their families to get necessary diagnosis and approval of medical boards. Women members must also be part of the institutional 'committees' comprising of senior medical officers/Chief Medical Officers, consultants from different departments. Awareness programmes must be implemented, especially at the Panchayat level in rural areas. I would like to request the hon. Health Minister, to address the issue of child pregnancy. The Government needs to ensure that all norms and standardized protocols in clinical practice to facilitate abortions are followed in health care institutions across the country. It should allow abortion on request of the woman rather than approval of the medical practitioner or board. SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO: I support the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020. This Bill assumes greater significance as India aims to bring down the maternal mortality ratio from the current level of 122 per lakh live births to 70 per lakh live births by 2030. I want to say that aborting a 24-week foetus is a huge responsibility and our healthcare systems specially in rural India are not really equipped to handle that. Adequate arrangements for it should be made. Enhancing the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for survivors of rape victims, incest minors and other vulnerable women including differently abled women is the necessity for ensuring dignity, confidentiality, reproductive autonomy and justice for women. The Bill is really progressive as it will help a lot of young women to deal with unwanted pregnancies lawfully and in a safe environment. Another very sensitive provision of confidentiality is also laudable. The Bill stands testimony to efforts for empowering women. SHRI GAUTHAM SIGAMANI PON : The amendment in this Bill proposes to extend the existing twenty weeks to twenty-four weeks in eligible cases with medical conditions is a welcome step. This extension will help out cases of congenital anomaly, lunatic pregnancy, cases of rape, unwed, widow pregnancies and curtail illegal terminations carried out by quacks and consequent loss of precious lives. I would like to suggest that an all-women board should be constituted to rule on eligibility. The Board must have social scientist counselor also though medical expertise cannot be divided in man or woman but woman's viewpoint may be more valid and compassionate in this regard. I hail from Tamil Nadu where a reformer Shri Thanthai Periyar E.V.R. advocated in 1920s that the pregnancy and childbirth were exclusive right of woman but even today, in the name of religion and belief system, they are restricted. In modern times new problems needs to be handed properly. Its high time an efforts is done for legalizing such matters. DR. KAKOLI GHOSH DASTIDAR: I support the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Our goal is looking at the health of the woman, to reduce maternal mortality rate, and also giving the child a good life. In our country today 56 percent of abortions are unsafe. So, to prevent these maternal deaths, we need safe abortion and that is why this Bill is being brought. We should also have a psychiatrist to counsel the mother. I am suggesting this because sometimes, after foetal sex determination, a woman is forced to undergo abortion. Fast Track Courts must be set up particularly in cases where young girls have been raped and exposed to violence etc. If there is any other medical problem in later pregnancy, they can be given permission for 24 weeks. Otherwise, it should be limited to 22 weeks because till then, the foetus is not so viable. As far as ultrasound is concerned, major anomalies can be detected as early as 14 to 16 weeks. So, we can make untrasound mandatory for all pregnant women. Maternal disease or foetal disease is a good reason for the abortees to be taken out even at 24 weeks. Rape cases or cases of violence can be taken out at 24 weeks. But for all other cases where the choice is with the mothers, they can easily choose early from 18 weeks, from 20 weeks so that we do not have to take upon ourselves the murder of a child, who was breathing when it was taken out. Instead of two registered medical practitioners, there should be actually two specialist gynaecologists for their opinion when the abortion is being taken up to 24 weeks. Besides this, in case of rubella and other diseases, which can expose the child to disease and incompatibility in life, then also we can extend this up to 24 weeks. However, it is a very good proposal that the right of the woman is being recognised and she is being given her own choice towards her reproductive health. KUMARI GODDETI MADHAVI : The current Bill amends the provision of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 and states that a pregnancy may be terminated within 20 weeks with the opinion of one registered medical practitioner. Approval of two registered medical practitioners will be required for the termination of pregnancies between 20 to 24 weeks. The termination of pregnancies up to 24 weeks will apply to specific categories of women as may be prescribed by the Central Government. Another major point that the Bill seeks to improve is the Constitution of a Medical Board. The Bill states that the upper limit of termination of pregnancy will not apply in cases where such termination is necessary due to the diagnosis of substantial foetal abnormalities. These abnormalities will be diagnosed by a Medical Board. Under the Bill, every State Government is required to constitute a Medical Board. Protection of privacy by law is also another important aspect of this Bill. In all, I congratulate the Government for bringing this Bill while at the same time request the Government to ensure that all norms and standardised protocols in clinical practices are followed throughout the country. Also, the clinics do not encourage the proliferation of sex determination centres and female infanticide. SHRI CHANDESHWAR PRASAD: The Government is making amendment in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill in which the limit for terminating pregnancy has been increased from 20 weeks to 24 weeks. Now opinion of a registered Medical Practioner will be required for termination of pregnancy upto 20 weeks of gestation. Provision of stringent punishment has been made for sex determination test. Further provision has been made regarding protection of privacy of a woman and not revealing the name of a women whose pregnancy has been terminated. This bill is a step towards the safety and welfare of women. My request is that compensation should be provided to the family members of that Pregnant Woman, who dies at the time of abortion. Permission of guardians is required in case of minor girls while terminating pregnancy. Now there will be clear regulation for differently abled women, mentally retarded women and rape victims etc. Hence this step of the Government is highly commendable. In some states, the annual number of abortions is quite high. This regulation will be beneficial for them. Some children are born with congenital anomalies. It would be appropriate if permission is given for their examination and abortion. DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE: I must congratulate the Government on getting several things right in this Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 especially for raising the upper limit of gestational age of legal abortions from 20 weeks to 24 weeks for special categories of women and completely removing the upper gestational limit for substantial foetal anomalies. This Bill also mentions of constitution of a medical board by the State Government to diagnose substantial foetal anomalies which will comprise of a gynaecologist, a paediatrician, a radiologist but I would like to recommend that there should be a inclusion of a psychiatrist to take care of the psychological trauma of the female. I would like to appreciate the positive inclusion of all women instead of just married ones and also appreciate the sensitivity shown by the confidentiality clause. The Bill strikes out the need of opinion of second medical practitioner for termination of pregnancy upto 20 weeks. The Government should ensure all norms and standardised protocols in clinical practice to be followed in healthcare institutions across the country. There is a need for more providers at lower level of healthcare delivery system. Also, over the counter sale of MTP pills should be banned strictly to safeguard the interests of needy women. The Government should take measures to spread awareness and also ensure basic quality services like contraception, safe delivery and abortion. SHRI RITESH PANDEY: I welcome the Medical Terminal of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 as it seeks to increase access to safe abortions, especially for women who have suffered from sexual abuse and for pregnancies with foetal abnormalities. Criminalising abortion is not only a mark of our legal system's perplexing and continued post-colonial hangover, it is also an infringement of a woman's reproductive rights. Therefore, abortion needs to be decriminalised and access to safe abortions under the norms should be made available and in certain exceptional circumstances, such as abortions performed without the consent of the pregnant person as well as sex-selective abortions may be criminalised. Criminalisation stigmatizes abortions and forces women to seek unsafe abortions which are often carried out at unregistered facilities by unqualified practitioners. Our abortion laws are doctor-centric and do not consider abortion as a fundamental right. Onus is placed on the doctor or on the registered medical practitioner to determine the legitimacy of a woman's request to terminate her pregnancy. It does not pay heed to the fact that legal safe abortions are a woman's fundamental right as held by Article 21 of the Constitution. I urge upon the Government that the present law should apply to pregnant 'persons' and not just pregnant 'women'. The proposed legislation uses the word 'women' throughout whereas access to safe abortions is critical for transgender – a Bill that the Government has just passed giving them rights as individuals – inter-sex and gender diverse persons. Therefore, I suggest that the word 'women' should be replaced by 'persons'. I urge upon the Government to redraft India's abortion law completely with a gender justice and public health access framework in mind. DR. RAJASHREE MALLICK: I am happy that the Government has come up with certain health measures and the proposed amendments to Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 focus on improving the scope of legal access to MTP for special category of women. It also allows abortion on humanitarian grounds. Extending the gestation period beyond 20 weeks will lead to better detection and hence abortion of foetuses with abnormalities can be conducted. I am thankful to the hon. Prime Minister and his cabinet for increasing the abortion limit to 24 weeks instead of 20 weeks. SHRI FEROZE VARUN GANDHI: I would like to thank the hon. Health Minister for particularly laying emphasis on working with the National Health System's Resource Centre to develop modern training packages for the Accredited Social health Activists, which we call the ASHA, to enable to provide the required information to women at the community level. The Bill also takes into cognizance the importance of the fact that more than 35,000 pregnant women die while giving birth every year in our country. I would like to thank the government, the Prime Minister, Hon. Minister in amending the previous Bill and bringing forth this Bill which will take our nation one step forward in ensuring the dignity of the Indian women. ADV. DEAN KURIAKOSE: I am opposing Bill. Abortion is a crime against humanity. The State shall not discriminate persons who have taken birth and persons who are still in the wombs of mothers and permitting to murder a person still in the womb amount to violation of Articles 14 and 21. Any medical practitioner who is supporting unrestricted abortion by providing fake certificates, that medical practitioner should be legally punished. DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: The Government has brought this Bill to amend the original Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. The reason to commend the proposed amendment is its recognition that even unmarried women are entitled to seek legal abortions. The 24 week modification will help a group of women who discover fetal abnormalities after 20 weeks . Such women have access to doctors but the concern is about those who have no access to doctors. Millions of rural women never had access to safe abortion or victims of rape have to resort to unsafe abortion to maintain secrecy. The proposed changes would, therefore, give the much needed relief and save huge expenses. But I would say that the judicial and medical board authorization requirements in such abortion cases endanger women's life. The misuse of the provisions under PCPNDT Act allows the harassment of medical professional providing abortion services. For abortion between 12 and 20 weeks two registered doctors must establish that abortion is permissible under law. Rural India has a huge shortage of gynecologists. SHRI KOTHA PRABHAKAR REDDY: The proposed Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill is the need of the hour and it is a welcome measure. Steps may be taken to ensure dignity, autonomy and confidentiality of women who need to terminate pregnancy with the access of safe and legal abortion services and comprehensive abortion care. As a precautionary measure, opinion of at least two doctors for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks may be considered. Proper awareness may be created about this Bill and its implementation in the society through television, newspapers and other means of media. SHRI P. RAVEENDRANATH KUMAR: 56 per cent of abortions performed in India are unsafe, which is one of the reasons for the increase in pregnant mortality. Therefore, the amendment introduced in the main Act would pave way for regularizing the termination of pregnancy, particularly for victims of sexual harassment. I would like to request the hon. Minister as this moment to take necessary action to increase the number of gynecologists, paediatricians and radiologists, especially in community health centres, besides increasing the number of seats in medical colleges. SHRIMATI JASKAUR MEENA: I support the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020. I am supporting this Bill because there are cases in rural areas in which women have to resort unsafe abortion. Often this is done by the quacks. I think this Bill will check the number of women died due to unsafe abortions in the country and also ensure the dignity of the women who need to terminate pregnancy. Clause 5 of the Bill has clarified that the privacy, dignity, autonomy and confidentiality of the women who need to terminate pregnancy would be ensured. I request the Hon. Minister to pay special attention to rural areas while implementing this Bill. DR. KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY: I would laud the Government for bringing progressive and revolutionary amendments in this Bill. My concern is about the safety of Doctors who are providing this care. There is no amendment is in this Bill when it comes to adults who are in need of medical termination of pregnancy. There is a very important issue regarding the safety of Doctors. I would like to know about the protection that Doctors are being offered and if it is the duty of a Doctor to report POCSO cases if it is found in case of a minor. SHRI NIHAL CHAND CHOUHAN: I support The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The gestation period has been increased from 20 weeks to 24 weeks. I would like to know if a Gynaecologist or a board would be setup to examine the case at 24 weeks. Today on every one lakh 122 mothers or children are loosing their lives. I would urge the Government that one reason for the death of children could also be chemical laden water or Uranium and pesticide laden dirty water. Even today we are drinking this water. Measures should be taken to improve the quality of drinking water. So far, "Ayushman Bharat Yojana" has not been launched in Rajasthan. Dental treatment package has not been included under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana (ABY). I would urge that dental treatment must be included under the AB Yojana. DR. THOL THIRUMAAVALAVAN: In 2015, 15.6 million abortions have taken place in our country. Out of which 11.5 million abortions have taken place in unhealthy and unhygienic places. This Amendment Bill has been brought to regulate this. I urge that the procedures followed for abortion or medical termination of pregnancy should be simplified. We have to control our population. For which we have to create awareness among the general public about different types of contraceptives. In India atrocities against girls, particularly rape cases against minor girls are on the rise. The Government should come forward to protect the women and girls of this country and also to simplify the procedures meant for abortion. SHRI RAVI KISHAN: I rise here to speak in support of Medical Termination (Amendment) Bill. This is a progressive decision. A woman must have her right on her own body and this is important. This is in favour of women. This right must be provided to the women pregnant because of rape so that she can terminate pregnancy on her own. This is very important when it is found after sonography that there is some abnormality in foetus and it is not developing properly or the child is handicapped. This Bill will be a milestone in regard to empowerment of women of sexual assault. THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE; MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AND MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES (DR. HARSH VARDHAN) replying said: Except one, all the Members have supported the Bill. All have agreed that abortion is the major contributor to the maternal mortality rate. This provision is not for extending the term of abortions in normal circumstances. The women who have become pregnant due to certain unfortunate circumstances or their child is likely to remain handicapped for the life, only for such cases the term has been extended from 20 weeks to 24 weeks. Sufficient checks and balances have been put in place even for such cases. All the suggestions would be considered when the rules would be framed. The MTP Act, 1971 already legalizes the abortion of upto 20 weeks. This amendment Bill seeks to extend this period of 20 weeks to 24 weeks . There is no violation of Article 21 in many manner. All the stakeholders and the ministries concerned were consulted before drafting this Bill. In order to ensure safety of these late term abortions, a group of experts need to give an opinion on the procedure and safety of procedures on a case to case basis. Hence, the medical boards are necessary for late term abortions. Although, the decision of termination of pregnancy should be with the women only, the safety and wellbeing of women has been taken into account along with the right of the women. The Bill was passed. SNEHLATA SHRIVASTAVA Secretary General © 2020 BY LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NOTE: It is the verbatim Debate of the Lok Sabha and not the Synopsis that should be considered authoritative. English and Hindi versions of Synopses of Lok Sabha Debates are also available at http://loksabha.nic.in.
The Hang Gang Arts Island, Structural Design of Free-Formed Roof Jong-Soo KIM 1 and Ki-Youl BAEK 2 1 P.E. President, CS Structural Engineering Inc., Seoul, Korea, firstname.lastname@example.org 2 Senior Researcher, CS Structural Engineering Inc., Seoul, Korea, email@example.com Summary This paper is expressed about structural design of Hang Gang Arts Island (HGAI) with dynamic and free-formed roof. The HGAI is located on Nodul Island in Han River which flows across the city of Seoul. The HGAI will be an important cultural and iconic symbol of the Seoul Metropolitan City when it is completed. The centre of HGAI is consists of an opera theatre, studio theatre, symphony hall, HGAI tower and a food and beverage centre – Café Bird, all of which are grouped beneath a dynamic, free-formed roof with long length cantilever to be extend above the structure. HGAI Roof Structural design process is presented in regard to free-formed shape and various loads such as Wind, snow and seismic load etc. in detail. Keywords: Free-Formed, Roof Structure, Hang Gang Arts Island (HGAI), Long Span 1. Introduction The proposed Hang Gang Arts Island (HGAI) is located on Nodul Island in Han River which flows across the city of Seoul. The HGAI will be an important cultural and iconic symbol of the Seoul Metropolitan City when completed. The centre primarily consists of an opera theatre, studio theatre, symphony hall, HGAI tower and a food and beverage centre – Cafe Bird, all of which are grouped beneath a dynamic, free-formed roof with large cantilevered lengths extended above the building. The overview of the project is as follows: Site Location: 302-6, Ichon-dong, Yongsam-gu, Seoul, Korea Occupancy of Use: Culture and Meeting Facilities Gross Area: 99,102.23m 2 Size: Under-ground 2F, Over-ground 8F Structural System: RC, Steel, SRC This project was carried out with the following purposes: 1) Consider local terms characteristics and select a connected optimal structural system in the architectural plan 2) Examine the validity of the structure plan through three-dimensional dynamic analysis and secure structural safety 4) Apply usage material and design strength considering economics and workability 3) Consistently apply related laws, regulations and design codes authorized analysis program usage objectively 5) Select advantageous system for the shortening of construction period and the enhancement of workability through alternatives comparison 6) Structural plan so as to secure connected flexibility on the architectural plan 2. Overview of the advanced system The complex form of the roof, with its free-flowing doubly-curved surface, poses major challenges to defining the geometry. Therefore, extensive studies were carried out in finding options and solutions for creating a rational and workable structural geometry. This study included ways of simplifying the double-curvature of the roof, and creating greater uniform and repetitive areas. 2.1 Roof Diamond Grid Size The architectural design intent is to feature a relatively uniform diamond shape pattern across the roof surface. The typical architectural pattern unit is 4m x 6m diamond. For matching the architectural pattern, three structural pattern dimension options were considered: 4m x 6m, 8m x 12m, 12m x 18m. Through consideration for design strength, cost, piece count and connection detailing, fabrication, and facade detailing and installation, it is decided the 8m x 12m unit is the most structural grid dimension. The structural grid dimension can be further sub-divided into the basic 4m x 6m unit when required, such as at support areas and areas of high stress and structural demand. 2.2 Architectural Grid Generation The method adopted in generating the roof diamond pattern is by using Rhino command "offset curve on surface". The method works by firstly orienting two base lines to the desired diamond pattern. The base lines are positioned at the control point position here termed "Zero Point". The Zero Point is the anchor point for both architectural and structure to position the diamond grid. The base lines for generating the architectural grids all cross through the zero point. Then the base lines are offset on the surface to generate the grid lines covering the entire roof. The following image shows the generated gird architectural grid of the roof (at 4m x 6m subdivisions). The structural grid generation described next follows the same procedure (with offset allowing for the depth of cladding finishes) in producing a structural geometry. Note in the architectural grid generation, due to the organic and double-curvature of the roof surface, the size of final grid units cannot be uniform (not definitively 4m x 6m) because of the geometry issues discussed above. There are slight differences in dimension between each diamond shape. 2.3 Roof Structural Geometry Generation For the HGAI roof covering over 25000m 2 in area, modeling all the structural truss elements can be very tedious and time consuming. An automatic modeling process has been developed to handle this problem, through developing a script in "Grasshopper"-a Rhino plug-in. Once the architectural grid lines and the depth of the truss are determined, the script can generate the roof truss 3D geometry quickly and accurately in Rhino. The generated 3D model can then be exported to structural analysis software as well as using in design coordination with the architectural and other design disciplines. Figure 7: Structural Truss Generated from Architectural Grids The following steps and setting out dimensions have been adopted to form the roof structural geometry 2) Offset 700mm from architectural top surface to locate the centerline of the top chord. The direction of offset is perpendicular to the surface 1) Obtain architectural top surface with diagrid. Note that structural geometry generation relies on the architectural top surface only. The bottom architectural surface is not referenced at all. 3)_Offset the required roof truss structural depth, as determined and agreed in the design development (2.5m, 3.5m, 5m), to generate the centerline of the bottom chord. The direction of the offset is perpendicular the surface. 4) Offset he edge 500mm from the architectural edge surface. This generates the structural edge line which is separate to the architectural edge line. 3. Roof Structural System 3.1 Roof Structural System The roof for the HGAI is a free-formed curved surface reflective of the dynamics and movements of the intended activities in the centre. Geometrically it is made up of plane, curved, and doublycurved surfaces folded and connected to create the fluid movement shape of the roof. The long spans and cantilevers of the roof mean the use of singular elements such as girders is structurally not feasible. The free-formed shape of the roof rules out the use of shells and grid shell systems. Tensile and membrane structural systems, with their use of mast and membranes, are also not applicable. Thus the appropriate structural system for the roof is a truss system. The desired architectural diagrid patterning on the roof also lens to the use of a truss system. 2) The trusses are of warren-type framing 1) Roof is formed by planar trusses replicating the diamond architectural grid patterns 3) The trusses are at 8m x 12m grids, with allowance for subdivision to 4m x 6m grids 4) The diamond orientation is arranged with the long diamond directions running in the east-west direction 1) Structural efficient solution matching the architectural form and geometry facilitates the architectural patterning and facade/cladding strategy The chosen roof structural system has the following vantages. 2) Minimized piece count in structural elements – simplifies fabrication and connection detailing, and erection 4) Facilitates integration of services and maintenance within the structural zone 2 3) Facilitates ease of secondary steelwork arrangement for roof cladding and services 5) Roof is light weight – kept to within 100kg/m The long span member of the roof structure is designed with steel pipe truss, and with some lower circular column, it is designed with steel pipe member which is not general H-steel, and the reason is that architectural requirements of the exposed member and its structural merit which can express the same property without the division of the main axis to all directions against the combination stress of the multiple forms acting on the members. In addition, to the material of all steel pipe members, structural steel (STKN Steel KS D 3632) applies, and the reasons for the adoption are as follows: 2) Secure required property upon the production and processing of steel pipe member 1) Realize structural performance purpose through securing the member's deformation capacity 3) Secure structural member's welding joint property 3.2 Roof Support System The roof to the Hang Gang Arts Island covers over the different complexes of the centre, including the opera house, symphony hall, auditorium, the tower and the cafe area. The supports of the roof are provided by the superstructure of each complex. Depending on the location and supporting superstructure condition, the supports of the roof extending from the buildings below range from columns, shear cores, to trussing elements. Lateral stability of the roof is provided by connecting the roof to lift and stair cores, and other stiff elements in the superstructure below. At the HGAI tower end, the shape of the roof folding over the back of the tower leads to the roof connecting into the side of the tower for support (more details provided below). The roof support columns are very tall and slender, and therefore their structural role is restricted to carrying axial load in support of the roof. 4. Structural Plan for Each Building 4.1 Opera Theater Structure Plan The opera theater is formed of eight stories above ground and two beneath ground level, and load by the installation of various devices in close consultation with stage machinery area and other areas including architecture was considered, and mutual examination for space composition necessary for stage management and maintaining management was carried out. For the second floor above ground, slab structure on the base with a relatively patterned slab module by basic module, suitable RC structure was applied, and for higher than the second floor above ground, since properties such as long span, high floor and free-form space (stage and the audience, etc.) are shown, considering structure usefulness and workability, etc., appropriate steel system was applied. For the long span, basically steel truss structure was applied and for some space, displacement and serviceability were examined and the built-up singular steel was applied. The truss's depth was determined considering structural reasons and minimum depth necessary for the maintaining management for the stage machinery and equipment. This structure's slab diaphragm was not formed continually, and compared to the core wall, the stiffness of the moment frame is relatively small, and it cannot be clearly defined as a basic seismic force resist system as defined in the standard since the whole building is connected as one space in complex behaviour property and roof floor by free-form, In particular, R factor is one that was defined first by the consultation of California architectural engineers in the late 1950s, which does not have a complete theoretical or test base even in the present. In other words, for the clear selection of lateral load resist system and accordingly the selection of R factor, the impact of strength by frequency (excess strength) and the structure's tensile capacity and system redundancy should be understood; however, at the step of design, it is very difficult to identify these, so according to the engineer's experience and judgment, as a seismic force resistance system, other structural system (R=3.0) was applied. The core wall and part of the column supported the roof structure. In particular, the core was planned to support lateral load (earthquake, wind load) and the column to support the vertical load. 4.2 Symphony Hall Structure Plan To the structure plan of the symphony hall, the same structure concepts as that of opera theater were applied. As a significant abnormality, completely blocking external vibration and noise, it was planned to meet high levels sound terms (PNC-15 and above). Architecturally, through acoustic analysis, sound wall's material and thickness were closely examined and applied, and structurally, the internal space consisting of a stage and seats was composed as an independent space (Box In Box style). At the third floor above ground and the lower eighth floor above ground, double slabs were installed and here, a vibration-resistant sliding seismic isolation device to block external vibration and noise and vibration-resistant leed rubber bearing to resist against the occurrence of an earthquake were installed together. Since the eighth floor above ground was a restaurant hall and it had to block slab vibration and noise from being delivered to lower seats, and the impacts of lateral displacement by earthquake load is not great, only a vibration-resistant sliding seismic isolation device was installed there. The stage and seats space were composed by external space and double column system on the surface and the in-between space (sound joint, acoustic joint) was planned in an independent structure to use architecturally and for sound. 4.3 Multi-purpose Theatre Structure Plan To the structure plan of the multi-purpose theatre, the same structure concepts of the opera theater were applied. As a significant abnormality, an external elevation facade was planned as an architectural design element and structure element supporting the slab on each floor. Many parts such as architectural requirements for wavy form, the restrictions of member size, the considerations of finish, correlation with structural member on each surface, and joint details according to free-form shape had to be concerned and resolved. As an initial H steel, initial cross section was selected, and as a result of the examination of the architecture shape according to the installation of finishing materials, it was found that structural member should be distorted, and the structure was planned changing to steel pipe (Φ350, STKN 490) for the structure. For the successful design and construction of this free-form structure, a closer analysis on the joint should precede. For this, splicing angle on each member's surface and elevation scheme at the joint node was analyzed, and the joint was composed in 4 types in total. Each joint should be a form cut fitting with an architecture shape from a globe, and this is a shape that cannot be produced by welding or monotone, and in particular, since the quality of the joint depends on the total property of this structure, it should be produced with the steel casting that can secure the same quality. 5. Structural Wind Tunnel Loading Test and Water Tank Test 5.1 Structural Loading Wind Tunnel Test Over its design life the roof structure of the Hang Gang Art Island will be exposed to continually varying fluctuating pressure distributions arising from the unsteady nature of the incident winds. Historically, large span roof structure designers would have used only the peak pressures from boundary layer wind tunnel tests in conjunction with design code procedures. However, with the advancement of computational technology there are now more realistic options for applying wind loads on large span roof structures. The most common current practice is to measure pressures simultaneously across the roof surface and area average them using 'influence surface' depending on the critical structural action. For some structures, depending on complexity, it can be very difficult to identify a limited number of critical influence surfaces and for such structures, where the wind loading is important to the cost of the structure, it is possible to apply the simultaneously measured wind tunnel pressures as a timehistory to dynamic mathematical models of the structure. If the primary modal frequency of a large roof structure is less than about 0.8Hz it has an increased susceptibility to dynamic actions caused by wind. Wind tunnel testing of highly dynamic structures requires different methodological approaches than wind tunnel testing of near static structures. In case of both flexible and lightweight structures, aero-elastic model studies are often recommended. The sensitive areas of the performance arts centre's roof have modal frequencies in excess of 1.0Hz and therefore it was recommended that a simultaneous pressure 5.2 Water Tank Test Wind load acting on the roof structure was obtained on the basis of Korean Standard and ASCE7-05, and from the results through Seoul's local weather center data and water tank test, the results of snow pattern were estimated. The purpose of this test is to evaluate imbalanced wind load by snowing phenomenon according to the shape of the roof. The scale models of the building and surrounding environment are made in a water tank inside a RWDI test room, which was a model of building rigid form. Evaluation by spraying in the water tank was based on Korean Standard and ASCE 7-05, and the load combination was considered as follows: 1) The case of wind load by Korean Standard was referred to, and snow was considered sliding down when the roof incline was over 45°. 2) It was considered that when the roof incline was over 50°, snow slid and gathered to the nick of the sloping plane. 6. Conclusion In this paper, which consists of a free-formed surface with respect to the roof structure was introduced. In addition, structural plan of each buildings, structural wind tunnel loading test and water tank test This paper corresponds to participate in this project for the structural design engineers widened the breadth of understanding, there has been a better offer is the opportunity to receive. References [1] Architectural Institute of Korea, Korean Building Code and Commentary, Architectural Institute of Korea, 2009 [2] Architectural Institute of Korea, Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures, Architectural Institute of Korea, 2006 [3] American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE 07-05, American Society of Civil Engineers [4] Oasys GSA Manual, Arup in-house Structural Analysis Program [5] SAP2000 Manual [6] MIDAS/GEN Manual
HomeTown: Portsmouth's First Time Homebuyer Program Information & Guidelines The HomeTown Program is a partnership of the City of Portsmouth and Citizens Bank, N.A. Overview The HomeTown Program provides financial assistance to qualified households who wish to purchase a home within Portsmouth City limits and who, without this assistance, could not do so. This program brings together the resources of the City of Portsmouth and Citizens Bank, N.A. to help eligible families overcome the financial barriers to homeownership. The program is administered by the Portsmouth Community Development Department. Who Can Apply A qualified household is one who meets the following eligibility criteria: 1. who is a first-time homebuyer (no ownership in a principal residence within the last 3 years). 2. who has a gross household income less than 120% of the Median Family Income for the Portsmouth-Rochester NH HUD Metro Fair Market Rent Area as defined by the most recent U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development income guidelines. All household income except the following will be included in the total household income calculation: a) any income earned from part-time employment by any household member who is also a full-time student, unless the student is listed on the mortgage application as the coborrower; and b) any social security, pension or other retirement income received by any fully retired household member, unless that individual is listed on the application as the co-borrower; 3. who is currently a resident of Portsmouth and has lived here for the past 2 years or who has resided in Portsmouth in the past for at least 10 years and currently lives within 30 miles of Portsmouth; or who is a permanent, full-time City of Portsmouth employee intending to establish residency in the City of Portsmouth; 4. who is currently 18 years old or older; 5. whose total housing debt ratio (including mortgage loan principal, interest, taxes, homeowners' and private mortgage insurance, and condominium association charges, if applicable) will not be less than 28% of the borrowers' gross monthly income. HomeTown assistance will be adjusted to ensure compliance with the minimum housing debt ratio requirement. 6. whose total debt ratio including total housing debt plus all loans with (10) or more payments remaining generally does not exceed 45%; 7. who can provide evidence that they will be able to provide the required down payment funds at closing; 8. who has a history of making timely payments on current and past credit obligations; and 9. who will have less than $10,000 in liquid assets after the loan has been made (i.e., after "loan closing"). Liquid assets do not include money held in retirement vehicles recognized by the Internal Revenue Service, such as IRAs or 401k accounts, or funds held in special savings accounts such as Individual Development Accounts. If your household meets the eligibility criteria listed above, you are invited to apply. In all instances, the applicant's spouse must be listed on the application as the co-applicant. Application Review Process At the time an applicant submits an application to Citizens Bank, N.A., the applicant, if eligible, will be invited to submit a HomeTown Application and Agreement. Community Development staff will review the applicant's Application with a Citizens Bank, N.A. loan officer to determine whether the applicant is eligible for participation in the HomeTown Program. In this review, the total household income reported on this application will be compared to the following income limits: \| Household Size \| Maximum Eligible Income* (120%) \| \|---\|---\| \| One Person \| $114,240 \| \| Two Person \| $130,560 \| \| Three Person \| $146,880 \| \| Four Person \| $163,200 \| \| Five Person \| $176,256 \| \| Six Person \| $189,312 \| * Based on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Income Guidelines 06/15/2023. Subject to change annually. In addition, the following will be considered in the review of your application: your status as a past or current Portsmouth resident or as a City of Portsmouth employee, your current debt obligations and credit payment history, the balances of your savings (including assets in Money Market Funds, Certificates of Deposit, 401K plan, savings bonds, etc.) and checking accounts, and any other required information. The City will review the complete application submission and issue a letter advising you whether you are eligible to participate in the HomeTown Program. Eligible applicants will be invited to schedule an appointment with the Citizens Bank, N.A. loan officer to complete a New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority (NHHFA) Single Family Mortgage Application or a Citizens Bank, N.A. application. In addition, approved applicants will be advised of options for completing the mandatory homebuyer education trainings. If demand for funding exceeds availability, participants will be advised that their application is denied due to the unavailability of funding, however, they may re-apply when funding becomes available. Mandatory Homebuyer Education Training Program Eligible applicants will be required to attend a mandatory homebuyer education training program. Buying a home requires knowledge about housing finance, realtors, home inspections, insurance, maintenance, and budgeting. Homebuyer education training programs that address these areas will fulfill the HomeTown homebuyer education requirement. Training programs offered by agencies listed below meet the HomeTown homebuyer training requirement. You can learn about training program schedules and locations by calling the numbers listed on the following page and requesting information about their homebuyer education training program. * (603) 766-3129 You must be able to demonstrate that you have completed an approved homebuyer education training in order to receive financial assistance through the HomeTown Program. If you would like to attend a training program offered by an organization that is not listed above, you can contact HomeTown staff to determine if the training will meet the homebuyer training requirement. HomeTown Program Assistance The level of HomeTown program assistance available to you is determined after first mortgage financing is pre-approved. A pre-approval letter will be issued by Citizens Bank, N.A. outlining the mortgage program for which you have been approved, the mortgage amount for which you qualify, your potential monthly repayment obligation and the amount of HomeTown financial assistance to be provided. Below is a description of the HomeTown financial assistance that may be offered. * First mortgage financing is available at a fixed interest rate for a 30-year term through a Citizens Bank, N.A. Mortgage Program. The Citizens Bank, N.A. loan officer will help you determine which first mortgage financing option best suits your situation. * Down payment assistance is available through HomeTown in the form of a 10-year deferred loan at 0% interest. * Additional down payment assistance, if necessary, is available in the form of a "sleeper" 3rd loan at 0% interest through HomeTown. This loan is due upon sale of the property. * Both HomeTown loans are secured by a second mortgage on the home purchased. * The HomeTown Program requires that the HomeTown participant(s) occupies the property as their principal place of residence, and that breach of this requirement is a condition of default. The amount of assistance offered to you is based on your income and assets. The chart on the following page identifies the maximum amount of assistance available to households in different income brackets. The HomeTown Program reserves the right to adjust the income guidelines and other eligibility requirements as warranted. HomeTown Program Financial Assistance* ELIGIBILITY \| Household size: \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 80% or Less of Median Family Income* \| Between 81% - 100% of Median Family Income* \| \| Maximum Eligible Income for a One-Person Household* \| $66,300 \| $95,200 \| \| Two-Person Household* \| $75,750 \| $108,800 \| \| Three-Person Household* \| $85,200 \| $122,400 \| \| Four-Person Household* \| $94,650 \| $136,000 \| \| Five-Person Household* \| $102,250 \| $146,880 \| FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE (based on maximum household income in columns above): \| Maximum Total HomeTown Down Payment / Closing Cost Assistance \| $65,000 \| $50,000 \| $40,000 \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| - HomeTown Down Payment / Closing Cost Assistance Secured by a Deferred Loan and Note \| $20,000 \| $20,000 \| $20,000 \| \| - HomeTown Down Payment / Closing Cost Assistance Secured by a “Sleeper” Loan Term within the Same Loan \| $45,000 \| $30,000 \| $20,000 \| * In accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development income limits as of 06/15/2023; subject to change at least annually. The Portsmouth HomeTown Program will pay any assistance offered directly to the lender on your behalf. The assistance will be in the form of one loan, with two promissory notes. Your Contribution Toward the Purchase Price You must contribute a minimum of 1% of the selling price of the property to the transaction. You must contribute your own liquid assets (savings, checking, etc.) for the purchase of your home before you can access assistance through the HomeTown Program. Specifically, you must not have more than $10,000 in liquid assets on hand after the loan has closed. Liquid assets do not include money held in retirement vehicles recognized by the Internal Revenue Service, such as IRAs, 401k accounts, or funds held in special savings accounts such as Individual Development Accounts. The Purchase of Your Home Any new or existing single-family home in the City of Portsmouth can be purchased with financial assistance through this program. The price of homes purchased with financial assistance through the HomeTown Program may not exceed the current Federal Housing Administration (FHA) guidelines for maximum purchase price. All condominium units proposed to be purchased using the HomeTown Program must meet current FHA or other primary lender guidelines for condominiums. Approval of a condominium unit is begun after a purchase and sales agreement is executed. The Citizens Bank, N.A. loan officer will explain these requirements to you at the time that you apply for first mortgage financing Once you find a home you wish to purchase and have negotiated the selling price, you will enter into a Purchase and Sales Agreement with the seller. You must send a copy of this agreement to the loan officer within 5 business days of signing. The loan officer will order an appraisal and undertake the title search and any other applicable tests. If your loan receives preliminary approval, the loan officer will then issue a commitment letter with applicable information within 2 to 4 weeks. The loan officer shall schedule the final closing date. The approving first mortgage company will submit an application to their private mortgage insurance company. If they are unable to secure a commitment for mortgage insurance from one of the participating mortgage insurance companies, your loan request will be denied. This will also terminate your participation in the HomeTown Program for the current application round, but does not preclude you from re-applying in the future. After You Purchase Your Home A HomeTown staff person will contact all individuals and families who purchased homes through the HomeTown Program within six months of their closing date. The goal of this effort will be to help you, as a new homeowner, address financial or home maintenance issues that may have arisen since your home purchase. Application Process A summary of the application process is provided below. 1. To apply you must complete a Citizens Bank, N.A. application and complete the HomeTown Application and Agreement. 2. The Citizens Bank, N.A. Loan Officer will work with the City of Portsmouth Community Development Department staff, including the HomeTown Committee, to process the application and to determine eligibility. A HomeTown Acceptance Letter will be provided to you from the City of Portsmouth if you are eligible. 3. You must schedule an appointment with the Citizens Bank, N.A. loan officer to complete a first mortgage application within 10 business days of the date of the letter advising you of your eligibility for program participation. 4. The loan officer will process your first mortgage application. If the application is approved, the loan officer will issue a pre-approval letter advising you of the maximum first mortgage amount for which you are eligible as well as the amount of HomeTown financial assistance which will be set aside for you. 5. You must demonstrate that you have completed an approved homebuyer education training program. 6. You must submit a copy of the Purchase and Sales Agreement to the loan officer within 5 days of entering into a Purchase and Sales Agreement. 7. A Commitment Letter will be issued by Citizens Bank, N.A. The Letter must be provided to the City of Portsmouth and if you continue to be eligible a Final Approval letter will be generated. 8. The loan officer will schedule the final closing date. Failure to fulfill any of HomeTown requirements may be cause for denial of your application. It will be necessary for you to reapply to the HomeTown Program in order to receive assistance should this situation occur. Please be aware that acceptance into the HomeTown Program does not constitute a commitment for first mortgage financing. Program participants must be able to meet loan underwriting criteria established by the first mortgage financing company. For Further Information If you have any questions about the program, please contact Elise Annunziata at 603-610-7281, in the Community Development Department, Portsmouth City Hall, 1 Junkins Avenue, Portsmouth. This policy may be amended from time to time. The policy in place at the time of any subordination request will govern. SUBORDINATION POLICY Adopted May 15, 2003 Portsmouth Community Development Department - HomeTown Program Consideration of Subordination Requests Policy: HomeTown Program participants who would like to request the subordination of their HomeTown Program loan must submit a subordination request to Elise Annunziata, Community Development Department, City Hall, 1 Junkins Avenue, Portsmouth, NH 03801. Questions regarding the process can be directed to the Community Development Coordinator at 603-610-7281. When a subordination request is received by the Community Development (CD) Department, the homeowner or their representative will provide information regarding the particular circumstances for the request. The CD Department will assess the following: 2. Current value of the property taken from the Assessor records, and whether the taxes are current on the property; 1. The reason for the subordination request: i.e. is the homeowner attempting to secure a better financing rate or term, or, is the homeowner trying to withdraw equity from the property; 3. Current appraisal of the property; 5. Whether the city's position will remain in the second position behind the first mortgage lender. 4. Amount being refinanced; and Procedure: A committee, comprised of the Community Development Coordinator, Planning Director and City Controller, will review all subordination requests. A subordination request must include the following information: 2. Appraisal, if applicable; 1. Completed HomeTown Review Form; 3. Reason for subordination request; 5. Amount to be refinanced; and 4. Amount of current first mortgage; 6. Amount of equity extracted. A subordination request will only be considered for approval when all of the above information has been submitted. A subordination request will not be considered if the result is contrary to the goals and intent of the HomeTown Program. Additional information may be requested. A subordination request may be considered for approval if the following conditions are met: 2. The first mortgage plus all subsequent liens against the property are less than 95% of the appraised value of the property; 1. The tax payment is current on the property; 3. The homeowner is attempting to secure a better interest rate or term for their first mortgage; and 4. The homeowner is not extracting significant equity for any reason other than essential rehabilitation of the property in conjunction with an existing mortgage. If the City's position will drop down a position, then a subordination request will be denied. If the subordination request is approved, the City will use its own Subordination Agreement, which will be signed by the City Manager. In no case will the City sign a Subordination Agreement prepared by others. The Hometown Program requires that the HomeTown participant occupies the property as their principal place of residence, and that breach of this requirement is a condition of default. CITY OF PORTSMOUTH HomeTown Program - Application and Participation Agreement - Please read and sign the Application and Participation Agreement I (We), Name(s) of Applicant(s)_____________________________________________________ (Street Address) (City) (State) of_________________________________________________________________ hereby apply to the City of Portsmouth and to Citizens Bank, N.A. for a determination of eligibility for financial assistance through HomeTown, Portsmouth's First Time Homebuyers Program. I (We) understand Citizens Bank, N.A. will provide my Citizens Bank, N.A. mortgage application to the City of Portsmouth for the purposes of determining eligibility under the HomeTown Program. I (We) understand the City of Portsmouth may need to request additional information to determine eligibility for program assistance. I (We) understand the Citizens Bank, N.A. Loan Officer may discuss details of my application with the City of Portsmouth as they relate to eligibility for the program. In compliance with New Hampshire RSA 397-A, I (We) understand that Citizens Bank, N.A. and its loan officer will serve as the Loan Originator and not City staff or the City of Portsmouth. I (We) understand that an applicant will be eligible for assistance through the HomeTown Program only if the applicant meets all of the eligibility requirements of the program as put forth in the HomeTown Program Guidelines. I (We) understand that the City of Portsmouth will determine eligibility pursuant to the applicable criteria, and that the determination made will be final. I (We) understand that Citizens Bank, N.A. will obtain a credit report as a part of the eligibility screening for the HomeTown Program. I (We) understand that in the event I am (we are) determined to be eligible for program assistance, I (we) must schedule an appointment with a Citizens Bank, N.A. loan officer to complete a mortgage application. If this mortgage application is not pre-approved, I (we) understand that I (we) will not receive financial assistance through this program. Furthermore, if I (we) do not enter into a Purchase and Sales Agreement within the allotted time, or if I am (we are) unable to qualify for private mortgage insurance, I (we) understand that I (we) will not receive financial assistance through this program. I (We) further understand that the receipt of a pre-approval from Citizens Bank, N.A. does not guarantee final approval. Final approval of the mortgage loan is subject to marketable title, satisfactory appraisal report, satisfactory creditworthiness, the ability to secure a commitment for mortgage insurance and any other underwriting guidelines. I (We) understand that the minimum down payment requirement is one percent (1%) of the purchase price of the home and that I (we) must present documentation that I (we) possess this amount at the time of my (our) meeting with the Citizens Bank, N.A. loan officer to complete a mortgage application. I (We) understand that by accepting any or all of the assistance offered by HomeTown, I (we) agree to submit to a confidential financial review by HomeTown and that all forms and supporting documentation required must be submitted in a timely manner. I (We) further understand that failure to comply with this requirement will be cause for HomeTown to withhold any assistance. I (We) understand that as a result of executing this agreement, I authorize the City of Portsmouth to review my (our) application and to verify my (our) income(s) and assets and any and all other statements relating to my (our) mortgage loan application. I (We) understand that the funding for the City of Portsmouth program is limited and Application approval is contingent upon the availability of funds. I (We) hereby certify that the information with regard to household composition, income, residency, household assets and liabilities contained within the Citizens Bank, N.A. application are part of my application to the City of Portsmouth HomeTown Program and is accurate and complete to the best of my (our) knowledge and belief. I (We) understand that false statements or information are grounds for the immediate termination of the assistance I (we) receive through this program. I (We) understand that to be eligible to purchase a property, I (we) must occupy the property within 15 days of closing as my (our) primary residence and will be required to recertify my (our) occupancy on an annual basis. I (We) understand that failure to occupy the property as my (our) primary residence constitutes default on this agreement and I (we) will be required to repay the entire HomeTown loan according to terms set forth by the City of Portsmouth. I (We) hereby acknowledge receiving a copy of the HomeTown Program Guidelines and accept and agree to all terms and conditions set forth therein. I (We) hereby confirm our eligibility for the HomeTown Program and confirm the following with regard to my (our) eligibility (Each applicant shall initial next to each statement): ____/____ I (We) have never owned a home or have not owned a home within the past three years of the date below. ____/____ I (We) have reviewed the income guidelines dated ___________ for our household size and we are income eligible ____/____My (Our) household size is ____. Please enter household size. Residency (please initial beside one statement below) ____/____I am (One of us is) a full-time employee of the City of Portsmouth ____/____I (We) can provide documentation attesting to having maintained a residence in Portsmouth for two years or more. ____/____ I have (One of us has) resided in Portsmouth in the past for at least 10 years and currently reside within 30 miles of Portsmouth. ____/____I (We) understand that this agreement does not constitute approval of assistance under the program. My (our) receipt of program assistance is contingent upon securing first-mortgage financing, meeting the guidelines of the program, and obtaining a final written approval letter from the City of Portsmouth. Applicant Date Signature Witness Date Signature Co-Applicant Date Signature Witness Date Signature
Advisory Committee regulations CvA – Regulations Advisory Committee (CvA) – Regulations Stichting Studenten Activiteiten Section 1 General rules Art. 1 The Advisory Committee Regulations are the regulations of the Advisory Committee, further referred to as CvA, of Stichting Studenten Activiteiten (the foundation of student activities), further referred to as SSA. The purpose of the CvA, within this foundation, is to act in the interests of the proper functioning of the foundation with regard to the affiliated Hanze UAS organisations, in its objectives. The CvA is formed by the individual representatives of the separate student organisations, affiliated to Hanzehogeschool Groningen, further referred to as HG. Art. 2 The members of the CvA can only represent one internal student organisation of the SSA. Regulations: 1. There is a maximum of two people per student organisation. 2. During the first CvA of the board year, both the chairmen and the former chairmen take a seat in the meeting. 3. During the last CvA of the board year, both the current chairmen and the trainee chairmen of the September boards take a seat in the meeting. The February boards are represented by both the current chairmen and the former chairmen. 4. In case of an additional CvA, the associations will be represented by the current chairman. 5. If the chairman cannot be present, another board member can perform this task, provided that this was reported to the SSA board no less than a day prior to the CvA. 6. If the former chairman or the trainee chairman cannot be present, another former board member or trainee board member can perform this task, provided that this was reported to the SSA board no less than a day prior to the CvA. 7. Every student organisation gets one vote. Art. 3 During the first CvA meeting of the new SSA board year, a list is drawn up of the Hanze UAS organisations taking part in de CvA. During every CvA, the representatives of every Hanze UAS organisation taking part are decided. Art. 4 The term in office of CvA members is two years at most. Art. 5 The regulations may be amended by the CvA and the SSA. A request for amendment of the regulations needs to be submitted in writing to the chairman of the SSA. The chairman will circulate the proposal among the members of the CvA. During a meeting convened for this purpose, the request for amendment shall be put to a vote. Amendments of the regulations need to be carried out in consultation with the board. Art. 6 Once a year, the CvA decides, in consultation with the board, which activities and projects the foundation will be organising. Activities and projects that will carry the name of the foundation, need to be organised by the foundation. The activities can include the following: workshops, lectures, general meeting organisations (AVO), sports events, maintaining informal contacts or other activities requested by the SSA board or the Hanze UAS organisations. The four AVO's are mandatory during the year and only the frequency of the AVO's can be discussed. An AVO is a periodical consultation. Primarily, the board will come with a proposal. The projects that are organised during the year are intended for all Hanze UAS organisations. Section 2 Functions Art. 7 During the meeting, a voting chairman and an impartial chairman will be appointed. These will be nominated by the SSA board. If the majority of the CvA objects to this appointment, a new person will be nominated on the spot by the SSA board. Art. 8 technical chairman CvA 1. The technical chairman of the CvA is a member of the Supervisory Board (RvT) of the SSA; 2. Tasks: a. The technical chairman is the contact person of/for the CvA and the SSA board; b. The technical chairman presides over the CvA meeting. 3. The CvA members can submit a vote of no-confidence against a malfunctioning technical chairman; 4. The vote of no-confidence will be accepted with majority vote from the CvA members. Art. 9 Voting chairman 1. The voting chairman is a member of the RvT of the SSA. He/she will supervise the voting process; 2. Tasks: a. Handing out the ballot papers; b. Ensuring a fair process; c. Counting and checking the votes. 3. The CvA members can submit a vote of no-confidence against a malfunctioning voting chairman; 4. The vote of no-confidence will be accepted with a majority vote from the CvA members. Art. 10 Suspension The impartial chairman can adjourn a meeting for a period of time, to be decided by him/her, to maintain the order. If the order is disrupted again after reopening the meeting, the impartial chairman can end the meeting. Art. 11 Voting For valid decision-making, at least half of the Hanze UAS organisations of the CvA have to be physically present. The voting is conducted by the voting chairman, to be appointed in the first CvA meeting. Art. 12 Resolutions The resolutions will be adopted if there is an absolute majority of votes. An absolute majority of votes is half the votes plus one. Unrepresented Hanze UAS organisations at the meeting will have no vote for the duration of said meeting. During the first CvA, there is a vote on the policy plan, during the second CvA, there will not be a vote. Section 3 CvA meeting Art. 13 Meeting The CvA meeting takes place at least twice in a board year and it is convened by the SSA board. If one third or more members demand it, an extra CvA meeting can be convened. Art. 14 Convocation The chairman of the SSA will take care of the convocation. The convocation occurs at least two weeks prior to the meeting. The chairman of the SSA sets and sends the agenda. Art. 15 Meeting documents The meeting documents will be available at least two weeks prior to the meeting. Art. 16 Agenda The chairman of the SSA draws up the agenda and sends it at least two weeks prior to the meeting to the CvA. The CvA can bring up agenda items to the chairman of the SSA up to two days prior to the meeting, after which the agenda will be altered. Art. 17 Minutes 1. The secretary of the SSA or a minutes secretary appointed by the SSA will write the minutes of the CvA meeting. The secretary needs to make a truthful record of the meeting. Within a period of one week after the meeting, the minutes need to be circulated among the members of the CvA. The minutes can be retrieved at any time with the chairman of the SSA, who is in charge of the management of the documents. 2. The minutes shall include at least the following: a. The names of the SSA board members present; b. The names of the CvA members present; c. The names of the RvT members of the SSA present; d. The names of the impartial chairman and the voting chairman; e. A brief reproduction of the announcements that were made; f. An indication of the subjects covered and the proposals submitted, together with a brief report of the deliberations; g. All the decisions that were made; h. An overview of the course of every voting. Art. 18 Attendance list The chairman of the SSA will distribute the attendance list at the start of the meeting, it is to be signed by all the present members. The attendance list can be retrieved by the CvA at any time with the chairman of the SSA. Art. 19 Order 1. If a member of the CvA has to leave before the end of the meeting, this needs to be communicated with the chairman of the SSA before the start of the meeting. 2. The chairman of the SSA will open the meeting at the scheduled time. 3. The cases shall be dealt with in the order of the agenda of the meeting, unless the meeting decides otherwise through an adopted motion of order, or through an proposal of the chairman of the SSA. 4. In special cases, if he/she deems it urgent, the impartial chairman can deviate from what is said in subsection 3 of this article. This case can be brought up at w.v.t.t.k. (what else may come to the table). 5. The request to add a subject to the agenda needs to become known to the impartial chairman at the start of the meeting. 6. The impartial chairman announces the requests, as mentioned in the preceding subsection, at the start of the meeting to the CvA, with a brief statement of the motive. The CvA then decides by a proposal of the chairman, without further discussion whether the matter should be dealt with. Art. 20 1. No member speaks unless he/she got permission from the impartial chairman; 2. The impartial chairman decides in which order everyone can speak, taking into account the subject's stage of discussion; 3. If a speaker deviates from the subject at hand, this will be brought to his/her attention by the impartial chairman and he/she will be called to order; 4. In case the speaker continues to deviate from the subject at hand, in spite of the warnings given by the impartial chairman in accordance with subsection 3 of art. 20, the impartial chairman can closure the speaker for the duration of this agenda item, subject to the meeting; 5. If the admission of a member is denied, it will be written down on the attendance list. a. Whether the admission of a member will be denied, will be decided by the SSA board; b. Objections can be submitted with the RvT of the SSA, who will then decide if the denial is justified or not. 6. Disruption of the CvA-meeting by a member of the CvA. a. If a member disrupts the meeting multiple times and keeps ignoring subsection 1 of this article, this member can be excluded from the meeting by the impartial chairman; b. Objections can be submitted with the Rvt of the SSA, who will then decide if the exclusion is justified or not. Art. 21 1. The order in which everyone can speak, may be broken when the floor is requested for a motion of order; 2. A motion of order will only be a subject of discussion if it is introduced orally. Art. 22 1. The impartial chairman can limit the speaking time of every speaker for only one agenda item each time; 2. The limitation of the speaking time doesn't apply to the impartial chairman themselves or, in first instance, the defender of the proposal at hand. Art. 23 1. Every member can submit amendments or sub-amendments in writing to the chairman of the SSA. These amendments can be to proposals submitted for consideration, as well as proposals in relation to subjects set out in the announcement. 2. Amendments, sub-amendments and proposals in relation to subjects set out in the announcement, can be further explained by the person who submitted them, and they will be a subject of the deliberations. 3. The provisions of subsection 1 and 2 of this article are also applied when a division of a proposal is requested. 4. Amendments, sub-amendments or proposals like the ones referred to in subsection 1 of this article, can be submitted to the technical chairman before as well as during the discussion of a subject. The technical chairman decides when the documents mentioned above will be discussed. 5. With every submitted proposal, if it is divided in parts or articles, there will first be a discussion on the proposal in general and then a discussion on the separate parts or articles, in the right order. It is to be done in such a way that for every part or article the proposed amendments and sub-amendments and proposals will be discussed as mentioned in subsection 1 of art.23. Art. 24 As soon as the technical chairman decides that the discussion on a subject can be closed or needs to be carried on in a next meeting, he/she will make a proposal to the CvA. Final articles Section 4 1. In cases not provided for in the regulations, or if a disagreement arises about the meaning of the provisions in this document, the technical chairman decides. 2. Every CvA member is entitled to inspect the articles of association and the HR. The inspection takes place in the office, the articles of association and the HR remain there too. 3. Every CvA member is expected to know the articles of association of the SSA. 4. These CvA regulations will become effective immediately after approval by the CvA with a two-thirds majority. After this moment, all previous regulations cannot be applied anymore. Drawn up in Groningen, 13 October 2019
Summary: Newport News, Virginia; General Obligation Primary Credit Analyst: Timothy W Barrett, Washington D.C. (1) 202-942-8711; email@example.com Secondary Contact: Rahul Jain, New York + 1 (212) 438 1202; firstname.lastname@example.org Table Of Contents Rationale Outlook Related Research Summary: Newport News, Virginia; General Obligation Credit Profile US$83.72 mil GO bnds (City Of Newport News, Va) ser 2018 dtd 12/18/2018 due 02/01/2040 Long Term Rating AA+/Stable New Newport News GO Long Term Rating AA+/Stable Affirmed Newport News Econ Dev Auth, Virginia Newport News, Virginia Newport News Econ Dev Auth (Newport News) Long Term Rating AA+/Stable Affirmed Rationale S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'AA+' long-term rating to Newport News, Va.'s series 2019A general improvement general obligation (GO) bonds. At the same time, S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'AA+' rating on the city's GO debt outstanding. The outlook on all ratings is stable. The series 2019A GO bonds are secured by the city's full faith, credit, and unlimited tax pledge for repayment. Officials plan to use proceeds to fund various capital projects. The city has a history of conservative and accurate revenue and expense forecasting and of maintaining strong reserve levels, supported by strong and established financial policies and practices in addition to stable economic metrics. Shipbuilding, military, and defense-related activities in the city have been stable and remain important economic drivers. As a result, we expect Newport News' economy to continue expanding, which should provide continued good revenue growth. The 'AA+' long-term GO rating reflects our view of the following credit strengths: * Adequate economy, with access to a broad and diverse metropolitan statistical area (MSA); * Very strong management, with strong financial policies and practices under our Financial Management Assessment (FMA) methodology; * Strong budgetary performance, with slight operating surpluses in the general fund and at the total governmental fund level in fiscal 2018 after accounting for transfers in and out of the general fund as well as capital expenses funded with bond proceeds; * Very strong budgetary flexibility, with an available fund balance in fiscal 2018 of 18% of operating expenditures; * Very strong liquidity, with total government available cash at 31.2% of total governmental fund expenditures and 3.5x governmental debt service, and access to external liquidity we consider strong; * Strong debt and contingent liability profile, with debt service carrying charges at 9.0% of expenditures and net direct debt that is 81.1% of total governmental fund revenue, as well as low overall net debt at less than 3.0% of market value and rapid amortization, with more than 70.0% of debt scheduled to be retired in 10 years; and * Very strong institutional framework score. Adequate economy We consider Newport News' economy adequate. The city, with an estimated population of 179,388, is located in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News MSA, which we consider to be broad and diverse. The city has a projected per capita effective buying income of 82.4% of the national level and per capita market value of $96,846. Overall, the city's market value grew by 1.7% in 2017 to $17.4 billion in 2018. The city's unemployment rate was 4.7% in 2017. Newport News participates in the Hampton Roads economy, which counts defense, shipbuilding, and manufacturing as leading economic drivers. The city is well-positioned geographically for its role in the local economy and for economic expansion in the future. Newport News is in southeast Virginia, on the southwestern portion of the Virginia peninsula, bordered by the James River. It is easily accessible at the interstates 64 and 664 interchange and is home to the Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport; it also serves as the eastern terminus of the CSX Rail system. In addition, significant transportation improvements, including the expansion of Interstate 64, should continue to provide significant benefits to the local economy. Huntington Ingalls Industries (or Newport News Shipbuilding) and the Joint Base Langley-Eustis are major economic drivers in the region. Joint-Base Langley Eustis has invested more than $400 million in the past decade and has plans to spend as much as $1 billion on additional facility and technology upgrades. Expansion projects by other major employers in the city, including Jefferson Lab and Tech Center, as well as a number of redevelopment projects, continue to generate strong economic momentum in the city. Although we believe that some economic concentration exists with respect to federal and manufacturing sector employment, we understand that historically the impacts of federal sequestration and federal government cuts have had a relatively minor impact on Newport News' local economy. In addition, the local economy continues to diversify into other forms of manufacturing with Liebherr Construction Equipment Co. (mining) and Canon Virginia Inc. (robotic manufacturing and camera repair) as major local employers, as well as into health care through Riverside Health System. Very strong management We view the city's management as very strong, with strong financial policies and practices under our FMA methodology, indicating financial practices are strong, well embedded, and likely sustainable. Newport News has a long-standing record of being fiscally conservative with well-adhered-to management policies and practices. The city maintains a detailed five-year financial forecast that it updates annually. In addition, it maintains a five-year capital improvement plan (CIP) that is updated annually and identifies sources of funding. Budget-to-actual reports are reviewed monthly by management and quarterly reports are reviewed by council and published on the city's website. Newport News maintains a formalized debt management policy that states the debt burden will remain below 3.0% relative to taxable value, that at least 20% of the CIP will be cash funded, the ratio of debt service to general fund and school revenues will not exceed 9.5%, and that amortization of debt will equal at least 60% within 10 years. The city's reserve policy mandates that the unassigned fund balance equal at least 7.5% of general fund revenues from the previous year, although in practice, the city has historically maintained unassigned reserves above 11.0% of expenditures. Strong budgetary performance Newport News' budgetary performance is strong in our opinion. The city had slight operating surpluses of 0.6% of expenditures in the general fund and of 1.0% across all governmental funds in fiscal 2018. Our analysis accounts for annual transfers in and out of the general fund including annual reimbursements from the utility fund into the general fund, as well as capital expenditures funded with bond proceeds. In fiscal 2018, Newport News generated a $2.8 million surplus despite a $5.0 million cash contribution to capital expenditures due primarily to general fund expenditures coming in $9.1 million, or 2.0%, under conservative budget estimates. Total available reserves increased to $82.8 million. The fiscal 2019 budget of $486.9 million was structurally balanced without an increase to the real property tax rate and without the appropriation of fund balance as a revenue source. Included in the budget are salary increases averaging about 2% as well as increased school and health insurance contributions. We understand that management expects to end fiscal 2019 with close-to-breakeven operations and without a material change to reserves. The real property tax rate has remained $1.22 per $100 of assessed value since 2014. Real property taxes account for 58% of general fund revenues, followed by other taxes, which account for nearly one-fourth of revenues. Property tax revenue has averaged 2.3% annual growth since 2008. Very strong budgetary flexibility Newport News' budgetary flexibility is very strong, in our view, with an available fund balance in fiscal 2018 of 18% of operating expenditures, or $82.8 million. Over the past three years, the total available fund balance has remained at a consistent level overall, totaling 17% of expenditures in 2017 and 18% in 2016. In fiscal 2018, Newport News increased available general fund reserves by $2.8 million. The $82.8 million available fund balance consists of unassigned reserves ($56.9 million) and assigned reserves ($25.9 million). The city has a history of using a significant portion of general fund surpluses to fund capital projects in accordance with its debt policy that at least 20% of the CIP will be cash funded. We understand that for fiscal 2019, management has no plans to significantly spend down reserves in its general fund and that the city should end each year with a similar reserve position. Very strong liquidity In our opinion, Newport News' liquidity is very strong, with total government available cash at 31.2% of total governmental fund expenditures and 3.5x governmental debt service in 2018. In our view, the city has strong access to external liquidity if necessary. Newport News' investments are primarily in the local government investment pool, as well as bank deposits. In July 2015, Newport News' Economic Development Authority (EDA) executed a fixed rate private placement in the amount of $12.7 million that is backed by the city's moral obligation. This debt cannot be accelerated. In addition, Newport News has no privately placed bank debt. As such, in our opinion, we believe that the city's exposure to contingent liabilities is minimal, given 100% of the city's direct debt is fixed rate, and the only exposure to privately placed debt is limited to a moral obligation pledge of the EDA's debt. Strong debt and contingent liability profile In our view, Newport News' debt and contingent liability profile is strong. Total governmental fund debt service is 9.0% of total governmental fund expenditures, and net direct debt is 81.1% of total governmental fund revenue. Overall net debt is low at 2.7% of market value, and approximately 70.6% of the direct debt is scheduled to be repaid within 10 years, which are in our view positive credit factors. The city's five-year CIP totals $423.3 million and is funded primarily through a combination of GO debt, revenue bonds, user fees, grant funds, and pay-as-you-go contributions. We understand that management expects to fund nearly half of its CIP with grants, and the other half with a combination of additional GO bonds and pay-as-you-go cash funding. Based on the five-year CIP, we estimate the city could issue an additional $70 million of GO debt in the next two years as part of it capital funding program. Newport News' combined required pension and actual other postemployment benefits (OPEB) contributions totaled 8.9% of total governmental fund expenditures in 2018. Of that amount, 7.4% represented required contributions to pension obligations, and 1.5% represented OPEB payments. The city made its full annual required pension contribution in 2018. The city continues to contribute to the Newport News Employees' Retirement Fund (NNERF), as well as the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). Newport News also provides OPEB, for which it is accumulating funds in an irrevocable trust. Reforms were made in 2010 and 2013 to help reduce the city's pension liability, including closing NNERF to new hires in 2010 as well as eliciting employee contributions from city employees. Since 2016, the city has funded 100% of the annual required contribution or actuarially determined contribution. As of June 30, 2018, the NNERF plan was 71.3% funded, a funded ratio that has increased steadily in the past few years as part of management's plan outlined a number of years ago. The city's net pension liability totaled $386.5 million assuming a 7.35% discount rate as of June 30, 2018. Employees hired after 2010 participate in VRS. In fiscal 2018, the city's pension expense to VRS totaled $1.9 million. Currently, the city maintains a net pension asset of $7.9 million assuming a 7.0% discount rate at the end of fiscal 2018. In addition, the city provides OPEB to eligible employees. The net OPEB liability totals $82.2 million as of June 30, 2018. Very strong institutional framework The institutional framework score for Virginia municipalities is very strong. Outlook The stable outlook reflects our view of Newport News' very strong fiscal management, which we believe has contributed to the city's very strong reserve and liquidity position. We believe that the city's budgetary performance and debt profile will remain stable given Newport News' adherence to historical practices of adopting structurally balanced budgets. For these reasons, we do not expect to change the rating within the two-year outlook horizon. Upward scenario If the city's economic indicators were to improve to levels more commensurate with that of higher rated peers, including increased income and wealth levels, while the city continued to maintain what we consider to be strong financial performance and very strong reserve levels, we could raise the rating. Downward scenario While not foreseen, if the city's reserve and liquidity position deteriorated substantially, we could lower the rating. Related Research * S&P Public Finance Local GO Criteria: How We Adjust Data For Analytic Consistency, Sept. 12, 2013 * Incorporating GASB 67 And 68: Evaluating Pension/OPEB Obligations Under Standard & Poor's U.S. Local Government GO Criteria, Sept. 2, 2015 Certain terms used in this report, particularly certain adjectives used to express our view on rating relevant factors, have specific meanings ascribed to them in our criteria, and should therefore be read in conjunction with such criteria. Please see Ratings Criteria at www.standardandpoors.com for further information. Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect at www.capitaliq.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can be found on S&P Global Ratings' public website at www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left column. 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Human Settlements Discussion Paper Series Theme: Water-2 GOVERNANCE AND GETTING THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO PROVIDE BETTER WATER AND SANITATION SERVICES TO THE URBAN POOR BY GORDON MCGRANAHAN AND DAVID SATTERTHWAITE 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS An earlier version of this paper was prepared for UN-HABITAT, and distributed at the Water and Sanitation Dialogue of the World Urban Forum in Barcelona, September 15, 2004. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida) and the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA). ©IIED ISBN (new): 978-1-84369-585-1 ISBN (old): 1-84369-585-5 This and other papers from the Human Settlements Group can be freely downloaded from http://www.iied.org/HS/publications.html International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) 3 Endsleigh Street, London WC1H 0DD, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7388 2117 Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 2826 Email: firstname.lastname@example.org Website: www.iied.org GOVERNANCE AND GETTING THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO PROVIDE BETTER WATER AND SANITATION SERVICES TO THE URBAN POOR Summary Unlike much of what has been written about private sector participation in the water sector in recent decades, this paper is not concerned with the relative merits of public or private provision, or whether there should be more or less private sector participation. Rather, it focuses on whether better governance can improve water and sanitation provision by making private providers more responsive to the needs of the urban poor. This question is relevant to all sorts of private water and sanitation providers - the large multinational water companies whose concession contracts have attracted considerable controversy, the local companies whose role is increasing in a number of countries, and the small and informal providers that are ubiquitous in so many deprived urban settlements (these latter two types of private providers are examined in other IIED Discussion Papers: McGranahan and Owen, 2006; Kjellen and McGranahan, 2006). Urban water and sanitation governance covers the full range of arrangements through which governments and other actors work together to develop and manage water and sanitation systems. Whether or not they involve private providers, these arrangements often fail the urban poor, who are at a disadvantage in both the market and the public policy arena, and often end up using water and sanitation systems that are unhealthy and even illegal. Sometimes, these arrangements also fail the more affluent urban dwellers, who receive intermittent or otherwise poor-quality services despite their economic and political advantages. Nevertheless, a disproportionate share of the health and welfare burden of inadequate water and sanitation undoubtedly falls on the poorest groups. This paper begins with a brief review of urban water and sanitation issues and the Millennium Development Goals (Section 1). Governments almost invariably claim that one of their priorities is to ensure that all residents have adequate access to safe water and sanitation – implying that they have an obligation to address deficiencies in water and sanitation provision even where the government is not a provider. This obligation has been enshrined in the international commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals, which include the target of halving the share of the population without adequate access to safe water and basic sanitation by the year 2015. There are important limitations to targets as a guide to policy. Moreover, in many countries, access to water and sanitation in urban areas is considerably worse than the indicators used to monitor progress towards the target would seem to imply. Nevertheless, these targets do provide a useful starting point for examining the role of governance and private sector provision. During the 1990s, much international debate concerning urban water and sanitation provision focused on whether water and sanitation utilities were better run by private or the public operators. As described in Sections 2 and 3, this diverted attention from issues more important to water and sanitation provision in deprived urban areas, and presented an artificial choice. Proponents oversold the benefits of private sector participation, and the resulting controversy focused attention on a small number of concession contracts and the multinational companies that bid for them – contracts which, even if they had been successful, would not have made any difference to the majority of deprived urban dwellers. Moreover, from a governance perspective, it is misleading to draw a sharp distinction between private and public provision, but equally misleading to ignore the problems inherent in having international agencies promoting locally unpopular forms of water and sanitation governance. Some of the commonly proposed principles of effective water governance are reviewed in section 4, and contrasted with actual characteristics these principles are meant to supplant. To put it briefly, actual governance has conventionally been: bureaucratic rather than open and transparent; expert-driven rather than inclusive and communicative; sectorally divided rather than integrated and coherent; and biased towards the affluent rather than equitable and ethical. This applies to water systems based on public utilities, as well as those based on privately operated utilities. Section 5 develops a framework based on the notion that for better water and sanitation governance to be achieved in deprived urban areas, these principles need to be reflected in mechanisms that give these residents, and their representatives, more influence over the water and sanitation system. There are a wide range of means through which deprived urban groups can gain more influence, some increasing their own capacities (e.g. through higher incomes and better organization), and others increasing the responsiveness of public authorities or private providers. In many urban centres relations with small and often informal private water providers are important, while in a few other relations with large private utility operators are important. The governance challenges these different providers pose is, of course, very different. The next two sections examine two potential threats to improved water and sanitation governance. Section 6 considers the General Agreement on Trade in Services, which in principle should help governments to make better use of private sector provisioning, but in practice could interfere with local water and sanitation governance. Section 7 examines the role of corruption, both in relations between utilities and their customers, and between governments and their private contractors. Overall, what is striking is that the principles and governance tools that are important to getting private providers to improve provision to the urban poor are very similar to those needed to improve public provision. While there is no single model of good water and sanitation governance, and no reason to favour private providers, good local governance is critical to getting the best out of private as well as public providers. While there is an important role for international support in improving water and sanitation provision for low-income urban residents, from a governance perspective one of the major challenges is to prevent vested interests (many of which are international) from dominating local water sectors. 1. The Millennium Development Goals, water and sanitation provision, and the urban poor Most of the world's governments and international agencies have committed themselves to the Millennium Development Goals, and more specifically to the target of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. 1 If this and related targets are achieved, billions of the world's poorest citizens will be able to live healthier and more fulfilling lives. The water and sanitation target has helped to bring a greater focus on poverty to the international water and sanitation sector. During the 1990s, one of the international agendas promoted most vigorously in the water and sanitation sector was increasing private-sector participation in once predominantly public utilities (Finger and Allouche, 2002). This agenda was based on a broad economic critique of public-sector enterprises, and was accompanied by parallel efforts in communications, energy and transport utilities. Advocates claimed that greater private-sector participation would benefit those without adequate water and sanitation, most of whom also lived in poverty. These claims were hotly contested. The ensuing debates distracted attention from other less contentious means through which water and sanitation provision for low-income households could be improved. The water and sanitation target is intended to place deprived households at the centre of a new water and sanitation agenda, not only challenging the pro-poor credentials of existing reform efforts, but demanding a more coherent and focused approach to addressing the water and sanitation problems of the poor. In effect, the internationally agreed upon water and sanitation target provides a benchmark against which local reforms, as well as international support for those reforms, can be assessed. The target does not in itself define an approach to improving water and sanitation for people living in poverty, let alone guarantee that these improvements will be achieved. Indeed, targets were central to the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (the 1980s), and the failure to achieve those targets convinced many people in the sector that promoting structural reform, through for example increasing private-sector participation, was more important than adopting new targets. Targets are perfectly consistent with structural reform, however. Moreover, local conditions and priorities are so different in different places that any attempt to define a single international agenda for reform of the water and sanitation sector is virtually bound to fail. The successful application of the water target entails recognizing the limitations of targets as a guide to policy. Among these limitations are the following. * Targets can seem to favour top-down planning, wherein government agencies adopt targets, detail the physical investments required to achieve them, request the necessary finance, and then implement the "plan". Care must be taken to ensure that the targets are used in such a way as to encourage the best approaches, rather than favouring approaches that assign a particular role to national governments and other actors, whether or not this is appropriate. 1 The United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 18 September 2000, included the resolution to halve by 2015 "the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water" (page 5). The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation agreed to at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 26 August – 4 September 2002, reaffirmed the water target and turned it into a water and sanitation target, resolving to "halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water (as outlined in the Millennium Declaration) and the proportion of people who do not have access to basic sanitation". * Targets can miss the improvements in water (and sanitation) that happen or can happen outside the sector. For instance, there are various routes by which urban poor households can get access to better water and sanitation – including upgrading programmes, savings and credit programmes that help finance home improvements, or developing new homes and measures to increase the possibilities of new-house construction, including ensuring that appropriately located land is available and affordable. * Targets can devalue important improvements that are still not up to the targeted standard. Because of the indicators currently being used, for example, improvements in services provided by itinerant vendors will not register as progress towards the target because the water these vendors provide is defined as unimproved, whatever its source and price. Yet improvements in vendor services can make a big difference to deprived households, even if the service is still not "improved" or "adequate". * Targets based on misleading statistics can result in misguided policies. Estimating the number of people in a country who have "sustainable access to safe drinking water" can be very difficult. The evidence-based approach of the recent Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 represents an important step forward from previous efforts, which relied primarily on the responses of government officials. As described below, however, the results of the assessment are all too easily misinterpreted to imply that household water-supply problems are rare in urban settlements. Provided that these limitations can be overcome, the water target should provide a good basis for moving towards the Millennium Development Goals. 1.1. Underestimating urban water and sanitation deficiencies Before considering the potential role of governance in relation to the private providers operating in urban areas, it is important to reconsider some of the statistics on water and sanitation provision in urban areas. For both water and sanitation, it is easy to misinterpret the official statistics, and to assume that serious problems arise almost exclusively in rural areas. It has been estimated that in the year 2000 there were "1.1 billion people without access to improved water supply", of which 16 per cent were urban dwellers (WHO and UNICEF, 2000). These widely quoted figures, taken from the Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report, are based upon national estimates of the rural and urban households with and without "reasonable" access to "improved" water supplies, meaning that at least 20 litres of water per person per day are available from a piped water connection, public standpipe, borehole, protected dug well, protected spring or rainwater collection within a kilometre of home. The report explicitly notes that this does not imply that the level of service or quality of water is "adequate", let alone "safe" as expressed in the water target. Nevertheless, the figures are almost inevitably treated as if they implied adequacy, and are often taken as identifying the people whose conditions must improve if the target is to be met. In low-income urban settings, both practitioners and researchers tend to describe water-deprived neighbourhoods in terms of the depleted, saline or contaminated groundwater, unreliable or contaminated piped water supplies, queues at the public standpipes, or high prices charged by water vendors. Urban dwellers who have to travel anything like a kilometre to obtain water will almost certainly face serious water problems. It has also been estimated that in the year 2000 there were "2.4 billion without access to improved sanitation", of which 17 per cent were urban (WHO and UNICEF, 2000). For sanitation, households are considered to have access to improved sanitation if they used private or shared pour-flush latrines or pit latrines with at least some minimal improvements over crude open pit latrines. Again, the report acknowledges that such sanitary facilities are not necessarily adequate or safe. Indeed, this is an understatement. In many low-income urban settings, such facilities are rarely adequate or safe, and especially for women and children having to walk even comparatively short distances to use latrines at night can be hazardous. Thus, at least in the urban context, one would expect the number of people with access to "improved" water supplies and sanitation to be far more than the number with access to adequate or safe supplies. Indicative estimates of the number of urban dwellers without "adequate" water supplies and sanitation, presented in a recent UN-HABITAT report, Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities (see Table 1) confirm this fear. The indicative estimates are based on a review of the detailed studies of particular locations, available in most low-income countries, but not sufficiently comparable to translate directly into national or international statistics. Nevertheless, they suggest that the number of urban dwellers without adequate water supplies and sanitation may be several times greater than the number estimated to be without access to improved water and sanitation. Table 1: Different estimates of the number of urban dwellers lacking provision for water and sanitation in 2000 \| Region \| Number (and proportion) of urban dwellers without “improved” provision for: \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Water \| Sanitation \| Water \| \| Africa \| 44 million (15%) \| 46 million (16%) \| 100–150 million (c.35–50%) \| \| Asia \| 98 million (7%) \| 297 million (22%) \| 500–700 million (c.35–50%) \| \| Latin America and the Caribbean \| 29 million (7%) \| 51 million (13%) \| 80–120 million (c.20–30%) \| \| \| Source: WHO and UNICEF (2000), Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment, 2000 Report. World Health Organization, UNICEF and Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council. \| \| \| Even if there are many more urban dwellers without adequate water and sanitation than official statistics might seem to suggest, this does not imply that more water should be diverted from rural to urban uses. Many urban centres with plentiful water resources still have a large share of residents without adequate water and sanitation, while many urban centres facing severe water stress nevertheless ensure that all residents receive sufficient water and basic but adequate sanitation. The quantity of water actually required to meet basic needs – roughly 20 litres per capita per day – rarely accounts for more than a fraction of municipal water supplies. Urban coalitions often have the economic and political power to appropriate more than sufficient rural water resources. The problem is that water diverted to urban uses does not necessarily find its way to the poorest urban residents, and the sanitary facilities are not developed even where water is available. The large numbers of urban dwellers without adequate water and sanitation, combined with continued urban population growth, do imply that improving water and sanitation provision in poor urban neighbourhoods will be important to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The role of the private sector in reaching these households is also important, if controversial. Recent controversies over the role of the private sector have not been helpful, however. Too much attention has focused on whether public or private operators are more efficient, or whether public–private partnerships are the best means of providing water and sanitation. Too little attention has been devoted to getting public and private operators to be more responsive to the predominantly low-income urban households whose services need to improve if the target is to be met. 2. False starts: misleading controversies over private versus public provision of water and sanitation At various times and places during the last two centuries, there have been controversies over the choice between public and private water provisioning, and these controversies have sometimes extended to sanitation. During the last decades of the 20th century, this controversy became global. At one extreme, proponents argued that increasing private- sector involvement would solve the many failures plaguing public water and sanitation utilities, including their failure to provide services to the urban poor. At the other extreme, critics argued that increasing privatesector participation was part of the problem – another step in the dismantling of the policies and institutions needed to achieve universal coverage of adequate water and sanitation. It is unlikely that this controversy will be resolved. While increasing the role of the private sector in water delivery clearly benefits some stakeholders within the sector (and harms others), the implications for those without adequate water and sanitation depend upon the particular context. This section elaborates an intermediate position, presented in more detail in UNHABITAT's report, Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities: Local Action for Global Goals (UN-HABITAT, 2003). By over-emphasizing the choice between private and public, the controversy has diverted attention from what may well be a far more important issue concerning utilities; how to ensure that both private and public operators can be made to provide better services to low-income areas, and how to find other means for improving water and sanitation for deprived households. 2.1. Private providers – from pariah to panacea For much of the 20th century, the received wisdom in public policy circles was that water and sewerage networks were natural monopolies and provided public-health benefits. Left to themselves, private monopolists would overcharge, under-provide, and ignore the public-health benefits of water and sanitation. The public sector had to take control to prevent the abuse of monopoly powers, and to take account of the public-health benefits of both water and sanitation. Moreover, governments making political commitments on universal coverage felt obliged to display this commitment in their plans, and to set water prices at levels considered affordable to all. As the century drew to a close, however, these assumptions came under attack. In the 1990s, proponents of private-sector involvement launched a sustained critique of public utilities and their failures, and promoted a (regulated) private alternative. Especially in lowincome settings, it was argued, public utilities are inclined to be inefficient, overstaffed, susceptible to corruption, open to manipulation by politicians pursuing short-term political ends, and unresponsive to consumer demands. Low water tariffs, far from ensuring that low-income households can afford piped water, turn water distribution into patronage and contribute to utilities' financial difficulties, often inhibiting investment, and preventing water and sanitation networks from being extended to low-income settlements (even when residents are willing to pay). Privately run utilities, according to their supporters, would be cost-conscious, apolitical and demand-responsive. Independent regulation, along with competition for concessions or other contracts, would prevent the abuse of monopoly powers. At least for water, cost recovery could be achieved through tariff reform. These private utilities, regulated in the public interest, would achieve what the public utilities had so manifestly failed to do. Not surprisingly, when measures began to be taken to promote more private-sector participation, resistance emerged – in both words and in actions. Some opponents re-emphasized longstanding concerns about natural monopolies and the public interest, arguing that private participation would lead to high water and sanitation prices and focus efforts on serving those who could afford to pay. Others argued that water and sanitation are human rights, and that it is inherently wrong for multinational corporations based in the affluent countries to make profits selling water or sanitation to people living in poverty. In the extreme, it was argued that efforts to privatise water amounted to, in the words of the title of a recently published book, the "corporate theft of the world's water" (Barlow and Clarke, 2003). More worrying for the proponents of private-sector participation, the perception that water "privatization" policies hurt the poor, and were being promoted in the interests of affluent foreigners, became widespread in the popular press of many countries. But, perhaps most worrying, actual experiences with increasing private-sector participation were far from the ideal that had been promoted. 2.2. Was private-sector participation oversold? The strongly pro-private position was far easier to maintain when the messy realities of public utilities could be compared to idealized versions of private-sector participation. Once privatesector participation reached significant levels, some of the more ambitious claims became less convincing. Far from depoliticizing water and sanitation provision, it transpired that privatesector participation could heighten the politics, not only driving people onto the streets (as in Cochabamba, Bolivia) but also creating new opportunities for patronage and corruption. In the real world, the efficiency and consumer responsiveness of private water and sanitation providers is not guaranteed by the market but depends upon the nature of their contracts, and the quality of their regulation, as well as on the local context. Also, the major private companies themselves are no longer convinced, if they ever were, that the poor are willing to pay the full cost of safe water and sanitation provision. Even those sympathetic to a greater private-sector role are beginning to question the strong case for private-sector participation, and the manner in which private participation has been promoted. This has contributed to various attempts at more "pro-poor" private participation. It has also contributed, in South Africa for example, to attempts to combine private-sector participation with more explicit recognition of human rights to enough water to meet basic needs. This has not, however, stopped private-sector participation from being highly controversial. 2.3. Has the public–private divide itself been exaggerated? There is also a growing perception that too much attention has been paid to the relative merits of public and private providers. Private participation does not appear to have had much of an impact on water and sewerage coverage in Latin America, where many of the early privatization exercises were initiated (Clarke et al., 2004). Many of the obstacles to improving water and sanitation provision have nothing to do with whether utilities operators are private or public. A public sector having difficulties creating the right regulatory environment for public utilities is also likely to have trouble with private utilities. Residents with insecure tenure, living in difficult-to-reach locations, and lacking sufficient funds to invest in connections (to give just a few examples) can have just as much trouble convincing private as public utilities to connect them. Moreover, public utilities can be forced to face commercial principles, whereas privately operated utilities can be protected from these same pressures – the distinction between private and public utilities is not nearly so straightforward as is often implied. In any case, there is little indication that private companies that do have to face commercial pressures, and recover their costs from user charges, are interested in investing large sums of money in the deprived settlements and neighbourhoods where most of those without adequate water or sanitation usually live. Indeed, as described below, private finance has not been nearly as forthcoming as many had hoped. 2.4. Are the large water companies interested in selling water and sanitation in lowincome settlements? Strong proponents and strong opponents of increasing private-sector participation usually agree that international water companies are interested in gaining access to the water markets in the urban settlements of Asia, Africa and Latin America – their differences centre on whether this should be viewed as a good thing. Yet despite having been promoted vigorously by international development agencies in the 1990s, the extent of private-sector participation in water and sanitation utilities remains small, particularly if one ignores the small and informal water and sanitation enterprises. Privately operated utilities supply only about 5 to 10 per cent of the world's population with water, and even less with sanitation. During the 1990s, private companies were given contracts to operate a number of utilities in African, Asian and Latin American cities, but since 1997 the number of new contracts has tailed off. Problems arose with a number of existing concessions. Events such as the Asian crisis of 1997 caused private investors to revise their risk assessments upwards and their profit assessments downwards. Many of the sites most attractive to private investors – large cities, in countries with large economies, with a large middle class – were "cherry picked" early on. The spread among regions and countries was uneven, and concentrated heavily in Latin America and Southeast Asia (Budds and McGranahan, 2003). 2.5. Does private-sector participation bring private finance to the sector? In regions with mostly short-term non-investment contracts, such as sub-Saharan Africa, virtually all financing for water and sanitation utilities is still coming via the public sector and user charges, not from private investors. In the poorest areas, investment contracts are rare, and global investment in private-sector participation projects has not matched expectations. Even where long-term investment contracts have been agreed upon, international development assistance and public sources can still account for a large proportion of the finances invested (although since available figures rarely disaggregate different types of finance, it is very difficult to see exactly how much private finance is being committed (Budds and McGranahan, 2003)). 2.6. What about the small and informal enterprises? The controversies over increasing private-sector involvement have focused attention on the large piped-water networks, which both private and public utilities tend to favour. However, a large share of those without adequate water and sanitation are not going to be able to access the large piped-water and sewerage networks in the foreseeable future. This is especially true of rural dwellers, but also applies to many of the urban poor, especially those living in small urban centres. Moreover, among the private enterprises that provide water and sanitation to the urban poor, small-scale water suppliers and informal vendors and service providers are more significant than the large private utility operators (Solo, 2003; McIntosh, 2003; Collignon and Vezina, 2000). These small enterprises may be private, and they often operate in far more competitive markets than do large private utility operators. But the public–private debates have mostly diverted attention, and quite possibly development assistance, to large water and sewerage networks. Increasing (or suppressing) private-sector involvement in water delivery is inherently controversial, not primarily because people who lack adequate water and sanitation feel strongly about it, but because of conflicting interests within the water sector and within the international development community. Efforts to get the private sector to help provide better services to lowincome households should be less contentious. It may be difficult to generate political or economic support for improvements that will benefit only people with comparatively little political or economic power. Moreover, there is a danger that vested interests related to the public–private disputes will still intrude: proponents of private provisioning may want to claim that it is very easy to get private enterprises to provide adequate services to the urban poor (and advocate minimal intervention); opponents may want to claim that it is very difficult (and advocate the sort of regulations likely to suppress private enterprises altogether). In principle, however, everyone can agree that it is a good thing if private enterprises operating in lowincome settlements provide better services to those who do not yet have adequate access to water and sanitation. 2.7. So why is it misleading to debate internationally whether public or private utilities are best for the poor? * It raises questions internationally that can only be answered locally. * It focuses attention on (and attracts funding to) large networked utilities, when small systems may be more important to poor groups. * Problems that afflict both public and private utilities get ignored. * It focuses attention on water, when sanitation may be more important to poor groups. * It implies a far sharper distinction between public and private utilities than actually exists. * It detracts attention from issues of water governance that span the public–private divide. In particular places and at particular times, the choice between private and public utility operators may be a critical one. This does not justify an international agenda of promoting (or suppressing) private-sector participation in water and sanitation provision, however. Just as successful private enterprises are more likely to emerge from fair competition in the marketplace, so successful engagements with private enterprises are more likely to arise from fair competition in the local political arena. Increasing (or suppressing) private-sector involvement in service delivery is inherently controversial, and requires political resolution. Efforts to get the private sector to help provide better services to low-income households should be less contentious – though no less difficult. 3. The dangers of promoting specific models of water and sanitation governance It is almost a tautology that better governance (see Box 1 for definitions) must result in better water and sanitation services, at least in those locations where everyone acknowledges that current conditions are inadequate. Unfortunately, claiming that the solution lies in better governance does not provide a clear agenda to pursue. Indeed, compared with promoting more investment in water and sanitation infrastructure, promoting better governance can seem very vague and ill defined. Perhaps partly as a result, there has long been a tendency to select a particular model of water and sanitation governance, and to promote that model as inherently better than the others. Not surprisingly, the models advocated have tended to follow political trends that have little to do with experience in the water sector.. Box 1: Sample definitions of governance and water governance "Governance is the process by which stakeholders articulate their interests, their input is absorbed, decisions are taken and implemented, and decision makers are held accountable." (The Institute on Governance (based in Ottawa), quoted in Bakker (2003)) "The exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country's affairs at all levels. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences." (UNDP, see http://magnet.undp.org/policy/summary.htm, accessed June 2004) "Governance is understood to include not only the political and administrative institutions of government (and their organization and interrelationships) but also the relationships between government and civil society." (McCarney, 1996) Following from these, water governance: "….refers to the range of political, organizational and administrative processes through which communities articulate their interests, their input is absorbed, decisions are made and implemented, and decision makers are held accountable in the development and management of water resources and delivery of water services." (Bakker, 2003) The range of political, social, economic and administrative systems that are in place to develop and manage water resources, and the delivery of water services, at different levels of society." (The Global Water Partnership, http://www.gwpforum.org/gwp/library/Governance.pdf, accessed June 2004) Many of the governance issues surrounding inadequate access to water and sanitation services are not sectoral issues, but relate to land tenure, housing security, the regulation of rental markets, environmental rights and responsibilities, the political basis for community organization and a number of other concerns that are well beyond the bounds of the water and sanitation sector per se. Similarly, there are numerous routes through which urban poor households can get access to better water and sanitation – including upgrading programmes, savings and credit programmes that help finance home improvements or developing new homes and measures to increase the possibilities of new-house construction, including ensuring appropriately located land is available and affordable. This paper emphasizes some of the more narrowly sectoral issues, and the role of private water and sanitation providers in particular. Even when addressing these issues, however, it is clear that governance transcends sectoral boundaries. Table 2: Stereotyped governance models for locally provided utility services \| \| Planning \| Market \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Asset owner \| Government \| Private corporation \| \| Asset manager \| Government \| Private corporation \| \| Consumer role \| Citizens \| Customers \| \| Organizational structure \| Civil service \| Customers \| \| Accountability mechanisms \| Hierarchy \| Contract \| \| Primary decision makers \| Administrators, experts, public officials \| Individual households, experts, companies \| \| Primary goals of decision makers \| Minimize risk Meet legal/policy requirements \| Maximize profits Efficient performance \| \| Key incentives for good performance \| Expert/managerial feedback in public policy process Voter/ratepayer opinion \| Price signals (share movements or bond ratings) Customer opinions \| \| Key sanctions for failure to maintain services \| State authority backed by coercion Political process via elections Litigation \| Financial loss Takeover Litigation \| \| Participation of customers \| Collective, top-down \| Individualistic \| \| Associated business model \| Municipally owned utility \| Private corporate utility \| Source: Bakker, K. (2003) Good Governance in Restructuring Water Supply: a Handbook. Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Ottawa, Canada, page 19; adapted from McGranahan, G., Jacobi, P., Songsore, J., Surjadi, C. and Kjellén, M. (2001) The Citizens at Risk: from Urban Sanitation to Sustainable Cities. Earthscan, London. A broad emphasis on water governance should not only focus attention on the institutional forms through which water and sanitation are managed, but should also help to ensure that the institutional options are not reduced to the choice of public versus private, with community provision sometimes thrown in. Table 2 presents stereotyped models of public (planning), private (market) and community approaches. While it is useful to recognize the somewhat different logics that operate in these three domains, it is just as important to recognize that many of the most important options combine two or more of these models. Moreover, while the market and community models may seem to be distinct from the government-led planning model, government and governance are central to all three. In practice, the decision can be made to expose publicly owned and operated utilities to market pressures, or to compel privately owned and operated utilities to adhere to government plans (Hukka and Katko, 2003; Blokland et al., 1999). Hybrid systems are the norm in many parts of the world. Indeed, private ownership of large water and sanitation networks is rare, and even in England where most of the water networks were divested, government regulation ensures that market pressures are supplemented by planning targets. In any case, large private water companies use planning procedures to help organize their own operations, and their decisionmaking can be as hierarchical as in any government bureaucracy. In other words, municipal water and sanitation governance typically involves planning processes, market mechanisms and organized local initiatives that combine to determine whether the urban poor can expect to obtain improvements in their water and sanitation services. To complicate matters still further, the planning processes are not the monopoly of government, the market mechanisms are not the monopoly of private enterprises and the organized local initiatives are not the monopoly of communities. Ideally, governments should be responsible for supporting governance processes that deliver for their citizens. The purpose of this paper, however, is not to identify a particular combination likely to improve water and sanitation services for the urban poor, but to consider how more effective governance can get the private sector to improve water and sanitation services in lowincome areas. 4. Principles of water governance There is widespread agreement that inadequate water and sanitation provision is at least in part a failure of governance, and the definitions of water and sanitation governance are reasonably consistent. At least superficially, there is also widespread agreement on a number of the critical features that good water and sanitation governance must have. A recent paper commissioned by the Global Water Partnership identified the following principles of effective water governance, generally (Rogers and Hall, 2003). Approaches should be: * inclusive and communicative * open and transparent * coherent and integrative * equitable and ethical. Performance and operation should be: * efficient * accountable * responsive and sustainable. To some degree at least, these principles reflect the prevailing wisdom in the water sector, and respond to widely perceived weaknesses in pre-existing water and sanitation governance systems. For most of the 20th century the conventional governmental approach to water (and sanitation) management was as follows. * Bureaucratic and labyrinthine, rather than open and transparent In the 19th century, water and sanitation were widely debated in many parts of the world, in public fora as well as academic halls and government chambers. When cities were considering whether they could afford a major new water or sanitation project, it was not uncommon to hold a referendum (Jacobson, 2000). As the responses to water and sanitation became more standardized, the decision-making process also became less open and transparent, however, and increasingly became the preserve of bureaucracies, removed from any public engagement. This did not pose a serious problem in countries where public utilities were effectively providing adequate water and sanitation services to all those who could not provide it for themselves. In many parts of the world, however, water and sanitation coverage remains far from complete, trust between users and their (predominantly public) utilities is poor, and the lack of open and transparent decision-making is a serious impediment to improving service delivery in lowincome areas. * Exclusive and expert-driven, rather than inclusive and communicative In addition to not being open and transparent about their own decision-making, water and sanitation utilities have tended to be expert-driven and not very responsive to their customers' requests and demands, let alone those of people not connected to the network. Again, this is less of a problem when everyone is connected to a high-quality piped-water and sewerage connection, and can pay a monthly bill based on the water tariff. When a large share of the residents of an urban area are unconnected, and are likely to remain unconnected unless standards and connection procedures are adjusted or relaxed in some way, then exclusive and expert-driven approaches can create serious problems. This holds especially for the urban poor, who tend to be the most excluded and the least able to understand or influence utility procedures. It is indicative of the lack of inclusive and communicative approaches that even residents in areas on or near the network are often unaware of how the connection procedures are meant to operate, or their of rights in relation to the utilities. Similarly, residents are often not informed about even planned interruptions to water supply, although such information is often important to a household's own planning (Thomas et al., 1999). * Sectoral and segmented, rather than coherent and integrative Water and sanitation utilities have often developed with very clearly defined sectoral responsibilities, that do not extend to the water-resource issues created by excessive water withdrawals, or the water-related health problems created by inadequate access to safe water and sanitation. For example, most water utilities are, formally at least, responsible for ensuring that the water is uncontaminated when it comes out of the utility's own pipes, but have no obligation to provide a service such that the water people actually consume – in many cases after carrying it home – is of good quality, although it is known that, where indoor piping is not the norm, water quality often declines appreciably between tap and mouth (Wright et al., 2004). * Biased in favour of those able to access the large water and sanitation networks, rather than equitable and ethical In urban settlements where a large share of the population is not connected to the piped watersupply network, it is common for utilities to provide subsidized water and sometimes sanitation to the middle classes, even as the least well off are forced to buy scarce water on secondary markets at high prices. Price controls, ostensibly designed to make water and sanitation affordable to those living on low incomes, have often contributed to the financial insolvency of public utilities, which cannot achieve their expansion plans on the basis of their revenue. (In many cases the income from water sales is not allocated to the utilities, but even so the fact that expanding the water network is a long-run financial drain on the government undoubtedly contributes to the slow expansion.) Similarly, the criticisms levelled at the performance and operation of public utilities typically centred on their being either unaccountable, inefficient and unresponsive to consumer demands, or environmentally unsustainable. Some advocates of private-sector participation claimed that bringing in the private sector was in itself a means of resolving most of these problems. Private operators would be non-bureaucratic and responsive to consumer demands, and government agencies not directly involved in water and sanitation provision could focus on creating a more coherent and integrative water and sanitation system that was environmentally sustainable and served all residents, not just the well off. Moreover, not only would the private operators increase efficiency, but they could also be made accountable to the public interest through contractual agreement and regulation, and accountable to individual interests through market mechanisms. Private-sector participation has not proved to be this panacea, however, and getting private operators to provide adequate services to low-income residents is a particular challenge. Pro-poor water governance is usually facilitated by, if not dependent on, poor groups gaining more power and influence either through representative political structures or through more direct participation in provision – whether in planning, installing, managing and/or monitoring provision. The interests of urban poor groups arise at many different levels. They may be affected by how the water utilities are regulated, and whether the utilities operators are public or private, but not have the information needed to determine which option will serve their interests best. In such circumstances, local residents are largely dependent on their "representatives" in government. The more open, inclusive coherent and equitable the decision-making process, the more likely it is that the interests of the poor can be brought to bear. Those without adequate provision also have a more direct interest in whether a piped-water network is extended to their neighbourhood, or what sort of sanitation systems are made available. Here, the underlying issue is whether the providers themselves can be made accountable to the demands of low-income residents, and responsive to their needs. 5. Water governance and serving the urban poor A framework for water governance, emphasizing how the different elements of good management need to be linked to the needs and priorities of citizens, was elaborated in the recent UN-HABITAT report: Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities: Local Action for Global Goals (UN-HABITAT, 2003). A similar framework that emphasizes the role of negotiation in ensuring that services such as water services work better for poor people was developed for the 2004 World Development Report, Making Services Work for Poor People (World Bank, 2003). These frameworks are based on the notion that the demands for improvement need to come from the deprived people themselves, and that the level of improvement will depend upon the influence that deprived residents can bring to bear on the service providers, either directly or via the government. There is no presumption that the providers are or should be private or public, although by emphasizing the importance of making policy decisions more accountable to deprived residents, they do imply that changes in the role of the private sector should not be driven by an international agenda, but by local processes. Indeed, just as successful private enterprises are more likely to emerge from fair competition in the marketplace, so successful engagements with private enterprises are more likely to arise from fair competition in the local political arena. The following sections combine these two frameworks. As displayed in Figure 1, the focus is on the relations between "clients/citizens", "providers" and "the state". It distinguishes between two routes of accountability: the short route whereby the water- deprived exert an influence directly on the provider, and the long route whereby they influence politicians and policy makers, who in turn influence the providers. By placing the influence of the poor themselves at the centre, the framework provides a useful corrective to the tendency for other stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector to claim that their interests coincide with those of poor groups. Source: World Bank (2003) World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. The World Bank and Oxford University Press, Washington D.C. 5.1. Increasing the power and voice of the urban poor to demand water and sanitation improvements The urban poor often lack the resources needed to yield much influence over government policies or over water and sanitation providers directly. Influencing the state typically involves different actions from those needed to influence providers – voting or lobbying rather than paying, for example. Nevertheless, many of the changes that help people rise out of poverty, from receiving a good education to gaining income-earning opportunities, can simultaneously help them to influence governments and to make stronger demands on providers, be they private or public. Three particularly relevant changes are: 1 higher incomes – which allow people to pay more for services, and to live in better-served locations, as well as often contributing to their political influence 2 greater housing legality and security – which can not only confer political legitimacy, but can also increase residents' capacity to negotiate with water and sanitation providers, and their willingness to invest their own time and resources in water and sanitation infrastructure 3 better organized communities – who are in a stronger position to negotiate with both government and water and sanitation providers (and in some cases are in a better position to make local investments in infrastructure). The importance of such changes depends on local circumstances, but in aggregate they undoubtedly have a major influence on whether the urban poor gain access to adequate water and sanitation. Moreover, when the urban poor do manage to address their poverty through these routes, and particularly the latter two, they often also address water and sanitation issues explicitly. Indeed, the installation of water and sanitation infrastructure can be an integral part, or even the first step, in achieving housing security. Similarly, better organized communities are not only more likely to negotiate for and invest in better water and sanitation, but combining their efforts to get better water and then sanitation can be first steps in becoming a better organized community. In most examples of urban poor groups increasing their capacity to negotiate water and sanitary improvements, the providers have been public utilities or small enterprises rather than large, privately operated utilities. This is probably because privately operated utilities are rare in comparison. Also, while the strategy needed to negotiate with private operators may be different, these differences should not be exaggerated. Even if public utilities are not profitmaking enterprises, greater income and savings can undoubtedly help residents get public utilities to respond to their needs, particularly when the public utilities are operated along closeto-commercial principles. Alternatively, while private operators are motivated by the search for profits, they are more likely to respond to better organized communities living in settlements with secure land tenure. While a greater capacity to influence water and sanitation providers is not always accompanied by a greater capacity to influence public polices, or vice versa, many of the more successful cases of urban poor negotiating water and sanitation improvements have combined negotiation with local government and with providers. In terms of Figure 1, this effectively combines the long and short routes, and raises questions about how the "long" route is sometimes made far shorter than at other times. Box 2 summarizes some lessons in negotiation from the Slum Dwellers Federations and Mahila Milan in India. This negotiation has produced municipal government support in Mumbai and Pune for hundreds of toilets designed, built and managed by communities, that now serve hundreds of thousands of "slum" dwellers in both cities. It also encouraged both the federal government and many state governments to set up special funds to support such community provision. This kind of negotiation may not always be applicable but, on the other hand, it is not specific to negotiations involving public utilities. Box 2: Notes on the art of gentle negotiation for better water and sanitation A necessary step in building sanitation partnerships between community organizations and local governments is convincing some reluctant and often suspicious government agencies to stop seeing poor communities as problems and start seeing them as contributors to good solutions to city-side issues. That means negotiation. The increasingly confident negotiating skills of Slum Dwellers Federations and Mahila Milan in Mumbai, Kanpur, Bangalore and Lucknow have obtained commitments to sanitation in slum settlements from many officials in the municipal corporations and state governments. Here are some of their negotiating strategies. Start small and keep pressing. Mahila Milan in Kanpur and Bangalore started small – negotiating for the municipal corporations to provide hand pumps and water taps in slums. Through those negotiations they gradually gained the confidence, persistence and visibility to press for the next level – community toilets. Starting with small initiatives can show both government and communities that change is possible. Convince the officials that they can use their limited powers to make a little change. First, they might only give a limited consent, but later, when they see things change, even in small ways, that consent might become support. Support is the first step in the creation of a genuine partnership. Paint beautiful pictures. Sometimes, grassroots activism involves a great deal of scolding and finger-pointing: "Isn't this awful!", "Isn't that shameful!". If you're serious about exploring new ways to bring the poor and the state together to solve the city's problems, this kind of approach has limited utility. People in power are more likely to retreat into their bureaucratic shells when you start pelting them with awfuls and shamefuls. A better approach is to kindle their imaginations by describing possibilities in ways that make clear how they can contribute. Know more than they do. When your community organization comes into negotiations prepared, with enumeration reports with data on all households in the settlement, with toiletconstruction costs worked out and tested, with knowledge of city infrastructure grids, and with examples of community–state partnerships in other cities, it becomes much harder for government officials to argue against the proposals you are making. Cut an attractive deal. The Slum Dwellers Federations/ Mahila Milan around India have developed skills of persuasion in showing local governments that entering into an unconventional toilet-building partnership with a well-organized community organization is a realistic, even attractive proposition for solving big problems that confound municipalities up and down the subcontinent. A sharp city administrator would have difficulties passing up these features: * sharing costs with a community reduces the city's sanitation cost burden; * when communities maintain the toilets, the city's maintenance costs are eliminated; * when communities build toilets, the city's construction burden is eliminated; * community-built toilets often cost less than those the city builds, so a city's infrastructure budgets can be spread further, increasing service delivery. Source: Burra, S., Patel, S. and Kerr, T. (2003), Community-designed, built and managed toilet blocks in Indian cities, Environment and Urbanization, Vol 15, No 2, pages 11-32. The capacity of urban poor groups to influence water and sanitation policies and providers also depends, of course, on how responsive the government and the providers are. Politicians often promise better water services. Democracy should help to increase the accountability of politicians, and help make governments more responsive to the demands of their less-well-off citizens. Ideally, democratization and decentralization ought to be particularly effective means of getting governments to be more responsive to water and sanitation demands. Indeed, this combination may well have been a factor explaining why public water and sanitation services improved in many urban centres in Latin America even when their economies were not improving during the 1980s and 1990s. Similarly, the capacity of urban poor groups to influence providers directly depends on how responsive these providers are, and what they are responsive to. This depends in turn on the compact that they have with the state – whether this takes the form of a contract, an agreed-upon regulatory regime, or simply the rule of law. Yet again, it is important not to exaggerate the distinction between a privately and publicly operated utility. Under many circumstances, the distinction between negotiating with large utilities as opposed to small enterprises is more significant, especially since large, private utility operators are almost always working under contract. Many contracts with large water companies involve fees that are paid to the company for providing water (and in some cases sanitation facilities), that are distinct from the fees paid by users. Moreover, like a public utility, large companies are usually officially prohibited from accepting above-tariff payments for better services (with good reason). If the company's contract gives it a strong incentive to do so, it is likely to be very responsive to the demands of the urban poor. If the contract does not give such incentives, it will be less responsive. Market conditions matter, but are mediated by the state. A small-scale vendor earning revenue only from sales has different motivations for responding to demands. In this case, much will depend on the level of competition in the market (rather than for the market, as is the case with competition for large concessions), and other factors that determine whether the vendor needs to be concerned about losing sales. But small-scale water and sanitation vendors include such a large variety of enterprises that it is hard even to begin to generalize. The following two sections look at issues concerning private-sector participation in water utilities, and then at issues concerning the small-scale enterprises. The second section is shorter, not because private utility operators are more important, but because small scale enterprises are examined in more detail in other IIED discussion papers (Kjellén and McGranahan, 2006; McGranahan and Owen, 2006). 5.2. Developing compacts with (private) water and sanitation utilities that serve the urban poor better Whether the water utility is public, private or some combination, the state plays the lead role in setting the rules by which a water and/or sanitation utility operates. In the case of long-term lease and concession contracts, this includes negotiating the contract and creating the regulatory framework. (However, these two roles may be played by different state agencies, and at different scales – thus the contract could be negotiated at the level of a municipality, while the regulatory framework could be national.) In terms of the framework presented above, for the urban poor to benefit from negotiations for private water and sanitation contracts, it is important that: * water and sanitation issues of concern to the urban poor be part of the negotiations * information pertaining to these issues be available * the interests of the water- and sanitation-deprived be effectively represented. Indications are that none of these conditions were typically met for most of the contacts negotiated in the 1990s. In many instances, there was pressure to appoint an operator in a timely fashion. Technical and financial issues were given considerable attention. Tariffs and, in the case of investment contracts, expansion plans were often subject to negotiation. Bidders were not, however, required to outline their strategy for improving services to low-income residents. Measures were not taken to ensure that information about conditions and problems in lowincome areas was collected and made available to bidders. Few efforts were made to represent the interests of the urban poor in the process, let alone to involve representatives from urban poor groups directly. The concerns of low-income residents also tended to be neglected within the regulatory regimes. The initial focus was almost invariably on contract deliverables such as investment activity, service standards and payments. As long as there are problems with these "fundamentals", the regulatory activity is unlikely to extend beyond these concerns. In the words of a recent review of water and sanitation regulation and the poor, "Unless the regulatory framework properly contemplates issues in relation to services to the poor and confers on the regulator authority for acting, it is unlikely that pro-poor policies can be implemented in the early stages of a PSP (Private Sector Participation) contract" (Halcrow Management Services, 2002). Even comparatively well-designed concession agreements were inclined to neglect basic issues concerning low-income residents, since the primary goal was to create an economically viable and efficient operation. Thus, two of the best known obstacles to extending water and sanitation to low-income settlements are that: (i) low-income households rarely have large sums of money available or access to market-rate loans, and hence find it particularly difficult to pay high connection costs; and (ii) many low-income households live in squatter settlements with insecure tenure. Nevertheless, the initial concession agreement for Buenos Aires specified connection fees of up to US$ 600 for water and up to US $1,000 for sanitation, and did not make provisions for water extensions to be extended to squatter settlements (Schusterman et al., 2002; Loftus and McDonald, 2001). The connection costs were reduced in a later renegotiation, and localized negotiations between civil-society organizations, local government and Aguas Argentinas helped to extend provision to at least some settlements on disputed lands. Until the economic crisis undermined much of the basis for reform, some progress was being made. Generally, however, it is more difficult to negotiate with concessionaires once they are in place, and leaving the concerns of the poorest households out of the original negotiations adds to their already considerable disadvantages. There are many areas where the interests of the urban poor could be better represented in public–private partnerships (Water and Sanitation Program, 2001). The urban poor are likely to have a particular interest in the expansion plans, and the mechanisms through which these plans will be realized. Among other issues likely to be of particular concern are: * connection costs and procedures – where the urban poor are unconnected, high connection costs and complex procedures can be a major barrier * disconnection procedures; and rights and procedures of appeal – the urban poor often lack the means of recourse in the case of disconnection * rights to water abstraction – granting the utility operator exclusive rights to water abstraction can undermine the alternatives available to the urban poor * secondary water markets – the urban poor often depend on secondary and often informal water markets, and the utilities operations affect these secondary markets (which in some cases are a form of competition, and in others represent an extension of the utility's operations) * standards – standards that are too low may leave the urban poor at risk, while standards that are too high may exclude the poor. In addition, there may be a number of identifiable measures that could be combined to form a strategy for improving provision in low-income areas. Which of these measures are most appropriate to a given locality cannot be determined in the abstract. Moreover, as the framework of power and accountability relations indicates, a central question is how the interests of the urban poor are brought to bear on these negotiations. This is not a simple question to answer. Most parties to the negotiation will be ignorant of the water and sanitation conditions in lowincome neighbourhoods. Residents of low-income neighbourhoods will typically be ignorant of the costs and requirements of operating a water or sewerage network, and have no obvious representatives in the negotiations – except for government officials who are unlikely to view the urban poor as their primary sponsors, and civil-society groups whose legitimacy may be doubtful. Such inadequacies should not be taken to imply that improvements cannot be achieved, but that there are many opportunities for improvement. There are also many lessons that can be learned from recent experiences with water and sanitation contracts, and from experiences with public utilities. Indeed, as indicated above, it is not clear that the public–private distinction is the most important one when it comes to improving water services in urban areas. 5.3. Getting better services from small-scale providers If insufficient attention has been devoted to getting the most for the urban poor from privately operated utilities, it is still far more than has been devoted to getting better services for the urban poor from small-scale and informal vendors of water and sanitation services (Kjellén and McGranahan, 2006; McGranahan, Njiru, Albu, Smith and Mitlin, 2006). Yet small-scale and informal water enterprises are important for at least three reasons. Firstly, they provide water and sanitation services to a large proportion of low-income urban households, and particularly those living in areas difficult to service with conventional water distribution and sewerage networks. Without them, many of the poorly served would be even worse off. Secondly, informal vendors and providers generally operate without a subsidy and with prices and/or services that compare favourably with what official providers make available; if they did not, they would not be able to operate. Thirdly, there is increasing evidence to suggest that, in many locations, working with and through such independent providers can be a cheaper, more effective way of improving and extending provision for water and sanitation than conventional public-sector provision or reliance on large-scale private (often international) companies. The informal sector is unregulated, virtually by definition. In any case, the issue is not one of deciding whether, how much or in what manner small-scale providers should be regulated. What are needed, as in other parts of the water sector, are effective, accountable local governance structures that can encourage and support effective local action and innovation, particularly when it will benefit the urban poor. The appropriate responses by local or national governments and international agencies need to be rooted in the specifics of each city or even neighbourhood. Not all informal water or sanitation vendor systems deserve support. In some cases, the profits to be made from reselling scarce water have led key suppliers to create non-competitive markets, and the water supplies are in effect restricted in order to drive up prices. (This rarely applies to the itinerant vendors, however, who are unlikely to be able to affect market prices through their actions.) In such cases, good water governance may require working with lowincome groups and with vendors to determine how best to make the market function more effectively in the interests of users. Simply trying to close down the vendors on the grounds that they do not meet some official standard is in danger of restricting water supplies and driving prices up even further. (Sanitation vendors are less likely to drive down supplies to achieve monopoly prices, but may be selling services that simply address one household's sanitation problems at the cost of others – releasing the waste in hazardous locations.) In other cases, the markets are highly competitive, but supplies may be restricted by the water utility's practices. There may be insufficient water hydrants to supply the vendors, or they may be located without any consideration of the convenience of the vendors, or the concerns of the users themselves. In some urban centres, itinerant vending is actively discouraged in a variety of ways, at least in the informal sector. There is comparatively little experience of working with local residents to design a strategy for improving water supplies that takes account of how the secondary water markets are functioning. On the other hand, in the course of participatory processes surrounding more conventional improvement projects, residents do sometimes develop strategies for addressing problems that arise in the secondary water markets. In Kibera (Nairobi), for example, residents proposed a strategy involving the formation of a water vendors' association, and a collective bargaining process that would address the concerns of both vendors and users (Katui-Katua and McGranahan, 2002). As with large-scale utilities, there is the challenge of ensuring that the interests of the urban poor are brought to bear on policy discussions involving small-scale enterprises and informal-sector operators. Perhaps even more important is the challenge of responding directly to the legitimate demands of low-income residents. Even itinerant water vendors operating in the informal sector are subject to pressures from the government as well as from local residents and residents' associations. Often, even the very small-scale enterprises are regulated, and are required to have licences to operate. Yet this does not necessarily mean that local residents have any recourse when they suspect that vendors are engaging in monopolistic behaviour, selling contaminated water, providing hazardous sanitation services, or engaging in otherwise dubious practices. And while the services that small-scale water and sanitation enterprises provide should not be forgotten, nor should it be assumed that they are appropriate. There are usually very large returns to scale in water delivery and in sewerage provision. In many circumstances, the prevalence of itinerant water vendors or water tankers is a symptom of a failure to provide larger, lower-cost systems. Attacking the symptom, and making it harder for the small enterprises to perform their role, will usually make matters worse. But the presence of small water and sanitation enterprises is no excuse for neglecting the task of finding less costly alternatives, which may not emerge spontaneously, and may require replacing the small enterprises with a large-scale water network. The appropriate choices are more likely to emerge where local government is responsive to the concerns of low-income residents, and the residents themselves are able to articulate and negotiate for their interests – taking us back to the issue of increasing the power of the urban poor to demand better water and sanitation. 6. The General Agreement on Trade in Services and water and sanitation governance Many of the early networks for water supply (and to a lesser extent sewerage) were operated by private companies. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw governments, particularly in the more affluent countries, raising concerns about private operators, and increasing the dominance of public utilities. The late 20th century saw the re-emergence of private utility operators. Again the impetus came from the more affluent countries. Throughout the 1990s, private-sector participation was promoted by international development agencies dominated by the more affluent countries, and most notably the World Bank (Finger and Allouche, 2002; Budds and McGranahan, 2003). While most water and sanitation utilities are still operated as public entities, private participation has increased considerably, and in a great many other locations an expanded role for the private sector is at least under consideration. This process has been controversial. The "Washington Consensus", a term coined to refer to those elements of economic policy advice that Washington-based international development organizations were broadly agreed upon at the start of the 1990s, included privatization (Williamson, 1993). John Williamson, the economist who coined the term, has since qualified his own support for privatization, and may never have intended to claim that the consensus encompassed public services such as water and sanitation. In any case, whether or not there was or is a broad consensus in Washington, there has never been a consensus in the world at large, and water privatization in particular has received sharp criticisms from many quarters, and has become a particular concern of the anti-globalization movement (Barlow and Clarke, 2003; Shiva, 2002). From a governance perspective, a central issue raised is the scale at which decisions about local water and sanitation governance should be made. Should decisions about the role of private enterprises, public agencies and civil-society organizations in a municipality's water and sanitation provision be made locally, nationally or internationally? More specifically, under what conditions, if any, is it acceptable for development assistance from international donors for improved water provision to be made contingent on private-sector participation? When does the promotion of private-sector participation, and in particular the participation of multinationals, become an infringement on sovereignty, and/or the promotion of self-interest on the part of donor countries? The former chief economist of the World Bank has questioned the motivation and manner of private-sector promotion by the international financial institutions (Stiglitz, 2002). But even in cases where the motives are good, and the private-sector participation beneficial, it is doubtful whether countries should ever be forced to increase private-sector participation in order to secure loans, particularly when there are alternative means of developing financially viable water and sanitation services. (And even if there are no alternatives, viability should be a sufficient financial condition, whether or not it is achieved with private sector participation.) A less direct, but equally contentious way in which decisions about the roles of private enterprises could be determined through international negotiations is via trade liberalization, and more specifically the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Countries that sign up to a liberalization regime under GATS agree not to protect national enterprises against foreign competition. The Agreement is extremely complex, with countries negotiating the degree of openness they permit in each of 12 sectors, one of which is currently environmental services. These sectors are further sub-divided into about 160 sub-sectors of service activities. GATS is as much a framework for negotiation on the liberalization of trade in services as an outcome of such negotiations, and it allows for considerable flexibility (Chanda, 2002). Counties are under no obligation to open up a particular sector or sub-sector. If a country does decide to open a particular sector, it can impose various restrictions on market access. At least in principle, governments can make no commitments or limited commitments in sectors where they are concerned that liberalization would result in inequitable or less extensive access to basic services. Water distribution services were not listed in the GATS sectoral classification list. On the other hand, precisely because GATS is a framework for negotiation, countries could eventually be put under pressure to liberalize their water and sanitation services in return for concessions in other areas. When the European Commission submitted its initial requests for improved market access in service sectors to 109 WTO members, 72 requests reportedly included references to the water sub-sector. Since the framework is not flexible when it comes to reversing decisions to liberalize, governments that did make commitments to liberalize would face difficulties if unpredicted outcomes developed. Moreover, it is doubtful whether international trade negotiators are in a good position to judge the relative costs and benefits of liberalizing local water and sanitation systems. In terms of the framework for accountability illustrated in Figure 1 above, shifting responsibilities for decisions about how to organize water and sanitation provision to international negotiation would seem to make the "long route of accountability" exceedingly long. One of the problems with allowing international negotiations to come to decisions on whether to open the water and sanitation sector to market competition is that it could limit the scope for improving water and sanitation provision through better local governance. From the perspective of a local municipality, and its low-income residents in particular, it is difficult to see how decision-making through GATS could be made open, inclusive, coherent and equitable. There is a legitimate question as to whether the decision on how water and sanitation provision should be organized, and in particular the role of the private sector, is an appropriate concern for local governance. If so, it is hard to see why water and sanitation provision should be negotiated within the GATS framework. There are several water and sanitation issues that are of particular relevance to the urban poor, and which could be affected by GATS, undermining the potential role of local governance. A large number of low-income urban dwellers receive community-managed or informal-sector water and sanitation services, for example. Having liberalization regulated by the requirements of GATS could undermine the scope for local governments to give support to such provision (Mitlin, 2004 draft). In principle, governments could impose restrictions on market access, allowing community-managed service delivery or informal-sector provision to receive what would have to be termed "preferential" treatment. These alternative providers are often critical to the urban poor, and should not necessarily be seen as second best. It is difficult to see how open competition between these different providers could be created in such a way as to satisfy an international agreement. It is very difficult to say where and whether such problems are likely to arise, and who will be affected. But that is not sufficient reason for accepting the negotiation of water or sanitation services under GATS. The characteristics of water and sanitation may not always favour public provision, but they do raise serious questions about the possible impacts of open international competition, and whether international trade negotiators are in a position to make appropriate decisions. In addition to the public-health benefits and tendencies towards monopolization of water and sanitation networks, there is widespread international agreement that the share of the world's population without reasonable access to safe water and basic sanitation should be reduced progressively over the coming decades. Under such conditions, decisions about how to organize water and sanitation provision are inherently political and not just economic. There are almost certainly urban centres where opening the market to international competition would improve service delivery for the currently unserved. There are almost certainly urban centres where opening the market would, to the contrary, harm the unserved. It is not at all clear that GATS provides an appropriate framework for economically efficient or equitable competition between such diverse actors as large water and sanitation companies, small and often informal providers, and community-managed systems. It is even less clear that GATS provides the appropriate governance framework for deciding what the role of the private sector should be, and how decisions about water and sanitation delivery will be organized. 7. Corruption and water and sanitation governance for the urban poor Corruption can be said to occur when people violate their duties for personal or political gain, either at their own instigation (e.g. embezzlement) or in response to improper inducements (e.g. bribes). 2 Corruption is poorly documented, but widely discussed. In many ways, corruption is the antithesis of good governance: inherently covert rather than open and transparent; exclusive rather than inclusive and communicative; divisive rather than coherent and integrative; and immoral rather than equitable and ethical. Where corruption is widespread, it can seem inevitable. The concept of corruption includes the notion that once it starts it tends to persist or worsen unless it is combated – people and institutions do not just engage in corrupt actions, they themselves become corrupt. There are, however, numerous different forms of corruption, and their dynamics remain poorly understood. Under some circumstances, corruption can be more efficient or more equitable than the rules it flouts, and over the years a number of researchers have actually claimed that the net effect of corruption on efficiency is positive (Leff, 1964; Rashid, 1981). Bribes can, in effect, create a market for breaking the rules. When rules are unduly onerous and officials underpaid, corruption can appear to be a necessary evil: wrong in principle, but acceptable in practice. Needless to say, however, corruption is rarely confined to breaking unjustifiable rules, and the rewards of corruption are rarely confined to the underpaid. Perhaps more important, from a governance perspective bad rules need to be changed and officials need to the paid appropriate salaries. Even when its proximate effects are harmless, corruption undermines good governance by allowing inappropriate regulations and policies to persist unchallenged. Moreover, there is a danger that more "acceptable" forms of corruption will convey a degree of legitimacy to the more damaging forms of corruption. American urban political machines were renowned for their corruption in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: "the rapid influx of new populations for whom family and ethnicity were the central identifications, when coupled with the award of important monopoly privileges (traction, electricity, etc.) and the universal franchise, seemed to provide ideal soil for the emergence of corrupt 'bosses'" (Scott, 1969). Some historians have claimed that urban development would have been far less rapid in the absence of corruption. The last two decades have seen a shift in attitude towards corruption in international development circles (Brown and Cloke, 2004). Recent research has emphasized the costs that corruption can impose. It is no longer so common to have corruption dismissed as a necessary evil, or still less as a necessary corrective to inappropriate rules and regulations – as when, for example, Samuel Huntington claimed that "In terms of economic growth, the only thing worse than a society with a rigid over-centralized dishonest bureaucracy is one with a rigid, overcentralized, honest bureaucracy" (cited in Bardhan, 1997). Corruption remains poorly understood, and the popularity of anti-corruption initiatives reflects changing political attitudes towards the role of the state as much as better understandings of the nature and costs of corruption. Efforts to fight corruption suffer as a result. While corruption is always a symptom of governance problems, it can be counterproductive to respond by admonishing governments to clamp down on corruption, ignoring the different forms that 2 Corruption is often taken to apply only to public officials, so that a public utility worker who takes a bribe is corrupt, while a private utility official who does the same is not. A broader definition is employed here, to avoid perverse conclusions, such as that shifting responsibilities to the private sector reduces corruption even if the private actors engage in behaviour identical to or worse than that of their public predecessors. A broad definition is also consistent with the focus on governance rather than government, and the implicit recognition that when private actors take on public services they also take on public responsibilities. corruption can take, the multiple instigators of corruption, and the different responses that can be effective. Moreover, while corruption is often seen as indicative of the debility of governments, cutting back on government does not necessarily reduce corruption, and may even increase it. Indeed, some would argue that in the water and sanitation sector, increasing the role of the private sector can increase the scope for corruption (Hall, 1999), just as did monopolies in American cities in the past. Corrupt practices in water and sanitation governance range from corrupt relations between utility field staff and individual customers, to corrupt relations between national politicians and multinational companies. Two of the most important categories when it comes to water and sanitation provision in low-income areas are corrupt relations between water and sanitation utilities and their customers, and corrupt relations between public agencies or water and sanitation utilities and their contractors. 7.1. Corrupt relations between water and sanitation utilities and their customers A recent study of corruption in South Asia's water and sanitation sector found widespread experience of corruption on the part of utility staff, customers and contractors in nine locations (Davis, 2004). More surprising than the rates of corruption uncovered, was the extent to which people were willing to acknowledge and discuss, in the course of interviews and focus-group discussions, their own or their associates' involvement in corruption (measures were taken to protect the identities of the respondents and institutions). To some degree this openness probably reflects the extent to which corruption is endemic – one contractor, for example, "produced a laminated card upon which he had written the payment schedule for kickbacks". On the other hand, even such limited forms of openness may also reflect opportunities for reducing this form of corruption and improving water and sanitation governance. Notably, one of the conclusions of the study was that open processes such as staff meetings and meetings with customers were an important element to the more successful attempts to curb corruption. Consumers of water and sanitation services may encounter various forms of corruption, most of which require them to make payments to utility officials. Of the 411 customers interviewed for the study mentioned in the previous paragraph, 41 per cent admitted that they had made payments in the past six months to reduce their bills through false meter readings, 30 per cent admitted they had made payments to expedite repair work, and 12 per cent had at one time or another made a payment to expedite a new connection. Staff members of water and sanitation agencies gave broadly consistent responses. In at least one location there was a private market for illegal connections, and an appreciable share of those with illegal connections reportedly made payments to line workers to avoid being reported. For the most part the payments involved were very small. The median reported payment per transaction was $0.45 for false meter readings, $1.90 for expediting repair work and $22 for expediting a new connection. While such payments can be onerous for a very low-income household, they represent only a small share of the cost of the activities in question. These forms of petty corruption can undermine good water and sanitation governance, but can rarely be addressed simply by enforcing the formal rules and regulations more rigorously. With fluctuating water pressures and faulty meters, inaccurate meter readings are not detectable. If the utility relies on unofficial private repairs to keep the services running, it is difficult to discern when field personnel are selling their services to the same end. It can even be difficult to discern illegal connections. In a great many settings, petty corruption is as much a consequence as a cause of ineffective water governance. How corruption is addressed is as important as whether it is addressed. Low-income residents without adequate water and sanitation services may well be among the worst-affected by corruption, but they are also at risk from measures to curb corruption. If a private (or public) operator sets out to curb illegal connections, and takes measures to ensure that its staff has the incentive to prevent or close down illegal connections, rather than collect illegal payments from users, many more low-income households may find themselves with even less access to water. If the authorities clamp down on sanitation facilities that are not up to standard, rather than looking the other way in return for a nominal payment, many low-income households may find themselves being prosecuted for sanitary offences. This is not to say that petty corruption should be considered acceptable, but that good governance requires not only that corruption be tackled, but that it be tackled in an open, inclusive and equitable manner. Petty corruption can affect private as well as public utility operators, although according to some definitions it is not truly corruption if public officials are not involved. Private utility operators may have a stronger incentive to curb such activities, but only insomuch as they are losing revenues as the result. If this petty corruption provides an additional source of revenue in a price-controlled market, private operating companies are less likely to be concerned. More generally, whether or not private efforts to curb such corruption are more vigorous than public efforts, without the cooperation of customers and local government, such efforts have limited potential. 7.2. Corrupt relations between public agencies and private water and sanitation contractors Corruption that affects the relations between public agencies and private water and sanitation contractors can also affect the incentives that the private contractors have to provide services to low-income consumers. On the one hand, corruption increases costs. On the other hand, it undermines the capacity of the public agency to demand adherence to the contract. In the extreme case, corruption could take the form of an implicit agreement by the public and private partners to share the savings from providing less-than-adequate services in low-income areas. This is, as it were, public–private partnership at its worst. Even if the impact on provision in low-income areas is less direct, corrupt relations between public agencies and their contractors are clearly inimical to the principles of good governance, and undermine the potential role of the public sector in promoting better service delivery, in low-income areas as elsewhere. One of the most evident forms of corruption involving contractors is when politicians or public officials influence the choice of contractors or the nature of the contract in exchange for bribes, kickbacks or other personal/political gains. Corrupt relations can be instigated by either side, and where corruption is endemic it may simply be a question of which side raises the issue first. In cases of nepotism, the contractor has a direct and long-term relation to an influential politician or official. In other cases, the relationship may be strictly short term and financial. Such corruption arises at many scales, from multimillion-dollar concession contracts down to informal contracts for water kiosks – or from what has been termed grand to petty corruption. The different scales of corruption tend to be mutually reinforcing. At every scale, this form of corruption will tend to reduce the likelihood that water provision and sanitary conditions improve in the more deprived neighbourhoods. Corruption in large water (and sanitation) concessions can itself take many forms, and the sums of money involved make these concessions an attractive target. When consortia are formed to bid for large concessions, multinationals and local companies can be expected to bring different technical skills to their consortium. Ideally, the local partners should bring the skills and knowledge needed to negotiate improvements in water and sanitation services in under-served communities, and longstanding relations to some of these communities. After all, the multinational companies are unlikely to have such skills. Unfortunately, if the consortium plans to engage in corrupt practices, what the local company may bring is their skills in negotiating with corrupt local politicians, and their longstanding relations to some of these politicians. Such practices are extremely sensitive politically, and may come to the public's attention only when the politicians involved lose power, as for example with the water concessions in Jakarta after the fall of President Suharto. There is no reason to assume that corruption in these large contracts is any more or any less common than in the smaller contracts. The study of corruption in water and sanitation services in Asia referred to in the previous section (Davis, 2004) examined problems with competitive contracting and kickbacks in the relations between water and sanitation authorities and local contractors. Despite the use of competitive bidding, cartels were operating, subverting the competitive process by deciding among themselves who would win the bid, and organizing the bids accordingly. Kickbacks were also common: "Contractors work together or with politicians to win projects with their local W&S service providers on favourable terms. They also cooperate with technical staff to increase their profit margin once a contract is secured. Through complex arrangements funds budgeted for construction are "skimmed" and shared by a number of different actors. Contractors often pay either a percentage of the contract value or a lump-sum amount to one or more actors within the agency. The payments are almost always made in cash, in the W&S offices or in the field." (Davis, 2004, pages 58–59) The data indicated that kickbacks were involved in about half of the contracts issued, and that the scale of the kickbacks tended to be of the order of 5–10 per cent of the value of the contract. Such forms of corruption can affect all water and sanitation customers. Low-income neighbourhoods may be somewhat more vulnerable, but in financial terms probably lose less per capita than more affluent neighbourhoods where the numbers of projects are considerably higher. There are, however, certain types of projects where the costs of corruption clearly burden disproportionately the groups with the worst water and sanitary conditions. In some deprived neighbourhoods, people rely on water that they purchase from vendors or water kiosks. When corruption reduces the number of kiosks or prevents the piped-water network from expanding into these neighbourhoods, it is the poorest urban dwellers who are likely to suffer most. In Jakarta in the 1990s, it was alleged that the public utility was holding back on improving water supplies in the areas where the kiosks (or hydrants) operated, for fear of losing the side-payments that the hydrant operators paid to utility officials (Lovei and Whittington, 1993). It is extremely difficult to verify such claims, but just as large contracts are likely to be a magnet for corrupt practices, so are the high prices that low-income households pay for vendor water. 7.3. Good governance, tackling corruption and getting private companies to provide better services to the urban poor Many of the conventional characteristics of "good" governance, such as accountability, transparency and the rule of law, are meant to be checks on corruption. Many of the "good governance" initiatives that have received widespread recognition, such as participatory budgeting, have at their centre a commitment by government not only to allow citizens more scope for influencing priorities but also greater transparency and accountability with regard to what funds are available and how they are used (Cabannes, 2004; Menegat, 2002). Narrowly conceived anti-corruption initiatives, that rely on increased oversight achieved through external audits and reduced staff discretion, are unlikely to be sufficient to curb corruption in water and sanitation provision. The Asian review identified two elements common to all of the successful strategies encountered: changes that increased accountability, and changes that increased the cost of misconduct (or the moral benefits of good conduct) (Davis, 2004). The most successful strategies in low-income areas often involve the low-income residents themselves in what amounts to quality control, and the results seem to suggest that, just like any good manager, local residents are capable of giving very positive reinforcement. 8. Conclusions The relevant issues and options extend beyond the mechanisms embedded within a particular institutional framework (e.g. how do the interests of the urban poor get represented in the context of a private water concession), and extend to the selection and evolution of institutional frameworks (e.g. how do the interests of the urban poor get represented when the decision is made to grant a concession). Moreover, water governance cannot be disassociated from other governance issues. There are, as it were, strong returns to good governance. Good governance in one sector typically implies good governance in other sectors, not only because all sectors draw on the same governance institutions, practices and relationships but also because any good governance helps to create the aspirations and political strategies that can help address water and other issues of importance to poorer groups. "Better" governance, much influenced by decentralization and stronger local democracies (including elected mayors), has provided the context for more attention to water and sanitation in many urban centres (Hardoy et al., 2001; Follegatti and Hordijk, 1996; Velasquez, 1998). While there is no single model or set of models for good water and sanitation governance, there are principles of water governance that provide the basis for taking some first steps towards using water and sanitation governance to get private enterprises to provide better services for the urban poor. 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Lake Forest Resort & Club Condominium Association Board of Director's Meeting Friday, September 21, 2018 Dan Krueger called the meeting to order at 9:00am. Those present were Dennis Breidenbach, Curt Knapp, Michael Schultz, Laurie McWard, Tim Mikel and Sue Couture. Once the quorum was established, Tim made a motion that the agenda be approved, with Curt seconding. The agenda was then approved. With no visitors in attendance, the meeting proceeded. Secretary's Report Tim made a motion to approve the minutes from the April 27, 2018 board meeting, with Laurie seconding. The motion was approved. A letter from Ty Vanneiuwenhoven in regards to the disposition of Ruth Vannieuwenhoven's weeks was read to the board, and discussion ensued. The board agreed that we should follow the normal procedure for deedback of weeks. Tammy Schultz has resigned from the board. A preliminary candidate has been considered by the board, and a decision is pending formal approval. President's Report by Dan Krueger I want to welcome back Denise to the front office. Many of the Lake Forest owners had become accustomed to her pleasant and cheery disposition over the past several years. And for the time she was gone (a little over a year), she was greatly missed. For any business or organization to be successful, having a team of employees that operates cohesively is vital. It's all about the people. We have amazing people... and I want to take this opportunity to thank all of them for their commitment and passion to be part of Lake Forest. Quite simply, it's because of them that we have the gem of a resort that we have. Increasing Owner Engagement: This year a growing number of people have been inquiring about the future of Lake Forest and the continuation of its legacy. It's only natural for people who bought their weeks 20 - 40 years ago to want this valued part of their life to continue for their children and others. It's truly been a big POSITIVE part of our owner's vacation lives… memories, family, relaxation, recreation. Over the years I've traded some of my weeks from other timeshares I own and stayed at many very nice resorts. But the Lake Forest mystique and "family" that we have is special. Not many places have what we have. People often express their satisfaction and ideas to Sue during their time of stay at the resort. Her open-door policy has allowed owners to share their thoughts and feelings about the resort. Quite frankly, having access to the "resort manager" (and for many building a closer relationship with her) is unique compared to most other resorts. Sometimes people express concerns to Sue about the future of Lake Forest and want to contribute their ideas. This has always and will continue to be welcomed. Owners should know that they can share their ideas and ask questions. While these discussions are often time consuming, it is important for owners to feel that their contribution is valued, as well as getting clarity on their questions. They deserve that. Over the past few years, we as board members have learned much about the integral operations and challenges the resort faces. The average owner has little to no knowledge of these things. Often it can take hours of Sue's time to help shape a proper perspective and clarify an owner's understanding regarding their questions and concerns and/or ideas for the resort. Sometimes these discussions take several meetings, either in person or on the phone. I want us to explore ways to help simplify this process. Possibly some information sheets could be put together addressing common subjects that owners have questions and ideas about that will give owners good information, and ultimately help Sue save some time in her already busy day. We'll be talking more about this later in the meeting. Continuing to Make Improvements: Owners have overwhelmingly expressed their approval of the improvements made to the resort over the past couple of years. This validates the board's general objective determined at our April-2016 board meeting to focus on making larger dollar improvements to replace/repair items that have been deferred for many years… and to do this sooner, rather than later… specifically within 3-4 years. I believe that our continued focus on this objective will yield even more approval and owner satisfaction. While this approach to our budget has had some impact on the rise in the maintenance fee - it hasn't been that much of an increase. Over the past 2 years the maintenance fee has gone up less than $60. Half of that increase is due to inflation alone ($600 x 2.5% inflation = $15/yr: $15/yr x 2 years = $30) In keeping with this original improvement objective on larger deferred maintenance items, 2020 is planned to be the final year of accelerating the payment for these bigger cost items. Then, beginning in 2021 the focus would shift to increasing our Asset Reserve fund for future projects, while also stabilizing the maintenance fee for future years. I am confident that we can accomplish these objectives and complete the final major improvements planned through 2020. Proposed Bylaw Amendments for Treehouse Village: Treehouse Village (THV) recently sent out a ballot for their owners to vote on to make several bylaw changes. Generally, the changes that are being proposed by THV give their paying owners more flexibility to make the decision to terminate their operation as a timeshare condominium and seek other options of continuation or simply wind things up and sell their properties. This is a better option than being forced to wait it out until 2023 as the number of paying owners continues to decline and result in a prohibitive maintenance fee amount…causing dire financial problems and a limited ability to do anything about it. Treasurer's Report Bank Balances as of July 31, 2018 Operating Checking - $37,779,37 Asset Checking- $321.65 Asset Reserve Fund: $105,859.30 Operating Money Market - $103,919.59 The operating checking account registers for April, May, June and July 2018 were reviewed, approved, and all board members signed off. The budget performance is on target to meet projections for income and expenses for 2018. Cash flow for 2018 is on target as well. The board discussed and reviewed the 2019 budget. They discussed increases in operating costs, resort upgrades and shrinkage in ownership maintenance fees while developing the budget. The final budget will be provided in the Annual Call to Meeting newsletter and then voted on, by owners, at the annual meeting in December. The board discussed the move of $60,000 from the Asset Reserve Fund to Asset Checking to rebuild the retaining wall behind the resort center, as well as bathroom upgrades including comfort height toilets and new vanity tops. Tim moved that this move be approved, with Laurie seconding. Those funds will be replaced within the next 2-3 years. Resort Manager Report by Sue Couture Rental Program: The gross revenue is tracking $2000 higher than last year which can be attributed to a hike in rental rates. Since 2012 the gross revenues have increased by 20%, with the peak being in 2015. Since then, AirBnB and other private vacation rental properties have become real competition. Resale Activity: As of 8.31.18 there were 362 weeks on the resale list, up 3% since 3.31.17. That is almost 31.5% of the total weeks in our annual calendar. Finding people interested in fixed week ownership continues to be a challenge, especially in low and shoulder season. We urge all owner families to recommend Lake Forest Resort to family and friends. Information on the 'Lake Forest Resort Ambassador Program' can be found in your condo directory and on our website. Maintenance Fee Collections: We finished up 2017 with 12.68% in bad debt, up 2.36% from year end 2016. As of 8.31.18 we were tracking 1.49% higher than 8.31.17. Collections activity has taken up a large amount of my time the past several months. Annual Meeting: The primary point of an annual meeting is to elect members to the board and enact any other business that comes before the association of owners - specifically approving the annual budget - and also offer reports to the owners about association business, both fiscal and operation. As a cost savings measure many resorts have transitioned to sharing this information and conducting voting electronically. December 1 st is the Annual Meeting in Brookfield, WI. This year we'll be running an experiment to offer the meeting electronically as well. Stayed tuned for those details in the 'Annual Call to Meeting' coming out in November. By 2020 we anticipate holding the Annual Meeting at the resort with the electronic option for owners. Sales Tax on Recreation Membership: The State of WI Department of Revenue is now charging sales tax on the fee charged by a homeowner's association to its members for access to or use of recreational facilities. As such, the monthly fee we pay to the Lake Forest Health and Fitness Center is subject to 5.5% sales tax which has been budgeted for in 2019. Accepting Credit Cards for Maintenance Fee Payments: The association will once again start accepting credit card payments for maintenance fees. However, there will be a 3% convenience fee to offset the discount and fees we pay to our processing provider. Pet Policy: In light of more people travelling with emotional support animals we'll be developing a pet policy based on the laws of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Amendments Act. Miscellaneous: We're working with the Lake Forest Recreation Area to develop on-site snowshoe trails. Resort Upgrades: All new pillows and bedding, 8 new sets of living room upholstered furniture (remaining 8 coming in 2019), new boiler in the 109-116 building, 117-124 entry foyer window glass replacement, new kitchen appliances for 109116 (117-124 getting new appliances in 2019), new washers and dryers in the 117-124 laundry room, new guest bedroom furniture in the 101-108 building, new master bedroom furniture in 103-108, 101-108 and 117-124 sun deck repairs and staining, extensive repairs to many of the master bedroom balconies, kitchen paneling removal in 101-108 and 105-124 re-finishing of bedroom furniture. Asset Replacement The committee reviewed the 2018 replacement schedule. All projects have been completed, within budget. Due to cost savings, additional replacements were completed ahead of schedule. The committee has developed a replacement schedule for 2019. Replacements will include additional kitchen appliances and upholstered furniture. Requested and under consideration by the board are flexible showerheads in all units, along with ironing boards and irons for all units. The 2018 Proposed Asset Replacement scheduled was reviewed with a budget of $118,250. The schedule will be presented to owners at the annual meeting. Personnel and Policy by Laurie McWard Sue's appraisal was discussed and the board thanked her for continued excellence in her job performance. She met or exceeded all of her goals for 2018. The resort is currently fully staffed and the staff is performing well. Laurie will be meeting with Sue to discuss specific goals for 2019. Longevity The idea of a sustainability study was discussed by the board. The board will explore this further. Most Lake Forest owners have positive memories of their vacations at the resort. Memories of family, outdoor recreation, and simply relaxation. Many have expressed how much they just love Lake Forest Resort and want to enjoy it for as long as they can, and then hopefully pass it on to their kids. So when problems or challenges for the resort arise, it's only natural that they want there to be a solution to these problems. About 8 years ago (2010) the resort began experiencing some subtle, yet critical changes that are now presenting as major challenges to the longevity of the resort. More specifically, these challenges include; 1) An aging owner base resulting in fewer low and shoulder season owners continuing to use their weeks, and an increasing number of them deeding their week back to the resort. 2) People shifting away from committing to vacation ownership (i.e.; fixed-weeks) to having more flexibility with their vacationing. This is especially true among people that are post baby-boomers (age 50 and younger). The emergence of VRBO, AirBnB, and Craigslist has dramatically impacted competition in the hotel and resort industry. It's not only the resorts we're competing with, but an increasing number of homeowners that are renting their lake homes at below market rates. 3) Deferred maintenance during the past 20 years. While many of the maintenance items were not in need of repair then, not nearly enough money was collected and set aside in the Asset Reserve Fund during this period to be available for recent and near-future expenses. The philosophy back then was simply to keep maintenance fees as low as possible. The board of directors changed this philosophy 5 years ago and the owners will see the maintenance fee rise because of this and the escalation in bad debt. With resales of owner weeks during the low season being virtually nonexistent, and few resales of shoulder season weeks; the question is, how do we replace the lost revenue from weeks that are deeded back? Whether it's resales, increased rental income, or something else, that's what needs to be figured out. Without a solution, we face continued fee increases. It's important to know that this problem is not unique to Lake Forest Resort. Most all legacy resorts (40+ years old) are facing the same dilemma. The only exceptions are those that are a destination unto themselves (i.e. Disney Resorts, Vegas, Hawaii, etc.) Put another way, how are we going to get people to come up to Eagle River in the dead of winter and stay the week? (Not just the weekend for snowmobiling.) Ideas, Suggestions and Solutions In general, we want to always maintain an open and positive door to ideas and suggestions. In fact, as more owners become aware of the challenges that Lake Forest Resort faces, more ideas and suggestions will follow… our owners want the resort to thrive and continue as does the board of directors and our resort manager. Ideas and suggestions are the starting point. There are many facts and figures that directly impact the challenges to the resort, including; occupancy rates, rental revenue figures, owner delinquency rates and trends, owner demographics, resale history and trends, weeks for sale, deferred maintenance issues, lack of funding of future expenses, fitness center issues and costs, existing marketing methods and efforts, collection of fees, deed backs and title recovery issues, and on, and on. Ideas are welcome and encouraged. Fortunately, for the benefit of owners, documents and reports have been prepared for self-education of many of the issues regarding the resort. Sue can provide this information upon request. If an idea is suggested, then please use these resources to develop the knowledge and understanding of the various facets and challenges of the resort. Further discussion with Sue can then determine what additional information is needed to present a validated idea to the board. Other The board would like to thank Sue and the Lake Forest Resort staff for their hospitality during the board meeting. With no other business, Curt moved to adjourn the meeting, with Dennis seconding. This was approved and the meeting was adjourned at 10:21am. Published for review: 10/8/18 Approved: 12/1/18
CAPACITY-BUILDING WORKSHOP ON THE NAGOYA PROTOCOL Montreal, Canada, 4-5 June 2011 OPEN-ENDED AD HOC INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE FOR THE NAGOYA PROTOCOL ON ACCESS TO GENETIC RESOURCES AND THE FAIR AND EQUITABLE SHARING OF BENEFITS ARISING FROM THEIR UTILIZATION First meeting Montreal, Canada, 5-10 June 2011 INFORMATION NOTE FOR PARTICIPANTS QUICK LINKS (Control + click on icons for web page, click on page number to directly access text in document) INFORMATION HIGHLIGHTS Visa Information (pages 5, 10) Meeting Documents (page 4) Hotel Information (pages 5, 11) Weather Information (page 9) Currency Information (page 9) Distr. REVISED 05 May 2011 ENGLISH ONLY 1. CAPACITY-BUILDING WORKSHOP The Capacity-building workshop on Access and Benefit-sharing will be held in Montreal from Saturday, 4 June to Sunday, 5 June 2011. This workshop is jointly organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The workshop will run from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, 4 June 2011 and will continue from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, 5 June 2011. Further information regarding the capacity-building workshop will be communicated to Parties shortly. Registration will take place at the venue of the meeting at 8:00 a.m. the same day. 2. OFFICIAL OPENING The official opening for the First Meeting of the Open-ended Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Committee for the Nagoya Protocol on ABS (ICNP-1) will take place at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, 5 June 2011. The session on Sunday will focus on organizational matters, in particular the election of the Bureau members for the ICNP and of one of the Co-Chairs of the Intergovernmental Committee. The formal sessions of the meeting will be held daily from Monday, 6 June 2011 onwards from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. A reception hosted by the Canadian authorities will be held on 6 June 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to inaugurate the new additional offices of the Secretariat. For more information on the programme of work, please refer to the provisional annotated agenda, which will be made available on the Secretariat's web site at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=ICNP-01. 3. VENUE All of the meetings listed above will be held at: The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 999 University Street (between Viger and St-Antoine) Montreal, Quebec H3C 5H7, Canada Tel: +1-514-954-8219 Metro, line 2 – Orange - station Square-Victoria 4. PRE-REGISTRATION 4.1 CONTRACTING PARTIES The letter should indicate the names, titles and contacts of delegates attending the ICNP-1 meeting and should be sent to the attention of the Executive Secretary at the address below, as soon as possible, preferably by 30 May 2011. Without an official notification from representatives of contracting Parties nominated to attend the meeting, indicating the names, titles and contacts of delegates and including the head of the delegation, registration will not be possible. This will facilitate the delivery of conference badges upon arrival on site, and the preparation of the list of participants. Participants who do not wish to have their coordinates appear on the list of participants should inform the registration desk upon their arrival at the venue. Mr. Ahmed Djoghlaf Executive Secretary Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity 413 St. Jacques Street West, Suite 800 Montreal, Quebec H2Y 1N9 Canada Fax: + 1-514-288-6588 E-mail: email@example.com 4.2 OBSERVERS 4.2.1 STATES NOT PARTY TO THE CONVENTION The pre-registration of States not Party to the Convention is subject to the same procedure as outlined in paragraph 4.1 above. 4.2.2 THE UNITED NATIONS AND ITS SPECIALIZED AGENCIES The pre-registration of representatives of the UN and its specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency is subject to the same procedure as outlined in paragraph 4.1 above. 4.2.3 GOVERNMENTAL AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL BODIES OR AGENCIES QUALIFIED IN THE FIELDS OF BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE Rule 7.1 of the rules of procedure applies to bodies or agencies qualified in the fields of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use wishing to be represented as observers in the meeting. These observers may, upon invitation of the President of the meeting, participate without the right to vote in the proceedings of any meeting in matters of direct concern to the body or agency they represent unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object (rule 7.2). Pursuant to COP decision IX/29 (Annex) if a body or agency was not represented at the Ninth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (Bonn, 2008) the organization's statutes/rules or terms of reference, membership, as well as any other relevant information about the organization, must also be included with the request to be represented as an observer at the meeting. The pre-registration of these representatives is subject to the receipt by the Secretariat of an official letter and relevant documentation. The letter must be on the organization's letterhead and signed by the organization's Chief Executive or President and not by the nominee. The letter should indicate the names, titles and contacts of delegates attending the ICNP-1 meeting. The letter should be sent to the attention of the Executive Secretary at the address indicated in item 4.1 above. This information provided will facilitate the delivery of conference badges upon arrival on site, and preparation of the list of participants. Participants who do not wish to have their coordinates appear on the list of participants should inform the registration desk upon their arrival at the venue. 5. ACCESS TO THE MEETING VENUE AND NAME BADGES Access to the meeting venue is subject to the presentation of a valid conference badge. Conference badges with photographs will be issued at the registration counter located at 999 University from Saturday, 4 June onward, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Badges will be issued at the registration counter upon presentation of a valid passport or an identification card with a photograph, along with a copy of the nomination letters referred to under heading 4 above. - 4-5 June 2011 from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. - 6-7 June 2011 from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. - 8 June onwards from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For security reasons and to gain access to both meeting venue and meeting rooms, the display of conference badges is mandatory at all times. Any loss of a badge should be reported immediately to the registration counter. 6. MEETING ROOM ALLOCATIONS/RESERVATIONS Information pertaining to room allocations for the plenary as well as for the regional and other groups will be clearly displayed within the meeting venue. Meeting rooms are available for all groups starting on 5 June 2011 upon conclusion of the workshop at approximately 1:00 p.m. and continuing from 6 June every day from 8:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. For any other use outside this slot, the access to the meeting rooms needs to be confirmed, on a daily basis, with Nader Ibrahim or Lisa Pedicelli. Requests, prior to the start of the meeting, can be submitted to CBD Secretariat (firstname.lastname@example.org), and through the "meeting room request" binder located next to the document distribution counter on the 4th floor, during the meeting. 7. DOCUMENTS In order to minimize the environmental footprint of the meeting, only one set of official pre-session documents will be provided per country delegation. Pre-session documents in languages and information documents can be retrieved from the Secretariat's web site: http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=ICNP-01. Delegates are kindly requested to bring their own copies to the meeting. CD-ROMs containing the pre-session documents, in all six United Nations official languages, as well as the information documents, will also be made available upon request to delegates and participating organizations who wish to reproduce, at their own expense, additional copies of the documents. The CD-ROMs will be available at the documentation distribution counter located on the 4 th floor. 8. VISA AND HEALTH REQUIREMENTS 8.1 VISA REQUIREMENTS Participants from countries listed in annex A below require an entry visa for Canada and are strongly advised to contact the nearest Canadian diplomatic or consular mission as soon as possible in order to secure the required entry visa in a timely manner, prior to departure. Please note that airline companies will not allow boarding in the absence of a valid visa. Information on visa procedures, including a list of relevant Canadian diplomatic/consular missions abroad, is available on the web site of Canadian Citizenship and Immigration at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/offices/index.asp#international. To facilitate the issuance of visas, the Secretariat will issue upon request invitation letters to be attached to the visa applications. 8.2 HEALTH REQUIREMENTS There are no vaccination requirements for any international traveller. 9. HOTEL INFORMATION Participants are kindly reminded that they have to make their own hotel reservations as soon as possible. To benefit from the special room rates some hotels are offering please request the rates according to the listing in the annex. Below is an indicative list of hotels (annex B) located in the vicinity of the CBD Secretariat or close to a Metro (subway) station. Please reserve rooms as early as possible as a large international events will be taking place in Montreal at that time (especially from 10-12 June) and hotel rooms may be difficult to find. If you encounter difficulties in booking hotels for the dates of the meeting, the Secretariat has requested some of the recommended hotels to temporarily block/hold spaces for the meeting in order to facilitate participants' reservations. The information is listed in the table below. \| Hotel Name \| Number of Rooms Held and dates available \| Block Reservation Expiry Date \| Method of booking \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Delta Centre Ville \| 50 rooms 3-10 June \| 30 April \| Web site: http://www.deltacentreville.com/010603b or www.deltahotels.com/bg3 \| \| Holiday Inn Select \| 40 rooms 3-10 June \| 30 April \| Tel.: +1-514-878-9888 Web site: www.ichotelsgroup.com \| \| Best Western \| 80 rooms 5-10 June \| \| Tel: +1-514-288-4141 or Toll free in North America: +1-800-361-7791 Fax: +1-514-288-3021 Reservations: email@example.com Web site: www.hotelvillemarie.com \| \| Hotel de la Montagne \| 30 rooms 3-10 June \| 30 May \| Tel.: +1-514-288-5656 Toll free in North America: +1-800-361-6262 Web site: www.hoteldelamontagne.com \| \| Hotel Name \| Number of Rooms Held and dates available \| Block Reservation Expiry Date \| Method of booking \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Hotel Intercontinental Montreal \| 100 rooms 3-10 June \| 30 April \| Tel.: +1-514-847-8525, option #3 Toll free in North America: +1-800-361-3600 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org; email@example.com \| \| Hyatt Regency Montreal \| 25 rooms 3-10 June \| 29 April \| Tel: +1-514-982-1234 Fax: +1-514-841-2069 Web site: www.montreal.hyatt.com \| \| La Tour Centre-Ville \| 25 rooms 3-10 June \| \| Tel: +1-514-874-9090 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org \| \| Le Westin Montreal \| 5 rooms for 3, 4, 5 June \| 30 April \| Web site: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/search /pre_decider_all.html?propertyID=3313&corp orateAccountNumber=302586&language=en- US&EM=VTY_WI_3313_302586_ICAO_C AN \| \| Travelodge \| 60 Single, 15 Double 3-10 June \| 30 April \| Tel: +1-514-874-9090 Toll free in North America: +1-800-363-6535 E-mail: email@example.com \| Further information on hotels in Montreal is available at the following web site: http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/Accommodations 10. GENERAL INFORMATION ON ACCESS TO MONTREAL Montreal is serviced by Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (15 km from downtown). Taxis and a bus (no. 747) are available at the airport. The information on rates is as follows. Bus / Shuttles: One way trip Montreal-Trudeau Airport/Downtown (several locations) STM Express bus No. 747 CDN $8 (at the airport tickets are sold at the International Currency Exchange (ICE) counter on the international arrivals level) Taxis: Montreal-Trudeau /Downtown CDN $38 Fixed rate 11. SERVICES FOR PARTICIPANTS Participants will have access to the internet at an Internet café located within the ICAO Conference building. The ICAO conference building is also equipped with WIFI Internet access. Participants wishing to avail themselves of the reproduction (and publication) facilities of the ICAO printshop are requested to contact at the address below Mr. Jacques Daoust, Chief, Reproduction Unit, directly for cost estimates and other relevant information, as appropriate. During the meeting, Mr. Daoust can be reached at extension 8205. 999 University Street Montreal, Quebec H3C 5H7 - Canada Telephone: + 1-514-954-8219 - Ext 8205 Fax: + 1-514-954-8206 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org 12. PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL 12.1 DISPLAY TABLES Display tables will be made available, free of charge, at the meeting venue for the display of promotional material and publications. Tables, clearly identified, are on a first come, first served basis. 12.2 SHIPPING OF PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL Participants wishing to enquire about space availability regarding storage of promotional material at the meeting venue (ICAO Conference building) should address their requests to the CBD Secretariat (email@example.com), with a copy, for information purposes to Mr. Mike Baiao, ICAO Conference Assistant, (firstname.lastname@example.org). For any query on customs clearance, please contact your courier service directly. All shipments of promotional materials must be: - Addressed to: The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Attention: CBD Meeting 999 University Street Montreal, Quebec Canada H3C 5H7 - Arriving in Montreal no earlier than one week prior to the start of the meeting; - Arranged on a door-to-door basis, as ICAO does not deal with customs clearance and handling of the shipments, nor pay any shipment costs; - Marked to the attention of CBD Meeting (as above); - Identified with the title of the meeting (i.e. ICNP-1); - Communicated to the CBD Secretariat (email@example.com), with a copy to Mr. Mike Baiao (firstname.lastname@example.org), indicating the expected date of arrival in Montreal, the airway bill number and the number of boxes sent. N.B. Boxes must be numbered in "1 of X format". Whenever possible, a copy of the publication should be affixed to each box. 13. SIDE-EVENTS Requests for side-events should be made using the online system available on the Secretariat's web site at: http://www.cbd.int/register/home.shtml. The deadline for the receipt of requests is 20 May 2011. Requests will be processed on a first come, first served basis. Requests received after the deadline will not be considered. Processed side-event requests can be viewed on the Secretariat's web site at: http://www.cbd.int/register/side-events/list.aspx?mtg=icnp-01, prior to and during the meeting. Subject to availability of rooms and provided that side-event requests are received before the set deadline of 20 May 2011, meeting rooms, equipped with LCD projectors and computers/laptops, for PowerPoint presentations, are provided at no cost to the side-events organizers. However, there may be a cost to the organizers when an event is scheduled in a room that does not already contain the required equipment. Should this be the case, organizers will be notified accordingly. It should be noted that side-events may be rescheduled depending on official sessions of the meeting. Should such a situation occur, it is the responsibility of side-events organizers to advise the caterer accordingly. A binder for the scheduling of technical tests for side-events will be made available at the document distribution counter. Organizers of side-events wishing to enquire about costs for catering or technical equipment should contact the following focal persons directly with a copy, for information purposes, to Mr. Mike Baiao (email@example.com) and to Ms. Lisa Pedicelli (firstname.lastname@example.org). (a) Technical equipment Mr. Michael Thomas E-mail: email@example.com Fax: + 1 514 486 4970 (b) Catering Ms. Isabelle Dupuis 999 University Street Montreal, Quebec Canada H3C 5H7 Telephone: + 1 (514) 954-8219 ext.7085 Facsimile: + 1 (514) 954-6134 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Side-event organizers without internet access or experiencing difficulties using the online system mentioned above, could address the duly completed form (annex C) to the CBD Secretariat (email@example.com) or by fax + 1-514-288-6588. It should be noted that food and drinks are not allowed in any of the meeting rooms. 14. PAYMENT OF THE DAILY SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCES (DSA) The DSA will be paid to the sponsored participants starting Monday, 6 June 2011. 15. OFFICIAL LANGUAGES There are two official languages in Canada: English and French. French is the official language of Quebec; however English is widely spoken in Montreal. 16. WEATHER AND TIME ZONE INFORMATION In June, temperatures in Montreal usually range between a maximum of +11°C in the daytime and a minimum of +23°C at night. Current weather conditions in the area can be found at: http://www.worldweather.org/056/c00634.htm. The standard time zone will be GMT/UTC -5 hours. 17. ELECTRICITY The electrical currents are 120 volts, 60 Hertz a (two-pin flat and vertical with a ground connection). The currency in Canada is the Canadian Dollar (CDN $). The current exchange rate as at 15 March 2011 is US $1 = CDN $0.98 and € 1 = CDN $1.37. 19. DISCLAIMER The CBD Secretariat disclaims all responsibility for medical, accident and travel insurance, for compensation for death or disability compensation, for loss of or damage to personal property and for any other loss that may be incurred during travel time or the period of participation. In this context, it is strongly recommended to secure international medical insurance for the period of participation prior to departure. Annex A – Country Listing COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES WHOSE CITIZENS REQUIRE VISAS IN ORDER TO ENTER CANADA AS VISITORS (AS LISTED ON THE WEB SITE OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION CANADA) Citizens of the following countries and territories require a visa to visit or transit Canada: A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Argentina Armenia Azerbaijan B Bahrain Bangladesh Belarus Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi C Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Costa Rica Cuba Czech Republic D Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea E (cont'd) Eritrea Ethiopia F Fiji G Gabon Gambia Georgia Ghana Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Honduras I India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Israel Ivory Coast J Jamaica Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Lao, People's Democratic Republic of Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Lithuania M Macao Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia, Fed. States of Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar N Nauru Nepal Nicaragua Niger Nigeria O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Authority Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Q Qatar R Romania Russian Federation Rwanda S Sao Tomé e Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal S (Cont'd) Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Syrian Arab Republic T Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe Serbia Seychelles Annex B – Hotel listing LIST OF HOTELS WITH INDICATIVE ROOM RATES IN CANADIAN DOLLARS PRICES DO NOT INCLUDE THE APPLICABLE TAXES: GST 5% + QST 8.5% RATES ARE INDICATIVE AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE Annex C – Side-Event Request Form Deadline: 20 May 2011 SIDE-EVENTS REQUEST FORM FIRST MEETING OF THE OPEN-ENDED AD HOC INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE FOR THE NAGOYA PROTOCOL ON ABS (ICNP-1) 5– 10 JUNE 2011, MONTREAL, CANADA Please ensure that all the information below is completed For online requests, please click here: http://www.cbd.int/register/home.shtml 1. Event Title: 2. Full name and acronym of organizer(s): 3. Expected number of Participants: 4. Preferred date and time: (a) First Choice: ____/06/2011 time: 13:15 – 14:45 18:15 – 19:45 (b) Second choice: ____/06/2011 time: 13:15 – 14:45 18:15 – 19:45 (c) Third choice: ____/06/2011 time: 13:15 – 14:45 18:15 – 19:45 5. Requirements* (Please check the boxes as appropriate) (a) LCD Projector with PC (for PowerPoint presentations) (b) Other* (please specify and refer to note below): 6. Date of submission: (____ /____ /_____) dd/mm/yy 7. Short event description: * For any catering arrangements, please refer to page 7 under heading 13. Any event requiring special equipment is at the expense of the organizer; for any query & assistance, please contact: firstname.lastname@example.org. ----- CBD
Five-minute settlement and global settlement March 2021 5MS Bidding Service Go-live Plan Important notice PURPOSE This paper describes the go-live approach with respect to the deployment of the AEMO's 5-minute bidding service. DISCLAIMER This document may be subsequently updated or amended. It is intended to provide general information and guidance, which is only current as at the date of its last publication. It does not constitute legal or business advice, and should not be relied on as a substitute for obtaining detailed advice about the National Electricity Law, the National Electricity Rules, or any other applicable laws, procedures or policies. AEMO has made every reasonable effort to ensure the quality of the information in this document but cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Accordingly, to the maximum extent permitted by law, AEMO and its officers, employees and consultants involved in the preparation of this document: * make no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the currency, accuracy, reliability or completeness of the information in this document; and * are not liable (whether by reason of negligence or otherwise) for any statements or representations in this document, or any omissions from it, or for any use or reliance on the information in it. VERSION CONTROL Executive summary AEMO and National Electricity Market (NEM) participants are currently implementing the five-minute settlement (5MS) and global settlement (GS) market reforms and the implementation program has entered its market readiness phase. The National Electricity Rules (NER) changes for 5MS and GS have amended or introduced new regulatory obligations on certain NEM participants and AEMO. They require significant updates or changes to market procedures, metering and market and participants' systems at various times. AEMO has a key coordination role, through collaboration with its industry working groups, to ready industry and itself for the various system and market "go-live" dates. This document describes the go-live approach with respect to the deployment of the AEMO's 5-minute bidding service. At a high level, the go-live responsibilities are set out below: * AEMO to independently assess the go-live decision for AEMO's 5-minute bidding service, and notify participants when the 5-minute bidding service is available for use. This is expected on 1pm Market Time 1 April 2021 * Participants to commence using the 5-minute bidding service at any time between go-live and 5MS market commencement on 1 October 2021 Participants are not obliged to commence using the new 5-minute bidding service at go-live on 1 April, and may continue to use the current 30-minute bidding service until 30 September 2021. There will be no disruptions to the current 30-minute bidding service at go-live. Contents Executive summary © AEMO 2021 3 Tables © AEMO 2021 1. Introduction This chapter explains the Australian Energy Market Operator's (AEMO) five-minute settlement (5MS) and global settlement (GS) implementation program. It then details the purpose and context of the 5MS Bidding service go live plan. 1.1 AEMO's 5MS and GS implementation program The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) made the 5MS rule 1 in November 2017 and AEMO's extensive 5MS implementation program began in early 2018. 2 GS activities were incorporated into the program when the GS rule 3 was made in December 2018 because aligning 5MS and GS implementation activities is intended to minimise costs for AEMO and market participants. On 9 July 2020, the AEMC determined that the commencement of the 5MS rule and GS rule should be delayed by 3 months, so that they commence on 1 October 2021 and 1 May 2022 respectively. 4 The program covers the procedural, IT system and market readiness arrangements needed to implement 5MS and GS using the following workstreams: * Procedures –defines and implements the required changes to market procedures 5 * Systems – designs, develops, tests, and implements changes to AEMO's market systems 6 * Readiness – coordinates, assists and prepares AEMO and participants for the transition to 5MS and GS. 7 AEMO's 5MS and GS implementation program has entered the market readiness phase of the project. This paper relates only to market readiness. 1.2 5MS Bidding Transition The 5MS bidding transition is described in the 5MS Bidding transition plan. 8 1.2.1 Document purpose This document describes the go-live approach with respect to the deployment of the AEMO's 5-minute bidding service. 1 National Electricity Amendment (Five minute settlement) Rule 2017 No. 15, Australian Energy Market Commission, available at: https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/five-minute-settlement, as further amended by the National Electricity Amendment (Five minute settlement and global settlement implementation amendments) Rule 2019 No. 7, available at https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/five-minute-settlement-and-globalsettlement-implementation-amendments 2 Details of AEMO's 5MS and GS implementation program: http://aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Five-Minute-Settlement 3 National Electricity Amendment (Global settlement and market reconciliation) Rule 2018 No. 14, Australian Energy Market Commission, available at: https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/global-settlement-and-market-reconciliation, as further amended by the National Electricity Amendment (Five minute settlement and global settlement implementation amendments) Rule 2019 No. 7, op cit. 4 Details on the delayed implementation of five minute and global settlement: https://www.aemc.gov.au/rule-changes/delayed-implementation-five-minuteand-global-settlement 5 Details of the procedures workstream: http://aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Five-Minute-Settlement/Procedures-Workstream 6 Details of the systems workstream: https://aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Five-Minute-Settlement/Systems-Workstream 7 Details of the readiness workstream: https://aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Five-Minute-Settlement/Readiness-Workstream 8 For more information on the 5MS bidding transition see: https://aemo.com.au/en/initiatives/major-programs/nem-five-minute-settlement-program-andglobal-settlement/readiness-workstream/key-readiness-documents © AEMO 2021 1.2.2 Development approach The 5MS Bidding service go-live plan is developed in consultation with industry through the 5MS and GS Readiness Working Group (RWG). Table 1 below illustrates AEMO's engagement approach and timeline for developing the plan. Table 1 5MS bidding service go-live plan development timeline © AEMO 2021 2. 5MS Bidding Service Go-live Plan Framework 2.1 Scope * In scope o Go-live approach, including the go/no-go decision approach and communication mechanism with the industry o Contingency process and notification o Participant Data Model release considerations * Out of scope o Participant deployment approaches for 5MS bidding capability o Participant roll-back plans 2.2 Principles The Industry transition and go-live strategy principles apply to the 5-minute bidding service go-live. These are: 1. Mandated 5MS and GS commencement dates should be met 2. NEM operations should be uninterrupted during periods of transition and go-live 3. Market system go-lives and 5MS and GS commencement risks should be minimised 4. More certainty for participants' project planning should be introduced 5. Participants should be provided with implementation flexibility where possible 6. Participants and AEMO are responsible for their own transition and go-live planning 9 In addition, the following principles are specific to the industry bidding platform go-live: 1. Impact on participant operations will be minimised to the extent possible 2. AEMO to perform the cutover, making capability available prior to Industry participant deployments 3. AEMO will independently assess and inform the industry on the go-live decision for AEMO's 5minute bidding service, and communicate status during the cutover process 4. Participants will comply with the cutover plan to facilitate the cutover 5. Participants will develop their individual plans that have regard to the key activities and dates set out in the 5MS Bidding service go-live plan and Bidding transition plan 6. Must continue to fulfil all regulatory and compliance obligations during the system cutover 9 Full descriptions of each principle are set out in the Industry transition and go-live strategy at: https://aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-MarketNEM/Five-Minute-Settlement/Readiness-Workstream/Key-Readiness-Documents © AEMO 2021 3. 5MS Bidding Service Go-live Plan 3.1 Go-live plan The 5-minute bidding service will be made available to participants on 1 April 2021. The go-live responsibilities are set out below. 1. AEMO will be performing all preparatory work for the 5-minute bidding platform go-live. 2. AEMO will performing all cutover activities, and will independently assess and inform the industry on the go-live decision on the 5-minute bidding service based on AEMO's assessment of defects identified during industry tests. 3. Participants will be kept informed of the cutover process through the AEMO Support Hub Bulletin which will be forwarded to all 5MS working groups from 5MS mailbox. 4. At the completion of the cutover, AEMO will inform industry that the 5-minute bidding services is available. This is expected at approximately 1pm Market Time 1 April 2021. 5. Participants to commence using the 5-minute bidding service at any time between go-live and 5MS market commencement. Participants are not obliged to commence using the new 5-minute bidding service at go-live on 1 April, and may continue to use the current 30-minute bidding service until 30 September 2021. The 5-minute bidding service will be available in parallel with the current 30-Minute bidding service. There will be no disruptions to the current 30-minute bidding service. 3.2 Communications Any correspondence regarding the bidding platform go-live will be released through AEMO Support Hub bulletins, and forwarded from the 5MS mailbox. Participants will be informed if there are any changes to the go-live date through the communication mechanisms above. 3.3 Bidding Transition Plan The Bidding transition plan provides coordinated guidance for AEMO and participants on the transition to 5minute bidding. Figure 1 illustrates the overall approach to the industry transition to 5-minute bidding. The full plan is published separately as a written report and spreadsheet 10 . The 5MS Bidding service go-live plan describes the deployment of bidding transition arrangements in the production environment on 1 April 2021. 10 For more information on the 5MS bidding transition see: https://aemo.com.au/en/initiatives/major-programs/nem-five-minute-settlement-program-andglobal-settlement/readiness-workstream/key-readiness-documents © AEMO 2021 Figure 1 5-minute bidding phases © AEMO 2021 10 3.4 Participant Data Model Considerations Participants that wish to commence using the 5-minute bidding service will have to update to version 5.00 of the EMMS data model 11 . No action is required if participants are continuing to submit bids in the current 30minute format. 3.5 Post Go-Live Support AEMO will providing support to the industry post go-live through Support Hub. The AEMO business, IT SMEs and 5MS project teams will be available through this channel. Participants should log issues via AEMO Support Hub to ensure that issues are escalated in a timely manner to the right team within AEMO. Participants that require support from AEMO when they transition their own systems are encouraged to inform AEMO as early as possible to ensure an adequate level of support is provided, and to the extent possible schedule those deployments during normal working hours. Where this is not feasible to provide 72 hours of notice to enable after hours support teams to be aware of potential support requirements. Existing support communication channels will be utilised for market communications in the post go-live period. IT system notifications will continue through the AEMO Support Hub. Participants not already receiving Support Hub bulletins may register at: https://www.aemo.com.au/subscribe The AEMO 5MS program may also organise post-go-live open Q&A sessions if required. 11 For more information on the latest data model see: https://aemo.com.au/initiatives/major-programs/nem-five-minute-settlement-program-and-globalsettlement/systems-workstream/systems-technical-documents © AEMO 2021 11 3.6 Contingencies The scenario of AEMO's 5-minute bidding service failing to go-live on the scheduled date is documented in the Industry Readiness Contingency Plan spreadsheet under the scenario ID 'C12'. 12 Table 2 below is an extract of scenario 'C12'. In the event AEMO's 5-minute bidding service fails to go-live on the scheduled date, AEMO will investigate any issues and inform the industry of a new go-live date. No disruption to existing bidding processes is expected and participants will be able to continue submitting bids through the existing 30-minute bidding service. Table 2 Contingency Scenario – AEMO's 5-minute bidding service failing to cutover 12 The Industry Readiness Contingency Plan consists of a written document and a spreadsheet. For more information see: https://aemo.com.au/initiatives/major-programs/nem-five-minute-settlement-program-and-globalsettlement/industry-working-groups-and-readiness/industry-readiness-strategy Glossary This document uses many terms that have meanings defined in the National Electricity Rules (NER). The NER meanings are adopted unless otherwise specified. © AEMO 2021 13
A CLIENT GUIDE: DIGITAL ASSETS, PLANNING FOR WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DIE WHAT ARE DIGITAL ASSETS? The term "digital assets" refers to the possessions you access on a digital device such as a laptop, mobile phone, tablet or personal computer. They are normally accessed via an online account run by a third party provider such as Google, Facebook, Netflix, Apple, Microsoft or Amazon. Examples of digital assets are digital photos, digital music tracks or videos that are stored online and accessed by logging into a personal account with the provider. Other examples are emails, conversations in social media, online games and online family ancestry databases (which could include family photos, videos and even DNA test results). Find out what will happen to your digital assets when you die Most people also access actual assets and services such as money in a bank account, loans on credit cards, pension funds, investment portfolios, and utilities such as gas and electricity via online accounts. Although the underlying asset or service is not a digital asset, access is controlled via a digital portal by typing in a username and password. Maintaining access to online accounts is essential for either financial or sentimental reasons. It is very important to plan what will happen to your online accounts when you die. Imagine if, following your death, family and friends were unable to access your documents and photographs, and that the companies running the platform where they are held permanently deleted your digital assets. This is what could happen if you do not make plans now to enable your executors to access the assets on your death. HOW SHOULD I PLAN AHEAD TO DEAL WITH MY DIGITAL ASSETS? Review what you have The first and most important step is to review what assets and information you hold digitally in online accounts. Make a list of logins and passwords for all online accounts. Please ask me for a standard log for recording the information if you need one. It is very important that you store this list securely as a hard copy and keep it up to date (consider reviewing it every six months). If you would like me to store the log for you please let me know so that I can arrange for it to be kept in our strong room. Alternatively, you could use a commercial password manager as a gateway for all your passwords. Please ask me for details if you would prefer this option. You should tell executors of the existence of the list and where it is stored (but do not give it to them). Do not give this information to anyone else. In particular, never share PIN numbers or other information relating to a bank account. T: M: 0115 849 9949 After you have reviewed what digital assets you have, the next step is to clarify what will happen to those assets when you die if you do nothing. For each online account review the terms and conditions you agreed to when creating the account. There may be specific terms on which assets will be administered on death or if there is no activity on an account for a long period of time. Be aware that some internet service providers (ISPs) will permanently destroy your digital assets after a period of inactivity if someone such as an executor does not intervene. I can provide you with details of the standard terms and conditions for the most frequently used accounts if you would find this helpful. Consider choosing an account nominee to take over control of certain aspects of your account where the ISP offers this facility. Currently the only ISPs offering this are Facebook (you can nominate a legacy contact), and Google (you can nominate an Inactive Account Manager). Memorialising social network accounts Some social media platforms, such as Facebook, allow the accounts of deceased account holders to be memorialised. Essentially, the account is frozen so that no one can log into it. Only verified friends and family can then see the deceased's profile or locate it in a search. Friends and family can post comments to the deceased's page in remembrance of them. Once memorialised an account cannot be accessed or unlocked. If you would like any social media accounts to be memorialised, give written instructions to executors, or your other chosen nominee. Review these instructions regularly. Executors could be instructed to leave a particular message for followers or friends. Consider whether such a message should be posted on personal pages on social media and who should be able to see them. Create hard copies If you are concerned about your accounts being deleted after a period of inactivity you may want to print off hard copies, burn to a CD or download onto a USB stick any photographs and documents that are only stored digitally and keep them in a safe place where executors and family can find them. Another option may be to retain downloaded copies of key documents and information on a personally owned device (such as a laptop, tablet or personal computer), rather than storing them solely online. Downloading or keeping copies of assets on an external hard drive or on a USB stick, may enable executors to access and print off assets more easily. Some ISPs offer a link to a downloadable file containing everything you have uploaded on an account. This can be a useful way of taking a snapshot of what an account contains. E: firstname.lastname@example.org W: ellamillettlegal.co.uk 07971 675 774 Access to your devices Equally important is securing access to your laptops, PCs, mobile phones and any household devices controlled remotely (the Internet of Things). Make a note of passwords and login details for your devices so executors can gain access to information and assets stored on them when you have died. Executors may need to access information held on your devices to complete tax returns or when administering your estate after you have died. This is particularly important for Apple devices because Apple implements particularly strong safeguards to protect account holders' data from falling into the wrong hands. This could mean that it is impossible to unlock an Apple device without the log in ID and password even if executors make a request to Apple. PLANNING POINTS FOR PARTICULAR TYPES OF DIGITAL ASSET Photographs and videos In most cases, photographs and videos will only be of sentimental value and they may only be of interest to family and friends. Consider whether these assets should be left as part of a general gift of personal possessions or as a specific gift in your will. In some cases, your photographs or videos may have more than a nominal monetary value so that valuable copyright attaches to them. Any intellectual property rights may need to be the subject of a separate gift in your will with separate executors appointed to administer them. Consider creating hard copy albums of photographs of particular sentimental or monetary value, if necessary, so they are more easily accessible to executors or family on death and are less likely to be lost or destroyed. Consider whether any photographs and videos might cause distress to family members if they are seen. You should consider whether they should be destroyed in your lifetime. Be aware that your executors may not be able to follow instructions to destroy items after death if this could lead to a diminution of the value of the estate and possible legal action by your family. You should consider leaving instructions for your executors about any photographs or videos you would prefer to be kept confidential. However, be aware that those instructions may not be followed. Music tracks Control of music accessed online (either via a subscription service or paid for per track) usually rests with the ISP (such as Spotify or Apple in the case of iTunes) so that you will only have a licence to listen to your online music tracks. This means that, when you die, the licence comes to an end and the music tracks can no longer be accessed. If you have set up a sharing facility to enable other members of your family to access tracks, they may be denied access after you have died if you are the organiser or main account holder. Apple's iTunes allows you to burn some of your licensed content to CD. Strictly speaking, the terms of the licence will not extend beyond your death so that family members may be infringing Apple's terms and conditions if they continue to listen to downloaded tracks on CD. Bearing all this in mind, if you would like friends and family to have information about the music you enjoy (for example, if you would like a particular track to be played at your funeral or memorial service), you should consider making a manual, hard copy list and retain it with your papers. Loyalty points Points on loyalty schemes such as the Tesco Clubcard or Nectar card can mount up. The terms and conditions of some schemes allow these points to be passed on to others after you die either by will or by written request to the scheme administrator. You should check the terms for each scheme to make sure. Some schemes may provide that any points are lost when you die. If points cannot be passed on you may want to consider using them up as you go along rather than allowing them to build up. Let me know if you would like to provide a gift of any loyalty points in your will. Emails Consider whether any sensitive or confidential information is stored in your emails and whether access to these emails by family members after death would cause distress. If so, you should consider deleting sensitive information during your lifetime rather than leaving it to your executors as they may have a duty not to follow instructions about destruction after your death. Consider printing off emails and keeping them in hard copy if they hold valuable content. This may involve consideration of intellectual property issues where the contents have a monetary value rather than a purely sentimental value. [If you run your own business you should plan for what will happen to your business emails and other information held online after you have died. This is a vital part of succession planning for your business. Your business emails may need to be handled particularly carefully. Consider who within the business, and apart from your executors, may need to have access to your business email account in the event of your death. If you store sensitive business information online (such as client or contact lists) a hard copy may need to be printed off and retained, or stored on a USB stick in case it is difficult to access the information online after you have died or lost capacity. This may be vital to ensure business continuity. You should discuss what should happen to business email accounts and sensitive business information in the event of your death with your business partners.] Intellectual property If any assets you hold online have intellectual property rights attached to them (such as original literary or other artistic works like books or paintings) consider including them in a separate legacy in your will with separate executors to deal with succession to and exploitation of those rights. Please discuss this with me if you think it applies. Crypto-currency If you hold crypto-currency such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, you should note down details of the public and private keys held in any digital wallets and arrange for the details to be stored securely. You may want to include a specific legacy in your will to deal with your holdings. This will also help to alert your executors to the existence of the holding so that they can take action after you have died to secure control. If your executors do not have the necessary expertise to administer your cryptocurrency, consider appointing separate executors with relevant knowledge and skills to take control of and deal with your holding after you have died. Please discuss this with me if you think it applies. T: M: 0115 849 9949 E: 07971 675 774 email@example.com W: ellamillettlegal.co.uk CASE STUDIES: WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF I DO NOTHING? Albert Albert is a professional photographer who has also produced commercial videos for advertising. He posts most of his photographs on Instagram and Facebook to market his business. He has a separate account on Flickr where he and his wife and children post and share personal photos. He also has two Twitter accounts, one for his business and one for posting personal photos, opinions, tweets and retweets. He has two email accounts, one of which is personal and one of which he uses for his business. Albert has an Apple iPhone which he uses both for business and personal calls. He can access his business and personal emails from his mobile. He also has a PC at home where he stores his photographs on the hard drive as well as in an iCloud account which he syncs regularly. He uses an Apple iPad when he is out and about on business and can access all his emails, online accounts and photographs from the device. Albert is killed in a car accident and has not considered what would happen to his digital assets. His executors are his wife and his daughter. They don't have Albert's current username and password for his Apple devices so cannot access his Apple iPhone, Apple iPad or anything he accessed from his PC that is stored in iCloud. They contact Apple but are told that there is nothing they can do without production of a "court order". Apple are not satisfied with a copy of Albert's death certificate or the grant of probate. Albert's wife and daughter can only access the photographs Albert stored on the hard drive of his PC as they cannot get into his phone or tablet. Bart Bart is a keen online gamer. He particularly likes to play Cadcraft, a popular game with participators all over the world. The game involves creating personalised avatars and trading personalised costumes and weapons for virtual characters. Bart has spent several years designing unique costumes for his main avatar Boris. He recently sold a spear designed for Boris for £2,000. Bart has built a reputation amongst the Cadcraft community for creating stylish weapons and outfits. He has also developed a YouTube channel as a spin off from his Cadcraft gaming where he discusses his plans for new costumes and avatars and where he hosts livestreams and tutorials. He currently has three million followers and also has an associated Patreon account, which generates an income of £20,000 a year. Bart has been trading Peachycoin, a crypto-currency, for several years. Although the currency is extremely volatile, Bart reckons that his current holding would be worth £500,000 if it were converted into ordinary currency. He accesses his Peachycoin via a hot wallet connected to the internet and stores details of his private and public keys on his Apple iPhone. Bart is killed in a plane crash while travelling to a Cadcraft convention in California. He has not made a will or thought about what will happen to his digital assets if he dies. His parents are entitled to his estate under the intestacy rules but cannot access his Cadcraft account because Bart did not leave details of his username and password. When word spreads that Bart has died, other Cadcraft gamers copy Bart's designs and trade them online. Bart's parents are unable to realise any monetary value from his online accounts or download any images to remind them of their son's creative ability. His parents know nothing about Bart's Peachycoin holding. They are unable to access his Apple iPhone and so do not know about his hot wallet or the public and private keys. All the data on the Apple iPhone is wiped off when the device is reset to factory settings before his parents sell it on. Caroline Caroline primarily uses her Facebook account to keep in touch with her children and grandchildren as they are spread all over the world. Caroline has built up a small business on Etsy where she sells Apple iPad covers made out of Harris tweed, which are particularly popular with Americans and Canadians. Caroline has made a will and has given some thought to her digital assets when doing estate planning. She would like her daughter in the UK to take over her Etsy business. Caroline has included a gift of the business, including her trading name and her contacts list in a specific clause in her will. She stores all the usernames and passwords for her online accounts with CrystalClear Manager a password manager that is particularly rated for being cyber secure. She stores details of her account with CrystalClear with her will which is held in her solicitor's strong room. She has informed CrystalClear that her executors are her husband and her daughter and that her daughter and her son are her attorneys under a lasting power of attorney. Caroline dies unexpectedly when she falls overboard while sailing on the ferry to Harris from Oban. Her executors secure the goodwill and value associated with her business relatively quickly because they can access her Etsy shop immediately. Etsy cannot give the executors continued access to the account once they know that Caroline has died but are prepared to pass certain information to Caroline's executors once they have seen a copy of the grant of probate. Caroline's daughter is able to carry on Caroline's business which is a great comfort to her and acts as a continuing memorial of her mother's talents. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch :-) Ella Millet t T: M: 0115 849 9949 E: 07971 675 774 firstname.lastname@example.org W: ellamillettlegal.co.uk
Proceedings of the 1st Paris Van Java International Seminar on Health, Economics, Social Science and Humanities (PVJ-ISHESSH 2020) Nurses' Attitudes and Motivation in Compliance With Standard Operating Procedures of Blood Transfusion at Yogyakarta Islamic Hospital PDHI 1 st Arlina Dhian Sulistyowati Nursing Department Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Muhmmadiyah Klaten Indonesia firstname.lastname@example.org 2 nd Sri Handayani Nursing Department Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Muhmmadiyah Klaten Indonesia 3 rd Astri Wahyuningsih Midwife Department Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Muhmmadiyah Klaten Indonesia 4 th Dwi Kurniawati Nursing Department Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Muhmmadiyah Klaten Indonesia Abstract—The implementation of correct patient identification is a fundamental aspect of the prevention of patient safety incidents. There is a high risk of unexpected events and even death when the patient identification is not carried out. Some factors may affect the nurses' compliance in the implementation of blood transfusion standard operating procedures (SOP), such as individual, physiological, and psychological factors. The psychological factors may include attitudes and motivation. This study aimed to determine the correlation between nurses' attitudes and motivation, and the compliance in the implementation of blood transfusion SOP at Yogyakarta Islamic Hospital PDHI. This study was quantitative correlational research with a cross-sectional design. The samples were 82 nurses who were recruited using a total sampling technique. The data were analyzed using univariate and bivariate analyses. The results showed that the respondents were early adults and married. A majority of them were females and hold Diploma III education in nursing. The mean of working experience of the respondents was 3.06 years. There was a correlation between nurses' attitudes and motivation and compliance with the implementation of SOP for blood transfusion. (Abstract). Keywords—Nurses, Attitudes, Motivation, Blood Transfusion I. INTRODUCTION Hospital is a health service institution that conducts complete individual health services that provide inpatient, outpatient and emergency services. Plenary Health Services are health services that include efforts to promote health ( promotive ), prevention ( preventive ), healing efforts ( curative ) and health recovery efforts ( rehabilitative ). Patient safety is a system that prevents unexpected events (KTD) due to actions taken or not carried out by medical personnel and non-medical personnel in hospitals [1].IOM ( Institute of Medicine ) openly stated that at least 44,000 and even 98,000 patients die in hospitals in one year due to medical errors that could have been prevented. In 2000, IOM published report of To Err is Human, Building a Safer Health System. This report presented research at several hospitals in Utah and Colorado and New York on KTD. In Utah and Colorado KTD was found as 2.9%, 6.6% of them caused deaths, while in New York KTD was 3.7% with mortality reaching 13.6% [2] . The implementation of the patient identification process at the Hospital must be asked at least two things from three types of identity, those are the patient's name, medical record number and date of birth. Two forms of identification must be done when giving nursing or other actions to patients. One of the medical procedures that need to be identified is the patient's blood transfusion [3].Hospital incidents related to patient identification include, potential injury conditions (KPC), near injuries (KNC), non-injury events (KTC), and unexpected events (KTD). Blood transfusion officers must receive training and carry out Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of blood transfusion [4] . The impact of ignoring blood transfusion SOP is an error occurred in the administration of blood transfusions and can result in death of patients, according to the study [5] . Blood transfusion is the act of inserting red blood cells (fresh blood, pack red cells ) into the body through veins. In accordance with Rodiani's research stated that blood transfusions are performed on patients with medical conditions such as large blood loss due to trauma, surgery, shock and malfunctioning of red blood cell formation [6]. Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 349 Side effects of blood transfusion can be in the form of acute complications such as allergies, fluid overload, anaphylaxis, bacterial contamination, septic shock and TRALI (transfusion associated acute lung injury). It can also be in the form of slow complications such as slow haemolytic reactions, post transfusion purpura, iron overload and transmission of infectious infections through blood transfusions.Nurses in charge of giving blood transfusions must comply with Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) have prepared by hospitals to minimize the dangers that probably arise from blood transfusion reactions. Based on the research of Engel Brecht, Wood and Sinclair stated that the implementation of blood transfusion is risky, it needs to be carried out with proper protocol compliance [7] . The protocol is used to improve communication, facilitate the supply of adequate blood products, patient safety and reduce mortality. Compliance with blood transfusion SOP will result in quality and safe blood transfusion measures.Gibson's theory in Nursalam mentioned the factors that influence nurse compliance in the implementation of SOP are individual factors, psychological factors and organizational factors. Nurse psychology is a factor supporting nurses' compliance in implementing SOP including motivation and attitude [8] . The research conducted by Noch, Rompas, Kallo explained that there is a relationship between the level of education and nurses' attitudes towards adhering to the implementation of wound care SOPs in the Surgical Treatment Room of the Regional Hospital, Banggai Regency[9]. In accordance with research conducted by Pagala, Shaluhiyah and Widjasena that the impact of nurses' disobedience in implementing SOP will lead to Unexpected Events (KTD) and lead to death [5] . The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship of the attitude and motivation of nurses towards compliance in the implementation of standard operating procedures of blood transfusion in Islamic Hospital Yogjakarta PDHI. II. METHODS This research is a quantitative correlational research with cross sectional approach. Exclusion criteria in this study include a) Nurses who were on leave during the study period; b) Nurses who were following further education; c) Nurses who were sick. This study using Non-probability sampling method with total sampling. The sample of this study were 82 nurses. This research was conducted in November to December 2018. The questionnaire in the study consisted of characteristics of respondents, a questionnaire about attitudes and motivation. The statistical test used in this study was Chisquare. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A. Characteristics of Respondents Respondent characteristics include age, gender, education and working period. TABLE 1. AVERAGE OF NURSES AGE AND WORKING PERIOD AT RSIY PDHI \| Age \| Minimum \| Maximum \| The mean \| \| SD \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 22 \| 41 \| 27 \| 4.65 \| \| \| Working period \| <1 \| 12 \| 3.06 \| \| 2.42 \| Table I shows that the average age of nurses is 27 years with the youngest age is 22 years and the oldest is 41 years. The nurses length of work with a mean of 3,06 years is at least <1 year and the longest is 12 years. This shows that respondents are included in the productive age. Productive age is a responsible age and based on its performance, the productive age is more optimal in doing work. Parmin explained that a person's productive age at work is aged 25-40 years, because at that age is the beginning of a individual career[10]. At the beginning of a career usually someone has a high motivation and idealism compared to workers who have aged 40 years and over. Respondents who were included in early adulthood affect adherence to the SOP, the more they age, the more respondents will know that running the SOP will be able to minimize the risk to the patient. Younger nurses tend to have a high enthusiasm to seek more experience that can support selfactualization. This was also reinforced by Anugrahini who stated that the age of 20-40 years is the peak development of physical conditions in applying the knowledge and skills they have. Someone who has high motivation will be easier to be invited to work according to the rules or standards[11]. TABLE II. FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENT CHARACTERISTICS AT RSIY PDHI \| No \| Characteristics \| Frequency \| % \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 \| Gender \| \| \| \| \| Man \| 15 \| 18.3 \| \| \| Girl \| 67 \| 81.7 \| \| 2 \| Education \| \| \| \| \| D III \| 77 \| 93.9 \| \| \| Ners \| 5 \| 6.1 \| \| 3 \| Marital status \| \| \| \| \| Single \| 45 \| 54.9 \| \| \| Married \| 37 \| 45.1 \| \| \| Total \| 82 \| 100 \| Based on table II, the majority of the respondents is female (81,7%). The majority of respondents education is D III (93,9%) and based on the marital status, the majority is unmarried as many as 45 people (54.9%). In general, women have a more sensitive and caring sense, so that female nurses easily obey the rules set by the hospital, as well as in terms of complying with blood transfusion SOP before taking nursing actions. An education will be able to influence the performance of nurses because through an educational process that involves a series of activities, then an individual will gain higher knowledge, understanding, expertise and insight [12]. These results are in accordance with Khariyah's research which stated that the majority of nurse education is D III nursing. Education is very important in influencing one's mind. An educated person when encountering a problem will try to think of the best possible way to solve the problem. Educated people tend to be able to think calmly about a problem—in this study the compliance with the implementation of blood transfusion SOP[13]. 350 Working period is related to work experience. Work experience will affect someone in interacting toeards his work. The longer the work period of a person the more work experience he gets. The more work experience the more things are known about what should be done and what should not. This result is proven by Virawan's research that there is a significant relationship between gender with adherence to SOP. Most of nurses are unmarried, 54,9% and 45.1% are married. Unmarried nurses have fewer absences, experience lower schedule changes because they do not have dependents, have a high enthusiasm in obeying the rules of work for fear of getting sanctioned termination of employment contracts if they do not comply with existing rules at the Hospital[14]. The results of this study are not in accordance with Khariyah's research that the majority of respondents who had married status have a sense of responsibility towards the family so that they are motivated to work better[13]. B. Attitude and Motivation TABLE III. DISTRIBUTION OF ATTITUDES FREQUENCY AND NURSE MOTIVATION IN YOGYAKARTA ISLAMIC HOSPITAL (PDHI) 2018 \| No \| Independent Variable \| Frequency \| % \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Attitude \| \| \| \| 1 \| Negative \| 21 \| 25.6 \| \| 2 \| Positive \| 61 \| 74.4 \| \| \| Total \| 82 \| 100 \| \| \| Motivation \| \| \| \| 1 \| Low \| 23 \| 28 \| \| 2 \| High \| 59 \| 72 \| \| \| Total \| 82 \| 100 \| Table III shows that the attitude of nurses was mostly positive (74,4%). Motivation of nurses was mostly high with a total 59 people (72%). Attitude is a reaction or response of someone who is still closed to a stimulus or object. Attitudes cannot be directly seen, but can only be interpreted in advance from closed behavior. The attitude clearly shows the connotation of the suitability of the reaction to a particular stimulus and in everyday life is an emotional reaction to a social stimulus [12]. Change is also obtained through the learning process, so attitude changes can also be done in the same ways as through personal experiences, associations or social learning processes. Changes in a person's attitude more or less also change humans. The performance shown by the employee is actually a picture or reflection of one's attitude, if the attitude is positive from the beginning of the individual was developed then the resulting performance is good, with a positive attitude it will create high performance and facilitate each job [8]. Motivation is one of the factors that can affect one's performance. Motivation can provide encouragement to staff so that it can improve performance. Someone who has high motivation will have a good performance, therefore work motivation must be developed and instilled in every staff, in order to create optimal performance. Building motivation to the staff is very important in order to improve nurse compliance. High motivation encourages someone to do their job well. Work motivation is something that rise enthusiasm. Work motivation in work psychology is usually called work morale booster[15]. Strength or weakness of work motivation of a worker also determines the basis of his achievements, always maintaining his achievements, reputation, and position [16] C. Relationship between attitude and motivation towards compliance with Blood Transfusion SOP implementation at RSI Yogyakarta PDHI TABLE IV. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NURSES' ATTITUDES AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION SOP AT THE YOGYAKARTA ISLAMIC HOSPITAL IN 2018 \| Attitude \| Obedience \| \| \| \| Total \| \| P Value \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Obey \| \| Disobey \| \| \| \| \| \| \| f \| % \| f \| % \| f \| % \| 0.000 \| \| Negative \| 3 \| 14.3 \| 18 \| 85.7 \| 21 \| 100 \| \| \| Positive \| 52 \| 85.2 \| 9 \| 14.8 \| 61 \| 100 \| \| \| Total \| 55 \| 67.1 \| 27 \| 32.9 \| 82 \| 100 \| \| Based on statistical test, it was obtained p value = 0,000. This means that there is a relationship between attitude and compliance with the Implementation of Blood Transfusion SOP at the Yogyakarta Islamic Hospital PDHI. Attitude is a factor that exists in humans and can cause human tendencies to act or behave towards the object at hand. These results indicate that a good attitude will encourage good behavior [17]. Behavior based on positive attitudes would be lasting[12]. Attitude is a determinant of behavior. In the form of mental preparedness, which is learned in a period of time and is organized by experience, and has a certain influence on how a person responds to other people, objects, and situations related to it[18]. TABLE V. RELATIONSHIP OF MOTIVATION WITH COMPLIANCE WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION SOP AT YOGYAKARTA ISLAMIC HOSPITAL PDHI 2018 \| Motivation \| Obedience \| \| \| \| Total \| \| P Value \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Obey \| \| Disobey \| \| \| \| \| \| \| f \| % \| f \| % \| f \| % \| \| \| Low \| 0 \| 0 \| 23 \| 100 \| 23 \| 100 \| \| \| High \| 55 \| 93.2 \| 4 \| 6.8 \| 59 \| 100 \| \| Table V shows that almost all nurses have high motivation as many as 55 people (93,2%) were included in the category of adherence to the compliance with the implementation of blood transfusion SOP. Based on statistical test results, it was obtained p value = 0,000. This means there is a relationship between motivation towards compliance on the Implementation of Blood Transfusion SOP at the Yogyakarta Islamic Hospital of PDHI.The results of the study are in accordance with Fitrirachmawati that there is a relationship of motivation with the compliance of the nurses implementing the patient identification SOP. These results indicate that the higher the motivation, the more compliant in the implementation of blood transfusion SOP[19]. Motivation is important to encourage someone 351 to work because motivation is the energy that drives someone to carry out work tasks to achieve the goals set. Achievement of goals is influenced by the level of work motivation and ultimately will affect the results of the work done. The findings in this study found 4 people (6,8%) nurses with high motivation but not obedient. This is because there is no opportunity to gain experience and capacity building during work, so hospitals are expected to conduct training and SOP socialization. Motivation can be influenced by the incentive approach, which uses something that can attract someone to do something. So when someone has done something, that person gets rewarded. Rewards in this case can be in the form of praise, appreciation and material[12] IV. CONCLUSION Based on the results of the study it can be concluded that the characteristics of nurses with an average age of 27 years, education is D III, most of the respondents are women, with an average service life of 3.06 years, and most marital status is unmarried. Compliance with the implementation of standard operational procedures for blood transfusion by nurses in the compliant category. Attitudes and motivations are related to compliance with the implementation of blood transfusion SOP at the Yogyakarta Islamic Hospital PDHI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thanks to STIKES MuhammadiyahKlaten who has supported research and journal publishing. REFERENCES [1] Y. Pambudi, S. A, and Y. DDF, "Faktor-Faktor yang Mempengaruhi Dalam Penerapan 6 SKP (Sasaran Keselamatan Pasien) Pada Akreditasi JCI (Joint Commision International) Di Ruang Rawat Inap Rumah Sakit Panti Waluya Semarang," Nurs. News J. Ilm. Mhs. Keperawatan, vol. 3, p. 1, 2018. [2] L. . Kohn, J. . Corrigan, and M. S. (Ed) Donaldson, "To Err Is Human: Building a Safer of Health System," Washington DC, USA: National Academy Press, 2000. [3] Komisi Akreditasi Rumah Sakit, "Standar Nasional Akreditasi Rumah Sakit," Jakarta, 2017. [4] Peraturan Menteri Kesehatan, Standar Pelayanan Transfusi Darah. 2015. [5] Pagala, Shaluhiyah, and Widjasena, "Perilaku Kepatuhan Perawat Melaksanakan SOP Terhadap Kejadian Keselamatan Pasien di Rumah Sakit X Kendari," J. Promosi Kesehat., 2017. 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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION LINDA STOUT, et al., Plaintiffs, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Intervenor, v. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, Defendant, GARDENDALE CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION, Defendant-Intervenor. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No.: 2:65-cv-00396-MHH THE UNITED STATES' OBJECTION TO DEFENDANT-INTERVENOR GARDENDALE CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION'S MOTION TO OPERATE MUNICIPAL SCHOOL SYSTEM AND PLAN OF SEPARATION In accordance with this Court's April 27, 2016 Amended Scheduling Order (Doc. 1070), Plaintiff-Intervenor the United States ("United States") respectfully submits this Opposition to Defendant-Intervenor Gardendale City Board of Education's ("Gardendale") Motion to Operate Municipal School System and Plan of Separation from the Jefferson County Board of Education ("Jefferson County" or "County"). TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases INDEX TO JOINT COMPENDIUM OF EXHIBITS Exhibit 1 – Craig Pouncey 30(b)(6) Deposition Transcript, March 10, 2016 Exhibit 2 – Sheila Jones 30(b)(6) Deposition Transcript, March 10, 2016 Exhibit 3 – Randy Dunlap 30(b)(6) Deposition Transcript, March 14, 2016 Exhibit 4 – Patrick Martin 30(b)(6) Deposition Transcript, Volume I, March 14, 2016 Exhibit 5 – Patrick Martin 30(b)(6) Deposition Transcript, Volume II, March 15, 2016 Exhibit 6 – Patrick Martin Deposition Transcript, March 15, 2016 Exhibit 7 – Christopher Segroves Deposition Transcript, March 16, 2016 Exhibit 8 – Christopher Lucas 30(b)(6) Deposition Transcript, March 16, 2016 Exhibit 9 – David Salters Deposition Transcript, March 17, 2016 Exhibit 10 – Timothy Bagwell Deposition Transcript, March 17, 2016 Exhibit 11 – Matthew Sachs Deposition Transcript, April 26, 2016 Exhibit 12 – Dennis Veronese Deposition Transcript, April 27, 2016 Exhibit 13 – Kimberly McPherson Deposition Transcript, July 20, 2016 Exhibit 14 – William Cooper Deposition Transcript, July 27, 2016 Exhibit 15 – Matthew Cropper Expert Report for Plaintiff-Intervenor United States Exhibit 16 –John Yun Expert Report for Plaintiff-Intervenor United States Exhibit 17 – Kimberly McPherson Expert Report for Defendant Jefferson County Board of Education Exhibit 18 – William Cooper Expert Report for Plaintiff NAACP Legal Defense Fund Exhibit 19 – Matthew Sachs Expert Report for Defendant-Intervenor Gardendale City Board of Education Exhibit 20 – Dennis Veronese Expert Report for Defendant-Intervenor Gardendale City Board of Education Exhibit 21 – Excerpts of the Gardendale City Schools Facebook Page, preserved by the United States on March 4, 2016 Exhibit 22 – Gardendale Board of Education's Response to Interrogatory 5 of the United States' 3 rd Set of Discovery Requests INTRODUCTION Since the advent of this school desegregation case, the City of Gardendale has been a part of Jefferson County and has shared equally in Jefferson County's obligation to eliminate racial discrimination "root and branch." Despite this history, Gardendale now believes that it should be permitted to separate from Jefferson County and – in doing so – insulate the City of Gardendale from Jefferson County's ongoing obligation to desegregate. While Gardendale seeks the benefit of being unburdened by this obligation, it offers nothing to Jefferson County in return. Indeed, Gardendale's proposed separation hinges on, and is made financially feasible by, the expectation that it will receive – at no cost – a multi-million dollar high school facility that has served as a regional education center in the County and successfully drawn a desegregated student enrollment. Should Gardendale be permitted to separate, Jefferson County would lose not only one of its most prized assets but also a set of centrally-located schools that are key to its desegregation efforts. The proposed separation would also exacerbate racial and socioeconomic isolation throughout the County, hinder the County's ability to provide quality educational programming, and deplete the County's financial resources. In short, far from facilitating Jefferson County's attainment of a unitary school system, Gardendale's proposed separation would accomplish just the opposite. Under these circumstances, and for the reasons set forth more specifically below, Gardendale's Motion to Separate should be denied. BACKGROUND Jefferson County operates the second largest school system in the state of Alabama. As of October 2015, it enrolled 35,988 students, of whom 17,095, or 47.5%, were black and 15,665, or 43.5%, were white. Doc. 1033-1. The City of Gardendale is a municipality located within Jefferson County. It is home to four Jefferson County schools: Gardendale High School, Bragg Middle School, Gardendale Elementary School, and Snow Rogers Elementary School (together, the "Gardendale schools"). These schools serve students living in Jefferson County's Gardendale attendance zones, which encompass the area located within Gardendale city limits as well as surrounding neighborhoods outside of the city limits. Of the 3,110 students who attended one of the four Gardendale schools in 2015-16, 786, or 25%, were black and 2,200, or 71%, were white. Doc. 1033-1. Beginning in 2012, residents of the City of Gardendale and the area of Jefferson County known as Mt. Olive began seriously exploring the possibility of forming a separate municipal school system. In the spring of 2014, the City of Gardendale formally established the Gardendale City Board of Education. Doc. 1001 at 3. A few months later, members of the Gardendale City Board of Education hired Dr. Patrick Martin to serve as superintendent of the system they were working to form. Id. In light of the existence of this school desegregation case – brought against Jefferson County on June 4, 1965 1 – and the September 8, 1971 Order entered in the case contemplating that this Court would assume jurisdiction over separate school systems formed in Jefferson County after the issuance of the Order ("Stout Order"), Amended Order, Stout v. Jefferson Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 466 F. 2d 1213 (5th Cir. 1972) (No. 65-396-S), Doc. 226 (Sept. 18, 1971), Gardendale moved to intervene in this action on March 13, 2015 for the purpose of demonstrating to the Court that the creation of a Gardendale municipal school district would not "adversely affect" desegregation. Doc. 1002 at 2. On March 24, 2015, the Court granted the motion to intervene. Doc. 1010. 1 A more detailed recitation of the history of this school desegregation case is set forth in the parties' February 6, 2015 Joint Report to the Court (Doc. 998). Gardendale filed its Motion to Operate Municipal School System and Plan of Separation ("Motion to Separate" or "Motion") on December 11, 2015. Doc. 1040. That Motion seeks Court approval for Gardendale to separate from Jefferson County and operate its own municipal school system. The Motion attaches a draft agreement that outlines the terms on which Gardendale proposes to separate ("Separation Plan" or "Plan"). Doc. 1040-1. Pursuant to Gardendale's Separation Plan, Gardendale would receive the four County schools located within Gardendale city limits at no cost, and those schools would serve the new municipal system. Id. at 2-3. All students currently living within Gardendale city limits would be zoned to attend the new system. Id. at 4. Students residing in the North Smithfield and Greenleaf Heights Fire District ("North Smithfield") – a non-contiguous area south of the City of Gardendale – would also be zoned to attend the new system "for the indefinite future." Doc. 1040 at 5. As of 2015-16, the North Smithfield student population consisted of 209 children in grades kindergarten through 12, 99.5% of whom are black. Cropper Report at 5. With the exception of approximately 80 students in kindergarten through fifth grade who are zoned for Fultondale Elementary School, most of these students live in a Gardendale attendance zone and have historically attended the Gardendale schools. Sachs Dep. 77:9-17. While the Separation Plan uses the Gardendale city limits and the boundaries of North Smithfield to determine which students will and will not be included in the new school system on a long-term basis, the Plan contemplates a 13-year period during which those students who currently attend Gardendale schools but live in the "transition zone" – i.e., the areas of the current Gardendale attendance zones that lie outside of the city limits and the boundaries of North Smithfield – will be permitted to continue at those schools. 2 Doc. 1040-1 at 3-5. Transition zone students include Jefferson County students who have historically attended Mt. Olive and Brookville Elementary Schools before matriculating through Bragg Middle School and Gardendale High School. 3 Id. at 3. In addition to addressing issues pertaining to student assignment, the Separation Plan addresses the operation of specialized programs, conveyance of school facilities and supplies, transfer of transportation equipment, employment of personnel, and apportionment of local taxes and revenues, among other things. Id. at 7-16. In particular, the Plan allows Gardendale to place its students with certain special needs at Jefferson County's Burkett Learning Center on a fee per-pupil basis. Id. at 6. The Plan would also give Gardendale students who currently attend Jefferson County's International Baccalaureate ("IB") Program the right to remain in that program until graduation, so long as Gardendale remits proper payment to Jefferson County. Id. at 7. With regard to Gardendale High School's career tech programs, the Plan would permit currently enrolled Jefferson County students to remain in the programs until graduation, but only if Jefferson County remits proper payment and there is capacity in the programs following enrollment by Gardendale students. Id. at 7-8. Finally, the Plan provides that every Jefferson County employee assigned to one of the Gardendale schools at the time the new system is officially recognized will become an employee of Gardendale. Id. at 12. Although Gardendale's Motion does not identify the reasons for its separation proposal, Gardendale officials and employees have since taken the position that the proposed separation 2 Students who move into the transition zone after the formation of the new school system would be required to enroll in Jefferson County. Doc. 1040-1 at 3. As the Plan contains no special treatment for siblings, the same would be true of siblings of transition zone students who are not enrolled in Gardendale schools at the time of separation. 3 Gardendale and Jefferson County dispute the precise number of transition zone students and their demographic makeup. See Ex. 22, Gardendale Resp. to Interrog. 3 of United States' 2 nd Set of Disc. Reqs., Bates No. 001690 (noting this dispute and outlining Gardendale's estimate that there are 955 students outside of the city limits, 655 of whom are white and 300 of whom are black). However, this dispute does not alter the bases for the United States' Objection. arises from Gardendale's desire to provide an "excellent educational experience" for Gardendale students, decrease class sizes and reduce overcrowding, and exercise "local control" over the operation of the Gardendale schools. See, e.g., Martin 30(b)(6) Vol. I Dep. 32:25-33:4, 63:22-25; Segroves Dep. 78:23-79:2; Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 28:19-29:11, 27:22-25. LEGAL STANDARD The objective of any school desegregation case is "to eliminate from the public schools all vestiges of state-imposed segregation." Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., 402 U.S. 1, 15 (1971). In the service of this objective, "school authorities are 'clearly charged with the affirmative duty to take whatever steps might be necessary to convert to a unitary system in which racial discrimination would be eliminated root and branch.'" Id. (quoting Green v. Cnty. Sch. Bd. of New Kent Cnty., Va., 391 U.S. 430, 437-38 (1968)). Federal court supervision continues until the school system is able to prove that it has "(1) complied in good faith with the desegregation decree, and (2) eliminated the vestiges of prior de jure segregation to the extent practicable." N.A.A.C.P., Jacksonville Branch v. Duval Cnty. Sch., 273 F.3d 960, 966 (11th Cir. 2001). In considering whether the vestiges of de jure segregation have been eliminated to the extent practicable, the district court looks not only at student assignment, but "to every facet of school operations—faculty, staff, transportation, extracurricular activities and facilities," Green, 391 U.S. at 435, and to other indicia, such as "quality of education," Freeman v. Pitts, 503 U.S. 467, 492-93 (1992). To demonstrate the requisite "good faith" commitment to compliance with the desegregation decree, "[a] school district must show not only past good-faith compliance, but also a good-faith commitment to the future operation of the school system through 'specific policies, decisions, and courses of action that extend into the future.'" Lee v. Autauga Cnty. Bd. of Educ., No. 2:70CV2098-T, 2004 WL 2359667, at 4 (M.D. Ala. Oct. 19, 2004) (quoting Dowell v. Bd. of Educ. of Okla. City Pub. Schs., Indep. Dist. No. 89, 8 F.3d 1501, 1513 (10th Cir. 1993)). When a city and a county under desegregation order have "constituted but one unit for the purpose of student assignments during the entire time that the dual system was maintained," as is the case with the City of Gardendale and Jefferson County, "they [are] properly treated as a single unit for the purpose of dismantling that system." Wright v. Council of City of Emporia, 407 U.S. 451, 459-60 (1972). The City of Gardendale thus shares the larger County's affirmative obligations to desegregate the school system to the extent possible, and to demonstrate full, good faith compliance with the federal court's desegregation decree. Id. Because Alabama state law provides a mechanism for a municipality like the City of Gardendale to create its own "city" school system, and to take on the obligations of an independent school board, Ala. Code § 16-1-11 et seq., a "problem arises when the rights and obligations created by this statute come in conflict with an existing court order requiring the county school system, of which [the city] is a part, to eliminate all vestiges of the dual school system[.]" Lee v. Chambers Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 849 F. Supp. 1474, 1500 (M.D. Ala. 1994). The Supreme Court directly addressed this problem in Wright v. Council of City of Emporia and United States v. Scotland Neck City Board of Education, two cases decided on the same day involving similar attempts by cities to carve out new "splinter" school districts from existing districts under federal desegregation order. The rule articulated in those cases is a straightforward one: "[A] new school district may not be created where its effect would be to impede the process of dismantling a dual system." Wright, 407 U.S. at 470; United States v. Scotland Neck City Bd. Of Educ., 407 U.S. 484, 489-90 (1972). In articulating this nowlongstanding rule, the Supreme Court made clear that (1) the focus of the inquiry is on the effects of the proposed separation upon the larger school system's ability to desegregate its schools, rather than on the city's purported purpose, Wright, 407 U.S. at 462; see also Stout v. Jefferson Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 466 F.2d 1213, 1214 n.2 (5th Cir. 1972) ("[t]he process of desegregation shall not be swayed by innocent action which results in prolonging an unconstitutional dual school system"); and (2) the proponents of the new district bear the "heavy burden to show the lack of deleterious effects on desegregation," Ross v. Houston Indep. Sch. Dist., 583 F.2d 712, 714 (5th Cir. 1978) (citing Wright, 407 U.S. at 467). To carry this burden, "it is not sufficient for a splinter district merely to agree to accept a desegregation role." Chambers, 849 F. Supp. at 1502. Rather, the separating district must "establish what its operations will be," and "must express its precise policy positions on each significant facet of school district operation." Id. (quoting Ross v. Houston Indep. Sch. Dist., 559 F.2d 937, 944 (5th Cir. 1977)). Applying these standards, a district court ruling on a splinter district's separation proposal must conduct a fact-based inquiry, taking into consideration the "totality of the circumstances," to determine whether the proponents of the new district have demonstrated that the separation will not have the effect of impeding the desegregation efforts of the larger district. Wright, 407 U.S. at 463-66; see also Ross, 583 F.2d at 714 ("The task of evaluating the effects of carving a new school district out of an old one is complex, and many variables must be considered in determining whether desegregation will be impeded or advanced."). In addition, the district court must be satisfied "by clear and convincing evidence that [the splinter district] is able and intends to comply with the court's orders concerning its role in the desegregation" of the larger district. Stout, 466 F.2d at 1215. Among the factors courts have considered in carrying out this "delicate task" are the potential impacts of the separation on the remaining district's student demographics, faculty and staff, curricular and extracurricular course offerings, transportation, facilities, finances, and other potential complexities and conflicts that may require continued court supervision. See Wright, 407 U.S. at 463-66; Ross, 583 F.2d at 714-15; Chambers, 849 F. Supp. at 1486-89, 1493-98. If, based on consideration of these and other relevant factors, the splinter district fails to demonstrate that its creation will not have the effect of thwarting final implementation of a unitary school system, "the district court may not, consistent with the teachings of Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg . . . recognize [its] creation." Stout, 466 F.2d at 1214. ARGUMENT Gardendale's Proposed Separation Would Impede Efforts to Finally Desegregate I. Jefferson County. As noted, "a new school district may not be created where its effect would be to impede the process of dismantling a dual system." Wright, 407 U.S. at 470. Gardendale's establishment of a separate municipal school system would, however, impede the desegregation of Jefferson County. In particular, a Gardendale separation would appropriate centrally-located County schools that currently have diverse student bodies and, by so doing, leave County students with schools that are more racially and socioeconomically segregated, thus hampering their opportunity to receive a desegregated education. Gardendale's separation would also negatively affect the quality of education for students remaining in Jefferson County by denying them access to the Gardendale schools' unique and high quality educational programming, personnel, and facilities. See id. at 463; Ross, 559 F.2d at 944-45 ("[I]f upgrading the quality of education for students in the new district would have a substantial adverse effect on the quality of education for students remaining in the old district, then operation should not be allowed."). For these reasons, Gardendale's Motion to Separate should be denied. A. Gardendale's separation would remove diverse, centrally-located schools that have been key to Jefferson County's desegregation efforts, leaving the remaining County schools more racially and socioeconomically isolated. As a municipality located in the north central part of Jefferson County, the City of Gardendale occupies a geographic region that is uniquely situated near areas where relatively large proportions of black and white students live in proximity to one another. Yun Report at 2, 11. The Gardendale schools are thus of central importance to the County's desegregation efforts. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 29:8-24, 37:3-38:12. Gardendale High School, in particular, capitalizes on the City's central geographic location by drawing students from five feeder patterns throughout Jefferson County to generate a student body that is 73% white and 27% black. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 127:7-15, 30:5-31:4. It is, in fact, the only school in the County to draw from such a diverse group of feeder patterns. As a result of their unique geographic locations, Gardendale High School, Bragg Middle School (71% white and 29% black), and Gardendale Elementary School (75% white and 25% black) are the only schools in Jefferson County whose student populations are predominantly, but not overwhelmingly, white. 4 Cropper Report at 23; Yun Report at 11. Unlike the schools within the Gardendale city limits, many Jefferson County schools in surrounding communities have student bodies that are essentially one race. In particular, the schools located to the north of Gardendale in the Mortimer Jordan feeder pattern – Mortimer Jordan High School, North Jefferson Middle School, and Bryan Elementary School – are nearly all white, while most of the schools located to the southwest and east of Gardendale in the Minor 4 Snow Rogers Elementary School, located in the northern portion of Gardendale City, is 94% white and 6% black. Cropper Report at 23. and Center Point feeder patterns – Minor High School, Bottenfield Middle School, Crumly Chapel Elementary School, Hillview Elementary School, Center Point High School, Erwin Middle School, Erwin Intermediate School, and Center Point Elementary School – are nearly all black. 5 Cropper Report at 23; Yun Report at 7-9. Over the past ten years, several hundreds of students have transferred into Gardendale schools from these less racially diverse schools pursuant to the County's racial desegregation transfer policy. 6 See Jefferson County's Resp. to Interrog. 6 of United States' Third Set of Disc. Reqs., Attachs. 6-F through 6-Q. Given the student demographics outlined above, removing the Gardendale schools from Jefferson County would eliminate several student bodies where desegregation is working, as well as existing transfer options for students attending less racially diverse schools. A Gardendale separation would also require the County to reassign students living outside the city limits who currently enjoy these desegregated environments to schools that are more racially isolated. For example, under Gardendale's proposal, students who currently attend Bragg Middle School but live outside of the Gardendale city limits would be reassigned to either North Jefferson Middle School, which is 93% white, or Bagley Junior High School, which is 99% white. Sachs Report at 12; Cropper Report at 23. Gardendale's alternative proposal would reassign these students to Bottenfield Middle School, which is 85% black. Sachs Report at 14; Cropper Report at 23. High school students' opportunities to attend desegregated schools would be similarly curtailed. 5 Only the schools in Fultondale – located directly south of Gardendale – have racially integrated student bodies comparable to those of the Gardendale schools. Cropper Report at 23. Fultondale High School is 63% white and 37% black, and Fultondale Elementary School is 60% white and 40% black. Cropper Report at 23. For several reasons, including overcrowding, aging facilities, and a lack of amenities and educational offerings, the Fultondale schools are not currently a desirable option for reassigning students. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 48:2-49:4; Cropper Report at 21. 6 Per Jefferson County's racial desegregation transfer policy, "[a] racial desegregation transfer will be allowed if there is space available and if: a. The transfer will have the effect of moving the racial composition of both the sending and receiving schools closer to the district-wide racial composition; or b. The transfer will have the effect of moving one of the schools closer to the district-wide racial composition without negatively impacting the other school, that is, without moving either the sending or receiving school outside a range of percentage points around the district-wide racial composition." Order Approving Joint Report on Transfer Procedure, Doc. 780 at 11-13. Gardendale proposes that students who currently attend Gardendale High School but live outside of the Gardendale city limits be reassigned to Mortimer Jordan High School, which is 93% white, or Corner High School, which is 99% white. Sachs Report at 12; Cropper Report at 23. Gardendale's alternative proposal would reassign these students to Minor High School, which is 87% black. Sachs Report at 14; Cropper Report at 23. As these figures show, and as Gardendale's own demographic expert concedes, Gardendale's separation plan would result in transition zone students being reassigned to more segregated educational environments. Sachs Dep. 128:7-130:9, 140:6-141:2; see also Cropper Report at 34. In addition to being reassigned to more segregated educational environments, the majority of transition zone students would be required to travel several miles farther to school as compared to their current commutes. Cropper Report at 2, 25-33. In particular, Gardendale's proposal to reassign high school students living in the City of Brookside to Corner High School would, on average, more than double the distance of those students' commutes and require travel over rural roads and uneven terrain. Cropper Report 31-32. Thus, to the extent sending these students to Corner High School would create a slightly more diverse student body at that school (i.e., from 99% white to 95% white), the burden would be borne by the black students traveling far from their current school zone to attend what would remain an essentially one-race school. 7 Cropper Report at 24. Gardendale's Separation Plan would not only result in transition zone students attending more segregated schools; it would also result in higher levels of racial isolation throughout the 7 Similarly, under Gardendale's alternative assignment plan, Brookside students would be reassigned to Bottenfield Middle School and Minor High School, resulting in a slightly more diverse student body at both of those majority black schools. Cropper Report at 24. However, those schools are not comparable to Bragg Middle School or Gardendale High School in terms of facilities or programming. Those transition zone students would effectively be reassigned to less racially diverse (i.e., majority black) schools marked by fewer educational opportunities, inferior facilities, and utilization rates that exceed 90%. Cropper Report at 22. County. Yun Report at 11. For instance, the average black middle school student in Jefferson County would go from attending a school with 66% black enrollment to one with 68% black enrollment, and the average black high school student would go from attending a school with 64% black enrollment to one with 66% black enrollment. Id. As the United States' quality of education expert observes, "[t]hat the relatively small numbers of students lost if Gardendale left the district would change the district exposure index by even a few percentage points is noteworthy." Id.; see Ross, 583 F. 2d at 714 ("a change in the percentage of white and minority students in the old district" is "[a]mong those factors" to "be considered in determining whether desegregation will be impeded or advanced"). Gardendale's proposed separation would have an even more pronounced effect on the socioeconomic isolation of black students in Jefferson County. This socioeconomic impact is properly considered by a court when determining whether a municipality should be allowed to separate from a county school system under desegregation order. Indeed, it is well-established that socioeconomically integrated schools offer students valuable opportunities to access different social networks and resources, while schools marked by concentrated poverty typically face a range of educational and organizational challenges. Yun Report at 18, n.7. In Lee v. Chambers, the court decided against allowing the City of Valley to form a splinter district in part because the separation would have left the remaining county system with "a large majority of needy pupils from impoverished families, with the ability of that district to raise adequate local revenues to address [its] problems and deliver a high-quality education severely restricted." 849 F. Supp. at 1498. So too here, the socioeconomic impact of a Gardendale separation on the remaining County system counsels against granting Gardendale's Motion to Separate. If the proposed separation were permitted, "the opportunity to attend a majority non-poor school would virtually vanish for middle school Black students . . . and would be severely curtailed for other Black students in the [county] district." 8 Yun Report at 18. Ninety-three percent of black Jefferson County middle school students currently attend a school that is majority poor, while only 7% of such students attend a school that is majority non-poor. Id. at 17. A Gardendale separation would result in just 1% of black Jefferson County middle school students attending a non-poor school, an 83% decline from present numbers. Id. Likewise, while 85% of black Jefferson County high school students currently attend a school that is majority poor, compared to only 42% of their white counterparts, the percentage of black high school students attending poor schools would rise to 89% if Gardendale separated from the County. Id. The negative impact of Gardendale's proposed separation on the socioeconomic composition and experience of Jefferson County's student body is not limited to black students; it extends to the student body as a whole. Unlike many of the schools surrounding Gardendale, the Gardendale schools enjoy some of the lowest free and reduced lunch ("FRL") eligibility rates in Jefferson County. The percentage of FRL-eligible students in the four schools in Gardendale ranges from 34%-41%, 9 while the percentage of FRL-eligible students in the schools surrounding Gardendale ranges from 65%-94%. 10 Ultimately, if Gardendale is permitted to 8 Majority poor schools are defined as schools where more than 50% of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, a commonly used proxy for poverty. Yun Report at 12. 10 These schools include Fultondale High School (65%), Minor High School (75%), Center Point High School (87%), Erwin Middle School (94%), Bottenfield Middle School (84%), Erwin Intermediate School (94%), Center Point Elementary School (93%), Hillview Elementary School (88%), Minor Community School (86%), Adamsville Elementary School (79%), Crumly Chapel Elementary School (77%), Brookville Elementary School (74%), and Fultondale Elementary School (73%). Of the schools surrounding Gardendale, Mt. Olive Elementary is the only one 9 The FRL-eligibility rates for Gardendale High School, Bragg Middle School, Gardendale Elementary School, and Snow Rogers Elementary School are 34%, 41%, 35%, and 41%, respectively. The only schools in Jefferson County with lower FRL eligibility rates are those in the Corner and Mortimer Jordan feeding patterns. Those schools include Corner High School (27%), the Corner School (30%), Bagley Junior High School (36%), Mortimer Jordan High School (33%), North Jefferson Middle School (36%), and Bryan Elementary School (29%). Yun Report at 1415. separate from Jefferson County, the percentage of FRL-eligible students district-wide will increase from 52% in 2015-16 to 58% post-separation. Yun Report at 14; Veronese Report at 7. Thus, as in Chambers, a Gardendale separation would leave a County system with "a substantial number of students who would receive free and reduced lunches," far exceeding those in the city school system, with the County's ability to deliver a socioeconomically diverse, high quality education "severely restricted, if not nonexistent." 849 F. Supp. at 1486, 1498. Finally, although the most immediate effects of the proposed separation pertain to Jefferson County's current demographics and student assignment practices, a Gardendale separation would also constrain the County's future options for student assignment practices designed to further desegregation and enhance educational opportunity. For example, Gardendale High School – the largest high school in the district in terms of capacity – is currently only 78% full and has ample space to accommodate additional students. See Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 81:15-17; Cropper Report at 21. If Gardendale is permitted to separate, however, Gardendale High School will not be available to Jefferson County for any purpose, desegregation or otherwise. Accordingly, to the extent Jefferson County's superintendent and experts in this litigation have proposed plans to use Gardendale High School to address imbalances in utilization across Jefferson County schools and further desegregate those schools, the proposals can only be considered realistic options if Gardendale's Motion to Separate is denied. 11 See without a majority FRL-eligible population (22%). Yun Report at 14-15. Mt. Olive was also the only community outside of Gardendale city limits that Gardendale initially sought to include in its new school system. Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 25:18-26:4, 51:10-53:8. 11 The United States' demographic expert has recommended that students at Fultondale High School – which is operating at 98% utilization in a facility described by Jefferson County's superintendent as the worst facility in the district – be reassigned to Gardendale High School to relieve overcrowding and balance utilization. Cropper Report at 21-22; Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 48:2-49:4, 88:16-18. This reassignment would provide Fultondale High School students – 37% of whom are black – with access to Gardendale High School's superior facilities and enhanced curricular and extracurricular offerings. Cropper Report at 23; see infra pp. 15-21. A similar reassignment proposal has been made by Jefferson County's superintendent. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 128:1-129:8; Jefferson County's Motion for Approval of Initiatives, Doc. 1078 at 20 n.10. Chambers, 849 F. Supp. at 1488, 1498 (refusing to grant a municipality's request to separate in part because separation would "promote unnecessary duplication" and disrupt the county system's plans to build a single consolidated high school capable of furthering desegregation, providing "a wider range of curricular offerings" and extracurricular activities, "eliminat[ing] curriculum disparities," and replacing outdated facilities). B. Gardendale's separation would adversely affect the quality of education available to Jefferson County students. The Supreme Court has held that a court supervising the process of desegregation fails to "exercise its remedial discretion responsibly where it approves a plan that, in the hope of providing better 'quality education' to some children, has a substantial adverse effect upon the quality of education available to others." Wright, 407 U.S. at 463; see also Ross, 559 F.2d at 943-44; Lee v. Chambers, 849 F. Supp. at 1502. That Gardendale's separation would leave Jefferson County with schools that are more segregated racially and socioeconomically would – by definition – deprive County students of access to the myriad educational benefits that diverse schools provide. As the Supreme Court has observed, enrolling a diverse student body "promotes cross-racial understanding, helps to break down racial stereotypes, and enables students to better understand persons of different races." Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 330 (2003) (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted); Fisher v. Univ. of Texas at Austin, 136 S. Ct. 2198, 2210 (2016). "Equally important, 'student body diversity promotes learning outcomes, and better prepares students for an increasingly diverse workforce and society.'" Fisher, 136 S. Ct. at 2210 (quoting Grutter, 539 U.S. at 330). Consistent with these observations, research shows that exposure to diverse groups of students can also "improve important academic and non-academic outcomes of schooling, such as test scores, probability of graduation, comfort working with peers of different ethnic groups, and the number of crossracial friendships." Yun Report at 6 (citing various studies). In addition to depriving Jefferson County students of this critical aspect of a quality education, Gardendale's proposed separation would adversely affect Jefferson County students' quality of education in numerous other areas, including educational programming, faculty and staff, facilities, and student achievement. 1. Educational Programming As its superintendent has made clear, Jefferson County built Gardendale High School to serve as a regional education center with advanced academic and career tech programs "intended to serve multiple schools throughout the district." 12 Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 25:8-26:23. For this reason, removing Gardendale High School from Jefferson County would have negative repercussions not only for those students who live in the transition zone but also for out-of-zone students who take advantage of Gardendale High School's regional course offerings. Acknowledging Gardendale High School's key role in providing career and technical education to students throughout the County, Gardendale's Separation Plan proposes to allow County students currently enrolled in these programs to remain until graduation (provided there is space in the course after Gardendale students enroll and Jefferson County pays a per-pupil sum for their attendance). See Doc. 1040-1 at 7. Nonetheless, all other interested Jefferson County students – both current and future – would lose access under Gardendale's Plan. Id. 12 Indeed, when the district constructed the new Gardendale High School facility, it expanded the previously existing career tech program. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 95:6-16. In the 2015-16 school year, 175 high school students from five of the district's other 12 feeder patterns participated in Gardendale High School's career tech programs. 13 Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 30:5-31:24, 54:3-17, 108:5-22 & Ex. 5. By any measure, these career tech programs are outstanding. Not only does Gardendale High School offer state-of-the-art facilities tailored to such programs, but it is the only high school in the County to offer programs in auto engine repair, automotive services technology, drafting, studio portfolio, 3D solid design, and NCCER welding, and one of just two high schools to offer programs in digital design, graphic illustration, sports nutrition, introductory welding, paint and refinish, and transportation distribution. Id. at 97:16-98:1, 102:3-9, 104:2-8 & Ex. 4. The quality and uniqueness of Gardendale's career tech programs are underscored by high student demand. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 99:5-11, 102:10-103:4; see also Yun Report at 23 (citing an administrator who stated that Gardendale High's welding program could admit more students if the school had room and that other career tech programs at Gardendale High were growing as well). For example, Gardendale High School's courses in welding, graphic design, and automotive painting and repair enroll over half and, in some cases, 100% of Jefferson County's total enrollment in such courses. Yun Report at 22. Similarly, of the 39 career and technical education courses offered at Gardendale, 20 enroll at least 60% of Jefferson County's total enrollment for the underlying course. Id. at 23. County students thus stand to lose access to these popular programs should Gardendale be permitted to separate. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 99:12-25. Students remaining in Jefferson County after a separation would also lose access to Gardendale High School's Advanced Placement (AP) course offerings. Gardendale High School 13 These students came from Fultondale, Minor, Mortimer Jordan, Corner, and Pinson Valley. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 108:5-22 & Ex. 5. To facilitate access to Gardendale High School's distinctive programmatic offerings, Jefferson County provides transportation for these students from their home schools. Id. at 35:9-36:5. offers 12 unique AP courses, more than most other Jefferson County high schools. Yun Report at 25. Moreover, students at Gardendale High School enroll in AP courses at relatively high levels compared to students at many of the district's other high schools. A quarter of all black students and 36% of white students at Gardendale High School are enrolled in at least one AP course. Id. Of the high schools in Jefferson County with at least 8% black enrollment, Gardendale High School ranks third in the percentage of black students taking at least one AP course. 14 Id. at 26. This indicates that "there is a culture that has been established in the school of encouraging students to enroll in challenging courses." Id. at 25. "Such a culture is not easily replaced," id., and would be lost following a Gardendale separation. 2. Faculty and Staff In addition to losing access to high quality educational programming, students remaining in Jefferson County after a Gardendale separation would lose access to valuable personnel. For instance, Gardendale High School has the only instructor in the County qualified to award the professional certification in welding, and the County has invested significant funds in training that instructor. Yun Report at 23; Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 100:1-101:25. There are also a number of specially trained teachers associated with Gardendale High School's 12 AP courses. Yun Report at 25. The departure of these highly-skilled personnel means that Jefferson County would no longer be able to use their specialized knowledge and training to provide professional development to Jefferson County faculty lacking such specialization. Id. at 46. This loss of institutional knowledge would be difficult to replace. Id. at 25, 46. A Gardendale separation is also likely to make it more difficult for the County to attract and retain high-performing faculty and staff. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 69:14-71:18. As Jefferson 14 This ranking excludes Shades Valley High School, whose high AP course enrollment percentages relative to the rest of the County are likely attributable to its status as the site of the district's IB program. Yun Report at 25 n.12. County's superintendent and chief school financial officer ("CSFO") both noted, past municipal separations have created more competition for quality teachers and administrators and have caused the district to lose talented personnel to city school systems within Jefferson County. Id. at 69:14-70:25; Jones 30(b)(6) Dep. 40:1-42:9. There is no reason to conclude that the effect of a Gardendale separation would be any different. Under these circumstances, "the possible loss of teachers to the new system . . . would diminish the chances that transition to unitary schools in the county would prove 'successful.'" Wright, 407 U.S. at 470. 3. Facilities The loss of the Gardendale High School facility itself would have a "substantial adverse effect upon the quality of education" for students remaining in Jefferson County. Wright, 407 U.S. at 470. That facility – one of six new high schools built in the County within the last seven years – cost the district roughly $55 million, the most of any school in the district's history. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 82:22-83:12, 85:4-20, 92:19-93:20. Jefferson County invested this historic sum of money with Gardendale High School's role as a regional education center in mind. Id. at 29:8-30:24, 83:3-24. Accordingly, Gardendale High School was designed to include a range of state-of-the-art career tech facilities to accommodate Jefferson County's only programs in automotive care, welding, and graphic design. Yun Report at 22-23; Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 83:11-84:4. Its graphics laboratory was designed to include large banks of computers and state-of-the-art printing equipment, and its auto body shop has the only painting bays in the entire County. Yun Report at 23. In light of these unique features, Jefferson County's superintendent has acknowledged that "there's nothing that Jefferson County has ever built that is bigger and better than Gardendale High School." Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 77:18-20; see also id. at 81:2-11. He noted, in particular, that the school's career tech, athletic, and performing arts facilities are superior to those at any other Jefferson County school. Id. at 83:11-84:8, 135:3-13. It is well-established that high quality facilities like Gardendale High School offer critical educational benefits, including reduced absenteeism, decreased problem student behaviors, increased teacher satisfaction, and decreased teacher mobility. Yun Report at 36. Currently, 35% of black high school students and 48% of white high school students in Jefferson County attend school in one of the district's six new high school buildings. Yun Report at 36. If Gardendale were to separate, the percentage of County high school students who attend school in one of these new buildings would drop to 31% for black students and 39% for white students. Id. A Gardendale separation would therefore result in a 10% loss in access for black students and an 18% loss for white students, meaning that a significantly smaller proportion of students remaining in the County district would be able to access new facilities and the positive educational opportunities associated with these resources. Id. These facts bolster the conclusion that Gardendale's proposed separation would adversely impact the quality of education in Jefferson County and counsel against separation, particularly given the financial challenges the County would encounter in attempting to provide a replacement facility of comparable quality. Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 27:1-21; see Wright, 407 U.S. at 465 (upholding district court's determination that the establishment of a separate city system would adversely impact the quality of education in the county in part because school buildings in the city were "better equipped" and "located on better sites" than those in the county). 4. Student Achievement A Gardendale separation would also have negative implications for student achievement – both real and perceived – among those students who remain in Jefferson County. In general, students in the Gardendale schools perform as well as, if not better than, their peers at other County schools on the nationally norm-referenced assessments that the County uses to monitor student achievement. Yun Report at 27-34. As the United States' quality of education expert notes, although performance on standardized assessments provides "a very limited measure of student achievement," it "has important implications for how schools are seen by the public and policymakers given that [it is] an easily observable manifestation of student knowledge." Id. at 27. For this reason, Jefferson County's loss of the Gardendale schools – which are solid, and in some cases exceptional, performers on standardized assessments – would leave Jefferson County with a greater proportion of struggling schools and negatively affect public perception of the quality of education it offers. The consequences of a Gardendale separation for black student achievement at the elementary level are particularly concerning. Black students attending Gardendale Elementary have made great strides on standardized assessments between the third and fifth grades, indicating that the school is "doing an excellent job of advancing the black students it enrolls." Id. at 28-30, 33-34 (noting that in 2015, reading scores for black students jumped from 13% of students scoring proficient in third grade to 31% proficient by fifth grade, and math scores for black students rose from 23% proficient in third grade to 34% proficient by fifth grade). Id. at 33-34. Jefferson County therefore stands to lose one of its strongest examples of black student achievement as a result of this separation. For the reasons set forth above, a Gardendale separation would disrupt progress toward eliminating the vestiges of a dual system by cutting off access to diverse educational settings and quality educational opportunities for students remaining in the County system. See Wright, 407 U.S. at 463; Ross, 559 F.2d at 943-44; Chambers, 849 F. Supp. at 1502. II. Gardendale's Proposed Separation Would Have a Negative Financial Impact on Jefferson County. It is axiomatic that in assessing whether a proposed splinter district "hinders or furthers the process of school desegregation," Wright, 407 U.S. at 460, a court should consider the financial impact of the separation on the remaining district. See Ross, 583 F. 2d at 715 (finding that "the formation of [a city system] could place [the county district] in such serious financial straits that desegregation would be affected"). Where the creation of a new city district "would be accomplished at the expense of the children remaining in the county," a court "with [the] responsibility to provide an effective remedy for segregation in the entire city-county system" cannot properly allow the city to withdraw. Wright, 407 U.S. at 468. Here, Gardendale has failed to demonstrate – either through documentation, fact witnesses, or expert testimony – that its proposed separation would not have a negative financial impact on Jefferson County. Indeed, the only credible record evidence indicates that the separation will have a significant and long-lasting negative financial impact on the County such that its desegregation efforts will be affected. Under these circumstances, Gardendale has not carried its evidentiary burden and its Motion to Separate should be denied. See Ross, 583 F.2d. at 714 (noting that a proposed splinter district bears a "heavy burden to show the lack of deleterious effects on desegregation"). A. Gardendale has only assessed the financial viability of its own system and not the negative financial impact of its separation on Jefferson County. As detailed in its Supplemental Report filed March 12, 2015, Jefferson County recently invested roughly $55 million to build a state-of-the-art high school in Gardendale City designed to serve as an educational hub for County students throughout the region. Doc. 1001 at 18-20. Faced with losing this multi-million dollar facility and having to absorb the many other costs that attend a municipal separation, 15 Jefferson County spent months negotiating with the newlyformed Gardendale City Board of Education to identify a settlement that would afford the County sufficient resources to provide equivalent facilities and educational opportunities to its students. Id. at 2-13, 21. However, Gardendale and Jefferson County were unable to reach agreement on an appropriate settlement figure or otherwise resolve the matter before the State Superintendent, and Gardendale's Separation Plan does not propose any payment to Jefferson County for lost facilities. Id. Notwithstanding its familiarity with Jefferson County's view of the negative financial impact that would attend a Gardendale separation, Gardendale has failed to conduct any meaningful analysis of the asserted impact. Indeed, although Gardendale hired professionals to assess the financial viability of the Gardendale City School System, none of the professionals performed any analysis showing the full financial impact that development of such a system would have on Jefferson County. 16 Gardendale's CFSO, Randy Dunlap, and its expert financial witness, Dr. Dennis Veronese, both testified that they conducted analyses showing that a Gardendale separation would result in a slight increase in Jefferson County's per pupil revenue. Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 100:7-21; Veronese Dep. 162:6-22. However, neither individual conducted an analysis of the corresponding impact the change in County student enrollment would have on expenditures, let alone the impact of other costs Jefferson County might incur as a result of the proposed separation. Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 106:12-21, 112:13-113:2; Veronese Dep. 27:14-28:15, 75:10- 15 These costs – including the cost to the County of transporting and creating space in current facilities for displaced students, the cost of providing special educational programs and services to Gardendale residents who attend the County's Burkett Center, and the County's loss of the ad valorem tax base and other community resources located in Gardendale City – were also detailed in Jefferson County's Supplemental Report. Doc. 1001 at 5-7, 15-26. 16 In addition, in assessing Gardendale's financial viability, none of the professionals assumed that Gardendale would remit payment for Gardendale High School or any other County educational facility within the Gardendale city limits. Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 45:7-46:9; Veronese Dep. 118:19-119:7. 77:23, 162:23-25; Veronese Report at 48, 62 (devoting less than 2 pages of 67-page report to assessing the impact of separation on County revenues with no corresponding assessment of the impact of separation on County expenditures). As Gardendale's own financial expert admits, one cannot understand the full financial impact of separation on the County without such an analysis. Veronese Dep. 76:9-77:23 (testifying that he did not evaluate expenditures or other costs to Jefferson County, even though that is what would be required to assess the full financial impact of the separation on the County; that he never requested information to perform that analysis; that he was never asked to perform that analysis; and that he does not know why). While Gardendale appears to have relied on several third-party financial analyses in determining whether to move to separate, those financial analyses provide no more information regarding the impact of separation on the County. Nor do they contemplate the County receiving any remuneration for the multi-million dollar facility it would lose as a result of separation. A "financial feasibility report" commissioned by proponents of the separation prior to the formation of the Gardendale City Board of Education and drafted by Dr. Ira Harvey concluded that a Gardendale City school system would be financially feasible, in large part because it was in an "unprecedented" position to receive a state-of-the-art high school and other educational facilities in "very good condition" for little to no money. See Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 41:2-43:10 & Ex. 2 (Creating a Gardendale City School System FAQ's) ('"Nobody else I've ever worked with has ever been in that kind of situation. It's totally remarkable,' said Dr. Ira Harvey regarding the amount of debt to be assumed."). In addition, although proponents of a Gardendale municipal school system also evaluated the system's potential viability by procuring a pro forma budget from Carr, Riggs, & Ingram, and an economic analysis of the impact of separation on housing prices from Dr. M. Keivan Deravi, neither the budget nor the economic analysis assessed the impact of separation on Jefferson County. See Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 37:14-42:9 & Ex. 2; Segroves Dep. 64:10-20, 67:6-15. B. Record evidence demonstrates that Gardendale's proposed separation would have a negative financial impact on Jefferson County. Although Gardendale failed to conduct a meaningful analysis of the financial impact of separation on Jefferson County, Jefferson County's CSFO, Sheila Jones, and its financial expert, Kim McPherson, have conducted such analyses. These analyses – which assess the likely impact of the proposed separation on the County's revenues, expenditures, and other related costs – indicate that a Gardendale separation would have an immediate and ongoing negative financial impact on the County. Like Veronese, McPherson concluded that if Gardendale were to assume responsibility for educating students currently attending Gardendale schools, Jefferson County would receive more revenue per pupil in the first year after separation. 17 After assessing the impact to expenditures, however, McPherson concluded that "the revenue increase per pupil is disproportionate to the expenditure increase per pupil" and that Jefferson County would suffer a net deficit of $61 per pupil and "a net operational loss of $2,040,558 directly related to the proposed separation." McPherson Report at 33 (emphasis in original). This net deficit and operational loss stems, in part, from the fact that fixed costs, or "overhead," do not decrease with the loss of students to Gardendale. Id.; Jones 30(b)(6) Dep. 34:11-22; see also Veronese Dep. 162:23-163:11 (acknowledging that Jefferson County's expenditures would not decrease one-toone with a decrease in student population, in part because fixed costs would remain constant). Other relevant factors include (1) the cost of continuing to provide special education services to 17 Although the experts' student counts differ slightly, both agree that Jefferson County would be poised to lose between 8.45% and 8.6% of its student population in the first year of operation if separation occurred pursuant to Gardendale's Plan. See McPherson Report at 13; Veronese Report at 8. Gardendale students at the Burkett Center under a proposal that does not account for the County's "maintenance of effort" obligations under federal law, 18 and (2) the often unforeseeable panoply of costs associated with providing such special education services that must be paid for through local funds. See McPherson Dep. 103:6-108:22; 131:9-132:18, 58:6-59:20; Jones 30(b)(6) Dep. 62:23-63:18. In light of these considerations, McPherson concluded that a Gardendale separation would require Jefferson County to allocate a larger portion of its local funds to maintaining special programs and services and make cutbacks in other areas of the system to prevent an operational deficit. McPherson Report at 33-34; McPherson Dep. 219:8223:18. Not only does McPherson conclude that Jefferson County would suffer an operating loss should Gardendale be permitted to separate, but she also concludes that Jefferson County "would incur significant costs to replace facilities, provide transportation and reestablish lost programs." McPherson Report at 42. In particular, she estimates that Jefferson County would have to spend no less than $45 million to build a replacement facility comparable to Gardendale High School and nearly $2 million more to duplicate that high school's state-of-the-art career tech center. Id. at 38-39. These amounts do not include additional funds the County would likely spend making other capital improvements to ensure it has adequate space for students who are no longer able to attend the Gardendale schools. Id. at 38. Nor do they include the more than $2 million 18 "Maintenance-of-effort" refers to a requirement under many federal education statutes that, as a condition of receiving federal funds, school districts maintain local funding efforts from year-to-year. See generally 31 C.F.R. § 205.2. In the special education context, school districts seeking federal financial assistance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA") must provide local funds for the education of children with disabilities in an amount equal to or greater than the amount it spent for that purpose in the most recent fiscal year. See 34 C.F.R. § 300.203. This concept applies as a condition of receiving funds under other federal financial assistance programs as well, including Title I. See 34 C.F.R. § 299.5. McPherson anticipates the County would spend on expanded transportation for affected students over the course of the proposed transition period. Id. The testimony of Jefferson County's long-time CSFO, Sheila Jones, supports McPherson's conclusions that Jefferson County would operate at a deficit in the first year after separation, and that the County would likely see an increase in transportation costs and capital expenditures as a direct result of separation. Jones 30(b)(6) Dep. 42:16-48:11, 59:12-60:21, 72:12-75:12. Jones noted specifically that in the aftermath of the Trussville separation, Jefferson County encountered costly challenges related to the transportation and placement of transitioning students and new "move-ins" to that separation's transition zone area. Id. at 30:10-35:7. To address these challenges, the County has had to spend an additional half-million dollars on several buses and new personnel to transport students farther distances than required prior to the Trussville separation. Id. at 33:8-12, 44:5-19. In addition, several of the County schools have experienced overcrowding as a result of absorbing transitioning students, thus requiring the County to expend many millions of dollars for capital improvements designed to increase classroom sizes and build out existing facilities. Id. at 32:24-33:7, 44:20-45:20. The financial implications of municipal separations have not been limited to increased transportation costs and capital outlays but also include financial strains from changes in the demographics of Jefferson County's student body and tax base. According to Jones, recent municipal separations, including Trussville, have not only contributed to an increase in the County's district-wide percentages of student poverty but have also compromised the County's ability to derive funding from property taxes and other local sources. Id. at 25:23-26:4, 27:6-10, 37:25-38:23, 53:19-56:17. Jones explained that while any loss of County revenue as a result of a separation is detrimental, those losses are "compounded with the fact that typically in those municipal areas, the property values are higher," and "community support in relation to taxes" is greater. Id. at 55:21-56:17. She also expressed concern that the increase in poverty rates in the County would have an impact on the upcoming tax renewal vote, which would allow the County to continue collecting taxes from families in the district, and, critically, to pledge bond money so it may borrow funds to build a new high school should Gardendale separate. Id. at 56:18-61:16. Jones's view of the link between the demographic and financial implications of municipal separations is consistent with Gardendale's own financial expert's conclusion that a Gardendale separation would lead to an increase in the proportion of County students eligible for free and reduced lunch. See Veronese Report at 7 (showing an increase in the proportion of FRL-eligible students in Jefferson County as a result of the separation, and that the resulting County system will have nearly twice the proportion of FRL-eligible students as a Gardendale City system (28.47% in Gardendale compared to 50.19% in Jefferson County)). While Gardendale's expert took no steps to assess the financial implications of this increased poverty rate, the United States' quality of education expert concluded that without Gardendale – which has far fewer households falling below the poverty line than the County as a whole and an average annual household income that is more than $10,000 higher than that in the County – "the district will . . . be losing the potential local fundraising to support additional activities and resources for the Gardendale schools and ultimately, the district as a whole." Yun Report at 42, 44. 19 The loss of County schools capable of raising local funds would inevitably place greater financial strain on the County's central office. 19 In reaching this conclusion, the United States' expert explains that a higher median household income in a city is suggestive of an enhanced ability to support local schools, and "[s]chool fundraising from the community is an important supplemental income stream that can make the difference between improved infrastructure (Chromebooks, playground equipment) and doing without." Yun Report at 42. The privately funded Gardendale City Schools Foundation, for example, has provided substantial support to local schools in the form of grants to teachers and other donations. Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 34:12-18, 39:4-16; Salters Dep. 25:22-27:3, 28:8-31:15. C. Under these circumstances, the Court should find that Gardendale has not carried its burden to demonstrate that its separation will not have a material adverse financial effect on Jefferson County's desegregation efforts. Gardendale's failure to conduct a full financial impact analysis is similar to that of Valley City, the municipality denied the right to separate in Chambers. Like Valley City officials, Gardendale City "officials did no comprehensive study of the financial impact on the [larger] County system of operating a separate district," and witnesses "admitted that they did not examine the impact of separation on the surviving County system." 849 F. Supp. at 1489-90. Gardendale officials evaluated only the revenues Jefferson County would receive after a separation, wholly ignoring any impact on expenditures and leaving the Court with "only a part of the picture." Id. at 1491. Like Valley, Gardendale also based its budget estimates on the proportion of current Jefferson County students who would be assigned to the new Gardendale system, multiplying each budget item by that ratio rather than using actual student counts. Id. at 1490 ("proportional approach does not furnish an accurate projection of the actual costs to each system of maintaining the status quo; i.e., the level of educational offering currently available in the single county district"). Gardendale "did not, for example, analyze the distribution in the two proposed school systems of children having special educational needs," or "the proportion of students from families below the poverty line," even though it had access to this information, and even though local costs for providing special programs and services to these students "can be a substantial burden." Id. at 1490; McPherson Dep. 93:14-96:9, 218:7-220:6; Jones 30(b)(6) Dep. 63:1-18 (special education is a "major financial issue for us" and "a very real financial concern for Jefferson County"). Just as the Chambers court rejected Valley City's unsupported assertion that the county district would not be affected adversely by the establishment and operation of a separate municipal school system, so too should this Court reject such an assertion by Gardendale. 849 F. Supp. at 1499. The record evidence demonstrates that Gardendale's proposed separation is likely to "increase the overall costs of providing even a minimal level of educational services to the children of [the] County," "promote unnecessary duplication and prevent educationally sound and fiscally prudent consolidation of programs and schools," and restrict the ability of the county district "to raise adequate local revenues to address . . . problems" and "deliver a high-quality education" for its students. Id. at 1498. Moreover, central to Gardendale's proposed separation is the expectation that it will receive – at no cost – a multi-million dollar high school facility that has served as a regional educational center in the County and drawn a racially diverse group of students into its classrooms. Finally, Gardendale has not provided any indication – through its numerous budgets, financial analyses, witness testimony, or otherwise – that it contemplates contributing resources toward the final dismantling of the dual school system in Jefferson County. Indeed, it has expressed clearly a desire not to be a part of the work required to achieve unitary status. See e.g., Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. II & Ex. 8 (Superintendent Weekly) ("Our team's takeaways from the week are that (1) if Jefferson County really does aim to gain Unitary Status there is going to be an excessive amount of work to be done across the entirety of the county and (2) we need to do everything to make sure we are not lumped into that process."); Gardendale Answer in Intervention, Doc. 1090 (averring that federal desegregation mandates should not and do not apply to Gardendale's proposed school system or to the Jefferson County school system); see also discussion infra Section III. Under these circumstances, Gardendale has not carried its evidentiary burden to demonstrate that its proposed separation would not deplete Jefferson County's financial resources and impede Jefferson County's desegregation efforts. See Ross, 583 F.2d at 715 (finding that the city system had not borne its evidentiary burden, and that record evidence showed the departure of the city from the county system "would have a material adverse financial [e]ffect on future desegregation efforts"); Chambers, 849 F. Supp. at 1498 (finding that, in light of the financial implications of the proposed separation, "formation and operation of a separate system at this time will disrupt and impede progress toward the complete eradication of the lingering vestiges of the dual system"); Wright, 407 U.S. at 468 (finding that "any increased quality of education provided to city students would, under the circumstances . . . have been purchased only at the price of a substantial adverse effect upon the viability of the county system"). III. Gardendale Has Not Demonstrated That it is Able and Intends to Comply with This Court's 1971 Order. Not only has Gardendale failed to demonstrate that its proposed separation will not impede Jefferson County's efforts to become a unitary school system, but it has also failed to establish its good faith commitment to implementing the specific provisions of the 1971 Stout Order and attaining that Order's ultimate objectives. Indeed, in an Answer in Intervention filed on August 19, 2016, Gardendale suggests that this Court's desegregation orders do not bind it at all. Doc. 1090 at 2-3, 5-7. As Gardendale cannot demonstrate to the Court "'by clear and convincing evidence' that it is able and intends to comply with the court's orders concerning its role in desegregation of the county school district," Chambers, 849 F. Supp. at 1501 (quoting Stout, 466 F.2d at 1215), its Motion to Separate should be denied. In addition to desegregation provisions applicable to the County as a whole, the 1971 Stout Order contains specific provisions applicable to separating municipal school systems. Doc. 226 V (a)-(d). Those provisions require any new school system formed in Jefferson County after the date of the Order and prior to Jefferson County's attainment of unitary status to: (c) … make sufficient space available for black students from the county system in such number that, added to the number of black students included in the annexation or new school zone, equals one-third of the white students included in the annexation or new school zone … [and] (d) … attain the percentage of black faculty and black staff members that exists in the county system at the time of the formation of the new system, and shall offer to retain all teachers and staff assigned to schools at such time which are to be within the area of the new system. Prior to its intervention in this litigation, Gardendale expressed no intention of complying with these or other applicable provisions of the Stout Order. Nor has Gardendale since identified any specific plan for ensuring full compliance with the terms of the Order. Although Gardendale's separation proposal technically satisfies the "one-third" requirement of Section (V)(c) of the Stout Order, Gardendale met this requirement by including North Smithfield – a non-contiguous area south of Gardendale with a nearly all-black population – in its proposed system on an "indefinite" basis. See Doc. 1040 at 5; Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 90:2-10. The inclusion of students in this area came only after Plaintiffs expressed concerns regarding the demographic makeup of Gardendale's proposed system and the segregative impact it would have on Jefferson County students, particularly those in North Smithfield who, in the aftermath of a separation, would likely be reassigned from Gardendale High School to Minor High School – a predominantly black high school with inferior facilities and fewer course offerings. Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 92:4-18, 97:10-100:14; Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. II 163:7-167:8; Segroves Dep. 57:17-58:8. Notwithstanding their inclusion, North Smithfield students will not attend Gardendale schools on equal footing with all other Gardendale students, as they do not live within the Gardendale City limits and cannot have representation on the Board of Education or other municipal decision-making bodies. Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 36:18-37:14, 107:24-108:20, 111:10-114:25; Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 82:22-83:5; see discussion infra Section IV(B)(2). The vulnerabilities inherent in the grounds on which North Smithfield students are included are further compounded by the fact that the students can be excluded at any time should unitary status be granted to Gardendale or Jefferson County. Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 90:2-91:19, 103:11-15; Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. II 241:10-244:13, 249:25-253:4 & Ex. 10; Segroves Dep. 117:13-119:2. In other words, Gardendale has accomplished technical compliance with the student assignment requirements of Section V(c) of the Order without ensuring that North Smithfield students will have equitable representation or access to its school system. Gardendale thus lacks the kind of "specific" and "future-oriented" policies, decisions, and courses of action vis-à-vis the North Smithfield community that courts look to as evidence of a good-faith commitment to an enduring desegregation remedy. See Dowell, 8 F.3d at 1513; see also Chambers, 849 F. Supp. at 1485, 1500 (finding that where a separating district has taken no position on important questions such as those concerning voting rights of parents outside the city limits, there is an increased potential for an unnecessarily detailed level of supervision from the court which "ultimately will impede the County's progress toward a unitary system from which all vestiges of past discrimination have been eliminated"). Gardendale's failure to comply with the faculty and staff requirements of Section V(d) of the Stout Order is plain. Gardendale's superintendent, Dr. Patrick Martin, admitted that he was not familiar with these requirements or the demographics of the faculty and staff in Gardendale schools and Jefferson County as a whole. Martin 30(b)(6) Vol. II at 169:6-178:24. He also admitted that he has had no experience recruiting, hiring, or working with black faculty or staff, Martin Dep. 86:23-95:15, and that Gardendale has no specific plan for how it would increase black faculty and staff representation in a Gardendale City school system from the current level of 4% to the 18% level required under the Order, Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. II 180:10-182:20. Moreover, as Jefferson County's superintendent and CSFO have acknowledged, separating systems' efforts to recruit black faculty and staff often have the effect of undermining Jefferson County's ability to satisfy its own faculty and staff obligations under the Order. 20 See Pouncey 30(b)(6) Dep. 69:14-71:14; Jones 30(b)(6) Dep. 40:1-42:9; see also Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. II 182:21-186:11 (acknowledging that both Gardendale and Jefferson County would be drawing from the same competitive pool of minority candidates). Not only has Gardendale failed to develop a plan for ensuring compliance with the Stout Order's requirements for separating systems, but it has also failed to develop a plan for ensuring compliance with the broader desegregation obligations it will inherit as a stand-alone system. While Gardendale's superintendent was hired in July of 2014 to "get through the separation process," "set[] up the new system," and "provide vision for the Gardendale Board of Education," he could not recall Gardendale mentioning desegregation at any point during the interview process, or otherwise charging him with any desegregation-related tasks. Martin Dep. 21:5-23:18, 30:20-31:18; Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 80:2-17. In fact, Dr. Martin did not even review the Stout Order until six months after he was hired. Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. II 159:15-160:7. Even then, his review was performed in anticipation of discovery, not for purposes of ensuring Gardendale's ability to effectively discharge its desegregation obligations. Id. Months after filing its Motion to Separate, Gardendale still had not conducted any due diligence to identify racial inequities or other desegregation concerns within the Gardendale schools, Martin 30(b)(6) 20 Indeed, in the Parties' February 6, 2015 Joint Report to the Court, Jefferson County acknowledged that it had "more work to do in the area of faculty and staff, particularly to address employee composition at the different schools in the system, consistent with Singleton ... The Board understands that it needs to employ a more structured employment process, focused on recruitment, selection, hiring, training and retention, designed to achieve the objective of desegregation." Doc. 998 at 10-11. Dep. Vol. II 187:1-194:20, 216:2-219:11, nor had it developed or approved a plan to address them, id. at 160:8-162:21, 180:10-184:18, 187:1-188:16; Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 79:2-80:1. As the court made clear in Lee v. Chambers, "it is not sufficient for a splinter district merely to agree to accept a desegregation goal." 849 F. Supp.at 1502. Instead, the separating district must "establish what its operations will be," and "must express its precise policy positions on each significant facet of school district operation." Id. (quoting Ross, 559 F.2d at 945). Here, Gardendale can point to no evidence indicating that it has specific plans for complying with the provisions of the Stout Order and discharging its broader desegregation obligations. Indeed, it has recently disavowed any desegregation obligations. Doc. 1090 at 2-3, 5-7. For this reason, Gardendale has failed to demonstrate "a good-faith commitment to the future operation of the school system through 'specific policies, decisions, and courses of action that extend into the future.'" Lee, 2004 WL 2359667 at 4 (quoting Dowell, 8 F.3d at 1513). Its motion should therefore be denied at this time. IV. Gardendale's Proposed Separation Plan Does Not Accomplish any of its Stated Objectives, Save for Its Generalized Desire for Local Control. Not only would Gardendale's proposed separation impede desegregation of Jefferson County and run afoul of the specific obligations set forth in the Stout Order, but it would also fail to accomplish all of the objectives given by Gardendale for separation, save a generalized desire for local control. Gardendale asserts that its proposal to separate from Jefferson County and create its own municipal school system is motivated by a desire to provide an "excellent educational experience," decrease classroom sizes, and exert "local control" over the operation of Gardendale schools. While testimony given by Gardendale's Board members, Advisory Board members, and employees is replete with references to these objectives, that testimony fails to explain how the proposed separation will accomplish most of the objectives. The testimony shows only that separation will provide Gardendale with control over the composition of its schools, thus insulating it from Jefferson County's past practice of including Gardendale schools in its efforts to further desegregation. A. Gardendale has no plan to provide improved or different educational opportunities from those provided by Jefferson County. When a municipal system seeking to separate has "no specific plans for the operation of [its] schools," the argument that "a separate system is necessary to achieve 'quality education' for city residents" is "open to question." Wright, 407 U.S. at 467-68. Here, Gardendale asserts that one of its objectives in creating a separate municipal school system is "to provide an excellent educational experience for [its] students." 21 Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 32:25-33:4. This desire to improve educational opportunities is rooted in the idea that "smaller, locallycontrolled systems perform higher than larger systems." Salters Dep. 51:2-6; see also Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 17:8-12. 22 However, when pressed to identify the specific steps it will take as a locally-controlled system to improve education, Gardendale offers little more than circular explanations devoid of tangible details. See Segroves Dep. 28:18-24 (Q: "[C]an you think of any specific things that the Jefferson County system was doing that you would do differently as a smaller system?" A: "I haven't developed . . . a list of specifics." Q: "Any ideas?" A: "No, ma'am."); Salters Dep. 91:11-92:6 (Q: ". . . I just wanted to make sure – can you tell me any specific changes that you would make if you were allowed to separate?" A: "Just overall 21 See also Segroves Dep. 78:23-79:2 (Gardendale is "[s]imply seeking an improved level of student achievement"); Salters Dep. 46:11-19 (efforts to form a separate school system and secede from Jefferson County . . . began with a discussion of the "possibility of a high-performing school system within . . . our area"); Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 16:717:7 (when "you look at any kind of ranking of school systems within the state of Alabama . . . Jefferson County is always . . . towards the bottom, certainly not at the top or even in the top 25 percent. So . . . it's just this idea that there's a better education out there . . . for our children"). 22 According to Gardendale, these claims are based on school district rankings gathered from online websites, Salters Dep. 51:7-22; Segroves Dep. 83:15-21; Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 33:14-24, and on anecdotal "history," which demonstrates that "smaller municipal locally-led public education systems perform better," Segroves Dep. 28:6-17. improvements, general improvements of education which are reflected in the size of the school system." Q: "General improvements but nothing specific; correct?" A: "Test scores, things like that." Q: "[S]o the changes would be the output. Do you have any changes in input in terms of how you would do things differently?" A: "Not specifically." Q: "So other than general improvements, nothing specific other than that? I just want to make sure I've got it all." A: "General improvements."); Segroves Dep. 26:16-27:14 (A: "[W]e could perhaps serve our children better and provide a better quality of education." Q: "How?" A: "Through the formation of a municipal system district." Q: "Well, specifically, how? How would a new school system do things better?" A: " . . . locally-led municipal school systems perform better than larger school districts." Q: "So that's sort of the by-product. But how would you create an environment where students perform better?" A: "Through local leadership." Q: "And what would local leadership do differently than Jefferson County leadership?" A: "I can't speak to that in our case because we haven't had access to faculty and staff 23 in order to determine yet what our steps would be for improvement and thus haven't begun the strategic planning process."). 24 23 Throughout depositions, Gardendale's Board members, Advisory Board members, and employees cited their inability to gain unfettered access to Gardendale school facilities and faculty as a reason for their incomplete plan for operation. However, this explanation is without merit. Gardendale has not provided evidence suggesting that Jefferson County or anyone else has prohibited it from gathering sufficient information to develop an educational plan for its school system, much of which is publicly available. See, e.g., Martin Dep. at 63:2-22 (testifying that he could have requested information related to Gardendale schools' career tech programs from Jefferson County but has not); Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol II 193:25-194:7 (testifying that Gardendale never sought information regarding to desegregation-related issues at Gardendale schools); Segroves Dep. 38:1-22 (testifying that he never sought information about what caused the increase in classroom sizes at Gardendale Elementary). Moreover, to the extent Gardendale has expressed dissatisfaction with the education provided by Jefferson County at Gardendale schools, its development of a new educational plan should not hinge entirely on the involvement of the very County personnel with whom it is dissatisfied. 24 See also Salters Dep. 54:1-18 (Q: "So you don't have any . . . specific things that you are anticipating that the Gardendale City Schools will be able to provide?" A: "Generally, better education." Q: "[Y]ou don't have any specific things that Gardendale City Schools will provide? You said general . . ." A: "[S]pecifically a better education." Q: "In what way specifically?" A: "In . . . every way."); Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 35:23-36:8 (Q: "Anything that you might do differently in Gardendale School System that isn't being done in Gardendale schools today to your knowledge." A: "I think it just comes back to the fact that we're going to have more funds per student. When you look at it on a per-student or per-classroom basis, we're going to have more funds."). To the extent Gardendale provides any detail regarding its operational plans, that detail indicates that Gardendale's operations will not differ from Jefferson County's in any meaningful way. For example, after suggesting that – post-separation – Gardendale might adopt an innovative, technological approach that moves away from a "'sit and get' type of educational platform[] to [one] where there's more interaction with students," Gardendale's superintendent admitted that Jefferson County is already "working in that direction as well." Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 56:5-57:20, 57:25-58:9. In addition, when asked to explain the educational opportunities Gardendale would offer that Jefferson County does not, Gardendale's superintendent testified that he is "sure there's some best practices that we would look to take from Jefferson County." Id. at 58:25-59:7. As this testimony indicates, Gardendale has no concrete plans for providing an educational experience that is different from, let alone superior to, that provided by Jefferson County. Instead, it plans only to replicate Jefferson County's delivery of services on a smaller scale. Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 63:8-12 (testifying that there is currently no plan to provide students different resources); Segroves Dep. 81:5-13 (Q: "[I]n what way are you going to have higher student achievement?" A: "[T]hose plans, those actions, those areas of improvement, once identified, will serve as a basis for the board to establish a strategic plan, a plan of excellence, to move that needle. At this point the board hasn't had the opportunity to develop those and prioritize those areas of improvement."). Gardendale has also cited overcrowding of classrooms, particularly those at Gardendale Elementary School, as a reason for separation. Lucas 30(b)(b) Dep. 28:19-29:11; Segroves Dep. 34:7-19; 36:7-18; Salters Dep. 38:10-17. However, Gardendale has proposed no plan to alleviate such overcrowding. Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 37:20-38:11. In fact, Gardendale's own demographic expert admits that the student attendance boundaries proposed under the Plan maintain, if not increase, overcrowding at Gardendale Elementary by adding North Smithfield students currently enrolled at Fultondale Elementary. Sachs Dep. 131:4-133:12; see also Cropper Report at 22 ("Under the proposed separation plan, Gardendale Elementary school is made even more overcrowded, going from 114% utilization to 121%."); Doc. 1040 at 4-5. Gardendale's own financial analyses confirm the lack of a plan for addressing overcrowding, as those analyses do not evaluate – much less account for – the costs of adding additional teachers to achieve the small class sizes Gardendale desires. Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 91:5-19 (Q: "Is there any plan to increase teacher units?" A: "Not initially. We haven't talked about any plans to increase teacher units." . . . Q: "[Y]ou've never been asked to crunch any numbers about what it would cost GBOE to add more teachers?" A: "I have not."); see also McPherson Report at 21, 29 (finding under both Plan I 25 and Plan II 26 that Gardendale would have no funds to hire more locally funded teachers). In sum, while Gardendale asserts that its proposed separation is necessary to improve educational outcomes and reduce classroom size, its proposal includes no plans for reaching these objectives. Even municipalities with concrete plans for establishing a high-quality school system have been denied the right to separate where separation would impede desegregation. See Wright, 407 U.S. at 470, 479 (denying a request to separate despite the fact that the city provided details of its proposed educational program, including "[a] kindergarten program, ungraded primary levels, health services, adult education, and a low pupil-teacher ratio"). That Gardendale supplies no concrete plan for establishing a high-quality school system only bolsters the conclusion that its Motion should be denied. 25 Only students living within Gardendale city limits. . 26 All current students in Gardendale schools, regardless of whether such students live within Gardendale city limits B. Gardendale's proposed separation stems from the Board's generalized desire for local control, which would allow Gardendale to insulate itself from Jefferson County's past practice of including Gardendale schools in its efforts to further desegregation. Given that Gardendale cannot demonstrate how its proposed separation would accomplish its stated objectives of improving educational opportunities and alleviating overcrowding, its motivation for separating reduces to a desire for exclusive (i.e., "local") control over the makeup and operation of Gardendale schools. Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 63:22-25 (Q: "Can you give me some other reasons for a new school system?" A: "The one thing that . . . I've heard a lot about is . . . the idea of local control."); Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 27:9-15; 32:4-9 (testifying that the Gardendale Board was formed because "[t]hey wanted to exercise their right to local control of their schools," meaning "they would be more intimately involved being a small school system"); Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 27:22-25 ("we feel like [] a locally-controlled, better-funded school system will . . . provide a better education."); Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 28:8-18 (pointing to "local control" as a "major tenet" as to how a new municipal school system will provide a better education for students); Salters Dep. 53:11-19 (". . . the larger mega systems become sort of unmanageable. It's just too big. So local control, more manageable."). Because Gardendale cannot explain how local control would remedy any genuinely held concern regarding the quality of education in Gardendale schools, and because the effect of such control would be to insulate Gardendale from Jefferson County's desegregation efforts, the generalized desire for local control is an inadequate basis for separation. 1. Gardendale has failed to explain how local control would remedy any stated concern regarding the quality of education at Gardendale schools. Although Gardendale seeks local control over schools located within the Gardendale city limits, it identifies no past problems arising from control at the county level nor does it articulate the specific benefits local control will provide in the future. As members of the Gardendale Board of Education and Gardendale Advisory Board acknowledge, prior to moving to separate they never raised any concerns regarding the quality of education in Gardendale schools with Jefferson County. Bagwell Dep. 25:10-27-1 (Q: "Did you have any issues with Gardendale Elementary School, Bragg Middle School, or Gardendale High School while your children were attending them?" A: "I would say that I was probably not a huge fan of one of the principals at the elementary school. . . I felt like she discouraged some of the arts. But I don't know that I'd call that a real issue. . ." Q: ". . . Did you share those concerns with the principal?" A: "I don't recall." Q: "What about with . . . someone from the Board of Education?" A: "I don't recall if I did or not." Q: "Have you ever been to a Jefferson County Board of Education meeting?" . . . A: "[N]o. I don't recall specifically going to a Board of Education meeting for Jefferson County." . . . Q: "If you had a concern, could you have gone to the Jefferson County Board of Education?" A: "Yes."); Salters Dep. 43:5-44:9 (Q: "Did you ever share a complaint or concern with the Jefferson County Board of Education?" A: "Not that I recall." . . . Q: "[C]ould you have gone to a Jefferson County Board of Education meeting?" A: ". . . I assume if it was a public meeting, I could have attended."); Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 55:8-25 [Q: "[Y]ou mentioned that there were some . . . concerns you had about facilities. . . Did you reach out to Jefferson County about [facility] repairs?" A: "No."); Segroves Dep. 35:10-36:2 (Q: "[T]hat concern [regarding classroom size] was never taken to Jefferson County . . . [b]y you or anyone that you know?" A: "Not by me." Q: "Anyone that you know?" A: "No."). In fact, when asked to identify specific reasons – whether raised with Jefferson County or not – for their dissatisfaction with the education their children have received at Gardendale schools, they could not do so, save a general dissatisfaction with the rankings of the Jefferson County school system as a whole. See Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 30:25-31:6; Segroves Dep. 34:3-6, 38:23-39:1; Bagwell Dep. 48:14-49:11. While Gardendale Board and Advisory Board members note that local control would mean managing fewer schools, having a district office closer to teachers and administrators, and having the power to allocate resources to its own benefit in the future, Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 17:13-18; Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 29:17-24; Bagwell Dep. 48:10-13, they admit they have no strategy for translating these attributes into improved education in the Gardendale schools. Dunlap 30(b)(6) Dep. 29:17-30:15 (A: "[A]s a district office at Gardendale Board of Education, we would be right there close to the schools, and we would be able to spend more time with the administration and the staffs and be more involved." Q: "More involved how?" A: "Assisting them, making sure that we are taking the school system in the right direction." Q: "What direction would that be taking them? I just want to understand sort of how it would be different than the way it is now." A: "[I]f we have curriculum changes, then we're there to ensure that we can make those changes that are for the best of the students and the best of the community." Q: "And how would you figure out what's best for students in the community?" A: "Well, we haven't had that chance to meet with the staffs yet, so that's kind of still an unknown at this point." Q: "[H]ow you would make it better is still an unknown?" A: "How and what we would do is still unknown."). 2. Separation and local control over the Gardendale schools results in those schools being insulated from Jefferson County's desegregation efforts. By definition, local control is accompanied by the placement of narrow limitations on the groups of children who are eligible to enroll in a school system. As applied to Gardendale, local control would have the effect of insulating the Gardendale schools from Jefferson County's past practice of including those schools in its efforts to further desegregation. See discussion supra Section III.A.1. The desire for such insulation appears to be a driving force in Gardendale's Separation Plan. A weekly update sent by Gardendale's superintendent to the Gardendale Board of Education in September 2015 states clearly, "if Jefferson County really does aim to gain Unitary Status there is going to be an excessive amount of work to be done across the entirety of the county and . . . we need to do everything to make sure we are not lumped into that process." Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. II & Ex. 8 (Superintendent Weekly); see also Ex. 21 at GCS141, (Gardendale City Schools Public Facebook Group Page) 27 Chris Lucas (Oct. 2, 2012, 7:08 PM) ("Would Gardendale be required to bring in minorities from outside of the municipal boundaries to achieve some sort of quota? No. The school system is for residents of Gardendale (whatever those boundaries end up being and whatever that racial makeup is)); id. at GCS153, Timothy Bagwell (Sept. 12, 2012, 3:03 PM) (discussing benefits of forming a Gardendale school system, including "true local control over our schools," "better control over the geographic composition of the student body," and "protection against the actions of other jurisdictions that might not be in our best interests"); id. at GCS101, David Salters (July 19, 2013, 2:59 PM) ("As it stands, Gardendale has no authority nor ability to make decisions about its educational system. Feel free to ask our principals their thoughts about current bussing into and out of Gardendale schools. Ask our principals about double bus routes (where our students have to wait at school until an 27 The Gardendale City Schools Facebook Group Page was created by Timothy Bagwell on September 12, 2012 to discuss the formation of a separate Gardendale City school system. Bagwell Dep. 36:7-37:10, 41:1-43:12, 52:1354:22; 63:2-66:19; 69:23-72:9; Ex. 21 at GCS156. Chris Lucas and David Salters, both of whom posted frequently on the site, were also among the Page's named administrators. See Ex. 21 at GCS126, GCS152. As administrators, they possessed maintenance capabilities, including the right to edit posts, remove members, and manage privacy settings. Bagwell Dep. 57:1-58:5. The Page was made private and inaccessible to the public some time after the start of discovery in this case but has since been made public again. Excerpts of this Page, the full contents of which were preserved by the United States on March 4, 2016, appear at Exhibit 21. available bus travels to Center Point, drops off those kids, then returns to Gardendale and picks up another load of kids)"). 28 While Gardendale's separation proposal does invite North Smithfield residents to attend Gardendale schools on an "indefinite" basis, even this inclusion demonstrates controlled decision-making regarding which children are included in Gardendale schools and on what terms. Gardendale's superintendent testified that, for the Gardendale community, local control means having the opportunity to elect and give feedback to its own Board of Education members and to have an "amplified voice" that "allows [community members] to be heard." Martin 30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 64:1-10; 65:20-24. The North Smithfield residents included in the new system, however, would not be afforded this opportunity, as they can neither serve on the Gardendale Board of Education nor vote in local school board elections and other municipal decision making processes. See Ala. Code § 16-11-2(b) (under Alabama state law, members of a city board of education "shall be residents of the city"); City of Gardendale, Ala., Ordinance 2014-007, § 2 (Mar. 3, 2014), Doc. 1002-3 (establishing a Gardendale City School System whose Board of Education members "shall be residents of the city" to be "elected by the city council"). In short, while Gardendale has crafted a separation proposal that gives its residents an "amplified voice" in the proposed municipal school system, black students who live outside of Gardendale but are nevertheless included in the municipal system "will not be on equal footing 28 Starting in 2005 and through the 2012-13 school year, Jefferson County students enrolled in schools in Center Point – a community that is approximately 95% black and 92% FRL-eligible, see Yun Report at Table 3 – were given the option under the No Child Left Behind Act ("NCLB") to transfer to schools in Gardendale. See, e..g, Doc. 906, 976. Comments made on the Gardendale City Schools' Facebook Page and in other public forums indicate that community members were upset by what was perceived as overcrowding in Gardendale schools caused by NCLB transfers and Jefferson County's desegregation efforts. See e.g., Ex. 21 at GCS153, Misti Sanderson Boackle (Sept. 13, 2012, 1:41 PM) ("[D]id you know we are sending school buses to Center point and busing kids to OUR schools in Gardendale, as well as from Smithville! This is all due to the "No child left behind act" that if a school doesn't make AYP they can go to another school within their county system. This law had good intentions but has really created a mess for the schools. Smithville kids have been bused here for years due to the desegregation from decades ago and that should have already been changed because we have a very diverse population now in our area. We are busting at the seams and can't continue on this path!"). with other Gardendale students and their families" because "one group will have an elected representative, and the other will not." Martin (30(b)(6) Dep. Vol. I 114:8-19; see also Lucas 30(b)(6) Dep. 82:22-83:5 (Q: "To be on the Gardendale Board of Education, you have to be a resident of Gardendale; correct?" A: "That's my understanding." Q: "[A] person . . . couldn't live in North Smithfield and be on the Gardendale Board of Education?" A: "To the best of my knowledge, I think the answer would be no."). In sum, Gardendale's Separation Plan fails to address its stated concerns about educational opportunities and classroom overcrowding in any specific way. At bottom, the proposed separation reflects Gardendale's generalized desire to exert local (i.e., total) control over the composition and operation of Gardendale schools. Because Gardendale cannot explain how local control addresses any genuinely held concern regarding the quality of Gardendale schools, and because such control serves to insulate Gardendale from Jefferson County's desegregation efforts, the generalized desire for local control is an inadequate basis for granting Gardendale's Motion to Separate at this time. CONCLUSION Gardendale asks this Court to approve a plan that allows it to separate and insulate itself from Jefferson County's active and purposeful desegregation efforts. This proposed separation threatens to impede the final dismantling of Jefferson County's dual system by, inter alia: depriving the County of its largest, most costly facility, which also has served as one of its most successful vehicles for desegregation to date; exacerbating racial and socioeconomic isolation and segregation throughout the County; compromising the County's ability to provide quality educational programs to its students; and depleting the County's financial resources. Should Gardendale be allowed to separate at this time, it would effectively cut the heart out of Jefferson County's current desegregation efforts and hinder its ability to comply with this Court's directives moving forward. Finally, despite its own affirmative desegregation obligations, Gardendale has provided no indication that it is committed to the desegregation of Jefferson County or of any school system it may operate. Until such time as Gardendale is willing and able to make such a demonstration to this Court, its motion to operate a separate municipal school system should be denied. Respectfully submitted, For Plaintiff-Intervenor United States of America: VANITA GUPTA Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General /s/ Veronica Percia SHAHEENA SIMONS KELLY D. GARDNER NATANE SINGLETON VERONICA PERCIA U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Educational Opportunities Section 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Telephone: (202) 514-4092 Facsimile: (202) 514-8337 JOYCE WHITE VANCE United States Attorney LANE WOODKE Chief, Civil Division United States Attorney's Office Northern District of Alabama Dated: August 26, 2016 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that, on August 26, 2016, I served the parties listed below with a copy of this document by email: WHIT COLVIN CARL JOHNSON Bishop, Colvin, Johnson & Kent, LLC 1910 First Avenue North Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Telephone: (205) 251-2881 Facsimile: (205) 254-3987 STEPHEN A. ROWE RUSSELL J. RUTHERFORD Adams and Reese LLP 1901 Sixth Avenue North, Suite 3000 Birmingham, AL 35203-3367 Telephone: (205) 250-5000 Facsimile: (205) 250-5034 MONIQUE N. LIN-LUSE NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 40 Rector Street, 5th Floor New York, NY 10006 Telephone: (212) 965-2200 Facsimile: (212) 226-7592 U.W. CLEMON White Arnold & Dowd P.C. 2025 Third Avenue North, Suite 500 Birmingham, AL 35203 Telephone: (205) 241-3124 Facsimile: (205) 449-5320 /s/ Veronica Percia VERONICA PERCIA
UK EMPLOYMENT UPDATE – JANUARY 2021 To Our Clients and Friends: In this update, we look back at the key developments in UK employment law over the course of 2020 and look forward to anticipated developments in 2021. A brief overview of developments and key cases which we believe will be of interest to our clients is provided below, with more detailed information on each topic available by clicking on the links. 1. Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ("CJRS") (click on link) In this update we describe the current offering under the CJRS, which is set to remain operational until 30 April 2021. ) 2. Vicarious Liability (click on link We consider two decisions of the UK Supreme Court in 2020, which consider vicarious liability in relation to: (i) the actions of a doctor who was found to be an independent contractor; and (ii) the criminal actions of an employee who leaked the personal data of almost 100,000 employees. The "employer" was not held to be vicariously liable in either case. 3. Transfer of Undertakings (click on link) We consider two important decisions from the last year related to the operation of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/246) ("TUPE") which protect the rights of employees in situations such as the sale of a business as a going concern. 4. Post-termination Restrictive Covenants (click on link) We consider two decisions looking at the enforceability of post-employment restrictive covenants, including a Court of Appeal decision which considered the circumstances in which a new employer would be liable for inducing a breach of contract by a new hire. We also consider a recent High Court decision which considered the enforceability of restrictive covenants against a recent joiner who left during her probationary period. January 20, 2021 5. Forthcoming Changes (click on link) We briefly outline changes to the off-payroll and IR35 system, designed to prevent workers from avoiding tax by operating as contractors, and report on developments in gender and ethnicity pay gap reporting and racial and ethnic diversity in business as well as notable government consultations for employment contracts. APPENDIX 1. Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ("CJRS") We have addressed the introduction of and updates to the UK government's CJRS mechanism to support employment levels through the COVID-19 pandemic in past publications; these updates are available on the Gibson Dunn website – March 20, 2020, March 27, 2020, May 18, 2020, June 2, 2020, and webcast of December 1, 2020. If employers cannot maintain their UK workforce because their operations have been affected by COVID-19, they can put their employees onto "furlough", a temporary leave of absence, and apply for a government grant to cover a portion of the usual wages. There have been various alterations to the finer detail of the CJRS (including the level of contribution to be made by employers as opposed to under grant, changes which took place between August and October 2020) but the essential position at the time of writing is: * Employees can be put on full-time furlough or "flexible furlough", when employees work parttime and are regarded as being on furlough when they are not working. * Employers have to pay for hours worked but can claim the grant for hours not worked. * The grant amounts to the lower of 80% of wage costs or £2,500 per calendar month for those hours. * Employers must pay for employer national insurance contributions and employer pension contributions on all amounts paid to the employee, including the amount paid by the grant. * Employers are still free to top up wages, above the level of the grant, if they wish. * Since 1 December 2020, the CJRS cannot be used for employees who are under notice of termination. The CJRS is set to run until 30 April 2021. This month the government is due to determine whether employers should contribute more towards employee costs. The government will shortly begin publishing information about employers who claim under the CJRS, in order to deter fraudulent claims. 2. Vicarious Liability As reported previously, the boundaries to the law on vicarious liability, which determines the circumstances in which an employer will be deemed liable for the acts of its officers and employees, have been expanding. However, two decisions of the UK Supreme Court in 2020 signal limits to this expansion and some helpful clarity for employers. 2.1 Vicarious Liability and Employment Status In Barclays Bank plc (Appellant) v Various Claimants (Respondents), a bank had engaged a doctor to conduct medical examinations of prospective employees as part of the bank's recruitment process. The Supreme Court held that the doctor was acting as an independent contractor rather than an employee, therefore the bank was not vicariously liable for sexual assaults he was alleged to have committed during these examinations. The key question for the court was whether the doctor was acting as an independent contractor, carrying on business on his own account, or if his relationship to the bank was akin to employment. In circumstances where the doctor had other clients, remained free to refuse examinations, did not receive a retainer from the bank and carried his own medical liability insurance, it was clear that he was an independent contractor. 2.2 Vicarious Liability and Data Protection In WM Morrison Supermarkets plc (Appellant) v Various Claimants (Respondents), the UK Supreme Court held that Morrison was not liable for data breaches by an employee who leaked the personal data of almost 100,000 employees. The employee was authorised to transmit payroll data for Morrison's workforce to its external auditors. He did so, but kept a copy of the data on a USB stick, which he later shared online. The employee has since been criminally convicted for his actions. Some of the affected individuals brought claims against Morrison for misuse of private information, breach of confidence and breach of its statutory duty under the Data Protection Act 1998, for which they alleged Morrison was either primarily or vicariously liable. The question for the Supreme Court was whether the employee's wrongful disclosure of the data was so closely connected with the task(s) that he was authorised to do that it could fairly and properly be considered to have been done whilst acting in the course of his employment. The Court found that this was not so and that, as a consequence, the employer was not vicariously liable for his actions: the disclosure was part of a personal vendetta by the employee, and the employee was not furthering his employer's business when he committed the wrongdoing. What this means for employers Employers will take some comfort from these Supreme Court decisions. The Barclays Bank decision confirms that employers are unlikely to be held vicariously liable for the actions of true third party contractors. The Morrison Supermarkets decision also makes clear that employers are unlikely to be held liable for employees' wrongful acts where they are the result of a personal vendetta; the mere opportunity to commit wrongful acts, provided by employment, is insufficient alone to render employers vicariously liable. However, employers should continue to be mindful of the potential vicarious liability under data protection legislation for employees' activities that do satisfy the "close connection" test. Safeguarding personal data and keeping risk of data breaches to a minimum should remain a priority. 3. Transfer of Undertakings The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 ("TUPE") protect: (i) employees working in a business or undertaking that is in the UK, that is sold or transferred; (ii) employees in Great Britain who carry out activities that are subject to insourcing, outsourcing or transfer to a different outsourced contractor (a so-called "service provision change"); and (iii) those employees who are otherwise affected by that sale, transfer, insourcing or outsourcing. In essence, these employees' contracts of employment are transferred to the recipient of the business, undertaking, or service provision change, who steps into the shoes of the previous employer and must, generally speaking, continue to employ them on their pre-transfer terms and conditions of employment. TUPE also provides other protections for affected employees, including the right to be informed and consulted in advance of a transfer. 3.1 Contractual Changes Under regulation 4(4) of TUPE, variations to a contract of employment for which the sole or principal reason is the relevant transfer are void (unless certain specific exceptions apply). In Ferguson and others v Astrea Asset Management Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal ("EAT") held that regulation 4(4) applies to such variations, irrespective of whether they are beneficial or detrimental to the employee. In this case, two months prior to the transfer by way of service provision change from one property management company to another, the owner-directors of the first company varied their own employment terms to their advantage (in particular, guaranteed bonuses of 50% of salary, termination payments of a month's salary for each year worked, and enhanced notice periods). The EAT held that regulation 4(4) rendered these variations void; the second company was not bound by them. In arriving at its decision, the EAT cited the aim of the Acquired Rights Directive (2001/23/EC) (on which TUPE is based) as safeguarding employees' rights, rather than improving them, and distinguished earlier case law on the bases that the variation occurred post-transfer and before regulation 4(4) was in force, and the Court of Appeal had not said that advantageous changes could not be declared void. What this means for employers In the context of TUPE transfers, the EAT decision provides helpful clarity to transferees on the enforceability of transfer-related contractual changes, confirming that where senior executives attempt tactical pre-transfer changes to their own terms and conditions, transferees will not be bound by the new terms. Difficult questions about whether such a variation is to the benefit or detriment of the employee are not necessary. However, outsourcing agreements should continue to contain provisions to render void any changes to terms and conditions made by the service provider once notice has been served to terminate the contract. 3.2 Long-term disability benefits In ICTS (UK) Limited v Visram, the Court of Appeal considered whether an employee was entitled to benefit from a long-term disability benefits ("Disability Benefit") policy when he could not restart his old job, as opposed to taking another appropriate role. Under the terms of an insurance-backed Disability Benefit scheme, during periods of illness the employee was entitled to two thirds of his salary, with payment being conditional on the employee remaining employed, and to continue until the earlier of his return to work, death or retirement. The Court held that on closer inspection of the terms of the scheme, "return to work" was properly construed as return to the work the employee did before he became sick; had the parties intended that the benefit be available until the employee could return to any remunerated full-time work they could have specified this in the terms. The case also raises the issue of liability for Disability Benefit where an employee has transferred to a new employer under TUPE. The claimant in this case had transferred to a new employer during his longterm sick leave; since employees who transfer under TUPE do so on their existing terms and conditions, including contractual benefits, the transferee employer was liable to provide the benefit until the employee's return to his prior role, his death, or his retirement. The transferee employer had dismissed the employee during his sickness absence. The employee then succeeded in claims for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, hence the Employment Tribunal awarded compensation on the basis that benefits under the Disability Benefit plan should have continued until death or retirement. The EAT and Court of Appeal both upheld this finding. What this means for employers This case serves to remind employers and their advisors of the importance of specificity in drafting contractual benefit entitlement provisions, and the need to consider the nature of employee's benefits and impact any termination may have on them prior to taking action. It is also a reminder of the full reach of contractual burden transferee employers take on in the context of TUPE transfers and the need to conduct full due diligence to identify potential liabilities around employees off sick and Disability Benefit. 4. Post-Termination Restrictive Covenants 4.1 Restrictive Covenants and Breach of Contract Post-termination restrictive covenants are commonly included in the contracts of employment of senior and other key employees. Should that employee commit a breach of their restrictive covenants, for example, by joining a competitor in breach of a non-compete covenant then the new (competitor) employer will not ordinarily be liable to the former employer in respect of that employee's breach. However, should that new (competitor) employer induce that employee to breach the terms of their former contract of employment then both the new (competitor) employer and employee may be liable to the former employer. To bring a claim for inducing a breach of contract, a claimant must show that the third party knowingly and intentionally induced and procured the breach without reasonable justification. The Court of Appeal in Allen t/a David Allen Chartered Accountants v Dodd & Co, held that an accountancy firm was not liable for inducing breach of contract when it recruited a tax adviser in breach of his 12-month contractual post-termination restrictions, where the firm had received legal advice in advance of the recruitment that the employee's restrictive covenants were unlikely to be enforceable. The firm was advised that the covenants were unenforceable due to lack of consideration and an unreasonably long duration and that the non-solicitation and non-dealing restrictions "probably" and "on balance" failed, allowing the tax adviser to contact the clients of David Allen, his former employer. In the High Court the judge found that parts of the restrictive covenants were enforceable and the employee had breached them. However, the accountancy firm had been entitled to rely on the legal advice it had received. David Allen appealed on the grounds that the legal advice received by the accountancy firm had been equivocal, and therefore the new employer was aware that there was a risk that the restrictive covenants would turn out to be enforceable. In reaching its decision to dismiss the appeal, the Court of Appeal noted that the fact that the legal advice had been equivocal did not prevent the firm from honestly relying on it. It acknowledged that lawyers rarely provide unequivocal advice, and therefore responsibly sought legal advice should be able to be relied upon, even if it later turns out to be incorrect. Further, the required level of knowledge for inducement was that of knowledge of a legal outcome, not just knowledge of a fact. This level of knowledge could not be proven where the numerous breach of contract cases in the courts have shown that it is often difficult to predict legal outcomes. The Court did not opine on legal advice that merely states that it is arguable no breach will be committed, but advice that states it is more probable than not that there will be no breach is enough to rely upon. What this means for employers Employers can take comfort in this decision which confirms that they are entitled to rely on legal advice even where it is equivocal. Unless it can be proven that they knew their actions would breach the contract, as opposed to "might" breach the contract, liability for inducement to breach will not be made out. 4.2 Restrictive Covenants as Unlawful Restraint of Trade Post-termination restrictive covenants will only be enforceable in the UK to the extent that they protect a legitimate business interest (such as an employer's trade connections with customers or suppliers, confidential information and maintaining the stability of its workforce) and do so in a manner which is reasonable (lasting no longer and being no wider in scope than is reasonably necessary to protect the employer's legitimate business interest). Restrictive covenants commonly take the form of "noncompetes" (the most onerous form of restrictive covenant, which prevent the employee from working in a competing business for a restricted period of time), "non-solicit" and "non-dealing" restrictions which prevent an employee from soliciting and/or dealing with certain clients or customers of the business during a restricted period after leaving and "non-poaching" restrictions which prevent an employee from poaching or attempting to poach former colleagues during a restricted period after leaving. In Quilter Private Client Advisers Ltd v Falconer and another, the High Court found that the noncompete, non-solicitation and non-dealing clauses in a financial adviser's employment contract were an unreasonable restraint of trade and therefore invalid. Whilst the Court did find that the adviser had breached her employment contract in a number of ways, including via misuse of confidential information, her 9-month non-compete was unreasonable in the context of leaving employment within a six month probation period. In addition, her 12-month non-dealing and non-solicitation clauses, which covered anyone who had been a client of the employer at any time in the 18 months prior to termination, were held to be unreasonable and excessive given the nature of her client relationships during her period of employment. What this means for employers This case serves to highlight the importance of tailoring the drafting of restrictive covenants to both the circumstances of the business and the restricted employee. Particular care should be taken as to the scope and duration of restrictive covenants which an employer would seek to enforce against an employee who leaves during their probationary period. 5. Forthcoming Changes 5.1 Off-payroll working and IR35 We have previously reported that changes to the IR35 legislation (which governs the payroll tax arrangements for certain individuals who supply services through an intermediary, usually a personal service company ("PSC")) were due to take place in April 2020 (link). However, these changes have been postponed until April 2021 in recognition of the COVID-19 disruption. On 1 July 2020, MPs voted against a proposed amendment to the Finance Bill to delay the changes until 2023-2024. Should the changes now go ahead as expected in a matter of months, medium and large sized end-user clients will take over responsibility from the intermediary for assessing whether, but for the intermediary's presence, the individual would be deemed an employee of the end-user client for tax purposes and, if so, for paying such taxes. 5.2 Gender Pay Gap Similarly to the IR35 postponement, as we previously noted in March 2020 (link), the Government Equalities Office and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) suspended enforcement of the gender pay gap deadlines for the reporting year 2019/20 due to the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic. The requirement to report for 2020/21 has not yet been suspended, and on 14 December 2020 the government published a new set of guidance for employers, though the reporting requirements remain unchanged. 5.3 Ethnicity Pay Gap and racial and ethnic diversity in the boardroom Amid a global surge in debate on racial equality, a petition to the UK Parliament calling for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for UK firms with 250 or more staff has obtained enough signatures to mean it ought to be debated in Parliament. The government had said it would respond by the end of 2020 in light of the consultation it ran between 2018 and 2019, but we still await a response. In a leaked report obtained by the BBC in December from the government's 2018 pay gap reporting consultation exercise, three quarters of employers (of 321 responders) wanted large firms to be forced to release ethnicity pay gap data. Whilst gender pay gap reporting was enacted through regulations, the government would need to pass a new Act of Parliament to create any new ethnicity pay reporting scheme. Despite reporting not yet being mandatory, two in three UK companies surveyed recently by PwC (link) are now collecting data on ethnicity, with over one fifth now calculating their ethnicity pay gap; those not collecting data or calculating were concerned about data protection, systems capabilities, low response rates, or unease about posing the questions. Given how multifaceted information about ethnicity can be, it is not yet clear exactly what information would need to be provided under any new mandatory scheme. Legal and General Investment Management ("LGIM") has urged FTSE 100 boards to include at least one black, Asian or other minority ethnic member by January 2022 or suffer "voting and investment consequences" – LGIM would vote not to re-elect their nomination committee chair. It will also demand more transparency around race and ethnicity data, including ethnicity pay data and inclusive hiring policies. LGIM is the largest fund manager in the UK, holding an interest in most FTSE 100 companies. Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry has announced a new campaign, "Change the Race Ratio", in partnership with a number of firms and charitable and academic organisations. This incorporates commitments: (i) to ensure FTSE 100 and 250 boards have at least one racially and ethnically diverse member (by end 2021 and by 2024 respectively); (ii) to increase racial and ethnic diversity in senior leadership, by setting and publishing targets; (iii) to increase transparency, via published target action plans and progress reports and with ethnicity pay gaps disclosed by 2022; and (iv) to create an inclusive, open and supportive environment through recruitment, development and support processes, more diversity in suppliers/partners, and use of data. The campaign offers support to businesses to sign up to the commitments and thereby increase inclusion in business. In December, Liz Truss MP, Minister for Women and Equalities, gave a speech at the Centre for Policy Studies setting out the government's new approach to tackling inequality, consisting of the "biggest, broadest and most comprehensive equality data project yet", to look across the UK and identify where people are held back and what the biggest barriers are. This will not be limited to the Equality Act 2010's nine protected characteristics (which include sex and race). While Ms. Truss acknowledged that people in these groups suffer discrimination, she suggested that the focus on protected characteristics has led to a narrowing of the equality debate that overlooks socio-economic status and geographic inequality. Initial findings will be reported this summer. 5.4 Government consultations for employment contracts On 4 December 2020, the government launched two consultations, both of which are expected to close on 26 February this year. One pertains to measures to extend the ban on exclusivity clauses in employment contracts for employees under the Lower Earnings Limit (currently £120 per week), which would prevent employers from contractually restricting low earning employees from working for other employers – it appears this stems from the fact low earners have been particularly adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and many employers are currently unable to offer their employees sufficient hours. The second consultation relates to measures to reform post-termination non-compete clauses in employment contracts (previously discussed at section 4 of this update), including proposals to: (i) require employers to confirm in writing to employees the exact terms of a non-compete clause before their employment commences; (ii) introduce a statutory limit on the length of non-compete clauses; and (iii) ban the use of post-termination non-compete clauses altogether. We will report in due course on any developments following the government consultations. Gibson Dunn's lawyers are available to assist in addressing any questions you may have regarding these and other developments. Please feel free to contact the Gibson Dunn lawyer with whom you usually work or the following members of the Labor and Employment team in the firm's London office: ``` James A. Cox (+44 (0)20 7071 4250, email@example.com) Georgia Derbyshire (+44 (0)20 7071 4013, firstname.lastname@example.org) Charlotte Fuscone (+44 (0)20 7071 4036, email@example.com) Heather Gibbons (+44 (0)20 7071 4127, firstname.lastname@example.org) ``` © 2021 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Attorney Advertising: The enclosed materials have been prepared for general informational purposes only and are not intended as legal advice.
The Foundation Review Volume 8 Issue 2 Open Access 6-2016 Getting Real With Strategy: Insights From Implementation Science Douglas Easterling Wake Forest School of Medicine Allison Metz National Implementation Research Network, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/tfr Part of the Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons, and the Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons Recommended Citation Easterling, D., & Metz, A. (2016). Getting Real With Strategy: Insights From Implementation Science. The Foundation Review, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.9707/1944-5660.1301 Copyright © 2016 Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. The Foundation Review is reproduced electronically by ScholarWorks@GVSU. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/tfr Getting Real With Strategy: Insights From Implementation Science Douglas Easterling, Ph.D., Wake Forest School of Medicine, and Allison Metz, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Keywords: Foundation strategy, implementation science, operationalizing strategy, organizational learning, implementing innovations, practice profile, implementation drivers Key Points * Foundations are increasingly coming to appreciate the importance of strategy. But simply having a strategy – even an explicit strategy – does not guarantee that a foundation will actually achieve its goals. strategy to succeed in the marketplace, foundations need to clarify their goals, identify strategic leverage points, and focus their resources on the highest payoff activities, programs, people, and organizations. * To implement a strategy effectively, a foundation needs to operationalize it in the form of specific functions that staff will carry out and needs to create an organizational infrastructure that supports the strategy. The field of implementation science offers a set of tools for helping foundations address these tasks. * After introducing some general principles of implementation science, this article describes in depth the concepts of practice profiles, which translate programs or strategies into specific activities to be carried out by implementation staff, and implementation drivers, which point to organizational factors that determine whether a program or strategy is implemented well enough to achieve its intended outcomes. Introduction In their seminal 1999 article, "Philanthropy's New Agenda: Creating Value," Michael Porter and Mark Kramer criticized foundations for not taking full advantage of their privileged position of controlling billions of discretionary charitable dollars: "Not enough foundations think strategically about how they can create the most value for society with the resources they have at their disposal" (p. 122). Porter and Kramer argued that strategy should be central to the practice of philanthropy. Just as businesses need to execute a clear and coherent The Foundation Review // 2016 Vol 8:2 Over the subsequent 17 years, much more has been written regarding strategic philanthropy – what it is, what it isn't, what it requires of foundations, how it affects grantees, how to measure if it's working, and whether it's actually good for the world (e.g., Brest, 2005; Dorfman, 2008; Buteau, Buchanan, & Brock, 2009; Kramer, 2009; Patrizi & Heid Thompson, 2011; Kimball & Kopell, 2011; Brest, 2012; Kania, Kramer, & Russell, 2014;). While there remain a number of open questions and unresolved debates, it is safe to say that foundations are increasingly coming to appreciate that they need to have a coherent and well-grounded strategy 1 if they have any hope of creating a discernible impact in the world. In a 2007 survey of foundations with over $100 million in assets conducted by the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), 89 percent of the responding chief executive officers and program staff reported that they use the word "strategy" to describe how their foundation goes about achieving its goals. The majority of these foundations had adopted a formal strategic plan, but some referred to more implicit strategies (Buteau, et al., 2009). 1 The literature is replete with conceptualizations of "strategy" that differ in terms of the loftiness of the goals, the time horizon, and the specificity of activities, outcomes, and pathways (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, & Lampel, 2005; Patton & Patrizi, 2010; Patton, Foote, & Radner, 2015). 97 In other words, foundation strategies are often grounded in a weak or vague "theory of change." These theories fail to take into account the full range of factors that contribute to the problem the foundation is hoping to solve, as well as other efforts underway in the community that either complement or compete with the work that the foundation is funding or stimulating. Problems With Foundation Strategy Having a strategy – even an explicit strategy – does not guarantee that a foundation will actually achieve its goals. Buteau, et al., (2009) argue that in order to operate in a "strategic" fashion, a foundation needs to make its decisions based on a variety of information, including information from external sources, and to map out the logical connections that explain how its resources and actions will lead to the desired outcomes. A number of organizational and evaluation consultants who work with foundations have made the case that these conditions are frequently not met (Patton & Patrizi, 2010; Patrizi & Heid Thompson, 2011; Patrizi, et al., 2013; Patton, et al., 2015). They point out that foundations often develop their strategies in insulated settings – board retreats and staff meetings – without the benefit of harsh critics and doubters. The resultant strategies are too often grounded in idealized theories of how change occurs and overly confident assessments of the foundation's ability to influence the course of events. In other words, foundation strategies are often grounded in a weak or vague "theory of change." 2 These theories fail to take into account the full range of 98 factors that contribute to the problem the foundation is hoping to solve, as well as other efforts underway in the community that either complement or compete with the work that the foundation is funding or stimulating. With an incomplete understanding of the problem and the context, the foundation develops a strategy that is based on unrealistic expectations of what will happen in response to the foundation's package of inputs (e.g., grantmaking, convening, capacity building, advocacy). Within the theory of change, the foundation's inputs look potent enough to generate impact, but once the strategy is introduced into the real world, a thousand underappreciated factors come into play and dwarf whatever influence stems from the foundation's strategy. Along these same lines, foundation strategies tend to over-assume what other actors will be willing and able to accomplish. Many foundations presume that they can use their financial resources to recruit well-positioned people and organizations to join into their strategy – as grantees, intermediaries, or "partners." In fact, these actors may be less than committed to serving as agents of the foundation's strategy (CEP, 2013). If these actors do join with the foundation, they may not be capable of operating in the envisioned manner. And even if they are both willing and able, it might turn out that the organization doesn't have as much influence over conditions, people, policy, etc., as the strategy presumes. Beyond making unrealistic assumptions in designing their strategies, foundations also fail to adapt their strategies based on what is learned – or what should have been learned (Buteau, et al., 2009; Patrizi, et al., 2013; Coffman, et al., 2 A theory of change delineates the pathway(s) through which a foundation's resources and actions will translate into outcomes and impacts – initially the changes that are expected to occur among the organizations that are directly touched by the foundation (e.g., new or improved programming, increased organizational capacity, stronger leadership role in the community, more collaboration or networking with other actors), and ultimately the broader and deeper improvements in well-being that the foundation is seeking (Weiss, 1995; Patrizi & Heid Thompson, 2011; Patton, et al., 2015). 2013; Kania, et al., 2014). Foundations too often stick with whatever strategy is initially implemented, sometimes because that is what the board approved and sometimes because the foundation doesn't have the interest or ability to adapt its strategy based on evaluation data. This shortcoming is particularly problematic in cases where the foundation has a simplistic, unrealistic, and/or overly deterministic theory of change. But even when a foundation is rigorous in developing its strategy, a number of realities and issues will not be apparent in the design phase. It is also critical to acknowledge that the environment within which the foundation does its work will inevitably shift in ways that influence the strategy's effectiveness, either negatively or positively. Building on Henry Mintzberg's (2007) concept of emergent strategy, a number of writers have called on foundations to adjust their strategies on an ongoing basis through formative or developmental evaluation, as well as disciplined learning (Patrizi, et al., 2013; Coffman, et al., 2013; Kania, et al., 2014). The evaluation needs to provide quick-turnaround assessments of how the strategy is being implemented, how the key actors are responding, what is working according to expectations, and what isn't. In addition to helping the foundation to refine its strategy, the evaluation should also lead to a more complete and accurate view of the environment within which the strategy is being implemented, as well as a deeper understanding of how change occurs or might occur within that environment. Patton and Patrizi (2010) point out that this sort of strategy evaluation requires a broader lens and more adaptive methods than are typically applied in program evaluations. Snow, Lynn, & Beer, (2015) offer a nice example of how the Colorado Health Foundation evolved its advocacy strategy based on this sort of wide-ranging and nimble evaluation approach. But these intentional, thoughtful, data-driven adaptations to strategy are more the exception than the norm in philanthropy. Challenges With Implementing Strategy The literature cited above has begun to build awareness among foundations of shortcomings in strategy design and evaluation. This article focuses on another critical shortcoming that has The Foundation Review // 2016 Vol 8:2 By definition a new strategy represents a change in direction for the organization that develops and executes it. For a foundation, this implies changes in practice among program officers and other foundation staff, new messages to various constituents, revised organizational procedures, and possibly new policies to accommodate the new work. received less attention – inadequate implementation. Even if a foundation has a well-designed strategy (grounded in data, theory, and logic) and a rigorous system for evaluating and adapting the strategy, there still remains the task of ensuring that the activities specified in the strategy are fully implemented. To quote Thomas Edison, "Vision without execution is hallucination." By definition a new strategy represents a change in direction for the organization that develops and executes it. For a foundation, this implies changes in practice among program officers and other foundation staff, new messages to various constituents, revised organizational procedures, and possibly new policies to accommodate the new work. Patrizi and Heid Thompson (2011) contend that foundations have often fallen short in their strategies because they do not take the time to map out the new work that staff needs to carry out and to identify prevailing practices that need to shift. Likewise, Davis, Bearman, and McDonald (2015) observe that, "Although many funders value practice in theory, it's not always evident in their day-to-day work." This failure to translate strategy into practice is due in part to a blind spot on the part 99 of foundations. According to Patrizi and Heid Thompson (2011), "Beyond funding grantees, most strategies focus on what others will do" (p. 57). In other words, the intended impacts of the strategy are expected to occur through new actions on the part of grantees and partner organizations. Foundation staff and trustees don't look in the mirror to see that the strategy requires that they will likely need to change their own behavior as well. 3 If a foundation doesn't fully recognize its own role in generating the desired impacts, it won't make the organizational changes necessary to execute the strategy. This article focuses on two defining tasks that need to be accomplished for a strategy to be implemented. The first is to operationalize the strategy in the form of specific functions, activities, and performance metrics for foundation staff. The second is to create an organizational infrastructure (defined in terms of staffing, structures, processes, policies, culture, etc.) that is conducive to carrying out the activities that the strategy requires. In order to promote effective implementation, we urge foundation staff and trustees to consider the following two sets of questions as they develop their strategies: 1. What is required of those actors who are charged with implementing the strategy? What actions do they need to carry out? What decisions do they need to make? What sorts of relationships do they need to build? What mindset do they need to bring to the work? And what competencies are required to carry out this body of work? 2. What else is required of the foundation to ensure that the strategy is implemented as intended? What sorts of supports does the foundation need to provide in order for the implementing actors to be successful? Does the foundation need to hire staff with new 3 Easterling and Csuti (1999) made a parallel point with regard to evaluation, arguing that foundations generally focus their evaluation efforts on assessing whether grantees are meeting expectations without evaluating the foundation's own behavior and its effect on grantees. 100 competencies? How does the foundation need to change its administrative processes and policies to support full implementation of the strategy? Does the organizational structure or culture need to change in order to be aligned with the strategy? The field of implementation science offers a set of tools to help foundations answer these questions and to put in place the supports that are needed to implement a strategy. Implementation science is concerned with the design and implementation of interventions that are aimed at improving conditions and outcomes among a defined population. This might be a new model of service, a medical treatment, a public-health intervention, or any of a number of deliberate approaches to attain an individual- or societal-level outcome. For the purposes of this article, we focus specifically on foundation strategy as the intervention to be designed and implemented. Frameworks, tools, and research from implementation science are helpful in determining precisely what is required to implement a foundation's strategy. This article highlights two concepts that appear to us to be under-appreciated within philanthropy: practice profiles and implementation drivers. A practice profile translates a program or organizational strategy into specific functions and activities that need to be carried out by those staff members who are responsible for implementation. Implementation drivers point to a specific set of organizational factors (e.g., selection, supervision, and training of staff; administrative processes; financial resources; leadership; culture) that determine whether a program or strategy is implemented well enough to achieve its intended outcomes. After introducing some general principles of implementation science, we provide in-depth descriptions of each of these two concepts, focusing specifically on the implementation of foundation strategy. "Using Implementation Science to Translate Foundation Strategy," which accompanies this article (Metz and Easterling, 2016), discusses how the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust has used these practice profiles and implementation drivers to redefine the work of its program officers and to revamp organizational structures and processes to align with its placebased initiative, Healthy Places NC. Overview of Implementation Science Implementation science refers to the "methods or techniques used to enhance the adoption, implementation, and sustainability" of an intervention (Powell, et al, 2015; Fixsen, Blase, Metz & Van Dyke, 2015). Within this definition, an "intervention" is a defined effort to create a particular set of outcomes. The field of implementation science is concerned with what it takes for an intervention to produce value – and especially optimal value – for its intended beneficiaries. Within this frame, implementation scientists focus on considerations such as: * Is the intervention appropriate to the purpose and context? * Has the intervention been operationalized in a way that allows those who are responsible for carrying it out to know what is expected of them? * Are they specifically aware of how their work needs to change as the implementation unfolds (i.e., stage-specific activities and modes of operating)? * Do they have the necessary competencies? * Does the organization provide the supports that staff requires to implement the strategy as designed and intended? * Are there data systems and procedures in place to promote learning and adaption? * Are the various partners and stakeholders engaged and supportive? * Are the policy, regulatory, and funding environments hospitable to implementing the intervention effectively? * Are there feedback loops in place that allow learnings from the field to inform The Foundation Review // 2016 Vol 8:2 Contrary to the prevailing conversation in philanthropy, implementation science does not equate "effective" with "evidence-based." Rather, an effective intervention is one that is deliberately chosen using available knowledge to suit the needs of the target population, the intent of the organization, and the context within which that organization operates. In other words, the intervention is "appropriate" if it is: * matched to demonstrated need among the target population, * takes into account the available research evidence, and * feasible to implement within the given context. policymakers who have influence over the intervention? Among implementation scientists, the commonly accepted starting point is selecting an effective intervention. Contrary to the prevailing conversation in philanthropy, implementation science does not equate "effective" with "evidence-based." Rather, an effective intervention is one that is deliberately chosen using available 101 FIGURE 1 Implementation Science Formula Describing Requirements for Success knowledge to suit the needs of the target population, the intent of the organization, and the context within which that organization operates. In other words, the intervention is "appropriate" if it is: * matched to demonstrated need among the target population, * takes into account the available research evidence, and The context also includes conditions outside the implementing organization, including conditions that are controlled by funders, regulatory agencies, and partner organizations. For the context to be truly "enabling," all these stakeholders need to provide the resources and commitment that allows the implementing actors to carry out the required work, while also supporting the process of ongoing learning and optimization. (See Figure 1.) * feasible to implement within the given context. Once an appropriate intervention has been selected, the next step is to operationalize it. This is where the specific work and way of working are mapped out in concrete terms. Even programs that are evidence-based or evidenceinformed need to be operationalized in order to be effective in a particular context. However, most health and human services agencies fail to complete this step when they put a new program or service in place (Dane & Schneider, 1998; Durlak & DuPre, 2008; Michie, van Stralen, & West, 2011; Stirman, et al., 2012). After operationalizing an appropriate intervention, the organization begins the actual process of implementation. Successful outcomes require both effective implementation methods and an enabling context. Effective implementation methods means that the people responsible for implementing the intervention have the competencies that the intervention requires and they employ effective methods to carry out, improve, and sustain the intervention. An enabling context means that the organization delivering the intervention has instituted administrative and technological processes to support those responsible for carrying out the intervention. 102 The formula in Figure 1 summarizes these ideas. In order to obtain the socially significant outcomes that the organization has in mind, it needs to select an effective intervention, implement the intervention with effective methods, and carry out this work within an enabling context. These three conditions refer to what is implemented, how it is implemented, and where it is implemented. The formula is multiplicative because weakness in any of these three areas will severely compromise the possibility of achieving the intended outcomes. It is useful to point out that implementation science shares much of the thinking and some of the tools that exist within program evaluation, especially from a formative or developmental framework (Patton, 2011). Throughout the process of implementing an intervention, implementation science emphasizes the need for continuous quality improvement through the systematic assessment and feedback of information and data related to planning, implementation, and outcomes (Chinman, Imm, & Wandersman, 2004). Reflecting and evaluating refers to "quantitative and qualitative feedback about the progress and quality of implementation accompanied with regular personal and team debriefing about progress and experience" (Damschroder, et al., 2009, p. 11). Implementation science focuses specifically on "improvement cycles" as a means of refining interventions based on feedback. In other words, implementation science presumes that interventions (and especially strategies) will evolve. One of the best-known improvement cycles is the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle (Deming, 1986; Shewhart, 1931), which is a specific form of what implementation science refers to as an "improvement cycle." Within the context of foundation strategy, the PDSA cycle calls for the following linked steps: (1) specify the plan that helps move the strategy forward, (2) focus on facilitating the implementation of the strategy, (3) develop assessments to understand how the strategy is working, and (4) make changes to the next iteration of the strategy to improve implementation and results. Improvement cycles are one of the better-known tools that implementation science offers as a means of improving the implementation and adaptation of strategy (or any intervention). In the remainder of this article we introduce two lesser-known tools that we regard as particularly valuable, especially with regard to implementing foundation strategy, practice profiles and implementation drivers. Operationalizing Strategy Using Practice Profiles When a foundation adopts a new strategy, it will invariably require new ways of acting, interacting, and even thinking among various actors inside and outside the foundation. These new requirements, however, are often not clearly specified within the documents that describe the strategy. This leads to uncertainty, differences in perception, and possibly confusion among those who are charged with implementing the strategy (Hall & Hord, 2006). Managers and evaluators may find it difficult to determine if the strategy is actually being implemented. More fundamentally, failing to translate a strategy into concrete expectations and specific work makes it unlikely that the strategy will achieve its intended outcomes, regardless of how much theory or evidence supports the strategy. The Foundation Review // 2016 Vol 8:2 A practice profile operationalizes an intervention in the form of specific functions and activities that a particular implementing actor needs to carry out. Practice profiles provide the people who are charged with carrying out the strategy with a clear and concrete description of what they are expected to do. When presenting staff members with the responsibility to implement a new program or strategy, it is important to also describe the core activities and expected benefits associated with this new way of working (Cooke, 2000; Durlak & DuPre, 2008; Kallestad & Olweus, 2003; Ringwalt, et al., 2003). In the terminology of implementation science, operationalizing an intervention makes it "implementable" and "useable." A practice profile operationalizes an intervention in the form of specific functions and activities that a particular implementing actor needs to carry out. Practice profiles provide the people who are charged with carrying out the strategy with a clear and concrete description of what they are expected to do. Position-specific profiles are developed for each implementing actor. In the general case, practice profiles answer the question, "What does the intervention require of those actors who are responsible for implementing it?" In the case of a foundation strategy, we are particularly interested in the implications for program officers. The program officer's role is comparable to what practitioners do in many health and human services settings (Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, & Wallace, 2005). In both cases, the program officer and practitioner 103 The strategy's underlying values and principles should apply to all actors with responsibility for implementation. Thus, each practice profile associated with a strategy will have the same starting point. There may, however, be variation across actors with regard to those values or principles most relevant to their work. can be described as "interventionists." While considering the program officer as interventionist may be a new concept for foundations, it demonstrates explicitly that a strategy's success depends on specifying the program officers' new work and supporting them in executing the required functions and activities. We provide an example of a practice profile in the accompanying article that focuses on Healthy Places NC (Metz and Easterling, 2016). 4 Components of a Practice Profile Developing a practice profile is equivalent to operationalizing a strategy for a particular implementing actor. The process involves constructing: 1. a clear description of the values and principles that undergird the strategy; 2. a clear description of the essential functions that define the strategy; 3. operational definitions of the essential functions (Metz, Bartley, Blase, & Fixsen, 2011; 4 For the practice profile tool, see http://scholarworks.gvsu. edu/tfr/vol8/iss2/13. 104 Hall & Hord, 2006), or in other words, the core activities that allow the essential functions to be teachable, learnable, and doable by staff or practitioners as a set of activities for staff or practitioner to conduct; and 4. practical assessments of the performance of staff or partners who are implementing the strategy (Fixsen, Blase, Metz, & Van Dyke, 2013). These components reflect four increasingly specific ways of defining what a strategy looks like when it is being implemented by a particular actor. All four levels are critical to gaining a full understanding of what actors should do and how they should approach various situations when carrying out the strategy. How Are Practice Profiles Developed? The first step in developing a practice profile is to identify or affirm the values and principles on which the strategy is based. Depending on the strategy, the foundation might be guided by such values and principles as transparent grantmaking, engaging new partners, power sharing, collaboration, respecting local wisdom and decisions, organizational learning, data-driven decision making, or encouraging the adoption of evidence-based programs. Values and principles are often a focus area when foundations develop their strategies, in which case the first step involves affirming and clarifying. But sometimes, the strategy is defined primarily in terms of what will happen rather than how things should happen. In this case, foundation leaders and trustees may need to engage in the fundamental work of defining the philosophy, principles, and values that they are seeking to advance with the strategy. The strategy's underlying values and principles should apply to all actors with responsibility for implementation. Thus, each practice profile associated with a strategy will have the same starting point. There may, however, be variation across actors with regard to those values or principles most relevant to their work. Once the strategy's values, principles, expectations, and overall approach are defined, the next step is to identify the essential functions of each of the implementing actors. Essential functions describe in functional terms how the implementing actor is supporting the success of the strategy. These functions might pertain to communicating various messages to various audiences, interacting with grantees and applicants, facilitating community processes, encouraging or coaching local actors, advocating for policies or community change, or assisting with evaluation and learning. Each strategy generates its own distinct set of essential functions for the various implementing actors. The next stage in operationalizing the strategy is to identify the core activities that go along with each function. Core activities describe the concrete behaviors that foundation staff carries out, day to day, to bring the essential functions to life. What should we observe the staff doing as they communicate with different audiences, interact with grantees and partners, facilitate meetings, build capacity, etc.? Specifying these core activities allows the new strategy to be teachable, learnable, doable, and assessable. Once the essential functions have been operationalized in the form of concrete behaviors and activities, it becomes possible to assess staff performance. The practice profile eventually will include specific performance metrics that allow for an ongoing assessment of how fully foundation staff and leadership are implementing the strategy as intended. These performance data are crucial in supervising, training, and coaching these implementing actors so that the strategy is optimally implemented. The major challenge in developing a profile is to ensure that the implementing actor's work is both aligned with the theory of change that undergirds the foundation's strategy and consistent with the research and best practices on how to carry out the work that the strategy requires. To meet these two requirements, implementation science researchers have developed a fivestep methodology for creating and refining practice profiles: (1) review of initiative-related The Foundation Review // 2016 Vol 8:2 documents; (2) systematic scoping review (Arksey & O'Malley, 2005); (3) semistructured interviews; (4) vetting and consensus; and (5) testing and evolving the practice profile (Metz, 2016). The accompanying article describes how these steps were carried out in developing the practice profile for the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust program officers who carry out Healthy Places NC. How Are Practice Profiles Used? Practice profiles are valuable in selecting and supporting the people who are responsible for implementing a strategy. In particular, the essential functions and core activities point to specific forms of knowledge, skills, and abilities that need to be in place for a program officer to meet the expectations associated with the profile. Recruitment and hiring can be tailored to find individuals with the necessary competencies. Likewise, training and coaching strategies for newly hired staff can then be tailored to reinforce and grow these same competencies. Beyond translating a strategy into specific functions and activities, developing a practice profile will often point out where the strategy is underspecified or unrealistic. The first version of the profile may call for actions and outcomes that are unlikely to be realized in practice. From a quality-assurance perspective, a detailed practice profile provides indicators to assess implementation quality. A comprehensive evaluation of a foundation's strategy will include not only an assessment of longer-term outcomes and impacts, but also an ongoing process evaluation of how and how fully the strategy is being implemented (Patton & Patrizi, 2010). The practice profile is valuable because it describes what "good" implementation looks like, and thus provides a standard against which actual implementation can be compared. 5 From a learning and improvement perspective, these regular assessments of implementation (i.e., the extent 5 Ideally, implementation of the strategy will be assessed not only from the perspective of the foundation staff and consultants who are delivering resources and acting in specified ways, but also from those who are on the receiving end of the strategy. 105 In carrying out the functions in the practice profile, the foundation's staff is, by definition, implementing the foundation's strategy. As they learn about the effects and the effectiveness of their actions, they are also learning which of the strategy's assumptions are accurate and which are off base. In other words, the practice profile provides an analytic framework for testing the validity of strategy's underlying theory and for improving the strategy. to which the practice profile is implemented as intended) facilitate reflection, remediation, and adaptation of the practice profile. Beyond their role in monitoring and improving the performance of the people who implement the strategy, performance metrics derived from the practice profile are helpful in evaluating the strategy per se. In carrying out the functions in the practice profile, the foundation's staff is, by definition, implementing the foundation's strategy. As they learn about the effects and the effectiveness of their actions, they are also learning which of the strategy's assumptions are accurate and which are off base. In other words, the practice profile provides an analytic framework for testing the validity of strategy's underlying theory and for improving the strategy. Virtually all foundation strategies will be suboptimal in their first incarnation (Mintzberg, 106 2007; Patton & Patrizi, 2010; Patrizi, et al., 2013; Kania, et al., 2014). As such, refinement is an inevitable and important aspect of strategy implementation (Mintzberg, 2007; Patrizi, et al., 2013; Chambers, Glasgow, & Stange, 2013). Effective change, however, rests on the premise that we know what we are changing. Performance metrics derived from a practice profile facilitate data-informed adjustments to both the design and implementation of strategy. Implementation Drivers New strategies typically impose new demands on the organizational infrastructure. For example, if a foundation devises a new strategy to promote community collaboration, it is likely that people and systems will need to adapt. Grant processes and funding cycles may need to be redesigned to involve local actors more collaboratively in proposal development. Program officers may need training and coaching to effectively engage community members. Sometimes foundations make these adjustments, but more often the existing staff, job descriptions, procedures, and policies remain in place. This leads to organizational misalignments such as those described by Patton, et al. (2015). The accompanying article describes various misalignments that came to light when the Reynolds Charitable Trust implemented Healthy Places NC. In moving from a conservative-responsive style of grantmaking to an emergent community development initiative that required continual, hands-on engagement with a wide variety of local actors, the trust found that expectations for its program officers were seriously out of sync with historical practice. In addition, many of the administrative procedures underlying the grantmaking process were no longer appropriate. The bolder the strategy, the more likely that the existing infrastructure will be out of alignment and poorly suited to support the new work that the strategy requires. This is when it is particularly crucial to test whether the organizational infrastructure is hospitable to the new strategy. The Drivers Framework The starting point for creating a hospitable organizational infrastructure is to identify a key areas on which to focus the organizational-change work. In other words, what are the highest-leverage factors that drive successful implementation of a strategy – or any intervention, for that matter? Implementation scientists use the term "implementation drivers" to reflect this concept (Fixsen, et al., 2005; Metz & Bartley, 2012). Three distinct clusters of implementation drivers have been identified – competency, organization, and leadership: * Competency drivers are mechanisms to develop, improve, and sustain an individual's ability to implement a new innovation or strategy with intended benefits. * Organization drivers intentionally develop the organizational supports and systems interventions needed to ensure that the individuals carrying out the innovation or strategy are effectively supported and that data are used for continuous improvement. * Leadership drivers ensure that leaders are using the appropriate strategies to address implementation challenges. These three sets of drivers form a triangular foundation for effective implementation. (See Figure 2.) Along the left side of the triangle are the competency drivers. Staff selection sits at the bottom, as an organization's first opportunity to ensure competent staff. Once staff are hired, training and coaching activities should be implemented to grow and sustain staff competence. Along the right side of the triangle are the organization drivers. Decision-support data systems should be used by organizations to ensure that timely, relevant, and actionable information is collected and used to improve the intervention or strategy. Administrative and systems support must also be put in place to create the enabling context for staff to carry out the expectations of the new intervention or strategy. At the base of the triangle is leadership; effective leaders support the installation of each of the competency FIGURE 2 Implementation Drivers Fidelity Coaching Training Selection Systems Intervention Facilitative Administration Decision - Support Data System Adaptive Technical Integrated& Compensatory Leadership Reliable Benefits Optimal Use of Strategy The Foundation Review // 2016 Vol 8:2 107 An Implementation Drivers Assessment is a tool based in implementation science that identifies new supports that an organization needs to put into place, as well as existing organizational features that need to be revised or removed. The assessment asks specific questions about the three sets of implementation drivers with the intent of testing whether the organization has in place the specific supports that the strategy requires. and organization drivers so that these drivers are in service to the new way of work. Fidelity sits at the top of the triangle. Fidelity is defined as the extent to which delivery of an intervention or strategy adheres to the intended principles and components. When the implementation drivers are fully and effectively engaged, we should observe fidelity in the delivery of the intervention. For example, using recruitment and hiring protocols that assess for competencies associated with the new way of working increases the likelihood of selecting staff that will have the skills necessary to carry out the new strategy. As another example, ensuring that data systems capture information that can be used to assess and improve the implementation of the new strategy increases the likelihood that the strategy will be implemented as intended. The upward flow of arrows signifies that the drivers support not only fidelity, but also optimization of the strategy. This occurs through ongoing 108 experiments, which lead to cyclical improvements in both the delivery and the design of the strategy. Optimal delivery of an optimal strategy is how the foundation produces expected and reliable outcomes for the intended beneficiaries. The middle of the triangle denotes the integrated and compensatory nature of the drivers. The more integrated the drivers, the more effectively the strategy will be implemented. For example, if an organization identifies the competencies needed to use a new intervention or strategy, then selection, training, and coaching drivers should all be in service to developing, improving, and sustaining those same competencies. The drivers can also be compensatory. For example, if an organization is unable to hire new staff for the new way of work, robust training and coaching drivers can be used to compensate. Assessing Implementation Drivers for a Particular Strategy On the surface it may appear that the organization has the people, procedures, systems, and supports that would allow a new strategy to be implemented. Digging deeper, most foundations that shift their strategic direction will find that many aspects of the organization are supporting old ways of work. When a foundation adopts a new strategy, it is crucial to make visible the existing infrastructure. This is the first step in putting the needed infrastructure in place. Both transformative and incremental changes will be needed to create a visible infrastructure that is truly in service to new strategies. An Implementation Drivers Assessment is a tool based in implementation science that identifies new supports that an organization needs to put into place, as well as existing organizational features that need to be revised or removed. The assessment asks specific questions about the three sets of implementation drivers with the intent of testing whether the organization has in place the specific supports that the strategy requires. An Implementation Drivers Assessment can be in the form of either quantitative ratings or qualitative interviews. In either case, the assessment generates an analysis of which best practices are in place for each driver and makes recommendations for strengthening each driver. One example of the quantitative approach is described in Fixsen, et al., (2015). This approach relies on a particular rating scale developed by the National Implementation Research Network to assess how fully the organization supports program implementation at distinct stages of the process. The qualitative approach, which relies on interviews with multiple actors inside and outside the organization, is more flexible and is well suited to the case of foundation strategy. With a qualitative approach, data are collected through a series of semi-structured interviews conducted by an outside organization with expertise in the assessment process. The purposes of the interviews are to better understand the current functioning of each implementation driver and the extent to which implementation drivers are in service to new ways of work associated with the intervention or strategy. It is crucial to gather multiple perspectives on ways to strengthen each driver. The structure of the interview ensures flexibility in how and in what sequence questions are asked, and in whether and how particular areas are followed up and explored with different interviewees. The structure also ensures that the interview is shaped by best practices for each implementation driver. The implementation drivers offer a science-based framework for gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information, which leads to a more normative analysis than occurs with typical organizational assessments. Qualitative methods are used to code interview data related to the extent to which best practices are perceived as present for each driver and suggestions for strengthening each driver to support implementation of the organization's new intervention or strategy. A summary of findings and recommendations are shared with organizational leadership and staff. Findings are not shared for each interview respondent or groups of respondents (e.g., leaders, staff) in order to maintain anonymity for those who participate. Findings are meant to promote reflection and action planning for the organization. The accompanying The Foundation Review // 2016 Vol 8:2 article describes this process in the case of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. Implications for Creating a Hospitable Infrastructure Assessing a foundation's standing on the three sets of implementation drivers provides tailored guidance on what needs to change to ensure that there is support for implementation. From a more general perspective, implementation scientists have identified a set of best practices within the drivers framework (Fixsen, et al., 2005; Fixsen, Blase, Naoom, & Wallace, 2009). The following recommendations are particularly relevant in the case where a foundation strategy is the intervention that is being implemented, tested, and improved. Building Staff Competency Effective staffing requires the specification of required skills, abilities, and other prerequisite characteristics. Once these prerequisites have been identified, the foundation needs to decide whether existing staff have the required competencies or, at the very least, can gain those competencies through training and coaching. * Selection. Regardless of whether or not the foundation retains its existing staff, it needs to look ahead to hiring new staff with the required competencies. This requires recruitment methods that will identify qualified candidates, protocols for interviewing candidates, and criteria for selection. Comparable procedures need to be in place to bring on partners who have the required skills as delineated in their respective practice profiles. * Training. Staff and partners involved at foundations need to learn when, how, and with whom to use new skills and practices. Training should provide knowledge related to the theory and underlying values of the approach, use adult learning theory, introduce the components and rationales of key practices, and provide opportunities to practice new skills to 109 A new strategy calls for the foundation to identify administrative issues that must be addressed to promote effective use of the strategy. This can involve rethinking nearly every aspect of how the foundation conducts its business, including the timing of its funding cycles, how grant opportunities are publicized, how applications are reviewed, how applicants are notified, how grants are monitored, and how subsequent grant decisions are made. create and receive feedback in a safe and supportive training environment. * Coaching. Most new skills can be introduced in training, but must be practiced and mastered on the job with the help of a coach. Implementation science would recommend that the foundation develop and implement formal plans that stipulate where, when, with whom, and why coaching will occur. The foundation should also use multiple sources of data to provide feedback to program officers and staff, including direct observation, and use coaching data to improve practice and organizational performance. * Performance assessment for foundation staff and partners. Evaluation of staff performance is designed to assess the application and outcomes of skills that are reflected in selection criteria, taught in training, and reinforced 110 in coaching. In implementing its strategy the foundation should develop and implement transparent staff and partner performance assessments, use multiple sources of data to assess performance, institute positive recognition so assessments are seen as an opportunity to improve performance, and use performance-assessment data to improve practice and ensure fidelity to strategy implementation. Building the Right Structures and Systems A new strategy calls for the foundation to identify administrative issues that must be addressed to promote effective use of the strategy. This can involve rethinking nearly every aspect of how the foundation conducts its business, including the timing of its funding cycles, how grant opportunities are publicized, how applications are reviewed, how applicants are notified, how grants are monitored, and how subsequent grant decisions are made. One of the most crucial areas for infrastructure development involves the data systems that the foundation has in place for monitoring grants, tracking proposals, assessing performance, and evaluating the processes and outcomes associated with individual grants and initiatives. These data systems need to be designed or redesigned so that they are able to support implementation, assessment, and improvement of the strategy. Implementation science brings intentionality to an organization's various data systems so that they become "decision-support data systems." These systems include quality-assurance, fidelity, and outcome data. Data need to be reliable, reported frequently, built into practice routines, accessible at actionable levels, and used to make decisions. The Special Role of Organizational Culture Among the many elements of organizational infrastructure, culture is arguably the most important when testing for alignment. It is also the element that is most likely to derail an innovative strategy. Culture refers to the behavioral norms and expectations that exist within an organization (Hemmelgarn, Glisson, & James, 2006), and more commonly is described as the "way things are done around here." Culture influences – and often constrains – the choices that an organization is willing and able to make in order to bring people, processes, procedures, and policies in line with strategy. In a recent Grantmakers for Effective Organizations publication, Tom David and Kathleen Enright (2015) contend that a foundation's strategy is "unlikely to yield progress without fundamental changes to organizational culture to match funders' strategic aspirations" (p. 4). Research on the implementation of innovations in health and human services underscores this point, demonstrating that assessing and addressing organizational norms, expectations, and perceptions are necessary components for the effective implementation of innovations (Glisson, et al., 2008). Both organizational culture and the infrastructure it supports are often invisible to staff within an organization. This makes it all too easy to ignore or wish away any misalignment between what the foundation is and what it needs to be in order to support its new strategy. This problem is confounded by the fact that the "invisible infrastructure" often reflects and maintains the status quo within the organization (Koerth-Baker, 2012). When a major shift in approach and expectations is introduced, the invisible infrastructure "fights back" and jeopardizes effective implementation of an innovation (Metz & Albers, 2014). Creating Lasting Change Through Leadership Administrators provide leadership and make use of a wide range of data to inform decision making, support the overall processes, and keep staff organized and focused on the desired innovation outcomes. Foundations should ensure leadership is committed to the new strategy and available to address challenges and create solutions. The organizational changes required by a new strategy can be profound. The CEO and other leaders play a crucial role in creating the conditions that allow for these transitions. Their job includes gaining buy-in from staff on the value of a transition to a new strategy; addressing challenges and creating solutions; developing clear The Foundation Review // 2016 Vol 8:2 Both organizational culture and the infrastructure it supports are often invisible to staff within an organization. This makes it all too easy to ignore or wish away any misalignment between what the foundation is and what it needs to be in order to support its new strategy. This problem is confounded by the fact that the "invisible infrastructure" often reflects and maintains the status quo within the organization (Koerth-Baker, 2012). When a major shift in approach and expectations is introduced, the invisible infrastructure "fights back" and jeopardizes effective implementation of an innovation. communication protocols and feedback loops; adjusting and developing policies and procedures to support the new way of work; and clarifying the rationale, pathway, and imperative of whatever shifts in organizational culture are required to implement the new strategy. That last task should not be underestimated. Summary One of the key insights from implementation science is that organizations fail to operationalize 111 Foundations can only improve their strategic impact when their strategies are well defined, allowing for testing, adapting, and optimizing the strategy in practice. Practice profiles are a tool for operationalizing a conceptually defined strategy through the assessment of data and information related to strategy development, engagement with foundation staff who will implement the new strategy, and consensus-building activities with foundation leadership, staff, and key community partners. their interventions in terms of the specific work that staff and partners need to carry out. This is certainly true of many foundations when they develop and attempt to implement strategic initiatives. The practice profile offers a particular means of operationalizing strategy. It would be useful for foundations to incorporate this step explicitly into their strategy-development process – prior to introducing the strategy to the world, and certainly prior to engaging grantees and partner organizations in conversations about their role in executing the strategy. The practice profile can be viewed as an extension of the strategy-development process. Foundations can only improve their strategic impact when their strategies are well defined, allowing for testing, adapting, and optimizing 112 the strategy in practice. Practice profiles are a tool for operationalizing a conceptually defined strategy. This occurs through the assessment of data and information related to strategy development, the active engagement of foundation staff who will implement the new strategy, and consensus-building activities with foundation leadership, staff, and key community partners. Practice profiles provide greater specificity of the strategy, which improves the likelihood that foundation staff can competently execute the activities designed to bring a foundation's values, vision, and mission to life in real-world interactions. Similarly, the Implementation Drivers Assessment provides the foundation with critical data for bringing the overall organization into alignment with a new strategy. This assessment can be viewed as a complement to the "theory of philanthropy" approach that Patton, et al., (2015) recently introduced. Both methods are aimed at producing alignment between a foundation's strategy and its organizational processes, policies, staffing, and culture. The two approaches differ primarily with regard to sequencing. The "theory of philanthropy" approach is a comprehensive and simultaneous analysis of all aspects of the foundation's role, mission, philosophy strategy, staffing, processes, resources, and culture. The overarching questions are: (1) What kind of foundation do we want to be? and (2) How do we need to act and structure ourselves in order to be that kind of foundation? Some aspects are taken as given, especially mission and values, but all the remaining aspects are open for consideration and reconfiguration. In contrast, implementation science – and, more specifically, the Implementation Drivers framework – focuses on the development of an infrastructure in service to a selected strategy. It assumes that the organization has chosen a strategy that fits its mission, values, and vision. What remains open for analysis and revising is the organizational infrastructure, including staff positions, the people in those positions, supervisory structures, administrative processes, resource allocation, leadership, and organizational culture. Developing a theory of philanthropy can be a useful step in aligning a foundation's strategy with its mission, values, goals, procedures, staff capacities, organizational structure, and culture. However, once the theory has been articulated, the foundation still must wrestle with the difficult task of putting the strategy into practice. Implementation science clarifies the new work that the strategy requires and identifies the implications that this new work will have for everyone within the foundation, as well as for procedures, systems, and culture. Likewise, recognizing that the foundation's strategy will evolve is crucial in orienting the board and staff to the importance of evaluation, learning, and adaptation. But even with an adaptive mindset, the foundation needs guidance on how to translate its learning into appropriate revisions to strategy. Implementation science provides the foundation with a diagnostic map of the strategy which points toward specific hypotheses that need testing and specific elements that may need refining. Specific tools drawn from implementation science, such as improvement cycles, can be directly incorporated into the implementation of strategy in order to accelerate learning and adaptation. References Arksey, H., & O'Malley, L. (2005). 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Nothing as practical as good theory: Exploring theory-based evaluation for comprehensive community initiatives for children and families. In J. P. Connell, A. C. Kubisch, L. B. Schorr, & C. H. Weiss (Eds.), New approaches to evaluating community initiatives, vol. 1: Concepts, methods, and contexts (pp. 65-92). Washington: Aspen Institute. The Foundation Review // 2016 Vol 8:2 Douglas Easterling, Ph.D., is professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy at Wake Forest School of Medicine. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Douglas Easterling, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, One Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157 (email: firstname.lastname@example.org). Allison Metz, Ph.D., is director of the National Implementation Research Network and senior scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 115
Complex Commercial Litigation Law Review Second Edition Editor Steven M Bierman l aw r eviews ENGLAND AND WALES Oliver Browne, Ian Felstead and Mair Williams 1 I OVERVIEW The courts of England 2 are some of the most established fora for dealing with complex commercial litigation. The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) that apply to civil litigation are robust and provide a clear framework for the cost-effective resolution of disputes – governing every aspect of cases from pleadings to evidence, witnesses and costs. Models of alternative dispute resolution are also well established. England boasts experienced professionals and practitioners and the courts operate specialist courts, such as the Commercial Court and the Technology and Construction Court, where judges have particular expertise. When deciding on matters involving contracts, the courts have always sought to uphold the terms of valid contracts, particularly in situations where the contracting parties were involved in the negotiation of terms. There has always been a focus on the need for certainty when looking at contracts, so that each party understands the entirety of its obligations. It is for this reason that the courts have repeatedly rejected an implied term of good faith in commercial contracts. Much of the law governing commercial disputes has evolved through case law rather than through statute, with the Misrepresentation Act 1967, Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, Limitation Act 1980 and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 being notable exceptions. Following an extensive review of the civil court system in England and Wales, which culminated in the publication of the Briggs Report in July 2016, the courts are undergoing a series of transitions in an attempt to modernise. The emphasis is on encouraging greater efficiency with a particular focus on the use of digital technology. 3 In addition to breach of contract claims, alternative causes of action are available, including economic torts, which offer claimants the opportunity, in some instances, to seek remedies beyond the terms of the contract. 1 Oliver Browne and Ian Felstead are partners, and Mair Williams is an associate, at Latham & Watkins. The authors would like to acknowledge the kind assistance of their colleagues Katie Henshall, Tom Watret, Ciara Faughnan-Moncrieff, Faris Shoubber, Rachel Kwong and William Price in the preparation of this chapter. 2 References in this chapter to 'the courts of England' and 'the courts' are references to the courts of England and Wales. References to 'English law' are references to the law of England and Wales. 3 See Civil Procedure Rules, Practice Direction 51O – The Electronic Working Pilot Scheme introduced in November 2015, amended November 2017 and extended April 2018 until 6 April 2020 and Civil Procedure Rules, Practice Direction 51V – The Video Hearings Pilot Scheme introduced in November 2018 and to operate until November 2019. Commercial litigation in England will be affected by the British exit (Brexit) from the European Union. The Law Society has recently released a publication emphasising the role that prioritising the UK's justice and legal system should take in Brexit negotiations as well the need to maintain the attractiveness of the UK as a global commercial legal centre post-Brexit. 4 Brexit will have a limited impact on English contract law itself; 5 however its impact on the substantive obligations of each party under existing contracts may be more significant. Key legal issues are likely to concern references to EU law or EU institutions within existing contracts and the effect on contractual governing law and jurisdiction clauses when legal systems other than the English legal system are involved. One of the most pressing legal issues is likely to be the extent to which judgments of the English courts will be enforced in other member states. II CONTRACT FORMATION Under English law, most contracts can be formed simply, without specified formality, and contracts do not have to be written to be enforceable. Parties can create even complex contracts merely by satisfying the following criteria: b acceptance; a offer; c consideration; e certainty of terms. d an intention to create legal relations; and A contract can be made orally, and by conduct, provided that these criteria are met. It is, however, often more difficult to evidence oral contracts – and the terms of any alleged agreement – without a document in writing. i Offer and acceptance The parties must have reached an agreement, objectively assessed. This is ordinarily done when an offer from one party is accepted by the other. In order for there to be an offer, it must be communicated to the offeree, specific, complete, capable of acceptance and made with the intention of being bound by that offer. As such, an offer is distinguishable from an invitation to negotiate or an 'invitation to treat', such as an advertisement, where a seller of goods is inviting a buyer to contract but it is the buyer that makes the offer. An offer may be terminated by withdrawal, rejection 6 or lapse of time. 4 The Law Society, ' Our Vision for Law and Justice' 23 July 2019 (https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/policy-campaigns/articles/our-vision-for-law-and-justice-2019/). 5 Lord Goldsmith QC, for example, described Brexit as resulting in the 'decontamination of English law' in a keynote address to an LCIA Symposium in Washington DC on 18 September 2016. See file:///C:/Users/ obrowne/Downloads/501343265v1_PG_Speech_to_LCIA_Washington_conformed.pdf. 6 A counter-offer is also considered to be a rejection of the original offer (Hyde v. Wrench (1840) 3 Beav 334). Acceptance is a final and unqualified expression of assent to the terms of an offer. It must be communicated to the offeror and, to be effective, it must correspond exactly with the terms of the offer with no variation. Acceptance can take place by conduct, but it must be clear that the offeree did the act in question with the intention of accepting the offer. ii Consideration Consideration is an essential component of a contract. 7 Though consideration does not have to be proportionate or adequate, it must have some value in the eyes of the law. An agreement without consideration is merely an agreement to make a gift. The case law on this was reviewed by the High Court in 2017 in Blue v. Ashley. 11 In that case, Leggat J provided clarification, asserting that, although some might be concerned that William v. Roffey Bros opens the window for a party to seek extra payment while threatening to renege on a contract, parties can take comfort that they are protected from this potential mischief by other doctrines such as economic duress and public policy. Further, it remains the case that something that has already been done is not good consideration. 12 As a general rule, past consideration will not constitute good consideration. 8 If a party is simply satisfying a pre-existing obligation, it cannot rely upon that as consideration for new obligations being assumed by the other party. Some doubt was cast upon this rule by the decision of the Court of Appeal in Williams v. Roffey Bros. 9 In that case, a party came into financial difficulties and sought additional payment to perform the contract without delay. The Court of Appeal found that good consideration had been given for a promised additional payment as the promisee receives a benefit in continuing the contract and avoiding delay. Many subsequent judgments have been critical of this decision. 10 iii Intention to create legal relations Without a mutual intention to create legal relations, a contract is not formed. When assessing whether there is such an intention, the court will consider the 'objective conduct of the parties as a whole' rather than the 'subjective states of mind' of the parties. 13 In respect of commercial parties, there is a rebuttable presumption that there was an intention to create legal relations. iv Certainty of terms There must be no ambiguity to the material terms of an alleged contract. Unless all the material terms are agreed with certainty, a contract is not binding. 14 7 Unless the contract is made by way of a deed, the requirements of which are outside the scope of this chapter. 8 Stilk v. Myrick (1809) 2 Camp 317. 9 Williams v. Roffey Bros [1989] EWCA Civ 5. 10 See, for example, South Caribbean Trading Ltd v. Trafigura Beheer BV [2004] EWHC 2676; Adam Opel GmbH, Renault SA v. Mitras Automotive (UK) Ltd [2008] EWHC 3205 (QB)). 11 Blue v. Ashley [2017] EWHC 1553 (Comm), 26 June 2017. 12 See Chitty on Contracts, Vol 1, (Sweet & Maxwell, 33rd ed, 2018). 13 Barbudev v. Eurocom Cable Management Bulgaria EOOD and others [2012] EWCA Civ 548. 14 See, for example, RTS Flexible Systems Ltd v. Molkerei Alois Müller GmbH & Company KG (UK Production) [2010] UKSC 14. 107 v Conditions precedent and subsequent Parties entering into a contract may wish for certain requirements to be satisfied first, known as conditions precedent. Conditions precedent do not need to be labelled as such, but the wording must be clear that the performance of all or part of the contract is reliant on the conditions precedent being satisfied. Conditions subsequent are conditions that provide for a binding contract to be terminated (or no longer binding on one or both of the parties) if specified future events do or do not happen. vi Third-party beneficiaries Under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, any contract made after 11 May 2000, with a few exceptions, may confer an enforceable benefit on a third party, but no contract can impose a duty on a third party. In order for a third party to obtain rights it must be expressly identified in the contract by name, description or as a member of a class. The beneficiary cannot be implied. However, in the 2017 case of Chudley v. Clydesdale Bank plc (t/a Yorkshire Bank), 15 the High Court held that a third party beneficiary might be identified by analysis of the construction of the express terms of the agreement, provided that the process of the construction did not involve implied identification. vii Other ways of establishing commercial rights and obligations In the event that no binding contract exists, it is still possible for the putative parties to that alleged contract to enforce their rights in certain circumstances. Examples are given below. Quantum meruit A supplier of goods or services who has not been compensated by the recipient of those goods or services may be able to bring a claim of quantum meruit ('as much as he has earned') in order to be paid for the goods or services provided, so long as it is able to show that the goods or services were either expressly or impliedly requested or freely accepted by the recipient. Promissory estoppel In circumstances where, notwithstanding that no consideration has been provided for a promise, the courts consider that it would be unjust to refuse to enforce the promise, the equitable doctrine of promissory estoppel can be relied upon. There are three key elements to promissory estoppel: b an intention on the promisor's part that the other will rely on that promise; and a a promise by one party that it will not enforce its strict legal rights against the other; c actual reliance by the promisee on that promise. The doctrine of promissory estoppel is available for use as 'a shield not a sword' and can only be used as a defence to an action brought by parties wishing to enforce their legal rights. 16 15 Chudley v. Clydesdale Bank plc (t/a Yorkshire Bank) [2017] EWHC 2177 (Comm). 16 Tool Metal Manufacturing Co v Tungsten Electric Co [1955] 1 WLR 761. III CONTRACT INTERPRETATION In English law, contractual interpretation is, in essence, simply ascertaining the meaning that a contractual document would convey to a reasonable person having all the background knowledge that would have been available to the parties. Notwithstanding this apparent simplicity, there have been a number of changes to the English courts' approach in recent years. In Arnold v. Britton, 17 Lord Neuberger summarised and clarified the approach that the English courts will now take. He explained that the courts will focus on the meaning of the relevant words used by the parties 'in their documentary, factual and commercial context', in the light of the following considerations: (i) the natural and ordinary meaning of the clause; (ii) any other relevant provisions of the [contract]; (iii) the overall purpose of the clause and the [contract]; (iv) the facts and circumstances known or assumed by the parties at the time that the document was executed; and (v) commercial common sense; but (vi) disregarding subjective evidence of any party's intentions. This decision is seen by many commentators as a move away from the more 'purposive' approach set out (primarily by Lord Hoffmann) in previous Supreme Court (and House of Lords) decisions. 18 Although two Supreme Court decisions in 2017 19 suggest that all of these cases 'were saying the same thing' in relation to contractual interpretation, and though there has never been an entirely literal or purposive approach to contractual interpretation, there does appear to be a greater emphasis at present on the primacy of the language used by the parties in their agreement and consideration of the contract as whole. 20 The courts have established that in order to determine the relevant context of the contract, the wider context (outside of the contractual document itself) is admissible and typically ruled that they will adopt a broad test for establishing the admissible background. A Indeed, in a 2017 extrajudicial speech, Lord Sumption suggests that those older cases did adopt a different approach and that they failed to attach sufficient weight to the language of the contract. 21 Later that year, the Court of Appeal ruled in Teva Pharma – Productos Farmaceuticos LDA v. Astrazeneca – Productos Farmaceuticos LAD 22 that the judge in the lower court had failed to have regard to the principles in Arnold v. Briton and had erred by subverting the natural meaning of the contractual provisions in favour of commercial common sense. 17 Arnold v. Britton [2015] UKSC 36. 18 Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v. West Bromwich Building Society [1997] UKHL 28, Chartbrook Ltd v. Persimmon Homes Ltd [2009] UKHL 38 and Rainy Sky SA v. Kookmin Bank [2011] UKSC 50. 19 Wood v. Capita Insurance Services Ltd [2017] UKSC 24 and MT Hojgaard A/S v. E.ON Climate and Renewables UK Robin Rigg East Ltd [2017] UKSC 59. 20 Interactive E-Solutions JLT v O3B Africa Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 62. 21 Lord Sumption, 'A Question of Taste: The Supreme Court and Interpretation of Contracts' 8 May 2017. (https://www.supremecourt.uk/docs/speech-170508.pdf). 22 Teva Pharma – Productos Farmaceuticos LDA v. Astrazeneca – Productos Farmaceuticos LAD [2017] EWCA Civ 2135. recent ruling provided clarification that the 'background' to a contract includes 'knowledge of the genesis of the transaction, the background, the context and the market in which the parties are operating.' 23 a the courts will strictly interpret contractual provisions that seek to limit rights or remedies, or exclude liability, which arise by operation of law; 24 and Other important points to note regarding the courts' approach to contractual interpretation include the following: b where a clause has been drafted by a party for its own benefit, it will be construed in favour of the other party (the contra proferentem rule). 25 Finally, the Supreme Court recently found that it was not appropriate for the courts or anyone else to use hindsight to assess whether a contractual provision made good commercial sense or was inconveniently inflexible. 26 Implied terms Under English law, the courts have the power to imply a term into a contract. The test for doing so is laid out in Marks & Spencer Plc v. BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Co (Jersey) a it is necessary to give the contract commercial or practical coherence; Ltd. 27 A term may be implied if: b it can be clearly expressed; d reasonable parties would have agreed the term was needed; and c it does not contradict an express term; e it passes the 'officious bystander' test. The 2018 case of Bou-Simon v. BGC Brokers LP 28 reiterated the narrow approach that the courts take when implying terms, finding that an implied term could not be read in to a contract simply because it appears fair. This was followed by a 2019 Supreme Court case that emphasised the court's reluctance to find that an agreement is too vague or uncertain to be enforced where the parties intended to be bound and have acted on their agreement. 29 IV DISPUTE RESOLUTION Dispute resolution in England is largely conducted through the court system. 23 Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd v Merthyr Tydfil CBC [2019] EWCA Civ 526). 24 In that regard, the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 requires limitation clauses to be 'reasonable'. 25 This principle has limited applicability in cases involving sophisticated commercial agreements where a contract has been jointly drafted by the parties or where the parties are of comparable bargaining power – see Persimmon Homes v. Ove Arup [2017] EWCA Civ 373. 26 Barnardo's v Buckinghamshire and others [2018] UKSC 55. 27 Marks & Spencer Plc v. BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Co (Jersey) Ltd [2015] UKSC 72. 28 Bou-Simon v. BGC Brokers LP [2018] EWCA Civ 1525. 29 Wells v Devani [2019] UKSC 4. i Jurisdiction The court must have jurisdiction to hear a dispute. Whether a court has jurisdiction may be decided by the courts, although contracting parties may include a jurisdiction clause in their agreement that allows them to choose which court has jurisdiction and such provisions will be given effect by the English courts. a An exclusive jurisdiction clause specifies a jurisdiction in respect of disputes, and prevents either party from bringing proceedings against the other in the courts of any jurisdiction other than the one specified in the contract. There are three principal types of jurisdiction clauses: b A non-exclusive jurisdiction clause enables either party to bring proceedings against the other, either in the courts of the chosen jurisdiction or in the courts of any other jurisdiction (provided that court has jurisdiction over the dispute under its own rules). c An asymmetrical jurisdiction clause permits one of the parties (party A) to sue the other party (party B) in any competent jurisdiction, but restricts party B to bringing proceedings in only one jurisdiction. There have been a number of recent decisions regarding jurisdiction clauses in the courts. In particular: b In AMT Futures Limited v. Karim Boural, 31 it was held that breach of an exclusive jurisdiction clause is not a 'once and for all' breach, but a continuing breach or series of breaches, meaning that any claim for relief in relation to such a breach is unlikely to be dismissed on the basis that those claims are statute-barred under the Limitation Act 1980. a In China Export & Credit Insurance Corp v. Emerald Energy Resources, 30 it was held that although a non-exclusive jurisdiction clause allows for a choice of jurisdictions, once proceedings are issued in the courts that are stated in the contract to have non-exclusive jurisdiction in relation to disputes, the parties are bound to submit to the jurisdiction of that court. Ohpen Operations UK Ltd v Invesco Fund Managers Ltd, 32 examined the growing trend of contractual language requiring steps to be taken before resorting to formal dispute resolution proceedings. The court held that a clause requiring the parties to mediate was an effective 'condition precedent' (even though those words had not been used) to court litigation, and ordered a stay of court proceedings until the mediation had been completed. Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (Recast Brussels Regulation) regulates jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments between EU Member States. This will not apply in the UK post-Brexit. This is an issue for the enforceability of jurisdiction clauses and the enforcement of judgments across the EU. Brexit will impact the approach to non-exclusive and asymmetric jurisdiction clauses (arbitration clauses and proceedings are totally unaffected by Brexit). As to jurisdiction clauses: the UK Government took steps in December 2018 to accede to the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005. Courts of the 30 China Export & Credit Insurance Corp v. Emerald Energy Resources [2018] EWHC 1503 (Comm). 31 AMT Futures Limited v. Karim Boural [2018] EWHC 750 (Comm). 32 Ohpen Operations UK Ltd v Invesco Fund Managers Ltd [2019] EWHC 2246 (TCC). 111 parties to the Hague Convention, including the EU Member States, will respect exclusive jurisdiction clauses. The Hague Convention does not cover non-exclusive jurisdiction clauses or asymmetric jurisdiction clauses. These clauses may not be respected by the Courts of EU Member States post-Brexit (and that will remain the position until the UK signs up to the Lugano Convention). As to enforcement: English judgments may, in practical terms, be enforced with relative ease in EU Member States, even absent the Recast Brussels Regulation. That is either because there is a reciprocal relationship with the relevant country or that country generally allows enforcement without significant hurdles. ii Threshold requirements When bringing a claim in the courts, a claimant must have regard to any threshold requirements litigating such a dispute. These will dictate whether a claim can be brought, and, if so, which court it should be brought in. 33 Specialist courts in England may have further threshold requirements. For example, the Technology and Construction Court can only hear claims that are 'technically complex'. Despite this, a number of the specialist courts have a wide scope, and will hear a range of disputes. 34 iii Alternative dispute resolution There are a number of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, which allow parties to avoid court litigation completely or that aim to achieve an early settlement. ADR can be prescribed as part of a contract and the English courts will give effect to such an agreement. The principal methods of ADR used in England are detailed below. The CPR encourage parties to consider settlement at all times, or risk costs sanctions being imposed against them. In the preliminary stages of litigation, parties will be asked by the court whether or not they have considered ADR and, if they have not, adverse costs consequences may follow. 35 Negotiation Settlement negotiations can take place on a 'without prejudice' basis (meaning that the court cannot be informed of the content of those negotiations) or 'without prejudice, save as to costs' (meaning that the court cannot be informed of the content of those negotiations until after substantive determination of the dispute, and then only for the purposes of deciding the appropriate order as to the costs of the court proceedings). Mediation Settlement negotiations facilitated by an independent third party mediator. 33 For example, proceedings may not be started in the High Court unless the value of the claim is more than £100,000 and claims for £100,000 or less must be commenced in the County Court. 34 This has recently been confirmed in Mezvinsky and another (acting through their litigation friends) v. Associated Newspapers Ltd [2018] EWHC 1261 (Ch). 35 In the recent case of Thakkar and another v. Patel and another [2017] EWCA Civ 117, the Court of Appeal reaffirmed this view, finding that where one party had frustrated the mediation process, a costs sanction against them was merited. Early neutral evaluation A relatively recent development in English litigation is early neutral evaluation (ENE). ENE is where a neutral person, appointed either through the courts or through a private provider by the parties, is invited to evaluate and opine on the case (or issues within it) on a non-binding basis. Both parties can then consider the evaluation, with a view to facilitating more constructive negotiations. The Chancery Division, Commercial Court and the Technology and Construction Court each make provision for ENE. Arbitration A private and binding dispute resolution process before an impartial tribunal, which is contract-based, but which is regulated and enforced by the state (under, in England, the Arbitration Act 1996, as supplemented by any institutional rules chosen by the parties). Choosing arbitration means that the role of the English courts is limited to supervising the proceedings (rather than deciding on the dispute). V BREACH OF CONTRACT CLAIMS When one party to a valid contract is not complying with a particular term, its conduct may amount to a breach. When a breach of contract occurs, the innocent party is entitled to bring a claim in relation to the breach and seek compensation – usually in the form of damages. The burden is on the claimant to show, on the balance of probabilities, that there has been a breach of contract that has caused loss. Before bringing a breach of contract claim, the claimant should comply with the applicable pre-action protocols, annexed to the CPR. i Termination for breach Under English law, a breach of contract does not automatically entitle the non-breaching party to terminate the contract. A repudiatory breach 36 , however, is a breach of contract that allows the non-breaching party to treat the contract as being at an end. 37 Parties are also entitled to explicitly state that breach of a term results in termination, even if that right would not be provided under common law. It is for the non-breaching party to elect whether it will accept the breach and treat the contract as terminated or affirm the contract and require continued performance. Although the right to terminate a contract is not generally subject to a duty of good faith, the courts have recently indicated that it may be arguable in the right case that a termination right is subject to such an implied limit. In Bates v Post Office Ltd (No.3) 38 it was held that a commercial contract for services that governed a relationship akin to employment was subject to an implied general duty of good faith, which affected the exercise of all termination rights. 36 The most common example of a repudiatory breach is a breach of condition (although a fundamental breach of an innominate term may also be a repudiatory breach) that allows the non-breaching party to terminate the contract and claim damages, regardless of what the consequences of the breach are. Breaches of warranties do not terminate contracts and the correct remedy in that situation is damages. 37 Heyman v. Darwins Ltd [1942] AC 356. 38 Bates v Post Office Ltd (No.3: Common Issues) [2019] EWHC 606 (QB). 113 ii Anticipatory breach An anticipatory breach is where one party indicates, either by words or conduct, that it will not perform all or some of its obligations under the contract, such that the result of its performance will be substantially different from the requirements of the contract. If the anticipated breach would be a repudiatory breach (and it would be for the claimant to prove this), the non-breaching party is immediately entitled to terminate – without waiting for actual performance or breach. The aggrieved party does not automatically have to terminate the contract, they are also entitled to wait until the time fixed for performance in the hope that the other party will perform their contractual obligations or affirm the contract, if possible performing their own part of the contract and claiming the contract price. iii Causation In order to bring a breach of contract claim, the non-breaching party must show that there is sufficient causation between the breach and the loss it has suffered. The breach must be the effective or dominant cause of a loss. 39 Causation may be complicated by a third party's intervening act or other event. If there is such an act or event between the breach of contract and the harm suffered that 'breaks the chain of causation', then the court may hold the party in breach not to be liable for the loss. VI DEFENCES TO ENFORCEMENT There are several ways in which parties may seek to avoid enforcement of contractual obligations or challenge claims of breach of contract in England. A contract that lacks any key element required for the formation of a valid contract is void. For example, a party who has not provided any consideration under a contract will be unable to enforce that contract's terms against another party. Other common instances that render a contract void include when a party lacks capacity or authority to enter that contract (such as an individual purporting to contract on behalf of a corporate entity without requisite authorisation). If a party is able to argue that a purported contract is invalid, it may have a complete defence to any attempted enforcement of that contract. A party's challenge to the validity of a contract may render that contract void (i.e., immediately ineffective) or voidable (valid and effective, unless and until rescinded). i Force majeure and frustration Contracting parties may choose to include a force majeure clause, which excuses performance of a contract following certain events that are beyond the control of the parties. Force majeure clauses must be certain in order to be effective and so must include reference to specific events (such as natural disasters, acts of war and acts of terrorism) or be specific enough as to be certain. Wording equivalent to 'usual force majeure clauses shall apply' will be considered void. 40 If there is not an explicit force majeure clause then parties may be able to rely on the common law principle of frustration, although this is very narrowly construed by the courts. 39 Galoo Ltd v. Bright Grahame Murray [1994] 1 WLR 1360. 40 British Electrical and Associated Industries (Cardiff) Ltd v. Patley Pressings Ltd [1953] 1 WLR. 280. Frustration is the principle that a contract may be set aside if the performance of the contract becomes impossible, illegal or pointless by virtue of an unexpected event that is beyond the control of the contracting parties. The courts have been slow to find that contracts have been frustrated, and have been clear that changes to market conditions that mean that the performance of the contract is more onerous do not amount to frustration. 41 The High Court recently rejected an argument that a lease of premises at Canary Wharf will be frustrated as a result of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) attempted to argue that, as a result of Brexit, the organisation would be unable to use the London premises over which it had a lease for its proper purpose, due to needing to be situated within an EU Member State. The court rejected this argument on the basis that the EMA has powers to assign or sub-let the lease and in any event any frustration would have been self-induced by the EMA. Further, the court found that, even if the EMA could not assign or sub-let the lease under EU law, this would make no difference to the English law analysis. The court has subsequently granted the EMA permission to appeal and, in principle at least, the High Court decision leaves open the possibility of establishing frustration where a party is able to show that, as a result of Brexit, it will be deprived of all or substantially all of the benefit of a contract. 42 ii Illegality An illegal contract is void and will not be enforced by the courts as a matter of public policy, in accordance with the courts' duty to uphold the law. As such, in contrast to other defences, courts may invoke a defence of illegality even when no party has raised it. Illegality is well established as a defence, and reflects the principle elucidated by Lord Mansfield that 'no Court will lend its aid to a man who founds his cause of action upon an immoral or an illegal act.' 43 However, more recently the law on illegality of contracts was criticised as being unnecessarily complex, uncertain and arbitrary. 44 In 2016, the Supreme Court evaluated the law in this area in Patel v. Mirza. 45 Although consensus was not reached, the majority of the Supreme Court deemed the key issue to be whether upholding the relevant contract would 'produce inconsistency and disharmony in the law, and so cause damage to the integrity of the legal system'. In 2018, the Court of Appeal found in the case of Singularis Holdings Ltd (in liquidation) v. Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd 46 that the defence of illegality was not available to a bank to defeat a claim brought by a customer in negligence and breach of contract. In that case, the bank had made payments to an individual shareholder of the corporate client who was acting fraudulently, but the Court of Appeal found that the actions of that individual could not be attributed to Singularis as an entity and so the defence of illegality was dismissed. iii Limitation and exclusion Even if a contract is valid, a party may seek to avoid enforcement on other grounds. A complete defence is available if the claimant does not commence his or her claim within the 41 Davis Contractors Ltd v. Fareham Urban District Council [1956] UKHL 3. 42 Canary Wharf (BP4) T1 Ltd and others v European Medicines Agency [2019] EWHC 335 (Ch). 43 Holman v. Johnson [1775] 1 Cowper 341 at page 343. 44 'The Illegality Defence' [2010] The Law Commission (LAW COM No 320). 45 Patel v. Mirza [2016] UKSC 42. 46 Singularis Holdings Ltd (in liquidation) v. Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 84. relevant limitation period. If a defendant raises this defence, the claimant has the burden of proving that the relevant limitation period has not expired. The limitation period for contract claims is six years. This limitation period commences from the date on which the cause of action occurred. Commercial parties are also likely to limit their potential liability under a contract when negotiating and drafting its terms. For example, parties may protect themselves by excluding liability in certain respects, imposing financial limits on liability, restricting terms implied into contracts by statute and alleviating the parties' obligations of performance if prevented by forces outside of their control. English courts will generally uphold such provisions, and so they will serve as a defence, as long as they are not prohibited by legislation 47 or common law principles such as illegality. iv Other defences A party who is induced into entering or varying a contract by threats or other illegitimate means may rely on duress or undue influence, and the contract will be voidable by that party. For instance, a party may be subject to physical duress (such as actual or threatened violence against the party or to its property) or economic duress (e.g., threats to terminate the contract). VII FRAUD, MISREPRESENTATION AND OTHER CLAIMS i Fraud and misrepresentation In England, fraud associated with breach of contract is claimed as either fraudulent misrepresentation or as a claim in the tort of deceit. a a false representation (of fact or law); The tort of deceit has four elements: b the defendant knows the representation is false (or is reckless); d the claimant acts in reliance on the representation and, as a consequence, suffers loss. 48 c the defendant intends that the claimant acts in reliance on the representation; and If the tort of deceit is made out, then the claimant is entitled to damages in tort (with no remoteness limitation) and to rescission of the contract. Misrepresentation is governed by the Misrepresentation Act 1967. A claim of misrepresentation requires the claimant to show that a statement made by the defendant was false (either dishonestly made for fraudulent misrepresentation or negligently made for negligent misrepresentation); that they entered in to the contract as a result of that statement and that damage was suffered as a result. The issue of reliance is a question of fact and all issues regarding reliance are fact sensitive. 49 It is a defence for the defendant to show that it 47 In particular, the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015. 48 Eco 3 Capital Ltd and others v. Ludsin Overseas Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 413. 49 Zagora Management Ltd v Zurich Insurance Plc [2019] EWHC 140 (TCC). had a reasonable belief in the truth of its statement, although this may still give rise to a claim of innocent misrepresentation. 50 In successful claims, the court may award damages in tort and rescission of the contract (or damages in lieu of rescission). Note, it is not possible for either party to a contract to attempt to exclude or restrict liability for fraudulent misrepresentation and any purported attempt to exclude liability for fraudulent misrepresentation will be deemed unreasonable by the courts. 51 ii Inducing a breach of contract The economic tort of inducing a breach of contract involves the claimant suffering loss as a result of a party being knowingly induced to breach a contract by the defendant. A claim for inducing a breach of contract requires that the contract actually be breached; mere interference with the performance of a contract will not be enough. 52 The only other element required is intention, which is usually shown by the defendant having knowledge of the existence of the contract and its specific terms. iii Good faith Historically, the courts have refrained from implying obligations of good faith in commercial contracts, on the basis that such an implied term would interfere with the certainty of the contract. The courts take a more favourable view of express terms requiring the parties to act in good faith in commercial contracts, provided such clauses are certain enough to be enforceable. In 2013, the High Court appeared to move towards the idea of a more pervasive implied term of good faith in the cases of Yam Seng Pte Ltd v. International Trade Corporation Ltd 53 and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA v. Cottonex Anstalt, 54 but the Court of Appeal overturned the first instance decision and Moore-Bick LJ noted 'there is in my view a real danger that if a general principle of good faith were established it would be invoked as often to undermine as to support the terms in which the parties have reached agreement.' 55 The courts are, however, more willing to find an implied duty of good faith in certain types of contractual relationships, such as employer/employee contracts, insurance contracts and most recently in joint ventures. 56 VIII REMEDIES When a contract has been breached, there are various remedies that may be available to the injured party in England. 50 Innocent misrepresentation (also governed by the Misrepresentation Act 1967) is where the representor is without fault because they had reasonable grounds to believe in the truth of its statement and, if a claim is successful, the claimant is entitled to rescission or damages in lieu of recession. 51 Thomas Witter Ltd v. TBP Industries Limited [1996] All ER 573. 52 OBG v. Allan [2007] UKHL 21. 53 Yam Seng Pte Ltd v. International Trade Corporation Ltd [2013] EWHC 111 (QB). 54 MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA v. Cottonex Anstalt [2015] EWHC 283 (Comm). 55 MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA v. Cottonex Anstalt [2016] EWCA Civ 789. 56 Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Saeed Bin Shakhboot Al Neyahan v. Kent [2018] EWHC 333 (Comm). i Compensatory damages The primary remedy for breach of contract is an award of monetary damages, which is generally awarded to compensate for the injured party's loss, and put it in the position it would have been in had the contract been properly performed. 57 The burden of proof lies on the claimant to prove factual causation of its loss (i.e., it must prove that but for the breach, the loss complained of would not have occurred). Accordingly, when the court assesses the extent of any loss, it will consider the claimant's position compared to the position it would have been in but for the breach. This analysis may account for profits that would otherwise have been earned, costs that would otherwise have been avoided, and non-financial benefits that might have been received, while also acknowledging any benefits which otherwise would not have been received by the claimant. ii Limitations to recovery of damages A key restriction on the recovery of damages for breach of contract is remoteness. 58 Only losses that are 'in the contemplation of both parties' 59 will be recoverable by the claimant. This principle can be summarised as follows: 60 A type or kind of loss is not too remote a consequence of a breach of contract if, at the time of contracting (and on the assumption that the parties actually foresaw the breach in question), it was within their reasonable contemplation as a not unlikely result of that breach. The innocent party must also ensure that it has taken reasonable steps to mitigate its loss, and the court will apportion damages between the parties if they result partly from the claimant's own fault and partly from the fault of any other person. 61 iii Other potential damages Aside from the general compensatory function of damages, in certain circumstances damages may be awarded on other grounds. For example, restitutionary damages may be recoverable if the claimant has not suffered any loss, but the defendant has derived a benefit from breaching the contract. Separately, though in similar instances, a claimant may be able to recover 'negotiating damages', being the hypothetical sum the defendant would have paid the claimant, had the defendant negotiated a release of his or her obligations before breaching the contract. This principle was established in Wrotham Park Estate Ltd v. Parkside Homes Ltd, 62 but has recently been reconsidered in Morris-Garner and another v. One Step (Support) Ltd, 63 where the 57 Robinson v. Harman (1848) 1 Ex 850. 58 See Hadley v. Baxendale (1854) 9 Ex. 341; Victoria Laundry (Windsor) Ltd v. Newman Industries Ltd 4 [1949] 2 KB.528; Koufos v. C. Czarnikow Ltd (The Heron II) [1969] 1 AC 350. 59 Hadley v. Baxendale [1854] EWHC Exch J70 at page 151. 60 Chitty, J (2012), Chitty on Contracts: General principles. 31st ed. Sweet & Maxwell. 61 Section 1, Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945. 62 Wrotham Park Estate Ltd v. Parkside Homes Ltd 1 WLR 798. 63 Morris-Garner and another v. One Step (Support) Ltd [2018] UKSC 20. Supreme Court found that negotiating damages may be a tool for determining the economic value of a right that has been breached, and applied in Brocket Hall (Jersey) Limited v Kruger and Barry. 64 In addition, 'penalty' clauses (clauses that specify an amount to be paid where there is a breach of contract) are rarely enforceable save where they are not punitive or exorbitant. In the 2015 case of Cavendish Square Holding BV v. Talal El Makdessi (El Makdessi) and ParkingEye Ltd v. Beavis, 66 the Supreme Court held that the test for whether or not a penalty clause was enforceable was as follows: 'whether the impugned provision is a secondary obligation which imposes a detriment on the contract breaker out of all proportion to any legitimate interest of the innocent party in the enforcement of the primary obligation'. Punitive damages, intended to penalise the defendant, almost certainly cannot be awarded or recovered for breach of contract. 65 iv Indemnification A party to a contract that includes indemnities may have an alternative remedy available for breach of the contract, which may provide quicker and easier recovery than a contractual claim for damages. Under an indemnity, one party promises to compensate another party on the occurrence of a specified event. The contract needs to be explicit about what events may trigger the indemnity and the extent of any recovery available under it. v Non-monetary remedies In some cases, the courts have discretion to award non-monetary remedies where this would be more appropriate. For example, an order for specific performance requires a party to perform his or her positive obligations under the relevant contract. Specific performance may only be ordered where damages are inadequate as a remedy. 67 Although, the courts have demonstrated a willingness to take a broad approach to the requirement that damages must be an inadequate remedy. 68 IX CONCLUSIONS As noted above, the English courts are some of the most established fora for dealing with complex commercial litigation and they continue to modernise and evolve to meet the demands of litigation. And, from the discussion above, it should be clear that English law is a sensible and commercial choice of governing law. The combination of the two – English courts and English law – is one of the best ways for contract drafters to ensure that what is contained in their contracts will be upheld. Going forward, and despite the impact of Brexit on the United Kingdom in political and economic terms, it is very likely indeed that the English courts will retain their reputation for delivering high quality justice in the context of complex commercial litigation. 64 Brocket Hall (Jersey) Limited v Kruger and Barry [2019] EWHC 1352. 65 Abbar v Saudi Economic & Development Co (SEDCO) Real Estate Ltd [2013] EWHC 1414 (Ch. 66 Cavendish Square Holding BV v. Talal El Makdessi (El Makdessi) and ParkingEye Ltd v. Beavis [2015] UKSC 67 (ParkingEye). 67 Beswick v. Beswick [1968] AC 58. 68 Starlight Shipping Co v Allianz Marine and others [2014] EWHC 3068 (Comm). With well-trained and respected judges (often specialists in their fields) and the efficiencies delivered by the CPR, English courts are among the world's pre-eminent courts for complex commercial disputes. With a Supreme Court currently in the ascendancy, addressing the remaining grey areas of English law with clear and detailed judgments, the future looks bright for the English courts and English law. Parties can expect few dramatic changes, but, rather, further consistency and placing party autonomy and freedom of contract centre stage, particularly as the courts deal with the complexities around the UK's departure from the EU. As indicated above, however, one important change to keep an eye on over the next decade is whether English law will embrace more wholeheartedly the concept of good faith to match other major international legal systems. In the end, that seems more likely than not, although it is a development that will be heralded no doubt by a very clear judgment. ABOUT THE AUTHORS OLIVER E BROWNE Latham & Watkins Oliver Browne is a partner in the London office of Latham & Watkins. He is chair of the London litigation department and a solicitor advocate. Oliver has been an international arbitration specialist for almost 20 years, and has represented companies and states in proceedings conducted under all the major rules as well as on an ad hoc basis. Oliver also has considerable experience with complex commercial litigation around the world, and arbitration-related litigation at all levels of the English courts. Oliver's recent experience includes disputes in various industry sectors, including power generation and distribution, energy, defence, media, retail and manufacturing, financial services and private equity. Oliver was named as one of the 'next generation of partners setting the disputes agenda' by Legal Business in 2015, listed as one of Legal Week's litigation rising stars in 2016 (which profiled him as one of the up-and-coming litigation stars at UK top 50 and top international firms in London) and named a 'future leader' in Who's Who Legal in 2017. The Legal 500 lists Oliver as a 'leading individual' for commercial litigation, and also recommends Oliver for banking litigation and international arbitration, describing him as 'a great team leader, [who] has very sound judgment and [who] is someone clients can rely on in good times and bad'. Chambers UK rank Oliver for international arbitration work, noting that 'he runs the case really well, listens to what everybody has to say and provides great client service'. IAN FELSTEAD Latham & Watkins Ian Felstead is a partner in the London office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the firm's litigation department. Ian has almost 20 years' experience advising clients on a variety of litigation and dispute resolution matters, in particular in relation to commercial, media and regulatory litigation. Ian's complex commercial litigation practice encompasses all forms of dispute resolution, including High Court litigation, domestic and international arbitration, and specialist tribunals (for example, the Copyright Tribunal). Ian has particular expertise in media litigation, including defamation, breach of confidence or privacy, contempt, data protection, freedom of information and copyright issues. Ian also advises clients on regulatory and public law matters, including acting on behalf of claimants and defendants in judicial review proceedings, advising clients on their regulatory obligations and acting for them in respect of investigations by the relevant regulator. In addition, Ian has considerable experience conducting internal investigations on behalf of clients. Ian has been described as 'a very effective lawyer [who] always thinks things through right to the end' by Chambers UK, and as being 'a real pleasure to deal with and [having] great ability' by The Legal 500. MAIR WILLIAMS Latham & Watkins Mair Williams is an associate in the London office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the firm's litigation department. Mair is qualified as both a barrister in England and Wales and as an attorney in California. Her practice has a particular focus on white-collar crime and investigations. She has represented individuals, companies and financial institutions in actions brought by the Serious Fraud Office and Financial Conduct Authority and has also acted for clients in commercial litigation in the High Court and Court of Appeal. She frequently conducts internal, cross-border investigations for clients across a range of sectors, including technology, financial services, pharmaceuticals and transportation. LATHAM & WATKINS 99 Bishopsgate London EC2M 3XF United Kingdom Fax: +44 20 7374 4460 Tel: +44 20 7710 1000 firstname.lastname@example.org email@example.com firstname.lastname@example.org www.lw.com © 2019 Law Business Research Ltd © 2019 Law Business Research Ltd
JC Lindsay Scottish Junior Open European Junior Open Grand Prix Event Contacts Tournament Director Allan McKay Pathway Systems Coordinator Philip Lyons +44 (0)131 374 2020 firstname.lastname@example.org Date, Event Category This European Junior Grand Prix event will be held from Thursday 28 th – Saturday 30 th December 2023. The tournament will start on Thursday 28 th December at 09:00. Closing Date for Entries Thursday 16 th November 2023 Venue(s) Edinburgh Sports Club, 7 Belford Place, Edinburgh, EH4 3DH +44 (0)131 539 7071 \| https://www.edinburghsportsclub.co.uk \| 6 squash courts Oriam: Scotland's Sports Performance Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS +44 (0)131 451 8400 \| https://oriamscotland.com/ \| 8 squash courts Categories Girls U19 Scottish Squash reserves the right to amalgamate age groups if there are insufficient entries to make a workable draw. Players are only allowed to enter one category. Eligibility Any player shall be entitled to enter providing that they are under the age of 11/13/15/17/19 (according to the category entered) on the final day of the tournament (30th December 2023). As specified by the European Squash Federation; to compete in all ESF registered events, all players, coaches, managers and other officials must be registered with ESF. This must be approved and validated by the relevant MNF. The MNF is responsible for ensuring that all players, coaches, managers and other officials are registered with ESF prior to entry, and their entry is fully supported. Players can register for ESID with ESF through the ESF tournament software website: https://esf.tournamentsoftware.com/member/createorganizationaccount.aspx?id=8B5D0106-404D-41C3-B2FBE6FE1BCEAB52 Coaches All team or individual player coaches designated by their Nation as part of their event onsite management team (solely or in attendance with an appointed team manager) at any Championship held under the auspices of ESF must be ESF registered, i.e. have an ESID, as their licence to attend as a formal representative. This is required at the time of them being registered to attend by their National federation. Seeding The seeding and draw will be carried out using the ESF rankings valid at the tournament closing date in accordance with the ESF Junior Circuit Guidelines Section D. Matches All matches played will consist of the best of five games, under the rules of the WSF. All players are guaranteed a minimum of three matches. PAR 11 scoring (to 2 clear points) will be used. Draws Maximum draw size: 64 (3-day event). Refereeing Both players will be expected to mark and referee matches. Clothing Players must wear suitable squash attire including non-marking shoes Eye Protection It is mandatory for approved eye protection to be worn at all times during competition play, including the knock up at this event. Players will not be allowed to compete without approved eye protection Recording of Matches / Web Publishing / Live Streaming The recording of matches for coaching/performance analysis purposes is acceptable provided the player and/or their parents/coaches do not object. The Scottish Junior Open will be publishing draws, results, photos of players as well as live streaming. Prizes To be determined at the discretion of the organisers. Insurance Players enter and play in the tournament at their own risk. Neither the organisers nor the ESF will accept responsibility for any claims including for injury or accident. Suitable insurance must be organised by the player or the participating federation. Hotel Courtyard by Marriot Edinburgh West, 2 Research Avenue, Edinburgh, EH14 4AB +44 (0)131 526 3210 \| https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/edihw-courtyard-edinburgh-west/ Reservations can only be made by the tournament organisers. Please note, the hotel is onsite next to the Oriam facility. Transport Players and visitors who book a package can arrange to be picked-up and dropped off at either Edinburgh International Airport or Edinburgh Waverley and Haymarket train stations. Please note we cannot provide transport for those arriving prior to the 27th December 2023 and leaving after 30th December 2023 due to the Christmas & New Year holidays. On all competition days there will be a regular bus transfer service between the hotel/Oriam and Edinburgh Sports Club. Online Tournament Entries Individual entries should be completed online through the European Squash Tournament Software website by Thursday 16 th November 2023: - https://esf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament?id=75E30053-90CD-4B1F-A15BC74B1B4C768D - Individual online entry fee: £55 per player (includes ESF Ranking Levy) - Entry fees must be paid in full online by the closing date (16 th November 2023). Tournament Package Entry (includes tournament entry fee) Individuals/groups wishing to purchase a tournament package should complete the package entry form and not complete the online tournament entry. - All completed package entry forms should be returned to email@example.com by Thursday 16 th November 2023. Download Package Entry Form: https://www.scottishsquash.org/events/sjo-information/ Accommodation & Transport Packages A1 – 2 Night Package Single Room: £375 per person - Tournament entry - Includes ESF ranking levy - Bed and breakfast for 2 nights, 28 th & 29 th December 2023 - 3 snack lunches - 2 dinners - Transport between hotel and venue A2 – 2 Night Package Twin/Double Room: £290 per person (based on 2 people sharing) - Tournament entry - Includes ESF ranking levy - Bed and breakfast for 2 nights, 28 th & 29 th December 2023 - 3 snack lunches - 2 dinners - Transport between hotel and venue - Based on 2 people sharing B1 – 3 Night Package Single Room: £500 per person - Tournament entry - Includes ESF ranking levy - Bed and breakfast for 3 nights, 27 th , 28 th & 29 th December 2023 - 3 snack lunches - 3 dinners - Transport between hotel and venue B2 – 3 Night Package Twin/Double Room: £372.50 per person (based on 2 people sharing) - Tournament entry - Includes ESF ranking levy - Bed and breakfast for 3 nights, 27 th , 28 th & 29 th December 2023 - 3 snack lunches - 3 dinners - Transport between hotel and venue - Based on 2 people sharing Extra Supplements C1 – Extra Nights' Accommodation Single Room: £105 per person - Bed and breakfast for 1 night (26 th December 2023) C2 – Extra Nights' Accommodation Twin/Double Room: £62.50 per person (based on 2 people sharing) - Bed and breakfast for 1 night (26 th December 2023) - Based on 2 people sharing C3 – Extra Nights' Accommodation Single Room: £105 per person - Bed and breakfast for 1 night (30 th December 2023) C4 – Extra Nights' Accommodation Twin/Double Room: £62.50 per person (based on 2 people sharing) - Bed and breakfast for 1 night (30 th December 2023) - Based on 2 people sharing Payment The package fees, as detailed above, must be paid in full to the host by the closing date (16 th November 2023) to the account details provided below. Please note, individuals and groups arranging BACS payments for package entry fees, will be required to cover any bank administration fees and charges. Account Name: Scottish Squash and Racketball Limited Bank Account: Unity Trust, Nine Bridley Place, Birmingham Sort Code: 60-83-01 Account Number 20255712 SWIFT: NWBKGB2L IBAN: GB93NWBK60023571418024 (Please put reference "'SJO23' and your family name e.g. 'SJO23SMITH') Cancellations and Refunds - Tournament Fees In the event of a withdrawal up to 7th December 2023 a full refund of tournament entry fees will be given less any administrative fees incurred. In the event of a withdrawal between 8th December 2023 and 20 th December 2023, 50% refund of tournament entry fees will be given less any administrative fees incurred. In the event of a withdrawal on or after 20 th December 2023, refunds will be at the discretion of Scottish Squash Ltd. Cancellations and Refunds - Hotel Accommodation Any cancellations for hotel accommodation must be intimated to Scottish Squash at the earliest opportunity. Scottish Squash cannot guarantee refunds on hotel cancellations after Thursday 16th November 2023. All refunds will be strictly at the discretion of Scottish Squash. Draws The seeding lists and time of the first matches for specific age groups will be published at least 5 days prior to the start date, or alternatively a date and time for all participants to report to the TD will be stated. Evaluation A link to an online survey will be sent to all participants after the tournament has taken place. Responses are anonymous and will be collated by the ESF office. Safeguarding, Health and Safety Adults interacting with juniors in the organisation and running of ESF Junior Circuit events are in a position of trust and influence. They should always ensure that junior players are treated fairly, with respect, and given suitable support. Tournaments should be run in a safe, positive and encouraging environment. The host Organising Committee, including Tournament Director and Tournament Referee should be trained in safeguarding children according to the host MNF national standards. The health and safety of all persons (players, officials, spectators, tournament staff) involved in or attending a tournament is of paramount importance. The Organising Committee, via the host MNF is responsible for ensuring an appropriate plan is in place for the tournament. ESF Regulations & Penalties The tournament is part of the ESF Junior Circuit and will be run in accordance with the ESF Junior Guidelines, a copy of which is available on the ESF website www.europeansquash.com. MNFs should make sure that all relevant people (including coaches, managers and players) are aware of the Guidelines and their requirements. The tournament will be run under the terms and conditions as set out in ESF Regulations: Code of Conduct - The tournament will be run under the terms and conditions as set out in EUROPEAN SQUASH FEDERATION PRIVACY POLICY as published on the ESF website www.europeansquash.com A late withdrawal is a withdrawal made 2 days or less before the start date of the tournament. Ranking penalties may be applied to the records of the players who fail to turn up or who make a late withdrawal not supported by a medical certificate. Please Note: The medical certificate must clearly state the players name, date of birth and nature of the illness/injury the certificate, must cover the date of the relevant tournament and must be sent to the ESF Office within 2 days after the final day of the tournament. If a player: a) Has entered a tournament and fails to turn up, he/she will receive zero ranking points for the tournament. b) Fails to play out all scheduled matches for any reason other than illness or injury, he/she may receive zero ranking points for the tournament. c) If zero points are awarded the points will count as one of the players 4 best results for the rolling 12-month period and will be taken into account when dividing the points to obtain the ranking average. This penalty will be applied automatically. d) Commits either of these offence for a second time within a 12-month period, he/she will be banned from the ESF Juniors Circuit for a period of 12 months. Scottish Squash Terms and Conditions The standard Scottish Squash Competitions & Events Terms and Conditions also apply to this competition. A copy of these terms and conditions can be viewed here. Scottish Squash Data Protection At Scottish Squash, we take the security and privacy of your personal data very seriously. If you would like to know more or would like to understand your data protection rights, please take a look at our Data Protection & Privacy Notices.
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GRANDER® PRESS KIT THE universal POWER OF WATER TABLE OF CONTENTS GRANDER® – THE ORIGINAL REVITALIZED WATER Revitalized water means a better life The GRANDER® effect: visible and tangible benefits Pure water from the Copperplate mine as the basis Johann Grander: Tyrolean inventor of water revitalization and student of nature In-house research laboratory Research proves effectiveness and short payback periods Theoretical fundamentals of GRANDER® water revitalization scientifically proven Facts & figures References Photo credits GRANDER® AT HOME & FOR HOUSE CONSTRUCTION GRANDER® IN YOUR DIET GRANDER® IN THE CATERING & HOTEL INDUSTRY GRANDER® IN WELLNESS FACILITIES & SPAS GRANDER® IN AGRICULTURE GRANDER® IN TRADE & INDUSTRY GRANDER® in Heating GRANDER® – THE ORIGINAL REVITALIZED WATER Revitalized water means a better life GRANDER® water revitalization is based on a natural principle of information transfer. Non-contact information exchange from water to water is a physical singularity first utilized by Johann Grander in the late 1970s. Johann Grander (1930 – 2012) – known as the "Aqua-Man" from Tyrol – is the discoverer and inventor of water revitalization and founded the family company more than 40 years ago. The GRANDER® brand has been registered as an international brand since 1996 and the GRANDER® products are used all over the world. The Tyrol-based family business managed by Johann Grander jun. employs close to 30 people at its headquarters in Jochberg. Around the world, several hundred people make their living in water revitalization. GRANDER® water revitalization is used in the following fields: private homes (flats, single- and multi-family houses), in the hospitality & wellness industries (restaurants, hotels, cafés, swimming pools, spas, yoga and fitness studios, public facilities, etc.) as well as in trade & industry (businesses in agriculture, food production, and industry). The GRANDER® effect: visible and tangible benefits The fundamental notion of water revitalization is to increase the water's self-cleaning properties and resilience by improving its structure, thereby making the water what it originally was: powerful and natural. GRANDER® revitalized water increases the well-being of people, helps protect our biosphere, saves resources and optimizes their use. GRANDER® revitalized water stands for: - Enjoyment & good flavor - Vitality & well-being - Growth & yield - Optimization & economization - Environmental protection & conservation of resources Benefits of GRANDER® water revitalization: - Highly enjoyable drink due to its delicate and full-bodied flavor - Increased storage life due to changes in the water's microbiological setup - Luxurious bathing experience through significantly softer water - Better health of animals, as animal breeders and owners enthusiastically report - Strong growth of plants and an abundance of flowers - More intensive taste of food and coffee/tea that is gentle on the stomach - Less and easier-to-remove lime deposits - Reduces corrosion - Cost savings due to reduced use of cleaning agents and chemicals - Energy savings due to more effective heating - Does not need electricity, chemicals, or other extras to work - Returns to the natural cycle in a revitalized and natural way, which helps conserve and protect nature Water in its purest form from the Copperplate mine as the basis The journey of GRANDER® revitalized water starts in Jochberg near Kitzbühel, where a spring of extraordinary quality, the Stephanie Spring, emerges in a mine 520 meters below the surface, far away from any external influences. This water is carefully transported to the production site and revitalized in several stages. It forms the base for the highly coherent functional water in GRANDER® devices. It is also the raw material for the Original GRANDER® Blue Water, which is still bottled at the production site to date. Johann Grander: Tyrolean inventor of water revitalization and student of nature Innovative mind Johann Grander was far ahead of his time. He clearly saw groundbreaking causalities, many of which were only understood and appreciated by the scientific community and the public many years later. Throughout his life, he received awards and honors for his accomplishments and lifetime achievements. In 2000, he was the first Austrian to receive the silver medal of honor from the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, which counts many Nobel Prize winners among its members. In 2001, Johann Grander was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art for 'his lifetime achievement, the discovery of water revitalization.' In 2003, he received an extraordinary token of honor by the Russian Environmental Fund. After performing deep drilling in the Antarctica, scientists were able to collect 2,000-year-old ice – ice that predates the Christian era. Only six people in the world - for example - Patriarch Alexy II (Primate of the Russian-Orthodox Church 1990–2008) - John Paul II (Pope 1978–2005) - Johann Grander (1930–1912) have so far received this unique present in acknowledgment of their extraordinary achievements. In-house research laboratory Implosions Photonenfeld Forschung und Vertrieb (IPF) GmbH is a company of the GRANDER® Group, which works in R&D focusing on questions regarding water. IPF cooperates with international institutes, scientists, and universities in its R&D activities. GRANDER® is a member of the research group 'Applied Water Physics' of the Dutch Wetsus water research institute, which is coordinated by Dr. Elmar Fuchs (TU Graz – floating water bridge). This and other projects keep GRANDER® up to date about current findings of water research. Many well-known international scientists have traveled long distances to Jochberg in Tyrol to talk to Johann Grander, his family, and the research staff. One of them was Professor Eshel Ben-Jacob († 2015), the former president of the Israel Physical Society and one of the most famous physicists in the world. GRANDER® is still in close contact with Dr. Elmar Fuchs of Wetsus and Professor Gerald H. Pollack, professor for Bioengineering at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, to this date. Research proves effectiveness and short payback periods Empirical study by the University of Graz brought positive results on the effects of GRANDER® Dr. Stefan Vorbach, professor at the former Institute for Innovation and Environmental Management of the University of Graz, advised Katrin Zunkovic on her thesis titled 'GRANDER® as an example of water revitalization – an empirical survey among industrial users.' For this study, Katrin Zunkovic asked 32 industrial companies in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland about the operation principle, costs, and benefits of GRANDER® water revitalization. Half of the companies surveyed had one to three years of experience with GRANDER® water revitalization. Forty-six percent of the respondents had worked with GRANDER® for more than four years. When asked about cost efficiency, 84 percent of the respondents reported that the use of GRANDER® water revitalization had resulted in savings, more specifically: - Less chemicals, maintenance, and cleaning - Reduced disposal costs - Costs savings due to longer service time of the liquids With regard to cost effectiveness and payback periods, Katrin Zunkovic published the following results: \| \| Costs \| Savings \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Mean \| EUR 7,006 \| EUR 10,201 \| \| Median \| EUR 5,300 \| EUR 4,200 \| Scientific proof for increased plant growth due to GRANDER® revitalized water In 2004, Heidrun Schinagl completed her dissertation on the topic of 'Survey of the effects of plant strengtheners on growth, yield, and quality of horticultural crops' at the Institute of Horticulture and Viticulture of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. Her research produced compelling evidence: the use of GRANDER® revitalized water resulted in an improved aftercrop and extended storage life of head lettuce. With regard to tomatoes, an increase in yields, an increase in the number of fruits in the 'Extra' quality class (the highest quality class), improved black rot resistance, higher levels of vitamin C as well as no tearing of the skins were reported. Based on the results of her dissertation, which were published in the magazine 'demeter zeitung,' Dr. Heidrun Schinagl recommends the use of GRANDER® revitalized water when growing tomatoes. Theoretical fundamentals of GRANDER® water revitalization scientifically proven To celebrate the company´s 40th anniversary, an international water symposium took place in September 2019, at which the scientific evidence of the basics of water revitalization was presented to the public for the first time. The scientific, peer-reviewed paper "Strong Gradients in Weak Magnetic Fields Induce DOLLOP Formation in Tap Water" proves the difference between treated / revitalized and regular / unrevitalized water. The paper was written by Martina Sammer, Cees Kamp, Astrid H. Paulitsch-Fuchs, Adam D. Wexler, Cees J.N. Buisman and Elmar C. Fuchs. The scientific studies explain part of the GRANDER® effect. Modified deposition behaviour Without revitalization, dissolved lime crystallizes on the pipe walls and narrows the cross-section of pipes. When revitalized, a high concentration of DOLLPS is created in the water (these act like tiny crystallization nuclei for the lime) and thus the crystallization starts immediately in the water and only slightly on the pipe surfaces. As a result, the crystals no longer adhere to the pipe but are washed out with the water stream. Benefits of water revitalization in terms of deposits - revitalized water tolerates a higher degree of hardness without forming deposits - when combined with an ion exchanger the residual hardness can be set to a higher value - saves costs for chemicals, electricity and maintenance - water has a better taste Enhanced self-cleaning power The background flora of a water (indigenous bacteria) acts like an immune system and naturally protects water. Benefits of water revitalization in terms of self-cleaning power - Durability is prolonged - post-pollution potential drops - microbiological stability increases - resistance of the water increases Through the flow cytometry method, it can be shown that GRANDER® water revitalization strengthens the natural background flora and thus improves the resistance. Microbiological stability In revitalized water, the natural background flora is more active and consumes more nutrients, so undesirable bacteria cannot establish themselves easily. Benefits of water revitalization in terms of higher microbiological stability o revitalized water remains stable even with higher nutrient content o saves costs for chemicals, electricity and maintenance Current research results and detailed information on the scientific paper: www.grander.com/wasserforschung Facts & figures - The following companies are part of the GRANDER Group: o GRANDER GmbH (technology, production, know-how) o GRANDER Wasserbelebung GmbH (sales Austria and Germany) o Grander Italia S.R.L. (sales Italy) o Grander Export GmbH (sales export) o IPF GmbH (R&D) o Copperplate mine [x] Only active copper mine in Europe [x] Home of the Stephanie Spring, which provides the water used in all GRANDER® products - Management: Johann Grander, supported by his siblings Johanna Grander, Stephanie Filzer, Heribert Grander - Export ratio: over 75% - Total size of the Jochberg production site: 6,400 m² - Products: o GRANDER® Inline Units for drinking water o GRANDER® Circulation Units for heating and cooling circuits o GRANDER® Energy Rods for standing waters, wells, pools, and ponds o Original GRANDER® Blue Water o GRANDER® accessories like energy boards, penergizers, pendants, sulfate water, drinking glasses, carafes, and drinking bottles o GRANDER® Drinking Fountains o Sanomag® – interference-elimination and therapeutic device based on natural magnetism - Business segments: o Private homes o Hospitality and wellness industries o Trade and industry A small sample of our satisfied customers - Hotel Weisses Rössl, St. Wolfgang, AT - Spanish Riding School, Vienna, AT - Vienna International Airport, Vienna, AT - Maschinenfabrik Liezen machine factory, Liezen, AT - Stiegl brewery, Salzburg, AT - Hotel Rasmushof Kitzbühel golf resort, Kitzbühel, AT - Große Kintrup dairy farm, Münster, DE - Naturkäserei Tegernseeland organic cheesery, Kreuth, DE - Dentist Dr. Geiger, Waldstetten, DE - Municipal garden center, Füssen, DE - Königliche Kristall-Therme Schwangau spa, Schwangau, DE - wasch:werk laundry services, Sonthofen, DE - Schloss Elmau luxury spa retreat, Elmau, DE - Dresdner Christstollen, Dresden, DE - Memminger Brauerei brewery, Memmingen, DE - B+H Solutions fertilizer manufacturer, Remshalden, DE - Thierry Schweitzer organic pig breeder, Alsace, FR - Weleda, Alsace, FR - Migros Fitnesspark, Lucerne, CH - Golfpark Oberkirch, Oberkirch, CH - Blu Fit, Bergamo, IT - Quellenhof, Lazise, IT - Spirit Hotel Thermal Spa, Sárvár, HU - International Hotel and Spa Calgary, Calgary, CA - Lido Hotel Guangzhou, Guangzhou, CN - Atrium Athletic Club, Bangkok, TH - Austrian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, MY More examples at www.grander.com Images you can use free of charge Captions (from left to right): 1. Johann Grander (1930–2012): inventor of water revitalization and student of nature ©Werner Krug 2. Manager and family spokesman Johann Grander 3. GRANDER® devices work without chemicals and electricity and do not require maintenance ©defranceso Images and logos in print quality (300 dpi) are available free of charge at: GRANDER® Press Department \| Karin Wagner \| Bergwerksweg 10 \| A-6373 Jochberg Phone: +43 664 7502 1778 \| email@example.com \| www.grander.com
SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC Form DEF 14A June 27, 2003 1 Table of Contents Edgar Filing: SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC - Form DEF 14A SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No. ) Filed by the Registrant x Filed by a Party other than the Registrant o Check the appropriate box: o Preliminary Proxy Statement o Confidential, for Use of the Commission Only (as permitted by Rule 14a-6(e)(2)) x Definitive Proxy Statement o Definitive Additional Materials o Soliciting Material Pursuant to § 240.14a-11(c) or 240.14a-12 Sola International Inc. (Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter) (Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant) Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box): x No fee required. o Fee computed on table below per Exchange Act Rules 14a-6(i)(1) and 0-11. (1) Title of each class of securities to which transaction applies: (2) Aggregate number of securities to which transaction applies: (3) Per unit price or other underlying value of transaction computed pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 0-11 (Set forth the amount on which the filing fee is calculated and state how it was determined): (4) Proposed maximum aggregate value of transaction: (5) Total fee paid: o Fee paid previously with preliminary materials. o Check box if any part of the fee is offset as provided by Exchange Act Rule 0-11(a)(2) and identify the filing for which the offsetting fee was paid previously. Identify the previous filing by registration statement number, or the Form or Schedule and the date of its filing. (1) Amount Previously Paid: (2) Form, Schedule or Registration Statement No.: (3) Filing Party: (4) Date Filed: Notes: Reg. § 240.14a-101. SEC 1913 (3-99) Table of Contents June 27, 2003 Edgar Filing: SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC - Form DEF 14A 10590 West Ocean Air Drive Suite 300 San Diego, California 92130 Telephone: (858) 509-9899 Internet Site: www.SOLA.com NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS To Be Held on Thursday, July 24, 2003 Please join us for the 2003 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of SOLA International Inc. Our Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, July 24, 2003, at 11:00 a.m. (local time), at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina, 333 West Harbor Drive, San Diego, California 92101. The purpose of the Annual Meeting is to elect six directors. You may vote at the Annual Meeting in person or by proxy if you owned shares of SOLA at the close of business on June 12, 2003. It is important for your shares to be represented at the Annual Meeting whether or not you plan to attend. To ensure that your shares are represented, we ask that you sign, date and return the enclosed proxy card. Please vote as soon as possible. You may revoke your proxy at any time prior to the Annual Meeting. Enclosed for your information is our 2003 Annual Report to Stockholders. Sincerely, JEREMY C. BISHOP President and Chief Executive Officer TABLE OF CONTENTS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ELECTION OF DIRECTORS BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND ITS COMMITTEES DIRECTOR COMPENSATION OWNERSHIP OF SOLA COMMON STOCK EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION EQUITY COMPENSATION PLAN INFORMATION CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS REPORT OF THE COMPENSATION COMMITTEE ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION COMPANY PERFORMANCE REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE RELATIONSHIP WITH INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS SECTION 16(a) BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REPORTING COMPLIANCE ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K APPENDIX A PROXY Table of Contents SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC. PROXY STATEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS This proxy statement and form of proxy are first being mailed to stockholders on or about June 27, 2003. 6 Table of Contents Edgar Filing: SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC - Form DEF 14A QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Who may vote? You may vote if you were a stockholder of SOLA at the close of business on June 12, 2003, the record date for the Annual Meeting. On that date, there were 24,728,933 shares of SOLA common stock outstanding. What am I voting on? SOLA’s Board of Directors is soliciting your vote on the election of six directors. How many votes do I have? Each share of SOLA common stock that you own entitles you to one vote. How do I vote? You may vote your shares in either of the following ways: • By mail: complete the proxy card and sign, date and return it in the enclosed envelope; or • In person: attend the Annual Meeting, where ballots will be provided. You may also vote by telephone or over the Internet if you hold your shares through a broker or bank that offers either of those options. If you choose to vote in person at the Annual Meeting and your shares are held in the name of your broker, bank or other nominee, you will need to bring an account statement or letter from the nominee indicating that you were the beneficial owner of the shares on June 12, 2003, the record date for voting. How does discretionary voting authority apply? If you sign, date and return your proxy card, your vote will be cast as you direct. If you do not indicate how you want to vote, you give authority to Jeremy C. Bishop and Jeffrey S. Cartwright to vote FOR the election of directors and FOR or AGAINST any other matters that are properly raised at the Annual Meeting. We do not expect that the stockholders will be voting on any business at the Annual Meeting other than the election of directors. May I revoke my proxy? You may revoke your proxy at any time before it is exercised in one of the following ways: • Notify our Secretary in writing before the Annual Meeting that you are revoking your proxy; • Submit another proxy with a later date; • Vote by telephone or Internet after you have given your proxy; or • Vote in person at the Annual Meeting. What does it mean if I receive more than one proxy card? Your shares are likely registered differently or are held in more than one account. You should sign and return all proxy cards to ensure that all of your shares are voted. What constitutes a quorum? The presence, in person or by proxy, of the holders of a majority of SOLA shares entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting constitutes a quorum. You will be considered part of the quorum if you return a signed and dated proxy card, if you vote by telephone or Internet or if you attend the Annual Meeting. Table of Contents Abstentions and broker non-votes are counted as “shares present” at the Annual Meeting for purposes of determining whether a quorum exists. A broker non-vote occurs when a broker submits a proxy that does not indicate a vote for a proposal because he or she does not have voting authority and has not received voting instructions from you. What vote is required to elect the directors? If a quorum is present, a plurality of the votes properly cast at the Annual Meeting will elect the directors. This means that the six nominees who receive the highest number of votes will be elected. If you do not want to vote your shares for a particular nominee, you may indicate that by following the instructions on the enclosed proxy card or on the ballot provided at the Annual Meeting or by withholding authority as prompted during telephone or Internet voting. Abstentions and broker non-votes will have no effect on the election of the directors. How do I submit a stockholder proposal? We must receive your proposals for inclusion in our proxy statement for the 2004 annual meeting no later than February 28, 2004. Your proposal must be in writing and must comply with the proxy rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You may also submit a proposal that you do not want to be included in our proxy statement, but that you want raised at the 2004 annual meeting. If you desire to do this, we must receive your written proposal no later than April 24, 2004. However, if the 2004 annual meeting is scheduled to be held before June 24, 2004 or after September 22, 2004, we must receive your proposal on or before the later of the close of business (1) 90 days prior to the date of the 2004 annual meeting, or (2) 10 days after the day on which we mail the notice of the 2004 annual meeting or publicly disclose the date of the annual meeting. If we receive your proposal after the applicable deadline, the SEC rules permit the individuals named in the proxies solicited by SOLA’s Board of Directors for that meeting to exercise discretionary voting power as to that proposal, although they are not required to do so. In addition, our by-laws contain specific requirements for stockholder proposals that you must comply with to properly raise a proposal at an annual meeting. According to our by-laws, your proposal should include: (1) a brief description of the business you want to bring before the meeting and the reasons for conducting the business at the meeting; (2) your name and address as they appear on our stock records; (3) the number of SOLA shares that you own beneficially or of record; (4) a description of any arrangement or agreement you may have with any other person concerning the proposal and any interest you may have in the business you want to bring before the meeting; and (5) a representation that you intend to attend the meeting in person or by proxy and present your business at the meeting. You should submit all proposals and requests for copies of our by-laws in writing to our Secretary at our address on the cover of this proxy statement. How do I nominate a director? If you desire to nominate an individual for election as a director at the 2004 annual meeting, we must receive your nomination no later than April 24, 2004. However, if the 2004 annual meeting is scheduled to be held before June 24, 2004 or after September 22, 2004, we must receive your nomination on or before the later of the close of business (1) 90 days prior to the date of the 2004 annual meeting, or (2) 10 days after the day on which we mail the notice of the 2004 annual meeting or publicly disclose the date of the annual meeting. Our by-laws contain specific requirements that you must comply with to nominate a director. Our by-laws require that for each person you propose to nominate you provide: (1) the name, age, business address and residence address of the proposed nominee; (2) the principal occupation of the proposed nominee; (3) the number of SOLA shares that the proposed nominee owns beneficially and of record; and (4) any other information relating to the proposed nominee that would be required by the SEC to be included in a proxy statement had SOLA’s Board nominated the proposed nominee. 2 Table of Contents In addition, our by-laws require that you provide the following information: (1) your name and address as they appear on our stock records; (2) the number of SOLA shares that you own beneficially and of record; (3) a description of any arrangement or understanding you may have with each proposed nominee or any other person concerning the nominations; (4) a representation that you intend to attend the meeting in person or by proxy to nominate the proposed nominees; (5) any other information relating to you that would be required by the SEC to be included in a proxy statement for election of directors; and (6) the written consent of each proposed nominee to being named as a nominee and to serving as a director if elected. You should send your proposals and requests for copies of our by-laws in writing to our Secretary at our address on the cover of this proxy statement. Who pays to prepare, mail and solicit the proxies? SOLA will pay all of the costs of preparing and mailing the proxy statement and soliciting the proxies. We will ask brokers, dealers, banks, voting trustees and other nominees and fiduciaries to forward the proxy materials and our Annual Report to the beneficial owners of SOLA common stock and to obtain the authority to execute proxies. We will reimburse them for their reasonable expenses upon request. In addition to mailing proxy materials, our directors, officers and employees may solicit proxies in person, by telephone or otherwise. These individuals will not be specially compensated. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS SOLA’s directors are elected at each annual meeting and hold office until the next election. The Board of Directors has authority under our by-laws to fill vacancies and to increase or decrease its size between annual meetings. The Board currently consists of seven directors; however, A. William Hamill is not standing for re-election and following the Annual Meeting the Board will consist of six members. At this Annual Meeting, you will be asked to elect six directors. The six nominees are presently directors of SOLA. Each director will serve until the 2004 annual meeting, until a qualified successor director has been elected, or until he resigns or is removed by the Board. We will vote your shares as you specify on the enclosed proxy card or during telephone or Internet voting. If you do not specify how you want your shares voted, we will vote them FOR the election of the nominees. If unforeseen circumstances (such as death or disability) make it necessary for the Board to substitute another person for any of the nominees, we will vote your shares FOR that other person. The Board of Directors does not anticipate that any nominee will be unable to serve. The nominees have provided the following information about themselves. Nominees Jeremy C. Bishop, 53, was appointed Chief Executive Officer and President and a director in April 2000. Prior to his appointment, he served as President of the American Optical business, a position held since SOLA’s purchase of American Optical Corporation’s ophthalmic business in June 1996. He joined American Optical Corporation in November 1990 as Vice President of European Operations. Maurice J. Cunniffe, 70, was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors in November 2000. He has been a director since December 1996. He is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of A. O. Capital Corporation. Douglas D. Danforth, 80, has been a director since December 1994. He was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Westinghouse Electric Corporation from 1983 to 1987. He is a former director of Atlantic Express Transportation Corp. and Enivosource. He was a former director of Travelers, PNC Bank, PPG Industries, Rubbermaid and The Whirlpool Corporation and also served as Chairman and CEO of the Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club from 1987 to 1994. Neil E. Leach, 65, has been a director since November 2000. He is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Barnie’s Coffee and Tea Company (formerly a division of Sara Lee). He has been 3 Table of Contents Managing Director of Coastal Land Development Associates LLC since 1987 and has founded and led a number of companies both in and outside the optical industry, including Multifocal Rx Lens Laboratory Inc. and affiliated laboratories, during the past 43 years. He is also past Chairman of Microtool and Instruments, Inc. and a past director of Intercontinental Bank, which was acquired by Bank of America. Robert A. Muh, 65, serves as Chief Executive Officer of Sutter Securities, Inc, a full-service brokerage firm he co-founded in 1992. Prior to that time, he served as President of Financial Services International, Inc., a financial advisory firm, from 1987 to 1992. From 1978 to 1987, he served as a partner and a managing director for Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. He also currently serves as a director for Worldwide Restaurants, Inc. and DayRunner, Inc. and is a trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jackson L. Schultz, 77, has been a director since November 1995. Following a career in the United States Navy, where he retired as a Captain, Mr. Schultz joined Wells Fargo Bank in 1970, retiring in 1990 as Senior Vice President responsible for Public and Governmental Affairs. He is a past director of the Bank of San Francisco and the Cooper Development Company. He was a member of the Advisory Board to the United States Navy Exchange Command, and also serves as Vice Chairman and Governor of Claremont McKenna College Rose Institute of State and Local Government. BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND ITS COMMITTEES SOLA’s Board of Directors met 10 times during fiscal year 2003. In addition to meetings of the full Board, directors attended meetings of Board committees. The Board has four standing committees: Audit, Compensation, Nominating and Governance. During fiscal 2003, each director attended at least 90% of the meetings of the Board and all of the committees on which he served. For additional information, including our Corporate Governance Guidelines and the current charter for each of the Board committees, please refer to SOLA’s website at www.SOLA.com. Audit Committee Meetings: 5 Members: Douglas D. Danforth (Chairman) Maurice J. Cunniffe Jackson L. Schultz Function: Assists the Board in monitoring: the integrity of the Company’s financial statements; the qualifications, independence and performance of the independent accountant; the performance of the internal audit function; and compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. The Audit Committee has adopted a charter, which specifies the composition and responsibilities of the committee. For more information concerning the Audit Committee, see the “Report of the Audit Committee” in this proxy statement and the Audit Committee Charter attached as Appendix A to this proxy statement. Compensation Committee Meetings: 2 Members: Robert A. Muh (Chairman) Maurice J. Cunniffe A. William Hamill Function: Reviews and recommends compensation arrangements for the Chief Executive Officer and executive officers, including salaries, bonuses and option grants, and for non-employee directors; sets compensation philosophy and policies; and administers executive compensation plans and programs. For more information concerning the Compensation Committee, see the “Report of the Compensation Committee on Executive Compensation” in this proxy statement. 4 Table of Contents Governance Committee Meetings: 1 Members: Maurice J. Cunniffe (Chairman) Douglas D. Danforth Neil E. Leach Robert A. Muh Jackson L. Schultz Function: Develops and recommends to the Board Corporate Governance Guidelines applicable to the company, recommends committee assignments and leads the Board in its annual review of the Board’s performance. Nominating Committee Meetings: 1 Members: Jackson Schultz (Chairman) Maurice J. Cunniffe Neil E. Leach Function: Reviews and recommends candidates for vacancies and additions to the Board of Directors. Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation We rent premises in Southbridge, Massachusetts from a company owned by Maurice J. Cunniffe, a director and member of all four Board committees. We use the premises for research and development and distribution operations. Under the terms of the rental agreement, we paid approximately $283,000 during fiscal 2003. At the request of the Board, William Hamill was paid $40,000 for specific consulting services performed on behalf of the company during fiscal 2003. DIRECTOR COMPENSATION Annual Retainer and Attendance Fees Directors who are full time employees of SOLA receive no compensation for serving on the Board or its committees. Non-employee directors receive an annual fee of $30,000, except for the Chairman, whose annual fee is $50,000. The Audit Committee Chairman receives an additional annual fee of $5,000, while the other members of the Audit Committee receive an additional fee of $3,000. Non-employee directors also receive $1,000 for each Board meeting attended, and $500 for each telephonic meeting. Committee members receive $1,000 compensation for committee meetings attended. During fiscal 2003, all non-employee Board members received a grant of 3,904 options. We permit directors to receive all or a portion of their annual retainer fees in the form of options to acquire shares of SOLA common stock. We also reimburse directors for traveling costs and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred in attending meetings. In lieu of all or a portion of their annual retainer fees for fiscal 2003, the following directors elected to receive options to purchase SOLA shares in the amounts indicated: Maurice Cunniffe, 15,314 shares; Neil Leach, 1,812 shares; Robert Muh, 8,292 shares; and Jackson Schultz, 6,480 shares. 5 Edgar Filing: SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC - Form DEF 14A Table of Contents OWNERSHIP OF SOLA COMMON STOCK Directors, Nominees and Executive Officers The following table shows how much SOLA common stock the directors, nominees, named executive officers, and all directors and executive officers as a group beneficially owned as of June 12, 2003. The named executive officers are the individuals listed in the “Summary Compensation Table.” Beneficial ownership is a technical term broadly defined by the SEC to mean more than ownership in the usual sense. In general, beneficial ownership includes any shares that a stockholder can vote or transfer and stock options that are exercisable currently or become exercisable within 60 days. Except as otherwise noted, the stockholders named in this table have sole voting and investment power for all shares shown as beneficially owned by them. * Less than 1%. (1) Based on 24,728,933 shares of common stock (excluding treasury shares) outstanding on June 12, 2003. Calculations of percentage of beneficial ownership assume the exercise by only the respective named stockholder of all options for the purchase of common stock held by him or her that are exercisable within 60 days of June 12, 2003. 6 Table of Contents Other Principal Stockholders This table shows all stockholders that we know to be beneficial owners of more than 5% of SOLA common stock based on information filed with the SEC on Schedule 13G. Unless otherwise noted, each of the stockholders named in this table has sole voting and investment power for all of the shares shown as beneficially owned by them. The percent of class owned is based on 24,728,933 shares of SOLA common stock outstanding as of June 12, 2003. (1) Barclays Global Investors, NA has sole voting and investment power as to 1,506,642 of the shares, and Barclays Global Fund Advisors has sole voting and investment power as to 365,694 of the shares. (2) R. Eliot King and Associates Incorporated (“King”), an investment advisor under Section 203 of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, shares voting power as to 1,278,100 of the shares and investment power as to 1,535,100 of the shares with John K. Nelson, the President of King. In addition, Mr. Nelson has sole voting and investment power as to 95,200 of the shares. (3) Fuller & Thaler Asset Management, Inc. has sole voting power as to 932,100 of the shares, no voting power as to 392,500 of the shares and sole investment power as to all of the shares. 7 Edgar Filing: SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC - Form DEF 14A Table of Contents EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION This table summarizes the compensation of Jeremy C. Bishop, our Chief Executive Officer, and the other four most highly compensated executive officers of SOLA during fiscal year 2003. These individuals are sometimes referred to as the named executive officers. Summary Compensation Table Long-Term Compensation Awards (1) Represents payments made in fiscal 2003 as matching contributions under the SOLA Optical USA 401(k) Savings Plan on behalf of Messrs. Bishop and Neil and under the SOLA Optical U. K. Limited Group Personal Pension Scheme on behalf of Mr. Ashcroft and, in the case of Messrs. Bishop and Packham and Ms. Roberts, $635, $2,540 and $5,970, respectively, for services related to the preparation of their personal tax return. (2) Other Annual Compensation includes payments to Mr. Bishop for (a) expatriate accommodation allowances in the amount of $50,012 for fiscal 2003 and $50,000 for each of fiscal 2002 and fiscal 2001, and (b) automobile allowances in the amount of $20,132 for fiscal 2003, $26,916 for fiscal 2002 and $11,942 fiscal 2001. (3) Other Annual Compensation includes payments to Mr. Neil for (a) income from the forgiveness of loans in the amount of $60,000 during each of fiscal 2003 and fiscal 2002 and $25,000 during fiscal 2001, (b) automobile allowance in the amount of $14,395 for fiscal 2001, and (c) long-term disability benefits in the amount of $937 for fiscal 2001. Effective June 30, 2003, Mr. Neil will be leaving the company to pursue employment closer to his home. (4) We compensated Mr. Packham in Australian Dollars during fiscal 2001 and from April 1, 2001 through June 30, 2001. The average exchange rate in Australian Dollars per U.S. Dollar was 1.800 in fiscal 2001 and 1.943 in fiscal 2002. (5) Mr. Ashcroft became an executive officer in August 2001. We compensated Mr. Ashcroft in British Pounds during fiscal 2003 and fiscal 2002. The average exchange rate in British Pounds per U.S. Dollar was 0.647 in fiscal 2003 and 0.698 in fiscal 2002. Other Annual Compensation for fiscal 2003 includes currency equalization payments to Mr. Ashcroft as a result of foreign exchange fluctuations. Edgar Filing: SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC - Form DEF 14A (6) Ms. Roberts became an executive officer in August 2001. 8 Table of Contents Option Grants in Fiscal Year 2003 This table gives information relating to option grants to the named executive officers during fiscal year 2003. The options were granted under SOLA’s option plan and have exercise prices equal to the fair market value of SOLA common stock on the grant date. One-fifth of the options in each grant is immediately exercisable. An additional one-fifth vests on each of the first four anniversary dates of the grant. In the event of a change of control of SOLA, the options will become fully vested and immediately exercisable. The potential realizable value is calculated based on the term of the option at its time of grant, which is 10 years. The calculation assumes that the fair market value on the date of grant appreciates at the indicated rate compounded annually for the entire term of the option and that the option is exercised at the exercise price and sold on the last day of its term at the appreciated price. The stock price appreciation of 5% and 10% is assumed under the rules of the SEC. This assumed appreciation does not represent any estimate of our stock price appreciation. Karen Roberts— — — — — — Option Exercises in Fiscal Year 2003 and Fiscal Year-End 2003 Option Values This table provides information regarding the exercise of options during fiscal year 2003 and options outstanding at the end of fiscal year 2003 for the named executive officers. The “value realized” is calculated using the difference between the option exercise price and the price of SOLA common stock on the date of exercise multiplied by the number of shares underlying the option. The “value of unexercised in-the-money options at fiscal year end” is calculated using the difference between the option exercise price and $12.36 (the closing price of SOLA stock on March 31, 2003, the last regular trading day of fiscal year 2003) multiplied by the number of shares underlying the option. An option is in-the-money if the market value of SOLA common stock is greater than the option’s exercise price. Pension Plans Mr. Bishop participates in the American Optical U.K. Ltd. Pension Scheme. Assuming retirement at age 60, Mr. Bishop would receive the maximum annual pension benefit permitted by the U.K. tax laws, which approximates $85,245. Mr. Packham and Ms. Roberts participate in the SOLA Superannuation Fund in Australia. Assuming retirement at age 65, Mr. Packham and Ms. Roberts would receive lump sum pension benefits from SOLA of 9 9 Table of Contents 2.396 and 5.302 times the average of the last three years of pensionable salary, or approximately $535,748 and $358,104, respectively, based on their current salary. Messrs. Bishop and Neil participate in the SOLA Optical Pension Plan. Effective March 31, 2003, we discontinued any further accruals to the participants of the SOLA Optical Pension Plan, and the benefit levels as of a normal retirement date were frozen for all participants. The years of credited service as of March 31, 2003 for Mr. Bishop were 3.25 and for Mr. Neil were 5.47. The following table shows estimated annual benefits payable to them under that plan. Pension Plan Table Years of Service Benefits under the SOLA Optical Pension Plan are not offset by Social Security benefits. The amounts shown are based upon certain assumptions, including retirement of the employee at exactly age 65 on March 31, 2003 and payment of the benefit under the basic form of the SOLA Optical Pension Plan, a single life annuity for the life of the participant. The amounts will change if the payment is made under any other form permitted by the SOLA Optical Pension Plan, or if an employee’s retirement occurs after March 31, 2003 since the Social Security Wage Base of that employee (one of the factors used in computing the annual retirement benefits) will reflect higher Social Security tax bases for years after 2003. The SOLA Optical Pension Plan provides a higher level of benefits for the portion of compensation above the compensation levels on which Social Security benefits are based. The remuneration levels shown represent the five-year average of annual compensation covered by the SOLA Optical Pension Plan as of March 31, 2003. Compensation covered by the SOLA Optical Pension Plan includes regular base salary, hourly wages, shift differentials, overtime, vacation and sick leave pay, commissions, sales bonuses, amounts deferred under any tax qualified plan and amounts paid pursuant to management bonus plans or other formally adopted incentive compensation plans. The current compensation covered by the SOLA Optical Pension Plan for Messrs. Bishop and Neil differs substantially (by more than 10%) from that set forth in the Summary Compensation Table under the aggregate of the “Salary” and “Bonus” columns because the amount of compensation that may be covered under a tax qualified pension plan is limited by the Internal Revenue Code. The pension amounts shown for remuneration in excess of the compensation cap ($200,000 for 2003) are based upon the compensation cap in each year, as required by law. The Internal Revenue Code Section 415 defined benefit limit was $160,000 for 2003, but it did not provide any further limitation on the amounts calculated. Employment Agreements We entered into an employment agreement with Jeremy C. Bishop dated November 6, 2000. The agreement has an initial term of three years, which will be extended automatically for successive one-year periods unless either party gives 60 days’ notice prior to the expiration of the then current term that it will not 10 Table of Contents be extended. Pursuant to this agreement, Mr. Bishop receives a base salary of $400,000, subject to discretionary annual increases. This agreement also provides that Mr. Bishop may participate in our management incentive plan and other medical, insurance and benefit plans. Mr. Bishop is entitled to receive severance benefits if his employment with SOLA is terminated for any reason other than “cause”, if we elect not to extend the initial term or any additional term for any reason other than “cause”, if he is regularly assigned duties that materially diminish his position as president and chief executive officer or if certain other circumstances occur. The severance benefits provided by Mr. Bishop’s employment agreement include (1) his annual salary immediately prior to the termination of employment, plus the average of management incentive plan compensation paid to him over the three immediately preceding years, for a period of 18 months, (2) all benefit plans we regularly provide to our other executives or employees, including health, dental, vision, pension or other retirement plans, plus certain benefits associated with his status as an expatriate employee, for a period of 18 months and (3) outplacement assistance up to a maximum of $25,000. We entered into a letter agreement with Steven M. Neil on September 2, 1997 at the time of his appointment pursuant to which we employed Mr. Neil as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Effective June 30, 2003, Mr. Neil will be leaving the company to pursue employment closer to his home. The agreement provides that Mr. Neil will receive a $250,000 annual salary, subject to discretionary annual increases. The agreement also provides that Mr. Neil will participate in our management incentive plan and other medical, insurance and benefit plans. Under the terms of the agreement, we loaned Mr. Neil $300,000, interest free, structured as an IRS Relocation Loan. The agreement also provides that the loan will be forgiven at the rate of $5,000 per month commencing November 2000. Under the terms of the loan, Mr. Neil must repay any outstanding balance within 30 days following termination of employment. We also made an equity investment in Mr. Neil’s home in the amount of $745,000. In February 2002, Mr. Neil paid his obligation to SOLA and we no longer have an equity investment in his home. We entered into severance agreements with Steven M. Neil and Barry J. Packham on October 17, 1997 and January 1, 1997, respectively. Pursuant to these agreements, each executive will be entitled to receive severance benefits if his employment is terminated for any reason other than “cause”, if the executive is regularly assigned duties that materially diminish his position as an executive or if certain other circumstances occur. The executive will not be entitled to severance benefits if he freely resigns his employment. The severance benefits provided by these severance agreements include (1) the executive’s annual salary immediately prior to the termination of employment, plus the average of management incentive plan compensation paid to him over the three immediately preceding years, which will be received for the longer of 12 months or one month per completed year of service up to a maximum of 18 months, (2) all benefit plans we regularly provide to our other executives or employees, including health, dental, vision, pension or other retirement plans, for the longer of 12 months or one month per completed year of service, up to a maximum of 18 months and (3) outplacement assistance up to a maximum of $25,000. We entered into an employment agreement with Mark Ashcroft dated April 6, 2002. The agreement has an initial term of two years, which will be extended automatically for successive one-year periods unless either party gives 90 days’ notice prior to the expiration of the then current term that it will not be extended. Pursuant to this agreement, Mr. Ashcroft receives a base salary of $250,000, subject to discretionary annual increases. This agreement also provides that Mr. Ashcroft may participate in our management incentive plan and other medical, insurance and benefit plans. Mr. Ashcroft is entitled to receive severance benefits if his employment with SOLA is terminated for any reason other than “cause”, if we elect not to extend the initial term or any additional term for any reason other than “cause”, if he is regularly assigned duties that materially diminish his position as president and chief executive officer or if certain other circumstances occur. The severance benefits provided by Mr. Ashcroft’s employment agreement include (1) his annual salary immediately prior to the termination of employment, plus the average of management incentive plan compensation paid to him over the three immediately preceding years, for a period of 12 months, (2) all benefit plans we regularly provide to our other executives or employees, including health, dental, vision, 11 Table of Contents pension or other retirement plans, plus certain benefits associated with his status as an expatriate employee, for a period of 12 months and (3) outplacement assistance up to a maximum of $25,000. EQUITY COMPENSATION PLAN INFORMATION The following table sets forth information about our common stock that may be issued upon exercise of options under our only equity compensation plan, the 1988 SOLA International Stock Option Plan, as of March 31, 2003. Our stockholders have approved this plan. CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS On September 2, 1997, we entered into a letter agreement with Steven M. Neil, an executive officer. Under the terms of the agreement, we loaned Mr. Neil $300,000, interest free, structured as an IRS Relocation Loan. We have agreed to forgive the loan at the rate of $5,000 per month. Under the terms of the loan, Mr. Neil must repay any outstanding balance within 30 days following termination of employment. The largest amount outstanding under the loan since the beginning of fiscal 2003 was $215,000, and the amount outstanding as of June 1, 2003 was $145,000. We rent premises in Southbridge, Massachusetts from a company owned by Maurice J. Cunniffe, a director. We use the premises for research and development and distribution operations. Under the terms of the rental agreement, we paid approximately $283,000 during fiscal 2003. At the request of the Board, William Hamill was paid $40,000 for specific consulting services performed on behalf of the company during fiscal 2003. REPORT OF THE COMPENSATION COMMITTEE ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION SOLA’s Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors consists of three directors who meet the independence requirements of the New York Stock Exchange. The committee is responsible for carrying out the Board’s overall responsibility relating to compensation of SOLA’s directors and officers, including setting SOLA’s compensation philosophy and policies and reviewing and recommending to the Board the compensation to be paid to the Chief Executive Officer, executive officers and non-employee directors. The committee is also responsible for administering SOLA’s executive compensation plans and programs, including SOLA’s stock option plan. The committee reviews SOLA’s executive compensation program on at least an annual basis to ensure that the program continues to meet the goals of its compensation policy. Table of Contents Compensation Policy The Compensation Committee has designed SOLA’s executive compensation program to: • attract qualified executive officers from a global pool of talent; • reward, motivate and retain SOLA’s executive officers; and • align the interests of SOLA’s executive officers with those of the stockholders by linking the executives’ annual cash and long-term incentive compensation to SOLA’s performance. The compensation program consists of three basic components: (1) base salary; (2) annual cash incentive-based compensation; and (3) long-term incentive-based compensation in the form of stock options. The committee’s goal has been to base a greater portion of the executives’ compensation on SOLA’s performance. SOLA also provides perquisites to its executive officers to maintain its ability to attract and retain executive officers in a competitive global market. Base Salary The Compensation Committee reviews base salary levels of the executive officers annually. The committee uses a two-step process to determine the salary ranges for each executive officer. First, the level and functional responsibilities of the position held by each executive officer are evaluated using the Hay Guide Chart Job Evaluation Method. Second, based on the evaluation, the committee determines salary ranges for each position using marketplace data provided by Hay Management Consultants and periodically cross-checked with other market surveys published by Mercer, Cullen-Egan-Dell and other compensation consultants. Historically, the committee has established a mid-point base salary around the 75th percentile among a select group of companies, with a minimum salary at 80% of the mid-point and a maximum salary at 120% of the mid-point. An executive officer’s progression through the salary range is based upon the committee’s evaluation of the individual’s job performance. The group of companies to which SOLA compares itself with respect to base salary compensation of its executives is not the same as the group to which it compares itself on the Performance Graph shown in this proxy statement. For the U.S. market, the comparison group for base salary purposes is comprised of vision care, healthcare and technology companies whose businesses are concentrated on the West Coast of the United States. The committee selected these companies because it believes that they are the companies with respect to which SOLA must remain competitive in order to attract and retain qualified executives to work at its California locations. For other marketplaces worldwide, the comparison group consists of all multinational and medium to large local companies in the specific marketplace. The comparison group used in the Performance Graph is comprised of SOLA’s worldwide competitors. Annual Cash Incentive Compensation The Compensation Committee views the annual cash incentive compensation component of its program as a significant element in attaining its goal of closely linking executive compensation to SOLA’s performance by providing additional annual cash compensation based on SOLA’s achievement of objective financial performance targets. The SOLA International Inc. Management Incentive Plan provides annual performance-based cash bonuses to officers designated by the committee. Under the plan, each designated officer has the opportunity to receive a cash bonus based on SOLA’s achievement of certain pre-established targets based on one or more performance criteria. The committee prepares schedules for each performance period, which are treated as part of the plan for that period, setting forth each participant’s target award percentages and performance targets for that performance period. The target award percentage for a participant is the percentage of his or her salary that will be awarded depending on the percentage of the performance target that he or she attains. The committee determines whether to establish maximum target award percentages. The maximum award that any participant may receive in a fiscal year under the plan is $2,000,000. The committee does not have discretion to increase the amount of a participant’s award payable under the plan after the establishment of the relevant performance targets and target award percentages. Awards are paid 13 Edgar Filing: SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC - Form DEF 14A Table of Contents annually upon certification by the committee of achievement of the relevant performance targets at a time and in a manner as determined by the committee. The amount of an executive’s bonus for fiscal 2003 was based on SOLA’s level of achievement measured against its pre-established performance targets. The primary targets were related to earnings and cash flow. A bonus for earnings performance is payable when annual earnings per share and cash flow exceeds specified targets. No bonus is payable should actual performance fall below these minimum levels. Based on SOLA’s performance for fiscal 2003, bonus awards for named executive officers were equal to the following percentages of their base salaries as of the end of fiscal 2003: 54.0% for Jeremy C. Bishop and 40.5% for Steven M. Neil, Barry J. Packham, Mark Ashcroft and Karen Roberts. Stock Option Plan The Compensation Committee believes that the stock option component of its executive compensation program more closely aligns the executives’ interests with those of SOLA’s stockholders because the value of the options is linked directly to the price of SOLA’s stock. The committee awards stock options to the executive officers under its International Stock Option Plan. During fiscal 2003, the named executive officers were granted the following options under its International Stock Option Plan: Mr. Bishop, 25,000 options; Mr. Neil, 15,000 options; Mr. Packham 20,000 options; and Mr. Ashcroft, 20,000 options. Perquisites SOLA provided a company car allowance and supplemental medical coverage to certain named executive officers and an expatriate allowance for housing to each named executive officer who has relocated to California from outside the United States. The Compensation Committee believes that these perquisites are necessary to attract and retain executive talent in a competitive global market. CEO Compensation The Compensation Committee determined Jeremy C. Bishop’s compensation on the same basis and under the same philosophy it used in determining the compensation of other executive officers. As discussed above, the goal of the committee is to link a significant portion of the compensation of its executive officers, including the President and Chief Executive Officer, to SOLA’s performance. During fiscal 2003, under the terms of his employment agreement, Mr. Bishop received a salary of $425,000 and earned a bonus of $229,500. In addition, during fiscal 2003 the committee granted 25,000 stock options to Mr. Bishop. His salary was increased to $525,000 on April 1, 2003 and includes expatriate accommodation allowance previously reported as “other annual compensation.” Deductibility of Compensation Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code limits the deductibility by SOLA of compensation in excess of $1,000,000 paid to its Chief Executive Officer or any of the next four most highly compensated executive officers. Certain “performance based compensation” is not included in the compensation counted for purposes of the deductibility limit. The policy of the committee with respect to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code is to establish and maintain a compensation program that will not be subject to the deduction limitation of Section 162(m). The committee, however, reserves the right to use its judgment, where merited by the need for flexibility to respond to changing business conditions or by an executive officer’s individual performance, to authorize compensation that may not, in a specific case, be fully deductible by SOLA. Robert A. Muh, Chairman Maurice J. Cunniffe A. William Hamill Table of Contents COMPANY PERFORMANCE The following graph shows SOLA’s cumulative total stockholder return during the five fiscal years ended March 31, 2003. The graph also shows the cumulative total returns of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Dow Jones World Stock Index — Medical Supplies. The comparison assumes an investment of $100 on March 31, 1998 and the reinvestment of any dividends. Cumulative Total Return REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE SOLA’s Audit Committee of the Board of Directors consists of three directors who meet the independence and experience requirements of the New York Stock Exchange, Section 10A(m)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules and regulations of the SEC. The Board has adopted a charter that governs the Audit Committee. The charter is attached to this proxy statement as Appendix A and is also available on SOLA’s website at www.SOLA.com. The members of the Committee are Maurice J. Cunniffe, Douglas D. Danforth, who is the Committee’s chair, and Jackson L. Schultz. SOLA’s management is responsible for SOLA’s internal controls and financial reporting process, including the preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. SOLA’s independent accountants, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PWC), are responsible for auditing SOLA’s annual consolidated financial statements in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and for issuing a report on those financial statements. The Audit Committee monitors: the integrity of SOLA’s financial statements; the qualifications, independence and performance of their independent accountants; the performance of SOLA’s operational audit function; and compliance with legal and Edgar Filing: SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC - Form DEF 14A Table of Contents regulatory requirements. The Committee has the sole authority to appoint, terminate and determine the compensation for a firm of certified independent accountants to be SOLA’s independent accountants. To fulfill our responsibilities, we did the following: • We reviewed and discussed with SOLA’s management and the independent accountants SOLA’s consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003. • We reviewed and discussed with SOLA’s management and the independent accountants SOLA’s consolidated quarterly financial statements for each of the first three quarters for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003. • We reviewed management’s representations to us that those consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. • We discussed with the independent accountants the matters that Statement on Auditing Standards No. 61 (Communication With Audit Committees) requires them to discuss with us, including matters related to the conduct of the audit of SOLA’s consolidated financial statements. • We received written disclosures and the letter from the independent accountants required by Independence Standards Board Standard No. 1 (Independence Discussions With Audit Committees) relating to their independence from SOLA, and we have discussed with PWC their independence from SOLA. • We considered whether PWC’s non-audit services to SOLA are compatible with maintaining their independence from SOLA. • Based on the discussions we had with management and the independent accountants, the independent accountants’ disclosures and letter to us, the representations of management to us and the report of the independent accountants, we recommended to the Board that SOLA’s audited annual consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2003 be included in SOLA’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003 for filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. • We have engaged PWC as SOLA’s independent accountants to audit and report on any consolidated financial statements of SOLA filed with the SEC during fiscal 2004. Douglas D. Danforth, Chairman Maurice J. Cunniffe Jackson L. Schultz RELATIONSHIP WITH INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has been SOLA’s independent accountants since 1999. The Audit Committee has engaged PWC as our independent accountants for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004. A representative of PWC will attend the Annual Meeting. The representative will have an opportunity to make a statement if he or she desires to do so and will be available to respond to appropriate questions. Audit Fees PWC billed us approximately $850,000 and $817,000 for professional services in connection with the audit of the annual financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the years ended March 31, 2003 and March 31, 2002, respectively, and the review of the financial statements included in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Audit-Related Fees There were no audit-related fees in connection with assurance and related services by PWC that were related to the audit of the annual financial statements included in our Annual Reports for the years ended 16 Table of Contents March 31, 2003 and March 31, 2002, respectively, and the review of the financial statements included in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Tax Fees PWC billed us approximately $15,000 and $300,000 for professional services rendered in connection with tax return preparation and tax consulting for the years ended March 31, 2003 and March 31, 2002, respectively. All Other Fees In fiscal year 2003, there was $25,000 in other fees billed by and paid to PWC. These fees related to other consulting services and are not expected to recur in the future. In fiscal 2002, PWC billed us approximately $300,000 for professional services rendered in connection with our 11% Senior Note offering and other consulting services. Audit Committee Approval of Independent Accountants’ Services and Fees The Audit Committee has adopted a policy that requires the Audit Committee to pre-approve all audit and permitted non-audit services performed by SOLA’s independent accountants to ensure that the performance of these services does not impair the independent accountants’ independence. The independent accountants are prohibited from providing certain non-audit services, such as management consulting services, financial and other information systems design and implementation, and internal auditing services. In addition, the Audit Committee has adopted a policy that the independent accountants will not be engaged to perform any non-audit-related tax services. The Audit Committee approved all of the professional services that were performed by PWC during fiscal 2003, as well as the fees related to those services. SECTION 16(a) BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REPORTING COMPLIANCE Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 requires that SOLA’s executive officers, directors and 10% stockholders file reports of ownership and changes of ownership of SOLA common stock with the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange. Based on a review of the copies of these reports provided to us and written representations from executive officers and directors, we believe that all filing requirements were met during fiscal 2003, except that Mr. Danforth reported one transaction late. In a Form 4 filed on November 20, 2002, Mr. Danforth reported an open market purchase of 5,000 shares of SOLA common stock transacted on November 4, 2002. ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K A copy of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003, without exhibits, which is on file with the SEC, is included in the Annual Report delivered with the proxy statement. You may obtain a copy of the exhibits described in the Form 10-K for a fee upon request by contacting Jeff Cartwright, Director of Investor Relations, 10590 West Ocean Air Drive, Suite 300, San Diego, California 92130, (858) 509-9899. 17 Table of Contents SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC. AUDIT COMMITTEE CHARTER Purpose The primary purpose of the Audit Committee is to assist the Board of Directors in fulfilling its responsibility of monitoring: • the integrity of SOLA’s financial statements; • the qualifications, independence and performance of SOLA’s independent auditor; • the performance of SOLA’s operational audit function; and • SOLA’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. The Committee shall prepare the report required by the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) to be included in SOLA’s annual proxy statement. Membership The Board shall determine membership of the Committee, which shall be comprised of not less than three Board members, each of whom shall meet the independence and experience requirements of the New York Stock Exchange, Section 10A(m)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and the rules and regulations of the SEC. Unless a Chair is elected by the full Board, a majority of the members of the Committee may designate a Chair. Accordingly, all the members will be directors: 1. Who have no relationship to SOLA that may interfere with the exercise of their independence from management and the company; and 2. Who are financially literate or who become financially literate within a reasonable period of time after appointment to the Committee. In addition, at least one member of the Committee shall have accounting or related financial management expertise, as the Board interprets such qualification in its business judgment. The Board shall determine whether at least one member of the Committee qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined by the SEC. Committee members shall not simultaneously serve on the audit committees of more than two other public companies. Meetings The Committee shall meet at least quarterly, or more frequently as it determines. The Committee shall meet periodically with management, the operational auditors and the independent auditor in separate executive sessions. The Committee may request that any SOLA officer or employee or SOLA’s outside counsel or independent auditor attend a Committee meeting or meet with any members of, or consultants to, the Committee. Authority and Responsibilities Generally 1. The Committee shall have the sole authority to appoint or replace SOLA’s independent auditor. The Committee shall be directly responsible for the compensation and oversight of the work of the independent auditor for the purpose of preparing or issuing an audit report or related work, including the resolution of any disagreements between management and the independent auditor regarding financial reporting. The APPENDIX A independent auditor shall report directly to the Committee. The Company shall provide appropriate funding, as A-1 Table of Contents determined by the Committee, for payment of compensation to the independent auditor for the purpose of rendering or issuing an audit report. 2. The Committee shall maintain a policy pursuant to which the Committee reviews and pre-approves audit and permitted non-audit services (including the fees and terms thereof) to be provided to SOLA by the independent auditor, subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in Section 10A(i)(1)(B) of the Exchange Act that are approved by the Committee prior to the completion of the audit. The Chair of the Committee, or any other member or members designated by the Committee, shall be authorized to pre-approve non-audit services, provided that any pre-approval shall be reported to the full Committee at its next scheduled meeting. 3. The Committee shall have the authority, as it deems necessary or appropriate, to retain independent legal, accounting or other advisors. The Company shall provide appropriate funding, as determined by the Committee, for payment of compensation to any advisors employed by the Committee. The Committee shall have the power to conduct or authorize investigations into any matters within its scope of responsibility, and shall have full access to all books, records, facilities and personnel of SOLA in connection with any such investigation. 4. The Committee shall make regular reports to the Board and perform an annual self-assessment of the Committee’s own performance. 5. The Committee shall review and assess the adequacy of this Charter at least annually and recommend any changes to the Board. 6. The Committee shall perform such other functions as assigned by law, SOLA’s Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws, or the Board. 7. The Committee may delegate any of its responsibilities to subcommittees as it deems appropriate in its sole discretion. Financial Statement and Disclosure Matters The Committee, to the extent it deems necessary or appropriate, shall: 1. Review and discuss with management and the independent auditor SOLA’s annual audited financial statements (including related footnotes and disclosures under Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations) and recommend to the Board whether the audited financial statements should be included in SOLA’s Annual Report on Form 10-K. 2. Review and discuss with management and the independent auditor SOLA’s quarterly financial statements (including related footnotes, disclosures under Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and the results of the independent auditor’s review of the quarterly financial statements) prior to the filing of the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. 3. Review any disclosures made to the Committee by SOLA’s CEO and CFO during the certification process for Forms 10-K and 10-Q about any significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal controls or material weaknesses therein and any corrective actions taken, and any fraud involving management or other employees who have a significant role in SOLA’s internal controls. 4. Review and discuss with management and the independent auditor: • Any significant changes to generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) or critical accounting policies or standards. • Any major issues regarding accounting principles and financial statement presentations, including any significant changes in SOLA’s selection or application of accounting principles, any major issues as to the adequacy of SOLA’s internal controls and any special steps adopted in light of material control deficiencies. A-2 Table of Contents • The effect of regulatory and accounting initiatives and, if applicable, off-balance sheet structures, on SOLA’s financial statements. 5. Discuss with management: • The type and presentation of information to be included in earnings press releases, as well as any financial information and earnings guidance provided to analysts and rating agencies. This discussion may be of a general nature (e.g., as to the types of information to be disclosed and the types of presentations to be made), and advance review of each disclosure is not required. • SOLA’s policies with respect to risk assessment and risk management, as well as SOLA’s major financial risk exposures and the steps management has taken to monitor and control those exposures. 6. Review and discuss quarterly reports from the independent auditor regarding: • All critical accounting policies and practices to be used. • All alternative treatments of financial information within GAAP that have been discussed with management, ramifications of the use of those alternative treatments, and the treatment preferred by the independent auditor. • Other material written communications between the independent auditor and management, such as a management letter or schedule of unadjusted differences. 7. Discuss with the independent auditor the matters required to be discussed by Statement on Auditing Standards No. 61 relating to the conduct of the audit, including any difficulties encountered in the course of the audit work, any restrictions on the scope of activities or access to requested information, and any significant disagreements with management and management’s response. SOLA’s Relationship with its Independent Auditor The Committee, to the extent it deems necessary or appropriate, shall: 1. At least annually, obtain and review a report by the independent auditor describing: • The auditor’s internal quality-control procedures; • Any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review or peer review of the auditor, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities, within the preceding five years, respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the auditor; • Steps taken to deal with any such issues; and • All relationships between the independent auditor and SOLA (consistent with Independence Standards Board Standard No. 1). 2. At least annually, evaluate and report to the Board regarding the Committee’s assessment of the independent auditor’s qualifications, performance (including the lead partner) and independence, taking into account the opinions of management and internal auditors. Consideration shall be given as to whether the auditor’s quality controls are adequate and the provision of permitted non-audit services is compatible with maintaining the auditor’s independence. 3. Monitor the regular rotation of the audit partners as required by law. 4. Consider whether, in order to assure continuing auditor independence, there should be regular rotation of the independent audit firm. The Committee shall present its conclusions to the Board. 5. Set clear policies compliant with applicable laws or regulations for hiring employees or former employees of the independent auditor. A-3 Table of Contents 6. Meet with the independent auditor prior to the audit to discuss the planning, scope and staffing of the audit. Operational Audit Function The Committee, to the extent it deems necessary or appropriate, shall: 1. Review and advise on the appointment or replacement of the director of operational audit. 2. Periodically review with the director of operational audit any significant difficulties, disagreements with management or scope restrictions encountered. 3. Review any significant reports to management prepared by operational audit and management’s responses. 4. Discuss with the independent auditor and management the performance, responsibilities, work plan, budget and staffing of the operational audit function, as well as any recommended changes in the planned scope of the operational audit. Consideration shall be given to independence, objectivity and authority of the operational audit function. Compliance Oversight The Committee, to the extent it deems necessary or appropriate, shall: 1. Obtain assurance from the independent auditor that it is not aware of any illegal acts that would implicate Section 10A(b) of the Exchange Act. 2. Establish procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by SOLA regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters, and the confidential, anonymous submission by SOLA employees of concerns regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters. 3. Periodically review and advise the Board with respect to SOLA’s policies and procedures regarding compliance with applicable laws and regulations and with SOLA’s Code of Conduct. 4. Evaluate any actual or potential conflicts of interest, including related party transactions, under SOLA’s Code of Conduct or otherwise with respect to SOLA’s executive officers or directors and recommend to the Board any action to be taken. 5. Discuss with management and the independent auditor any correspondence with regulators or governmental agencies and any published reports that raise material issues regarding SOLA’s financial statements or accounting policies. A-4 Table of Contents Limitation of the Role of the Audit Committee While the Committee has the authority and responsibilities described in this Charter, it is not the duty of the Committee to plan or conduct audits or to determine that SOLA’s financial statements and disclosures are complete, accurate and in accordance with GAAP and applicable rules and regulations. These are the responsibilities of management and the independent auditor. This charter was amended June 9, 2003. /s/ DOUGLAS D. DANFORTH Douglas D. Danforth Committee Chairman /s/ MAURICE J. CUNNIFFE Maurice J. Cunniffe /s/ JACKSON L. SCHULTZ Jackson L. Schultz A-5 Table of Contents Edgar Filing: SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC - Form DEF 14A Table of Contents DETACH HERE PROXY SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC. THIS PROXY IS SOLICITED ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF SOLA INTERNATIONAL INC. FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING OF STOCKHOLDERS TO BE HELD ON JULY 24, 2003 The undersigned hereby appoints Jeremy C. Bishop and Jeffrey S. Cartwright, and each of them, as attorneys and proxies with full power of substitution, to vote for and on behalf of the undersigned all shares of common stock of Sola International Inc. held of record by the undersigned on June 12, 2003, at the Sola International Inc. Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on July 24, 2003 and at any adjournment thereof, upon the following matters and upon any other business that may properly come before the meeting, as set forth in the related Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement, both of which have been received by the undersigned. THIS PROXY, WHEN PROPERLY EXECUTED, WILL BE VOTED IN THE MANNER DIRECTED HEREIN BY THE UNDERSIGNED SHAREOWNER. IF THIS PROXY IS EXECUTED BUT NO DIRECTION IS MADE, THIS PROXY WILL BE VOTED FOR THE ELECTION OF THE DIRECTOR NOMINEES. Please indicate your vote for the election of directors on the other side. The nominees for director are: (01) Jeremy C. Bishop, (02) Maurice J. Cunniffe, (03) Douglas D. Danforth, (04) Neil E. Leach, (05) Robert A. Muh and (06) Jackson L. Schultz. SEE REVERSE SIDE CONTINUED AND TO BE SIGNED ON REVERSE SIDE SEE REVERSE SIDE ZS0LC2 Table of Contents SOLA INTERNATIONAL, INC. C/O EQUISERVE TRUST COMPANY N.A. P.O. BOX 8694 EDISON, NJ 08818-8694 DETACH HERE ZSOLC1 x Please mark votes as in this example. The Board of Directors recommends a vote “For All Nominees” on proposal 1. 1. Election of Directors. Nominees: (01) Jeremy C. Bishop, (02) Maurice J. Cunniffe, (03) Douglas D. Danforth, (04) Neil E. Leach, (05) Robert A. Muh and (06) Jackson L. Schultz. 2. In the discretion of the proxies named herein, the proxies are authorized to vote upon other matters as are properly brought before the meeting. FOR ALL NOMINEES WITHHELD FOR ALL NOMINEES For all nominees except as noted above MARK HERE FOR ADDRESS CHANGE AND NOTE AT LEFT Please sign this proxy and return it promptly whether or not you expect to attend. Give full title if an attorney, executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, etc. If a corporation, please sign in full corporate name by authorized officer. If a partnership, please sign in partnership name by authorized person. For an account in the name of two or more persons, each should sign, or if one signs, he or she should attach evidence of authority. Signature: Date: Signature: Date:
A Scan-Island Based Design Enabling Pre-bond Testability in Die-Stacked Microprocessors Dean L. Lewis Hsien-Hsin S. Lee School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332 TEL: (404) 894-9483 {dean, firstname.lastname@example.org ABSTRACT Die stacking is a promising new technology that enables integration of devices in the third dimension. Recent research thrusts in 3D-integrated microprocessor design have demonstrated signiﬁcant improvements in both power consumption and performance. However, this technology is currently being held back due to the lack of test technology. Because processor functionality is partitioned across diﬀerent silicon die layers, only partial circuitry exists on each layer pre-bond. In current 3D manufacturing, layers in the die stack are simply bonded together to form the complete processor; no testing is performed at the pre-bond stage. Such a strategy leads to an exponential decay in the yield of the ﬁnal product and places an economic limit on the number of die that can be stacked. To overcome this limit, pre-bond test is a necessity. In this paper, we present a technique to enable pre-bond test in each layer. Further, we address several issues with integrating this new test hardware into the ﬁnal design. Finally, we use a sample 3D ﬂoorplan based on the Alpha 21264 to show that our technique can be implemented at a minimal cost (0.2% area overhead). Our design for pre-bond testability enables the structural test necessary to continue 3D integration for microprocessors beyond a few layers. functions [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. These partitioning schemes range from simple die-stacking of memory chips on top of a processor to partitioning a microarchitectural block or even a single circuit (such as an adder) across diﬀerent die layers. All these techniques aim to reap the beneﬁts made available by the shortened wire lengths of 3D integration. While they appear to be feasible as demonstrated, one major challenge has yet to be addressed, i.e., how do we test these individual die separately prior to bonding the layers together? Note that, without a viable pre-bond testing strategy, manufacturing yield will decay exponentially with the number of layers integrated, washing out all of beneﬁts of 3D integration. To address this concern, a systematic and generic design-for-testability (DFT) method needs to be realized at the early architecting stage, which is the primary goal of this work. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the ﬁrst one that proposes and evaluates an applicable methodology to enable pre-bond testability for 3D die-stacked microprocessors. Keywords Design-For-Testability, Die Stacking, 3D integration 1. INTRODUCTION In a continuing eﬀort to keep up with the relentless march of Moore's law, processor designers keep pushing the limits of technology further and further. Unfortunately, each push inevitably costs more than the last — more money and more time. To make matters worse, the returns from each push are steadily diminishing. Each new technology generation consumes more power, becomes less reliable, and fails to achieve an ideal performance improvement. Consequently, researchers continue to seek out innovative new technologies orthogonal to technology shrinks. 3D integration — also known as die stacking — is a very promising technology that enables IC design (as complex as a microprocessor design) in the third dimension, continuing the scaling trajectory predicted by Moore's Law for a few more generations. For 3D die-stacked microprocessors, prior research thrusts proposed and studied several methods for partitioning their The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 gives an overview of 3D integration and its application to microprocessors; Section 3 explores the motivation for enabling pre-bond test and the associated challenges; Section 4 will lay out the general architecture of our test strategy and address some important related issues; Section 5 presents our experimental setup and results; Section 6 concludes the paper with a summary and discussion of results. 2. OVERVIEW OF 3D-IC TECHNOLOGY 3D integration is an emerging technology that allows semiconductor die to be bound together to form a tightly integrated stack. Opening design to the third dimension provides several advantages. First, it enables the integration of heterogeneous components such as logic and DRAM memory [2] or analog and digital circuits [9]. Secondly, it increases routability [10]. Last but not least, it can substantially reduce wire length, which contributes to long communication latency and high power consumption. Recent work in this ﬁeld has already demonstrated signiﬁcant improvements in both performance and power consumption [11] and lead to other interesting applications, such as online proﬁling [12] and network-inmemory [4]. Even greater returns are expected as researchers further explore the opportunities aﬀorded. 2.1 3D Die Bonding Figure 1 shows simple two-layer die stacks. The two die communicate through an array of die-to-die (D2D) vias, which come in two ﬂavors: faceside and backside. Faceside vias are manufactured on top of the metal layers with size and pitch on the order of a few microns [13]. Backside vias — also called Through Silicon Vias (TSVs) — are etched through the active and bulk silicon with size and pitch on the order of tens of microns. Exposing backside vias requires that the die be thinned from several hundred microns to only a few tens of microns thick. With these vias exposed, the die can be bound to the other die in the stack [1]. There are three possible bonds: face-to-face (Figure 1(a)), back-to-back (Figure 1(b)), and face-to-back (Figure 1(c)). Face-to-face is the superior interface because it enables a signiﬁcantly higher via density. However, back-to-back and face-to-back interfaces are required to stack beyond two layers. Utilizing these diﬀerent interface options, designers continue to push further into the third dimension. Some embedded applications already utilize a die stack with eight layers [14]. Given the disparity between faceside and backside via densities, face-to-face bonds are more appropriate for small granularity partitions while back to back bonds are better suited to coarse-grained partitions. When the stack is complete, the requisite C4 solder bumps can be placed on the TSVs of a backside layer (as shown in Figure 1) or on the top metal layer of a faceside layer (just as in planar designs). 2.2 3D Partitioning Granularity Die stack technology may be used to partition a design at three general levels of granularity. The coarsest level is the technology level. Disparate technologies like high-speed CMOS and high-density DRAM both have their own dedicated and highly-optimized manufacturing processes. Many problems arise when attempting to integrate such technologies onto a single die, requiring sophisticated manufacturing tricks to achieve economically viable integration quality [15]. Die stacking allows each technology to be manufactured on its own layer in its own process. After each layer is manufactured, a separate integration process bonds these layers together. The result is the best of both worlds: each layer is manufactured at the highest possible quality level and, simultaneously, the two technologies are tightly integrated. This improves both the performance of the system and the form factor. Figure 2: A generic out-of-order processor architecture. Decode L1 Data Cache Issue L1 Instruction Cache Instruction Fetch Branch Prediction Commit Re−order Buffer Out of Order Execution Instruction Queue Load/Store Queue The next ﬁner level of partitioning is the architectural level. Unlike technology partitioning, both layers are manufactured using the same process. The goal of architectural partitioning is to spread the functional blocks of a design across the available layers in such a way as to minimize the length of the interconnect buses. By reducing bus length, the resistance and capacitance seen on these buses is reduced, consequently reducing power consumption and improving performance. Architectural partitioning makes much better use of the large number of D2D vias available than technology partitioning. The ﬁnest partitioning granularity is the circuit level. Here, the transistors that make up a functional block may exist on diﬀerent layers. Circuit partitioning has its own levels of granularity. At one extreme, blocks are simply split along logical boundaries into sub-blocks (e.g. a design could place half the banks of a cache on one layer and the other half on a diﬀerent layer — so called bank-stacking [4, 5]). At the other extreme, individual circuits are split across the layers (e.g. in a register ﬁle, read and write ports may be spread across diﬀerent layers, connected to the actual memory inverter pair through D2D vias; this is known as port-splitting [11]). This granularity best utilizes the available D2D vias and thus shows the best power and performance improvements. 3. MOTIVATION From a quality perspective, 3D designs face the same problem plaguing IC boards and multi-chip modules (MCM): exponentially decreasing yield resulting from the integration of many distinct components. However, unlike these technologies, the current test strategy employed in industry is bondand-pray; that is, no testing is performed on the layers before they are bonded together. This works well enough at low layer counts. But to achieve very high integration in the third dimension — tens or hundreds of layers — bond-andpray will not suﬃce. Worse yet, the ﬁne-grained partitioning that achieves the highest performance and lowest power and area consumption described in Section 2.2 only makes testing more diﬃcult, if not impossible. Work in 3D-IC continues in the area of design complexity, both in the area of fundamental design (determining which designs best exploit the potential of a die stack) and in the area of CAD tools to assist designers in 3D ﬂoorplanning, routing, etc. The loss of testability, however, has gone thus far unaddressed. It is possible for 3D designers to rely on current planar techniques for test once the individual die layers are bonded together. Unfortunately, this imposes a practical limit on the number of die that can be stacked due to the exponential decay in chip yield [16]. To overcome this limit, pre-bond testability becomes a necesFigure 3: Example partition a generic out-of-order processor across two layers. Issue L1 Instruction Cache Out of Order Execution Instruction Queue L1 Data Cache Instruction Fetch Branch Prediction Commit Re−order Buffer Load/Store Queue Decode sity for achieving high enough yield to make such levels of 3D integration commercially viable. The primary testability challenge posed by 3D integration is that each layer, before bonding has occurred, exists in an incomplete state. The severity of this incompleteness depends on the partitioning granularity. At the technology level, there is no problem, as each layer can be independently tested using the test methods developed for board and MCM integration. Starting with the architectural level, however, trouble arises. Figure 2 shows a block-level model of a generic out-of-order processor. In a traditional planar design, all these microarchitectural blocks are placed and manufactured on a single die, so the traditional test methodologies [17, 18, 19, 20, 21] were developed for this case. In a 3D die stacked processor design, these blocks can be manufactured separately on diﬀerent die layers. Before these layers are bonded together, each layer contains only half of the functional blocks in the case of a two-layer stacking. Thus, as seen in Figure 3, the complete microprocessor we had before is now incomplete 1 and thus cannot be tested by traditional methods. At the circuit level, testing becomes even more challenging. Now even the functional blocks are incomplete, and, worse, the circuits themselves may be incomplete and functionally broken. This leads to a paradox of sorts in that we want to test broken circuits to see if they function correctly. Enabling test in such circumstances may be as simple as duplicating missing hardware, or it may require completely new DFT hardware. In-depth exploration of these challenges and their solutions is left to future work of this ﬁnest grained partitioning. In this paper, we focus on the architectural level partitioning. The simple brute-force solution would be to probe each D2D via individually, providing or observing test values as necessary. Unfortunately, this is not a viable solution. The number of vias on a given layer will vary from hundreds for technology partitioning to hundreds of thousands for circuit partitioning. 1 For example, instructions decoded in the bottom layer are dispatched from the instruction queue located in the top layer. Such a massive number of test connections is well beyond the capabilities of modern testers [22]. Additionally, the process of actually making a connection with a test probe is a very stressful and damaging procedure [22]; the structure of the D2D vias [1] would be damaged to the point where the two die could not be successfully bonded post-layer-test. In order to test die layers pre-bond, a more practical solution is required. Beyond this challenge of design incompleteness, several secondary concerns have been identiﬁed. First is the question of how pre-bond test ﬁts into the larger testability picture. The hardware required for pre-bond test could potentially just be left sitting there after bonding has occurred, but this would be very wasteful. The pre-bond test hardware should be integrated into the post-bond test strategy. The second challenge is the state of the fundamental support nets. Such nets include power, ground, and clocks. It could be the case that these nets are complete within each layer. It could also be that they exist in an island pattern; each net could be locally completely connected, but the wires connecting these local nets may exist on a separate layer. If these nets are non-functional, test of the logic they support is impossible. The ﬁnal challenge is that of test pads. In a traditional planar design, bond pads serve double-duty as test probe touchdown points and wire bond contacts for interfacing the chip to the outside world. In a 3D design, only bond pads on the top layer can play both roles. Any pads placed on lower layers only provide a test interface and are left hanging afterwards. Thus, test pads must be used very judiciously to control the area cost. 4. HARDWARE There are several key hardware components necessary to realize structural test of individual die layers pre-bond. These include a general test architecture, specialized scan registers, the necessary support nets (power, ground, and clocks), and an interface to the outside world. In the following sections, we will discuss each component and the associated design tradeoﬀs, respectively. It is important to note that a die will only be tested once before being bonded. Thus, any additional pre-bond test hardware must focus on post-bond reusability. Hardware that is not reused will be completely wasted post-bond and thus must be avoided as much as possible. Thus, the proposed solutions will emphasize reusability heavily to mitigate the cost of enabling pre-bond test. 4.1 Layers as Scan Islands The Alpha 21364 utilized a test strategy of design segmentation [17]. Each segment was coined a test island, and they were isolated from their neighbors with specially designed border registers. During normal operation, these registers allowed data to ﬂow freely between islands. In test mode, these registers closed the borders of the islands, replacing incoming values with test values from the scan chain. By segmenting the design into these islands, the complexity of the design was greatly reduced, making testing a faster and easier task. Comparing this approach to 3D designs, it is clear that each layer, before bonding, exists as a perfectly isolated test island — a condition the Alpha designers were not able to achieve [17]. Thus we adopt this general test strategy for developing our pre-bond test methodology. The scan chains on each layer Figure 4: Implementation of scan chains on a single layer. Shown are generic scan registers, three chains connecting these registers, and one LTC controlling the chains. Layer Test Controller are managed by test logic termed the Layer Test Controller (LTC). Figure 4 shows a generic chip layer with scannable registers hooked up into three scan chains controlled by an LTC. The choice of which registers are scannable and how these registers are wired into chains is design-dependent, involving a trade-oﬀbetween functionality (speed, power, and area), test cost (time and power), and test coverage [23, 24, 25, 26]. The LTC provides scan chain access to the next step up in the test hierarchy. This is one of two diﬀerent test mechanisms, depending on whether the layers have been bonded together. For pre-bond die, the LTC interfaces directly to the external Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) via probing. After bond, the LTC on each layer becomes part of a chip-level test chain, connecting all the test structures on the chip to a standard IEEE 1149.1 test controller as shown in Figure 5. This test controller is then accessed as normal via probing or dedicated package pins. Figure 6: Shown is a three-stage pipelined adder which ﬁrst adds the low-order bits, then adds the high-order bits, and ﬁnally computes the associated ﬂags. Attached are injection and observation scanﬂops which are integrated into one of the layer's scan chains. Thick lines indicate multi-bit structures (e.g. thick lines represent buses and thick nFETs represent one nFET per bit in the associated buses). Scan Registers Si Test_Enable Buses From Another Layer Bus To Another Layer So Pipeline Stage Registers Add High Low Add Flags The actual design of the LTC is dependent on the application and the goal of the designers. At one extreme, the LTC could be as simple as a few wires that connects the various chains into a single, very long chain and provides one scan-in connection and one scan-out connection. At the other extreme, the LTC could be a full IEEE 1149.1 TAP. The most likely design would be somewhere in between including multiplexors, demultiplexors, and a bypass register. See Section 5 for the particular LTC design we used in our experiments. 4.2 Layer Border Scan Flops To complete the scan island architecture, test values must be provided on the layer inputs, and test values must be observed on the layer outputs. There are two cases that must be considered. In the ﬁrst case, a layer input directly drives a register or a register directly drives a layer output. To provide test value injection and observation, these registers need only be made part of a scan chain. In the second case, D2D vias connect directly to logic, either as source or sink. Additional scan registers are required to inject and observe values on these lines. Figure 6 shows a three-stage staggered adder similar to the one implemented in the Pentium 4 processor [27]. In this adder, we assume the block providing the input and the block processing the output are placed on diﬀerent layers. In order to inject and observe test values pre-bond, scan registers have been added to provide this functionality. The injection and observation scan registers shown are intentionally designed to be very light-weight in terms of area. The cost of this design choice is functionality; in particular, the value injection registers function properly only before bonding has occurred. Post-bond, turning on the pass FETs with the Test Enable signal would cause contention between the injection registers and whatever entity is sourcing values on the neighboring layer. This limitation could be overcome by simply converting the pass FETs into 2-to-1 multiplexors that select between the scan values and normal operation values. Unfortunately, this functionality would come at an area and performance cost. Alternatively, these injection registers could be reused, potentially as PRPGs, MISRs, BILBO registers, etc [28][29]. Such a reuse would be application speciﬁc and is not considered in this work. 4.3 Supporting Nets Before the layers can be tested, they must be activated. This requires complete, functioning support nets: power, ground, and clock. This is given in planar designs, but this is not necessarily the case in 3D designs. There is the potential for these nets to be designed in such a way that they are connected locally but not globally; they could exist as local domains. As an example, Figure 7(a) shows a simple H-tree design for clock distribution in an ideal 3D die stacked processor. The clock tree exists almost entirely in the upper layer while vias provide local clock connectivity for the bottom layer. This is very eﬃcient in terms of wire length and power — if these layers were placed side-by-side on a planar die, the clock tree would be twice as large and consume much more power. Allowed unlimited vias for clock routing, this is precisely the style of tree produced by an automated, balanced-skew 3D clock router [30]. Unfortunately, this design leaves the bottom layer completely untestable pre-bond. To enable simple pre-bond test, the clock tree shown in Figure 7(b) would be the best. The H-trees on each layer are connected by a single via, requiring only a single ATE probe to provide the clock during pre-bond test. Overall, however, this design is just as poor as the power-optimal design. The bottom tree replicates the top tree, wasting signiﬁcant amounts of power and routing area while providing no beneﬁt postbonding. A middle ground must be found between these two approaches. One potential solution is a redundant design. In such a design, a fully-optimized 3D clock tree is designed that results in a tree similar to Figure 7(a). Next, a redundant clock tree is designed only for the second layer that will distribute the pre-bond test clock to that layer. Finally, an enable line is added to every buﬀer in the redundant tree. Asserting this signal will allow the ATE to activate this tree for testing the second layer pre-bond. Once the two layers have been bonded together, this line will be deasserted, disabling the redundant tree. From post-bond on, the optimized top-layer tree will clock the chip. Such a design enables pre-bond testability in all layers while maintaining the power reduction beneﬁts of a 3D tree. Routing area on the bottom layer is sacriﬁced, but this area would have been consumed by clock routing in the equivalent planar design anyways, so this design is no worse oﬀthan its planar equivalent in this regard. Thus, this 3D clock tree design is suﬃcient for the scope of this paper. Full exploration of clock tree design possibilities is left to future work. Concerning power and ground nets, these will not suﬀer from the same problems. As a general design rule, power and ground are routed on the lowest metal layers (Metal 1 and 2 typically); this is due to their high utilization. Because of this, it is quite likely that the power and ground nets will be complete across the entirety of each and every layer. So unlike the clock network, the power and ground nets require no special treatment to enable layer test. 4.4 Test Pads So now the hardware is in place to structurally test each layer prior to bonding, but a physical interface must be provided to access this hardware. There are two available options: backside probing and faceside probing, shown in Figure 8(a) and Figure 8(b), respectively. The backside probing method appears to be more attractive because backside vias are much less dense than faceside vias, so placing test pads on the backside of a layer creates less disruption of inter-die communication. There are two disadvantages though. First, the bottom die in a stack cannot be probed this way because it is never thinned. Thus a backside test interface cannot be standardized across the design. Second, the actual probing of a chip is a very stressful process involving a very large contact force between the probes and the silicon to ensure good electrical conduction. Since backside probing requires a very thin wafer, there is a strong possibility the die will not survive contact with a normal probe card. A new probe card could be developed with signiﬁcantly tighter error margins, but the cost of such development would be prohibitive. A more viable alternative is to use faceside probing. Faceside test can be performed without thinning the die, preventing destruction of the die during test. Also, faceside test can be applied universally to all die in a stack, so no die need receive special treatment. Unfortunately, a single test pad does consume area equivalent to that of a few hundred faceside vias. But with room for tens of millions of vias on the face of a single die, it should be possible to place these test pads in areas of low inter-die communication density, minimizing the impact. Now something needs to be done with these test pads after bonding. One naive solution is to simply leave them hanging, but there are more elegant solutions. In the case of test pads that connect to the LTCs, these pads can be disconnected from the LTC via a transmission gate or a fuse. Transmission gates can also disconnect the clock trees from their associated test pads. In this case, disconnection is critical because leaving the test pads hanging introduces extra capacitance on the trees that (a) must be accounted for in the design of the tree (in order to produce a balanced, skew-free tree) and (b) wastes extra power, a problem aggravated by the fact that the clock is always switching. However, disconnecting the test pads is not always the best that can be done. For the case of the power and ground nets, these will actually beneﬁt from connected test pads. The capacitance introduced by the pads will naturally act as decoupling capacitance (decap), smoothing out current ﬂuctuations (known as the di dt problem) in power supply network that represent a major concern in modern processor design [31]. But more can be done. Figure 9 shows two die with power and ground test pads. By arranging the test pads as shown in (a), subsequent bonding will form standard parallel-plate capacitors between the test pads, as shown in (b). Thus the test pads can provide even more decap, which helps justify the cost of including them for test. 5. EXPERIMENTS Our experiments are based on the architecture and technology of the Alpha 21264. In order to evaluate the cost of implementing our pre-bond test strategy, we need to know the area consumed by a scan cell and the number of scan cells required in a 3D-integrated design. To determine a realistic size for the scan cell, the scan cell was laid out using 0.25 micron TSMC design rules. This technology generation was selected to match, as closely as possible, that used to manufacture the 21264A. The actual design of the scan cells is based on the 8T latch. Each cell requires 75.8µm 2 of silicon. To determine the number of cells required by our technique, a sample 3D ﬂoorplan (Figure 10) for a 21264 was designed by a published 3D ﬂoorplanner [32]. From this ﬂoorplan we extracted the number of signals crossing between the die. Table 1 lists all of the inter-die buses, the number of signals compris- Layer 1 Layer 2 Figure 10: A ﬂoorplan for a two-layer die stack split by architectural block. The gray areas between and around blocks represents whitespace within the ﬂoorplan. Floating Issue Integer Floating Integer Load Store Queue Integer Memory Bus Fetch and Integer Branch Prediction Instruction TLB Register File 1 Integer Exec Unit 1 File 2 Register Unit 3 Exe Decode Interface Unit Controller Point Queue Mapping Point Mapping Floating Point Execution Unit 2 FP Reg File ing that bus, and the cost of adding the necessary scan cells. Note that each signal requires two scan cells: one on the source side to observe the test output and another on the sink side to provide a test input. The bottom row in Table 1 gives the ﬁnal area cost of injecting and observing test values on D2D via signals. This cost is 0.165% of the area of the sample ﬂoorplan in Figure 10. However, the ﬂoorplan contains 8.56% whitespace, so the scan ﬂops do not require an expansion of the chip footprint. Additionally, the area consumed by the scan ﬂops is only 0.173% of the die size of the original Alpha 21264A, which results in a negligible expansion of the die footprint. Our experiments assume a simple LTC design. The LTC provides parallel access to sixteen scan chains per layer. Additionally, the LTC contains sixteen one-bit bypass registers. Finally, sixteen multiplexors and demultiplexors are included to allow selection between the scan chains and the bypass registers. Together, this allows for sixteen scan chains per layer — thirty two chains in the chip — which is comparable to modern designs [18]. This design requires thirty three test pads per layer: Si[15, 0], So[15, 0], and a select signal. The area cost of such an LTC is insigniﬁcant compared to the cost of the injection and observation scan cells. This area cost represents the worst-case cost we should expect for implementing this test technique for two reasons. First, academic layouts produced under publicly available DRC rules are much larger than functionally-equivalent industrial designs produced under highly-optimized and proprietary DRC rules [33]. Second, we assume a worst-case scan cell scenario in which every D2D via requires the addition of two scan cells that serve no purpose beyond pre-bond test value injection or observation. In a real design, many of these cells could be unnecessary — if the D2D via directly sources and/or sinks a scannable ﬂip-ﬂop — or could be reused as part of the postbond test strategy, as discussed in Section 4.2. For these reasons, we expect an actual application of our technique in an industrial design to cost even less area than the results reported here. 6. CONCLUSION In this paper, we presented a general DFT technique for enabling pre-bond testability for 3D die stacked microprocessors. 3D processor designers place functional blocks across Table 1: This list consists of the buses that cross from one layer to another. Listed are the source block and layer, the sink block and layer, the number of signals, and the area penalty paid to include scan ﬂops as in Figure 6. \| SOURCE Die Layer \| SINK Die Layer \| SIGNAL COUNT \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Instruction Cache 1 \| Instruction TLB 2 \| 40 \| \| Instruction TLB 2 \| Instruction Cache 1 \| 174 \| \| Instruction Cache 1 \| Fetch and Decode 2 \| 128 \| \| Fetch and Decode 2 \| Instruction Cache 1 \| 42 \| \| Integer Mapping 2 \| Integer Queue 1 \| 200 \| \| Integer Queue 1 \| Issue 2 \| 196 \| \| Integer Register File 1 2 \| Integer Execution Unit 2 1 \| 150 \| \| Integer Execution Unit 2 1 \| Integer Register File 1 2 \| 71 \| \| Integer Execution Unit 2 1 \| Integer Mapping 2 \| 14 \| \| Integer Execution Unit 2 1 \| Branch Predictor 2 \| 93 \| \| Integer Register File 2 2 \| Integer Execution Unit 4 1 \| 150 \| \| Integer Execution Unit 4 1 \| Integer Register File 2 2 \| 71 \| \| Integer Execution Unit 4 1 \| Integer Mapping 2 \| 14 \| \| Integer Execution Unit 4 1 \| Branch Predictor 2 \| 93 \| \| Floating Point Register File 2 \| Floating Point Execution Unit 1 1 \| 154 \| \| Floating Point Execution Unit 1 1 \| Floating Point Register File 2 \| 71 \| \| Floating Point Execution Unit 1 1 \| Floating Point Mapping 2 \| 14 \| \| Load/Store Queue 2 \| Data TLB 1 \| 66 \| \| Load/Store Queue 2 \| Data Cache 1 \| 180 \| \| Data Cache 1 \| Load/Store Queue 2 \| 144 \| \| Data Cache 1 \| Memory Controller 2 \| 166 \| \| Memory Controller 2 \| Data Cache 1 \| 166 \| \| TOTAL \| \| 2397 \| diﬀerent die layers in order to improve processor performance and power consumption. Unfortunately, the testing of such an incomplete processor is a major challenge. In this work, we leverage a test architecture similar to that previously employed in 2D planar designs [17]. However, this is, to the best of our knowledge, the ﬁrst time such a DFT technique has been applied to and analyzed step-by-step for 3D-IC architectures. Our design focused on simple, straightforward solutions to the problems 3D test poses, and our experimental results show that basic, structural pre-bond test is not only possible but practical at a negligible cost. This is a testability technique that can be integrated into comprehensive test strategy with minimal extra eﬀort. 7. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This research is supported by the C2S2 and GSRC centers of the Focus Center Research Program. The authors also thank Michael Healy, Dae Hyun Kim, Sung Kyu Lim, Gabriel Loh, and Kiran Puttaswamy for their inspirational discussion. 8. REFERENCES [1] S. Gupta, M. Hilbert, S. Hong, and R. Patti. 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STATE BOARD FOR EDUCATOR CERTIFICATION BOARD MEETING MINUTES May 2, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. 1701 N. Congress Ave. Room 1-104 1. Call to Order The State Board for Educator Certification convened its meeting at 9:01 a.m. on Friday, May 2, 2014, in Room 1-104 of the William B. Travis Building, 1701 N. Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas. Present: Dr. Cain, Ms. Pogue, Ms. Bridges, Ms. Everest, Dr. Simpson, Mr. Allard, Ms. McCall, Ms. Druesedow, Mr. Berry Absent: Dr. Culwell, Ms. Bricker, Ms. Robison, Dr. Buckingham The Board went into closed session at 9:01 a.m. regarding agenda items 14, 15 and 19 to obtain advice of legal counsel. The Board came back into open session at 9:44 a.m. 2. Associate Commissioner's Comments Regarding the SBEC Agenda Michele Moore, Associate Commissioner, thanked everyone involved for all the work that has been done on chapters 227, 228 and 229. 3. Public Comment None CONSENT AGENDA 4. Approval of February 14, 2014 Board Meeting Minutes Motion and vote: Motion was made by Ms. Pogue to approve the February 14, 2014 Board meeting minutes. Second by Mr. Allard and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 5. Adoption of Review of 19 TAC Chapter 227, Provisions for Educator Preparation Candidates Motion and vote: Motion was made by Ms. Pogue to adopt the review of 19 TAC Chapter 227. Second by Mr. Allard and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 6. Adoption of Review of 19 TAC Chapter 228, Requirements for Educator Preparation Programs Motion and vote: See item 9 for motion and vote. 7. Adoption of Review of 19 TAC Chapter 229, Accountability System for Educator Preparation Programs Motion and vote: See item 9 for motion and vote. 8. Adoption of Review of 19 TAC Chapter 247, Educators' Code of Ethics Motion and vote: See item 9 for motion and vote. 9. Adoption of Review of 19 TAC Chapter 250, Administration Motion and vote: Motion was made by Ms. Everest to adopt the reviews in items 6, 7, 8 and 9. Second by Ms. McCall and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. INFORMATION ONLY 10. Update from Panel of Mental Health Experts Required by Senate Bill 460, 82 nd Regular Session, for Implementation of Texas Education Code,§21.044(c-1) and (c-2) Presentation to the Board regarding training materials, created by a panel of experts in response to Senate Bill 460, for the detection of students with mental or emotional disorders to be used by educator preparation programs. DISCUSSION AND ACTION 11. Litigation Settlement Options in Pending or Contemplated Litigation, Disciplinary Cases, and Pending Litigation (10:00 a.m.) The Board may meet in closed Executive Session, pursuant to section 551.071(2) and/or 551.071(1), of the Texas Government Code, to seek legal advice regarding pending or contemplated litigation or settlement of same, and contested cases related to educator discipline and other matters arising under 19 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 249. Pursuant to section 551.102 of the Texas Government Code, any final action on matters discussed in Executive Session must be made in an open meeting. A. Contested Cases I. No Answer Defaults 1) Docket No. 5070-EC-0612, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Brandy Bliss Kilpatrick; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. 2) Docket No. 5069-EC-0612, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Susan Denise Weinzettle; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. Staff recommendation: 2 years suspension and eight hours of ethics training Staff recommendation: Revocation 3) Docket No. 5068-EC-0612, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Jonathan B. Thompson; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. Staff recommendation: Revocation 4) Docket No. 0996-EC-1013, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Kimberly Shannon Hines; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. Staff recommendation: Revocation 5) Docket No. 4171-EC-1213, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Rene Adrian Alvarez; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. 6) Docket No. 4170-EC-1213, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Sylvia Ayala; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. Staff recommendation: 1 year suspension Staff recommendation: 1 year suspension 7) Docket No. 4169-EC-1213, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Rosalyn E. Lee; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. 8) Docket No. 4172-EC-1213, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Sonya Lynette Parker; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. 9) Docket No. 8115-EC-1213, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Jennifer Blakely; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. 10) Docket No. 3206-EC-1213, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. William Taylor Duncan, Jr.; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. Staff recommendation: 1 year suspension Staff recommendation: 1 year suspension Staff recommendation: 1 year suspension Staff recommendation: Revocation 11) Docket No. 3208-EC-0114, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. James Michael Murphy; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. Staff recommendation: Permanent Revocation 12) Docket No. 0999-EC-1113, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Charlie J. Carter; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. Staff recommendation: Revocation 13) Docket No. 9100-EC-1113, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Lisa Amber Ledbetter; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. Staff recommendation: Revocation 14) Docket No. 0998-EC-1113, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Terri Shelton Berry; Action to be taken: Consideration of Issuance of Default Judgment. Staff recommendation: Revocation Motion and vote: Motion made by Ms. Druesedow to approve staff's request for issuance of default judgments and enter Final Orders consistent with staff's recommendation in each of the above numbered cases, 1 through 14. Second was made by Ms. Everest and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. II. Proposals for Decision 15) Docket No. 701-14-0175.EC, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Silvestre Moreno, Jr.; Action to be taken: Consideration of Proposal for Decision and Issuance of Final Order. ALJ Recommendation: Revocation Staff Recommendation: Revocation Mr. Moreno signed up to appear before the Board but he did not show up. Motion and vote: Motion made by Ms. Druesedow to accept the proposal for decision and issue a final order consistent with the ALJ's recommendation. Second was made by Ms. Everest and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 16) Docket No. 701-14-0022.EC, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Abelardo O. Guillen; Action to be taken: Consideration of Proposal for Decision and Issuance of Final Order. ALJ Recommendation: 6 years suspension, with the term of the suspension running concurrently with the period of community supervision. Staff Recommendation: 6 years suspension, with the term of the suspension running concurrently with the period of community supervision. Motion and vote: Motion made by Mr. Allard to accept the proposal for decision and issue a final order consistent with the ALJ's recommendation. Second was made by Ms. Pogue and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 17) Docket No. 701-14-0814.EC, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Juan C. Correa; Action to be taken: Consideration of Proposal for Decision and Issuance of Final Order. ALJ Recommendation: 1 year suspension Staff Recommendation: 1 year suspension Motion and vote: Motion made by Ms. Bridges to accept the proposal for decision and issue a final order consistent with the ALJ's recommendation. Second was made by Ms. Druesedow and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 18) Docket No. 701-13-5421.EC, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Gerald Owen Young; Action to be taken: Consideration of Proposal for Decision and Issuance of Final Order. ALJ Recommendation: Revocation Staff Recommendation: Permanent Revocation Motion and vote: Motion made by Mr. Allard to accept the proposal for decision and issue a final order, consistent with the ALJ's recommendation, as amended, to permanently revoke respondent's certfication. Second was made by Ms. Bridges and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. III. Motions for Rehearing 19) Docket No. 701-13-3491.EC, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Jennifer Melissa McMannis; Action to be taken: Consideration of Proposal for Decision and Issuance of Final Order. Staff announced that McMannis's motion for rehearing was overruled by operation of law. 20) Docket No. 701-13-0179.EC, Texas Education Agency, Educator Leadership and Quality Division v. Elizabeth Kiel; Action to be taken: Consideration of Proposal for Decision and Issuance of Final Order. Staff announced that Kiel's motion for rehearing was overruled by operation of law. IV. Appeals 1) Don Madden v. State Board for Educator Certification; Cause No. 03-11-00584-CV, In the Court of Appeals, Third Judicial District, Austin, Texas. 2) State Board for Educator Certification v. Robert D. Lange; Cause No. 03-12-00453-CV, In the Court of Appeals, Third Judicial District, Austin, Texas. 3) State Board for Educator Certification v. Erasmo Montalvo; Cause No. 03-13-00370-CV, In the Court of Appeals, Third Judicial District, Austin, Texas. 4) State Board for Educator Certification v. Erasmo Montalvo; No. 13-0537, In the Supreme Court, Austin, Texas. 5) Barry Ryan Davis v. Texas Education Agency, Educator Certification and Standards Division; Cause No. D-1-GN-12-003413, In the 201 st District Court of Travis County, Texas. No discussion. B. Pending Litigation The Board may discuss any other litigation arising after the date of posting or reasonably contemplated as of the date of the board meeting. None. 12. Consideration of and Opportunity to Approve New Classes of Certificates Ms. Nix presented requests from Huston-Tillotson University (Austin, Texas) for approval to offer the Principal class of certification and East Texas Baptist University (Marshall, Texas) for approval to offer the Principal class of certification. Dr. Sargent, from East Texas Baptist University answered questions from the Board. Motion and vote: Motion made by Mr. Allard to approve the new classes of certificates for Huston-Tillotson University (Austin, TX), Principal Certification and East Texas Baptist University (Marshall, TX), Principal Certification. Second was made by Ms. McCall and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 13. Consideration of and Opportunity to Approve the 2012-2013 Accountability System for Educator Preparation Programs (ASEP) Accreditation Statuses Ms. Nix presented the proposed 2012-2013 accountability and accreditation statuses for educator preparation programs. Motion and vote: Motion was made by Ms. Pogue to approve the 2012-2013 Accountability System for Educator Preparation Programs (ASEP) accreditation statuses using Standard I. Second was made by Ms. Druesedow and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 14. Consideration of and Opportunity to Approve Educator Standards for New Certificates: Business and Finance: Grades 6-12, Marketing: Grades 6-12, Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources: Grades 6-12, and Health Science: Grades 6-12 Ms. Cook presented this item that provides the Board the opportunity to approve Educator Standards, which define preparation and testing requirements, for four new career and technical certifications. There was discussion on whether rulemaking is being considered for the adoption of these standards. Motion and vote: Motion made by Ms. Everest to adopt that standards as is and subject to review for future possible rule proposal. Second was made by Ms. Bridges and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 15. Adoption of Proposed New 19 TAC Chapter 229, Accountability System for Educator Preparation Programs, §229.21, Transitional Provisions Mr. Byer presented this item for final adoption of rules to clarify the application of accountability standards, subject to State Board of Education review. Motion and vote: Motion made by Ms. Everest to approve the proposed rules as presented. Second was made by Ms. Pogue and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 16. Proposed Amendment to 19 TAC Chapter 249, Disciplinary Proceedings, Sanctions, and Contested Cases, Subchapter B, Enforcement Actions and Guidelines, §249.17, Decision-Making Guidelines Mr. Byer presented this item for approval for filing as proposed. This amendment to this rule would clarify the SBEC rule regarding the types of conduct that would result in permanent revocation or denial of a certificate and actions in other states that could result in disciplinary action in Texas Motion and vote: Motion made by Ms. Pogue to approve the proposed amendment as presented. Second was made by Mr. Allard and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 17. Proposed Revisions to 19 TAC Chapter 227, Provisions for Educator Preparation Candidates Public comment was provided by Jennifer Canaday and Dr. Sandra West. Mr. Regal presented this item, stating the proposed revisions are necessary as a result of House Bill (HB) 2012, 83rd Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2013. The proposed revisions would update the rules to reflect current law, clarify minimum standards for all educator preparation programs (EPPs), allow for flexibility, and ensure consistency among EPPs in the state. Motion and vote: Motion made by Ms. Everest to amend Item 17, page 9, section 227.10 (a)(3)(A) to 2.75 GPA instead of 2.5. Second was made by Mr. Allard. Two members voted against the motion; five members voted in favor of the motion. The motion carries. Recess at 12:05 p.m. Reconvene at 12:23 p.m. Motion made by Ms. Pogue to approve the proposed revisions to chapter 227 as presented with a modification to 227.17 (a) (page 10 of item 17, remove "and the applicant must provide a written or electronic response accepting the offer"). Second was made by Mr. Allard and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 18. Proposed Amendments to 19 TAC Chapter 228, Requirements for Educator Preparation Programs Mr. Regal presented this item, stating the proposed amendments are necessary as a result of House Bill (HB) 2012, 83rd Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2013. The proposed amendments would update the rules to reflect current law, clarify minimum standards for all EPPs, allow for flexibility, and ensure consistency among EPPs in the state. Motion and vote: Motion made by Mr. Allard to approve the proposed amendments as presented. Second was made by Ms. Druesedow and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 19. Proposed Amendments to 19 TAC Chapter 229, Accountability System for Educator Preparation Programs Mr. Regal presented this item stating House Bill 2012, 83rd Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2013, requires the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the SBEC, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to perform a joint review of the existing standards for preparation and admission that are applicable to EPPs. Due to its related nature, a review of Chapter 229 was also conducted, resulting in proposed amendments to those rules. The proposed amendments would update and make uniform definitions, modify the standards used for enforcing the reporting of data, clarify the standards used for accountability and modify the use of the small size exception for accountability purposes, and establish a new process for challenging sanctions imposed on programs that fail the accountability system. Motion and vote: Motion made by Ms. Everest to approve the proposed amendments as presented. Second was made by Mr. Allard and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 20. Proposed Amendment to 19 TAC Chapter 250, Administration, Subchapter B, Rulemaking Procedures, §250.20, Petition for Adoption of Rules or Rule Changes Mr. Byer presented this item. The proposed amendment to 19 TAC §250.20 would clarify references to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and would update the petition form to reflect the name of the office to which the form should be mailed. Motion and vote: Motion made by Mr. Allard to approve the proposed amendment as presented. Second was made by Ms. McCall and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. 21. Action on Items Discussed in Executive Session Action on items discussed in executive session will be taken when the agenda item comes up for discussion, and action will occur during open session. 22. Sunset Matters, including: a) TEA staff reports on SBEC progress in addressing issues raised by the Sunset Commission or its staff for the 2013 legislature b) Current and upcoming Sunset-related activity This item will be added to the August 1, 2014 SBEC Board meeting. 23. Legislative Matters, including: a) Legislation related to SBEC or educator certification b) Preparation for 2015 legislative session This item will be added to the August 1, 2014 SBEC Board meeting. Ms. Moore will email the Board members to solicit participation from the Board members on the legislative committee. 24. Requests from Board Members for Future Agenda Items Ms. Everest would like for the Board to start looking at data regarding online vs. in person programs. Ms. Pogue would like to discuss the accountability standards being put in place and a timeline – components identified during previous review of chapters 227, 228 and 229. 25. Requests Received from the Board Since Last Meeting Mr. Berry gave an update on transcript request. Ms. Everest would like the definition of a standard vs. a rule from attorneys assigned to SBEC. 26. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 1:28 p.m. The Board may go into closed session regarding any item on the agenda to the extent it is authorized to do so pursuant to the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 551.
NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES _________________ No. 10–114 _________________ RICKY D. FOX, PETITIONER v. JUDY ANN VICE, AS EXECUTRIX OF THE ESTATE OF BILLY RAY VICE, ET AL. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT [June 6, 2011] JUSTICE KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. Federal law authorizes a court to award a reasonable attorney's fee to the prevailing party in certain civil rights cases. See 42 U. S. C. §1988. We have held that a defendant may receive such an award if the plaintiff's suit is frivolous. In this case, the plaintiff asserted both frivolous and non-frivolous claims. We hold today that a court may grant reasonable fees to the defendant in this circumstance, but only for costs that the defendant would not have incurred but for the frivolous claims. A trial court has wide discretion in applying this standard. But here we must vacate the judgment below because the court used a different and incorrect standard in awarding fees. I This case arises out of an election for chief of police in the town of Vinton, Louisiana. The candidates were petitioner Ricky Fox (the challenger) and respondent Billy Ray Vice (the incumbent). 1 By Fox's account, Vice resorted to —————— 1 Vice died during the course of this litigation. Pursuant to this Court's Rule 35.1, we substituted the executor of his estate as respondent. 562 U. S. ___ (2011). But for the sake of clarity, we refer to the 1 an assortment of dirty tricks to try to force Fox out of the race. In particular, Vice sent an anonymous letter to Fox threatening to publish damaging charges against him if he remained a candidate. Vice also arranged for a third party to publicly accuse Fox of using racial slurs and then to file a criminal complaint against Fox repeating those allegations. And when prosecutors ignored that faux complaint, Vice leaked it to the press. Yet all of these machinations failed; Fox won the election. And Vice got an even greater comeuppance: He was subsequently convicted of criminal extortion for his election-related conduct. Fox, however, chose not to let the matter rest; he filed this suit in Louisiana state court against Vice and the town of Vinton, also a respondent here. Fox's complaint asserted both state-law claims, including defamation, and federal civil rights claims under 42 U. S. C. §1983, including interference with his right to seek public office. Vice and the town (Vice, for short) removed the case to federal court on the basis of the §1983 claims. At the end of discovery in the suit, Vice moved for summary judgment on Fox's federal claims. Fox conceded that the claims were "no[t] valid," App. 169, and the District Court accordingly dismissed them with prejudice. In the same ruling, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state-law claims. Docket No. 2:06–cv–135 (WD La., Oct. 16, 2007), App. to Pet. for Cert. 38a–40a. The court instead remanded the now slimmed-down case to state court for adjudication. In doing so, the District Court observed that "[a]ny trial preparation, legal research, and discovery may be used by the parties in the state court proceedings." Id., at 40a. Vice then asked the federal court for an award of attorney's fees under §1988, arguing that Fox's federal claims were "baseless and without merit." App. 198. Vice stated —————— that his lawyers had had to participate in five lengthy depositions and review numerous records to defend against Fox's charges. Id., at 199. In support of his fee request, Vice submitted attorney billing records estimating the time spent on the whole suit, without differentiating between the federal and state-law claims. See Supp. App. 8–67. The District Court granted the motion for attorney's fees on the ground that Fox's federal claims were frivolous. Although the state-law allegations had not been found frivolous (and indeed remained live), the court did not require Vice to separate out the work his attorneys had done on the two sets of claims. Docket No. 2:06–cv–135 (WD La., Sept. 22, 2008), App. to Pet. for Cert. 28a. According to the court, such "segregation" was unnecessary because the "various claims arose out of the same transaction and were so interrelated that their prosecution or defense entailed proof or denial of essentially the same facts." Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted). Similarly, the court declined to reduce the fee award to reflect the surviving state-law claims. "[T]hroughout the litigation," the court stated, both sides "focus[ed]" on Fox's frivolous §1983 claims. Id., at 32a–33a. The court therefore concluded that Vice should receive all of the fees he reasonably incurred in defending the suit—a total of $48,681. Id., at 34a. A divided Court of Appeals affirmed. 594 F. 3d 423 (CA5 2010). The majority first rejected Fox's contention that all claims in a suit must be frivolous for the defendant to recover any fees. That rule, the court explained, would " 'allow plaintiffs to prosecute frivolous claims without consequenc[e]' " so long as they added a single nonfrivolous claim. Id., at 428 (quoting Tutor-Saliba Corp. v. Hailey, 452 F. 3d 1055, 1064 (CA9 2006)). The Court of Appeals then turned to the District Court's decision that Vice was entitled to fees for all time thus far spent on the case, even though state-law claims remained unadjudicated. Repeating the trial court's view that the whole litigation had focused on the frivolous federal claims, the Fifth Circuit upheld the fee award. See 594 F. 3d, at 428. Judge Southwick dissented. He agreed that Vice was entitled to some reimbursement for fees. Id., at 430. But he thought the District Court had erred in declining to "allocate the fees separately between the successful claims and the unsuccessful" ones just because all of them were "interrelated." Ibid. "[W]hen some claims are dismissed as frivolous and others are not," he stated, the defendants should receive fees only for "the legal work allocable solely or dominantly to the dismissed" claims. Id., at 431. Because in this case "almost all of the defendant[s'] discovery and factual analysis would have been necessary even if no federal claims had been brought," he concluded, the fee award should have been much smaller. Ibid. The Fifth Circuit's decision deepened a Circuit split about whether and to what extent a court may award fees to a defendant under §1988 when a plaintiff asserts both frivolous and non-frivolous claims. 2 One Court of Appeals has forbidden any compensation unless all of the plaintiff's claims are frivolous. See Balmer v. HCA, Inc., 423 F. 3d 606, 617 (CA6 2005). Others have rejected this approach, but struggled with how to allocate fees in a suit that involves a mix of frivolous and non-frivolous claims. Compare, e.g., 594 F. 3d 423 (CA5 2010) (opinion below), with Colombrito v. Kelly, 764 F. 2d 122, 132 (CA2 1985) (declining to award fees when the frivolous claim "added no additional testimony or expense to the trial"). We granted —————— 2 The parties do not dispute for purposes of argument here that this case involves both kinds of claims. The District Court deemed the federal claims frivolous, and Fox has not asked us to disturb that ruling. See Brief for Petitioner 26, and n. 2. The court remanded the state-law claims to state court, and Vice has assumed in this Court that they are not frivolous. See Brief for Respondents 8, n. 5. certiorari to resolve these questions. 562 U. S. ___ (2010). II Our legal system generally requires each party to bear his own litigation expenses, including attorney's fees, regardless whether he wins or loses. Indeed, this principle is so firmly entrenched that it is known as the "American Rule." See Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U. S. 240, 247 (1975). But Congress has authorized courts to deviate from this background rule in certain types of cases by shifting fees from one party to another. See Burlington v. Dague, 505 U. S. 557, 562 (1992) (listing federal fee-shifting provisions). The statute involved here, 42 U. S. C. §1988, allows the award of "a reasonable attorney's fee" to "the prevailing party" in various kinds of civil rights cases, including suits brought under §1983. Most of our decisions addressing this provision have concerned the grant of fees to prevailing plaintiffs. When a plaintiff succeeds in remedying a civil rights violation, we have stated, he serves "as a 'private attorney general,' vindicating a policy that Congress considered of the highest priority." Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc., 390 U. S. 400, 402 (1968) (per curiam). He therefore "should ordinarily recover an attorney's fee" from the defendant—the party whose misconduct created the need for legal action. Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U. S. 412, 416 (1978) (internal quotation marks omitted). Fee shifting in such a case at once reimburses a plaintiff for "what it cos[t] [him] to vindicate [civil] rights," Riverside v. Rivera, 477 U. S. 561, 577–578 (1986) (internal quotation marks omitted), and holds to account "a violator of federal law," Christiansburg, 434 U. S., at 418. In Christiansburg, we held that §1988 also authorizes a fee award to a prevailing defendant, but under a different standard reflecting the "quite different equitable considerations" at stake. Id., at 419. In enacting §1988, we stated, Congress sought "to protect defendants from burdensome litigation having no legal or factual basis." Id., at 420. Accordingly, §1988 authorizes a district court to award attorney's fees to a defendant "upon a finding that the plaintiff's action was frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation." Id., at 421; see also Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U. S. 159, 165, n. 9 (1985). These standards would be easy to apply if life were like the movies, but that is usually not the case. In Hollywood, litigation most often concludes with a dramatic verdict that leaves one party fully triumphant and the other utterly prostrate. The court in such a case would know exactly how to award fees (even if that anti-climactic scene is generally left on the cutting-room floor). But in the real world, litigation is more complex, involving multiple claims for relief that implicate a mix of legal theories and have different merits. Some claims succeed; others fail. Some charges are frivolous; others (even if not ultimately successful) have a reasonable basis. In short, litigation is messy, and courts must deal with this untidiness in awarding fees. Given this reality, we have made clear that plaintiffs may receive fees under §1988 even if they are not victorious on every claim. A civil rights plaintiff who obtains meaningful relief has corrected a violation of federal law and, in so doing, has vindicated Congress's statutory purposes. That "result is what matters," we explained in Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U. S. 424, 435 (1983): A court should compensate the plaintiff for the time his attorney reasonably spent in achieving the favorable outcome, even if "the plaintiff failed to prevail on every contention." Ibid. The fee award, of course, should not reimburse the plaintiff for work performed on claims that bore no relation to the grant of relief: Such work "cannot be deemed to have been expended in pursuit of the ultimate result achieved." Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted). But the presence of these unsuccessful claims does not immunize a defendant against paying for the attorney's fees that the plaintiff reasonably incurred in remedying a breach of his civil rights. Analogous principles indicate that a defendant may deserve fees even if not all the plaintiff's claims were frivolous. In this context, §1988 serves to relieve a defendant of expenses attributable to frivolous charges. The plaintiff acted wrongly in leveling such allegations, and the court may shift to him the reasonable costs that those claims imposed on his adversary. See Christiansburg, 434 U. S., at 420–421. That remains true when the plaintiff's suit also includes non-frivolous claims. The defendant, of course, is not entitled to any fees arising from these nonfrivolous charges. See ibid. But the presence of reasonable allegations in a suit does not immunize the plaintiff against paying for the fees that his frivolous claims imposed. Indeed, we have previously said exactly this much. In Hensley, we noted the possibility that a plaintiff might prevail on one contention in a suit while also asserting an unrelated frivolous claim. In this situation, we explained, a court could properly award fees to both parties—to the plaintiff, to reflect the fees he incurred in bringing the meritorious claim; and to the defendant, to compensate for the fees he paid in defending against the frivolous one. See 461 U. S., at 435, n. 10. We thus made clear that a court may reimburse a defendant for costs under §1988 even if a plaintiff's suit is not wholly frivolous. Feeshifting to recompense a defendant (as to recompense a plaintiff) is not all-or-nothing: A defendant need not show that every claim in a complaint is frivolous to qualify for fees. The question then becomes one of allocation: In a lawsuit involving a mix of frivolous and non-frivolous claims, what work may the defendant receive fees for? Vice concedes, as he must, that a defendant may not obtain compensation for work unrelated to a frivolous claim. Brief for Respondents 42, n. 13. Similarly, we think Fox would have to concede (once he has lost the argument that the presence of any non-frivolous claim precludes a fee award) that the defendant may receive reasonable fees for work related exclusively to a frivolous claim. The question in dispute concerns work that helps defend against nonfrivolous and frivolous claims alike—for example, a deposition eliciting facts relevant to both allegations. Vice proposes authorizing the trial court to award fees for work that is "fairly attributable" to the frivolous portion of the lawsuit. See, e.g., Tr. of Oral Arg. 41, 45. But that standard is in truth no standard at all. The very question under consideration is: What fees may be fairly attributed to frivolous claims under §1988? To answer "Those that are fairly attributable to frivolous claims" is just to restate this question. And that non-response response would leave to each and every trial court not only the implementation, but also the invention, of the applicable legal standard. We do not think trial courts would appreciate that lack of guidance. And yet more important, we do not think such an empty and amorphous test would ensure that all fee awards to defendants comport with Congress's purpose in enacting §1988. That congressional policy points to a different and more meaningful standard: Section 1988 allows a defendant to recover reasonable attorney's fees incurred because of, but only because of, a frivolous claim. Or what is the same thing stated as a but-for test: Section 1988 permits the defendant to receive only the portion of his fees that he would not have paid but for the frivolous claim. Recall that the relevant purpose of §1988 is to relieve defendants of the burdens associated with fending off frivolous litigation. See supra, at 5–6. So if a frivolous claim occasioned the attorney's fees at issue, a court may decide that the defendant should not have to pay them. But if the defendant would have incurred those fees anyway, to defend against non-frivolous claims, then a court has no basis for transferring the expense to the plaintiff. Suppose, for example, that a defendant's attorney conducts a deposition on matters relevant to both a frivolous and a non-frivolous claim—and more, that the lawyer would have taken and committed the same time to this deposition even if the case had involved only the non-frivolous allegation. In that circumstance, the work does not implicate Congress's reason for allowing defendants to collect fees. The defendant would have incurred the expense in any event; he has suffered no incremental harm from the frivolous claim. In short, the defendant has never shouldered the burden that Congress, in enacting §1988, wanted to relieve. The basic American Rule thus continues to operate. 3 A standard allowing more expansive fee-shifting would furnish windfalls to some defendants, making them better off because they were subject to a suit including frivolous claims. For under any more permissive test, the simple presence of a frivolous claim would allow the court to shift —————— 3 The test set out here differs from the one we adopted in Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U. S. 424, 435 (1983), to govern fee awards to plaintiffs in cases involving both successful and unsuccessful claims. See supra, at 6–7. That difference reflects the disparate legislative purposes we have recognized in the two settings. See Christiansburg Garment Co. v. EEOC, 434 U. S. 412, 419–420 (1978); supra, at 5–6. Congress authorized fees to plaintiffs to compensate them for the costs of redressing civil rights violations; accordingly, a plaintiff may receive fees for all work relating to the accomplishment of that result, even if "the plaintiff failed to prevail on every contention raised." Hensley, 461 U. S., at 435. By contrast, Congress authorized fees to defendants to remove the burden associated with fending off frivolous claims; accordingly, a defendant may recover for fees that those claims caused him to incur. In each context, the standard for allocating fees in "mixed" cases matches the relevant congressional purpose. to the plaintiff some of the costs of defending against regular, non-frivolous charges. So two defendants (call them Vice and Rice) could face identical non-frivolous allegations, but because Vice also confronted a frivolous claim, he might end by paying less than Rice to his attorneys. The chance assertion—for Vice, the downright lucky assertion—of the frivolous claim could relieve him not only of the incremental costs of that claim but also of costs that he, like Rice, would have had to pay in its absence. Section 1988 provides no warrant for that peculiar result; that statute was "never intended to produce windfalls" for parties. See Farrar v. Hobby, 506 U. S. 103, 115 (1992) (internal quotation marks omitted). At the same time, the "but-for" standard we require may in some cases allow compensation to a defendant for attorney work relating to both frivolous and non-frivolous claims. Suppose, for example, that a plaintiff asserts one frivolous and one non-frivolous claim, but that only the frivolous allegation can legally result in a damages award. If an attorney performs work useful to defending against both, but did so only because of the defendant's monetary exposure on the frivolous charge, a court may decide to shift fees. Or similarly, imagine that the frivolous claim enables removal of the case to federal court, which in turn drives up litigation expenses. Here too, our standard would permit awarding fees for work relevant to both claims in order to reflect the increased costs (if any) of the federal forum. And frivolous claims may increase the cost of defending a suit in ways that are not reflected in the number of hours billed. If a defendant could prove, for example, that a frivolous claim involved a specialized area that reasonably caused him to hire more expensive counsel for the entire case, then the court may reimburse the defendant for the increased marginal cost. As all these examples show, the dispositive question is not whether attorney costs at all relate to a non-frivolous claim, but Opinion of the Court whether the costs would have been incurred in the absence of the frivolous allegation. The answers to those inquiries will usually track each other, but when they diverge, it is the second that matters. We emphasize, as we have before, that the determination of fees "should not result in a second major litigation." Hensley, 461 U. S., at 437. The fee applicant (whether a plaintiff or a defendant) must, of course, submit appropriate documentation to meet "the burden of establishing entitlement to an award." Ibid. But trial courts need not, and indeed should not, become green-eyeshade accountants. The essential goal in shifting fees (to either party) is to do rough justice, not to achieve auditing perfection. So trial courts may take into account their overall sense of a suit, and may use estimates in calculating and allocating an attorney's time. And appellate courts must give substantial deference to these determinations, in light of "the district court's superior understanding of the litigation." Ibid.; see Webb v. Dyer County Bd. of Ed., 471 U. S. 234, 244 (1985). We can hardly think of a sphere of judicial decisionmaking in which appellate micromanagement has less to recommend it. But the trial court must apply the correct standard, and the appeals court must make sure that has occurred. See Perdue v. Kenny A., 559 U. S. ___, ___ (2010) (slip op., at 14) ("Determining a 'reasonable attorney's fee' is a matter that is committed to the sound discretion of a trial judge, . . . but the judge's discretion is not unlimited"); Cf. Koon v. United States, 518 U. S. 81, 100 (1996) ("A district court by definition abuses its discretion when it makes an error of law"). That means the trial court must determine whether the fees requested would not have accrued but for the frivolous claim. And the appeals court must determine whether the trial court asked and answered that question, rather than some other. A trial court has wide discretion when, but only when, it calls the game by the right rules. III The task remains of applying these principles to the fee award Vice received. The District Court's analysis suggests that Vice's attorneys would have done much the same work even if Fox had not brought his frivolous claims. As noted earlier, see supra, at 3, the court acknowledged that Fox's federal and state-law claims were "interrelated," App. to Pet. for Cert. 28a (internal quotation marks omitted). The charges "arose out of the same transaction"—Vice's conduct in the campaign—and their "defense entailed proof or denial of essentially the same facts." Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted). It therefore seems likely that Vice's attorneys would at least have conducted similar fact-gathering activities—taken many of the same depositions, produced and reviewed many of the same documents, and so forth. Indeed, the District Court highlighted the usefulness of the attorneys' work to defending against the state-law claims: In its order remanding those claims, the court noted that the "trial preparation, legal research, and discovery" done in the federal court could "be used by the parties in the state court proceedings." Id., at 40a. The District Court's decision to award full attorney's fees to Vice failed to take proper account of this overlap between the frivolous and non-frivolous claims. Rather than apply the but-for standard we have set out, the court indicated that the paramount factor was the parties' "focus" in the litigation. Id., at 33a. The court did not address whether the "interrelated[ness]" of the claims meant that Vice would have incurred part or most of his fees even if Fox had asserted only the non-frivolous state-law claims. To the contrary, the court suggested that the close relationship between the federal and state-law claims supported Vice's request to recover all of his attorney's fees. See id., at 28a; supra, at 3. That reasoning stands the appropriate analysis on its head. It cannot be squared with the congressional policy of sparing defendants from the costs of frivolous litigation. . On this record, we must return the case to the lower courts. See, e.g., Perdue, 559 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 12–15); Pennsylvania v. Delaware Valley Citizens' Council for Clean Air, 478 U. S. 546, 566–568 (1986); Hensley, 461 U. S., at 438–440. In a suit of this kind, involving both frivolous and non-frivolous claims, a defendant may recover the reasonable attorney's fees he expended solely because of the frivolous allegations. And that is all. Consistent with the policy underlying §1988, the defendant may not receive compensation for any fees that he would have paid in the absence of the frivolous claims. We therefore vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Nor did the Court of Appeals uphold the award of fees on the ground that we would require. The majority articulated a standard that, taken alone, might be read as consistent with our opinion; according to the court, a defendant should receive fees for "work which can be distinctly traced to a plaintiff's frivolous claims." 594 F. 3d, at 429 But the court seemed to think that its test permitted awarding Vice fees for any work useful to defending against a frivolous claim, even if lawyers would have done that work regardless. Indeed, this very point divided the majority and the dissent. Judge Southwick objected to the fee award on the ground that "almost all [of] the defendant[s'] discovery and factual analysis would have been necessary even if no federal claims had been brought." Id., at 431. But the majority never responded to that argument or otherwise engaged this crucial question. The majority instead merely reiterated the District Court's reasoning that the parties had principally "focus[ed]" on the §1983 allegations. That finding, as we have explained, is irrelevant if Vice's attorneys would have performed the same work to defend against the state-law claims. It is so ordered.
ITO EN, LTD. June 3, 2019 ITO EN, LTD. Securities numbers : 2593 (Common Stock) : 25935 (Class-A Preferred Stock) (URL http://www.itoen.co.jp) 47-10, Honmachi 3 chome, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Representative: Daisuke Honjo (President) Consolidated Financial Results For Immediate Release under Japanese Standards for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 (Unaudited) Scheduled date of general shareholder's meeting: July 24, 2019 Scheduled date of commencement of dividend payment: July 25, 2019 Scheduled filing date of securities report: July 25, 2019 Supplementary documents for financial results: Yes Financial results presentation (for institutional investors and analysts): Yes (Figures are rounded down to million yen.) 1. Consolidated Performance for the Fiscal Year Ended April 30, 2019 (May 1, 2018 - April 30, 2019) (1) Consolidated Results of Operations (% changes as compared with the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year) \| \| Net sales \| Operating income \| Ordinary income \| Profit attributable to owners of parent \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4/30/2019 4/30/2018 \| Million yen 504,153 1.9% 494,793 4.0% \| Million yen 22,819 3.5% 22,043 1.2% \| Million yen 23,211 8.3% 21,441 -0.4% \| Million yen 14,462 15.2% 12,553 -8.3% \| Note: Comprehensive income 4/30/2019: 14,422 million yen (9.4%) 4/30/2018: 13,180 million yen (-14.2%) \| \| Earnings per share \| Earnings per share (diluted) \| Return on Equity \| Ordinary income / Total assets \| Operating income / Net sales \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4/30/2019 4/30/2018 \| Yen 116.02 99.79 \| Yen 115.74 99.54 \| 9.9% 9.0% \| 7.7% 7.1% \| 4.5% 4.5% \| Reference: Equity in earnings (losses) of affiliated companies 4/30/2019: 153 million yen 4/30/2018: 131 million yen (2) Consolidated Financial Position \| \| Total assets \| Net assets \| Shareholders’ equity ratio \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4/30/2019 4/30/2018 \| Million yen 303,981 301,167 \| Million yen 150,923 143,750 \| 49.2% 47.3% \| Reference: Equity 4/30/2019: 149,661 million yen 4/30/2018: 142,536 million yen. Note: The above per share information pertains to Common Stock. For per share information for Class-A Preferred Stock, refer to "Reference" below. (3) Consolidated Cash Flows \| \| Cash flows from operating activities \| Cash flows from investing activities \| Cash flows from financing activities \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4/30/2019 4/30/2018 \| Million yen 26,128 25,322 \| Million yen (10,635) (11,359) \| Million Yen (15,005) (16,639) \| 2. Dividends \| \| Dividend per share \| \| \| \| \| Total dividend paid \| Dividend payout ratio (consolidated) \| Dividend on net assets (consolidated) \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| First quarter end \| Second quarter end \| Third quarter end \| Fiscal year end \| Total \| \| \| \| \| 4/30/2018 4/30/2019 \| Yen – – \| Yen 20.00 20.00 \| Yen – – \| Yen 20.00 20.00 \| Yen 40.00 40.00 \| Million yen 3,548 3,542 \| 40.1% 34.5% \| 3.5% 3.3% \| \| 4/30/2020 (Forecast) \| – \| 20.00 \| – \| 20.00 \| 40.00 \| \| 35.0% \| \| Note: The above dividend per share pertains to Common Stock. For dividend per share for Class-A Preferred Stock, refer to "Reference" below. 3. Forecasted Consolidated Results for the Fiscal Year Ending April 30, 2020 (May 1, 2019 - April 30, 2020) (% changes as compared with the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year) \| \| Net sales \| Operating income \| Ordinary income \| Profit attributable to owners of parent \| Earnings per share \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 10/31/2019 4/30/2020 \| Million yen 276,500 0.4% 510,000 1.2% \| Million yen 13,400 1.4 23,000 0.8 \| Million yen 14,000 1.3% 22,800 -1.8% \| Million yen 9,000 3.5% 14,200 -1.8% \| Yen 72.75 114.21 \| Note: The above per share information in forecasted consolidated results pertains to Common Stock. For per share information for Class-A Preferred Stock, refer to "Reference" below. Notes (1) Changes in important subsidiaries during the period (Changes in specific subsidiaries accompanied by a change in the scope of consolidation): None (2) Changes in accounting policies, changes in accounting estimates, and restatements i. Changes in accounting policies associated with in accounting standards: None ii. Changes in accounting policies other than i. above: None iii. Changes in accounting estimates: None iv. Restatements: None (3) Numbers of shares outstanding (common stock) i. Numbers of outstanding shares (including treasury stock) ii. Numbers of treasury stock 4/30/2019 89,212,380 shares 4/30/2019 656,736 shares 4/30/2018 4/30/2018 89,212,380 shares 499,602 shares iii. Average number of shares during the period 4/30/2019 88,567,561 shares 4/30/2018 88,704,891 shares Note: The above "Number of outstanding shares" pertains to Common Stock. For "Number of outstanding shares" for Class-A Preferred Stock, refer to "Reference" below. (Reference) Summary of Non-Consolidated Financial Results 1. Non-Consolidated Performance for Fiscal Year Ended April 30, 2019 (May 1, 2018 - April 30, 2019) (1) Non-Consolidated Results of Operation (% changes as compared with the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year) \| \| Net sales \| Operating income \| Ordinary income \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4/30/2019 4/30/2018 \| Million yen 394,495 2.9% 383,212 3.1% \| Million yen 15,851 3.0% 15,394 -1.6% \| Million yen 18,600 8.5% 17,142 -1.8% \| \| \| Earnings per share \| Earnings per share (diluted) \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 4/30/2019 4/30/2018 \| Yen 106.33 95.84 \| Yen 106.08 95.60 \| (2) Non-Consolidated Financial Position Reference: Equity \| \| Total assets \| Net assets \| Equity ratio \| Net assets per share \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4/30/2019 4/30/2018 \| Million yen 270,427 270,770 \| Million yen 142,830 137,199 \| 52.8% 50.6% \| Yen 1,172.01 1,121.29 \| 4/30/2019: 142,696 million yen 4/30/2018: 137,101 million yen Note: The above per share information pertains to Common Stock. For per share information for Class-A Preferred Stock, refer to "Reference" below. 2. Forecasted Non-Consolidated Results for the Fiscal Year Ending April 30, 2020 (May 1, 2019 - April 30, 2020) (% changes as compared with the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year) \| \| Net sales \| Operating income \| Ordinary income \| Net income \| Earnings per share \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 10/31/2019 4/30/2020 \| Million yen 218,740 0.5% 400,500 1.5% \| Million yen 9,800 6.7% 16,200 2.2% \| Million yen 11,000 1.0% 18,100 -2.7% \| Million yen 7,900 3.5% 13,000 -2.1% \| Yen 63.69 104.33 \| Note: The above per share information in forecasted non-consolidated results pertains to Common Stock. For per share information for Class-A Preferred Stock, refer to "Reference" below. * Financial results reports are exempt from audit conducted by certified public accountants or an audit corporation. * Request for appropriate use of the business outlook and other special remarks Forward-looking statements in this document, including forecasts, are based on information available to management at the time of the announcement, which management assumes to be reasonable. Therefore, our company does not guarantee the achievement of forecasts and other forward-looking statements. Because of variable factors, actual results may differ from the forecast figures. For the basis of presumption of the forecasted operation results and the notes on its use, refer to "1. Overview of the Management Operations' Results, etc., (4) Future Outlook" on page 4 in the Attachments. (1) Per Share information of Class-A Preferred Stock in Consolidated Results of Operation \| \| Earnings per share \| Earnings per share (diluted) \| Net assets per share \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 4/30/2019 4/30/2018 \| Yen 126.00 109.75 \| Yen 125.72 109.50 \| Yen 1,234.28 1,170.80 \| (2) Dividends per Share – Class-A Preferred Stock \| \| Dividend per share \| \| \| \| \| Total dividend paid \| Dividend payout ratio (consolidated) \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| First quarter end \| Second quarter end \| Third quarter end \| Fiscal year end \| Total \| \| \| \| 4/30/2018 4/30/2019 \| Yen – – \| Yen 25.00 25.00 \| Yen – – \| Yen 25.00 25.00 \| Yen 50.00 50.00 \| Million yen 1,679 1,657 \| 45.6% 39.7% \| \| 4/30/2020 (Forecast) \| – \| 25.00 \| – \| 25.00 \| 50.00 \| \| 40.3% \| (3) Per Share information of Class-A Preferred Stock in Forecasted Consolidated Results \| \| Earnings per share (Consolidated) \| Earnings per share (Non-Consolidated) \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 10/31/2019 4/30/2020 \| Yen 77.73 124.16 \| Yen 68.67 114.28 \| (4) Numbers of Outstanding Shares – Class-A Preferred Stock i. Numbers of outstanding shares (including treasury stock) 4/30/2019 34,246,962 shares 4/30/2018 34,246,962 shares ii. Numbers of treasury stock 4/30/2019 1,189,831 shares 4/30/2018 837,653 shares iii. Average number of shares during the period 4/30/2019 33,226,503 shares 4/30/2018 33,724,074 shares (5) Per Share information of Class-A Preferred Stock in Non-Consolidated Results of Operation Contents of Attachments 1. Overview of the Management Operations' Results, etc. (1) Overview of the Management Operations' Results in the Current Financial Year During the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 (May 1, 2018 - April 30, 2019), the Japanese economy has continued a trend of gradual recovery in part due to the employment/income environment and the effect of various policies, although weakness was seen in part of exports and production. In the beverage industry, the business environment continues to be tough because of the persistent thriftiness among consumers and the effects of natural disasters. Under these business conditions, in keeping with the management principle of "Always Putting the Customer First," the ITO EN Group vigorously engaged in business activities while constantly seeking to identify and address areas of customer dissatisfaction in the beverage market. As a result, the business performance for the fiscal year under review was as follows. Please note that as extraordinary losses, we reported 673 million yen in cost related to the disposal of products that fail to meet the company's quality standards and 66 million yen in cost related to disaster due to the Heavy Rain Event of July 2018, etc. Net sales 504,153 million yen, up 1.9% year on year Operating income 22,819 million yen, up 3.5% year on year Ordinary income 23,211 million yen, up 8.3% year on year Profit attributable to owners of parent 14,462 million yen, up 15.2% year on year Performance by each of the business segments were as follows. <Tea Leaves and Beverages Business> The Company made proposals on how to brew delicious green tea fit for each season and how to enjoy green tea through events it held, such as "ITO EN Dai-Cha-Kai," (green tea demonstration sales and tasting events), and "Seminar on how to brew delicious tea." ITO EN actively proposed not only leaf products that are brewed in the traditional Japanese teapot Kyusu, but also instant products like green tea powder, which is easily solved in cold and hot water and served conveniently, to convey the appeal of Japanese tea. In the "Oi Ocha" (green tea) brand, the Company launched "Oi Ocha Shinryoku" (fresh green) in May 2018. The product appealed mainly to women due to its features, such as the deliciousness of genuine tea, fresh and clear sweetness, and bottle design for easy carrying, and sales volume exceeded 50 million bottles in around a year since its launch. In September 2018, the Company added a new range of "Oi Ocha" products contained in special PET bottles that can be rewarmed in microwave ovens. Even if you drink the products slowly over time, you will be able to taste them deliciously to the end in warm condition. Through these products, ITO EN has developed a product lineup that meets various customer needs and is fit for tea-tasting opportunities. On February 1, 2019, "Oi Ocha" marked its 30th anniversary since its launch. We are implementing the "Memorial Event for the Oi Ocha 30th Anniversary" with four themes: Japanese culture, focusing on communities, a new era, and value of health, in which we would like to thank customers for supporting "Oi Ocha" for the 30 years of the Japanese Heisei era and hope for further development of Japan's tea culture in the new era of Reiwa. As a leading tea company, we will continue to face challenges for further development so that "Oi Ocha," whose history almost coincides with the Heisei era, will be loved by people as more familiar Japanese tea. Among other beverage products, "Kenko Mineral Mugicha" (healthy mineral barley tea), the top barley tea brand, has performed well not only as a beverage for hot summer but also as one that can provide users with minerals and keep them well hydrated throughout the year. "TULLY'S COFFEE," which is a coffee beverage, has continued to gain popularity as a beverage with a professional quality as served at the specialty coffee chain TULLY'S COFFEE. Overseas, ITO EN has actively been selling continuously "MATCHA GREEN TEA," a leaf product offered in "Global Brand" mainly in the U.S. and China, and "Oi Ocha" brand products, backed by a global boom of Japanese food and matcha as well as the increasing health-conscious trend. As a result of these activities, the Tea Leaves and Beverages Business recorded net sales of 462,841 million yen, up 1.6% year on year, and operating income of 19,806 million yen, up 3.4%. <Restaurant Business> Tully's Coffee Japan Co., Ltd. released various seasonal limited beverages such as, "Milky Honey Soy Latte," a variation of the popular "Honey Milk Latte" that uses soy milk, as well as fun seasonal limited beverages such as "Tapioca Strawberry Cafe au Lait" and "Tapioca Hojicha Latte," which uses the chewy texture of tapioca that is popular in the market, and other popular products. Furthermore, tea beverages, such as the seasonal limited "&TEA Peach Confiture Royal Milk Tea," performed favorably. New coffee shop openings have been smooth with the total number of coffee shops at present being 735. Further brand enhancement as a specialty coffee shop will be achieved through revitalization, such as renovating existing stores and strengthening store competitiveness, and active ongoing investment. As a result of these activities, the Restaurant Business recorded net sales of 34,555 million yen, up 6.1% year on year, and operating income of 3,504 million yen, up 7.8%. <Others> Mason Distributors, Inc. has continued to sell dietary supplements firmly. As a result, the Others recorded net sales of 6,756 million yen, up 2.1% year on year, and operating income of 771 million yen, down 17.9%. (2) Overview of the Financial Position in the Current Financial Year The following is a consolidated financial position for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019. (Assets) Total assets at the end of the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 stood at 303,981 million yen, increased by 2,814 million yen from the previous fiscal year. These changes in total assets mainly reflected increases of 4,246 million yen in "Merchandise and finished goods," 2,074 million yen in "Cash and deposits," 4,118 million yen in "Tools, furniture and fixtures," and decreases of 4,620 million yen in "Leased assets" and 1,634 million yen in "Goodwill." (Liabilities) Liabilities at the end of the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 stood at 153,058 million yen, decreased by 4,358 million yen from the previous fiscal year. These changes in liabilities mainly reflected decreases of 4,782 million yen in "Lease obligations" and 1,400 million yen in "Long-term loans payable." (Net assets) Net assets at the end of the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 stood at 150,923 million yen, increased by 7,172 million yen from the previous fiscal year. This mainly reflected an increase of 14,462 million yen in "Retained earnings" due to "Profit attributable to owners of parent," a decrease of 5,212 million yen in "Retained earnings" due to "Dividends of surplus." As a result, the shareholders' equity ratio became 49.2% compared with 47.3% at the end of the previous fiscal year. (3) Overview of the Cash flows in the Current Financial Year Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 amounted to 61,950 million yen, increased by 573 million yen from the end of the previous fiscal year. Cash flows during the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 and their causes are as follows. (Cash flows from operating activities) Net cash inflows from operating activities were 26,128 million yen (compared with 25,322 million yen inflow in the previous fiscal year). The major factors affecting this were increases due to income before income taxes of 22,486 million yen and depreciation of 13,411 million yen and income taxes paid of 7,122 million yen. (Cash flows from investing activities) Net cash outflows from investing activities were 10,635 million yen (compared with 11,359 million yen outflow in the previous fiscal year). The major factors affecting this was purchase of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets of 10,088 million yen. (Cash flows from financing activities) Net cash outflows from financing activities were 15,005 million yen (compared with 16,639 million yen outflow in the previous fiscal year). The major factors of cash outflows were repayments of finance lease obligations of 6,514 million yen and cash dividends paid of 5,206 million yen. (4) Future Outlook The ITO EN Group will continue to pursue sustainable growth through "The CSV (Creating Shared Value)" and further enhance the corporate value, while aiming to become a Global Tea Company. In the domestic market, the Company will further strengthen "Oi Ocha," the top brand in green tea beverages, enhance other individual brands including "Kenko Mineral Mugicha," (healthy mineral barley tea), "TULLY'S COFFEE" and "Ichinichibun no Yasai" (a day's worth of vegetables), and improve sales of leaf products centering on easy-to-use products. In addition, ITO EN will further improve business performance by establishing a marketing platform by route sales, pursuing comprehensive cost reductions, and creating Group-wide synergies. We will use our company's strengths, both domestically and internationally, to provide new value for a healthy and rich dietary life around the world. In order to increase the recognition ratio of ITO EN, so that when people all over the world say "Japanese Tea," they will always be reminded of ITO EN, starting from the current "mainly Japanese ITO EN," to that end, we aim at growing up our brands to the level of the "Global ITO EN." At this current point in time, the forecast for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2020 is as follows. Net sales 510,000 million yen,up 1.2% year on year Operating income 23,000 million yen,up 0.8% year on year Ordinary income 22,800 million yen,down 1.8% year on year Profit attributable to owners of parent 14,200 million yen,down 1.8% year on year 2. Basic Policies Concerning Selection of Accounting Standards Taking into consideration reliable year-on-year and company-to-company comparisons in the consolidated financial statements, the ITO EN Group's policy for the time being is to prepare its consolidated financial statements according to Japanese accounting standards. As for the application of international accounting standards, ITO EN plans to appropriately respond after considering the circumstances in Japan and overseas. 3. Consolidated Financial Statements and Main Notes (1) Consolidated Balance Sheets As of April 30, 2018 and April 30, 2019 (Millions of yen) - 5 - - 6 - (2) Consolidated Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2018 and 2019 (May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2018 and May 1, 2018 - April 30, 2019) Consolidated Statements of Income (Millions of yen) - 7 - - 8 - (3) Consolidated Statement of Changes in Shareholders' Equity For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2018 (May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2018) (Millions of yen) \| \| Capital stock \| Capital surplus \| Retained earnings \| Treasury shares \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Balance at beginning of current period \| 19,912 \| 18,644 \| 102,750 \| (1,983) \| \| Changes of items during period \| \| \| \| \| \| Dividends of surplus \| \| \| (5,237) \| \| \| Profit attributable to owners of parent \| \| \| 12,553 \| \| \| Purchase of treasury shares \| \| \| \| (858) \| \| Disposal of treasury shares \| \| 1 \| \| 43 \| \| Net changes of items other than shareholders’ equity \| \| \| \| \| \| Total changes of items during period \| – \| 1 \| 7,316 \| (814) \| \| Balance at end of current period \| 19,912 \| 18,645 \| 110,066 \| (2,798) \| \| \| Accumulated other comprehensive income \| \| \| \| \| Share acquisition rights \| Non- controlling interests \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Valuation difference on available- for-sale securities \| Revaluation reserve for land \| Foreign currency translation adjustment \| Remeasure- ments of defined benefit plans \| Total accumulated other comprehen- sive income \| \| \| \| Balance at beginning of current period \| 2,133 \| (6,053) \| 747 \| (629) \| (3,802) \| 66 \| 1,122 \| \| Changes of items during period \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Dividends of surplus \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Profit attributable to owners of parent \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Purchase of treasury shares \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Disposal of treasury shares \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Net changes of items other than shareholders’ equity \| 818 \| – \| (409) \| 104 \| 513 \| 31 \| (6) \| \| Total changes of items during period \| 818 \| – \| (409) \| 104 \| 513 \| 31 \| (6) \| \| Balance at end of period \| 2,951 \| (6,053) \| 337 \| (525) \| (3,289) \| 97 \| 1,116 \| - 9 - \| \| Capital stock \| Capital surplus \| Retained earnings \| Treasury shares \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Balance at beginning of current period \| 19,912 \| 18,645 \| 110,066 \| (2,798) \| \| Changes of items during period \| \| \| \| \| \| Dividends of surplus \| \| \| (5,212) \| \| \| Profit attributable to owners of parent \| \| \| 14,462 \| \| \| Purchase of treasury shares \| \| \| \| (1,870) \| \| Disposal of treasury shares \| \| (4) \| (73) \| 120 \| \| Net changes of items other than shareholders’ equity \| \| \| \| \| \| Total changes of items during period \| – \| (4) \| 9,176 \| (1,749) \| \| Balance at end of current period \| 19,912 \| 18,640 \| 119,242 \| (4,547) \| \| \| Accumulated other comprehensive income \| \| \| \| \| Share acquisition rights \| Non- controlling interests \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Valuation difference on available- for-sale securities \| Revaluation reserve for land \| Foreign currency translation adjustment \| Remeasure- ments of defined benefit plans \| Total accumulated other comprehen- sive income \| \| \| \| Balance at beginning of current period \| 2,951 \| (6,053) \| 337 \| (525) \| (3,289) \| 97 \| 1,116 \| \| Changes of items during period \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Dividends of surplus \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Profit attributable to owners of parent \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Purchase of treasury shares \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Disposal of treasury shares \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| Net changes of items other than shareholders’ equity \| (671) \| – \| 333 \| 40 \| (297) \| 36 \| 11 \| \| Total changes of items during period \| (671) \| – \| 333 \| 40 \| (297) \| 36 \| 11 \| (4) Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2018 and 2019 (May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2018 and May 1, 2018 - April 30, 2019) (Millions of yen) (5) Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Note Regarding the Company's Position as a Going Concern) Not applicable (Change of Presentation) (Change due to Application of "Partial Amendments to Accounting Standard for Tax Effect Accounting" and relevant Guidances) The Company and its consolidated subsidiaries have applied the "Partial Amendments to Accounting Standard for Tax Effect Accounting" (ASBJ Statement No. 28, February 16, 2018) and relevant Guidances effective from the beginning of the fiscal year ending April 30, 2019. Accordingly, deferred tax assets were presented under "Investments and other assets" and deferred tax liabilities were presented under "Non-current liabilities." (Basis of Presentation of Consolidated Financial Statements) 1. Consolidation scope (1) Consolidated subsidiaries (2) Non-consolidated subsidiaries 31 companies 2 companies 2. Application of equity method (Notes to Consolidated Statements of Income) 1. Ending finished goods represents the amount after write-down of the book value in accordance with the declining in profitability of assets and the following loss on valuation of inventories is included in cost of sales. Million yen Fiscal year ended April 30, 2018 Fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 124 Cost of sales 25 2. Main items of selling, general and administrative expenses Million yen 3. Breakdown of gain on sales of non-current assets is as follows. Million yen Total 9 9 4. Compensation income As extraordinary income, a compensation payment related to discontinuation of system development was recorded. 5. Breakdown of loss on abandonment of non-current assets is as follows. Million yen Total 51 197 6. Impairment loss The ITO EN Group recognized impairment losses on the assets group listed below. For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2018 (May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2018) In the case of the consolidated subsidiary Tully's Coffee Japan Co., Ltd., asset grouping is conducted with each shop as the basic unit of measurement, as these are the smallest units of cash flow generation. Out of the stores stated in the above, for those incurred continuous deficits in cash flows arising from operating activities, the book values of their assets were reduced to recoverable values and recorded as impairment loss in extraordinary losses, amounting to 455 million yen (buildings and structures 386 million yen, tools, furniture and fixtures 60 million yen, and other 8 million yen) as of the fiscal year ended April 30, 2018. The recoverable amount was determined through measurement of the value in use, which is calculated as zero. For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 (May 1, 2018 - April 30, 2019) \| Location \| Use \| Type of assets \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa, etc. \| Store, etc. (Tully’s Coffee Japan Co., Ltd.) \| Buildings, etc. \| \| Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, etc. \| Business assets (TSUCHIKURA Co., Ltd.) \| Land, etc. \| In the case of the consolidated subsidiary Tully's Coffee Japan Co., Ltd., asset grouping is conducted with each shop as the basic unit of measurement, as these are the smallest units of cash flow generation. Out of the stores stated in the above, for those incurred continuous deficits in cash flows arising from operating activities, the book values of their assets were reduced to recoverable values and recorded as impairment loss in extraordinary losses, amounting to 465 million yen (buildings and structures 369 million yen, tools, furniture and fixtures 42 million yen, and other 53 million yen) as of the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019. The recoverable amount was determined through measurement of the value in use, which is calculated as zero. In the case of the consolidated subsidiary TSUCHIKURA Co., Ltd., whole assets are grouped as a single asset group, because the company conducts a single business. For this fiscal year under review, the book values of its assets were reduced to recoverable values and recorded as impairment loss in extraordinary losses, amounting to 22 million yen (land 14 million yen, machinery and equipment 6 million yen and other assets 1 million yen) as of the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019, because it incurred continuous deficits in profit and loss arising from operating activities. The recoverable amount was measured at their net realizable values, while the amount of land was determined based on its appraisal value or devaluation of property, plant and equipment. But the net realizable values of the other assets are calculated as zero, because they are difficult to sell or to convert to other uses. *7. Loss on abandonment of inventories Please note that as extraordinary losses, we reported 673 million yen in cost related to the disposal of products that fail to meet the company's quality standards. (Segment Information, etc.) 1. Outline of reporting segments The ITO EN Group reporting segments shall be part of our organizational units whose financial information is individually available, and shall be subject to regular review by its Board of Directors for the purpose of deciding the allocation of its managerial resources and evaluating its business performance. The ITO EN Group is engaged in the manufacture, purchase and sales of products of tea leaves/beverages in both domestic and overseas markets as its mainstay business and also is engaged in restaurant business. As such, our reporting segments consist of "Tea Leaves/Beverage Businesses," "Restaurant Business," and "Others." 2. Basis for calculating sales, profit or loss, assets, liabilities, and other items by reporting segment Accounting treatment for reporting segments is the same as basis of preparation for the consolidated financial statements. Profit of reporting segments is based on operating income. Sales and transfer of intersegment are based on prevailing market price. 3. Information regarding amounts of sales, profit or loss, assets, liabilities, and other items by reporting segment For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2018 (May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2018) (Millions of yen) \| \| Reporting Segment \| \| \| \| Adjustment \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Tea leaves /Beverages Business \| Restaurant Business \| Others \| Total \| \| \| Net sales: (1) Outside (2) Intersegment \| 455,603 391 \| 32,570 18 \| 6,619 2,977 \| 494,793 3,387 \| – (3,387) \| \| Total net sales \| 455,995 \| 32,589 \| 9,596 \| 498,181 \| (3,387) \| \| Segment profits (losses) \| 19,151 \| 3,250 \| 939 \| 23,341 \| (1,298) \| \| Segment assets \| 265,577 \| 15,766 \| 6,812 \| 288,155 \| 13,012 \| \| Others: (1) Depreciation (2) Amortization of goodwill (3) Investments to entities accounted for using equity method (4) Increase in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets \| 12,117 213 1,313 12,631 \| 964 – – 2,186 \| 140 69 – 16 \| 13,222 282 1,313 14,834 \| – 1,536 – – \| Notes: i. The segment profits (losses) adjustment (1,298) million yen includes (1,536) million yen in amortization of goodwill and 238 million yen in intersegment transactions. ii. The segment assets adjustment 13,012 million yen is unamortized balance of goodwill, and etc. iii. Segment profits (losses) are adjusted to the operating income figure on the Consolidated Statements of Income. For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019 (May 1, 2018 - April 30, 2019) (Millions of yen) \| \| Reporting Segment \| \| \| \| Adjustment \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Tea leaves /Beverages Business \| Restaurant Business \| Others \| Total \| \| \| Net sales: (1) Outside (2) Intersegment \| 462,841 437 \| 34,555 12 \| 6,756 2,792 \| 504,153 3,242 \| – (3,242) \| \| Total net sales \| 463,278 \| 34,568 \| 9,549 \| 507,396 \| (3,242) \| \| Segment profits (losses) \| 19,806 \| 3,504 \| 771 \| 24,083 \| (1,263) \| \| Segment assets \| 268,533 \| 17,015 \| 6,467 \| 292,017 \| 11,964 \| \| Others: (1) Depreciation (2) Amortization of goodwill (3) Investments to entities accounted for using equity method (4) Increase in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets \| 12,331 211 1,514 10,843 \| 940 – – 1,491 \| 139 69 – 47 \| 13,411 280 1,514 12,383 \| – 1,496 – – \| Notes: i. The segment profits (losses) adjustment (1,263) million yen includes (1,496) million yen in amortization of goodwill and 232 million yen in intersegment transactions. ii. The segment assets adjustment 11,964 million yen is unamortized balance of goodwill, and etc. iii. Segment profits (losses) are adjusted to the operating income figure on the Consolidated Statements of Income. (Notes to Per Share Data) For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2018 and 2019 (May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2018 and May 1, 2018 - April 30, 2019) Yen Note: The basis for calculating earnings per share and earnings per share (diluted) is as follows: (Notes to Subsequent Events) Not applicable
Richard L. Garwin 1 Christie Place Unit 402W Scarsdale, NY 10583 (914) 945-2555 Email: firstname.lastname@example.org URL: www.fas.org/RLG/ Chairman Mike Rogers Ranking Member Jim Cooper Strategic Forces Subcommittee House Armed Services Committee Rayburn 2216 House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mike Rogers and Jim Cooper, The NAS report on "Peer Review and Design Competition ..." provides useful commentary on peer review and background on the nuclear weapons design and maintenance process. However, I believe that the great emphasis on "design competition" in the nature of competitive designs of new warheads for missiles or bombs seriously misses the point and does not assess the very substantial costs-- both opportunity costs and the spur that such a program gives to international competitors and potential enemies, who have much more to gain from innovations and weapon development than does the United States. The appearance of continuous active nuclear weapon design competition can have negative as well as positive benefit. I particularly take exception to the argument that the U.S. nuclear deterrent is impaired by the lack of a visible series of competitive designs and prototyping of new nuclear warheads and bombs. I can understand that whatever the merit of an argument, it can apparently be strengthened by indicating that without the proposed program, U.S. deterrence of nuclear war or war in general will suffer, "p. 5: they did not exercise the complete set of skills required in the NNSA complex to design nuclear weapons that would be an effective deterrent, nor was the credibility of any design assessed by fabricating a device or by non-nuclear testing." but we have had experience with this argument before: In support of the National Ignition Facility, in the years following the 1992 moratorium on nuclear testing initiated by the Administration of President George H.W. Bush, it was argued that without continued nuclear explosion testing, evident the world over by seismic records of the underground nuclear explosions at the U.S. national test site, nuclear deterrence could be maintained only by the achievement of "ignition" at NIF. I took the other side in this discussion, arguing that such a proposal was self-serving and January 11, 2016 that the argument itself contributed to the weakening of deterrence, because the United States clearly had many nuclear weapons which had been tested and could be maintained indefinitely in the future by what is known now as a LEP (Life Extension Program); More particularly, the suggestion that such a force-in-being of tested nuclear weapons suffered in deterrent value because ignition could not be achieved in a charge of fusion fuel a million times smaller than that in a weapon was both logically deficient and both politically and technically wrong headed. Unforeseen difficulties, either in principle or in practice might prevent the achievement of ignition at NIF, without in any way impairing the continued ability of the United States to produce two-stage thermonuclear weapons. And that is how it turned out—failure to achieve ignition, but few had believed the hype. Thus I think it is highly undesirable to argue that routine design competitions, through the prototype stage of the nuclear explosive package-- NEP-- are essential to the maintenance of robust U.S. nuclear deterrence. In fact, I have no animosity to the idea of design competition and proposed such in a paper of 2008 and in my testimony to the congressionally mandated Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. 1 As for motivation of the technical teams in the two NNSA design labs, I judge that effectively contributing to the continuing effectiveness of the stockpile through life extension programs (LEP) is judged a worthier goal than winning a football-game-like competition. There are very substantial costs associated with such design competition, and goals of infrastructure advancement should be to reduce greatly the cost of activities in the U.S. nuclear weapon design laboratories, and also the time required for planning, programming, and carrying out such programs. Furthermore, the Report states, "Moreover, as other nations pursue new designs or strategies that could constitute serious threat evolutions, the United States could find itself in a precarious security situation were it not to maintain nuclear weapon design, development, and production skills to address such evolving demands." implying that new U.S. nuclear weapons would be necessary to respond to new nuclear weapon designs by others. This is rarely the case. The Report makes a stab at stating the magnitude of the effort required in such a design competition, "Roughly speaking, the committee imagines a design competition as involving a few dozen laboratory staff members, with a larger number in the first year of each competition, plus some prototype development and experiments up to and including hydrodynamic tests. These parameters suggest a scale for the endeavor that the committee deems appropriate." 1 http://fas.org/rlg/9007TEST1.pdf https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2008_12/Garwin "A Different Kind of Complex: The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons and the Nuclear Weapons Enterprise," by R.L. Garwin includes "Yet, the work done so far on the RRW program has re-energized the nuclear laboratories and their involvement in the nuclear weapons complex. Such a major effort should be undertaken every five years or so. I know firsthand from my involvement with this program that new insights have arisen from the new focus on simulation and computation." but the authors neither provide any rationale for this statement, nor work out its program cost or opportunity cost. And in my opinion it does not go far enough, because the NEP is not a weapon in itself, until it is integrated with the bomb or warhead, on which it puts demands, and which, in turn, influence the design of the NEP. The load and vibration characteristics of Navy and Air Force-strategic reentry vehicles and their corresponding NEPs are quite different-- posing now well-recognized impediments to the "3 + 2" approach. The Labs do important work in areas of nonproliferation and counter-terrorism, in a much larger volume of design space than would be involved in analyzing and developing alternative warheads for the U.S. stockpile. As with learning a foreign language, this provides insights into elements of U.S. weapons. Since the Administration of President George H.W. Bush, the U.S. nuclear weapon program has been based on the judgment that the U.S. does not need new nuclear weapon capabilities-- a judgment that I share. The continued viability of the nuclear deterrent has been focused on ensuring that the U.S. nuclear weapons will continue to function decade after decade, by LEPs that include, if necessary, production of new plutonium pits, refreshment of the high explosive and other elements subject to deterioration, and the substitution of thoroughly tested components either in the NEP or external to it. It should be repeated that many of the aspects of a nuclear explosion important in wartime have never been tested in underground nuclear explosion tests, where the NEP is at rest, surrounded by rock rather than by air, not subject to rotation or deceleration in the range of tens of times that of gravity, and the like. It is strange, therefore, that the essential role of realistic "flight testing" now achieved with the "HFJTA"—High-Fidelity Joint Test Assembly-- is eliminated from the requirement for prototypes. Finally, if the United States argues that the continued development and readiness for manufacture of nuclear weapons with new characteristics is essential to its deterrence, how can other states resist such arguments from their nuclear weapon establishments? Is it really in the United States interest to have vigorous competitions not only between two U.S. nuclear weapon design laboratories but also among all the weapon labs of the world? And what impact will ongoing vigorous design competitions have on the resolve of non-nuclear-weapon state members of the NPT to support the NPT and the CTBT? Far better is continued emphasis on improving the robustness of command and control, surety of nuclear weapons storage and transport, and increased capability for preventing nuclear weapon theft. / Richard L. Garwin / Richard L. Garwin Relevant biography at https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2008_12/Garwin and also appended. Richard L. Garwin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1928. He received the B.S. in Physics from Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland, in 1947, and the Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago in 1949. He is IBM Fellow Emeritus at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York. After three years on the faculty of the University of Chicago, he joined IBM Corporation in 1952, and was until June 1993 IBM Fellow at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York. In addition, he is a consultant to the U.S. government on matters of military technology, arms control, etc. He has been Director of the IBM Watson Laboratory, Director of Applied Research at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, a member of the IBM Corporate Technical Committee, Adjunct Research Fellow in the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; and Adjunct Professor of Physics at Columbia University. He has also been Professor of Public Policy in the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. From 1997 to 2004 he was Philip D. Reed Senior Fellow for Science and Technology at the Council on Foreign Relations, New York. He has made contributions in the design of nuclear weapons, in instruments and electronics for research in nuclear and lowtemperature physics, in the establishment of the nonconservation of parity and the demonstration of some of its striking consequences, in computer elements and systems, including superconducting devices, in communication systems, in the behavior of solid helium, in the detection of gravitational radiation, and in military technology. He has published more than 500 papers and been granted 47 U.S. patents. He has testified to many Congressional committees on matters involving national security, transportation, energy policy and technology, and the like. He is coauthor of many books, among them Nuclear Weapons and World Politics (1977), Nuclear Power Issues and Choices (1977), Energy: The Next Twenty Years (1979), Science Advice to the President (1980), Managing the Plutonium Surplus: Applications and Technical Options (1994), Feux Follets et Champignons Nucleaires (1997) (in French with Georges Charpak), Megawatts and Megatons: A Turning Point in the Nuclear Age? (2001) (with Georges Charpak), and "De Tchernobyl en tchernobyls," (with Georges Charpak and Venance Journe) (2005). He was a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee 1962-65 and 1969-72, and of the Defense Science Board 196669. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, of the IEEE, and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the American Philosophical Society. He served on the Council of the National Academy of Sciences 1983-1986 and 2002-2005. The citation accompanying his 1978 election to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering reads "Contributions applying the latest scientific discoveries to innovative practical engineering applications contributing to national security and economic growth." He received the 1983 Wright Prize for interdisciplinary scientific achievement, the 1988 AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award, the 1991 Erice "Science for Peace" Prize, from the U.S. Government the 1996 R.V. Jones Foreign Intelligence Award and the 1996 Enrico Fermi Award, the Federation of American Scientists: Public Service Award 1971 and 1997, University of Chicago Enrico Fermi Institute and Departments of Physics and Astronomy: Public Service Medal (2002), Case Alumni Association: Gold Medal (2002), Academie des Sciences (France): La Grande Medaille de l'Academie des Sciences-2002, and Fellow of the IEEE (November 2003) "for contributions to the application of engineering to national defense." In 2003 he received from the President the National Medal of Science. From 1977 to 1985 he was on the Council of the Institute for Strategic Studies (London), and during 1978 he chaired the Panel on Public Affairs of the American Physical Society. He is a long-time member of Pugwash and has served on the Pugwash Council. His work for the government has included studies on antisubmarine warfare, new technologies in health care, sensor systems, military and civil aircraft, and satellite and strategic systems, from the point of view of improving such systems as well as assessing existing capabilities. For example, he contributed to the first U.S. photographic reconnaissance satellite program, CORONA, that returned 3 million feet of film from more than 100 successful flights 1960-1972. He contributed also to the current electro-optical imaging systems and various electronic intelligence satellite systems deployed by the U.S. government. He has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Group to the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff and was in 1998 a Commissioner on the 9-person "Rumsfeld" Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States. From 1993 to August 2001, he chaired the Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board of the Department of State. On the 40th anniversary of the founding of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) he was recognized as one of the ten Founders of National Reconnaissance. Since 2009 he has been a consultant to the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Offices of the President. In 2010 he was a consultant to Secretary of Energy Steve Chu on the Deep Water Horizon (BP) oil spill, and in 2011 he supported Secretary Chu again on the U.S. response to the damaged reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi. (Biography current as of 08/13/12)
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF STANISLAUS STATE OF CALIFORNIA Tuesday June 11, 2002 period of three (3) months, and authorized the HSA Interim Managing Director, or her Designee, to sign the amendment extending the agreement 2002-429 B7 Approved the acceptance of additional enhancement funding for HSA's Family Planning Program from the California Family Health Council, Title X, for the remainder of Calendar Year (CY) 2002 to enhance outreach and basic contraceptive services to the men and women in Stanislaus County; and, authorized the HSA Interim Managing Director, or her Designee, to sign and accept the addendum to the Basic Contraceptive Services Contract enhancing the Title X funding by $26,719 2002-430 B8 Approved the findings in the revised CEQA Initial Study and adopted a Negative Declaration for Empire Neighborhood Park; and, finds the project to be "De Minimis" for the purposes of the California Fish and Game Codes – Parks and Recreation 2002-431 B9 Approved the submittal of a grant application to the State Off-Highway Vehicle Grant Program for the operation and maintenance of Frank Raines and La Grange Off-Highway Vehicle Parks for FY 2002/03; authorized the Director of Parks and Recreation to sign and submit the grant application; and, approved the associated resolution 2002-432 B10 Accepted the Stanislaus County Treasury Pool's March, 2002 Monthly Investment Report as prepared by the T/TC's Office and reviewed for conformity with State law and Local Investment Policy by the Stanislaus County Treasury Pool Oversight Committee; and, authorized the Chairman to sign that the report has been reviewed and accepted 2002-433 B11 Adopted the Property Tax Administrative Cost Recovery Plan report determining that the property tax administrative costs of the County for FY 2000/01 are $5,850,358, establishing the proportion of said costs attributable to incorporated cities and other jurisdictions and authorized the collection of said costs pursuant to the provisions of R&T Code §95.3 and County Code §4.44.10 – Auditor-Controller 2002-434 C1 Adopted a resolution to summarily vacate a portion of a Public Utility Easement in the Town of Salida – PW 2002-435 C2 Approved the Plans and Specifications for the Cowan Tract Road Widening on Crows Landing Road; set the deadline for submission of bids as 7/17/02, prior to 2:30 p.m.; directed Public Works' staff to mail the Notice Inviting Bids to Trade Journals as required by law; and, directed the Auditor-Controller to increase appropriations by $3,000 in the project account to cover the costs of advertising and publishing – PW 2002-436 C3 Set a public hearing on 7/30/02, at 9:30 a.m., regarding the FY 2002/03 Annual Assessments for CSA #10 - Salida; approved the Engineer's Report, prepared by the Engineer; and, authorized an assessment Ballot Procedure in conformance with Prop 218 for the FY 2002/03 Annual Assessments – PW CSA-10-A-5 2002-437 C4 Approved Robertson Road Improvement Project appropriation and estimated revenue increase for design services by $122,000; directed the Auditor-Controller to increase appropriations and estimated revenue by $122,000 in the project account; and, authorized the Purchasing Agent to sign the appropriate amendments 2002-438 D1 Rescinded Williamson Act Contract #74-1674 (W. Grayson Rd., District #5) and approved a new contract pursuant to Minor Lot Line Adjustment Application #2002-11; authorized the Planning Director to execute new contracts; finds the new contract or contracts would enforceably restrict the adjusted boundaries of the parcel for an initial term for at least as long as the unexpired term of the rescinded contract or contracts, but for not less than 10 years; finds there is no net decrease in the amount of the acreage restricted - in cases where two parcels involved in a lot line adjustment are both subject to contracts rescinded pursuant to this section, this finding will be satisfied if the aggregate acreage of the land restricted by the new contracts is at least as great as the aggregate acreage restricted by the rescinded contracts; finds at least 90 percent of the land under the former contract or contracts remains under the new contract or contracts; finds after the lot line adjustment, the parcels of land subject to contract will be large enough to sustain their agricultural use, as defined in §51222; finds the lot line adjustment would not compromise the long-term agricultural productivity of the parcel or other agricultural lands subject to a contract or contracts; finds the lot line adjustment is not likely to result in the removal of adjacent land from agricultural use; and, finds the lot line adjustment does not result in a greater number of developable parcels than existed prior to the adjustment, or an adjusted lot that is inconsistent with the general plan – Planning and Community Development Department 2002-439 *D2 Set a public hearing on 7/30/02, at 9:25 a.m., for the Stanislaus County/City of Turlock Consortium Budget and Work Plan for the 2002/03 FY HOME Investment Partnership Program 2002-440 C/B unan. B13 Authorized staff to prepare for approval: a Master Development Plan, a City/County agreement modification, and a Keystone Pacific Development Agreement to initiate the first phase of the West Patterson Business Park – CEO 2002-441 Recessed at 10:15 a.m. Reconvened at 10:23 a.m. B/C unan. B14 Authorized the formation of a new nonprofit 501(c) (6) corporation, currently called the Business and Workforce Alliance of Stanislaus County, Inc. ("Alliance"), to consolidate Workforce Investment Board (WIB) functions and economic development functions; authorized the incorporators to file all appropriate corporate documents and exemption applications; authorized the transfer of the WIB functions to the Alliance; approved the first year operating budget of $1,092,805; approved the County's proposed contributions to that budget of $124,630 from County General Funds and $582,210 from WIA funds to be included in the 2002/03 FY Budget; approved indirect costs of $61,967 from the DET's budget; approved an amount not to exceed $100,000 for data and telecommunications and FFE expenses from the DET's Budget; authorized the CEO to negotiate and execute an agreement with the Alliance to ensure compliance with the WIA of 1998; authorized the Auditor-Controller to transfer funds in accordance with the budget and the agreement between the Alliance and the County; and, authorized the County's CEO to seek competitive proposals and execute a contract for the installation of data and communication lines and furnishings, fixtures and equipment for the Alliance space and the DET space on the ground floor of 10 th Street Place BD-71-A-1; BD-76-1; M-58-29 2002-442 B/S unan. C5 Approved the FY 2002/03 Transportation Development Act Claim, and authorized the Director of Public Works to execute and submit it to the STANCOG 2002-443 C/P unan. 9:30am The Board states they have received and considered staff reports and testimony today, and based upon staff reports and all attachments (A-L), other written correspondence, testimony received at the hearing and comments from Board members, the Board adopts the four staff recommendations set forth on pages 1 and 2 of the staff report and adopts the additional findings; the Board finds that the public interest and necessity require the proposed project (construction of the primary access road for the Diablo Grande Planned Development Project); finds that the proposed project is planned or located in the manner that will be most compatible with the greatest public good and the least private injury; finds the property described in the resolution is necessary for the proposed project; finds the offer required by GC §7267.2 has been made to the owners of record of the property to be acquired; finds pursuant to GC §51292, that the location of the improvements is not based primarily on a condition of the lower costs of acquired land in an agricultural preserve; finds that there is no land within or outside the preserve on which it is reasonably feasible to locate the public improvement; adopted a Resolution of Necessity, and authorized County Counsel in conjunction with outside counsel, Mr. Balestracci, to initiate eminent domain proceedings to acquire the affected properties; that topography and design standards are the primary consideration for location, the Board finds that the finding in section 51292(a) can be made; the location of the cut-across road is limited by the location of the subdivision and Interstate 5, as well as the existing connector roads and points of intersection with Interstate 5, three alternatives to the proposed alignment were evaluated, the alternatives were determined to be impractical for reasons of cost, traffic flow, or engineering limitations, or a combination of these reasons and, based upon these factors, the Board finds that the finding in section 51292(b) can be made; the road location is primarily based upon topography and design standards needed to make the most direct route from the project to the highway; the Board finds that the conditions for determining public necessity have been satisfied; and, the Board finds that the two conditions required under section 51292, the Williamson Act, have been satisfied – PW 2002-444 Corr 1 Accepted letter of retirement with regrets from Larry B. Poaster, Ph.D., Director of BHRS, announcing his retirement from County service effective 8/9/02 and congratulated him on his many years of service. Corr 2 Acknowledged receipt of claims and referred to the CEO-Risk Management Division the following claims: Deborah Lewis (Amended Claim); and, Mildred Sweeten and Roy Sweeten. Supervisor Caruso noted that he met with the I-5 Interchange people to resolve issues. He noted that he will be the President of the StanCOG again this year. He also attended, with the CEO, a meeting with the Attorney General in Stockton. Supervisor Blom commented on a recent editorial regarding the use of Transportation Funds and that these funds were used for retro-fitting overpasses and bridges for earthquakes. Legislative A. Postponed the Informational Report from CSA regarding the expansion of Medi-Cal Outreach to Children and Adults in Stanislaus County – No Vote Taken Adjourned at 12:20 p.m. ATTESTED: CHRISTINE FERRARO TALLMAN Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Stanislaus State of California BY: LILLIE L. FARRIESTER, Assistant Clerk of the Board of Supervisors (The above is a summary of the minutes of the Board of Supervisors. Complete minutes are available from the Clerk of the Board’s Office.)
Personal Data Name: Molka Gharbaoui Place of Birth: Tunis, Tunisia Date of Birth: 04 April 1983 Nationality: Tunisian Address: Via N. Machiavelli, 11 – 56017 Ghezzano, San Giuliano Terme (PI) – Italy Mobile: +39 328 5756982 E-Mail: email@example.com Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.it/citations?hl=en&user=FNtLMY4AAAAJ Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molka-gharbaoui-a1950562/ Work Career - August 2022 – Now: Assistant Professor at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. She is currently carrying out research activities within several European and Italian research projects such as the 5G Smart Edge Node and Smart Objects enabling Reliable Services Extended All over the seas (5G Sensor @SEA) project and Proximity Care – Tele-Emergency: supporting tele emergency systems for health professionals. - November 2020 – July 2022: Research Engineer at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. She was involved in several European and Italian research projects such as the 5G-enabled Growth in Vertical Industries project (5Growth) and 5G Smart Edge Node and Smart Objects enabling Reliable Services Extended All over the seas (5G Sensor @SEA) project. - November 2017 – October 2020: Researcher at the National Inter-University Consortium for Telecommunications (CNIT-LNRF – www.cnit.it) laboratory in Pisa, Italy. She was involved in the 5G Mobile Transport Platform for Verticals project (5G-Transformer) funded by the European Union's Research and Innovation Programme Horizon 2020. She was also performing research work within the 5GinFIRE project funded by the European Horizon 2020 Programme for research, technological development and demonstration. She co-chaired the Workshop on Orchestration for Software-Defined Infrastructures (O4SDI) and served as TPC member in many IEEE conferences. - November 2012 – October 2017: Postdoctoral research fellow at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. In this period, she worked on several regional, national and European research projects such as 5GEx, Fed4FIRE, Ofelia and GEMMA. She also co-authored several papers in international journals and conference proceedings. The studies performed during this period focused on the following topics: o Implementation and performance evaluation of software-defined networking solutions in virtualized environments o Network virtualization and orchestration o Development and implementation of service-oriented architectures for next generation Networks o Smart grid and electric vehicles o Software-defined networking for clouds Education - December 2012: Ph. D degree in Innovative Technologies of Info. & Com. Eng. and Robotics – Telecommunications from the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. The title of the Ph.D. dissertation is "Dynamic Resource Provisioning and Security Solutions in Service-Oriented Networks". - November 2008 – November 2012: Ph.D. student at the "Centre of Excellence for Communications Networks Engineering" of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. Her main research interests included the following topics: o Security issues in next generation networking o Optical network control and management protocols o Trust management in multi-domain networks o Provisioning of QoS in IP/MPLS networks o Service orchestration - September 2008: Master's degree "International Master on Communication Networks Engineering" (IMCNE) organized by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. - July 2007: Diploma in Computer Sciences Engineering from the National School of Computer Sciences, Tunisia (ENSI). - June 2002: High school diploma with First Honours from the Kheireddine Bacha School, Ariana, Tunisia. Research Activity Molka Gharbaoui's research interests are mainly related to the design and implementation of different aspects for network management, resource orchestration and performance evaluation. The most relevant topics include: * Orchestration and management of resources and services in Software Defined Infrastructures * Management of network slices * Network performance of software platforms based on experimentations within virtualized environments * Network virtualization * Development and implementation of service-oriented architectures * QoS provisioning * Next generation networks design Participations in Research Projects [x] Research projects funded by the European Commission: o Fed4FIRE EVIDENCE (Validating Traffic Engineering in OpenFlow Data Center Networks for Cloud Service Deployments) o FP7 OFELIA (WP13 –Extending OpenFlow for Unified Management and Control of Cloud Data Center Resources (EMOTICON)) o 5GEx (5G Exchange) o 5GInFire SLICENET 5G (Slice SDN-based Network Management in 5G) o 5Growth (5G-enabled Growth in Vertical Industries) o 5G- Transformer (5G Mobile Transport Platform for Vehicles) o Fed4FIRE+ LASH-5G (Latency-aware and self-adaptive service chaining in reliable 5G/SDN/NFV infratructures) o TRIANGLE DiMoVis (Distributed Mobile Video Surveillance in a 5G Ecosystem) o 5G SENSOR @SEA (5G Smart Edge Node and Smart Objects enabling Reliable Services Extended All over the seas) [x] Research projects funded by Tuscany Region: o Intelligent Management of Electric Vehicles and Microgrid for Sustainable Mobility (GEMMA) Editorial Activities Molka Gharbaoui is currently serving or has served as: * Guest Editor for a Special Issue "Intent-based Software-Defined Networks" of the Computers international scientific peer-reviewed open access journal published by MDPI in September 2021. * Topic Editor for the Applied Sciences international scientific peer-reviewed open access journal published by MDPI. She was involved in the organization of the following events: * TPC co-chair for the 2 nd International Workshop on Intent-Based Networking (WIN 2022) to be organized in June 2022. * Demo co-chair for the 24th Conference on Innovation in Clouds, Internet and Networks (ICIN 2021) organized virtually in March 2021. * TPC co-chair for the IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks (NFV-SDN 2021) organized in November 2021. * Demo co-chair for the IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks (NFV-SDN 2020) organized virtually in November 2020. * Publicity co-chair for the IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium organized virtually in April 2020. She served as Technical Program Committee member for the following international conferences: * ICCVE 2013 (International Conference on Connected Vehicles & Expo) * ICCVE 2015 (International Conference on Connected Vehicles & Expo) * ICCVE 2014 (International Conference on Connected Vehicles & Expo) * INTGAST 2015 (International Conference on Integrated and Sustainable Transportation) * ITU K-2016 (ITU Kaleidoscope 2016 – ICTs for a Sustainable World) * ICCVE 2016 (International Conference on Connected Vehicles & Expo) * NFV-SDN 2016 (IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks) * NFV-SDN 2018 (IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks) * NFV-SDN 2017 (IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks) * NFV-SDN 2019 (IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks) * GC 2019 Workshop – FIATS (IEEE GLOBECOM 2019 Workshop on Future Internet Architecture, Technologies and Services for 2030 and beyond) * ICCVE 2019 (International Conference on Connected Vehicles & Expo) * ICIN 2020 (23 rd Conference on Innovation in Clouds, Internet and Networks and Workshops) * ICIN 2021 (24 th Conference on Innovation in Clouds, Internet and Networks and Workshops) * NFV-SDN 2020 (IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks) * NetSoft 2021 (IEEE 7 th International Conference on Network Softwarization) * NFV-SDN 2021 – Doctoral Symposium (IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks – Doctoral Symposium) * NFV-SDN 2021 (IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks) * WIN 2021 (1 st International Workshop on Intent-Based Networking) * NOMS 2022 (IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium) * WIN 2022 (2 nd International Workshop on Intent-Based Networking) She also served as a reviewer for the following journals: * IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management * IEEE Access * IEEE Internet of Things Journal * Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies * Elsevier Computer Communications * Elsevier Computer Networks * Springer Photonic Network Communications * MDPI Applied Sciences * PLOS ONE * MDPI Sensors Journal * MDPI Electronics Journal * MDPI Symmetry Journal National and international awards for research activities. * N²Women: Rising Stars in Computer Networking and Communications - IEEE N2Women (Networking Networking Women) (07/2020) * Best Experiment Prize - FED4FIRE+ ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE (03/2018) * Best Demo Award - IEEE NFV-SDN Conference (11/2018) Bibliometric Indexes * Scopus (December 2022): H=14, Citations=572, Documents=67 * Google Scholar (December 2022): H=16, Citations=790, Documents=70 Foreign Languages * English: Speak, read and write fluent * Italian: Speak, read and write fluent * French: Speak, read and write fluent Publications in International Journals [1] B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, P. Castoldi, "Intent-based zero-touch service chaining layer for softwaredefined edge cloud networks," Computer Networks, 2022. [2] M. Gharbaoui, C. Contoli, G. Davoli, D. Borsatti, G. Cuffaro, F. Paganelli, W. Cerroni, P. Cappanera, B. Martini, "An experimental study on latency-aware and self-adaptive service chaining orchestration in distributed NFV and SDN infrastructures," Computer Networks, 2022. [3] C. -Y. Chang, T. Giner Ruiz, F. Paolucci, M.A. Jiménez, J. Sacido, C. Papagianni, F. Ubaldi, D. Scano, M. Gharbaoui, A. Giorgetti, L. Valcarenghi, K. Tomakh, A. Boddi, A. Caparròs, M Pergolesi, B. Martini, "Performance Isolation for Network Slices in Industry 4.0: The 5Growth Approach," in IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 166990-167003, 2021. [4] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, G. Cecchetti and P. Castoldi, "Resource Orchestration Strategies With Retrials for Latency-Sensitive Network Slicing Over Distributed Telco Clouds," in IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 132801-132817, 2021. [5] S. Fichera, B. Martini, R. Martínez, M. Gharbaoui, R. Casellas, R. Vilalta, R. Muñoz, P. Castoldi, Experimental evaluation of dynamic resource orchestration in multi-layer (packet over flexi-grid optical) networks. Photon Netw Commun 40, 137–148 (2020). [6] G. Castellano, I. Cerrato, M. Gharbaoui, S. FIchera, B. Martini, F. Risso, P. Castoldi, "A model‐based abstraction layer for heterogeneous SDN applications", International Journal of Communication Systems, vol. 32, n. 17, November 2019. [7] B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, D. Adami, P. Castoldi, S. Giordano, "Experimenting SDN and Cloud Orchestration in Virtualized Testing Facilities: Performance Results and Comparison", IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 16, n. 3, May, 2019. [8] S. Fichera, R. Martinez, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, R. Casellas, R. Vilalta, R. Munoz, P. Castoldi, "Latency-aware resource orchestration in SDN-based packet over optical flexi-grid transport networks", Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, vol. 11, n. 4, April 2019. [9] D. Adami, B. Martini, A. Sgambelluri, L. Donatini, M. Gharbaoui, P. Castoldi, S. Giordano, "An SDN orchestrator for cloud data center: System design and experimental evaluation", Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies, vol. 28, n. 11, November 2017. [10] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, D. Adami, S. Giordano, P. Castoldi, "Cloud and network orchestration in SDN data centers: Design principles and performance evaluation", Computer Networks, vol. 108, October 2016. [11] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, C.J. Fung, F. Paolucci, A. Giorgetti, P. Castoldi, "An incentive-compatible and trust-aware multi-provider path computation element (PCE)", Computer Networks, vol. 108, October 2016. [12] W. Cerroni, M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, A. Campi, P. Castoldi, F. Callegati, "Cross-layer Resource Orchestration for Cloud Service Delivery: A Seamless SDN Approach," Computer Networks, vol.87, 2015. [13] M. Gharbaoui, F. Paolucci, A. Giorgetti, B. Martini and P. Castoldi, "Effective Statistical Detection of Smart Confidentiality Attacks in Multidomain Networks," IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, vol. 10, n. 4, 2013. [14] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini and P. Castoldi, "Anycast-based Optimizations for Inter-Data Center interconnections (Invited)," IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking, vol. 4, n. 11, 2012. [15] F. Paolucci, M. Gharbaoui, A. Giorgetti, F. Cugini, B. Martini, L. Valcarenghi, and P. Castoldi, "Preserving Confidentiality in PCE-based Multi-domain Networks," IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking., vol. 3, n. 5, pp. 465 - 474, May. 2011. [16] M. Colombo, F. Martinelli, P. Mori, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, P. Castoldi, "Extending resource access in multi-provider networks using trust management", Journal of Comp. Net. and Comm.(IJCNC), May, 2011. Publications in Conferences [1] C-Y Chang, M. A Jiménez, M. Gharbaoui, J. Sacido, F. Ubaldi, C. Papagianni, A. Zabala, L. Valcarenghi, D. Scano, K. Tomakh, A. Giorgetti, A. Boddi, K. De Schepper, "Slice Isolation for 5G Transport Networks," 2021 IEEE 7th International Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), 2021, pp. 366-368. [2] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini and P. Castoldi, "Implementation of an Intent Layer for SDN-enabled and QoS-Aware Network Slicing," 2021 IEEE 7th International Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), 2021, pp. 17-23. [3] V. A. Cunha, N. Maroulis, C. Papagianni, J. Sacido, M. Jiménez, F. Ubaldi, M. Gharbaoui, C-Y. Chang, N. Koursioumpas, K. Tomakh, D. Corujo, J.P. Barraca, S. Barmpounakis, D. Kucherenko, A. Giorgetti, A. Boddi, L. Valcarenghi, O. Kolodiazhnyi, A. Zabala, J. Xavier Salvat, A. Garcia-Saavedra, "5 Growth: Secure and Reliable Network Slicing for Verticals," 2021 Joint European Conference on Networks and Communications & 6G Summit (EuCNC/6G Summit), 2021, pp. 347-352. [4] J. Baranda, J. Mangues-Bafalluy, L. Vettori, R. Martínez, K. Antevski, L. Girletti, C.J. Bernardos, K. Tomakh, D. Kucherenko, G. Landi, J. Brenes, X. Li, X. Costa-Pérez, F. Ubaldi, G Imbarlina, M. Gharbaoui, "NFV Service Federation: enabling Multi-Provider eHealth Emergency Services," IEEE INFOCOM 2020 IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops (INFOCOM WKSHPS), 2020, pp. 13221323. [5] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini and P. Castoldi, "Programmable and Automated Deployment of TenantManaged SDN Network Slices," NOMS 2020 - 2020 IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium, 2020, pp. 1-6. [6] P. Castoldi, S. Fichera, M. Gharbaoui, A. Giorgetti, B. Martini and F. Paolucci, "Disaggregated optical network control and orchestration of heterogeneous domains," 2019 24th OptoElectronics and Communications Conference (OECC) and 2019 International Conference on Photonics in Switching and Computing (PSC), 2019, pp. 1-3. [7] M. Gharbaoui et al., "Experimenting latency-aware and reliable service chaining in Next Generation Internet testbed facility," 2018 IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks (NFV-SDN), 2018, pp. 1-4. [8] M. Gharbaoui et al., "Demonstration of Latency-Aware and Self-Adaptive Service Chaining in 5G/SDN/NFV infrastructures," 2018 IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks (NFV-SDN), 2018, pp. 1-2. [9] K. Antevski, J. Martín-Pérez, N. Molner, C.-F. Chiasserini, F. Malandrino, P Frangoudis, A. Ksentini, X. Li, J SalvatLozano, R. Martínez, I. Pascual, J. Mangues-Bafalluy, J. Baranda, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, "Resource Orchestration of 5G Transport Networks for Vertical Industries," 2018 IEEE 29th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), 2018, pp. 158-163. 7 [10] S. Fichera, R. Martínez, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, R. Casellas, R. Vilalta, R. Muñoz, P. Castoldi, "Latency-Aware Network Service Orchestration over an SDN-Controlled Multi-Layer Transport Infrastructure," 2018 20th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), 2018, pp. 1-4. [11] I. Vaishnavi, J., M. Gharbaoui, G. Giuliani, D. Haja, J. Harmatos, D. Jocha, J Kim, B. Martini, J. MeMn, P. Monti, B. Németh, W.Y. Poe, A. Ramos, A Sgambelluri, B. Sonkoly, L. Toka, F. Tusa, C.J. Bernardos, R. Szabo, "Realizing services and slices across multiple operator domains," NOMS 2018 2018 IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium, 2018, pp. 1-7. [12] S. Fichera, M. Gharbaoui, P. Castoldi, B. Martini and A. Manzalini, "On experimenting 5G: Testbed set-up for SDN orchestration across network cloud and IoT domains," 2017 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), 2017, pp. 1-6. [13] M. Gharbaoui, S. Fichera, P. Castoldi and B. Martini, "Network orchestrator for QoS-enabled service function chaining in reliable NFV/SDN infrastructure," 2017 IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), 2017, pp. 1-5. [14] B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, S. Fichera and P. Castoldi, "Network orchestration in reliable 5G/NFV/SDN infrastructures," 2017 19th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), 2017, pp. 1-5. [15] A. Sgambelluri, F. Tusa, M. Gharbaoui, E. Maini, L. Toka, JM. Perez, F. Paolucci, B. Martini, W.Y. Poe, J Melian Hernandes, A. Muhammed, A. Ramos, OG. De Dios, B. Sonkoly, P. Monti, I. Vaishnavi, C.J. Bernardos, R. Szabó, "Orchestration of Network Services across multiple operators: The 5G Exchange prototype," 2017 European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC), 2017, pp. 1-5. [16] A. Sgambelluri, A. Milani, J. Czentye, J. Melian, W. Y. Poe, F. Tusa, O. G. de Dios, B. Sonkoly, M. Gharbaoui, F. Paolucci, E. Maini, G. Giuliani, A. Ramos, P. Monti, L. M. Contreras-Murillo, I. Vaishnavi, C. J. Bernardos Cano, and R. Szabo, "A Multi-Operator Network Service Orchestration Prototype: The 5G Exchange," in Optical Fiber Communication Conference, OSA Technical Digest (online) (Optica Publishing Group, 2017). [17] B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, I. Cerutti and P. Castoldi, "Network and datacenter resource orchestration strategies for mobile virtual networks over telco clouds," 2016 18th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), 2016, pp. 1-4. [18] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, D. Adami, P. Castoldi and S. Giordano, "Experiments on SDN-based network and cloud resource orchestration in FED4FIRE," 2016 IEEE NetSoft Conference and Workshops (NetSoft), 2016, pp. 131-135. [19] A. A. Mohammed, M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, F. Paganelli and P. Castoldi, "SDN controller for networkaware adaptive orchestration in dynamic service chaining," 2016 IEEE NetSoft Conference and Workshops (NetSoft), 2016, pp. 126-130. [20] M. Gharbaoui, I. Cerutti, B. Martini and P. Castoldi, "An orchestrator of network and cloud resources for dynamic provisioning of mobile virtual network functions," 2016 IEEE NetSoft Conference and Workshops (NetSoft), 2016, pp. 98-101. [21] B. Martini, D. Adami, M. Gharbaoui, P. Castoldi, L. Donatini and S. Giordano, "Design and evaluation of SDN-based orchestration system for cloud data centers," 2016 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), 2016, pp. 1-6. [22] S. Ahmed, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, A. Sgambelluri and S. Shariful Alam, "Orchestration algorithms for network-assisted virtual machine migrations using OpenDayLight Controller," 2015 2nd International Conference on Electrical Information and Communication Technologies (EICT), 2015, pp. 106-111. [23] D. Adami, B. Martini, A. Sgambelluri, M. Gharbaoui, P. Castoldi, C. Callegari, L. Donatini, S. Giordano, "Cloud and network service orchestration in Software Defined Data Centers," 2015 International Symposium on Performance Evaluation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (SPECTS), 2015, pp. 1-6. [24] B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui and P. Castoldi, "Cross-Functional resource orchestration in optical telco clouds," 2015 17th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), 2015, pp. 1-5. [25] B. Martini, F. Paganelli, A. A. Mohammed, M. Gharbaoui, A. Sgambelluri and P. Castoldi, "SDN controller for context-aware data delivery in dynamic service chaining," Proceedings of the 2015 1st IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), 2015, pp. 1-5. [26] M. Gharbaoui, R. Bruno, B. Martini, L. Valcarenghi, M. Conti and P. Castoldi, "Assessing the effect of introducing adaptive charging stations in public EV charging infrastructures," 2014 International Conference on Connected Vehicles and Expo (ICCVE), 2014, pp. 299-305. [27] B. Martini, D. Adami, A. Sgambelluri, M. Gharbaoui, L. Donatini, S. Giordano and P. Castoldi "An SDN orchestrator for resources chaining in cloud data centers". European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC), June 23-26, 2014. [28] C. Fung, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, F. Paolucci, A. Giorgetti, and P. Castoldi "Quality of Interaction among path computation elemnts for trust-aware inter-provider cooperation". IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), June 10-14, 2014. [29] D. Adami, B. Martini, A. Sgambelluri, M. Gharbaoui, AD. Chiaro, L. Donatini, S. Giordano and P. Castoldi "An OpenFlow controller for cloud data centers: Experimental setup and validation". IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), June 10-14, 2014. [30] A. Sgambelluri, D. Adami, L. Donatini, M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, S. Giordano and P. Castoldi "IT and Network SDN orchestrator for Cloud Data Center". IEEE Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS), May 05-09, 2014. [31] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, D. Adami, G. Antichi, S. Giordano and P. Castoldi "On Virtualization.aware traffic engineering in OpenFlow Data Centers networks". IEEE Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS), May 05-09, 2014. [32] D. Adami, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, G. Antichi, P. Castoldi and S. Giordano "Effective resource control strategies using OpenFlow in cloud data center". IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network Management (IM), May 27-31, 2013. [33] M. Gharbaoui, F. Paolucci, A. Giorgetti, B. Martini, and P. Castoldi "Guaranteeing confidentiality in multi-domain networks: The PCE Anomaly Detector (PAD)". IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network Management (IM), May 27-31, 2013. [34] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, R. Bruno, L. Valcarenghi, M. Conti, and P. Castoldi "Policies for efficient usage of an EV charging infrastructure deployed in city parking facilities". International Conference on ITS Telecommunications (ITST), November 05-07, 2013. [35] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, R. Bruno, L. Valcarenghi, M. Conti, and P. Castoldi "Designing and Evaluating Activity-Based Electric Vehicle Charging in Urban Areas". IEEE International Electric Vehicle Conference, October 23-25, 2013. [36] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, W. Cerroni, P. Castoldi and F. Callegati, "Network resource allocation in data center interconnection with anycast service provisioning", IEEE Global Communications Conference (Globecom), 2012. [37] M. Gharbaoui, L. Valcarenghi, B. Martini, P. Castoldi, R. Bruno and M. Conti"Effective management of a public charging infrastructure through a smart management system for electric vehicles", IEEE International Energy Conference and Exhibition (ENERGYCON), September 09-12, 2012. [38] M. Gharbaoui, F. Paolucci, A. Giorgetti, B. Martini, and P. Castoldi "Statistical Approach Detecting Malicious PCE Activity in Multi-domain Networks". IEEE Conference on High Performance Switching and Routing (HPSR), June 24-27, 2012. [39] M. Gharbaoui, L. Valcarenghi, R. Bruno, B. Martini, M. Conti, and P. Castoldi "An Advanced Smart Management System for Electric Vehicle Recharge". IEEE International Electric Vehicle Conference, March 4-8, 2012. [40] M. Gharbaoui, B. Martini, P. Castoldi "Dynamic Network Resource Allocation for Inter-Data Centers Communications". Optical Fiber Communications (OFC) conference, March 2012. (Corning Outstanding Student Paper Competition semi-finalist). [41] B. Martini, W. Cerroni, M. Gharbaoui, A. Campi, P. Castoldi, F. Callegati, "Integrated signaling framework for joint reservation of application and network resources for Future Internet", IEEE Global Communications Conference (Globecom), 2011. [42] M. Gharbaoui, F. Paolucci, B. Martini, F. Cugini, P. Castoldi, "Behavior-Based Policies for Preserving Confidentiality in PCE-based Multi-domain MPLS Networks". IEEE International Symposium on Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks (POLICY), 2011. [43] M. Gharbaoui, F. Paolucci, A. Giorgetti, F. Cugini, B. Martini, P. Castoldi: "Behavior-based Authorization Policy for Multi-domain PCE-based MPLS and WSON". Optical Fiber Communications (OFC) conference, March 2011. [44] F. Paolucci, F. Cugini, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, L. Valcarenghi, P. Castoldi: "Preserving Confidentiality in PCEP-based Inter-domain Path Computation". European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communication (ECOC) Turin, Italy. September 19-23, 2010. [45] W. Cerroni, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, A. Campi, F. Baroncelli, P. Castoldi, F. Callegati: "SIP-Based Self Configuration of Network Resources for Future Internet Application Services". Future Network & Mobile Summit. Florence, Italy 16 - 18 June 2010. [46] W. Cerroni, B. Martini, M. Gharbaoui, A. Campi, F. Baroncelli, P. Castoldi, F. Callegati "Experimental Validation of a SIP-Based Platform for Service Oriented Optical Network". Optical Fiber Communications (OFC) conference, March 2010. Pisa, December 2022 Molka Gharbaoui 10
Les Da C Chets A C Lectroniques Et Informatiques The Clerical Guide, and Ecclesiastical Directory Index-catalogue of Medical and Veterinary Zoology Functional Imaging of the Chest A New Universal and Pronouncing Dictionary of the French and English Languages Index Medicus. Second Series Chest Wall Deformities Vollständigstes englisch-deutsches und deutsch-englisches Handwörterbuch Italiano-inglese Chest Medicine War Supplement Diagnostic Radiology: Chest and Cardiovascular Imaging Gender and Respiratory Disease, An Issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, E-Book Index-catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General's Oﬃce, United States Chest Sonography A Dictionary, Hindustani & English Authors and Subjects Color Atlas of Chest Trauma and Associated Injuries A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary Pediatric Chest Imaging Sarcoidosis, An Issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances: Le livre de Lancelot del Lac. 1910-12 Cumulated Index Medicus Sleep Deﬁciency and Health, An Issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, E-Book Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, An Issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine Index-catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General's Oﬃce, United States Army Lung Transplantation, An Issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, E-Book Pneumonia, An Issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine 'Le Roman des Eles', and the Anonymous: 'Ordene de Chevalerie' A treatise on the Diseases of the Chest, and on Mediate Auscultation. Second edition, greatly enlarged. Translated, ... with notes, and a sketch of the author's life, by J. Forbes Diseases of the Chest The Reader's Index Imaging of Occupational and Environmental Disorders of the Chest Reader's Index and Guide Diseases of the Chest Clinical Chest Ultrasound Index-catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-general's Oﬃce, United States Army WHO guidelines on the use of chest imaging in COVID-19 Abridged Index Medicus Muller's Imaging of the Chest E-Book Les Da C Chets A C Lectroniques Et Informatiques Downloaded from intra.itu.edu by guest KAYLEY CANTU The Clerical Guide, and Ecclesiastical Directory Springer Science & Business Media In this issue, guest editors bring their considerable expertise to this important topic. Provides indepth reviews on the latest updates in the ﬁeld, providing actionable insights for clinical practice. Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the ﬁeld. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create these timely topic-based reviews. Index-catalogue of Medical and Veterinary ZoologySpringer A classiﬁed record of literature on military medicine and surgery. Functional Imaging of the ChestElsevier Health Sciences The World`S Most Detailedand Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary. A New Universal and Pronouncing Dictionary of the French and English Languages John Benjamins Publishing This book, widely regarded as the standard work in the ﬁeld, presents the state of the art in chest sonography, enhanced by a wealth of excellent illustrations. It provides the reader with concise, easy-to-assimilate information on all aspects of the use of the modality, including indications, investigative techniques, diagnostic decision making, and imaging artifacts and pitfalls. Chapters oﬀer numerous tips and tricks and highlight potential diagnostic error sources to aid in daily clinical practice. This sixth edition has been extensively revised to consider the latest techniques, study results, and meta-analyses and includes essential additional illustrative material. Chapter revisions include detailed guidance on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and the use of thoracic point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) in emergency patients. As the technique's value and use continue to grow, readers will ﬁnd Chest Sonography a valuable up-to-date resource and guide. Index Medicus. Second Series Elsevier Health Sciences This issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, edited by Dr. Michael Niederman, focuses on Pneumonia, with topics including: Inﬂammation and Pneumonia; The Lung Microbiome's Role in Pneumonia; Biomarkers for the Management of Pneumonia; Inﬂuenza and Viral Pneumonia; Guidelines to Manage Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP); Vaccines to Prevent CAP; Adjunctive Therapies for CAP; Healthcare Associated Pneumonia; Rapid Diagnostic Methods for Pneumonia; Airway Devices in VAP Pathogenesis and Prevention; Management of VAP; Distinguishing Ventilator-Associated Tracheobronchitis from VAP; Practical Approaches to VAP Prevention; Optimizing Antibiotic Administration for Pneumonia; New Antibiotics for Pneumonia; and Personalized Approach to Pneumonia Management. Chest Wall DeformitiesElsevier Health Sciences Since the second edition of Pediatric Chest Imaging was published in 2007, there have been further signiﬁcant advances in our understanding of chest diseases and continued development of new imaging technology and techniques. The third, revised edition of this highly respected reference publication has been thoroughly updated to reﬂect this progress. Due attention is paid to the increased role of hybrid imaging, and entirely new chapters cover topics such as interventional radiology, lung MRI, functional MRI, diﬀuse/interstitial lung disease, and cystic ﬁbrosis. As in previous editions, the focus is on technical aspects of modern imaging modalities, their indications in pediatric chest disease, and the diagnostic information that they supply. Pediatric Chest Imaging will be an essential asset for pediatricians, neonatologists, cardiologists, radiologists, and pediatric 1 radiologists everywhere. Vollständigstes englisch-deutsches und deutsch-englisches Handwörterbuch Elsevier Health Sciences This issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, guest-edited by Dr. Gerard Criner and Dr. Bartolome Celli, is focused on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Topics discussed in this issue include but are not limited to: COPD Pathogenesis; Epidemiology of COPD; Host, Gender, and Early Life Factors as Risks for COPD; Alpha One Antitrypsin Deﬁciency; Lung Function Testing; Assessing Symptom Burden; Chest Imaging in the Diagnosis and Assessment of the Patient with COPD; Biomarkers in the Diagnosis and Assessment of COPD; Asthma/COPD Overlap; Multimorbidity in the Patient with COPD; Deﬁnition Causes, Pathogenesis, and Consequences of Exacerbations; Treatment of Acute Exacerbations; Prevention of Exacerbations; Bronchodilators; Beneﬁts and Risks of Inhaled Corticosteroids in COPD; Systemic Medications; Smoking Cessation/Vaccinations; Pulmonary Rehabilitation; Oxygen Therapy/Noninvasive Ventilation; and Interventional and Surgical Therapies for COPD. Italiano-ingleseElsevier Health Sciences Chest wall deformities encompass a variety of congenital and acquired pathologies that aﬀect the pediatric and the adult population. This comprehensive work oﬀers detailed state of the art information on the changing paradigms in ultrastructural evaluation, diagnosis, clinical investigation, and treatment and reﬂects the shift towards conservative and minimally invasive treatment options. The combination of concise descriptions and high-quality images will provide the reader with a clear understanding of all relevant concepts. Diagnostic and imaging modalities are analysed in depth, and surgical procedures are explained step by step with the aid of clear, informative illustrations. Experts in the management of chest wall deformities from all over the world have contributed their experiences and approaches, making this a unique textbook in the ﬁeld and an ideal reference work for clinicians and surgeons. Chest Medicine 'Le Roman des Eles', and the Anonymous: 'Ordene de Chevalerie' This issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, guest-edited by Dr. Margaret Pisani, is focused on Gender and Respiratory Disease. Topics discussed in this issue include but are not limited to: What are sex and gender and how can we study their impact in respiratory disease?, Sex diﬀerences in respiratory physiology, Impact of gender on social determinants of health, Gender diﬀerences in obstructive sleep apnea, Impact of gender on sleep disorders across the lifespan, Diﬀerences between men and women with COPD, Women and Lung Cancer, Pulmonary considerations in pregnant women and Asthma in women-gender speciﬁc considerations. War SupplementElsevier Health Sciences Oﬀers a comprehensive approach to modern imaging of environmental and occupational diseases of the chest Pays particular attention to the role of computed tomography in the detection of early subclinical abnormalities Considers new groups of workers at risk of exposure to agents that may cause pneumoconiosis Written by internationally acclaimed experts Diagnostic Radiology: Chest and Cardiovascular Imaging Springer Science & Business Media This new edition is a complete guide to diagnostic imaging of the chest and cardiovascular system. Beginning with an overview of chest radiology, techniques and anatomy, the following sections discuss imaging for diﬀerent pulmonary diseases. The second part of the book covers diagnostic imaging for cardiovascular disorders and includes a chapter on children with congenital heart disease. 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Key points Fourth edition presenting latest advances in diagnostic imaging for pulmonary and cardiovascular disorders Fully revised text with new topics added Highly illustrated with radiological images and tables Previous edition (9788184488685) published in 2010 Gender and Respiratory Disease, An Issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, E-Book Karger Medical and Scientiﬁc Publishers Scholars and students working on the early courtly and chivalric literature of medieval Europe will have often felt the need for contemporary theoretical material with which to illustrate their arguments about courtesy and chivalry in romances, etc. The present volume, which presents critical editions of the two earliest didactic poems of this kind in the vernacular (both date from the ﬁrst quarter of the thirteenth century), was conceived partly to ﬁll this need. This book will be of interest not only to specialists in Old French literature, but also to those studying other literatures; both texts are known to have circulated in England in the fourteenth century and are therefore of importance for anglicists; L'Ordene de Chevalerie was adapted into Middle Dutch and Italian several times and provides excellent material for comparatists, netherlandists and italianists; moreover, given the germinal place of Old French literature in the culture of the Middle Ages, both poems are worthy of study in the context of the evolution of the ideals of courtesy and chivalry as European literary phenomenon. Each critical text is accompanied by an extensive literary introduction and philological apparatus, and translations into modern English prose have been appended to render the poems more accessible to non-romanists. Index-catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General's Oﬃce, United States Elsevier Health Sciences 'Le Roman des Eles', and the Anonymous: 'Ordene de Chevalerie'John Benjamins Publishing Asian Educational Services "Collection of incunabula and early medical prints in the library of the Surgeon-general's oﬃce, U.S. Army": Ser. 3, v. 10, p. 1415-1436. Chest Sonography Springer Nature In this issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine, guest editors Drs. Luis Angel and Stephanie M. Levine bring their considerable expertise to the topic of Lung Transplantation. Top experts in the ﬁeld cover key topics such as diﬃcult decisions to transplant patients who are older, frail, underweight and obese; organ donation and variability in conversion to lung transplantation; conventional and novel approaches to immunosuppression; acute rejection and chronic allograft dysfunction; and more. Contains 14 relevant, practice-oriented topics including COVID-19 and lung transplantation; the lung transplant candidate: indications, timing and selection criteria; bilateral lung transplantation vs. single lung transplant: complications, quality of life, and survival; critical care management of the lung transplant recipient; and more. Provides in-depth clinical reviews on lung transplantation, oﬀering actionable insights for clinical practice. Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the ﬁeld. Authors synthesize and distill the latest research and practice guidelines to create clinically signiﬁcant, topic-based reviews. A Dictionary, Hindustani & English World Bank Publications This issue of Clinics in Chest Medicine focuses on Sarciodosis. Drs. Baughman and Culver have put together an expert roster of authors for articles concerning: Etiology of sarcoidosis, Immunology of sarcoidosis, Genetics of Sarcoidosis, Diagnosis of sarcoidosis, Chest imaging, Biomarkers and genetic proﬁles, Pulmonary Sarcoidosis, Neurosarcoidosis, Cardiac Sarcoidosis, Ocular Sarcoidosis, Les Da C Chets A C Lectroniques Et Informatiques Quality of life assessments, and more! Authors and SubjectsLippincott Williams & Wilkins For a long time, imaging of the chest was based on the use of either radiography, demonstrating lung morphology, or scintigraphy, looking at lung function. However, as a result of recent developments in CT and MRI technology it is now possible to perform dedicated investigations of diﬀerent aspects of lung function, such as ventilation, perfusion, gas exchange, and respiratory mechanics. This volume, written by acknowledged experts in the ﬁeld, provides a well-illustrated and comprehensive review of these novel approaches to functional imaging of the chest. It will be of great assistance to all who are establishing such strategies in the research or clinical arenas for the diagnostic work-up and follow-up of patients with lung diseases. Color Atlas of Chest Trauma and Associated InjuriesJP Medical Ltd Pleural eﬀusions, left and right heart dysfunction, mediastinal nodal pathology, and pulmonary embolism are just a few of the many thoracic diseases which can be diagnosed with the help of ultrasound techniques! Chest sonography has become an established procedure in the stepwise imaging diagnosis of pulmonary, cardiac, and pleural disease. It is the method of choice for many diseases and allows the investigator to make an unequivocal diagnosis without exposing the patient to costly and stressful procedures. This book, volume 37 in the well-known Progress in Respiratory Research series, presents the state of the art in clinical chest ultrasonography. As implied by its title, it covers all aspects of ultrasound involving the chest, at the same time diﬀerentiating between routine and emergency procedures. Basic elements such as indications, investigational techniques and imaging artifacts are detailed in separate chapters. The large number of excellent illustrations and the compact text provide concise and easy-to-assimilate information about the diagnostic procedure. Apart from the printed still pictures, the book comes with a complimentary online repository containing a variety of key videos. Each chapter presents an autonomous concise overview of indications, methods, diagnoses and pitfalls and can be used as a systematic review. It is written by leading experts as a guide by clinicians for clinicians and is a must for physicians, pulmonologists, intensivists, as well as all doctors with an interest in chest medicine. A Comprehensive Persian-English DictionaryWorld Health Organization This rapid advice guide examines the evidence and makes recommendations for the use of chest imaging in adult patients with suspected, probable or conﬁrmed COVID-19, including chest radiography, computed tomography and lung ultrasound. In its ﬁrst edition this document was intended to be a practical guide for health care professionals involved in the care pathway of COVID-19, from the time of presentation to a health facility to home discharge. This second edition of the guide expands the scope to also address follow-up after hospital discharge. The guidance is relevant to patients with diﬀerent levels of disease severity, from asymptomatic individuals to critically ill patients. Pediatric Chest Imaging Springer A favorite among residents and pulmonary fellows, this text provides all the information needed to evaluate and manage respiratory diseases and critically ill patients and to pass the American Board of Internal Medicine's subspecialty exam in pulmonary medicine. The Fifth Edition includes new information on ARDS, sedation of critically ill patients, rehabilitation for COPD, care of elderly patients, genetic testing for asthma, CTA and other diagnostic techniques for pulmonary thromboembolism, new antifungal drugs without renal toxicity, new treatment guidelines for pneumothorax, and ventilators and noninvasive ventilation for respiratory failure. This edition also includes more algorithms and diﬀerential diagnosis tables. 2023-01-08
© 1997 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. This work appeared as "Reengineering with Reflexion Models: A Case Study", Computer 30, 8, 1997, pp.29-36. Gail C. Murphy University of British Columbia David Notkin University of Washington Reengineering with Reﬂexion Models: A Case Study Reengineering large and complex software systems is often very costly. Reﬂexion models let software engineers begin with a structural high-level model that they can selectively reﬁne to rapidly gain task-speciﬁc knowledge about the source code. The authors describe how a Microsoft engineer used this technique in an experimental reengineering of Excel. T o effectively perform most software engineering tasks on an existing system, a software engineer must have some understanding of the system's source code. However, gaining insight into the source code of large and complex systems typically takes too long and costs too much. In an attempt to address this problem, we developed the software reﬂexion model technique, 1 which lets software engineers rapidly and cost-effectively gain task-specific knowledge about a system's source code. In this article we give an overview of our technique and then relate how a Microsoft engineer used it to aid an experimental reengineering of Excel—a product that comprises about 1.2 million lines of C code. Our technique begins with a high-level model, which users deﬁne on the basis of a desired software engineering task. We had often seen software engineers use an informal structural model, say sketched on a white board, to begin reasoning about systems. However, reasoning about a task in this way carries signiﬁcant risk because the model is disconnected from the source. Thus, the next steps in our technique are to extract a model of the source, define a map, and, through a set of computation tools, compare the two models. This lets software engineers effectively validate their high-level reasoning with information from the source code. To satisfy the need for a quick and inexpensive method, we made the technique "lightweight" and iterative. The user can easily and rapidly access the structural information of interest and can balance the cost of reﬁnement with the potential beneﬁts of a more complete and accurate model. The engineer in our case study—a developer with 10-plus years at Microsoft— speciﬁed and computed an initial reﬂexion model of Excel in a day and then spent four weeks iteratively reﬁning it. He estimated that gaining the same degree of familiarity with the Excel source code might have taken up to two years with other available approaches. The case study demonstrates not only that our technique and tools can scale up to large real-world problems, but also that our technique is ﬂexible and robust enough to withstand adaptations to suit a particular task or environment. MOTIVATION Tool-supported reengineering is usually based on bottom-up reverse engineering approaches in which the source code is analyzed and abstractions of the system are produced using automated and semiautomated techniques. Automated techniques identify structural high-level components by applying either numerical methods 2 or knowledge of structural patterns. 3 With a semiautomated technique, 4 the user is more involved in selecting information of interest from the source code and in clustering it to gradually develop a high-level model. . . Figure 1. Software reﬂexion model technique. The user deﬁnes a high-level model, extracts a source model, states a map, and then computes a reﬂexion model. Upon investigation of the reﬂexion model, the user may iteratively reﬁne the inputs and recompute a new reﬂexion model. Defines Defines Extraction tool Reflexion model computation tools Reflexion model display and query tools 1 2 4 3 5 High-level model Source model Unmapped arcs Image arcs Mapped arcs Map Selects System artifacts (source code, documents, and so on) Reflexion model Investigates and refines Computes Both styles apparently have limitations with respect to handling real-world reengineering tasks. Automated techniques are usually based on precoded structural source information (such as data bindings), which is limiting when the reengineering task requires other information (such as event interactions). Semiautomated techniques tend to become increasingly hard to apply as the information extracted from the source grows. Our technique differs from these by attempting to simultaneously take a top-down and bottom-up approach. Software engineers can quickly form hypotheses from a variety of sources and can then concentrate their effort on getting information about the parts of the system that are relevant to the task at hand. TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW The software reﬂexion model technique has been used to support design conformance tasks and to assess system structure before implementing changes. 5 The software systems involved were fairly large—from several thousand to a quarter million lines of code. As we describe in the next section, we have also successfully applied our technique to a larger system under real-world schedule pressures. To derive a software reﬂexion model and iteratively refine it, the user performs five steps, as Figure 1 shows. Define high-level model The high-level model describes aspects of the system's structure that aid in reasoning about the software engineering task at hand. This step may involve reviewing artifacts (source code, documents), interviewing experts, or looking at similar architectures— anything that may give information about the system. For example, if the desired activity is to assess how difﬁcult it would be to modify a compiler to generate code for a new platform, the user may choose to reason about the compiler in terms of a dataﬂow architecture. The High-Level Model window in Figure 2 shows a model of a compiler in which a parser produces an abstract syntax tree (AST) that interacts with a symbol table and code generator to produce object code. This step typically takes 15 minutes to an hour. Extract source model The user applies a tool like a call graph extractor or a ﬁle dependency extractor to extract interaction information from the source code. This information forms the source model that will be compared with the high-level model. In the compiler example, the user is employing a source model that captures calls between C++ methods as an approximation of the dataﬂow relationships in the high-level model. Define map The user then deﬁnes a map that describes how entities in the source and high-level models relate. To make this map easier to state, a user may refer to information about both the physical and logical software structures. The user may also employ regular expressions to make it easier to state the map. Figure 2 shows 9 of the 33 lines comprising a map for the compiler. As an example, the first line states that all classes and methods in ﬁles with scanner in their name will be associated with the Parse high-level model entity. The map is produced manually, but initially it often takes only 10 to 30 minutes to deﬁne. Compute reflexion model Given a high-level model, a source model, and a map, the user invokes a set of tools to compute a software reﬂexion model. The reﬂexion model lets the user see interactions in the source code from the viewpoint of the high-level model. The tools push the interactions in the source model through the map, comparing the mapped interactions in the high-level model with the hypothesized high-level model interactions. The tools consist of three filter programs and eight support programs. They are packaged as separate executables and are accessible through a textual command-line interface as well as a graphical user interface, which is loosely integrated with AT&T's graphviz graph display program. 6 The Reﬂexion Model Viewer window in Figure 2 shows the software reﬂexion model for the compiler example. The model consists of the entities deﬁned in the high-level model and three kinds of arcs. Convergences—solid arcs, such as from Parse to AST—are mapped interactions that agree with the stated high-level model. Divergences—dashed arcs, such as from CodeGen to SymTab—are mapped interactions not stated in the high-level model. Absences—dotted arcs, such as from CodeGen to Object—are interactions stated in the high-level model that do not correspond to any mapped interaction. The numbers associated with the reﬂexion model arcs show the number of source model interactions mapped to an arc. This information helps the user assess the system's structure. The "2" associated with the divergence from CodeGen to SymTab, for example, lets the user assess the degree of unexpected coupling between the modules. Investigate and refine Simply viewing a displayed reflexion model does not generally provide sufﬁciently detailed information for a user to assess, plan, and perform a software engineering task. Typically, she must also investigate the source model interactions mapped to particular arcs in the reﬂexion model. Sometimes, the information in the reﬂexion model may reveal missing interactions in the high-level model or deﬁciencies in the map. For example, a map entry may associate source model entities with the wrong high-level model entity or the map may not be speciﬁc enough in capturing the user's intent. This often leads to refinement of the source model, the high-level model, or the map. The kind of coupling between the CodeGen and SymTab modules in Figure 2, for example, might affect how the code generator is modiﬁed to produce code for a different platform. The Source Model Values window shows the result of a user query about this interaction. Using this information, the user can visit these code locations to help determine the com- plexity of the task to be performed. As Figure 1 shows, three ﬁles support the display and investigation of a reﬂexion model. * The image arc ﬁle describes the arcs between entities of the high-level model that result from applying the map to the source model. * The unmapped arc ﬁle describes the interactions in the source model that are not mapped as part of the computation. A user may access this information to help assess the completeness of the deﬁned map. * The mapped arc ﬁle describes how interactions in the source model map to arcs described in the image arc ﬁle. The information appears when the user clicks on a convergence or divergence. Generally, the user iteratively computes and investigates successive reﬂexion models until she acquires enough structural information for the task being performed. EXCEL EXPERIMENTAL REENGINEERING The Excel case study was timely. Although our technique showed promise, we still had many questions about the feasibility of applying it to large systems under the constraints of an industrial environment. About that time, a group at Microsoft was facing the challenge of performing an experimental reengineering of Microsoft Excel. Specifically, they needed to identify and extract components from the source code. To perform this activity within the few months available, the team needed to understand some of the struc- Figure 2. Interface of the software reﬂexion model tools. The user has speciﬁed a highlevel model for a compiler and a map; the ﬁgure shows the reﬂexion model computed from these inputs and a source model. The user has selected the arc from CodeGen to SymTab for investigation. The tools display the calls mapped to this arc. AT&T's graphviz is used for visualizing models. The open circles on arcs are graphviz ' s arc handles. . . Figure 3. Software reﬂexion model technique as applied in the Excel experimental reengineering. This process diagram is somewhat different from the generic process diagram in Figure 1. The gold tools and ﬁles represent elements the Microsoft engineer added. For example, he created Query and Filter scripts to support reﬁnements to the reﬂexion model process and an exceptions ﬁle to keep track of the interactions he had reviewed. Reflexion model computation tools Reflexion model display tools Logical remodularization script Microsoft extraction tool Recompute image arcs script High-level model Source model Unmapped arcs Image arcs Mapped arcs Map Exceptions Filter script Query results Query script Reflexion model ture of the 1.2 million lines of C code. An engineer in this group had heard us present our technique and decided to use it to aid the experimental reengineering. Figure 3 shows how the engineer adapted the process in Figure 1 to his effort. Define high-level model The engineer needed to understand how Excel's C source code divides into static modules and how those modules interact at execution. Traditionally, a Microsoft developer would become familiar with these aspects of Excel's structure by reading a document called "Excel Internals," or he would rely on oral tradition or study the source code. Jon De Vaan describes this process: 7 Excel Internals . . . explains the philosophy of a few of the basic things in Excel, like the cell table formulas, memory allocation, a little bit about the layer [a special interface with the operating system that allows Microsoft to use the same Excel core on both Windows and Macintosh platforms]. . . . It's very sparse. We don't necessarily rely on that for people to learn things. I'd say we have a strong oral tradition, and the idea is that the mentor teaches people or people learn it themselves by reading code. . . . Over the course of a project, it goes from mostly truthful to less truthful, and then we have to ﬁx it up. We don't ﬁx it up as we go along on a project. We will give it some attention between projects. Although this approach may be effective when developing and evolving Excel, it was not appropriate for the experimental reengineering because of the time constraints and because the engineer could not rely on consistent interaction with a mentor from the Excel development group. Instead, he relied on brief discussions with Excel developers and his development experience. He found it "natural," on the basis of this information, to record an initial high-level model that described some of the modules comprising Excel and the call dependencies between them. Figure 4 shows the high-level model, which consisted of 13 modules and 19 interactions. For proprietary reasons, we have removed the names of all but three modules. Our qualitative examples focus on the interactions among these three, but the statistics we report consider the full set. Extract source model Because the Excel high-level model captured calls between modules, the engineer selected calls between functions as the basis for a compatible source model. As Figure 3 shows, he used an internal Microsoft tool to extract the source model. The extracted model consisted of 77,746 calls between the approximately 15,000 functions comprising Excel. Define map The engineer deﬁned a map that associated functions in the source model with modules in the highlevel model. The map ﬁle included entries like ``` [ ﬁle=^shtreal\.c mapTo=Sheet ] [ ﬁle=^textﬁl[ez]\.c$ mapTo=File ] ``` that states that all functions in the shtreal.c ﬁle are related to the Sheet module, and that all functions in the textfile.c and textfilz.h files are related to the File module. Mappings were based on the names of directories, ﬁles, and functions. The engineer deﬁned an initial map of 170 lines after perusing the approximately 400 ﬁles comprising the Excel source code. He deﬁned the map in a few hours and did so before installing the reﬂexion model tools. His inability to compute reﬂexion models immediately may have affected how he deﬁned the initial map; in other applications of our technique, users have started with maps as small as 10 to 20 lines, which let them begin the iterative investigation and reﬁnement steps earlier. The engineer spent about a day deﬁning the initial high-level model and map. Compute reflexion model Figure 5 shows a small piece of the initial software reﬂexion model computed for Excel. As expected, the engineer found calls in the source between functions associated with the File module and functions associated with the Sheet module (solid arc). The dashed arc from Sheet to File indicates that functions mapped to the Sheet module unexpectedly make calls to functions mapped to the File module. Finally, the engineer found no calls between functions mapped to the Graph module and those mapped to the Sheet module (dotted arc). The initial Excel reflexion model had 15 convergences, 83 divergences, and four absences. The model summarized about 61 percent of the function calls in the source model. The remaining 39 percent did not match any arc in the map; these unmapped entries are reported in the unmapped arc ﬁle, and can be assessed by the user in the context of the task at hand. The engineer computed the initial reﬂexion model in 20 minutes using the DOS version of our tools running under Windows NT on a 90-MHz Pentium with 40 Mbytes of memory. Investigate and refine reflexion model In investigating the initial reﬂexion model, the engineer updated both the high-level and source models and reﬁned the map. He then recomputed the reﬂexion model and continued the iterative cycles. A cycle typically began with selecting an arc for investigation and ended with a reﬁned reﬂexion model, although an iteration often skipped steps. Selecting an arc. The engineer used two methods to select an arc for investigation. Occasionally, mostly in the ﬁrst week or so, he considered the divergences in the reﬂexion model. If an interaction was missing from the high-level model, he updated it to reﬂect the interaction. For example, had the divergence from Sheet to File represented a reasonable interaction, the engineer might have updated the high-level model to reflect it. This type of investigation and update became less frequent in later reﬁnements because the high-level model stabilized quickly. More frequently, the engineer selected arcs by sorting through the image arc ﬁle (which contains descriptions of convergences and divergences). He selected the arc with the highest number of mapped calls and Figure 5. Snippet of the initial reﬂexion model for Excel. The solid arc from File to Sheet is a convergence; the dashed arc from Sheet to File is a divergence; the dotted arc from Graph to Sheet is an absence. investigated it using the query script in Figure 3, which he wrote to query the mapped arc file for all calls mapped to the arc. He then qualitatively assessed a subset of these calls by looking at the source code. Reﬁning the map. The engineer encountered many cases in which functions had been placed in ﬁles that no longer represented the module the ﬁle was supposed to represent. As a result, he spent signiﬁcant time reﬁning the map to logically remodularize the Excel system. He wrote a script that inserted an entry in the map that speciﬁcally associated a particular function with the appropriate module (Figure 3). Because the entries in the map are ordered, he could insert these logical remodularizations into the top of the map ﬁle, leaving the existing map entry for the ﬁle unchanged. Then, when one of these functions was seen in the source model, matching stopped at the new map entry. For example, the engineer found that most of the functions in the fdefs.c file should be associated Figure 4. High-level model of Excel. The high-level model provides a hypothesized view of the system structure. The Microsoft engineer wanted to know how Excel's C source code divides into static modules and how those modules interact at execution. For proprietary reasons, the model shows only three named modules. . . with a user interface module. But, some functions in fdefs.c, such as ExplodeMergeCells, should be associated with the Sheet module. Logically remodularizing this function to the Sheet module involved adding the entry to the top of the map ﬁle. The engineer reﬁned the Excel map to consist of more than 1,000 entries (from the original 170 entries), reﬁning speciﬁc areas of interest and ignoring areas outside the task at hand. Consequently, some parts of the reﬂexion model represented detailed summaries of the interactions between modules, but other interactions remained fuzzy. In this way, the engineer economically managed the investigation process. Documenting exceptions. As part of the iterative process, the engineer maintained a ﬁle of information that he had investigated and categorized. He called these exceptions, using regular expressions to describe particular source model entries mapped to particular arcs in the high-level model. For example, in investigating the divergences from Sheet to File, the engineer found and categorized calls related to an event-style interaction. He wrote a simple script (Figure 3) to remove the entries in the mapped arc ﬁle that correspond to exceptions. Removing these helped him focus on the uninvestigated and unexplained interactions in a reﬂexion model. We have since added annotations, a generalized version of exceptions, to our tools. 5 Augmenting the source model. Just over two weeks into the use of the technique, the engineer decided he wanted to consider not only information about the calls between functions in the Excel source, but also references from functions to global variables. He extracted this information using the Microsoft source model extraction tool (Figure 3) and added it into the source model. The resulting source model contained 119,637 entries. Adding the references to global variables to the source model implicitly changed the meaning of the high-level model from a "calls between modules" model to a "communicates with" model. However, even with this semantics change, the engineer had no problem interpreting the later reﬂexion models. Results. Figure 6 shows part of the reﬂexion model after several weeks of reﬁnement. The reﬁned model shows additional source model information, changes to the map, and changes to the high-level model. The new high-level model, for example, includes a Wks_File module that comprises some specialized ﬁle-handling routines. The interactions summarized between modules have also increased, as indicated by the larger numbers associated with the reflexion model arcs. This increase is the result of augmenting the source model with global data reference information and making the map more speciﬁc. The engineer reported that the technique helped him reﬁne an architectural view of the system and investigate the connection between the architectural view and the source code. He used this view, with the associated map file, as a basis for reasoning about the experimental reengineering activity and for assessing the feasibility of various changes. He also used the map to automate parts of the experimental reengineering activity itself. For example, he used the entries in the map that corresponded to logical remodularizations to place conditional compilation statements into the source code. This aided in isolating potential components for extraction. The reﬂexion model also heightened the engineer's understanding of the code base and alleviated the danger of his reasoning in terms of the high-level model alone. For example, he learned that the Sheet module requires functionality located in the File module in addition to the expected functionality dependence from the File to Sheet module. He could use this information during planning to upwardly revise any estimates of the complexity involved in separating the Sheet component from the code base. This information about the unexpected structural interaction was not available in the high-level model, and it might have been hard to ﬁnd from the source code alone. The engineer continued to use the technique even after the original one month. The high-level model grew to 16 entities and 114 interactions; the source model ended up with 131,042 call and data interactions; the map grew to 1,425 entries. The ﬁnal reﬂexion model summarized 99.7 percent of the source model entries. LESSONS LEARNED The case study gave us several insights into the needs of a user faced with a reengineering activity. Task-specific views are important In e-mail communication to us about the technique, the engineer wrote Deﬁnitely conﬁrmed suspicions about the structure of Excel . . . allowed me to pinpoint deviations . . . very easy to ignore stuff that is not interesting and thereby focus on the part of Excel that I want to know more about. The engineer found it useful to be able to view the system in terms of a reﬁned reﬂexion model, yet he also found it valuable to build up an understanding of how the high-level view connected to the source code. Consistent with previous studies on program comprehension, he moved between these levels repeatedly. 8 He also liked having the opportunity to summarize a large database of interaction information from the source code, as long as he was able to reﬁne select parts. An important side effect of this ﬂexibility is economy. Because the engineer could keep parts of the model fuzzy and reﬁne only select parts, he was able to avoid wasting time collecting information not pertinent to the task at hand. Graphical and text interfaces are needed We provided both textual and graphical interfaces to the reﬂexion model tools. Surprisingly, the engineer drove almost all the investigation of the reflexion model and the source code from textual information. Thus, it might be important to rethink the general belief that graphical interfaces to reverse- and reengineering tools are the best approach. Explicit, declarative maps help task performance The engineer used the map to help isolate potential components in the source. We had viewed the map primarily as an input to our technique. Its use to place conditional compilation statements in the source helped the isolation process. This highlights the value of the information that connects the overall view to the source. Tools and process must adapt to the task The Microsoft engineer introduced exceptions to better support his exploration of the Excel source code. He also introduced two scripts to support faster recomputation of reﬂexion models from some of the intermediate ﬁles. The architecture of our reﬂexion model tools as a set of ﬁlter programs and the ﬂexibility of our technique made these adaptations possible. The engineer's use of the reﬂexion model tools in practice helped focus improvements to both the technique and tools. For instance, we have improved the performance of our tools so that the computation of the reﬂexion model for Excel now takes fewer than ﬁve minutes, compared to the 20 to 40 minutes it ﬁrst took. This improved speed removes the need for the engineer to deﬁne and use specially crafted scripts. T he experimental reengineering case study shows that our technique has practical application. First, the engineer chose to use the technique even when facing extreme pressure. Second, he continued to use the technique beyond the original time (one month) to reﬁne additional parts of the reﬂexion model for Excel and to compute reﬂexion models for successive Excel versions. Finally, the engineer stated that the slowdowns he did encounter while performing the experimental reengineering were often due to a lack of up-front understanding. Had the reﬂexion model technique been used more during planning, he felt that he might have been able to perform the task in less time. We believe our technique was successful in large part because it uses approximation. This ensures a smooth feedback from the time invested in applying the technique to the results. The more time the Microsoft engineer spent reﬁning the map, the more information he derived. Although this curve is not completely smooth, the engineer was able to gauge the accuracy of the results and use that information to manage the time and effort invested in using the technique. One question surrounding any case study is whether or not you can generalize its results. We believe our technique can be applied to future efforts similar to the experimental reengineering for several reasons. The source comprising Excel was implemented in C, which is a commonly used language. Like many systems, the Excel source code had been evolving over years and had been implemented by many developers. Finally, the task performed—identifying and extracting components from an existing system—is one that many organizations face. O Acknowledgments We thank several people at Microsoft for participating in the case study and reviewing drafts of this article: the members of the experimental reengineering team who asked to remain anonymous, and Daniel Weise of Microsoft Research. We also thank Kevin Sullivan for his work on reﬂexion models, and Alan Borning, William Griswold, Nancy Leveson, Nancy Staudenmayer, and the Computer reviewers who commented on earlier case study descriptions and earlier drafts of this article. This research was funded in part by NSF grants CCR-8858804 and CCR-9506779, in part by a Canadian NSERC postgraduate scholarship, and in part by a University of Washington Department of Computer Science & Engineering Educator's fellowship. Microsoft Corp. also provided equipment. References 1. G.C. Murphy, D. Notkin, and K. Sullivan, "Software Reﬂexion Models: Bridging the Gap between Source and. . High-Level Models," Proc. SIGSOFT Symp. Foundations of Software Eng., ACM Press, New York, 1995, pp. 18–28. 2. D.H. Hutchens and V.R. Basili, "System Structure Analysis: Clustering with Data Bindings," IEEE Trans. Software Eng., Aug. 1985, pp. 749–757. 3. D.R. Harris, H.B. Reubenstein, and A.S. Yeh, "Reverse Engineering to the Architectural Level," Proc. Int'l Conf. Software Eng., ACM Press, New York, 1995, pp. 186–195. 4. H.A. Müller and K. Klashinsky, "A System for Programming-in-the-Large," Proc. Int'l Conf. Software Eng., IEEE CS Press, Los Alamitos, Calif., 1988, pp. 80–86. 5. G.C. Murphy, "Lightweight Structural Summarization as an Aid to Software Evolution," PhD dissertation, CS&E Dept., Univ. of Washington, Seattle, 1996. 6. Y-F. Chen et al., "Intertool Connections," in Practical Reusable Unix Software, B. Krishnamurthy, ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1995, pp. 299–336. 7. M.A. Cusumano and R.W. Selby, Microsoft Secrets: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People, The Free Press, New York, 1995, p. 109. Gail C. Murphy is an assistant professor of computer science at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests are in software engineering. Her current projects include work on source code analysis, reverse engineering, and software design techniques. She was at the University of Washington while doing the work reported in this article. Murphy received an MS and a PhD in computer science and engineering from the University of Washington, and a BSc from the University of Alberta. She is a member of the IEEE Computer Society and ACM. David Notkin is a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington. His research interests are in software engineering with a focus on software evolution. His current projects include work on software model checking, software design, and software tools and techniques. 8. A. von Mayrhauser and A.M. Vans, "Identiﬁcation of Dynamic Comprehension Processes During Large Scale Maintenance," IEEE Trans. Software Eng., June 1996, pp. 424-437. Notkin received an ScB from Brown University and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, both in computer science. He is a member of the IEEE, ACM, and Sigma Xi. Contact Murphy at email@example.com or Notkin at firstname.lastname@example.org. Reader Service Number 7
WINNEBAGO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MEETING TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 Chairman Shiloh Ramos called the meeting of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors to order at 6:00 P.M. at the Sunnyview Exposition Center, 500 E. County Road Y, Oshkosh and by Virtual ZOOM. The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and the invocation by Supervisor Locke. The following Supervisors were present: 36 - Konetzke, Brunn, Borchart, Eisen, Ramos, Defferding, Lenz, Neuhoff, Nussbaum, Spellman, Albrecht, Gabert, Binder, Konrad, Schorse, Bolante, Gordon, Wingren, Lautenschlager, Norton, Warnke, Zellmer, Schellenger, Buck, Powers, Locke, Wise, Finch, Youngquist, Farrey, Rasmussen, Keller, Egan, Ellis, Snider and Joas. Motion by Supervisor Albrecht and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to adopt the agenda for tonight's meeting; noting that Resolution Nos. 037-072020, 038-072020, 039-072020, 040-072020 and 041-072020 were withdrawn by Supervisor Norton from tonight's agenda. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. PUBLIC HEARING Four people spoke in support of the Public Health Director Ordinance. Thirty-nine people spoke in opposition to the Public Health Director Ordinance. Two people spoke in support of Resolution No. 042-072020: Create a Diversity Affairs Commission. One person spoke in opposition of Resolution No. 042-072020: Create a Diversity Affairs Commission. One person spoke in opposition of legalizing the use of marijuana. COMMUNICATIONS and PETITIONS The following correspondence was presented to the board by Susan Ertmer, County Clerk: * Thank you notes from 2020 Scholarship Recipients: o Mallory Moen – St. Mary Catholic High School o Hailey Schmitz – Oshkosh West High School o Wesley Blashka – Neenah High School * Notices of Claims: o Notice of claim from Betty Luzenski for time and materials for damage that occurred to her mailbox by a Winnebago County Highway Department snow plow was referred to the Personnel and Finance Committee. o Notice of claim from Tom Hanby for damage to his motorcycle due to gravel falling from a Winnebago County Highway Department truck was referred to the Personnel and Finance Committee. o Notice of Claim from Terry Babcock for damages to his truck from a sealing operation by the Winnebago County Highway Department was referred to the Personnel and Finance Committee. * Resolution from Crawford County to conduct a countywide advisory referendum on creation of a nonpartisan procedure for the preparation of Legislative and Congressional redistricting plans and maps was referred to the Legislative Committee. * Resolution from Dunn County to conduct a countywide advisory referendum on creation of a nonpartisan procedure for the preparation of Legislative and Congressional Redistricting Plans and Maps was referred to the Legislative Committee. * Resolution from Waushara County to support the commitment to Veterans Support and Outreach (CVSO) Act was referred to the Legislative Committee. * Resolution from Wood County requesting, "the State Senate to convene in "extraordinary session" to address the 13 "Water Bills" passed in the Assembly earlier this year" was referred to the Legislative Committee. * Town of Omro response to May 19, 2020 Zoning Report No. 004 and Amendatory Ordinance No. 04-04-20 for Harve C. and Rene M. Ross was referred to the Planning and Zoning Committee. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS AND BOARDS No reports this month. Motion by Supervisor Konetzke and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to approve the proceedings from the June 16, 2020 business meeting. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. COUNTY EXECUTIVE'S REPORT Executive Harris spoke regarding a substantial Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) allocation received by the county. Federal funds pass thru the state and on to the county; funds are administered by the Department of Administration. Executive Harris is conferring with the Department of Administration regarding crisis in housing for people suffering from evictions and foreclosures. The money needs to be distributed by October. COUNTY EXECUTIVE'S APPOINTMENTS Advocap Board of Directors County Executive, Mark Harris, asked for the Board's approval of his appointment of Supervisor Larry Lautenschlager to the Advocap Board of Directors. Mr. Lautenschlager will replace Harold Singstock whose term has expired. This is a two-year term which will expire April 30, 2022. Motion by Supervisor Ellis and seconded by Supervisor Konetzke to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Aging & Disability Resource Center Committee County Executive, Mark Harris, asked for the Board's approval of his appointment of Supervisor Nicole Neuhoff to the Aging & Disability Resource Center Committee. Ms. Neuhoff will replace Harold Singstock whose term will expire August 31, 2022. Motion by Supervisor Farrey and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. County Executive, Mark Harris, asked for the Board's approval of his re-appointment of Kathryn Pfaendtner, 5710 St. Ives Road, Oshkosh, to the Aging & Disability Resource Center Committee. This is a three-year term which will expire on August 31, 2023. Motion by Supervisor Farrey and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Board of Adjustment County Executive, Mark Harris, asked for the Board's approval of his re-appointment of Sue Drexler, 222 More Island, Oshkosh to the Board of Adjustment. This is a three-year term which will expire on June 30, 2023. Motion by Supervisor Konetzke and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Board of Health County Executive, Mark Harris, asked for the Board's approval of his re-appointments of Supervisors Shiloh Ramos, Thomas J. Egan, Mike Norton, W. Thomas Ellis and Rachel Youngquist; Paula McNiel, 800 Algoma Blvd., Oshkosh; and David Allen Zerbe, 1031 Washington Ave., Oshkosh; to the Board of Health. These are two-year terms which will expire July 1, 2022. Motion by Supervisor Konetzke and seconded by Supervisor Farrey to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Fox Valley Workforce Development Board, Inc. County Executive, Mark Harris, asked for the Board's approval of his re-appointments of Dale Walker, Fox Valley Technical College; Patti Andresen-Shew, Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce; Patty Milka, Milka Enterprises, LLC; and Mark Westphal, Fox Valley Area Labor Council; to the Fox Valley Workforce Development Board, Inc. These are three-year terms which will expire June 30, 2023. Motion by Supervisor Konetzke and seconded by Supervisor Lautenschlager to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Human Services Board County Executive, Mark Harris, asked for the Board's approval of his appointment of Supervisor Stephanie Spellman to the Human Services Board. Ms. Spellman will replace Harold Singstock whose term will expire December 31, 2020. Motion by Supervisor Rasmussen and seconded by Supervisor Konetzke to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Industrial Development Board County Executive, Mark Harris, asked for the Board's approval of his appointment and re-appointments of Supervisors Jim Wise, Robert Keller and Robert Warnke to the Industrial Development Board. Mr. Warnke will replace Ken Robl who passed away. These are two-year terms which will expire April 30, 2022. Motion by Supervisor Ellis and seconded by Supervisor Konetzke to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Local Emergency Planning Commission County Executive, Mark Harris, asked for the Board's approval of his appointment of Supervisor Doug Zellmer to the Local Emergency Planning Commission. This is a three-year term which will expire December 31, 2023. Motion by Supervisor Albrecht and seconded by Supervisor Norton to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. COUNTY BOARD CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Chairman Ramos expressed a thank you to Leghouse Productions, the County Clerk's Office, the Parks Department and Information Systems staff for all the hard work to set up the County Board meeting. Chairman Ramos announced the resignation of Supervisor Jim Wise as of August 7, 2020. Supervisor Wise is relocating to another district. Land Conservation Committee Chairman Shiloh Ramos asked for the Board's approval of his re-appointment of Roger Zentner, Farm Service Agency Committee Chairman, to the Land Conservation Committee. This is a two-year term that will expire on April 18, 2022. Motion by Supervisor Egan and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Chairman Shiloh Ramos asked for the Board's approval of his re-appointment of Bruce Bohn, 8317 County Road E, Omro, to the Land Conservation Committee. This is a two-year term that will expire on April 18, 2022. Motion by Supervisor Egan and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to accept. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Approval of the Committee on Committee Appointments Motion by Supervisor Farrey and seconded by Supervisor Lautenschlager to approve the Committee on Committee Appointments. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. The Committee on Committees' appointments and officers are as follows: Aviation Committee Facilities & Property Management Committee Maribeth Gabert Andy Buck Tom Konetzke Thomas Egan Larry Lautenschlager Tom Ellis Koby Schellenger Robert Keller Robert Warnke Bill Wingren Emergency Management Committee Highway Committee Michael Brunn David Albrecht (C) Paul Eisen Robert Warnke (VC) Tom Ellis Chuck Farrey (SEC) Vicki Schorse Thomas Egan Bill Wingren Joel Rasmussen Information Systems Committee Judiciary & Public Safety Committee Alyssa Bolante Bill Wingren (C) Kevin Konrad Tom Ellis (VC) Steve Lenz Vicki Schorse (SEC) Nicole Neuhoff Michael Brunn Stephanie Spellman Paul Eisen Land Conservation Committee Park View Health Center Committee Chuck Farrey Tom Ellis (C) Julie Gordon Maribeth Gabert (VC) Ben Joas Larry Lautenschlager (SEC) Karen Powers Shiloh Ramos Tom Snider Bill Wingren Parks & Recreation Committee Personnel & Finance Committee Tom Konetzke (C) Joel Rasmussen (C) Steve Binder (VC) Vicki Schorse (VC) Mike Norton (SEC) Steve Binder (SEC) Larry Lautenschlager David Albrecht Don Nussbaum Stephanie Spellman Planning & Zoning Committee UW Education, Extension & Agriculture Brian Defferding Committee Thomas Egan Tom Snider (C) Maribeth Gabert Steve Binder (VC) Ben Joas Thomas Borchart Robert Keller Karen Powers Doug Zellmer ZONING REPORTS AND ORDINANCES No zoning reports or ordinance this month. ORIENTATION SESSION Explanation of the Functions of the Corporation Counsel's Office and the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors' Ethics Handbook by Mary Anne Mueller, Corporation Counsel Mary Anne Mueller, Winnebago County Corporation Counsel, introduced herself and explained what her office does for Winnebago County and for the Board of Supervisors. Ms. Mueller discussed her role as the attorney for Winnebago County in all civil proceedings. Ms. Mueller touched on certain points in the County Board Ethics Handbook: * Receipt of Gifts and Gratuities – Supervisors should not accept any gift or gratuity with a value of $25.00 or more. Conflict of Interest – Cannot vote on items that will financially impact yourself or your immediate family. * * Appearances of Impropriety – Anything suspect with regard to an action taken. Limit self-dealing, not profiting from holding public office, conflicts between personal interest and public responsibility. * Importance of Using County E-mail vs. Social Media – With social media there are no proper backups for open records requests. * Walking Quorums – Series of gatherings among separate groups of members, less than quorum size, to vote or act in a certain manner to numbers sufficient to reach a quorum. Members can violate open meeting law by communicating by phone or e-mail regarding governmental business. If a Supervisor is fined for violating an open meeting law, the fine will be paid out of their own pocket. Ms. Mueller told the Board that if they have any legal questions about their role as a county board supervisor, they should contact her. She then took questions from the board. Personnel/Payroll Information by Michael Collard, Human Resources Director Michael Collard, Director of Human Resources stated that all of the new supervisors had contacted his office and filed the necessary paperwork. iPads and Supervisors' E-mail Account Information by Patty Francour, Information Systems Department Patty Francour, Director of Information Systems, introduced herself and noted that her office is located at 112 Otter Avenue in the County Administration Building. Her office is available to help any Supervisor from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A "Computer Use Agreement" needs to be completed by any newly elected supervisor. The iPads are county-owned tools for Supervisors to use. WiFi is available in the County Board Room, as well as, many committee rooms. The iPad can be used for voting purposes at County Board meetings. When a Supervisor choses to resign from the board or decides not to seek another term, the iPad must be returned to the county. It is strongly recommended to use the county e-mail address that is provided to each Supervisor. E-mails can easily be recovered for open record requests, if using the county e-mail. Ms. Francour then took questions from the board. RESOLUTIONS AND ORDINANCES RESOLUTION NO. 034-072020: Commendation for Thomas Davies WHEREAS, Thomas Davies has been employed with the Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation Department for the past twenty-four (24) years, and during that time has been a most conscientious and devoted County employee; and WHEREAS, Thomas Davies has now retired from those duties, and it is appropriate for the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors to acknowledge his years of service. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that sincere appreciation and commendation be and is hereby extended to Thomas Davies for the fine services he has rendered to Winnebago County. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Winnebago County Clerk send a copy of this Resolution to Thomas Davies. Submitted by: PERSONNEL AND FINANCE COMMITTEE Motion by Supervisor Rasmussen and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to adopt. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. RESOLUTION NO. 035-072020: Commendation for Lynette Hein WHEREAS, Lynette Hein has been employed with the Winnebago County Land and Water Conservation Department for the past twenty-five (25) years, and during that time has been a most conscientious and devoted County employee; and WHEREAS, Lynette Hein has now retired from those duties, and it is appropriate for the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors to acknowledge her years of service. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that sincere appreciation and commendation be and is hereby extended to Lynette Hein for the fine services she has rendered to Winnebago County. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Winnebago County Clerk send a copy of this Resolution to Lynette Hein. Submitted by: PERSONNEL AND FINANCE COMMITTEE RESOLUTION NO. 043-072020: Authorize Two-Year Contract with Baycom WHEREAS, Winnebago County wishes to enter into a contract with Baycom for two (2) years, from August 1, 2020, through July 31, 2022, to provide radio subscriber unit maintenance, for the sum of $50,526 ($25,263 per year for two years); and WHEREAS, your undersigned Committee has reviewed said contract and recommends its approval. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby authorizes the two (2)-year service contract with Baycom for radio subscriber unit maintenance pursuant to the terms set forth in the Purchase of Services Contract, attached to this Resolution, and incorporated herein by reference and made a part of this Resolution. Submitted by: JUDICIARY AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE PERSONNEL AND FINANCE COMMITTEE Motion by Supervisor Wingren and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to adopt. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. RESOLUTION NO. 044-072020: Authorize Three-Year Land Records Life Cycle and Extension Contract with Fidlar Technologies WHEREAS, Winnebago County wishes to renew its contract with Fidlar Technologies for software and support to record and maintain all county real estate and vital records pursuant to the terms identified in the contract; and WHEREAS, your undersigned Committee has reviewed said contract and recommends its approval. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby authorizes the three-year service contract with Fidlar Technologies under the terms of the contract attached hereto, and incorporated herein by reference and made a part of the Resolution. Submitted by: JUDICIARY AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE PERSONNEL AND FINANCE COMMITTEE Motion by Supervisor Wingren and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to adopt. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. RESOLUTION NO. 046-072020: Authorize the Transfer of $699,000 from Park View Health Center's Unrestricted Fund Balance to the Park View Health Center's Capital Project for the Construction Phase of an Ancillary Building to Serve as a Garage, Storage Space, and Training Facility WHEREAS, the new Park View building plans did not include a garage; and WHEREAS, the former Park View campus had a garage available to park the vehicles; and WHEREAS, current rooms used for training are in constant demand and are not set up for training purposes, thus a dedicated training space would be used for new employee orientations and current employee trainings and skills review, and would allow for the facility to institute its own state-approved CNA certification program; and WHEREAS, storage space was reduced in the new Park View building plans to accommodate the materials and supplies that cannot be kept in the basement storage room due to space constraints, and excess materials have been stored in the old Laundry Building which is scheduled to be razed in late 2019 or early 2020; and WHEREAS, this new building would provide a training facility, garage, and storage space on the Park View Health Center grounds; and WHEREAS, the total cost of this project is $749,000, consisting of $50,000 for design and $699,000 for construction. The $50,000 design phase of this project was approved at the February 11, 2020, Winnebago County Board Meeting by Resolution Number 272-022020. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby authorizes the transfer of $699,000 from Park View Health Center's Unrestricted Fund balance to the Park View Health Center's capital project for the construction phase of an ancillary building to serve as a garage, storage space, and training facility. Submitted by: PARK VIEW HEALTH CENTER COMMITTEE FACILITIES AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE RESOLUTION NO. 047-072020: Unrestricted Fund Balance to the Park View Health Center's Capital Authorize the Transfer of $40,000 from Park View Health Center's Outlay Account to Purchase Two (2) New Neighborhood Doors WHEREAS, Park View Health Center is transitioning its locked household on Parkside 2-South from "locked" to "secure" (which is tied in with the Accutech Wanderguard system); and WHEREAS, this transition requires new doors for the neighborhood entrance in order to be compliant with Life Safety Code requirements; and WHEREAS, these doors are required to tie in with the fire system and Accutech Wanderguard system; and WHEREAS, this household has consistently remained with four (4) open beds due to the inability to fill those beds as a result of fewer people in the community meeting requirements for a "locked unit order," which is a requirement for placement in this household; and WHEREAS, transitioning this household to "secure" versus "locked" will provide the opportunity for significant revenue gains and the ability to serve more community members. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby authorizes the transfer of $40,000 from Park View Health Center's Unrestricted Fund balance to the Park View Health Center's capital outlay account to purchase two (2) new neighborhood doors. Submitted by: PARK VIEW HEALTH CENTER COMMITTEE FACILITIES AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE Motion by Supervisor Ellis and seconded by Supervisor Konetzke to adopt. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. RESOLUTION NO. 048-072020: Granting Exceptions to Human Resources Policy 17 - Vacation WHEREAS, Winnebago County's vacation policy, Human Resources Policy 17, currently allows up to five vacation days per employee which remain at the end of one calendar year to be carried over to the next calendar year; and WHEREAS, due to various reasons related to the COVID-19 crisis, at this point of the year some County departments have found it very difficult to allow employees to use vacation to the extent that they normally would, while many employees have found it difficult to use vacation for reasons such as travel restrictions, difficulty in obtaining child care, and general uncertainty; and WHEREAS, disruption to department operations may result if vacation usage is compressed at the end of the year; and WHEREAS, allowing an additional five days of vacation to be carried over from 2020 to 2021, as an exception to the rule, would help ease this situation without requiring any additional expenditures by the County; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby authorizes Winnebago County employees to request a carryover of up to five (5) additional vacation days from 2020 to 2021, with department head approval, for a maximum of ten (10) vacation days. The ability to carry over ten (10) vacation days from 2020 to 2021 is an exception to the current policy that limits employees to carry over five (5) vacation days as provided by Human Resources Policy 17.05(c). BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that all other provisions of Human Resources Policy 17 will remain in effect, and that this exception will apply only to carryovers from calendar year 2020 to calendar year 2021. Submitted by: PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE Motion by Supervisor Rasmussen and seconded by Supervisor Farrey to adopt. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. RESOLUTION NO. 045-072020: Enforce Policy on Excess Committee Days WHEREAS, §59.13(2)(b), Wis Stats, provides that committee members of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors shall receive compensation for their service as the Board allows, not exceeding the per diem and mileage allowed to members of the Board; and WHEREAS, §59.13(2), Wis Stats, states in pertinent part, "The number of days for which compensation and mileage may be paid a committee member in any year. . .are limited as follows: (b) in counties with a population of 25,000 or more, to thirty (30) days for services on committees, except that the board may, by a two-thirds vote of the members present, increase the number of days for which compensation and mileage may be paid in any year and fix the compensation for each additional day"; and WHEREAS, the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors has thirty-six (36) members, the second largest Board in the State of Wisconsin; and WHEREAS, history has shown that a number of supervisors regularly exceed the 30-day limit and receive compensation before the Board approves the request, despite it being a well-established policy in Winnebago County that employees are not allowed to receive pay for unauthorized time, while a number of supervisors do not come close to reporting thirty (30) days of service; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby calls for Winnebago County to adhere to the dictates of §59.13(2), Wis Stats, and limit the number of days committee members can be paid up to thirty (30) days and assign committee membership proportionally. Submitted by: PERSONNEL AND FINANCE COMMITTEE JUDICIARY AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE Motion by Supervisor Rasmussen and seconded by Supervisor Farrey to adopt. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. RESOLUTION NO. 036-072020: Amend 2020-2022 Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors Regarding Remote Meeting Option WHEREAS, in December 2019 a novel strain of the COVID-19 coronavirus was detected and has since spread throughout the United States and the world; and WHEREAS, COVID-19 was identified as highly contagious and on March 25, 2020, Governor Tony Evers enacted Emergency Order #12 as an extreme measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19; and WHEREAS, the possible threat of future Pandemics and Epidemics are possible and may require stay-athome and quarantine scenarios; and WHEREAS, geographically, Winnebago County, Wisconsin, is located in an environment that experiences inclement weather that could prevent travel for some supervisors; and WHEREAS, online applications have advanced far enough to offer options that will allow Winnebago County to fulfill the requirements of state and federal laws; and WHEREAS, the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors are responsible for maintaining county government business in a safe manor for its residents and supervisors; and WHEREAS, one of the responsibilities of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors is to attend and conduct committee and board meetings. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby adopts the following Amendments to the 2020-2022 Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors: Section 8.0 Written Agenda. Amend 8.2 as indicated in bold and italics: For an item to be printed on the agenda, it must be presented to the County Clerk's Office no later than Monday noon of the week prior to the Board Meeting. This includes communications and details on if the meeting will utilize a remote option, such as, by way of example, online meetings. Section 8.0 Written Agenda. Amend 8.3 as indicated in bold and italics: This Agenda, along with appropriate attachments, shall be mailed or otherwise deposited for delivery at least seven (7) days before the meeting and must provide the supervisors with all necessary access information to attend remotely if the remote option is invoked for said meeting. Section 9.0 Definitions. Create Rule 9.15 to read as follows: Remote Option: A remote option allows supervisors to attend meetings remotely. The remote option requires the use of a device, application, or combination thereof. The remote option grants supervisor(s) the ability to attend a board or committee meeting as a regular voting member. The remote option requires that the public have equivalent access to remote board member(s), that they would have had if said board member(s) was/were in physical attendance. The remote option must allow the chair to mute all remote attendees and must allow supervisors the ability to identify themselves wanting to speak during times that they have the privilege of speaking. Utilization of a remote option requires that the chair or vice-chair of the board or committee be physically present at a location that would be open to the public. Section 11 Voting and Roll Call. Amend 11.6 as indicated in bold and italics: All votes cast shall be cast only if the Supervisor is present at his or her desk, unless the chair of the board or committee has designated that the use of a remote session is permitted. If a remote option is permitted, the supervisor(s) attending remotely must have a camera and microphone on and must be in the visible range of the camera and auditory range of the microphone. Section 12 Motions. Amend 12.6 as indicated in bold and italics: The previous question (a motion to end debate) may be moved by any member present, or attending via remote option, for passage. Section 13 Suspension of Rules. Amend 13.1 as indicated in bold and italics: Any of the Rules may be suspended by two-thirds vote of the members present or attending remotely, except Rules Number 3.8, 7.5, 11.0-11.5, 12.7, and 13.1, which are not suspendable. Section 22.0 Committee Meetings. Amend 22.3 as indicated in bold and italics. Public notice of all meetings shall be given as soon as the members of the Committee, Board, or Commission are notified of such meeting and not less than 24 hours before the meeting except as hereinafter provided. Any meetings utilizing the use of a remote option will need to be indicated at this time. Submitted by: STEVEN LENZ, District 7 Motion by Supervisor Lenz and seconded by Supervisor Norton to adopt. Motion by Supervisor Schorse and seconded by Supervisor Ellis to amend the title of the resolution to read as follows: Amend 2020 – 2022 Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors Regarding Remote Meeting Option for Emergency Situations. Vote on Amendment: FAILED BY VOICE VOTE. Vote on Resolution as presented: CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. RESOLUTION NO. 037-072020: Amend Section 7.1 of the Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors: Handling of Resolutions and Ordinances BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby amends Section 7.1 of the Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors to read as follows: 7.1 Every written resolution shall be prepared in block form and shall be as concise as possible and shall have attached to it the name of the Committee, Commission, or Board and/or the names of the Supervisor(s) introducing it. Any supervisor may submit a resolution on any subject. Submitted by: MICHAEL NORTON, District 20 JUDICIARY & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE This resolution was WITHDRAWN by Supervisor Norton. RESOLUTION NO. 038-072020: Amend Section 8.2 of the Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors: Handling of Resolutions and Ordinances BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that Section 8.2 of the Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors shall be amended to read as follows: 8.2 For an item to be printed on the agenda, it must be presented to the County Clerk's Office Winnebago County Office of Corporation Counsel no later than Monday noon of the week prior to the Board Meeting. Respectfully submitted by: MICHAEL NORTON, District 20 JUDICIARY & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE This resolution was WITHDRAWN by Supervisor Norton. RESOLUTION NO. 039-072020: Amend Section 22.1 of the Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors: Committee Meetings BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby amends Section 22.01 of the Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors to read as follows: 22.1 All Committee, Board, and Commission meetings shall be held in the County Courthouse or on public property if possible. Meetings held on private property must be accessible to the public. The time of any committee meeting shall be approved unanimously by the entire membership of the committee. Submitted by: MICHAEL NORTON, District 20 JUDICIARY AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE This resolution was WITHDRAWN by Supervisor Norton. RESOLUTION NO. 040-072020: Create Section 23.2 of the Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors: Standing Committees BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby creates Section 23.01 of the Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors to read as follows: 23.2 County Board members may speak at any time during any County Board or Committee meeting after being recognized by the chair of that Committee or Board. Submitted by: MICHAEL NORTON, District 20 JUDICIARY AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE This resolution was WITHDRAWN by Supervisor Norton. RESOLUTION NO. 041-072020: Transfer Jurisdiction of Veterans Services and the Child Support Agency from the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee (Standing Committee) to the Human Services Board (Citizen-Involved Board) BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby transfers jurisdiction of Veterans Services and the Child Support Agency from the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, a Standing Committee, to the Human Services Board, a Citizen-Involved Board. Submitted by: MICHAEL NORTON, District 20 JUDICIARY AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE This resolution was WITHDRAWN by Supervisor Norton. RESOLUTION NO. 042-072020: Create a Diversity Affairs Commission WHEREAS, achieving racial and ethnic equity and advocacy for minority populations throughout Winnebago County will foster cross-cultural understanding and embrace our diversity; and WHEREAS, in an effort to attain better equality for all citizens of Winnebago County including our minority population, your undersigned proposes creating a Diversity Affairs Commission comprised of twelve (12) members appointed by the County Board Chair, specifically five (5) County Board Supervisors, one of which is a member of the UW-Extension Committee, and seven (7) County citizens representing various diverse groups within Winnebago County, with each member serving a two-year term concurrent with the terms of the County Board Supervisors; and WHEREAS, this Commission shall meet on the dates and times established by the Commission, and meetings are subject to the same rules and regulations of other Winnebago County committees, commissions, and boards, and shall be accountable to the UW-Extension Committee; and WHEREAS, duties and responsibilities of this Diversity Affairs Commission shall include the following: * Create and update a Strategic Plan to support the Commission's mission. This Strategic Plan shall be adopted by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors; * Function as leaders and/or co-leaders for the core strategies of the Commission's Strategic Plan; * Utilize meetings to coordinate efforts, share information, and request resources to aid Commission members in providing leadership to teams of community leaders, key stakeholders, and residents in moving forward strategic priorities including, but not limited to: o Expanding visibility of the Diversity Affairs Commission and developing a liaison with new and existing minority groups; o Fostering diversity leadership that attracts and retains young adults in our communities; o Promoting equal and fair access to public services; and o Promoting school success for minority group children in the K-12 educational system. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby authorizes the creation of a Diversity Affairs Commission for the purpose of achieving diversity equality within Winnebago County as described above. Submitted by: MICHAEL NORTON, District 20 STEPHANIE SPELLMAN, District 10 STEVEN BINDER, District 13 LARRY LAUTENSCHLAGER, District 19 TOM SNIDER, District 35 ANDY BUCK, District 24 Motion by Supervisor Norton and seconded by Supervisor Binder to adopt. Motion by Supervisor Defferding and seconded by Supervisor Schorse to refer this resolution to the Human Services Board. After discussion, motion by Supervisor Eisen and seconded by Supervisor Egan to call for the question. Vote on Call for the Question: CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Vote on motion to refer to Human Services Board. CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. RESOLUTION NO. 049-072020: Adopt the Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors WHEREAS, due to restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic that affected, among other areas, the entire State of Wisconsin, including Winnebago County, it was necessary for the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors to conduct an initial abbreviated Organizational Meeting at its scheduled date, April 21, 2020, at which time the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors adopted the 2018-2020 Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors for 2020-2022 subject to amendments to Rule 1.1, 11.6, and 3.8 to address issues related to COVID-19; and WHEREAS, the Chairman of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors ruled that the 2020 Organizational Meeting shall be scheduled to conclude at the July 21, 2020, regularly-scheduled meeting of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it reincorporates each of the foregoing-mentioned amendments to Rules 1.1, 11.6, and 3.8 as adopted by the Board on April 21, 2020. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby adopts the 2018- 2020 Rules of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors with amendments for the 2020-2022 session, subject to any further amendments: Submitted by: SHILOH RAMOS, District 5 Motion by Supervisor Egan and seconded by Supervisor Farrey to adopt. Motion by Supervisor Farrey and seconded be Supervisor Konetzke for a friendly amendment to correct the rule numbers on Line 16 from "1.1, 11.6 and 3.8" to "8.2, 8.3, 9.15, 11.6, 12.6, 13.1 and 22.3". CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Vote on Resolution as Amended: CARRIED BY VOICE VOTE. Motion by Supervisor Albrecht and seconded by Supervisor Konetzke to adjourn until the August 4, 2020 business meeting at 6:00 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 11.59 p.m. Submitted by: Julie A. Barthels Winnebago County Deputy Clerk State of Wisconsin) County of Winnebago) ss I, Julie A. Barthels, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the Journal of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors for their regular meeting held July 21, 2020. Julie A. Barthels Winnebago County Deputy Clerk
PRODUCTS LIABILITY Litigation News and Analysis • Legislation • Regulation • Expert Commentary VOLUME 22, ISSUE 3 / APRIL 2011 Expert Analysis New CPSC Database Raises Regulatory Risks and Product Liability Exposure By Jill B. Deal, Esq., William R. Nordwind, Esq., and Bruce R. Parker, Esq. Venable LLP Manufacturers and private-label distributors that do not regularly monitor develop ments at the Consumer Product Safety Commission may find themselves doing an abrupt about-face since SaferProducts.gov, a publicly available, searchable database created by new regulations promulgated by the CPSC, began operation in March. The database will contain safety information about all products under the CPSC's jurisdiction, including many products that companies may not think fall into that category. For example, the CPSC has jurisdiction to impose poison prevention packaging on foods (including dietary supplements), drugs and cosmetics under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (and already does so for some of these products). Likewise, the agency has jurisdiction over consumer products and children's products under the Consumer Product Safety Act and all kinds of fabrics and fabric products pursuant to the Flammable Fabrics Act. Hazardous substances, defined as any substances or mixtures that are toxic, corrosive, irritants, strong sensitizers, flammable or combustible, or that generate pressure through decomposition, heat or other means, and that may cause sub stantial personal injury or illness, are regulated by the CPSC under the Hazardous Substances Act. Early indications are that the CPSC intends to interpret its jurisdiction liberally in de termining what products its database should capture. For example, in response to objections from a commenter during rulemaking about including reports for overthe-counter drugs and dietary supplements in the database, the CPSC responded, "We have no intention of including reports of harm solely involving products or sub stances not within our jurisdiction, but will include all products and substances that do fall within our jurisdiction, including complaints about drug product packaging." Designed to provide an early warning system to consumers about product defects, the new database opens a Pandora's box of significant questions and potential problems for manufacturers and private labelers. These include: WESTLAW JOURNAL PRODUCTS LIABILITY * How can I investigate a safety report when I receive only brief details about it and no contact information from the submitter? * What do I do about reports about products I don't make — or don't make any longer — so that my name doesn't wrongly appear in the database? * How can I complete an investigation and submit a meaningful comment refuting the report within 10 days when I get only a thumbnail sketch of the problem? * How can I convince the CPSC not to publish a report or to correct information in it that is inaccurate if I don't get enough details about the safety problem to properly investigate it? * How will the CPSC ensure that safety reports in the database are legitimate and not a campaign backed by one of my competitors to damage my reputation? * How will the CPSC ensure that the primary beneficiaries of the database are not the private plaintiffs' bar who may see it as a rich lode of information to mine for mass product liability and state unfair-business-competition actions? * How do I comply with other non-CPSC reporting obligations and regulations without increasing my regulatory and product liability exposure? We summarize the regulations and potential issues below, including the need for significant advance planning to control risk exposure. THE REGULATIONS On Nov. 27, 2010, the CPSC finalized its regulations creating SaferProducts.gov. Congress had directed it to "establish and maintain a publicly available, search able database on the safety of consumer products and other products or substances regulated by the CPSC" pursuant to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act's Section 212. REPORTS OF HARM Included in the database will be reports of harm, defined as "any injury, illness or death or any risk of injury, illness or death, as determined by the commission, relating to the use of a consumer product." The CPSC has intentionally set the bar for defining "harm" low. For example, it refused to qualify "risk of injury, illness or death" with "substantial," stating that it would rely upon its expertise to determine whether a reported risk supported a finding of harm. Reports can be submitted by a broad variety of users, including consumers, rela tives, parents, health care professionals, police and fire officials, and observers of the product being used. They can also include users such as competitors and lawyers seeking clients, as the CPSC believes that "the fact that a submitter may have a professional interest in the report does not negate the truth of the report." Rejected as too restrictive were recommendations that submitters have firsthand knowledge of the event underlying the report. ©2011 Thomson Reuters Included in the database will be reports of "any injury, illness or death or any risk of injury, illness or death, as determined by the CPSC, relat ing to the use of a consumer product." 2 To ensure the integrity of reported information, the CPSC relies upon a disclaimer on the website, possible liability of the submitter under the False Statements Act, and a requirement that the submitter disclose his or her name and full mailing address in submitting reports. The possibility that these safeguards may not be sufficiently robust led one commenter to remark that this means the database will be reduced to a "blog consisting of hearsay reports from people without personal knowledge who have a vested interest in increasing the number and severity of negative reports." TRANSMISSION OF REPORT TO MANUFACTURER To the extent practicable, the CPSC will transmit a report of harm to the manufacturer within five business days of submission of the completed report. However, the agency will only submit the name and contact details of the submitter to the manufacturer if the submitter has expressly consented. Also not transmitted will be the identity of the victim, photographs that could be used to identify a person and medical records (unless proper consent is obtained). As in most cases, consent to transmit such information cannot be expected, and man ufacturers will have almost nothing to begin investigating the report if they have not received duplicate reports of the incident from other sources such as the Food and Drug Administration or their own reporting system. If a serious incident is alleged, there may be no independent means to verify or refute it. In addition, based on the report, the manufacturer may have to decide whether this automatically triggers other non-CPSC regulatory reporting requirements, even absent any means to verify the report's truth. Although manufacturers will be able to use the information transmitted for the purpose of verifying the report, they will not be able to use the information for ©2011 Thomson Reuters 3 4 \|other purposes, such as offering consumers a remedy. However, consumers will be permitted to request one based on the information. MANUFACTURER COMMENT Only the manufacturer is permitted to comment on the report, and it will be published on the database along with the report. Such comments must: * Relate to the information contained in the specific report that identifies the manufacturer. * Bear the unique identifier provided by the CPSC. * Be verified by the manufacturer (the manufacturer must verify that it has reviewed the report and comment and that the information in it is true and accurate to the best of the firm's knowledge, information and belief). Although the CPSC recognizes that manufacturers may receive groups of complaints about the same problem, the database as organized will not permit responses to be grouped for the purpose of comments. Each report will need to be commented upon individually. The manufacturer can request that all or portions of the report be designated as con fidential information, with the manufacturer bearing the burden of proof for estab lishing confidentiality. Unless the manufacturer has received additional information from other sources reporting the same complaint, it is unclear what the manufacturer will have to usefully comment upon. PUBLICATION OF REPORT The CPSC must publish the report on SaferProducts.gov no later than the 10th business day after such report of harm has been transmitted to the manu facturer. However, either before or after publication, any person (including the manufacturer) may claim that all or portions of the report contain "materially inaccurate information." This is defined as "information that is false and misleading, and which is so substantial and important as to affect a reasonable consumer's decision about the product, including: (i) the identification of a consumer product; (ii) identification of a manufacturer; (iii) harm or risk of harm related to use of the consumer product; or (iv) the date, or approximate date on which the incident occurred." To the extent that such person wishes to have such information corrected or redacted on an expedited basis (such as before the report is published), the CPSC has estab lished an expedited review process. Users are requested to limit their submissions to no more than five pages. Requests by manufacturers must be conspicuously marked. However, even if a manufacturer could prepare an adequate response of no more than five pages, no deadlines have been set for the CPSC to make its expedited determination, so use of this review process will not prevent publication of the report if no determination is made by the 10th business day. However, if the CPSC's determination is made before the publication deadline, the agency can: * Decline to add the materially inaccurate information (including the entire report) to the database. ©2011 Thomson Reuters * Correct it and, if the minimum requirements for publication are still met, publish the amended report. * Add information to correct the materially inadequate information. If such determination occurs after pub-lication, the CPSC is obliged, similarly, to delete, correct or add information to correct materially incorrect information no later than seven business days after making its determination. Portions of the report not altered will remain in the database indefinitely. In the event that the product is not the manufacturer's product or is no longer manufactured by the company, the CPSC expects that the manufacturer will immediately notify the CPSC so that the correct manufacturer (if any) can be notified. However, to ensure that the CPSC does not publish the report under the wrong manufacturer's name, a request for an expedited review would likely need to be made immediately after receipt. MATERIAL INACCURACIES IN MANUFACTURERS' COMMENTS Any person may claim that a manufacturer's comment contains "materially inaccu rate information." This is defined as information identical to that described in the previous section, with the addition of information relating to * The status of a CPSC or manufacturer investigation. * Whether the manufacturer is engaged in a corrective action and whether such action has been approved by the CPSC. * Whether the manufacturer has taken, or promised to take, any other action with regard to the product. One commenter noted that, by allowing any person, including class-action attor neys, competitors and others who might have inappropriate motives, to challenge the comments, the CPSC will "be creating a 'free for all' atmosphere by encouraging such people to collaterally battle about issues using the CPSC's database," with the agency acting as a referee. MANNER OF SUBMISSION Reports of harm are to be submitted to the CPSC's website on a specially developed electronic incident form. Submissions can also be made telephonically, by email and in writing. Manufacturers that register with the agency can submit comments through a manu facturer portal that will be maintained on the CPSC's website, by email or in writing. Reports of harm will be transmitted to manufacturers through the business portal or in writing addressed to the manufacturer's principal place of business. OTHER INFORMATION In addition to materials relating to the reports, the CPSC will include all voluntary or mandatory recall notices that have been made available to the public on SaferProducts.gov in a searchable form. Additional information may be included by the CPSC if it is in the public interest and otherwise consistent with the confidentiality requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Act. ©2011 Thomson Reuters 5 6 CONCLUSIONS Manufacturers should determine which of their products and substances are sub ject to CPSC jurisdiction and thus potentially the subject of reports of harm. Those doing the inventory should interpret the CPSC's jurisdiction broadly, particularly as the agency is required to make an annual report to Congress about the database, with an additional report to be prepared by the Government Accountability Office within two years after the beginning of operations. Under these circumstances, the CPSC will likely be motivated to amass a large data base to satisfy Congress that it is doing its job of protecting consumers from defects. These reporting requirements also mean that the CPSC is likely to be aggressive in publicizing the website and encouraging consumers to use it frequently, so that the volume of reports submitted is likely to be large. Manufacturers should register with the CPSC to be in a position to monitor and re spond to any reports transmitted as soon as the database commences operations. Manufacturers should also consult with counsel responsible for other non-CPSC re porting obligations, CPSC counsel and product liability counsel before the database becomes operational. Proper steps need to be taken in advance, such as drafting of standard operating procedures, analyzing CPSC jurisdiction (or lack thereof) over products, and appoint ment of individuals responsible for monitoring and interfacing with the website in order to ensure compliance with CPSC and non-CPSC regulatory requirements, as well as to minimize product liability exposure. Jill Deal (left) is a food and drug partner at Venable LLP in Washington. Her practice focuses on laws governing consumer goods, including therapeutic products regulated by the FDA and consumer products regulated by the CPSC. Bruce Parker (center) is a litigation partner at the firm, focusing on product liability and toxic-tort litigation, in particular, that involving drugs and medical devices. Will Nordwind (right) is a government relations and regulatory and legislative affairs partner at Venable's Baltimore office, concentrating on telecommunications policy matters. ©2011 Thomson Reuters. This publication was created to provide you with accurate and authoritative information concern ing the subject matter covered, however it may not necessarily have been prepared by persons licensed to practice law in a particular jurisdiction. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional advice, and this publication is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. If you require legal or other expert advice, you should seek the services of a competent attorney or other professional. For subscription information, please visit www.West.Thomson.com. ©2011 Thomson Reuters
Stanley Harrold. Subversives: Antislavery Community in Washington, D.C., 1828-1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003. xv + 280 pp. $71.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-80712805-3; $26.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8071-2838-1. Reviewed by Bradley Skelcher (Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy, Delaware State University) Published on H-DC (April, 2004) Stanley Harrold in Subversives provides a focused study of antebellum Washington, D.C. and the struggles to destroy and conversely to defend slavery in the nation's capital. Harrold places his work within the broader context of abolitionism in the United States, particularly the northern abolitionist movement. In his telling of this great contest between antislavery and proslavery forces, Harrold sets out to show the "interracial cooperation" among opponents of slavery within Washington, D.C. and the Chesapeake Bay. Harrold vividly illustrates what he calls "practical abolitionism" among free and enslaved African Americans and approving whites. Historians have rarely spotlighted the daily tribulations within the antislavery movement, and for Washington, D.C., this is a first. Historian Peter J. Parish has observed that sweeping studies of slavery on a national and international scale have given way to more localized studies. As Harrold's work demonstrates, this is also becoming the case with the history of abolition. This micro (rather than macro) approach allows for more in-depth coverage of the antislavery movement, thereby leading to a deeper understanding of the individuals involved. mary sources such as private letters, unpublished papers, and streams of newspaper articles and editorials. He augments these sources with a rich variety of secondary works, including his own: "The intellectual and historiographical parameters for this book are most directly established in my The Abolitionists and the South, 18311861."[1] He also acknowledges influence and support from the historian and editor of the series in which Subversives appears, James Brewer Stewart, author of Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery. Harrold draws on several other important historians of the abolitionist movement such as Betty Fladeland, who not only studied the movement, but also was an activist in the modern civil rights movement. Unlike other historians of abolition history, however, Harrold is not necessarily looking for a "usable past" to emulate or to justify contemporary movements to achieve an integrated society. Harrold combines sociology and social psychology along with studies on community in his analysis of abolitionist's motivations and characteristics. Harrold sets out to challenge earlier historical interpretations of the antislavery movement, using "interracial cooperation" as his central thesis. He disputes the "Revisionist" interpretations of the 1920s and 1930s that abolitionists were religious and moral fanatics, even insane. Quite the contrary, according to Harrold's depiction of abolitionists. Harrold describes whites and African Americans, both free and enslaved, as rational and intelligent individuals who committed themselves to work together for the common cause of eradicating slavery. He accomplishes this by meticulously scouring pri- Central to Harrold's thesis is the abolitionists' choice of Washington as the most vulnerable and symbolically important point to attack slavery. Washington was the place where slaveholders maintained their power through the national government, ironically using the ideology of states rights to protect slavery. Antebellum African Americans recognized Washington's importance in slavery, as Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. notes in his recent book Exodus!: "We are still the New Israelites, but the United States is Egypt, and the seat of Pharaoh is in Washington, D.C."_.[2] Harrold correctly points out that an attack on slavery in Washington, D.C. meant an attack on the seat of the slaveholders' power. Slaveholders equally understood that they had to muster all of their power to resist abolitionists in the nation's capital. Like other historians of Chesapeake history, Harrold describes the agricultural changes as the Chesapeake region shifted from labor-intensive tobacco cultivation to capital-intensive grain production, leaving planters with a surplus of slaves. With the opening of new land for short-staple cotton and sugar cultivation in the Old Southwest, the demand for slaves rose there. Chesapeake slaveholders thus found a market for their increasing number of surplus slaves during the antebellum period. The rising demand for slaves in the Old Southwest transformed the Chesapeake into the center of the domestic slave trade. Baltimore emerged as the principle slave market during the early antebellum period. Eventually, the slave-trading center shifted to Washington and its immediate environs, including Alexandria, Virginia. According to Harrold, abolitionists were well aware of these new developments and focused their moral persuasion efforts, beginning in Baltimore and then in Washington. Benjamin Lundy, a northern-born newspaper editor and Quaker, was an early opponent of slavery. In 1824, Lundy moved his abolitionist paper, Genius of Universal Emancipation, which focused on moral suasion, from Ohio to Baltimore. William Lloyd Garrison later joined him as associate editor for a short time before going on to establish the Liberator. As an alternative to abolition, the American Colonization Society, which was active in Maryland and Washington, D.C., advocated relocation of free African Americans to Liberia. Harrold next describes the transformation of the abolitionist movement into a more radical movement characterized by northern abolitionists working with African Americans in Washington. Over time, abolitionists moved away from earlier strategies of moral persuasion and colonization schemes perceived as racist to a strategy of "immediatism." They worked to secure the freedom of enslaved African Americans through legal challenges, through purchase, or by helping them run away to freedom in the North. "Immediatists" correctly understood that it was easier for enslaved African Americans in the Washington region to escape to the North. Additionally, the Chesapeake region contained the largest free African American population in the country, making it easier to find willing allies for the radical abolitionist movement. Abolitionists believed that if they could show slaveholders their property was insecure, they could hasten slavery's demise. However, this approach often backfired, as slaveholders sold their chattel before they could run away, breaking up families in heart-wrenching scenes throughout Washington, D.C. These scenes, publicized in antislavery newspapers throughout the North, highlighted the horrors of slavery and helped solidify northern opposition to slavery. One central figure in developing the radical abolitionist strategy in Washington was Charles T. Torrey. Contemporaries and historians alike portrayed Torrey as a fanatic or insane. Harrold rejects the claim "that mental instability contributed to his actions" (p. 68) and shows how important Torrey was in laying the foundation of interracial community in Washington dedicated to abolishing slavery. Torrey was a northern abolitionist who broke away from William Lloyd Garrison's American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) over the latter's "nonresistant theories," and founded the Massachusetts Abolition Society in 1839. From this new base, Torrey advocated aggressive action against slavery. In so doing, he was instrumental in the 1840 founding of the Liberty Party, which chose former slaveholder-turned-abolitionist James G. Birney as its presidential candidate. Torrey fervently committed himself to "immediatism." In 1842, Torrey decided to confront slavery in its "citadel," as Frederick Douglass described Washington. Torrey began helping enslaved African Americans escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad, and he supported noted African American abolitionists such as Thomas Smallwood, a Washington resident. Harrold points out in an elaborate analysis of abolitionists' responses to proslavery attacks against their manhood that Torrey's "aggressive masculinity foreshadow[ed] that of John Brown" (p. 88). Harrold also attributes the same "aggressive masculinity" to Smallwood. Torrey's final act of "aggressive masculinity" came after his arrest in Maryland for helping enslaved African Americans escape. Torrey's acquaintance, Daniel A. Payne, had warned Torrey about a plot against him. Ignoring the warning, Torrey practically welcomed his arrest, hoping to use the trial to publicly attack slavery. This collaboration also highlighted the interracial cooperative effort between white and black abolitionists. Torrey had successfully extended the interracial cooperation well beyond the confines of Washington. In challenging the "Revisionist" interpretations, Harrold also criticizes the "liberal" historical interpretations. In contrast to the "liberal" historians, Harrold unapologetically claims that abolitionists were indeed radical and were politically influential. Harrold also disagrees with the "liberal" historians claim that radical abolitionists were ineffective. He asserts, "the aggressive action against slavery in Washington and other vulnerable outposts in the borderlands … undoubtedly helped bring on the Civil War" (p. 257). This convinced "the South's white leaders that they had to take extraordinary measures to defend slavery in the borderlands" (p. 256), leading to the secession of southern states following the election of Abraham Lincoln. Essential to this argument is the interracial thesis of the book. In support of this, Harrold directly challenges the thesis of historians like Larry Gara, author of The Liberty Line. Gara attempted to overturn revisionist interpretations by claiming that African Americans were the central characters in the Underground Railroad. Harrold agrees that there would have been no northern abolitionist support in Washington, D.C. without signs of African American resistance to slavery there. Nonetheless, Harrold disputes Gara's conclusion. Without the efforts that crossed the color line, Harrold argues, there would have been little hope of creating a successful challenge to slavery in the southern borderlands. In the process, whites and African Americans overcame their own race, sex, and class biases, at least enough to build an interracial community that effectively challenged the peculiar institution within its seat of power. Harrold readily confesses that his "analysis is compatible with a contention, popular among historians during the first half of the twentieth century, that abolitionists caused the Civil War" (p. 256). Harrold offers probably the best example of the strength of interracial coalition with his discussion of the Pearl Affair in 1848.[3] The largest planned escape of slaves in American history involved over seventy enslaved African Americans, the best known of whom were Mary and Emily Edmondson. All were captured on the coastal trader the Pearl, captained and owned by Edward Sayres and crewed by Chester English and Daniel Drayton. Abolitionist William L. Chaplin, who had replaced Charles T. Torrey in Washington, organized the failed escape attempt. Harrold offers a vivid description of the event and the network of abolitionists that included members of Congress like Joshua Giddings of Ohio and newspaper editors like Gamaliel Bailey of the National Era. Tried but undaunted in their antislavery efforts, abolitionists continued their subversive activities in Washington. Nonetheless, the Pearl Affair did bring unwanted attention to their clandestine work. Eventually, Chaplin left Washington following a shoot-out with local author- ities during an escape attempt that he had precipitated. The significance of Subversives lies in its detailed description of the day-to-day interracial activities of radical abolitionists, including their work on the Underground Railroad. Harrold also emphasizes that white abolitionists tried to immerse themselves into the African American community by attending black churches like Mount Zion Negro Church and Israel Bethel Church. Daniel Payne, who had become an immediatist following his conversion to the cause by abolitionist Lewis Tappan, was also a pastor at Israel Bethel before moving to the A.M.E. Church in Baltimore in the 1840s. Within this context of interracial community, Harrold dedicates significant space to Myrtilla Miner. While visiting the American Missionary Society in New York City, Lewis Tappan introduced Payne to Myrtilla Miner, who reported her proposed divine mission to establish a high school for young African American girls in Washington. Payne recalled his conversation with Miner in his book titled Recollections of Seventy Years. He asked, "Have you counted the cost? Are you prepared to burn between two fires … a white fire on the one hand and a black fire on the other? "[4] She responded, "I am prepared, and must go if I die in the attempt."[5] She opened the school in 1851 and faced immediate, often violent white opposition. Her school received support from northern abolitionists like Gerritt Smith, and abolitionist and education reformer Horace Mann, both of whom served in Congress. She also received support from the African American community. The discussion of Miner raises questions regarding African Americans and their inner discussions and conflicts regarding interracial cooperation. In Recollections of Seventy Years, Payne also described the removal of a white woman from A.M.E. Bethel Church in Philadelphia in 1853. She had opened a school for African American children in Philadelphia and had decided to attend Bethel since so many of her students were members of the church. An outraged Payne blamed the black women in the church for her removal. He then resigned his ministry without an appointment elsewhere in protest. He went on to report: "The pastor himself visited me full of anger, and, thrusting his clinched fist in my face, said, 'You dare to leave me without an appointment on account of that white woman!… Open your mouth if you dare, and I will lay you flat upon the floor.' "[6] Finally, Harrold examines the heroic efforts of African Americans in attacking the institution of slavery and even describes their occasional timidity following violent encounters with proslavery proponents. He also shows how African American freedmen possessing white middle-class values doubted the ability of former slaves to make the transition from slavery to freedom as they struggled to survive in the wretched conditions of the refugee camps. Harrold depicts the humanity of both whites and African Americans in Subversives. He probes the depths of the interracial cooperation within the abolitionist movement, overcoming the challenge faced by such studies of clandestine organizations–the dearth of written sources. Above all else, Harrold shows that through the interracial cooperative efforts, abolitionists were effective in eliciting fear among slaveholders and hope among enslaved African Americas. Frederick Douglass testified to this by writing, "I saw that there was fear as well as rage in the manner of speaking of the abolitionists, and from this I inferred that they must have some power in the country, and I felt that they might perhaps succeed in their designs."[7] Harrold's is a refreshing and stimulating work, which will make it required reading for any student of the antislavery movement. Notes [1]. Stanley Harrold, The Abolitionists and the South, 1831-1861 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1995). [2]. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Exodus!: Religion, Race, and Nation in Early Nineteenth-Century Black America (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2000), p. 48. [3]. Harrold draws on his earlier published work on the Pearl Affair: Stanley C. Harrold, Jr., "The Pearl Affair: The Washington Riot of 1848," Records of the Columbia Historical Society, 50 (1980): pp. 140-160. [4]. Daniel Alexander Payne, Recollections of Seventy Years, (Nashville: Publishing House of the A. M. E. Sunday School Union, 1888), p. 114; electronic edition: Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001. <http://docsouth.unc. edu/church/payne70/payne.html$>$, 2001. [5]. Payne, p. 114. [6]. Payne, pp. 116-117. [7]. Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History to the Present Time (Hartford: Park Publishing Co., 1881), p. 81; electronic editon: Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1999. <http://docsouth.unc.edu/douglasslife/ douglass.html$>$, 1999. If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at: https://networks.h-net.org/h-dc Citation: Bradley Skelcher. Review of Harrold, Stanley, Subversives: Antislavery Community in Washington, D.C., 1828-1865. H-DC, H-Net Reviews. April, 2004. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11080 Copyright © 2004 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at firstname.lastname@example.org.
STATES OF JERSEY DRAFT PUBLIC FINANCES (JERSEY) LAW 201- (P.28/2019): COMMENTS Presented to the States on 3rd June 2019 by the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel STATES GREFFE COMMENTS 1. The Draft Public Finances (Jersey) Law 201- (P.28/2019) debate was started by the States Assembly on 30th April 2019. At this time, the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel called in the draft Law for further review under Standing Order 72. 2. This review was initially undertaken under the full Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel; however, it was decided that there was a need for a Sub-Panel to give the issue greater focus. As such, the Public Finances Law Sub-Panel was formed in April 2019. The members of the Sub-Panel were Senators K.L. Moore and S.C. Ferguson, Connétable R. Vibert of St. Peter and Deputy S.M. Wickenden of St. Helier. In accordance with Standing Orders and the Scrutiny Proceedings Code of Practice, these Comments are presented to the States Assembly by the main Panel, on behalf of its Sub-Panel. Public Finances Law Sub-Panel Introduction 3. Our work builds on that of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, which issued a Comments paper on its work leading up to the 1st Reading of the draft Law (P.28/2019 Com.) on 29th April 2019 1 . This Comments paper sums up the work of both the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel and the Public Finances Law SubPanel. 4. We understand that the case for change and the recommended approach for the draft Law is based on the outcome of work undertaken by KPMG. 2 5. The draft Law aims to be less prescriptive, working in tandem with a Public Finances Manual, which will be a public document and contain detailed guidance for civil servants on administering the States' finances. The draft Law sets the budget framework, shifting from a 4 year Medium Term Financial Plan to the Government Plan that provides an annual budget and a subsequent 3 year rolling budget estimate. This aims to provide more realistic budgeting by the States and not lock down expenditure too far in advance. 3 The Review 6. We engaged the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy ("CIPFA") as an expert adviser to provide a desktop review of the draft Law. 4 We also wrote to a number of stakeholders to invite submissions, which 1 https://statesassembly.gov.je/assemblypropositions/2019/p.28-2019com.pdf 2 https://statesassembly.gov.je/scrutinyreviewtranscripts/2019/transcript%20%20public%20finances%20law%20- %20minister%20for%20treasury%20and%20resources%20-%2028%20march%202019.pdf 3 https://statesassembly.gov.je/assemblypropositions/2019/p.28-2019.pdf 4 https://statesassembly.gov.je/scrutinyreviewresearches/2019/research%20- %20cipfa%20report%20on%20public%20finances%20law%20- %2022%20march%202019.pdf included the Comptroller and Auditor General ("C&AG") 5 , and received submissions from Jersey Overseas Aid, Jersey Post, Jersey Telecom, the Official Analyst and Andium Homes. 7. The main theme of these submissions was concern that the draft Law would give the Principal Accountable Officer greater powers over arm's-length bodies, potentially impacting their efficiency, and the impact of the draft Law on non-ministerial bodies. 8. While we acknowledge the concerns relating to arm's-length bodies, we did not feel that we were able to improve upon the current draft Law in this regard in the timeframe allowed. However, we have suggested amendments in the area of non-ministerial bodies (see below). Amendments 9. Whilst broadly supportive of the draft Law, both CIPFA and the C&AG highlighted a number of concerns that we subsequently explored further, leading to us lodge 4 proposed amendments (which between them contained a total of 14 individual amendments) to the draft Law (see P.28/2019 Amd., P.28/2019 Amd.(2), P.28/2019 Amd.(3) and P.28/2019 Amd.(5)). 10. The Panel's amendments are aimed at addressing the concerns raised by CIPFA and the C&AG, as well as other matters of concern that we identified through our own review of the draft Law. 11. Initially, the Panel was going to propose a total of 17 individual amendments. However, through discussions 6 with the Minister for Treasury and Resources and her officials, it was decided that some of these amendments either were not needed, or would be more appropriate to be proposed by the Minister. For example, an agreement was reached on the language of Article 13(2), where the Minister agreed to remove the obligation to consult with her on amendments to the Government Plan. Head of Financial Governance: … having listened to the debate the first time around and the comments from Members at the briefing, I think the Minister and Treasurer have taken the view that there might be some practical difficulties that perhaps we had not envisaged. The intention was not to make it difficult to bring amendments. So this is listening to those practical difficulties. The amendment has yet to be agreed, potentially at the end of this week. But it is more likely to be along the lines of asking anyone bringing amendments to include or to have regard to that but not specifically to consult the Minister because that seems to be the only one that caused the practical difficulty. 5 https://statesassembly.gov.je/scrutinyreviewresearches/2019/research%20- %20cag%20comments%20on%20public%20finances%20law%20- %204%20march%202019.pdf 6 https://statesassembly.gov.je/scrutinyreviewtranscripts/2019/transcript%20- %20public%20finances%20law%20- %20minister%20for%20treasury%20and%20resources%20-%2014%20may%202019.pdf 12. Therefore, the proposed amendments lodged by the Panel are grouped in 4 key areas of concern – 1. Government Plan 2. Borrowing and Financing 3. Administration 4. Non-Ministerial Bodies. Key Areas of Concern Government Plan 7 13. The Panel was not comfortable with the Minister being able to choose whether to take the sustainable well-being of Jersey inhabitants into account in a Government Plan, and have sought to amend the Law to make this compulsory. 14. We have also lodged an amendment that enables the States to approve a Government Plan that would authorise financing, or the transfer of money from one States fund to another, even if the Minister does not consent. The Minister noted that she agrees with this amendment at a Hearing with the Panel on 14th May 2019 8 . 15. Other, more minor, changes to the Government Plan process are also contained within this set of amendments. Borrowing and Financing 9 16. A major concern of ours in relation to this area is the removal of borrowing limits in the draft Law. As such, we are recommending re-inserting the provision from the current Law that financing must not exceed the States' estimated income from taxes and duties in the previous financial year. The quote below explains the rationale for removing this limit – The Connétable of St. Martin: The current Law has a limit on the amount that the States could borrow, and this seems to be removed. Treasurer of the States: Yes. I think, as background, Rob has a good rationale here and I will follow up on that. Partner, KPMG: Previously there were limits and some of the territories do have limits. What seems to happen is that the limits become perceived as something that is sustainable for the jurisdiction and it becomes seen as a safe harbour. 10 7 https://statesassembly.gov.je/assemblypropositions/2019/p.28-2019amd.pdf 8 See footnote 6 9 https://statesassembly.gov.je/assemblypropositions/2019/p.28-2019amd(5).pdf 10 See footnote 2 CIPFA raised a specific concern about the removal of this limit – With the removal of the ceiling fixed to States total net annual income being removed, it may be appropriate to ensure that affordability testing and approval on overall borrowing is provided in a way that clearly acts as a control on overall borrowing. The explanatory notes covering the narrative on articles 26 to 29 do not adequately clarify how control could be achieved if the borrowing implications were not set out clearly within any proposed Government Plan. 11 17. Similar to the above, we have lodged an amendment that the current limit on borrowing from overdrafts is set at 25% of the States' income from taxes in the previous year, which is the limit set in Regulations under the current Public Finances Law. 12 18. The Panel also believes that a requirement is needed in the Law for the Minister to publish a policy that will set the framework for the Council of Ministers' plans for financing. This was recommended by CIPFA – On borrowing it is noted that the overall parameter of borrowing up to a level equal to States total annual income has been removed. Although it is asserted that affordability will be tested and highlighted within the formulation of the Government Plan, we would recommend that the States has an overall framework for borrowing that transparently shows that affordability is fully considered within a framework similar to CIPFA's Prudential Code – in that an indicator or a set of indicators be set to inform the decision making process on what level of debt is affordable. 13 Administration 14 19. The first proposed change in this areas is to reinstate the provision for the Minister to publish a policy on how monies in the "reserve" (i.e. contingency funds) will be allocated. The current policy sets out the terms of reference of the Investment Appraisal Board. The draft Law includes a restriction that allocations from the reserve can only be for the current year. We considered strengthening this further to prevent any allocations that would commit the States to future expenditure. However, having taken evidence from the Treasurer of the States, we decided that this would be too restrictive. 20. We have also proposed amending the Public Finances Manual, based on recommendations from CIPFA. 21. CIPFA emphasized the importance of the Manual – The PFM will be a key referencing point for effective financial management. A well-constructed manual will be critical to the success of revised arrangements including effective financial performance 11 See footnote 4 12 https://www.jerseylaw.je/laws/revised/Pages/24.900.81.aspx#_Toc1404612 13 CIPFA report p.6 14 https://statesassembly.gov.je/assemblypropositions/2019/p.28-2019amd(2).pdf management scrutiny and requirements around business case construction, scrutiny affordability testing, etc. More clarity on the contents is urgently required. 15 22. CIPFA also indicated the need for the Manual to be subject to greater scrutiny: "Given the expectations around the central role of the PFM it would be our view that the PFM should be subject to wider member scrutiny and approval." 16 The Panel's amendment will provide oversight of the Manual by the Public Accounts Committee, thereby creating a link between the Manual and States Members, while still allowing flexibility to continually update and improve the Manual. 23. The C&AG welcomed the introduction of a Public Finances Manual, but highlighted a lack of detail in the Law about the scope of the Manual. We have brought an amendment to ensure that the Manual "must include directions and information with respect to the proper administration of this Law and of the public finances in Jersey". The Panel has also proposed amendments in relation to accounting and internal audit standards, to address concerns raised by the C&AG. 24. We were also aware of both the CIPFA and C&AG recommendation for a reporting line for the internal audit function directly to the Principal Accountable Officer. We were told: "It will be made very clear in the PFM that the Director of Risk and Audit will have lines of reporting into the Minister, PAO, Chair of the Risk & Audit Committee and the Treasurer". 17 25. We would have preferred to see this provided for in statute, but designing a suitable system in the time available was outside the scope of our work. As an interim measure and to place a greater emphasis on the importance of internal audit in the Law, we have taken the view that the status quo should be maintained, with the statutory requirement for a Chief Internal Auditor to be appointed. We would recommend that the Minister give further consideration to statutory provision for an internal audit function with appropriate reporting lines, as recommended by CIPFA and the C&AG. 26. The draft Law widens the Treasurer's powers to delegate his functions to any States employee. We were concerned that this could potentially include delegating to the Principal Accountable Officer ("PAO"). We were told that it was unlikely that this would ever happen in practice; 18 however, we have brought an amendment to the draft Law to expressly prevent this. 27. The Machinery of Government changes approved in 2018 (see P.1/2018) have been continued in the current Law, and refined in some places. Article 41 deals with the accountability of the PAO and accountable officers. This language has been refined from the version approved last year. We preferred the wording of P.1/2018, which expressly provided for the PAO to be accountable to the Council of Ministers, and have lodged an amendment to that effect. 15 CIPFA report p.3 16 CIPFA report p.4 17 Treasury response to C&AG comments 18 Public Hearing with the Minister for Treasury and Resources, 14th May 2019 28. We received representations from a number of States-owned companies 19 regarding the changes to Article 39, which make the PAO responsible for the "propriety and regularity" of these companies (referred to in the draft Law as "specified organisations"). Andium told us – We note the comments of our colleagues at Jersey Telecom and Jersey Post and support the request that the Law should make unequivocally clear how conflicts between the requirements upon Directors under the Companies Law can be squared with the role of Accountable Officer. 29. We recommend that the Minister reviews this part of the Law and discusses with the States-owned companies how their concerns can be addressed, possibly through a future update to the Law. 30. On a wider level, we note the Comptroller and Auditor General's recent report on the States as Shareholder (R.25/2019), which drew attention to the importance of establishing the reasons for ownership for each of the Statesowned companies, and also the lack of progress in reviewing the Memorandum of Understanding with each company. As the States (and the taxpayer) ultimately carries the risk for these companies, it is important that the Minister for Treasury and Resources, and her ministerial colleagues, ensure that all of the C&AG's recommendations are implemented in a timely manner. Non-Ministerial bodies 20 31. The draft Law contains a list of non-ministerial States bodies. When we compared the new Law to the old, we noted that 3 non-ministerial bodies had been removed (the Office of the Dean, the Data Protection Authority, and the Official Analyst). We wrote to these 3 States bodies to invite them to comment on this. 32. We did not receive responses from the Office of the Dean or the Data Protection Authority, which we took to mean that they did not have concerns about the proposals. The Official Analyst, however, wrote to us to express concern about the planned move of his office to be part of the Justice and Home Affairs Department in the new 'OneGov' structure. The concern was that this would result in a loss of independence for the role of the Official Analyst. We took a view that the current status of this office as a non-ministerial States body should be maintained, until such time as a better alternative approach could be found and brought back to the States which would maintain the independence of the Official Analyst. Consequential amendments 33. The C&AG raised concerns with us that some of the consequential amendments to the Comptroller and Auditor General (Jersey) Law 2014 (set out in Schedule 6 to the draft Law) went beyond a consequential amendment and would have "significant consequences" 21 . We welcome the amendments lodged by the Minister for Treasury and Resources to address these concerns. 19 Jersey Post, JT and Andium 20 https://statesassembly.gov.je/assemblypropositions/2019/p.28-2019amd(3).pdf 21 C&AG comments on the draft Law Conclusion 34. The draft Law represents a significant change to the way Jersey's public finances are organised and controlled. It has been a challenge to review such a complex piece of legislation and to identify areas where further work was required. 35. We reiterate the points made in the Panel's previous Comments paper that it would have been helpful to have been provided with a comparison document between the current Law and the new draft Law. We also asked to be provided with the legislative drafting instructions and, in the absence of these, minutes from the meetings held with the legislative drafters to develop the draft Law. We were informed that neither of these existed. 36. We note that the introduction section of the report accompanying the draft Law makes reference to the Machinery of Government changes approved by the States Assembly in 2018 (P.1/2018). It should be noted that P.1/2018 anticipated that changes to the Employment of States of Jersey Employees (Jersey) Law 2005 "would need to be considered at the same time". We would draw Members' attention to the fact that these changes have not yet been brought forward. 22 37. We would like to acknowledge the co-operation we received from the Minister for Treasury and Resources during the process of identifying amendments to the draft Law. Following our second hearing with the Minister, 23 informationsharing and negotiation took place that reduced the number of amendments to be lodged by both the Minister and the Panel, leading to a more efficient process overall. 38. We believe the amendments we have proposed are sensible changes to ensure that the right balance of power is maintained between the Minister and the States Assembly. 22 The Panel does, however, note that plans have been put in place – see R.35/2019 Res. (Action Plan, R1) presented to the States on 28th May 2019 by the Public Accounts Committee 23 See footnote 3
Testimony of Bradley Merrill Thompson General Counsel mHealth Regulatory Coalition Before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications and Technology March 19, 2013 Chairman Walden, Ranking Member Eshoo, and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify before you today on behalf of the mHealth Regulatory Coalition ("MRC"). MRC members represent a diverse array of stakeholders, including medical device manufacturers, smartphone healthcare application developers, cellular handset manufacturers, network operators, and back end software services and data storage providers, as well as representatives of provider organizations, and other industry and trade associations. Our members share the common goals of protecting patient safety and promoting a balanced approach toward regulation in order to foster innovation and get new products to the market for patients. First and foremost, we would like to thank the Committee and the Congress as a whole for the passage for the Food Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, and specifically Section 618, which calls upon the Department of the Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology "(ONC") to develop a strategy and recommendation for Health IT, including mobile health technologies, by the end of this year. This section further authorizes the formation of a workgroup to afford the agencies an opportunity to seek input from all relevant stakeholders as they seek to define a balanced regulatory framework that promotes innovation while ensuring patient safety. The goal of this hearing, as I understand it, is to identify changes in federal regulatory policy needed to help ensure that patients have access to important, innovation tools for healthcare in the form of mobile medical apps. In my remarks today, I want to focus on the need for clarity around the scope of federal regulation when it comes to which mobile medical apps are subject to regulation, as well as the need for balanced FDA enforcement of those regulations. I. FDA NEEDS TO CLARIFY THE RULES FOR MOBILE MEDICAL APPS Mobile health technologies are quickly changing the way we manage our health, and the way healthcare is delivered. The development and adoption of these technologies has been so swift that thousands of mobile health apps are already on the market, and include everything from calorie counters to more complex apps that perform diagnostic or critical clinical functions. Indeed, many simply replace traditional medical devices, for example allowing doctors to view ultrasound images. Many mobile apps, however, present essentially no risk to the patient, and therefore should not be regulated. For example, apps allow users to actively monitor and trend their exercise activity on a daily basis, as a way to maintain or improve their overall condition. Apps also enable users to monitor their sleeping cycle, helping users understand their sleeping patterns. These types of apps allow consumers to be much more actively engaged in managing their health and wellness than even just a few years ago. Regulation should be commensurate to the risk the apps pose to the patients. Overregulating these apps negatively impacts manufacturers and developers who have to comply with requirements that are disproportionate to the very low risk level of these products. Other mobile apps such as apps that function as an electrocardiogram device, or apps intended to diagnose skin cancer present a risk to the patient, and therefore ought to be regulated. We appreciate FDA's efforts in preparing the Draft Mobile Medical Apps Guidance in July 2011. The guidance was helpful in explaining the scope of federal regulation. Like others, we filed comments on that draft guidance and have met with FDA to offer suggestions on ways to make the guidance even more useful. The agency seems very open to improving the document to sharpen the line between the regulated and unregulated worlds. We have been discussing with FDA the need to address additional issues that go beyond the issues specific and limited to mobile apps, including products used for wellness, rather than the treatment of disease, and the scope of what medical device accessories get regulated. We believe FDA understands our needs for further guidance and is preparing to address them. Now we need final guidance on mobile medical apps to assure innovative products get to market so that healthcare professionals, patients and consumers all have access to needed tools to manage their health. A final guidance would provide the regulatory predictability necessary for investors to support, and manufacturers to develop, important new products. II. FDA NEEDS TO TAKE BALANCED ENFORCEMENT ACTION IN ORDER TO ENSURE PATIENT SAFETY At least some app developers already follow FDA's regulation, and implement appropriate quality systems, registration, adverse event reporting processes in order to ensure compliance with the regulatory requirements. Very recently, I saw an innovative app that allows you to do urinalysis with your iPhone. The company website presents the app as able to help patients understand and manage diseases like diabetes, urinary tract infections and pre-eclampsia, a high blood pressure pregnancy complication. You do the test mostly the old-fashioned way of collecting urine in a cup and then inserting a test strip. All the app does is objectively read the results using the camera on the phone. According to a company press release, the plan is to make the app available from the App Store for 0.99 cents and a kit consisting of a color mat to calibrate the app plus 5 sample urine dipsticks for $19.99 through the company's website. But here is the problem--this app falls within longstanding FDA regulation for urinalysis. It seems to me that the company must be aware of the potential for FDA regulation, because on its home page, at the very bottom, after extolling the clinical uses of its product to monitor disease, the company tries to simply disclaim FDA medical device status. The problem is the company's website is also full of statements suggesting that people use their kit in lieu on the FDA regulated instruments used for urinalysis. It states the smart phone app "can help you analyse, interpret and trend your urinalysis data to help you understand and manage diseases like diabetes and its, urinary tract infections and pre-eclampsia." Further, it couldn't be any clearer that instruments used for urinalysis are indeed medical devices, and in particular class I. The device classification regulation, 21 CFR Sec. 862.2900 Automated urinalysis system, clearly establishes that FDA regulates urinalysis systems: "An automated urinalysis system is a device intended to measure certain of the physical properties and chemical constituents of urine by procedures that duplicate manual urinalysis systems. This device is used in conjunction with certain materials to measure a variety of urinary analytes." So here's the problem. There are all sorts of companies out there trying to do this kind of stuff right. They follow the rules, and that costs money. In the case of the class I device that means using a quality system to make sure the device actually does what it's supposed to do. It would appear that this company wishes to avoid using the quality system, registering, reporting adverse events and doing all the other things that bona fide medical device companies do. This app will sell for about 20 bucks. Companies that employ a quality system will probably have to charge more than that to make a decent return. How can a company lawfully compete with those that are willing to try to avoid FDA regulation with a simple disclaimer? Yes, FDA has not published its final guidance on mobile medical apps. But it certainly doesn't need to publish that guidance to enforce the statute and a 26-year old regulation that requires FDA compliance for a urinalysis test. On the one hand, it might seem like I am picking on this company. But frankly, it is simply typical of what we are seeing day in and day out show up in the various app stores. At the end of the day, these rules are there for a reason. People get hurt when medical devices do not possess the quality they need to reliably perform their functions. If this test, for example, under-reports or over-reports an analyte, a person might be lulled into believing they do not have a medical condition when in fact they do. For diseases like diabetes, that can have deadly consequences. Of course, if FDA regulation is no longer necessary for urinalysis, I am sure everyone in that business would appreciate FDA rescinding that regulation. For a regulated industry, one of the worst things that can happen is a law on the books that is not enforced. That puts every ethical company in a dilemma -- do you sink to the level of your competition that seems to be getting away with flouting the laws, or do you stick to your ethical guns. Since this app was just announced, obviously FDA has not had time to respond. It will be interesting to see what they do. To enforce these laws, FDA has the burden to develop evidence of a violation, which may be especially complicated and expensive when the developers are located overseas. FDA is going to need to develop an enforcement process that is fair, efficient and effective. On the one hand, I would hate to have that responsibility myself, because fairness costs money and that is in short supply. But on the other hand, I hate to see these ethical companies struggling mightily while trying to do the right thing. There must be a better way. III. WE FAVOR WORKING WITH FDA In our opinion, it would not make sense to try to separate out apps from other medical devices that have the same functionality. Take the urinalysis app for example. FDA has long regulated instruments used for that test. It would make no sense for an app used for urinalysis to be regulated under different standards. Creating artificial distinctions between a traditional device and a mobile platform will result in regulatory duplication and confusion. Nor does it make sense to create a new agency, or move responsibility to another existing agency. Stakeholders are looking for more certainty and clarity from the existing federal government agencies, and a whole new regulatory scheme would frankly be counterproductive in that regard. FDA has the longstanding expertise to protect the public health and to balance regulation with permitting innovation. In "mobile health" there is the term "mobile" but there is also "health," and FDA has been successfully protecting public health through regulating devices for more than 40 years. We certainly agree we are entering a novel phase in health product development. As such, the MRC believes that an office within FDA dedicated to mobile and wireless health technologies could focus on balancing public health interests and safety, and innovation. This obviously does not mean we favor more regulation, but that we need a clearer and more transparent regulatory framework. FDA should coordinate work with other agencies such as FCC, ONC, and the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") to build a clearer and more predictable regulatory environment for these medical devices. Those agencies all have a certain expertise regarding wireless health technology and the healthcare sector will benefit from these agencies sharing their expertise with FDA. Moreover, FDA already has sufficient statutory powers such as requiring registration and adverse events reporting, just to name a few, that will protect patient safety. It is unclear how a new agency would enhance patient safety with regard to these mobile apps over what FDA does already. Nor is it clear how another agency would do any better at allowing innovation to flourish. We fear the added complexity and jurisdictional confusion likely following the creation of a new agency will cause the U.S. patients to see novel medical devices well after the rest of the world. FDA has been actively working collaboratively with the MRC and industry more generally to improve the regulatory landscape. The existing statutory framework gives FDA the flexibility it needs to further adapt the regulatory scheme to this novel form of technology. An additional challenge the industry is facing is the excise tax on medical devices. The Congress imposed the excise tax on medical devices of all stripes. We believe the tax will negatively impact innovation and development of all medical devices, including mobile devices. One other benefit of the FDA's drive to adopt a clearer, more limited definition of mobile medical apps is to reduce the number of apps subject to the 2.3% excise tax on medical devices. Based on FDA's current thinking reflected in the draft guidance, it would appear that FDA is trying to exclude some apps from the definition of a medical device that might otherwise fall within that statutory framework. FDA can only go so far in reducing the scope of the excise tax, but ultimately, the Congress will need to take action. CONCLUSION Mobile technologies are changing the fundamental behaviors of patients and consumers to make them more engaged in their health. Mobile technologies are also changing the way healthcare providers offer care to their patients. This new model of healthcare has its challenges innovative developers are creating more sophisticated products, and the regulatory framework will need to be flexible in order to leave room for future developments. FDA has the resources and expertise to address these challenges. The MRC looks forward to continue working with FDA, other regulatory agencies, and Congress to find the appropriate and balanced regulatory framework governing mobile technologies. This will ensure that patients have access to the best available resources to manage their health, and manufacturers and developers are able to bring innovative products to market. Testimony of Bradley Merrill Thompson General Counsel for the mHealth Regulatory Coalition Before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications and Technology March 19, 2013 I. FDA NEEDS TO CLARIFY THE RULES FOR MOBILE MEDICAL APPS Many mobile apps present essentially no risk to patients including, for example, apps allow users to track their exercise activity on a daily basis, as a way to maintain or improve their overall health. FDA should clearly distinguish between disease-related apps that merit regulation and wellness related apps that do not. FDA needs to be careful not to overregulate harmless apps that offer the opportunity for enhanced patient engagement, as well as accessories that offer simple connectivity to sensors and the like. II. FDA NEEDS TO TAKE BALANCED ENFORCEMENT ACTION TO ENSURE PATIENT SAFETY Unless FDA deregulates a category of devices, mobile apps should comply with the existing regulatory requirements, and FDA should implement an enforcement process that is fair, efficient and effective. III. WE FAVOR WORKING WITH FDA Creating a new agency, or moving responsibility to another exiting agency, would create confusion that would be counterproductive, stifling innovation, not encouraging it. FDA has the longstanding expertise to protect public health interests and innovation.
Edward A. Piper, OSB No. 141609 ANGELI LAW GROUP LLC 121 S.W. Morrison St., Ste. 400 Portland, OR 97204 (503) 954-2232 firstname.lastname@example.org Ari S. Bargil* INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE 2 South Biscayne Blvd. Suite 3180 Miami, Florida 33131 (305)721-1600 email@example.com Bobbi M. Taylor* INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE 901 N. Glebe Road Suite 900 Arlington, VA 22203 (703)682-9320 firstname.lastname@example.org Attorneys for Plaintiffs Motion for Admission Pro Hac Vice to be filed UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF OREGON PORTLAND DIVISION SARAH KING and GODSPEED HOLLOW FARM, CHRISTINE ANDERSON and CAST IRON FARM, WANEVA LAVELLE and PURE GRACE FARM and MELISSA DERFLER and RAINBOW VALLEY DAIRY GOATS, Case No. ________________ Plaintiffs, v. LISA CHARPILLOZ HANSON, in her official capacity as Director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and WYM MATTHEWS, in his official capacity as Program Manager of the Oregon Department COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF of Agriculture Confined Animal Feeding Operations Program, Defendants. Plaintiffs Sarah King and Godspeed Hollow Farm, Christine Anderson and Cast Iron Farm, Waneva LaVelle and Pure Grace Farm, and Melissa Derfler and Rainbow Valley Dairy Goats, file this Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief and sue Defendants Lisa Charpilloz Hanson, in her official capacity as Director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and Wym Matthews, in his official capacity as Program Manager of the Oregon Department of Agriculture Confined Animal Feeding Operations Program, as follows: INTRODUCTION 1. Plaintiffs file this lawsuit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, challenging the Oregon Department of Agriculture's (the "Department") requirement that Plaintiffs be regulated as confined animal feeding operations ("CAFOs"). Plaintiffs are four owner-operators of small-scale dairies, and their respective farms, in Oregon. And these farmers face substantial financial harm or complete shutdown as a result of Defendants' 2023 reinterpretation of its regulations pertaining to CAFOs in the state. 2. This reinterpretation is irrational and driven by protectionist motives. Indeed, even though Plaintiffs do not "confine" their animals under any normal understanding of the term (or as state and federal law define), Defendants have declared, admittedly at the behest of large dairy operators, that the mere act of milking an animal—in a sheltered location or on a prepared surface—constitutes confinement for purposes of triggering the law's requirements. Protectionism aside, Defendants also suggest this reinterpretation is meant to manage water and animal waste. But Plaintiffs have safely and sustainably managed those things for years, using techniques that typical CAFOs simply cannot. Indeed, the additional infrastructure Plaintiffs must install is completely unnecessary. The CAFO regulations are meant for large-scale farming operations that are exponentially larger than Plaintiffs'. These needless modifications come at great expense, and for some Plaintiffs, will prove catastrophic. PARTIES 3. Plaintiff Sarah King is a United States citizen and a resident of the state of Oregon. She owns and operates Godspeed Hollow Farm, which is located in Yamhill County, Oregon. 4. Plaintiff Godspeed Hollow Farm is a small family-run dairy in Oregon, where Sarah milks two cows daily. It is in compliance with all applicable health and safety regulations. 5. Plaintiff Christine Anderson is a United States citizen and a resident of the state of Oregon. She owns and operates Cast Iron Farm, which is located in Yamhill County, Oregon. 6. Plaintiff Cast Iron Farm is a small family-run dairy in Oregon, where Christine milks two cows daily. It is in compliance with all applicable health and safety regulations. Additionally, Cast Iron Farm has secured and maintains a license as a CAFO. 7. Plaintiff Waneva LaVelle is a United States citizen and a resident of the state of Oregon. She owns and operates Pure Grace Farm, which is located in Marion County, Oregon. 8. Plaintiff Pure Grace Farm is a small family-run dairy in Oregon, where Waneva owns about nine goats whose milk she uses mostly to make soap and lotion. It is in compliance with all applicable health and safety regulations. 9. Plaintiff Melissa Derfler is a United States citizen and a resident of the state of Oregon. She owns and operates Rainbow Valley Dairy Goats, a farm located in Josephine County, Oregon. COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF–3 10. Plaintiff Rainbow Valley Dairy Goats is a small family-run dairy farm in Oregon, where Melissa milks eight goats daily. It is in compliance with all applicable health and safety regulations. 11. Defendant Lisa Charpilloz Hanson is the director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Director Hanson has direct authority over the Oregon Department of Agriculture and is charged with the responsibility of promulgating, interpreting, and enforcing the challenged regulation and/or overseeing agents tasked with the same. She is sued only in her official capacity. 12. Defendant Wym Matthews is the program manager of the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Confined Animal Feeding Operations Program—the specific division within the Oregon Department of Agriculture that is charged with the responsibility of interpreting, disseminating, and enforcing the challenged regulation. He is sued only in his official capacity. JURISDICTION AND VENUE 13. Plaintiffs bring this civil rights lawsuit pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201–02, for violations of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 14. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief against the Oregon Department of Agriculture's regulation requiring Plaintiffs, a group of small farmers, to obtain permits for, and comply with, the state's regulations pertaining to confined animal feeding operations. See generally Or. Admin. R. 603-074-0010(3). 15. This Court has subject-matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, as Plaintiffs' claims arise under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 16. Venue lies in this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(2) and 28 U.S.C. § 1391(e)(1), as a substantial part of the events giving rise to Plaintiffs' claims occurred in this District. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS Plaintiffs Sarah King and Godspeed Hollow Farm 17. Sarah King owns and operates Godspeed Hollow Farm in Newberg, Oregon. She purchased the property in 2016. Sarah resides on-farm with her husband and two children and has been milking cows there since 2017. 18. Sarah grew up around animals, and in purchasing the property, Sarah sought to reconnect herself to her roots and bring her family and herself closer to their food sources. 19. The farm is not huge—just under 11 acres. And while Sarah periodically raises a small number of pigs and hopes to earn some revenue from leasing some of the property to winemakers to grow grapes, her milk operation is the farm's only regular source of revenue. 20. Sarah also has 10-15 chickens and maintains a small garden, but again, the eggs and vegetables she produces are kept for personal consumption or given away to family and friends. 21. Sarah owns three cows, but at any given time, typically no more than two cows are producing milk. The whole philosophy at Godspeed Hollow is to do things on a small scale and do them well. So Sarah has never milked more than three cows at a time because it would be difficult to manage. 22. Sarah's operation is exempt from the state's requirements for a fluid milk license. 23. Godspeed Hollow operates on a herdshare system—an arrangement that allows members of the public to purchase "shares" of her dairy cows. By arranging her business this way, Sarah does not "sell" her milk so much as she maintains a closed group of shareholders who are eligible to make regular pickups of milk on her farm. This is a common model for small-scale dairies like Sarah's. 24. Sarah sells whole shares and half shares to members. A whole share is $104 per month and entitles its owner to one gallon of milk per week. A half share is $52 and entitles its owner to a half-gallon per week. Only herdshare members who pay the monthly fee may have milk. And because Sarah personally knows the members of her herdshare, they are all invited to visit the farm without an appointment, return their empty containers, and pick up their milk from a specially labeled refrigerator. At peak production, Sarah earns about $4,000 per month providing milk to her herdshare members. 25. The milk at Godspeed Hollow is truly "farm-fresh." The herdshare refrigerator is in a milk room about a hundred feet from the parlor where Sarah milks her cows every morning. 26. Godspeed Hollow is a raw-milk dairy, meaning that Sarah does not pasteurize her milk. The members of her herdshare seek her out for this very reason; they desire a product that contains all of the natural vitamins, fat content, and nutritional value of fresh, unpasteurized and completely unadulterated milk. And were it not for Sarah and farmers like her, those customers likely would not be able to get that product. 27. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarah saw a spike in business. The experience validated the concern that led Sarah to start Godspeed Hollow to begin with—that people are too far removed from their food sources and, as a result, our food supply chain was fragile and susceptible to breakdown. 28. Over the years, Sarah has had herdshare members and customers visit her from over an hour away. Although raw milk is available in retail stores in Washington, California and Idaho, raw milk is not available in retail stores in Oregon. Sarah and Godspeed Hollow, therefore, provide their customers with something they cannot get through more typical means (unless they want to leave the state). 29. Sarah is deeply committed to the health and happiness of her cows. Her cows are routinely tested and have access to high-quality veterinary care. 30. The cows at Godspeed Hollow are also completely free to move about. They are fully pasture-raised on a rotational pasture—meaning that while one area of the pasture is being used for grazing, other areas are recovering and replenishing. The cows always have access to an enclosed barn, though they tend to not spend much time there except during especially rainy or cold conditions. And, even then, they are able to exit the barn and go out to the pasture if they wish. There is never a time in which the cows are enclosed in the barn without the ability to leave. 31. Thus, the cows at Godspeed Hollow are not "confined" under any common understanding of the term. Likewise, the cows at Godspeed Hollow are not confined under any normal reading of state or federal law. 32. In many ways, Sarah's milking habits are indistinguishable from how humans have milked livestock since the dawn of modern animal husbandry. She wakes up every day at 5:00 a.m. and totes all of her milking equipment to her barn's milking parlor, on foot. Because the cows know the routine, they typically come in from the outside and are waiting for her in the barn when it is time to milk. Once Sarah gets there, she greets each cow and individually leads them, typically without a halter, to one of two milking stanchions where they are milked. The floor of the stanchion is "prepared" with rubber mats atop some compacted gravel. 33. Sarah is meticulous about the safety of her milking operation. Without exception, Sarah begins each session with previously sanitized equipment. But before using any of that equipment, Sarah first removes any dirt from the udder and thoroughly cleans each teat. Only then does Sarah attach her milking machine, which safely and mechanically milks the cows— first one, then the other. She does not have the capacity to milk more than one cow at a time. 34. Once the cows are done being milked, they are led back out to pasture. The entire process—from the time Sarah leads them to the stanchion to the time they go back outside— takes roughly 15–20 minutes. 35. The milking machine pumps the milk to a ten-gallon stainless steel milk tank. Milk production quantities depend on many factors, but currently, Sarah's cows provide roughly eight gallons of milk per day. So Sarah fills two tanks nearly half full, and then hauls the milk and equipment—around 100 pounds—uphill to her milk room. Once there, Sarah manually portions the milk by pouring it through a dairy filter and into half-gallon jars. The jars are sealed and the milk is immediately chilled to prevent any harmful bacteria from growing. 36. After milking and portioning are done, Sarah turns to cleaning her milking equipment—her tanks, tubes, and attachments. First, everything is rinsed with hot water over a commercial sink in her milk room. Then, Sarah mixes an industry-standard cleaning product in a bucket of hot water, places the udder attachments into the bucket, and pumps the cleaning solution through the tubes and into the tank. She then repeats the process with a slightly acidic solution to sanitize the components for milking the next day. 37. The process produces roughly six gallons of "wastewater" per cow, which Sarah typically discards by pouring it onto her gravel driveway, on the grass just beside it, or on her family's vegetable garden. Smaller items—like empty milk jars, lids, and the funnel Sarah uses when portioning her milk—are washed in a conventional dishwasher, which runs to her septic tank. The trivial amount of water produced in the course of cleaning the milking equipment is non-toxic and does not harm the environment. 38. At Godspeed Hollow, Sarah practices regenerative and holistic farming. That means that waste is cycled and recycled in a way that nourishes—rather than pollutes—the earth. 39. When Sarah's cows are out at pasture, like any outdoor livestock, the urine and solid waste they produce falls to the ground. Once the grass in an area has been depleted, the cows rotate to another part of the pasture, while the previous area metabolizes the waste—a fertilization cycle that livens the soil and regenerates grass for the next time the cows graze on that plot. 40. Likewise, when in the barn, the animal waste drops onto straw bedding that is later collected and placed either on a compost pile (and then into the vegetable garden, from which Sarah feeds her family and friends) or applied to the pasture where it decomposes and fertilizes the earth. Because Sarah has only three cows, and thus does not have to manage more animal waste than her property can safely absorb, the process is completely sustainable. It is a cycle that repeats itself again and again. 41. Sarah's operations have no adverse impact on the state's environment, soil, or groundwater. 42. Defendants possess no evidence that Sarah's operations have any adverse impact on the state's environment, soil, or groundwater. Plaintiffs Christine Anderson and Cast Iron Farm 43. Christine Anderson owns and operates Cast Iron Farm in McMinnville, Oregon. She purchased the property in 2010. Christine resides on-farm with her husband and three children and has been milking cows there since 2010. 44. The farm is not huge—just about 13 acres. To earn some additional money, Christine is typically able to raise a handful of other animals, which she rotates as the market demands. At the moment, she has about 15 sheep and two yaks, though the income from those animals is seasonal and inconsistent. Christine also keeps about 20 chickens and maintains a seasonal vegetable garden, but neither is much of a source of income. Christine is sometimes able to sell eggs, but the vegetables she produces are kept for personal consumption or given away to family and friends. 45. Christine owns three cows, but at any given time, typically no more than two cows are producing milk. Christine almost never milks more than three cows at a time because it can be difficult to manage. 46. Christine's operation is exempt from the state's requirements for a fluid milk license. 47. Although she did not want to get one, and believes she should not have had to, Christine has applied for and obtained a CAFO permit. 48. Cast Iron operates on a herdshare system—an arrangement that allows members of the public to purchase "shares" of her dairy cows. By arranging her business this way, Christine does not "sell" her milk so much as she maintains a closed group of shareholders who are eligible to make regular pickups of milk on her farm. This is a common model for small-scale dairies like Christine's. 49. A whole share is $80 per month and entitles its owner to one gallon of milk per week. A half share is $40 and entitles its owner to a half-gallon per week. Only herdshare members who pay the monthly fee may have milk. And because Christine personally knows the members of her herdshare, they are all invited to visit the farm without an appointment, return their empty containers, and pick up their milk from a specially labeled refrigerator. 50. The milk at Cast Iron is truly "farm-fresh." The herdshare refrigerator is in a milk room about fifty feet from the parlor where Christine milks her cows every morning. 51. Cast Iron is a raw-milk dairy, meaning that Christine does not pasteurize her milk. The members of her herdshare seek her out for this very reason; they desire a product that contains all of the natural vitamins, fat content, and nutritional value of fresh, unpasteurized and completely unadulterated milk. And were it not for Christine and farmers like her, those customers likely would not be able to get that product. 52. Over the years, Christine has had herdshare members and customers visit her from over an hour away. Although raw milk is available in retail stores in Washington, California and Idaho, raw milk is not available in retail stores in Oregon. Christine and Cast Iron, therefore, provide their customers with something they cannot get through more typical means (unless they want to leave the state). 53. Christine is deeply committed to the health and happiness of her cows. Her cows are routinely tested and have access to high-quality veterinary care. 54. The cows at Cast Iron are also completely free to move about. They are fully pasture-raised on a rotational pasture—meaning that while one area of the pasture is being used for grazing, other areas are recovering and replenishing. The cows always have access to an enclosed barn, though they tend to not spend much time there except during especially rainy or cold conditions. Except when Christine decides the weather conditions are too severe, which is rare, there is never a time in which the cows are enclosed in the barn. And Christine never keeps them in the barn for more than 45 days a year—to make sure she does not trigger the federal CAFO regulations. 55. Thus, the cows at Cast Iron are not "confined" under any common understanding of the term. Likewise, the cows at Cast Iron are not confined under any normal reading of state or federal law. 56. In fact, in many ways, Christine's habits are indistinguishable from how humans have milked livestock since the dawn of modern animal husbandry. She wakes up every day at 5:00 a.m. and one of her first tasks is to milk her cows. She brings them in from the outside and into her parlor, where she milks them one by one. 57. Christine's milking parlor has a concrete floor. The floor contains a typical floor drain that used permeable pipe and tile drainage to lead to a common drain field—a common and still-in-use drainage system that dates to the ancient Romans. Even though the drain line was there when she bought the farm and the drain itself has been in use since 2012, and even though Christine had never had an issue with soil or contamination, Christine had to plug that drain to get a CAFO permit. 58. Christine is meticulous about the safety of her milking operation. Without exception, Christine begins each session with previously sanitized equipment. But before using any of that equipment, Christine first removes any dirt from the udder and thoroughly cleans each teat. Only then does Christine attach her milking machine, which safely and mechanically milks the cows—first one, then the other. She does not have the capacity to milk more than one cow at a time. 59. Once the cows are done being milked, they are led back out to pasture. The entire process—from the time Christine leads them to the parlor to the time they go back outside— takes roughly 15–20 minutes. 60. The milking machine pumps the milk to an eight-gallon stainless steel milk tank. Milk production quantities depend on many factors, but currently, Christine's cows provide nearly eight gallons of milk per day. So Christine fills a tank until it is nearly full, and then hauls the milk and equipment—over 100 pounds—to her milk room. Once there, Christine manually portions the milk by pouring it through a cheese-cloth filter and into half-gallon jars. The jars are sealed and the milk is immediately chilled to prevent any harmful bacteria from growing. 61. After milking and portioning are done, Christine turns to cleaning her milking equipment—her tanks, tubes, and attachments. Christine's process is virtually identical to Sarah's. First, everything is rinsed with hot water over a commercial sink in her parlor. Then, Christine mixes an industry-standard cleaning product in a bucket of hot water, places the udder attachments into the bucket, and pumps the cleaning solution through the tubes and into the tank. She then repeats the process with a slightly acidic solution to sanitize the components for milking the next day. 62. At present, the process produces roughly six gallons of "wastewater." She used to pour that water down her floor drain, but now, because her CAFO permit requires it, she handhauls the water out to her field and pours it out in a different location every day. Sometimes that means she pours it on her vegetable garden—which is allowed under her CAFO permit. 63. Smaller items—like empty milk jars, lids, and the funnel Christine uses when portioning her milk—are washed in a conventional dishwasher, which drains through a hose to different locations in her field. She does this because she has been told it is how she can remain legally compliant because her wastewater does not go through her residential septic system. The trivial amount of water produced in the course of cleaning the milking equipment is non-toxic and does not harm the environment. Yet Christine must haul it and dispose of it as though that were not the case. 64. Christine practices a similar type of rotational grazing as Sarah. She maintains 28 wire-fenced paddocks on her pasture, which allows her cows to graze on a new plot of land every day for nearly a month. This gives each paddock enough time to recover before the cows graze there again. Her system is so precise that the rotational grid can be seen on satellite imagery: 65. When Christine's cows are out at pasture, like any outdoor livestock, the urine and solid waste they produce falls to the ground. When the cows rotate to a new plot, the previous area metabolizes the waste—a fertilization cycle that livens the soil and regenerates grass for the next time the cows graze on that plot. COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF–14 66. Likewise, when in the barn, the animal waste drops onto straw bedding that is later collected and placed either on a compost pile (and then into a vegetable garden, from which Christine feeds her family and friends) or applied to the pasture where it decomposes and fertilizes the earth. Because Christine has only three cows, and thus does not have to manage more animal waste than her property can safely absorb, the process is completely sustainable. It is a cycle that repeats itself again and again. 67. Christine's operations have no adverse impact on the state's environment, soil, or groundwater. 68. Defendants possess no evidence that Christine's operations have any adverse impact on the state's environment, soil, or groundwater. 69. Still, Christine spent months in a dialogue with Defendants trying to determine what she would need to do to remain complaint with the law once Defendants' reinterpretation takes effect. 70. Those discussions were unproductive. Frustrated, Christine decided that rather than wait for the Department to issue more clarity on its CAFO regulations, she would just apply for the CAFO permit. 71. Christine applied for her CAFO permit in August. To obtain the CAFO permit, Christine paid $87 for her land-use agreement certification from Yamhill County, and a $100 application fee to the department. She also submitted to an inspection and provided two soil samples. To maintain the permit, Christine will need to pay an annual fee of $125 and submit to additional inspections every 10 months. 72. To get her permit, Christine was forced to plug the floor drain in her milking parlor. Whereas before she would pour the wash water from her milking equipment into that drain, now she empties it into buckets or pails. 73. Per Defendants' rules, Christine then hand-carries those buckets of "wastewater"—really just a mild cleaning solution mixed with water and a miniscule amount of milk—and pours it out somewhere on her land. Per Defendants' rules, Christine must distribute it throughout her property each time she pours it out. That means that to be compliant, sometimes Christine will have to haul the water to the edge of her property, which is about a hundred yards from where she milks her cows and washes her equipment. 74. This is where the reporting requirements come in. Per the CAFO permit's reporting requirements, Christine must log and report each and every location where she "discharges"—i.e., pours out—her buckets of water. That is, she must keep track of where, when, and how much water she is pouring out on the land every time she does it. 75. Because this arrangement is so archaic and backbreaking, it is not sustainable for Christine. But, as Christine understands it, this is the only way she can continue to operate until she installs expensive state-compliant drainage and holding equipment. 76. The CAFO permit's reporting requirements do not just apply to where Christine pours out her water. Christine also needs to track and account for how she manages the solid waste production of her supposedly confined animals. Because Chrisine's animals are not actually confined, however, this is challenging—most of their waste production occurs outdoors on their pastureland. 77. Nevertheless, per the CAFO permit's reporting requirements, Christine must log and report the volume, weight, and animal origin of the waste produced by her animals. She must also log and report where on her property she deposits any waste—even though most of the waste is produced at pasture and any waste produced in the barn is collected with hay, straw, and other organic matter and placed in her compost pile. 78. All of this tracking and reporting will still be required, even if Christine installs expensive drainage and holding equipment. 79. None of this additional infrastructure and record-keeping is necessary. In fact, when Christine applied for her CAFO permit, she had to submit a soil sample. And all of the results came back within their appropriate ranges. This came as no surprise to Christine, who has been farming in this way, safely and without any negative environmental impacts, for years. 80. The same cannot be said for many single-family residences in Oregon, which routinely use extensive herbicides and fertilizers on their property. If a property is primarily residential, the use of those products is unregulated and does not need to be reported. But if Christine's cow moves its bowels in the barn and Christine places the dung on a compost heap, Christine must report that to the state. Plaintiffs Waneva LaVelle and Pure Grace Farm 81. Waneva LaVelle owns and operates Pure Grace Farm in Hubbard, Oregon. She purchased the property in 2021. Waneva resides on-farm with her husband and has been milking goats there since 2021. She began milking goats, on another property, in 2017. 82. Waneva owns nine Nigerian Dwarf goats at her farm, which are the sole source of livestock revenue. The remainder of the property grows grass for sod or hay. As part of this operation, Waneva also keeps five horses. 83. Waneva owns nine goats, which allows Waneva to stay compliant with Oregon's small-farm exemption from the fluid milk license. Or. Rev. Stat. § 621.012. Typically, however, that number is much smaller. Waneva plans to milk three goats once her now-pregnant goats kid in the near future. 84. The farm is 17 acres, and the goats have full access to pastureland whenever they want. Thus, the goats at Pure Grace Farms are not "confined" under any common understanding of the term. Likewise, the goats at Pure Grace are not confined under any normal reading of state or federal law. 85. Waneva is deeply committed to the health and happiness of her goats. Her goats are routinely tested and have access to high-quality veterinary care. In fact, about a quarter of the milk from Waneva's goats is purchased by veterinarians who rely on it as a source of nutrition for their patients. 86. Waneva does not pasteurize her milk. And her customers seek her out for this very reason; they desire a product that contains all of the natural vitamins, fat content, and nutritional value of fresh, unpasteurized and completely unadulterated milk. And were it not for Waneva and farmers like her, those customers likely would not be able to get that product. 87. But milk sales account for only about 25% of Waneva's milk usage. The majority of Waneva's goat milk is used to make a wide variety of soaps and lotions, which she then sells online and wholesales to salons and local stores. A bar of soap typically sells for $8 and lotions are $10 or $14. 88. Waneva milks her goats twice a day. And the milking process is safe. First, she brings the goats in from the pasture. Every milking begins with clean machinery and, before she begins the milking process, Waneva sanitizes each udder and teat with a medicated wipe. She then attaches a milking machine, which pumps into a tank. She does this in a barn, using a wooden stanchion, over a concrete surface. 89. Waneva carries the milk—typically about a gallon—into her home, where she strains it through a funnel system and immediately chills it. 90. Waneva then cleans her milking equipment in a utility sink using piping hot water and soap. Smaller parts are washed and soaked in a soapy solution and then everything is rinsed and dried for the next use. The "wastewater" from soaking the smaller parts runs down the drain of the utility sink, where it runs to a typical residential septic system. This is how Waneva has, without incident, been doing things for years. 91. The process produces a trivial amount of "wastewater," which is non-toxic and does not harm the environment. The septic tank is routinely emptied, but even if it were to overflow, the wastewater would run to a drain field where it does no environmental harm. 92. Other than her small dairy operation, the primary activity on Waneva's farm is growing grass or hay. The small amount of animal waste that her goats produce helps with that endeavor. The goats are able to be out at pasture most of the time, where their waste is simply absorbed by the earth. And the small amount of waste that is produced in the barn is collected and dispersed in her fields. With 17 total acres, there is simply no need to collect and store waste as if Waneva had hundreds or thousands of goats. 93. Waneva's operations have no adverse impact on the state's environment, soil, or groundwater. 94. Defendants possess no evidence that Waneva's operations have any adverse impact on the state's environment, soil, or groundwater. Plaintiffs Melissa Derfler and Rainbow Valley Dairy Goats 95. Melissa Derfler owns and operates Rainbow Valley Dairy Goats in Grants Pass, Oregon. She and her husband purchased the property in 2013. Melissa resides on-farm with her husband and has been milking goats there ever since. 96. Melissa currently milks eight goats and never milks more than nine, which allows her to stay compliant with Oregon's small-farm exemption from the fluid milk license. Or. Rev. Stat. § 621.012. The goats have full access to pastureland whenever they want. 97. Thus, the goats at Rainbow Valley are not "confined" under any common understanding of the term. Likewise, the goats at Rainbow Valley are not confined under any normal reading of state or federal law. 98. Melissa has been milking and breeding goats for over 50 years. Together with her husband, they believe that there is a greater calling, beyond economics, that guides them to keep goats. Their website quotes the following passage from the Bible: A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast . . . . Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. For riches are not for ever . . . . The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens. Proverbs 12:10, 27:23–27. Thus, their spirituality animates all that they do on the farm. 99. Melissa is also deeply committed to the health and happiness of her goats. Her goats are tested annually and have access to high-quality veterinary care. In fact, Melissa's goats have won awards at county fairs for their health and milk-production capacity. The outstanding conformation, production, and temperaments of Melissa's goats are a direct result of her meticulous care and decades of intentional breeding, using the best bloodlines she can obtain. 100. Melissa does not pasteurize her milk. And her customers seek her out for this very reason; they desire a product that contains all of the natural vitamins, fat content, and nutritional value of fresh, unpasteurized and completely unadulterated milk. And were it not for Melissa and farmers like her, those customers likely would not be able to get that product. 101. Melissa milks her goats twice a day. And she does it the old-fashioned way—by hand-milking into a bucket. She does this in a barn, over a "prepared" concrete surface. Before she begins the milking process, Melissa sanitizes each udder and teat with a medicated wipe. When she's done hand-milking, she hauls the milk up a steep hill to her house, where she then filters it and portions it into clean bottles. 102. Because Melissa does not use a machine to milk, there is almost no equipment to clean afterward; but anything she does use gets put into her dishwasher where it is washed and sterilized with soap and hot water. This "wastewater" goes to her septic tank. 103. Melissa typically gets about three to four gallons of milk per day in total. She sells it on-farm to about 15 regular customers, some of whom raise their families on the milk from Melissa's goats. Though the goats are an important source of revenue, Melissa's goat milk does not earn them much money—approximately $5,000 annually. But it helps sustain Melissa and her husband and the operations of the farm itself. Approximately sixty percent of their income from their goats comes from selling breeding stock, and forty percent from selling their milk. 104. The animal waste created at Rainbow Valley is minimal. The goats are able to be out at pasture most of the time, where their waste is simply absorbed by the earth. 105. The small amount of waste that is produced in the barn is collected and churned into compost. Melissa's husband, Les, is an avid gardener, and the compost provides rich nutrients for the soil in their vegetable garden. They eat and share the food they grow there. 106. This is consistent with their overall philosophy of regenerative farming. That is, they are adherents to a philosophy that advocates for the use of techniques that encourage soil health and promote the sustainable use of land. They do not believe in, nor do they want to practice, a farming philosophy that requires CAFO infrastructure. 107. Melissa's operations have no adverse impact on the state's environment, soil, or groundwater. 108. Defendants possess no evidence that Melissa's operations have any adverse impact on the state's environment, soil, or groundwater. Current Rules and Regulations 109. Small dairies in Oregon are exempt (and still are exempt) from the state's food safety and fluid milk license requirements if they own no more than two producing dairy cows, or nine producing goats or sheep, and the milk is sold, on-farm, directly to the consumer. See Or. Rev. Stat. § 621.012. 110. As Defendants have acknowledged in a white paper "most of the state's raw milk purveyors fall into this category by actual cow numbers or by herd-share arrangement." White Paper: Raw Milk Dairies and CAFO Permit Requirements, Or. Dep't of Agric. (2023) https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/NaturalResources/Documents/RawMilkOutreach/WhiteP aper020123.pdf. 111. Accordingly, until Defendants chose to revise their interpretation of the state's CAFO law, Plaintiffs could operate without either a fluid milk license or a CAFO permit. Now that they need a CAFO permit, however, their exemption from the fluid-milk license is far less helpful; the CAFO permit's requirements are in many instances significantly more onerous. Oregon's Reinterpretation of its CAFO Definition 112. In late 2022, Friends of Family Farmers, a nonprofit that promotes small-scale agriculture, and in which Plaintiffs Sarah King and Christine Anderson are members, initiated a campaign behind Oregon HB 2616. The bill provided for a modest scaling back of regulations restricting raw-milk sales to small farms. The bill would have allowed sales to take place offfarm, either at farmers' markets or through a delivery service. The bill died in committee. 113. Perhaps coincidentally (or perhaps not), in February 2023, on the heels of that failed legislative effort to modestly loosen raw-milk sales restrictions, Defendants announced via email that they would be reinterpreting their CAFO regulations—and specifically singled out raw-milk dairies as the reason. 114. Oregon law defines a CAFO operation, in relevant part, as "[t]he concentrated confined feeding or holding of animals . . . including but not limited to . . . dairy confinement areas . . . [i]n buildings or in pens or lots where the surface has been prepared with concrete, rock or fibrous material[.]" See Or. Admin. R. 603-074-010(3). 115. Defendants never applied that regulation to raw-milk farmers in Oregon who met the fluid milk license exception. 116. But in January 2023, Defendants changed tack, specifically identifying raw-milk producers as the group affected. White Paper: Raw Milk Dairies and CAFO Permit Requirements, Or. Dep't of Agric. (2023) https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/NaturalResources/Documents/RawMilkOutreach/WhiteP aper020123.pdf (identifying as a top-line issue that "[m]ost raw milk dairies in Oregon must be registered to a [CAFO]".) 117. Defendants explained that CAFO permits were needed for three reasons: "First, to prevent water pollution. Second, to comply with the federal and state law. Third, to maintain a level playing field with all dairies holding Grade A Fluid Milk Licenses that bear the costs of compliance with water quality regulations." Id. (emphasis added). 118. In other words, Defendants have admitted that one of their motivations is to impose a burden on small dairies simply because it's one that other, bigger dairies must shoulder too. 119. Defendants have never indicated that there is any evidence suggesting that either of the first two concerns—water pollution and compliance with state or federal law—is implicated by the state's small dairies. 120. In another white paper, Defendants explained that it was really the third issue that motivated the law: The ODA CAFO Program has received concerns from the Oregon dairy industry that many raw milk or herd-share dairies are operating in Oregon without CAFO Permit registrations. Unpermitted raw milk and herd-share dairies enjoy an unfair competitive advantage of not having a CAFO Permit by failing to pay Permit fees and not bearing the costs of environmental protection contained in the permits. See Outreach and Education Program to Unpermitted Raw Milk CAFOs, Program Elements, Or. Dep't of Agric. (Jan. 2023), https://web.archive.org/web/20230610040624/https:/www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/NaturalRes ources/Documents/RawMilkOutreach/ProgramElements020123.pdf (emphasis added). Defendants later confirmed this was the case in a CAFO Advisory Committee Meeting, explaining that it was concerned about "an economic unlevel playing field." Oregon CAFO Advisory Committee Meeting 8:30–33, YouTube (April 13, 2023), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcR9ak8AImA. 121. In other words, Defendants mobilized after "the Oregon dairy industry" politicked for Defendants to change their rules so that smaller producers would have to pay fees and install expensive infrastructure. 122. Additionally, Defendants have singled out raw-milk producers—in fact, raw cows' milk producers—as the only farmers impacted by the CAFO reinterpretation. See supra ¶¶ 113, 116–18, 120. But Defendants have not indicated whether the CAFO reinterpretation applies only to raw cows' milk producers. OMPLAINT FOR C ECLARATORY AND D I NJUNCTIVE ELIEF R –24 123. Accordingly, it is unclear whether the CAFO reinterpretation applies only to small dairies' milking cows, as opposed to small dairies' milking goats, sheep, or other livestock. 124. Likewise, it is unclear whether the CAFO reinterpretation applies only to small dairies' milking cows, as opposed to all other farms that raise animals for other reasons, like meat production, or for no reason at all, like domestic companionship (i.e., pets). Indeed, Defendants openly concede that "[t]housands of operations in Oregon technically meet the state's definition of CAFO," but that "[m]any are not required to have a permit." Oregon CAFO Advisory Committee Meeting 13:08–16:50, YouTube (April 13, 2023), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcR9ak8AImA. 125. At first, Defendants signaled that they would exempt producers who were only producing milk for on-site consumption. See id. at 23:58–25:36. On information and belief, Defendants rescinded this "waiver" option in anticipation of potential litigation challenging the irrationality of a supposed environmental law—as opposed to an economic regulation—whose application turned on whether an actor is engaged commercial sale, i.e., facilitating off-site consumption. 126. Even still, Defendants have not signaled that they will apply the CAFO regulations to farms with significantly more livestock than the small farms they have singled out. This means that CAFO permits will not be required for many farms that produce significantly more animal waste than a two-cow or nine-goat dairy or herdshare. 127. Under federal law, an animal is considered confined for purposes of triggering federal CAFO regulations if it spends more than 45 days in confinement in any 12-month period. 40 C.F.R. 122.23(b)(1). Under Oregon law, that number is higher—120 days. Or. Admin R. 603074-0010 (Table 1), https://www.oregon.gov/oda/shared/Documents/Publications/NaturalResources/WPCFPermit.pdf . Per Defendants, however, the federal definition of a CAFO does not apply to Plaintiffs, because state law looks to whether the animals are “confined,” whereas federal law asks whether the livestock is "concentrated." SeeOregon CAFO Advisory Committee Meeting 11:15–22, YouTube (April 13, 2023), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcR9ak8AImA. 128. Under this definition, Oregon's threshold is routinely exceeded for raw-milk dairies, according to Defendants, because "all animals are technically confined during the milking process, whether in pens, lots, or buildings." White Paper: Raw Milk Dairies and CAFO Permit Requirements, Or. Dep't of Agric. (2023), https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/ NaturalResources/Documents/RawMilkOutreach/WhitePaper020123.pdf. That is because, according to Defendants, an animal is deemed to have spent a full day in confinement if it was "confined" during milking—even if only for 15 to 20 minutes. See Oregon CAFO Advisory Committee Meeting 12:19–55, YouTube (April 13, 2023), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcR9ak8AImA ("A day does not mean it has to be in the milking parlor or in the barn for 24 hours."). Indeed, Defendant Matthews explained, "unless you're out in the pasture on a stool with a bucket," every milking operation requires a CAFO permit. Id. at 15:04–11. 129. In this way, Defendants' reinterpretation of its CAFO regulations is inconsistent with other state and federal law. a. There is no state law that suggests that the act of milking constitutes confinement. If there were, every household in Oregon that milks even a single animal is likely to qualify as a CAFO. b. There is no federal law that suggests that the act of milking constitutes confinement. If there were, every household in America that milks even a single animal is likely to qualify as a CAFO. 130. Likewise, Defendants' reinterpretation also reflects its view that Plaintiffs operate CAFOs because they wash milking components. See Or. Admin. R. 603-074-0010(3)(a)(B). Whether that process involves a trivial amount of water does not matter, as Defendants have explained that a CAFO permit is required even if all a farm is doing is creating "wastewater from cleaning milking equipment" for their two cows or "washing containers, sanitizing processing equipment and cleaning facilities." https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/NaturalResources/Documents/RawMilkOutreach/WhiteP aper020123.pdf. 131. Thus, Defendants' interpretation is that any animal that is milked daily, even if it lives its entire life on-pasture and enters a barn or structure only to be milked, spends 365 days per year in confinement. Again, that is because, according to Defendants, an animal is deemed to have spent a day in confinement if it is "confined" while being milked—even if only for 15 to 20 minutes. 132. Likewise, according to Defendants, a farm is a CAFO if there is any use of water to wash an animal or milking components after the milking is complete. 133. Under this interpretation, a family milking one cow, or one goat, must obtain CAFO permits and comply with CAFO regulations if the milking process takes place in a barn or standard milking parlor or if they wash their equipment using water when done. 134. But Oregon's CAFO laws are designed for much larger operations than Plaintiffs' small farms. The state provides for four levels of "general" CAFO permitting: a. A "small" CAFO for farms having less than 200 dairy cattle or 300 cattle; b. A "medium" CAFO for farms having between 200 to 699 mature dairy cattle or between 300 and 999 cattle; c. A "large Tier I" CAFO for farms having between 700 and 2,499 mature dairy cows or between 1,000 and 3,499 cattle; and d. A "large Tier II" CAFO for farms having more than 2,500 mature dairy cows or 3,500 or more cattle. See Or. Admin. R. 603-074-0010(9)(a)-(d). 135. There are two levels of CAFO permitting—"individual permits"—that account for operations that are even bigger still: a. A Tier I individual permit for farms with no more than 9,999 mature dairy cows or 12,249 cattle; and b. A Tier II individual permit for farms with 10,000 or more dairy cows or 12,250 or more cattle. See id. at (11)(a)-(b). 136. Defendants have acknowledged the obvious: "raw milk dairies will generally be considered small CAFOs, defined as having fewer than 200 mature dairy cows and fewer than 3,000 milking goats or sheep." White Paper: Raw Milk Dairies and CAFO Permit Requirements, Or. Dep't of Agric. (2023) at 1–2, https://www.oregon.gov/oda/programs/ NaturalResources/Documents/RawMilkOutreach/WhitePaper020123.pdf. 137. Oregon's CAFO laws are thus clearly designed for large-scale farming operations, not two-cow homesteaders. Indeed, small-scale producers like Plaintiffs are being shoehorned into a regulatory category that is intended for farms literally 100 times bigger (cows) or more than 300 times bigger (goats). 138. And the concept of CAFO regulation is itself designed to capture even larger and more intense operations—up to 10,000 or more cows. Indeed, according to Defendants, Oregon's largest CAFO operation involves over 38,000 cows. 139. In this way, Plaintiffs' farms are lumped in with large dairy and cattle operations, while much larger farms, with potentially hundreds or thousands of animals, can evade the CAFO reinterpretation as long as they do not "confine" their livestock by milking them or raising them for meat. 140. The penalties for violating the state's CAFO regulations are steep. For Plaintiffs, failing to have a CAFO permit likely exposes them to civil fines of up to $2,500 for a first offense and up to $10,000 for a repeat violation. Or. Admin. R. 603-074-0070(1)(a). 141. There are no caps on the fines and violations are assessed daily. Id at 603-0740010(31). 142. In addition, state statutes also provide, in some instances, for fines of up to $25,000 per day for failure to possess a required CAFO permit. Or. Rev. Stat. § 468.140(3)(b)(A). 143. There is also the expense of the application fee ($100) and the annual fee to maintain it ($125). Or. Admin. R. 603-074-0020(4)(a) - (6)(a). 144. To obtain a CAFO permit, however, the Department and its agents routinely require extensive retrofitting to accommodate drains, lines, and holding tanks. Agents also can, and do, require additional infrastructure for things like compost piles. 145. Once a CAFO permit is in hand, its owner must supply the Department with detailed information about water discharge, manure collection, and its animal counts. 146. Enforcement of the newly interpreted CAFO regulation will begin on April 1, 2024. See Oregon CAFO Advisory Committee Meeting 18:52–58, YouTube (April 13, 2023), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcR9ak8AImA ("We're not putting anybody out of business this year.") (emphasis added). INJURY TO PLAINTIFFS Plaintiffs Sarah King and Godspeed Hollow Farm 147. Sarah has milked cows for years without a CAFO permit. 148. But now, Sarah will be required to maintain a CAFO permit because she milks her cows in an enclosed milking parlor and on a prepared surface. 149. Sarah's other animals—two horses that have stalls in the same barn that the cows have access to, and which also produce waste—are not the reason the state requires Sarah to maintain a CAFO permit. 150. If the state's CAFO reinterpretation takes effect, Sarah will have to install additional drain lines and holding tanks. Based on the estimates she's received, this will cost no less than $10,000. To do it in a manner that will not result in major aesthetic disruption and will allow for headache-free compliance long-term, however, the projects are more likely to exceed $100,000. 151. This type of work is not just expensive. It also forces on Sarah a type of farming system that goes against her beliefs. For Sarah, her goal has always been to work with the earth and soil—something she does by allowing her land to naturally absorb animal waste and the trivial amount of wastewater she produces when rinsing her equipment. New drain lines and large holding tanks are for farms that, unlike Godspeed Hollow, cannot safely do this. And Sarah's customers do not want to buy products from a CAFO farm. 152. Having a CAFO permit also carries with it additional obligations. Namely, Sarah will have to meticulously track her manure collection—like where and how much she scoops up and how she distributes that waste on her land. She must also similarly track how and where she "discharges" her "wastewater," e.g., pours a bucket out on her grass or driveway. 153. Sarah will also need to reroute her dishwasher and sink in her milk room so that it runs to a government approved holding tank as opposed to a residential septic system. 154. Sarah is not sure how she will do this. She will either need to hire a private contractor, attempt to pump it out herself, or load smaller containers and haul them throughout the property. 155. Sarah will also incur additional injury as a result of having to maintain her CAFO permit. In addition to the application fee of $100, there is an annual fee of $125, along with the required inspection and groundwater testing. Sarah does not want to submit to additional inspections or needlessly test her groundwater or soil. 156. Ultimately, Sarah does not want to be regulated as though she operates a large farm. Likewise, Sarah does not want to have to comply with expensive and elaborate infrastructure requirements that are an affront to her farming philosophy and disregard its sustainability practices. 157. If the Defendants' reinterpretation is not enjoined, therefore, Sarah will incur substantial expense and be forced to undertake substantial and extensive compliance efforts to avoid violation and, potentially, eventual closure. Plaintiffs Christine Anderson and Cast Iron Farm 158. Christine milked cows for years without a CAFO permit. 159. But now, Christine has had to obtain a CAFO permit and will be required to maintain it because she milks her cows in an enclosed milking parlor and on a prepared surface. 160. Christine's other animals—three horses, her sheep, a donkey, and two yaks, all of which have access to the same barn that the cows have access to, and which also produce waste—are not the reason the state requires Christine to maintain a CAFO permit. 161. If the state's CAFO reinterpretation takes effect and Christine wants to stop handhauling her wash water, she will have to install additional drain lines and holding tanks. Based on the estimates she's received, this will cost approximately $10,000. 162. Christine's costs, thankfully, are not as bad as they could be; she already has a drain installed in her milking parlor (but had to plug it to get her permit). If she switches over to holding tanks so that she no longer has to hand-haul water, she will need to unplug that drain and redo its lines to run to the newly installed holding tank. 163. Christine must also build a permanent structure to house her compost. According to the Department, having a compost pile is fine; but Christine must construct a permanent structure to house it—something that will cost approximately $15,000. 164. This type of work is not just expensive. It also forces on Christine a type of farming system that goes against her beliefs. For Christine, her goal has always been to work with the earth and soil—something she does by allowing her land to naturally absorb animal waste and the trivial amount of wastewater she produces when rinsing her equipment. New drain lines and large holding tanks are for farms that, unlike Cast Iron, cannot safely do this. And Christine's customers do not want to buy products from a CAFO farm. 165. Installing this infrastructure also carries with it additional obligations. Currently, Christine must log the location and other details of all waste and water she "discharges" on her property. While that makes no sense and comes at great physical expense, Christine does it. If Christine installs holding tanks, however, emptying those tanks becomes a challenge. She will either have to hire someone to help, or manually empty the tanks into smaller containers that she will distribute throughout her property. 166. Christine is not sure how she will do this. She will either need to hire a private contractor, attempt to pump it out herself, or load smaller containers and haul them—perhaps using her donkey—throughout the property. Whatever the solution, Christine will have to figure it out if she wants to ever stop hand-hauling buckets of water throughout her property every day. 167. Christine must also report to the government each animal that she owns— including her chickens and two pet ducks. And if any of her animals should reproduce, Christine must inform the state. 168. Between the reporting of her water, her animals, and their droppings, Christine spends several hours every week on needless paperwork. 169. Christine will also incur additional injury as a result of having to maintain her CAFO permit. In addition to the land use certification of $87 and the application fee of $100 that she already paid, there is an annual fee of $125, along with the required inspection and groundwater testing. Christine does not want to submit to additional inspections or needlessly test her groundwater or soil. 170. Ultimately, Christine does not want to be regulated as though she operates a large farm. Likewise, Christine does not want to have to comply with expensive and elaborate infrastructure requirements that are an affront to her farming philosophy and disregard its sustainability practices. 171. If the Defendants' reinterpretation is not enjoined, therefore, Christine will incur substantial expense and be forced to undertake substantial and extensive compliance efforts to avoid violation and, potentially, eventual closure. Plaintiffs Waneva LaVelle and Pure Grace Farm 172. Before Waneva started milking goats, she looked up Oregon's CAFO laws and concluded, correctly, that she did not need a CAFO permit. 173. But now, Waneva is required to secure a CAFO permit because she milks her goats in an enclosed milking parlor and pours her wash water into a utility sink. 174. Waneva's horses, which are housed in the same barn that the goats use and produce significantly more waste, do not require Waneva to get a CAFO permit. 175. If the state's CAFO reinterpretation takes effect, Waneva will have to stop milking goats altogether. It is not worth it for her to install expensive plumbing and piping so that she can continue her soap and milk business. 176. And while Waneva would like to continue milking a few goats to have milk for personal consumption, she cannot because the CAFO reinterpretation applies to personal use as well. 177. Waneva will stop milking goats not just because this type of work is expensive or because milking for personal use would be illegal. It also forces on Waneva a type of farming system that goes against her beliefs. For Waneva, her goal has always been to work with the earth and soil—something she does by allowing her land to naturally absorb animal waste and the trivial amount of wastewater she produces when rinsing her equipment. New drains, lines, and large holding tanks are for farms that, unlike Pure Grace, cannot safely do this. And Waneva's customers do not want to buy products from a CAFO farm. 178. If the Defendants' reinterpretation is not enjoined, therefore, Waneva will likely shut down to avoid incurring substantial expense and being forced to undertake substantial and extensive compliance efforts to avoid violation. Plaintiffs Melissa Derfler and Rainbow Valley Dairy Goats 179. Melissa has milked goats for years without a CAFO permit. 180. But now, Melissa will be required to maintain a CAFO permit because she milks her goats in an enclosed milking parlor and on a prepared surface. 181. This is true even though Melissa milks by hand, and therefore generates almost no wastewater whatsoever in the course of milking her goats because she has no equipment to wash. 182. If the state's CAFO reinterpretation takes effect, Melissa will have to install additional drain lines and holding tanks. Melissa does not know how much this will cost; but her revenue from the farm is low, and so it is unlikely that she will be able to pay for it. 183. The CAFO reinterpretation only applies to Melissa because she milks her goats. If she keeps them for breeding purposes only, and allows the females to naturally stop producing milk after they are done nursing, she will not need a CAFO permit. This is true even though the amount of waste the animals produce, and the amount of wastewater Melissa produces—none, would be exactly the same. 184. This type of work is not just expensive. It also forces on Melissa a type of farming system that goes against her beliefs. For Melissa, her goal has always been to work with the earth and soil—something she does by allowing her land to naturally absorb animal waste. New drain lines and large holding tanks are for farms that, unlike Rainbow Valley, cannot safely do this. And Melissa's customers do not want to buy products from a CAFO farm. 185. For Melissa, the drain lines are not just expensive. They are completely useless. Melissa milks by hand, while the CAFO regulations—and the drainage they require—are designed for large-scale machine-milking operations. 186. Having a CAFO permit also carries with it additional obligations. Namely, Melissa will have to meticulously track her manure collection—like where and how much she scoops up and how she distributes that waste on her land. She must also similarly track how and where she discharges her wastewater—even though she has none. 187. Melissa will also need to redo her dishwashing operation for her empty milk bottles, lids, and funnels. She will have to add a dishwasher outside of her home and route it to a government approved holding tank, as opposed to using her home dishwasher that runs to a residential septic system. 188. Melissa will also incur additional injury as a result of having to maintain her CAFO permit. In addition to the application fee of $100, there is an annual fee of $125, along with the required inspection and groundwater testing. Melissa does not want to submit to additional inspections or needlessly test her groundwater or soil. 189. Ultimately, Melissa does not want to be regulated as though she operates a large farm. Likewise, Melissa does not want to have to comply with expensive and elaborate infrastructure requirements that are an affront to her farming philosophy and disregard its sustainability practices. 190. If the Defendants' reinterpretation is not enjoined, therefore, Melissa will incur substantial expense and be forced to undertake substantial and extensive compliance efforts to avoid violation and, potentially, eventual closure. CAUSES OF ACTION Count I: The CAFO Regulations, As Applied to Plaintiffs, Violate Plaintiffs' Equal Protection Rights Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 191. The allegations of paragraphs 1 through 190 are incorporated here as if set forth in full. 192. The CAFO reinterpretation draws an arbitrary and irrational distinction because of how it defines "confinement." While Plaintiffs do not confine their animals under any common understanding of the term, Defendants have declared that an animal is "confined," for purposes of triggering the CAFO permit requirements, as long as they are milked in a covered space or on a prepared surface. Even 15 to 20 minutes indoors for milking is considered confinement. This essentially means that every farm in Oregon, if it milks any livestock, is a CAFO. 193. The CAFO reinterpretation also draws an arbitrary and irrational distinction to the extent that it applies only to raw-milk producers who milk cows, but not goats or other animals, as has been indicated in Defendants' publications. 194. The CAFO reinterpretation also draws an arbitrary and irrational distinction to the extent that it is triggered by the use of a trivial amount of wastewater, while other larger and more intense operations, with a greater likelihood of actual environmental impact, do not require a CAFO permit. 195. Additionally, the Defendants are aware that Plaintiffs have operated for years, safely and without incident, in the absence of any CAFO infrastructure and yet are applying the CAFO regulation nonetheless. It is irrational to draw a distinction that ignores facts and evidence. 196. The CAFO reinterpretation is also impermissibly overinclusive, because it broadly applies to small-scale dairy farmers who milk their livestock—a small class of individuals who have no impact on the state's purported interests of environmental quality or water quality. 197. At the same time, the CAFO reinterpretation is impermissibly underinclusive, because it irrationally applies to small-scale dairy farmers who milk their livestock without any environmental impact, while not encompassing much larger-scale livestock operations that produce significantly more waste and wastewater and that are therefore far more likely to impact the environment, like chicken farms or farms that maintain many more animals that are not used for milk or meat production. 198. In other words, the only entities that are regulated as CAFOs are large-scale milk and meat production facilities (which were already regulated as CAFOs before), and very smallscale dairies like Plaintiffs. Everyone else is still exempt. 199. The manner in which the CAFO reinterpretation applies, in light of the Defendants' purported interests, further demonstrates its irrationality. If the government were truly interested in protecting the environment and water quality, it would not apply the CAFO reinterpretation selectively and only to a class of individuals whose conduct does not implicate the government's purported concerns. 200. Unless the Defendants are enjoined from enforcing the CAFO reinterpretation, Plaintiffs will suffer continuing and irreparable harm. Count II: The CAFO Regulations, As Applied to Plaintiffs, Violate Plaintiffs' Substantive Due Process Rights Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 201. The allegations of paragraphs 1 through 190 are incorporated here as if set forth in full. 202. The CAFO reinterpretation violates Plaintiffs' due process rights because, as Defendants have admitted, the CAFO reinterpretation is motivated, at least in part, by an illegitimate government purpose—economic protectionism. 203. The CAFO reinterpretation violates Plaintiffs' due process rights because, on information and belief, the CAFO reinterpretation is motivated, exclusively, by an illegitimate government purpose—economic protectionism. 204. The CAFO reinterpretation also violates Plaintiffs' due process rights because, even to the extent that it is motivated by a legitimate government interest related to groundwater or environmental quality, the CAFO reinterpretation is not rationally related to that interest. It is irrational to impose the CAFO requirements on farmers like Plaintiffs, in light of the fact that Plaintiffs have been operating without such requirements for years without incident and without undermining any conceivable government interest. 205. The CAFO reinterpretation further violates Plaintiffs' due process rights because, even to the extent that the government might have a legitimate interest in regulating Plaintiffs' products as part of its power to protect public health or comply with other laws, the CAFO reinterpretation is not rationally related to that interest. 206. The CAFO reinterpretation further violates Plaintiffs' due process rights because, even to the extent that the government might have a legitimate interest in facilitating compliance with state or federal law, the CAFO reinterpretation is not rationally related to that interest. 207. Likewise, the CAFO reinterpretation further violates Plaintiffs' due process rights because the state, in passing its small farm exception to the fluid milk license requirement, has identified a class of farming operation that does not require licensure and the CAFO reinterpretation in thus arbitrary and irrational in light of that law. 208. In fact, the CAFO reinterpretation, as applied to Plaintiffs, is not reasonably or rationally related to any conceivable government interest. 209. The CAFO reinterpretation further violates Plaintiffs' due process rights because, as farmers, Plaintiffs are engaged in an enterprise that is deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition, and the CAFO reinterpretation arbitrarily and irrationally interferes with Plaintiffs' right to engage in that enterprise. 210. Unless the Defendants are enjoined from enforcing the CAFO reinterpretation, Plaintiffs will suffer continuing and irreparable harm. PRAYER FOR RELIEF Therefore, Plaintiffs respectfully request the following relief: A. A declaratory judgment that, as applied to Plaintiffs and all those similarly situated, the Department's CAFO definition, see Or. Admin. R. 603-074-0010(3), and the compliance it triggers, violates Plaintiffs' right to Equal Protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; B. A declaratory judgment that, as applied to Plaintiffs and all those similarly situated, the Department's CAFO definition, see Or. Admin. R. 603-074-0010(3), and the compliance it triggers, violates Plaintiffs' right to Substantive Due Process under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; C. A permanent injunction prohibiting Defendants and their agents from enforcing the CAFO regulation against Plaintiffs and all those similarly situated; D. An award of attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses in this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988 or any other applicable state or federal provision; and E. All further legal and equitable relief as the Court may deem just and proper. Date: January 23, 2024 Respectfully submitted, s/Edward A. Piper Edward A. Piper, OSB No. 141609 ANGELI LAW GROUP LLC 121 S.W. Morrison St., Ste. 400 Portland, OR 97204 (503) 954-2232 email@example.com Ari S. Bargil (FL Bar No. 71454) INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE 2 South Biscayne Blvd., Suite 3180 Miami, Florida 33131 (305) 721-1600 firstname.lastname@example.org Bobbi M. Taylor (NJ Bar No. 435162023)* Institute for Justice 901 N. Glebe Road, Suite 900 Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 682-9320 email@example.com Attorneys for Plaintiffs Motion for Admission Pro Hac Vice to be filed 1 Original Proceeding x DATE RECEIPT # CIVIL COVER SHEET Case 3:24-cv-00152-JR Document 1-1 Filed 01/23/24 Page 1 of 2 The JS 44 civil cover sheet and the information contained herein neither replace nor supplement the filing and service of pleadings or other papers as required by law, except as provided by local rules of court. This form, approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States in September 1974, is required for the use of the Clerk of Court for the purpose of initiating the civil docket sheet. (SEE INSTRUCTIONS ON NEXT PAGE OF THIS FORM.) I. (a) PLAINTIFFS DEFENDANTS See Attachment Lisa Charpilloz Hanson, in her official capacity and Wym Matthews, in his official capacity DEF 4 5 6 (b) County of Residence of First Listed Plaintiff County of Residence of First Listed Defendant (EXCEPT IN U.S. PLAINTIFF CASES) (IN U.S. PLAINTIFF CASES ONLY) NOTE: IN LAND CONDEMNATION CASES, USE THE LOCATION OF THE TRACT OF LAND INVOLVED. (c) Attorneys (Firm Name, Address, and Telephone Number) Attorneys (If Known) II. BASIS OF JURISDICTION (Place an “X” in One Box Only) III. 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CONTRACT TORTS FORFEITURE/PENALTY BANKRUPTCY OTHER STATUTES 110 Insurance PERSONAL INJURY PERSONAL INJURY 365 Personal Injury - Product Liability 625 Drug Related Seizure of Property 21 USC 881 690 Other 422 Appeal 28 USC 158 375 False Claims Act 120 Marine 310 Airplane 423 Withdrawal 28 USC 157 376 Qui Tam (31 USC 3729(a)) 130 Miller Act 315 Airplane Product Liability 140 Negotiable Instrument 367 Health Care/ Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability 400 State Reapportionment 150 Recovery of Overpayment & Enforcement of Judgment 320 Assault, Libel & Slander PROPERTY RIGHTS 410 Antitrust 820 Copyrights 430 Banks and Banking 151 Medicare Act 330 Federal Employers’ Liability 830 Patent 450 Commerce 152 Recovery of Defaulted Student Loans (Excludes Veterans) 368 Asbestos Personal Injury Product Liability 835 Patent - Abbreviated 460 Deportation 340 Marine 345 Marine Product Liability New Drug Application 840 Trademark 470 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations 153 Recovery of Overpayment of Veteran’s Benefits PERSONAL PROPERTY LABOR 880 Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 480 Consumer Credit (15 USC 1681 or 1692) 350 Motor Vehicle 355 Motor Vehicle 370 Other Fraud 710 Fair Labor Standards 160 Stockholders' Suits 371 Truth in Lending Act 485 Telephone Consumer Protection Act 190 Other Contract Product Liability 380 Other Personal Property Damage 720 Labor/Management Relations SOCIAL SECURITY 195 Contract Product Liability 360 Other Personal Injury 861 HIA (1395ff) 490 Cable/Sat TV 196 Franchise 385 Property Damage Product Liability 740 Railway Labor Act 862 Black Lung (923) 850 Securities/Commodities/ Exchange 362 Personal Injury - Medical Malpractice 751 Family and Medical Leave Act 863 DIWC/DIWW (405(g)) 864 SSID Title XVI 890 Other Statutory Actions REAL PROPERTY CIVIL RIGHTS PRISONER PETITIONS 790 Other Labor Litigation 865 RSI (405(g)) 891 Agricultural Acts 210 Land Condemnation 440 Other Civil Rights Habeas Corpus: 791 Employee Retirement Income Security Act 893 Environmental Matters 220 Foreclosure 441 Voting 463 Alien Detainee FEDERAL TAX SUITS 895 Freedom of Information Act 230 Rent Lease & Ejectment 442 Employment 510 Motions to Vacate 870 Taxes (U.S. Plaintiff 240 Torts to Land 443 Housing/ Sentence or Defendant) 896 Arbitration 245 Tort Product Liability Accommodations 530 General 871 IRS—Third Party 26 USC 7609 899 Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision 290 All Other Real Property 445 Amer. w/Disabilities - Employment 535 Death Penalty IMMIGRATION Other: 462 Naturalization Application 465 Other Immigration Actions 446 Amer. w/Disabilities - Other 540 Mandamus & Other 950 Constitutionality of State Statutes 550 Civil Rights 448 Education 555 Prison Condition 560 Civil Detainee - Conditions of C onfi nem ent V. ORIGIN (Place an “X” in One Box Only) 2 Removed from State Court 3 Remanded from Appellate Court 4 Reinstated or Reopened 5 Transferred from Another District (specify) 6 Multidistrict Litigation - Transfer 8 Multidistrict Litigation - Direct File VI. CAUSE OF ACTION Cite the U.S. Civil Statute under which you are filing(Do not cite jurisdictional statutes unless diversity): Brief description of cause: VII. REQUESTED IN COMPLAINT: CHECK IF THIS IS A CLASS ACTION UNDER RULE 23, F.R.Cv.P. DEMAND $ CHECK YES only if demanded in complaint: JURY DEMAND: Yes No x VIII. RELATED CASE(S) IF ANY (See instructions): JUDGE DOCKET NUMBER SIGNATURE OF ATTORNEY OF RECORD FOR OFFICE USE ONLY AMOUNT APPLYING IFP JUDGE MAG. JUDGE INTELLECTUAL Yamhill See Attachment January 24, 2024 /s/ Edward A. Piper 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 A constitutional challenge to Oregon Department of Agriculture's reinterpretation of its Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) Regulations. I. (a) PLAINTIFFS: 1. Sarah King 3. Christine Anderson 2. Godspeed Hollow 4. Cast Iron Farms 6. Pure Grace Farms 5. Waneva LaVelle 7. Melissa Derfler 8. Rainbow Valley Dairy Goats (c) Attorneys: Edward A. Piper (OR Bar No. 141609) ANGELI LAW GROUP LLC 121 S.W. Morrison Street, Suite 400 Portland, OR 97204 (503)954-2232 firstname.lastname@example.org Ari Bargil (FL Bar No. 71454) INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE 2 South Biscayne Blvd., Suite 3180 Miami, FL 33131 (305)721-1600 email@example.com Bobbi Taylor* (NJ Bar No. 435162023) INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE 901 N. Glebe Road, Suite 900 Arlington, VA 22203 (703)682-9320 firstname.lastname@example.org Attorneys for Plaintiffs *Motions for Admission Pro Hac Vice to be filed CIVIL COVER SHEET ATTACHMENT Sarah King, et al., v. Lisa Charpilloz Hanson, et al., UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT for the __________ District of __________ District of Oregon ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Plaintiff(s) v. Civil Action No. Defendant(s) SUMMONS IN A CIVIL ACTION To: (Defendant’s name and address) A lawsuit has been filed against you. Within 21 days after service of this summons on you (not counting the day you received it) — or 60 days if you are the United States or a United States agency, or an officer or employee of the United States described in Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 (a)(2) or (3) — you must serve on the plaintiff an answer to the attached complaint or a motion under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The answer or motion must be served on the plaintiff or plaintiff’s attorney, whose name and address are: If you fail to respond, judgment by default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint. You also must file your answer or motion with the court. CLERK OF COURT Date: Sarah King, et al., Lisa Charpilloz Hanson, et al., Lisa Charpilloz Hanson Oregon Department of Agriculture Director, in her official capacity 635 Capitol Street NE Salem, Oregon 97301 Ari Bargil Bobbi Taylor Edward Piper Institute for Justice Institute for Justice Angeli Law Group LLC 2 S. Biscayne Blvd., 901 N. Glebe Road, 121 S.W. Morrison Street Miami, FL 33131 Arlington, VA 22203 Portland, OR 97204 Suite 3180 Suite 900 Suite 400 (305)721-1600 (703)682-9320 (503)954-2232 Signature of Clerk or Deputy Clerk AO 440 (Rev. 06/12) Summons in a Civil Action (Page 2) Civil Action No. PROOF OF SERVICE (This section should not be filed with the court unless required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 4 (l)) This summons for (name of individual and title, if any) was received by me on (date) . Director of Oregon Department of Agriculture Lisa Charpilloz Hanson, ’ I personally served the summons on the individual at (place) on (date) ; or ’ I left the summons at the individual’s residence or usual place of abode with (name) , a person of suitable age and discretion who resides there, on (date) , and mailed a copy to the individual’s last known address; or ’ I served the summons on (name of individual) , who is designated by law to accept service of process on behalf of (name of organization) on (date) ; or ’ I returned the summons unexecuted because ; or ’ Other (specify): . My fees are $ for travel and $ for services, for a total of $ . I declare under penalty of perjury that this information is true. 0.00 Date: Server's signature Printed name and title Server's address Additional information regarding attempted service, etc: Print Save As... Reset UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT for the __________ District of __________ ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Plaintiff(s) v. Civil Action No. Defendant(s) SUMMONS IN A CIVIL ACTION To: (Defendant’s name and address) A lawsuit has been filed against you. Within 21 days after service of this summons on you (not counting the day you received it) — or 60 days if you are the United States or a United States agency, or an officer or employee of the United States described in Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 (a)(2) or (3) — you must serve on the plaintiff an answer to the attached complaint or a motion under Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The answer or motion must be served on the plaintiff or plaintiff’s attorney, whose name and address are: If you fail to respond, judgment by default will be entered against you for the relief demanded in the complaint. You also must file your answer or motion with the court. CLERK OF COURT Date: Signature of Clerk or Deputy Clerk District of Oregon Sarah King, et al., Lisa Charpilloz Hanson, et al., Lisa Charpilloz Hanson Oregon Department of Agriculture Director, in her official capacity 635 Capitol Street NE Salem, Oregon 97301 Ari Bargil Bobbi Taylor Edward Piper Institute for Justice Institute for Justice Angeli Law Group LLC 2 S. Biscayne Blvd., 901 N. Glebe Road, 121 S.W. Morrison Street Suite 3180 Suite 900 Suite 400 Miami, FL 33131 Arlington, VA 22203 Portland, OR 97204 (305)721-1600 (703)682-9320 (503)954-2232 AO 440 (Rev. 06/12) Summons in a Civil Action (Page 2) Civil Action No. PROOF OF SERVICE (This section should not be filed with the court unless required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 4 (l)) This summons for (name of individual and title, if any) was received by me on (date) . Lisa Charpilloz Hanson, ’ I personally served the summons on the individual at (place) on(date) ; or ’ I left the summons at the individual’s residence or usual place of abode with (name) , a person of suitable age and discretion who resides there, on(date) , and mailed a copy to the individual's last known address; or 'I served the summons on(name of individual) , who is designated by law to accept service of process on behalf of(name of organization) on(date) ; or ’ I returned the summons unexecuted because ; or ’ Other (specify): . My fees are $ for travel and $ for services, for a total of $ 0.00. I declare under penalty of perjury that this information is true. Date: Server's signature Printed name and title Server's address Additional information regarding attempted service, etc: Print Save As... Reset
10.1177/0093650203261504 ARTICLE COMMUNICATIONRESEARCH• April 2004 Ballard, Seibold • Organizational Temporality Scale DAVID R. SEIBOLD DAWNA I. BALLARD Organizational Members' Communication and Temporal Experience Scale Development and Validation This article reports the findings of scale development and validation efforts centered on 10 dimensions of organizational members' temporal experience identified in previous research. Consistent with a community-of-practice perspective, 395 members of five organizational units indicated their agreement with a series of statements regarding the day-to-day words and phrases they use to describe their activities, work-related events, and general timing needs. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the hypothesized enactments of time and construals of time. Organizational members' enactments of time included dimensions relating to flexibility, linearity, pace, precision, scheduling, and separation, and their construals of time included dimensions concerning scarcity, urgency, present time perspective, and future time perspective. A new dimension, delay, was found. Implications for pluritemporalism in organizations and the study of time in communication are discussed. Keywords: chronemics; time; temporality; scale; organizations; groups The importance of time in the study of communication was addressed more than a quarter of a century ago (Bruneau, 1974, 1977). Termed chronemics (following Poyatos, 1976),scholars were encouraged to focus on "the meaning of human time experiencing as it influences and is influenced by human communication" (Bruneau, 1979, p. 429). Two important assumptions regarding the relationship between time and communication were underscored. First, time and communication are recursively constituted. Persons' experience of time affects their communication patterns,and,in turn,their communication COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, Vol. 31 No. 2, April 2004 135-172 135 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH • April 2004 patterns help shape their experience of time. Second, the focus on meaning implies that communication scholarship is informed by persons' intersubjective, or shared, experiences of time rather than solely objective measures of their temporal behavior or individual (subjective) orientations. More specifically, our research has been consonant with the tenets and findings above, as well as calls for theory building and enhanced measurement, as we examined organizational members' temporality in general (Ballard & Seibold,2001,2003) and temporal variation across work groups in particular (Ballard & Seibold, 2000). We first identified three theoretical dimensions underlying work group members' experience of time—flexibility, separation, and concurrency—and provided empirical evidence for temporal variation based on group membership (Ballard & Seibold, 2000). We further That work and research by others in communication (Schockley-Zalabak, 2002; Wolburg, 2001) has mirrored the surge of scholarly interest in time, especially in organizations (Adam, 1995; Barkema, Baum, & Mannix, 2002; Lee & Liebenau, 1999), across many disciplines (Adam, 1990; Bergmann, 1992; Bucciarelli, 1994; Hall, 1983). Bedrock in this "nascent paradigm" (Hassard, 1996) is the finding that time is not monotemporal—invariable, standardized, and context-free (Nandhakumar & Jones, 2001)—but pluritemporal. That is, different types of time exist in parallel and simultaneously (Nowotny,1992),each socially constructed from varied human,cultural experiences (Giddens, 1984). Organizational pluritemporalism derives from the interactions of diverse occupational, functional, and cultural groups, each with its unique temporality (Dubinskas, 1988a). Current research on time in organizations has investigated how various monotemporal artifacts (timelines, charting, milestones, and the like) are used to render time visible, concrete, and objective and, thus, to facilitate organizational coordination and production while still allowing organizational subgroups to negotiate and manage time pluritemporally for their own means and ends (Yakura, 2002). Still, as Hassard (1996) observed, theoretical analyses of time in organizations are needed (see also Ancona, Okhuysen, & Perlow, 2001; Mitchell & James, 2001). Additionally, scholarship in this area needs better methods and measures for understanding "how time is actually organized in work practices" (Nandhakumar & Jones, 2001, p. 195). This study addresses both needs, first, by building on a meso-level model of organizational communication and temporality reported elsewhere (Ballard & Seibold, 2003) to confirm and elaborate the dimensions underlying pluritemporality in organizations and, second, by offering a scale for assessing organizational members' temporalities. suggested that work group members differ in meaningful ways with regard to their intersubjective experiences of time and that their varied communication demands and patterns may contribute to these differences. Concerning differences in work group members' temporal experiences, we later refined and extended these observations (Ballard & Seibold, 2003) by offering a multilevel theoretical framework of organizational temporality that identifies contributing factors at several levels of analysis and focuses on three taskrelated communication structures (workplace technologies, feedback cycles, and coordination mechanisms) central to members' experience of time as well as the role of interaction in this process. This framework broadens the scope of related dimensions of organizational temporality to include scheduling, precision, pace, present time perspective, future time perspective, scarcity, and urgency in addition to the earlier supported dimensions of flexibility, separation, and linearity (formerly labeled concurrency) (Ballard & Seibold, 2003). In this investigation,we report the findings of scale development and validation efforts centered on these 10 dimensions of organizational members' experience of time. The study enables empirical assessment and refinement of the Ballard and Seibold (2003) model of organizational temporality described below and, thus, needed theory building in the area (Goodman, Lawrence, Ancona, & Tushman, 2001; Hassard, 1996). It also contributes to research in communication by more fully exploiting Bruneau's (1974, 1979, 1996) conception of the relationship between time and communication and contributes to scholarship from many disciplines on a variety of issues relating to time in the workplace (Albert & Bell, 2002; Ancona & Chong, 1996; Barley, 1988; Bluedorn, 2002; Bluedorn & Denhardt, 1988; Butler, 1995; Das, 1993; George & Jones, 2000; Harrison, Price, Gavin, & Florey, 2002; Huy, 2001; Lim & Murnighan, 1994; Mosakowski & Earley, 2000; Parks & Cowlin, 1995; Perlow, 1997, 1999; Traweek, 1988). 1 To these ends, we begin below by identifying predominant perspectives regarding organizational members' temporal experience in general and position our work among these perspectives.This is followed by a more detailed explanation of each temporal dimension of interest in the present investigation as well as our hypotheses. We then describe the methods used in the study including improvements from our previous measures. Findings are discussed in terms of evidence for organizational pluritemporality and in terms of measurement and scale development, and implications for the study of time in communication and organizational research are addressed. Theoretical Perspectives on Organizational Members' Temporal Experience The modern industrial organization transformed time into capital and,in the process, fundamentally shifted the way its members relate to each other and to their work (Adam, 1990; Bruneau, 1996; Gurvitch, 1964; Hall, 1983; Hassard, 1996; Mumford, 1934; Nyland, 1990; E. Thompson, 1967). Even in an age of globalization,in which this received view of time is becoming shared or acknowledged in organizations around the world,organizational members and researchers are still struggling to understand exactly how this transformation affects us and, ultimately, what it means for our lives (Andrew, 1999; Barreau, 2000; Bennett, 2000; Cross, 1993; Gleick, 1999; Hareven, 1982; Hochschild, 1997; Neustadter, 1992; Perlow, 1997, 1999, 2001; Robinson & Godbey, 1997; J. Thompson & Bunderson, 2001). The prominent questions among these inquiries generally concern either the causes or the outcomes of this shift in the modern organization's (and its members') relationship with time. A second approach focuses on individuals' subjective constructions of time, on the psychological impact of various temporal norms, and on individual coping strategies including time management or lateness behavior (Blau, 1994, 1995; Gonzalez & Zimbardo, 1985; Gulick, 1987; Hellström & Hellström, 2002; Macan, 1994; McGrath & Kelly, 1992; Sabelis, 2001; Wilson, 1997; Ylijoki & Mäntylä, 2003). Some investigations in this area link members' subjective experiences to larger group and organizational outcomes— the focus of the third category (Waller, Conte, Gibson, & Carpenter, 2001; Waller, Giambatista, & Zellmer-Bruhn, 1999). The approaches taken to answer such questions can be grouped into three broad perspectives—each focused on a different variety of time. One approach considers the objective characteristics of time in the workplace and explores the social processes involved in the creation and management of formal time-related policies and standards. Much of this research deals with such variables as the length of the workday and workweek, the availability of family leave, vacation time and leisure time, work-family tensions, and telecommuting (Cross, 1989; Golden & Figart, 2000; Hylmö & Buzzanell, 2003; Kirby & Krone, 2002; Perlow, 2001). It also involves issues concerning the negotiation of deadlines and timing (Albert, 1995; Albert & Bell, 2002; Gersick, 1988, 1989; Okhuysen & Waller, 2002; Waller, Zellmer-Bruhn, & Giambatista, 2002; Yakura, 2002). The final approach centers around the intersubjective, or shared, experience of time for organizational members including the ways in which this intersubjective temporal experience shapes and is shaped by interaction at the group, organizational, and environmental levels (Barley, 1986, 1988; Bucciarelli,1994;Clark,1990;Dubinskas,1988b;Hassard,1996;Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967; Nowotny, 1992; Perlow, Okhuysen, & Repenning, 2002; Roy, 1960; Starkey, 1989; Zerubavel, 1979, 1981). This research extends to the exploration of national and culturally linked differences in time-related work practices and values (Hall & Hall,1990;Hay & Usunier,1993;Hofstede,1985, 1999; Hofstede & Bond, 1988; Limaye & Victor, 1991). A good deal of work overlaps across two or more of these categories (Ancona et al., 2001; Bailyn, 1993; Bluedorn, 2002; Perlow, 1997); however, these three areas help identify related theoretical perspectives concerning the experience of time in industrial organizations. Wenger's (1998) communities of practice, an important theoretical perspective that informs our work, sheds additional light on the intersubjective character of work group temporality as we conceive it. A community of practice is defined by three things: mutual engagement, a joint enterprise, and a shared repertoire. Mutual engagement concerns the complementary and sometimes overlapping contribution of diverse work group members to a shared task or joint enterprise. Negotiation of this joint enterprise (via members' multiple interpretations and mutual accountability) is situated within and influenced by a larger system. Members process a shared repertoire of words, concepts, actions, routines, tools, and the like that emerge in the course of their involvement with each other. The first two requirements The theoretical framework undergirding the present investigation addresses objective, subjective, and intersubjective constructions of time to offer an integrative perspective on the role of cultural-, environmental-, organizational-, group-, and individual-level influences in shaping organizational members' temporal experience (Ballard & Seibold, 2003). It identifies macro-organizational structures (which include dominant cultural patterns, environmental characteristics, industry norms, occupational norms, and organizational culture) and micro-organizational structures (including individual characteristics such as personal influences, work-home conflicts, personality, and social identity) that enable and constrain members' actions and interactions in the organizational context. It focuses, however, on members' intersubjective experience of time, partially mediated through group-level interaction surrounding meso-organizational structures such as coordination methods,feedback cycles,and workplace technologies "in use"—which shape and are shaped by members' day-to-day routines (Barley, 1988; Dubinskas,1988a;Lawrence & Lorsch,1967;Orlikowski,2000;E.Thompson, 1967). define the central assertion of our theoretical framework, and the third suggests how to assess it empirically. In earlier work, we assessed organizational members' experience of time by asking them to respond to a series of statements regarding their behaviors and views (Ballard & Seibold, 2000). Although important questions about particular behaviors and views can be answered using that format, our basic aims for the present project have led us to alter this approach. Instead, we asked members how they refer to time and temporal phenomena (actions, activities, and events) within their group. This is consistent with a community-of-practice theoretical perspective and our concern with exploring the communicative aspects of temporality in greater depth. It also yields several empirical advantages. Namely, we seek to develop an instrument that can apply equally to all members of a given organization and a variety of different kinds of organizations,regardlessofthespatio-temporalboundariesoftheir working environment, yet still yield nuanced understanding of how time is actually organized in work practices (Nandhakumar & Jones, 2001) and how pluritemporality (Nowotny, 1992) can be measured across organizational subgroups. Additionally, the increased utility of the instrument will also facilitate continued efforts to develop reliable and valid measures of organizational members' temporal experience, as instruments measuring organizational members' temporality are both needed and scarce (Schriber & Gutek,1987).Finally,this study contributes theoretically by expanding the number of dimensions previously investigated in our own work and those related to communication structures that enable and constrain members' interaction patterns (Ballard & Seibold, 2001, 2003). We next explicate the 10 dimensions of time that underlie our theoretical framework and that are the focus of this investigation. Dimensions of Temporal Experience in Organizations Research on time in organizations yields 10 temporal dimensions associated with members' engagement in the routine activities that enable and constrain their work environments (Ballard & Seibold, 2003). These dimensions can be grouped within two distinct conceptual categories: enactments of time (which include flexibility, linearity, pace, precision, scheduling, and separation) and construals of time (which include scarcity, urgency, and present and future time perspectives). Enactments refer to the way work group members perform time. Certain actions or ways of approaching the work process (strategic or habitual) have an explicitly temporal quality and shape group members' experience of time. How flexible a group is with regard to work plans and timing, the tendency of members to multitask or juggle several things at once, how fast or slow the group usually works, how punctual they are in beginning or carrying out their work, how tightly scheduled their time is,and whether they separate themselves or screen out distractions to do their work are all different dimensions of the way time is enacted in work groups. Temporal construals refer to the way work group members interpret or orient to time. Whether group members see time as fleeting or limited and whether they are more concerned with long-term plans or immediate concerns are characteristic dimensions of their experience of time. Each of these dimensions and its role in organizational members' work lives is elaborated below, first by examining temporal enactments and then explicating construals of time. Enactments of Time Organizational units and their members create temporal norms for behavior through regularized patterns of interaction. These behaviors are reflected through their enactments of temporal flexibility, linearity, pace, precision, scheduling, and separation. Each of these is discussed in turn. Pace refers to tempo or rate of activity (Lauer, 1981; Levine, 1988; Moore, 1963). Organizational units and their members may adopt an accelerated work pace to cope with numerous demands in their task environment or the speed of inputs within a defined span of time. Groups are described as fast paced or slow paced depending on the rate of input of stable or new stimuli in their environment. Following on her earlier work (Gersick, 1988, 1989) that developmental and productivity transformations take place at the temporal midpoint of a group's life, Gersick (1994) found that groups use time and temporal milestones more generally to guide their work pace and to assess prog- Flexibility pertains to the degree of rigidity in time structuring and task completion plans (Ballard & Seibold, 2000; Starkey, 1989). Temporal flexibility may be a function of the task or a consequence of organizational norms and practices. Task-related flexibility is associated with the temporal constraints inherent in a job and the nature of its deadlines. Academic work, for example, is considered high in flexibility, because it affords individuals autonomy over the process (Starkey, 1989). Flexibility also can be a function of group norms and practices and may be reflected in them (e.g., the tendency to reschedule meeting times without negative sanctions). An agreement between two colleagues to pencil in a meeting serves to communicate the need (of one or both parties) to be flexible with regard to timing plans. Blount and Janicik (2001) have discussed temporal responsiveness, or "the ability of organizational actors to adapt the timing of their activities to unanticipated events" (p. 566), which reflects classic characterizations of temporal flexibility. ress.Relatedly,Okhuysen and Waller (2002) conceptualized groups' time pacing as a semistructure that affords them flexibility for addressing ambiguous tasks. They found that other semistructures, such as familiarity among group members and formal instructions, promoted the occurrence of midpoint transitions and temporal pacing. Whereas separation refers to the environment created to complete a task, temporal linearity is associated with actual task execution. Members may enact linearity or its opposite, cyclicity, via the number of activities or tasks they engage in simultaneously (a cyclic pattern) and the activities they try to fit into successive time frames,as in daily calendars demarcated by 15-minute intervals (a linear pattern). The task completion approach of doing one thing at a time is characteristically linear; doing many things at once is cyclical (Graham, 1981). A classic example of linearity is found in Taylor's (1911) theory of scientific management, designed to help organizational members accomplish more tasks per unit of time through analyzing the particular sequence of steps required for efficient task completion. Bluedorn (2002) contrasted linearity with polychronicity as a means of task execution and/or time management,and differences across organizational groups on this dimension have been supported in previous research (Ballard & Seibold, 2000). Separation indexes the degree to which extraneous factors are eliminated or engaged during task completion (Ballard & Seibold, 2000; Hall, 1983). It is manifested in the physical and psychological availability or protection of group members' time (and often space). Under high levels of separation, extraneous factors may be interpreted and semantically represented as unwelcome interruptions. Screening behaviors, including closing the door or not answering the phone, are common in these situations. Low levels of separation are evident in such structures and discursive representations as opendoor policies used to communicate less restricted spatio-temporal norms. Alternatively, Perlow (1997) used quiet time as a tool to separate software engineers from interactions with others and to increase work productivity. The scheduling dimension of organizational time concerns the extent to which plans, activities, and events are formalized (Yakura, 2002). McGrath and Kelly (1986) asserted that "the essence of scheduling is to determine when some event will occur or some product will be available in relation to an external calendar or clock" (p. 109). It includes formalizing the sequencing and duration of an event (Lauer, 1981) and is communicated through written or oral means. Group members' time either can be tightly scheduled, as in a day full of specific appointments (each with a finite beginning and ending), or loosely scheduled, as in a day's activities based on a to-do list with no specific boundaries regarding either when something must occur or how much time is allocated to complete it. Zerubavel (1981) elaborated, "Unlike many nonWestern civilizations, where events and activities are temporally located in a relatively spontaneous manner, we tend to 'schedule' them, that is, routinely fix them at particular prearranged, and often standard, points in time" (p. 7). The scheduling dimension of time is an indication of how spontaneous or prearranged work life is for work groups. Scheduling is evident in group members' negotiations over whether they can fit in (their schedule) additional activities. A variety of organizational timelines (Gantt charts, program evaluation review technique [PERT] charts, project timelines, milestone charts) function as temporal boundary objects that make time concrete and visual thus enabling scheduling. Yet these (mono)temporal artifacts simultaneously leave time negotiable for various groups of participants who must coordinate their activities around such timelines thus rendering time interpretable within each group (e.g., on time, out of time, overtime, downtime) (Yakura, 2002). Although scheduling refers to the degree of formalization of activity with regard to sequencing and duration, precision refers to the exacting nature of the timing.Timing demands can be quite precise,as in the case of a strict publication deadline; they may be imprecise, as when telephone repairpersons are given 8-hour blocks of time to service a specified number of homes. In addition to prescribed parameters, precision also characterizes constraints on work group members' actions. For example, punctuality is a measure of temporal precision. An event can be said to begin and end precisely on schedule, and persons who are punctual are said to be precisely on time. Group norms regarding when meetings begin often vary in terms of expectations about punctuality.In some groups,members informally expect that the meeting will begin about 10 minutes after the scheduled time; in other groups, meetings are expected to begin precisely on time. The difference between scheduling and precision is important. Two groups may be identical with regard to how scheduled their work lives are but have unique norms with regard to how precisely on schedule the activities are expected to be. Mainemelis (2001) described how organizational members can be on schedule but so engrossed in their work as to produce a state of timelessness that they are imprecisely on schedule. Schriber and Gutek (1987) found precision to be important in their treatment of differences in organizational culture regarding punctuality and deadlines. Construals of Time Above and beyond group members' enactments of the foregoing temporal dimensions, they construe time in particular ways. These construals are reflected in their temporal perspective (present and future) and their experience of time as scarce and urgent. Temporal perspective in organizations concerns whether members' thoughts are oriented toward the present or future (Lauer, 1981;Waller et al., 2001). Jones (1988) described the difference between a present and future orientation: We can distinguish between time as a structured, unitized measure of the sequence of unfolding events, compelled toward some distant outcome, and time as the backdrop for behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. The former is a conception of action that occurs within a time that flows linearly, inexorably, and necessarily forward. It is a perspective that is strongly guided by the future. The latter is a feeling of behavior that occurs in-time, where time consciousness is suspended and action occurs in the infinite present. (p. 26) Present and future time perspectives are considered to be independent, though related, dimensions of time. They exist on separate scales and as continuous variables.Hay and Usunier (1993) discussed four levels of futuretime perspective: distant future, future, intermediate future, and near future. The need to engage in long-term planning tends to engender a strong future orientation in work units (Jaques, 1982), whereas the need to develop strategies designed to address a range of emergent problems tends to bring about a more present-centered focus (Schein, 1992). Members may construe time within both high present and future time perspectives, as when an administrative team must plan for growth while addressing emergent problems on a daily basis. Scarcity is the construal of time as a limited and exhaustible resource (Karau & Kelly, 1992). Temporal scarcity is emphasized in work situations characterized by either too many inputs within a given unit of time or not enough time to complete a given task as in role overload (McGrath & Kelly, 1986). Alternatively, groups may have more time than they need to complete a task and find themselves experiencing underload.Members may talk about the need to buy some time or save time when the perception of time as scarce increases and the need to use up some time or pass the time when this feeling dramatically decreases. Construals of time as scarce at work also may vary during busy or slow times of the day or year. In turn, these construals may be reflected communicatively in organizational members' information overload (Farace, Monge, & Russell, 1977), interpersonal conflict (Nicotera, 1994), and resistance (Mumby, 1996). Construals of temporal urgency have been equated with a condition called hurry sickness, which describes persons' preoccupation with deadlines and task completion (Gastorf, 1980; Meuser, Yarnold, & Bryant, 1987; Waller et al., 2001). Although these studies have focused on individual traits related to temporal urgency, Perlow et al. (2002) documented how organizations can fall into a speed trap associated with their own past and present emphases on speed in decision making. Each level of analysis contributes to understanding the temporal dimension of urgency. Construals of time as urgent may be represented through discourse about running out of time to complete a given task. Groups characterized by constant stimulus-response interactions are likely to construe time as urgent, or urgency may reflect a temporary valuation of time based on an impending deadline (Gersick, 1988, 1989; Waller et al., 2002). Construals of time as urgent and scarce often coincide. However, urgency is focused on the task, whereas scarcity is focused on the (temporal) resources available to complete it. For example, a group may be in a situation of underload and have more than a sufficient amount of time to complete a task but still take its completion as urgent because of its perceived importance. The foregoing rationale and explication are foundational to the two hypotheses to be tested in this study: Hypothesis 1 (H1): Organizational members' enactments of time can be characterized along the following dimensions: flexibility, linearity, pace, precision, scheduling, and separation. Hypothesis 2 (H2): Organizational members' construals of time can be characterized along the following dimensions: scarcity, urgency, present time perspective, and future time perspective. Method Organizational Site The subcontracting organization that coordinates and oversees all housing and residential services for students and employees of a medium-sized West Coast university (WCU) served as the organizational site for this study. It consists of five departments—Business and Financial Services, Residential Operations, Campus Dining Services, Residential Life, and Apartment and Community Living. The departments range in size from moderate (n = 57) to large (n = 367). Business and Financial Services members handle all budget, finance, and human resources issues as well as information systems and COMMUNICATION RESEARCH • April 2004 technology issues. The Residential Operations staff takes care of all landscaping and custodial services, maintenance, disaster management, and capital projects as well as campus conference services. Campus Dining Services employees operate concessions and vending, catering, special events, and three large dining commons. Residential Life team members look after the living situations of the undergraduate students living in university-owned housing. Finally, Apartment and Community Living workers manage single student and family student housing and provide off-campus housing listings for the university. Sample In addition to its functional diversity, the WCU organization studied is professionally and demographically diverse. It boasts—and our study included—roughly equivalent numbers of white-collar and blue-collar workers, part-time and full-time employees, women and men, and a wide range of ages and ethnic backgrounds—variables described in the research literature as potential influences on persons' time orientation (Aapola, 2002; Adam, 1995; Ballard & Seibold, 2000; Jaques, 1982; Hall, 1983). Additionally, individuals from all four levels of the organization participated.None of the members in these departments were involved in telework arrangements;all of our respondents were colocated. Specifically, the ethnic profile of the participants included 42.6% Caucasians, 27.3% Latinos, 10.1% Asians, 8.3% multiracial individuals, 6.2% African Americans, 1.3% Native Americans, 1% Arabs, and 3.2% were of unspecified descent.The sample included roughly equal numbers of men (52.4%) and women (47.3%).In terms of their ages, about half were older than 30 (up to 70 years old), and the other half were in their 20s or younger. The education levels of the respondents were diverse including 10% who held a graduate degree, 62.4% with some college education, 24.3% who earned a high school diploma (but did not attend any college), and 3.3% who had not completed high school. The annual household income levels of the respondents varied from 53.8% earning below $20,000, 23.4% making between $20,000 and $34,999, 12.2% making between $35,000 and $49,999, 7.5% earning between $50,000 and $75,000,and 3.1% earning more than $75,000.Respondents had an average of 2 years employment with the organization, a median of 4.8 years tenure, and the longest term was more than 29 years. More than 56% of the participants were full-time employees at WCU, whereas slightly fewer than 44% were employed part-time. There were also about equal numbers of student (48%) and nonstudent (52%) employees. Focus Group A small focus group was conducted to better understand the task, social, and temporal environments of the respondents to aid in interpretation of the quantitative results. The group consisted of one member from each of the five WCU departments at various levels of the organization and with varying lengths of tenure. The meeting lasted approximately 1 hour. Respondents were asked to describe the nature of their work, the challenges and rewards of their jobs,and their experiences surrounding time,and they were given the opportunity to discuss other relevant aspects of their workplace they chose to discuss. Questionnaire Dimensions of time. All measures of time were assessed through a selfadministered questionnaire given to individual organizational members. Group-level referents were used in the instrument because the proposed theoretical framework locates the emergence of members' experiences of time in their shared work environments (Ballard & Seibold, 2003). This is consistent with a community-of-practice theoretical perspective (Wenger, 1998) and with Klein and Kozlowski's (2000) recommendations for conducting mesolevel organizational research.Likert-type scales were created to assess members' experience of 10 dimensions of time—flexibility, linearity, pace, present time perspective,future time perspective,precision,scarcity,scheduling,separation, and urgency. As described earlier, items explored the manner in which members refer to time with their immediate coworkers rather than how they feel about it or their specific acts. Given that members were required to estimate shared representations of time, asking about the kind of language used in their work unit enables respondents to recount their regular experiences (in contrast to asking individuals to accurately judge how others feel or even what others do). Also, by asking about conversations, respondents focused on their interaction with others. Respondents were asked to rate a series of 57 words and phrases (representing 10 scales) in terms of how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the phrases as related to the way they referred to time. The specific instructions stated the following: Please think about the way you and your coworkers refer to time in the course of carrying out your daily tasks at work. Read the statements below and then rate each of the words or phrases that follow based upon how well they describe the way you and others in your immediate work COMMUNICATION RESEARCH • April 2004 group or work unit generally talk about time. Please circle the number to the right of each word or phrase that best represents your answer. The words and phrases were derived from descriptions of time, time views, and time use found in a variety of popular and scholarly literatures (Gerson, 2000;Gleick,1999;Hall,1983;Holder & McKinney,1992;Meuser et al.,1987). Each dimension of time was measured by a scale that included between four and seven words or phrases. Individual items were reverse-coded where appropriate. Items were rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale, where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = somewhat disagree, 3 = slightly disagree, 4 = slightly agree, 5 = somewhat agree, and 6 = strongly agree. 2 Questionnaire administration.The instrument was pilot-tested at a meeting of 21 employees. Based on informal feedback, minor changes were made; however,the overall instrument remained similar enough to include those 21 respondents in the final data set. Approximately 70% of the data were collected during regularly scheduled employee meetings for a variety of groups. If a particular group did not hold regular employee meetings, then surveys were distributed through their immediate supervisors. By the end of the process, 395 members of the organization had returned completed surveys. These participants represent 75% of those to whom questionnaires were distributed in the WCU organization. Results Hypothesized Model The 10-factor model of organizational members' temporal experience that includes six temporal enactments (Flexibility, Linearity, Pace, Precision, Scheduling, and Separation, and four temporal construals (Present Time Perspective, Future Time Perspective, Scarcity, and Urgency) was tested using confirmatory factor analytic and reliability statistical procedures through the AMOS and SPSS software programs, respectively. The hypothesized model is presented in Figure 1.As indicated,the factors were allowed to covary. Assumptions Frequencies and descriptive analyses were performed, and the data were screened for normality, linearity, and the existence of outliers. Normality was assessed through examination of normal probability and detrended normal Figure 1. Hypothesized Model of Dimensions of Temporal Experience probability plots. Linearity was evaluated through the inspection of scatterplots and linearity tests for several combinations of variables. The data appeared linear, although some combinations of variables were less so COMMUNICATION RESEARCH • April 2004 than others. Linearity was also assessed during subsequent analysis of variance procedures. Univariate and multivariate outliers were sought in both grouped and ungrouped data. Univariate outliers were screened through exploring z scores, whereas multivariate outliers were screened by computing the Mahalanobis distance for extreme cases. Based on these analyses, transformations were not indicated. Finally, a dummy variable was constructed to test for differences between cases with missing and nonmissing values. Results across all variables revealed no significant differences. Structural equation modeling analysis was performed using data from all 395 respondents. Missing data were estimated using full maximum-likelihood analysis. Model Estimation Maximum-likelihood estimation was employed to estimate all models. The independence model that tests the hypothesis that all variables are uncorrelated was easily rejected, χ 2 (1711, N = 395) = 59782.60, p < .01. The hypothesized model was tested next and it was not supported, χ 2 (1553, N = 395) = 6117.06, p < .01, Tucker Lewis index (TLI) = .91, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .09, standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = .29. However, a χ 2 difference test indicated a significant improvement in fit between the independence model and the hypothesized model. 3 Reliability coefficients for the subscales were computed next. On the basis of the reliability analyses, additional items were removed, and most factors achieved reliability coefficients in the .70 to .80 range—considered strong for early research in an area (Nunnally, 1978). Two factors (Separation and Post-hoc modifications were performed to develop a better fitting model. All items with nonsignificant loadings on their respective factor were dropped,and the unidimensionality of all factors was verified before proceeding. Two factors, Precision and Scheduling, were bidimensional. Using exploratory factory analytic procedures, the Precision Scale yielded two subfactors, which were labeled as Punctuality and Delay. Items on the Precision Scale indicating being "behind schedule," "running late," and "delayed" loaded distinctly from items that indicated being "on time," "punctual," and "prompt." (Reverse-coding procedures were verified to ensure that the scale for appropriate items was properly adjusted to indicate that they measured the opposite of the other items.) Additionally, items on the Scheduling Scale indicating events as being "unscheduled" and "unplanned" loaded distinctly from items that indicated time as "tightly scheduled" or "accounted for." The former subfactor was labeled Dynamism; the latter subfactor retained the original label of Scheduling. Table 1 Factor Loadings of the Temporal Experience Scale Dimensions (continued) COMMUNICATION RESEARCH • April 2004 Table 1 (continued) a. These items were preceded by the following statement: "In my particular line of work, we usually talk about time as . . ." c. These items were dropped on the basis of reliability analyses. All items that were dropped are indicated in italics. b. These items were preceded by the following statement: "In my particular line of work, we usually talk about our actions or activities as . . ." d. These items were preceded by the following statement: "In my particular line of work, we usually discuss events that happen at work in terms of . . ." Scheduling) had coefficients just above .50—considered marginal but permissible when theoretically promising (Nunnally,1978).We decided to retain them as we searched for best model fit. All factor loadings, including significance tests, and final reliabilities for each dimension are included in Table 1 as well as item means and standard deviations. Modification indexes (MI) were then consulted to address issues of model fit.To avoid overfitting the model based solely on empirical,rather than theoretical considerations, modification decisions were made based on the relative size of the index values. One value (108.716) was significantly larger than others (most others were about 25 or much lower) and indicated that the error covariances for items referring to time as "plentiful" and "abundant" on the Scarcity Scale should be estimated to increase the fit of the model. We made this change,along with those previously described,and recomputed the MIs. At this point, one final value that correlates the error terms for an item on the Urgency Scale referring to time as "running out" and an item on the Scarcity Scale referencing "not enough" time remained at a high of 25.756 with most others lowered to 5 or less. Based on the persistence of this value (because it was previously the same), we estimated those residuals. Finally, because Separation and Scheduling had marginal reliability levels, we estimated the model with and without each of these factors and found that the best model fit included Separation but not the new Scheduling dimension. Based on this evidence, we dropped the items loading on this factor, and the Dynamism factor retained the Scheduling name. Ultimately, an 11-factor model that includes Flexibility, Linearity, Pace, Present Time Perspective, Future Time Perspective, Punctuality, Precision, Scarcity, Scheduling, Separation, and Urgency was tested for fit. The revised model showed marked improvement. The independence model that tests the hypothesis that all variables are uncorrelated was easily rejectable, χ 2 (1225, N = 395) = 50615.80, p < .01. The hypothesized model was tested next and support was found for it, χ 2 (1070, N = 395) = 2509.49, p < .01, TLI = .97, RMSEA = .06, SRMR = .09.Whereas the χ 2 test was significant indicating a lack of model fit, it was just less than 2.5 times the model degrees of freedom. Additionally, the relative measures evidenced model fit.A χ 2 difference test indicated a significant improvement in fit between the independence model and the hypothesized model. Finally, because the 11 dimensions measure different categories of experience (enactments and construals), at this point we checked for empirical differences between these dimensions using a second-order factor analysis model, χ 2 (1113, N = 395) = 2747.47, p < .01. Although the TLI indicated an adequate fit (.95), both the RMSEA and SRMR values (.08 and .13, respectively) suggested that the first-order model was a better empirical representation of the data.A χ 2 difference test between the first order and second order confirmed that the first-order model was a better fit at p < .001. Therefore, we retained the 11-factor model depicted in Figure 2. Enactments of Time The first hypothesis predicted that organizational members' enactments of time can be characterized along the following six dimensions: flexibility, linearity, pace, precision, scheduling, and separation. As described earlier, precision was found to have two dimensions—punctuality and delay. H1 was not supported fully. Rather than six dimensions, results supported the existence of seven temporal dimensions enacted in organizational members' behaviors: flexibility, linearity, pace, punctuality, delay, scheduling, and separation. Construals of Time The second hypothesis proposed that organizational members' construals of time can be characterized along the following four dimensions: scarcity, urgency, present time perspective, and future time perspective. H2 was fully supported. Validation Efforts To establish construct validity, we drew on the structural equation modeling efforts described above. This method is suggested by Bryant (2000) and demonstrated in Judd, Jessor, and Donovan (1986) as the most accurate way to assess construct validity (as opposed to relying on bivariate correlations or even other multivariate techniques). Next,we addressed the issue of divergent validity.Divergent validity is established through differentiating between two theoretically distinct (though perhaps related) constructs. This is established, in part, through examining the internal consistency between two sets of items measuring different constructs.We choose to compare a scale that measures organizational members' satisfaction regarding the communication among departments (called, hereafter, Interdepartmental Communication Satisfaction, or ICS) with our 11 time subscales. ICS was chosen because of the focus in the literature on communication challenges among organizational members from departments with contrasting temporal experiences (Dubinskas, 1988b; Zerubavel, 1981). We expect this dimension to be related to, but distinct from, members' experience of time. First, we assessed a model that included ICS as a distinct factor related to each of our 11 time dimensions. Although the fit was poorer than the model depicted in Figure 2 (p < .001), it showed some level of consistency with the data, χ 2 (1311, N = 395) = 2755.90, p < .01, TLI = .96, RMSEA = .07, We first sought evidence of the convergent validity of our dimensions.Convergent validity is established through demonstrating high correlations between items that should measure the same construct. The test of convergent validity assesses whether the 49 items in our model result from 11 distinct factors (i.e., they converge distinctly around 11 separate dimensions) or if there is sufficient similarity across dimensions such that all 49 dimensions actually measure the same thing (i.e., they converge around one common dimension). We tested for convergent validity by constraining the correlations on all 11 factors to 1.The resulting fit, χ 2 (1125, N = 395) = 4477.4, p < .01, TLI = .89, RMSEA = .11, SRMR could not be successfully fitted, indicates a poor fit, and a χ 2 difference test (p < .001) confirms that the 49 items result from 11 unique dimensions. COMMUNICATION RESEARCH • April 2004 SRMR could not be computed because of missing data, thus confirming the internal consistency of the measures (the reliability coefficient for the ISC scale was .88). Next, the factor correlations were constrained at 1, which resulted in χ 2 (1377, N = 395) = 5750.4, p < .01,TLI = .88,RMSEA = .11,SRMR could not be computed because of missing data. The difference χ 2 showed the superiority of the former model over the latter at p < .001 thus supporting the divergent validity of the model in Figure 2. Judd et al. (1986) suggested establishing additional types of validity including predictive and differential predictive validity as well as through the use of longitudinal models. Although this is beyond the scope of the present investigation, future projects should establish additional forms of validity. Discussion Findings The present study indicated that all 10 hypothesized dimensions of time, derived from theoretical or qualitative work, could be verified quantitatively. Specifically, flexibility, linearity, pace, present time perspective, future time perspective, precision, scarcity, scheduling, separation, and urgency characterized organizational members' temporal experience. Table 2 provides a summary of all of the dimensions found in the present investigation and demonstrates their links to previous research. Relevant studies are identified, their meaning is explicated, and an organizational example of each is provided. Relevant to H1, an additional dimension of temporal enactments was identified—delay. Rather than being unidimensional, precision emerged as a multidimensional construct. Although the concept of temporal precision encompassed punctuality, tardiness, and delayed schedules, organizational members' responses indicated that these issues were separate. Precision reflected two related dimensions, labeled punctuality and delay. Two explanations may account for the bifurcation of precision. Although a specific project may be running behind schedule or delayed, organizational members can still maintain consistent patterns of punctuality to meetings or to work and There was partial support for the hypothesized enactments of time (H1) and full support for the hypothesized construals of time (H2). As predicted by H1, organizational members' enactments of time could be characterized along the following six dimensions: flexibility, linearity, pace, precision, scheduling, and separation. Consistent with H2, organizational members' construals of time could be characterized along these four dimensions: scarcity, urgency, present time perspective, and future time perspective. they may still respond to specific work requests quite promptly. Therefore, they are enacting both punctuality and delay. Alternatively, there may be lateness norms surrounding arrival to regular meetings or to work—perhaps members usually arrive closer to 9:10 a.m. for a 9:00 a.m. meeting or shift (Blau, 1995). In this instance, it would be inaccurate to characterize this behavior as prompt; however, given the shared norms, it would be equally inappropriate to consider this as running late. These two concepts connote different things; members may be neither punctual nor delayed nor both. Results of the focus group revealed that many organizational work groups at WCU operated according to flextime work schedules, both in administrative roles and more broadly in the Department of Residential Life (Golden & Figart, 2000). In these contexts, being prompt to meetings has little meaning relative to not getting behind schedule on important projects. Implications Our overarching goal in this project was to provide a richer, more complex template with which to consider the theoretical and practical relationships between time and communication in organizations and to offer a theoretically grounded measure of organizational temporality. We approached this project from the standpoint of members' interaction and, consistent with a community-of-practice perspective (Wenger, 1998), asked organizational respondents to characterize the ways they referred to time with members of their immediate work group. We identified 11 distinct dimensions of time as experienced by these organizational members: flexibility, linearity, pace, perspective (present and future), precision, scarcity, scheduling, separation, urgency, and delay. Assuming that these dimensions are robust, (a) they encourage further theoretical development of their interrelationships and (b) they invite investigation of their relationship with other relevant communication constructs. We address each of these issues in the remainder of this article. Relationships Among Temporal Dimensions Evidence reported here for the existence of these 11 dimensions of organizational temporality, and for the distinction between work group members' temporal construals and their temporal enactments,can be a basis for exploring their interrelationships (and for testing the same in future research).At a meso level, pluritemporality (Nowotny, 1992) may be interpretable as, and fundamentally grounded in, variations surrounding the dual nature of organizational temporality: construals versus enactments of time. Furthermore, Table 3 Interfactor Correlations a. Indicates nonsignificant correlations. variations across temporal enactment dimensions—especially flexibility, scheduling, separation—may be those along which organizational pluritemporality is most evident and the threads with which groups most often weave their own meanings of time. Other temporal dimensions—linearity, present perspective, and urgency—may underlie threads of organizational monotemporality (Nandhakumar & Jones, 2001) necessary for effective trans-organizational coordination and productivity.Contrasts along all these dimensions should offer added insights into how organizations manage and simultaneously sustain manifestly objective yet variably subjective senses of organizational time (Mosakowski & Earley, 2000). As indicated in Table 3, the following pairs of temporal enactment dimensions in this study were correlated beyond chance expectation: Linearity × Punctuality (.52), Linearity × Flexibility (–.39), and Separation × Scheduling (.32). These findings are consistent with results of other investigations. For example, Hall's (1983) classic research describes monochronism as char- But at a more fundamental level, in what ways are these temporal dimensions interrelated? Our data are not sufficient to test for the causality implicit in the following discussion, but the factor correlations from this study, combined with others researchers' findings, are suggestive of interrelationships among dimensions of organizational temporality that can be specified and modeled here and tested in future longitudinal research. Let us first consider the relationships among temporal enactment dimensions and then potential relationships of temporal construals with temporal enactment dimensions. Figure 3. Relationships Among Temporal Enactments Dimensions – acterized by both doing one thing at time (linearity) and an obsessive concern with punctuality. Consistent with the negative correlation we report, linearity is linked to a lack of flexibility in Hall's view. The significant relationship between separation and scheduling coincides with Payne's (1993) work on calendar use where scheduling contributed to the compartmentalization of activities. Relatedly, Yakura's (2002) study of the use of timeline devices in information-technology consulting firms reveals the way such temporal structures inhere in scheduling,which,in turn,give rise to construals of separation in budgeting, project management, and other organizational practices. Okhuysen and Waller's (2002) analysis of work groups' use of time pacing as a semistructure reveals that pace can affect their construals of temporal flexibility surrounding other tasks and ambiguities in their environment. These relationships among temporal enactment dimensions are formally specified in Figure 3. As for potential relationships between temporal construals and temporal enactments, it is first instructive to examine nonchance correlations in our data among the temporal construal dimensions. With regard to the significant relationship between Delay × Scarcity (.45) reported in Table 3, we would expect individuals who are delayed in their work to experience a feeling of time's scarcity. Perlow (1997) found that individuals who were running behind on their work constantly interrupted others because of the temporal Figure 4. Temporal Construals and Temporal Enactments Interrelationships scarcity they experienced.In her study,members' focus on pressing deadlines in the here and now (or a present time perspective) also led to a sense of urgency about the need to receive assistance from their coworkers in completing their work,consistent with the significant relationship between Present Time Perspective × Urgency (.33) that we observed. And what of the potential for construals to predict temporal enactments? Early research by Friedman and Rosenman (1974) aligns with the relationship we report in Table 3 between a sense of time urgency and an increased pace (Urgency × Pace = .64). A more recent 19-month study of an Internet start-up firm by Perlow et al.(2002) suggests construals of urgency surrounding initial and important decision making creates a pace that fosters continual feelings of urgency surrounding subsequent decision making (i.e., a recursive speed trap). Consistent with the significant relationship between Future Time Perspective × Linearity (.29) that we observed, Hall's (1983) work suggests that a strong future time perspective is an important byproduct of a linear, monochronic orientation. Other studies enable further specification of potential relationships between the temporal construal dimensions and the temporal enactment dimensions identified in this investigation. For example, Waller et al. (2002) observed a steady progression in groups' attention to time as deadlines near and a related increase in temporal pacing (suggesting a positive relationship between present time perspective and pace). Furthermore, Barkema et al. (2002) identified a spate of macro-level chalCOMMUNICATION RESEARCH • April 2004 lenges to organizations (globalization, digitization, and the like) that present a variety of time-related management challenges in the new millennium. Among these is the problematic positive relationship between temporal scarcity and the correlative pace of organizational operations. Taken together, these relationships among temporal construals and their predicted relationships to temporal enactment dimensions leads to specification of the following model (see Figure 4). Temporal Dimensions and Organizational Communication Structures A full theoretical account of organizational temporality would require analysis of the connections among the realms of time, history, culture, and system (organization/work groups),but that is beyond the purview and practicalities of this article. However, it is possible to discuss here the relationship between these dimensions of organizational temporality and other communication structures in organizations. For example, given evidence from previous research (Barley, 1988; Dubinskas, 1988a; Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967) linking coordination methods, feedback cycles, and workplace communication technologies to organizational temporality, it may be theoretically important and pragmatically useful to pursue additional questions about the relationship between these organizational communication structures and organizational temporality. Related to McPhee and Zaug's (2000) theoretical framework of the communicative construction of organizations, how do different types of interdependence/coordination (pooled, sequential, reciprocal; E. Thompson, 1967) affect organizational members' construals and enactments of time? Following from Barley's (1988) research on workplace technologies, what is the relationship between the constraints on interaction and task-completion intervals that characterize workplace technologies in use and organizational members' construals and enactments of time? In view of Dubinskas's (1988b) findings relating feedback cycles to scientists' conceptions of time, how do task completion interval and task variability facets of feedback cycles influence organizational members' construals and enactments of time? For example, members of organizational groups whose feedback cycles are characterized by an extended task completion interval and high task variability may have a stronger future time perspective than those in groups whose feedback cycles are characterized by brief intervals and low task variability. Equally important, how do temporal construals and enactments recursively affect each of these organizational communication structures? Time and Communication Theory Finally, in the area of communication studies in general, these 11 dimensions of organizational temporality invite attention to how (and why) communication theory has been time-less and what is lost by not attending theoretically to time.Which theories grapple well with which aspects of time;in particular, which aspects of temporality can be theorized independently of history and which cannot? What are the implications of theorizing time for the study of communication at the levels and in the contexts that communication scholars have pursued? What new arenas might be opened by increased attention to the relationship between time and communication? Notes 1. In 2001, both the Academy of Management Review and Work and Occupations, a sociological journal, published special issues devoted exclusively to the study of time and work in organizations. 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Seibold (Ph.D.,Michigan State University) is a professor and chair in the Department of Communication and director of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Management Practice at the University of California— Santa Barbara. His research focuses on communication and organizational change, group processes and decision making, and interpersonal influence. Past editor of the Journal of Applied Communication Research, he has served as chair of the Organizational Communication Division of the International Communication Association. He has also consulted widely with business,government, and health organizations.
Vol.3 No.1 March 2020 Editorial advisor Hitoshi MARUYAMA (International University of Health and Welfare) Editor-in-chief Ko ONODA (International University of Health and Welfare) Editorial board Japan: Nobuyuki HIRAGI (International University of Health and Welfare) Takamichi TANIGUCHI (International University of Health and Welfare) Tubasa KAWASAKI(Tokyo International University) Tamae SATO(International University of Health and Welfare) China: Huang QIUCHEN (China Rehabilitation Research Center) Korea: Kim Myung CHUL (Eulji University) The Journal of Asia Rehabilitation Science (ISSN 2434-07058) is published for the Society of Asia Rehabilitation Science. The journal is published quarterly. The editors welcome original papers with significant areas of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. Manuscripts should be submitted to: http://rehaac.org/asiareha.html For enquiries please contact: JARS Editorial Office email@example.com The Journal of Asian Rehabilitation Science Original Article Effects of Motor Imagery Recall Ability on Motor Performance TAKUYA NAITO, RPT, MS 1) , MAKOTO TAMARI, RPT, PhD 2,3) 1) Fukuoka Rehabilitation Hospital, (770-7, Nokata, Fukuoka Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-8551, Japan) 2) Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medical Science, Fukuoka International University of Health and Welfare 3) Health and Welfare Science Course, Graduate School of International University of Health and Welfare Abstract. [Participants and Methods] Using a 3D motion analyzer, the reach-to-grasp movement in 17 healthy men, with varying levels of difficulty (empty or heavy bottles), was measured to determine the differences in kinematic posture control. The influence of differences in motor imagery ability on reachto-grasp movement was measured using a mental rotation test. [Results] In heavy conditions, the reach-to-grasp time and grasp time were extended, and the change in the wrist joint dorsiflexion angle was increased. The appearance time of the maximum operating speed and the appearance time of preshaping were shortened. In heavy conditions, the group with low mental rotation test reaction times had decreased grasp times and extended appearances of preshaping. [Conclusion] The group with high motor imagery ability instantly adjusted the position of the fingertips according to the weight based on motor memory, suggesting that motor imagery ability affects the reachto-grasp movement. It is necessary to consider motor image ability when measuring upper limb posture control. Key Words: reach-to-grasp movement, motor imagery, mental rotation task (This article was submitted February.10, 2020, and was accepted March.9, 2020) 1. INTRODUCTION The reach-to-grasp movement is an important physical function in stroke patients as well as in patients recovering from shoulder joint surgery; however, it may entail compensatory movements including excessive scapular elevation and trunk lateral flexion 1) . It has been suggested that the underlying mechanism of such compensatory movements may be a change in the central nervous system. In particular, it has been reported that immobility and fear of movement for a certain period after surgery may lead to alteration of the central nervous system and decreased smoothness of movement 2,3) . Thus, rehabilitation for the central nervous system has been applied from the early postoperative period. For example, "Graded Motor Imagery" (Step 1: Discrimination between left and right; Step 2: Explicit imagery; Step 3: Mirror therapy) 4,5,6) , which increases the difficulty level of exercise images in successive stages, and "BrainTargeted Treatment" are used 7) . Conversely, it is difficult to quantitatively evaluate the recall ability of motor imagery; for these measurements, subjective evaluations, including the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire and Movement Imagery Questionnaire, are primarily used. In recent years, a mental rotation test (MRT) has been developed to objectively estimate the recall ability of motor imagery from the correct response rate to visual stimuli and reaction time using a personal computer 8) . In the MRT, a photographic image of a rotating limb is used as a visual stimulus, and the individual determines whether it is the left or right limb. In addition to obtaining multiple objective indicators, such as correct answer rate and reaction time, it is convenient to set the task content and the environment and therefore facilitate wide-ranging implementation. For these reasons, MRT is thought to be the most appropriate method for objectively evaluating the recall ability of motor imagery 9,10) . In recent years, studies have shown significant correlations between the reaction time for the MR of the foot stimuli and some postural sway values during unipedal standing 11) . In this study, two reach-to-grasp tasks with different motor imagery recall difficulty levels were set for healthy participants. The relationship between motor imagery ability and static performance has been reported in the past in this way. However, the relationship with dynamic performance in actual motion has not been clarified to date. If the relationship between athletic imagery ability and athletic performance is clarified by this study, it may help to develop a physical therapy program to improve athletic performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the posture control of the reach-to-grasp movement kinetically. Another study aim was to measure the recall ability of motor imagery using MRT and to examine the influence of the differences in recall ability of motor imagery on the reach-to-grasp movement. As a research hypothesis, reach-to-grasp movement requires the brain to predict the shape of the hand according to the movement trajectory and the object in advance 12) . Therefore, it is considered that the exercise performance of the group with low motor imagery ability also decreases in the task with high difficulty. 2. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The participants were 17 healthy young men who were all right-handed (mean age 24.8 ± 5.4 years, average height 171.2 ± 4.8 cm, average body weight 61.3 ± 5.6 kg, upper limb length 72.9 ± 3.3 cm). Only males of the same age were included to eliminate the confounding factor of differences in muscle strength between males and females, as well as age-related variation in strength 13) . Individuals with histories of surgery due to orthopedic disease and those with histories of neurological disorders were excluded. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee and written informed consent was obtained from the participants (authorization number: 15-Ifh-77). The measurement equipment consisted of a 3D motion analysis apparatus (Vicon Motion Systems Corporation, UK) such as a Vicon Vantage camera V5 (4 units), a Vicon Bonita and B10 camera (3 units), and infrared reflective markers with a diameter of 9.5 mm and 6 mm, with a total of 22 units attached to the body of the participant. The markers were positioned at the sides of the acromion, right elbow lateral epicondyle, medial epicondyle, ulnar styloid, radial styloid, second metacarpophalangeal joint, fifth metacarpophalangeal joint, thumb, forefinger, middle finger, ring finger, pinky finger, both the anterior superior iliac spine and upper rear iliac spine, both greater trochanters, both outer knee joints, both sides of the lateral malleolus, both sides of the calcaneus, both the first metatarsophalangeal joints, both the fifth metatarsophalangeal joints, and the object (2 points on the bottom of the PET bottle, 1 point on the lid of the PET bottle). The measurement frequency was set to 100 Hz. In the reach-to-grasp movement task, the measurement challenges consisted of gripping a 500 ml plastic bottle with the right hand and lifting it to shoulder level. The starting position involved sitting on a chair, with both hands placed on a desk. Motor imagery consisted of 2 tasks: an easy task (empty condition) using an empty 500 ml polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle, and a difficult task using a 500 ml bottle containing 1 kg of lead (heavy condition). The participants were informed of the contents of the PET bottles by the examiner. The distance was measured from the starting position until the bottle reached 110% of the upper limb length. The participants were instructed to perform the task as quickly as possible. The tasks were performed 5 consecutive times in both the empty and heavy conditions. After measurement, a model was created using DIFF (Data Interface File Format) provided by the Clinical Gait Analysis Study Group. The "upper arm" was defined as a line connecting the middle point of the shoulder joint center, lateral epicondyle of the right elbow, and the midpoint of the medial epicondyle. The "forearm" was defined as the line connecting the midpoint of the lateral and medial epicondyles of the right elbow joint and the midpoint of the ulnar styloid process and the radial styloid process. The "hand" was defined as the line connecting the midpoints of the ulnar styloid process and radial styloid process, and the midpoint of the second metacarpophalangeal joint and the fifth metacarpophalangeal joint. The relative angle between the upper arm and the forearm was calculated as the elbow joint angle, and the relative angle between the forearm and the hand was calculated as the wrist joint angle. The analysis of measurement data was conducted in 2 phases: reach movement and grasp movement. Reach movement was defined as the start of movement (when the forward speed of the radial styloid process had become 10 mm/s or more) to gripping the PET bottle (when any of the speed of the longitudinal acceleration or lateral acceleration of the tip of the PET bottle had become 10 mm/s or more). Details are shown in Fig. 1. Figure 1. Analysis categories. Lift Grasp Reach movement Start Grasp movement Grasp movement was defined as gripping the bottle until the PET bottle was lifted (when the vertical speed of the PET bottle tip reached 10 mm/s or more). Extraction parameters were as follows: the reach to grasp time (s), reach time (s), grasp time (s), radial styloid process maximum forward speed (mm/s), maximum advance speed appearance time (%), hip flexion angle change (degrees), elbow flexion angle change (degrees), wrist dorsiflexion change (degrees), wrist crook angle change (degrees), preshaping distance (mm), and occurrence time of the preshaping (%). A total of 17 participants were divided equally into the following groups based on their response speed: fast group (6 participants), intermediate group (5 participants), and slow group (6 participants). Of these, the intermediate group data were not used, and the fast and slow groups were compared 14) . In a previous study, analysis of reliable data revealed that the correct answer rate exceeded 80% 15) . In this study, as the rate was greater than 80%, it was determined that the data were reliable for analysis. The MRT used PC-based software (EXPLAB for Windows, ver. 1.3, Yachiyo Shuppan, Japan) and randomly presented 48 photos with the right and left palm surfaces; the back of the hand rotated clockwise by 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The participant was sitting upright on a chair and was instructed to press the keyboard buttons corresponding to the answers (right hand or left hand) as quickly and accurately as possible with the left and right index fingers. Measurement was taken once (16 × 3 trials) after prior practice (16 × 3 trials), and the correct answer rate (%) and reaction time (s) from the presentation of the photos to the responses were calculated. After confirming the normality test of each measurement using the Shapiro-Wilk test, a parametric test is used for the interval scale or proportional scale according to the purpose. For nominal and ordinal scales, the analysis was performed using nonparametric tests. For the kinematic analysis of reach-to-grasp movements, the average of 5 trials for each parameter was calculated and compared the empty and heavy conditions using the Mann-Whitney U test and t test. R2.8.1 (CRAN, freeware) was used for statistical processing, and the significance level was set to 5%. 3. RESULTS In the kinematic analysis of the reach-to-grasp movement, there was no significant difference in the reach time when comparing the movement time of both the empty and heavy conditions. The reach-to-grasp time (p<0.01) and the grasp time (p<0.01) were significantly extended under the heavy condition (Table 1). In terms of the joint angle, the change in the wrist dorsiflexion angle increased significantly under the heavy condition (p<0.05). With respect to motion speed, the appearance time of the maximum motion speed was significantly shortened under the heavy condition (p<0.05). The maximum diameter of the hand was significantly reduced under the heavy condition (p<0.05). The correct answer rate of the participants' MRT was 92.83 ± 4.99%, and the reaction time was 1.056 ± 0.288 s. With regard to the effect of differences in the MRT reaction time on the reach-to-grasp movement, the fast group had significantly shorter reaction and maximum aperture appearance times (p<0.05) under the heavy condition compared to the empty condition. Table 1. Comparison of kinematic analysis between empty and heavy conditions p<0.01, p<0.05. deg, degree; mm, millimeter; s, second; SD, standard deviation. Table 2. Comparison of kinematic analysis between fast group and slow groups p<0.05. deg, degree; mm, millimeter; s, second; SD, standard deviation. 4. DISCUSSION In terms of the operating time, there was no significant difference in the reach time between the empty and heavy conditions. However, the reaching grasp time and the grasp time were significantly extended under the heavy condition. Podda et al. 16) compared the reach-to-grasp movement time for light and heavy objects and reported that the operating time was significantly increased for heavy objects. Burg et al. reported that the motion speed decreased during the first half of the operation when lifting a heavy object and the operation time was extended in the motion analysis of the lifting operation due to the difference in weight 17) . These results suggest that the reach-to-grasp movement and grasp time are significantly prolonged under heavy conditions where it is difficult to predict the weight 18) . Furthermore, in terms of the joint angle, the change in the dorsiflexion angle of the wrist joint increased significantly under heavy conditions in the comparison between the empty and heavy conditions. During the reach-to-grasp movement, the wrist joint is known to be dorsiflexed, and the results of this study were consistent with those of previous studies 19,20) . The length-tension relationship of the external finger flexor muscle is optimized and the grip strength is increased by dorsiflexing the wrist joint 21) . Therefore, it is thought that the change in the dorsiflexion angle of the wrist joint increases significantly under heavy conditions of unknown weight. With respect to the operating speed, the appearance time of the maximum operating speed was significantly shorter under heavy conditions. The trajectory of velocity change during the reach-to-grasp movement has a symmetrical bell shape 22) . The acceleration phase decreases and the rate of the deceleration phase increases in tasks requiring cautiousness, as well as in complex motion tasks 23) . Based on these facts, it is thought that movements are carried out very carefully under heavy conditions when the weight is unknown. In the present study, there was no significant difference in the maximum diameter of preshaping between empty and heavy conditions. During the reach-to-grasp movement, preshaping is performed using the 5 fingers according to the shape of the object and the purpose of the work. The shape of the hand changes depending on the shape and size of the object 24) . In the present study, the size and shape of the object were the same under both conditions. Therefore, it is assumed that there was no significant difference in the maximum diameter of preshaping. By contrast, the appearance time of the maximum caliber of the hand was 84.8% in the empty condition and 72.1% in the heavy condition, therefore significantly shorter in the heavy condition. The maximum value of preshaping has been shown to appear at approximately 70–80% of the exercise time, regardless of the exercise speed 25) . This was consistent with the results of the present study. As the appearance time of preshaping is almost the same as the appearance time of the maximum operating speed, it may be that, in heavy conditions, in addition to the appearance time of the maximum operating speed, the appearance time of preshaping was significantly shorter. Looking at the relationship between reach-to-grasp movement and recall ability of motor imagery in the heavy condition, the grasp time was shorter in the group with the low MRT reaction time. MRT had a high percentage of correct answers, and the shorter the reaction time, the higher the motor imagery ability 8) . It has also been reported that MRT and shoulder muscle strength and range of motion are correlated, and that there is a positive correlation between MRT reaction time and standing posture fluctuation 11,26) . Motor imagery can evaluate sharpness (ability to image clearly) and controllability (ability to freely manipulate and convert the image you imagined), and MRT can evaluate controllability 27) . In the reach-to-grasp movement, when lifting a heavy object, it is necessary to lift the object efficiently and instantaneously by changing the position of the fingertips based on the sensorimotor memory according to the weight of the object 28) . Therefore, in the group with a fast MRT reaction time, it is thought that the fingertip position can be adjusted according to the heavy object based on the past motion memory, thereby improving the efficiency and shortening the grasp time. In a systematic review of post-stroke patients, the relationship among motor imagery ability and the Timed Up and Go test and 10 meter gait speed was determined 29) . In this study, it was again shown that the difference in motor imagery recall ability affected the motor speed. Preshaping means adapting the shape of an object and the shape of the hand according to the work purpose at the stage of a predictive motion program. Pre-shaping enables an object to be gripped properly and lifted efficiently 30,31) . The expression of preshaping is said to be controlled in coordination with the reaching movement and the finger movement based on the perception information about the position, size, shape, and axial direction of the object 32) . Preshaping was quickened because of impaired visual motor conversion in the non-dominant hand after strokes 33) . As a result, preshaping appeared early because of a decrease in the recall ability of motor imagery, and was then adjusted while receiving visual-somatic sensory feedback. Consequently, preshaping appears early and adjusts while receiving visual and somatosensory feedback because the ability to recall motor images is reduced. This study suggests that visual and somatosensory feedback is required, prolonging the movement time. Furthermore, as only the aspects of the reaching movement and the gripping movement were analyzed, it is necessary to analyze other factors, such as the lifting movement, and to examine the mechanism of the upper limb operation in more detail. The clinical significance of this study suggests that motor imagery ability affects postural control. There were limitations of the present study, and future research may be improved by using object-based MRT (3-D object MRT, etc.) which can address the confounding factor of spatial cognition. Funding and Conflict of interest No funding. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Acknowledgement The authors thank all the researchers who conducted trials involved in the study. In addition, we thank Mr. Mizuho Ota, who provided advice on data analysis, and Editage (www.editage.jp) for English language editing. REFERENCES 1) Merdler T, Liebermann DG, Levin MF, et al.: Arm-plane representation of shoulder compensation during pointing movements in patients with stroke. J Electromyogr Kines, 2013, 23: 938–947. 2) Liepert J, Tegenthoff M, Malin JP: Change of cortical motor area size during immobilization. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol, 1995, 97: 382–386. 3) Imai R, Osumi M, Ishigaki T, et al.: Relationship between pain and hesitation during movement initiation after distal radius fracture surgery: A preliminary study. 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Journal Homepage: -www.journalijar.com Article DOI:10.21474/IJAR01/18129 DOI URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/18129 RESEARCH ARTICLE HYDRO-TELLURIC FLUOROSIS IN MOROCCO: TOXICITY, FLUOROPATHY AND CURRENT STATE OF PREVENTIVE ASPECTS Lahkak Fatima Ezzahra 1 , Raggadi Hicham 1 , Mannani Nyssrine 2 , Guennouni Morad 2 and Abdennebi El Hassan 1 1. Hassan II Institute of Agronomy & Veterinary Medicine, Toxicology and Pharmacy Department, Rabat Morocco. 2. Science University, ChouaibDoukkaliUniversity, El Jadida -Morocco. …………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Manuscript Info Abstract ……………………. Manuscript History Received: 06 November 2023 Final Accepted: 10 December 2023 Published: January 2024 Key words:- Fluorine, Hydro-Telluric Fluorosis, Preventive Measures, Morocco ……………………………………………………………… Prolonged exposure to fluorides causes chronic fluoride intoxication in humans and animals, which the main manifestation is, osteodental fluorosis. In Morocco, fluorosis affects a large number of animals, particularly ruminants, and constitutes a serious handicap in contaminated regions, both economically and in terms of health. It is identified by a change in the color, structure and orientation of the teeth, and by a change in the structure and texture of the bones. Regardless of the animal species affected, fluorosis appears after a relatively long period of exposure, from several months to several years, by disorders of phosphocalcic metabolism resulting in osteodental changes associated with various general symptoms. These lesions compromise the grip, chewing and movement of the animals, and thus cause malnutrition, a drop in productivity and sometimes may lead to death. These disturbances have the characteristic of being irreversible, since once installed, no treatment allows to eliminate them in a definitive way, prevention is therefore the only way to alleviate. In order to face this fluoride intoxication, farmers use mainly empirical methods, such as transhumance, the purchase of animals from fluoride free zones or their sale at a young age before the appearance of dental lesions. The reduction of ingestion by using water sources and feed with low fluoride content as well as the supplementation of minerals (Al, Mg, B, Ca) and vitamins (the case of vitamin C) to limit absorption, are also practiced. However, aluminum-based licking salt blocks and supplemented feed enriched with minerals and vitamins are no longer used due to the lack of financial means of some breeders and state financial support. While the preventive effects of calcium, magnesium and boron, have still not been the subject of clinical studies in ruminants. Decidedly, the lack of vulgarization and the socioeconomic level of the population, as well as the lack of financial support, constitute the main obstacles in the ultimate goal of counteracting hydrotelluric fluorosis. Copy Right, IJAR, 2024,. All rights reserved. …………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Address:-Hassan II Institute of Agronomy & Veterinary Medicine, Toxicology and Pharmacy Department, Rabat - Morocco. Introduction:- The chronic hydrotelluric fluorosis commonly called Darmous or Darghmous is a disease due to chronic fluorine intoxication in phosphate mining areas. Like other minerals, fluorine is beneficial in small quantities but toxic in large quantities. As validated by the quotation of Paracelsus 'Nothing is poison, everything is poison, only the dose makes the poison'. Therefore, the excessive consumption of fluorine during a long period causes chronic fluorosis. This pathology is considered as a major toxicological problem in Morocco, it generates important sanitary and economic consequences and which is manifested by functional disorders manifested by functional and lesional disorders affecting mainly the osteo-dental system, and leading to metabolic and cellular disorders. All of these disturbances have repercussions on the animal's performance and its general condition, and therefore on its economic value and its productions. Dental and bone damage leads to difficulties in gripping and moving in the animals and in the later stages death generally occurs due to malnutrition. Economically, the death of animals at a young age, the drop in production and reproduction performance and the difficulties of marketing affected animals constitute a heavy economic burden for the breeders, who find themselves forced to abandon the practice of breeding, knowing that it is a primordial ways of subsistence for the population in these regions. Throughout the world, the phosphate, phosphoric acid, phosphate fertilizer and charcoal burning industries fertilizers and coal combustion are the main source of air pollution by fluorinated derivatives. In this same context, the consumption of water and grass by smoke and dust from the industries producing phosphate fertilizers, leads to the development of chronic fluorosis chronic fluorosis in cattle. This review will cover the various studies on its epidemiology, socio-economic impact of CE carried out in Morocco, as well as the main constraints hindering formulation of suitable control strategies. Materials and Methods:- The present study was conducted based on a synthesis of the available literature on animal fluorosis in Morocco. To do so, for animal data, we consulted the database of the Agricultural Documentation Center of the Agronomy and veterinary Hassan II Institute, which contains all the veterinary thesis. International databases as Google Scholar and PubMed were also consulted for studies carried out in fluorosis in Morocco, in both English and French languages. The English keywords used were :Fluorine, hydro-telluric fluorosis, preventive measures, Morocco. The French keywords were Fluor, fluorose hydro-tellurique, moyens de prévention, Maroc. The data obtained were compiled in excel tables with their corresponding authors and dates of publication. The analysis of the results obtained from this database were processed and used. Results and Discussion:- Bioaccumulation and toxicity Fluoraemia is considered to be an indicator of the fluoride content of the diet, reflecting the levels of fluoride absorption (Crombet, 1980; Caldera et al., 1988). In normal cases, blood fluoride levels are less than 0.3 ppm, whereas they can reach 1.9 ppm in cases of fluorosis. The lethal dose of fluoride has been set at 15 ppm (the literature reports lethal doses of between 7 and 16 mg/kg body weight (Martinez-Mier, 2011). Levels in the environment: Water According to a study carried out in Morocco in 2014, which involved thirty wells spread over 19 towns. The values found vary from 0.42 to 8.95 ppm (El Jaoudi, et al., 2014). Soil In Morocco, the soil in Darmous areas contains very high quantities of fluorine compared with those in unaffected areas (Amouzigh, 1982, cited by El Alaoui Ismaili, 2015). Values were reported by Abdennebi (1982) of the order of 1652 ± 961.5 ppm in Khouribga and 1562 ± 849 ppm in Settat. Hichami (1996) reported levels of the order of 950 ppm in the El Borouj region, whereas in non-phosphate areas, this value does not exceed 500 ppm. Acute toxicity Acute fluoride toxicity in animals is rare and is caused by accidental ingestion of fluorine-containing insecticides or other chemicals such as sodium fluoride, sodium fluorosilicate and hydrofluoric or fluorosilicic acid (Zuo et al., 2018). The LD50 of fluorine in rats is 50 ppm (CNESST, 2018). An experimental study conducted by Kessabi et al. in 1985, in which 4 batches of sheep were given a single intragastric dose of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2 ppm of fluorine respectively, revealed renal, hepatic, enteric and metabolic effects. Chronic toxicity Ingestion of repeated small doses of fluoride causes what is defined as chronic fluoride poisoning over the long term, and while osteodental fluorosis is what we most often hear about, there are many other manifestations of chronic fluoride poisoning of varying degrees of severity, some of which can even be life-threatening. We will only detail the main effects (Singh et al., 2014). Fluoropathies Prolonged exposure to fluorides causes chronic fluoride poisoning in humans and animals, the main manifestation of which is osteodental fluorosis (Ouchtabii, 2010). Fluorosis in Morocco The name given to this disease is Dar-Ghmous or Darmous: a word of Berber origin meaning, "tooth loss". Table 1:- Studies carried out on fluorosis in Morocco. Clinical presentation and lesions Damage to the general condition is due, firstly, to the presence of dental lesions which make it difficult to grasp and chew feed, and secondly, to lameness which prevents the animals from moving. Mortality in affected animals may be due either to food deprivation as a result of their inability to grip feed properly, or to severe lameness or loss of teeth (Swarup et al., 2001). In cases of fluorosis, the cellular structures of the kidney and liver tissues are damaged. Studies have been conducted into the role of oxidative DNA damage, oxidative stress and apoptosis in elucidating the cellular mechanisms caused by fluoride toxicity (Efe et al., 2020). Dental lesions Dental lesions are the first to be noticed when people are exposed to fluoride. They can appear even at relatively low levels of fluoride in the diet (Shupe, 1980; Shupe et al., 1973). When dental lesions, especially those of the molars, become so severe as to affect prehension and mastication, the animals die of starvation or cachexia (Wang et al. 1992 cited by Choubisa, 2018). The bone signs of fluorosis are more serious and disabling than the dental signs, as they compromise the mobility of the affected animal. Affected bones may show exostoses, osteosclerosis, osteoporosis and osteophytosis (Choubisa, 2012). Blood fluoride levels are not a good indicator of fluoride intoxication (Bennis et al., 1993), but they are considered to reflect the fluoride content of the diet, and therefore essentially the absorption of the toxicant (Caldera et al., 1988). Normally, blood fluoride levels in ruminants vary from 0.19 to 0.30 ppm, but can reach 1.9 ppm in experimental fluorosis (Crombet, 1980 cited by Kessabi 1984). Animals with fluorosis show hypocalcaemia and hypomagnesaemia (Belfaqih, 1986). In 1981, Hamliri noted hyperkalaemia, while natraemia showed no significant variations. Diagnosis Epidemiological diagnosis This is a very important diagnostic tool. Fluorosis affects all animal species and humans that live or have lived in phosphate mining regions where the soil and water are rich in fluoride (Zouagui, 1973; Abdennebi, 1982), as well as in areas close to industries releasing excessive levels of fluoride. Epidemiological diagnosis The concept of epidemioclinical diagnosis is based on the detection of symptoms of fluorosis and their association with epidemiological data for the area in which these symptoms have been noted. The observation of dental damage, which is the first sign observed in mammals, with difficulty gripping and weight loss, in an endemic region or near an industrial facility that discharges fluorides, should directly suggest fluorosis (Livesey& Payne, 2011). Laboratory diagnosis This is the definitive diagnosis and involves determining the fluoride content of fodder, water, blood, urine, skeleton and teeth. In healthy animals, blood fluoride levels are 0.045 ppm (or less than 0.10 ppm), while urine fluoride levels are 2.20 ppm. However, in cases of fluorosis, these levels are 1.2 ppm and 60-80 ppm respectively (Swarup et al., 2001). Preventive aspects of fluorosis Although the scientific literature to date indicates that the manifestations of fluorosis are irreversible, it has been observed that the ingestion of calcium, vitamin C or vitamin D effectively protects against fluoride toxicity to a certain extent (Hassani, 2019). History of prevention The various preventive approaches most widely used or studied in Morocco, and the challenges to be met in controlling this hydrotelluric fluorosis, are summarised in the table below. Table 2:- Main stages in the programme to combat fluorosis in Morocco carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Hassan II Institute of Agronomy & Veterinary Medicine. Conclusion:- Hydro-telluric fluorosis is a chronic intoxication by fluorine which is endemic in phosphate-producing areas. It is due to the presence of an excessive quantity of this element in the soil, water and/or plants. Fluorosis affects humans and most animal species, particularly ruminants, and, after a fairly long period of discrete evolution, results in irreversible and incurable osteodental manifestations. In Morocco, transhumance is practised to prevent young animals at the teething stage from being exposed to fluoride, by moving them to fluoride-free areas. However, this practice is becoming less and less common, although it is still the most popular means of combating fluorosis among livestock farmers. Fluorosis can also be prevented by reducing the intake of fluorides, through the use of low-fluoride feed and water. 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Tacoma Permit Advisory Group Hybrid meeting Meeting #47 – July 19th, 2023 2:00pm Advisory Group Members in attendance: Layne Alfonso, Clinton Brink, Michael R. Fast, Ben Ferguson, Justin Goroch, Robert Laing, Mandy McGill, Claude Remy, John Wolters Excused: Jim Dugan, Ken Miller Absent: Jason Gano 2:01 PM Welcome 2:02 PM Approval of Minutes Meeting #46 on June 21st, 2023 Mandy McGill moved. Robert Laing seconded. Unanimous, no further discussion or objection. Ben Ferguson abstains vote as he was not present for meeting #46. Motion approved. 2:03 PM Public Comment No comments were provided by the public at this time. 2:04 PM Quick updates: City staff new items of interest * Administrative updates: Planning and Development Services(PDS) lost three inspectors and one engineer due to separation or retirement. Three new inspectors have been hired and a posting for two engineer jobs are open. The city was able to backfill quickly and is hoping there will not be a lot of delay in review of permits. 2:06 PM * Recruitment: Currently there are two applicants for the Tacoma Permit Advisory Group(TPAG). At the next leadership meeting on August 2 nd , the leadership group will review applications and then move forward with interviews. Please encourage any possible applicants to apply soon as the tentative plan is to hold interviews on August 23 rd . * Urban Design Update: Urban Design Senior Planners Carl Metz and Stephen Antupit are going to the planning commission tonight with a package to establish the development of permit procedures, design guidelines, new and revised design standards, and municipal code amendments. This will be an early review by the planning commission and authorization for public review and a hearing next month if everything goes well. There is ample time for TPAG to have feedback and recommendations. TPAG members Ben Ferguson and John Wolters have been part of the Urban Design project discussion for one and a half years. There has also been good guidance from the state legislator session. Clinton Brink clarifies that this is in neighborhood centers not in mixed-use and middle housing centers that Home In Tacoma (HIT) is focused on? Carl Metz agrees with Clinton's statement that the areas where this review would be required are not those subject to the changes being made with the Home in Tacoma project. John Wolters asks about timeframes. Carl Metz explains that it depends on when they can get onto the council calendar. Ideally design standards and codes, if the code changes, will be a sooner effective date as the standards would change with zoning categorization. Code changes will go into next year. Then it is expected another 6 months after the code change will be when training is taking place. Ben Ferguson asks with this proposed urban design review when someone follows the guidelines then it would only require an administrative review. Carl Metz answers yes,if the developer follows the guidelines. If it is a large project, you must go through the urban design review. Stephen Antupit explains there is a departure path option if there is variance. With this, there is just an approval process (in most jurisdictions you design and then go in front of a full review) including a checklist and then approval. He clarifies this is an urban design review, not an architectural review. John Wolters asks for more detail on the seven board positions and specifically the three that call out advocates. Who are the advocates? Stephen Antupit clarifies that the board is made up of design and development professionals and then the three advocates are allied community representatives. Specifically meaning people who work in related communications around urban designs and who are familiar with urban design professionals. Carl Metz explains there will be guidelines on what advocates can count as for these three professionals. John Wolters feels those terms are loose and that has been a concern in other jurisdictions. John emphasizes making sure these three positions are evaluated closely. Stephen Antupit adds that it is going to be a challenge to get a committed and professional board but that is the plan. 2:19 PM Housing Bill Update City Staff Sonja Hallum, Chief Government Affairs Officer gives a brief overview of housing bills. * ESHB 1042 concerns the use of existing buildings for residential purposes. It requires cities to allow the addition of housing units within existing buildings in zones where multi-family housing is permitted. Cities are not allowed to impose additional parking, design standard, or architectural requirements beyond those requirements applicable to all residential development within the building's zone. The bill provides an exception for buildings listed on a local, state, or national historic register. It is effective 7/23/23. * E2SHB 1110 is the most significant of the housing bills passed this session in terms of the overall impact on housing regulations across the state. The bill prohibits cities from implementing zoning regulations that are less than the minimum density requirements established in the bill and adds some additional limitations such as around parking requirements. The bill has some impacts on Home in Tacoma, but overall there are fewer impacts to Tacoma than many jurisdictions due to the work the City has done on Home in Tacoma. The primary differences are with increased density for low-scale 1 and 2. The bill is effective 7/23/23. Cities must comply within six months after its next periodic comprehensive review. o Clinton Brink comments on HB 1110. They are offering a housing bonus tied into the transit system; does the City of Tacoma have a definition of the "major transit stops" that count towards this bonus? Sonja Hallum replies that there can be different transit requirements around diverse types of transits, and this will be evaluated during the code changes. Clinton Brink asks if this would include HOV lanes. Sonja Hallum responds that there is no clarity on that level of detail so that question will be answered at the time of code development. o Ben Ferguson comments on HB 1110. Will this bill allow for unit lot splitting and subdivision? Sonja Hallum explains that lot splitting is not included in this bill. Clinton Brink explains he has talked to Elliott Barnett in relation to HIT. Ben Ferguson asks for clarification from city staff on lot splitting policies and then TPAG may need to get involved. Justin Goroch asks for a formal response from the city "What is the status of unit lot subdivision within HIT." Corey Newton will have someone come next month to go over this as it has been a topic at the leadership level as well. * E2SHB 1181: This is a Governor request bill that amends the GMA to add a goal of climate change and resiliency to the list of elements required in comprehensive plans. It requires jurisdictions to identify actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled. Jurisdictions are required to review their comprehensive plans by June 30, 2025, and must implement the bill's requirements. * ESHB 1293 This is the primary bill dealing with design review that passed this session. It requires cities to apply only clear and objective design review standards to the exterior of new development, except for designated landmarks or historical districts. The bill is effective 7/23/2023. * EHB 1337 is one of the other bills that impact Home in Tacoma (HIT). It imposes numerous restrictions on the requirements a city or county may impose on ADUs. For HIT the primary difference is around height: Under HIT, the current height is 20 feet, and under the city or county may not establish a roof height limit that is less than 24 feet. The bill is effective 7/23/23. * SSB 5491 started out with a more expansive version that allowed counties and cities to adopt amendments to the State Building Code to allow for multifamily residential buildings to be served by a single-stair exit under certain conditions. The bill was turned into an advisory group to develop recommendations. o Ben Ferguson comments on SB 5491 regarding single stair access for 5 floor developments. Sonja Hallum explains that that is a work group that is going to discuss and then provide recommendations to the legislators. They will decide what and if anything gets changed. Ben Ferguson asks if this is just for Seattle's bill or if will it be opened to their jurisdictions as well? Sonja Hallum comments with the initial pushback from officials they are expecting a lot of resistance so it is unsure what changes will be decided on for our jurisdictions. o Justin Goroch inquires if this can be carved off as a fee simple unit or a condo? Ben Ferguson replies that this can already be done with condos today but fee simple would make it more cost-effective if the focus is going with the route of affordability. John Wolters adds that he has seen this applied in other jurisdictions but not in Tacoma. Ben Ferguson explains that the idea with subdivision is to have a parent lot and then children lots, so it is one parcel with different owners on it. Claude Remy concurs with Ben Ferguson that ADU as a condo is accurate. If the ADU is detached they can do an airspace condo action through the state, not the city. Must be detached. o John Wolters comments on SB 5491 asking what groups are opposing it? Is it an ADU bill? ULS conversation? o Chris Seaman answers John Wolter's previous question. WABO, WA fire marshals, and building officials were opposed to this bill. Ben Ferguson asks for more clarification and an example as to why they would be opposed. Chris Seaman explains that a single exit can lead to dire consequences and fatalities and gives Grenfell Tower Fire as an example of how bad this can end up. He feels the savings in cost does not outweigh the safety. Taking a single exit for up to three stories and proposing 5 stories with single stairs exit without any established analysis as to why it was equivalent or safe. There are issues from a professional standpoint, and it is believed that legislators should not write a technical code- just a framework, not the code itself. John Wolters appreciates the summary. He inquires if there is data from updated sprinklers and smoke control systems to help analyze this proposal. Chris Seaman reiterates there is currently no engineering analysis data showing this is successful. o Sonja Hallum closes out the conversation by explaining there will be a technical drafting of what SB 5491 did and did not include. Technical analysis. There will be a technical advisory group discussion. 2:50 PM Subcommittee reports * Outreach & recruitment – Jim Dugan o Corey Newton updates on Jim's behalf. There are currently two applications for affordable housing and looking to have recommendations for specifically for healthcare and other open positions. Mandy McGill has a recommendation and will pass the information to liaison Char Carlyle to relay to Chair Jim Dugan. o Jim Dugan not in attendance today. * Design review – Ben Ferguson * Housing Bills - Ben Ferguson o No update beyond earlier discussion. o No update and asks to remove from subcommittee report updates. o Ben Ferguson explains that public outreach is finalized. * Home in Tacoma – Ben Ferguson & Claude Remy o Justin asks when policies will start to be shown to people. His concern is that policies too formed before they go out to the public are harder to give recommendations on. * Impact Fees – Mandy McGill o Claude Remy adds that he is currently working on a cottage project that mirrors a lot of what HIT directs. He plans to watch how it goes and then see what the public response is. o Mandy asks if PW Transportation Planning & Permitting staff Jennifer Kammerzell is still the correct contact? Christopher Johnson confirms that is correct. Mandy has the capacity in her schedule to continue this subcommittee and will reach out for an update. o Justin Goroch feels this topic is the most ready to discuss from the list of future agenda topics. The subcommittee has met with city staff Christopher Johnson and Steve Victor, so it is ready to move forward on putting together a recommendation. This will allow TPAG to quickly move forward with other discussions. Justin brings to the members moving this topic to the top of the priority list. None opposed. Motion approved. * Sidewalk Policies & Recommendations – Justin Goroch and the committee 2:57 PM Home In Tacoma City employee Alyssa Torrez, senior planner shares an update on Home In Tacoma (HIT) and is available to answer questions from TPAG. She explains that the communication efforts with the public have ended with the last outreach open house taking place on June 26th, 2023. Currently, the HIT team is putting FAQs together and starting to write the code. The policy package will include a landscaping code. Code is being worked on by internal city staff and a consultant team. She explains that the landscaping code was last updated in 2014-2015 so it is time to revisit and improve the code. There is a city-wide effort to increase urban forestry and tree canopy. To reiterate last month's meeting the goal is trees and housing, not trees OR housing. HIT's goal is to make the code flexible so that developers and homeowners can easily implement it into their projects. HIT wants to make sure clients know what the expectations are. Alyssa Torrez shares a calendar for the expected timing moving forward. * August- 40% draft landscaping code * October- Planning Commission sets a public hearing date, DEIS release around the same time. * September- Final 95% draft of standards and landscaping code Cities that HIT consultants are comparing include: * Eugene * Burien * Kirkland * Lakewood * Tacoma * Seattle * Federal Way and Bonney Lake were also shared with consultants after TPAG's recommendations. These cities all provide examples of middle housing and trees so we can compare and include best practices. Not all examples are good and not all are bad. Alyssa Torrez asks the group if they would like to be included when the process is at 40% draft completion or 95%. She opens to the group for questions and comments. Ben Ferguson asks if this is this limited to the R zones? He comments if the point is to have more housing—then there will not be space for trees and housing. TPAG would love to see drafts at 40% and it would be beneficial to start with an email to the group to see If the group has any specific concerns prior to bringing it on as an agenda item. Ben Ferguson asks why those specific cities were picked to compare to? Alyssa Torrez responds that the list was accumulated by the consultant and internal staff members. Mike Carey, Urban Forestry's Principal Natural Resources Analyst, explains that they presented to Master Builders last week and it was brought up that Lakewood was not a good example, and the city has asked for feedback on exactly what was not good. Ben Ferguson questions are these policies tied to Urban Forestry? Mike Carey adds that they are working with the consultants. They did a benchmark analysis regarding tree codes, what matched and what did not match, and middle housing standard examples are what created the list. Consultants want to compare to other jurisdictions to provide the city with examples and details on good codes and bad codes. Mike Carey explains that the intent is not to manage species it is the overall picture - stormwater, cleaning the air, shade, etc. It is important because the city of Tacoma is last on the scale of tree canopy in relation to other jurisdictions. Seattle is way denser than Tacoma however they have higher tree canopy. We are looking at tree standards on private developments so we can have trees in the future. Justin Goroch asks if TPAG members have comments on the list of provided cities the consultants are comparing to. No comments were provided by members. Justin requests any comments be sent to Liaison Char Carlyle at email@example.com and it will get routed to the HIT team. Mike Carey states he would love feedback on what jurisdictions TPAG feels have good examples. Clinton Brink explains that the statement implies there is a good way to have tree retention which he feels does not make sense when trying to increase density. There should be room for new planting not just tree retention. Justin Goroch adds that he has had experience in Bellevue with successful tree retention. Developed sites that are getting redeveloped and have altered landscaping retentions to allow for replacement at a higher percentage. He feels it cannot just be retention there must be room for replacement as well or the retention of trees is going to be problematic. Ben Ferguson explains that each property differs, and it is important to pay attention to what is practical for the land and environment. For example, if you are putting trees on a property with a single-story development there is room and that works. However, with 2-3 story buildings the tree is going to get buried so it won't survive so that is not practical for the city to require. Mike Fast adds that in Lakewood they are required to preserve Garry oak trees. They are always in the wrong spot and unable to build around, but they cannot remove them. You will be taking large areas and making them unbuildable land. Mike Carey replies that the preservation of Garry oak is regulated by the state. There are fish and wildlife and endangered species that rely on this tree. John Wolters asks if the new tree standards are for new development only. Or will redevelopment be included as well? From the HIT survey, it seems that trees are important to Tacoma. Alyssa Torrez reiterates that HIT is not going to solve the entire problem of tree canopy however it is going to help contribute to the goal. Mike Carey explains there are current homeowner incentive programs to give away street trees, coupons for subsidized trees, and the Pierce Conservation District offers discounts for trees. He feels there are tons of opportunities provided to contribute to the goal. Alyssa Torrez adds that, at HIT public engagement, the public is consistently asking about trees and preserving trees in Tacoma. A main public concern is regarding infill with the increase of density. John Wolters feels that if this is applied to HIT new development then setbacks would need to be removed to allow the available land. If the setbacks go away, then there is a problem. Clinton Brink asked if it has been discussed to allow putting the trees on another lot when it is necessary to remove trees for the development. Mike Carey adds that there has been discussion of a potential fee-in-lieu option. However, the existing benefit of a mature tree (urban tree – 7 years) is way more beneficial than newly planted trees. There would be a need to make sure that there is financed care to continue maintenance of the plant. Also, the amount of land that the city owns is significantly limited so with a fee in lieu there is not enough capacity to plant trees so ultimately the money would not go towards the tree canopy goal. Clinton Brink agrees that there is not much vacant land left so to make the most of it is to provide density growth in the city. Mike Fast adds that with tree preservation you cannot remove the tree but if there can be work arounds provided that match the same value that would help. Clinton Brink pleads for the city to please find a way. Division Manager Jim Parvey with Environmental Policy and Sustainability explains that we do have city goal to add 30% canopy as Tacoma is currently only at 20% existing tree canopy now. It is understood there are competing needs for land. The fact is we do not have enough city land, so we must be creative. One goal is not more important than the other. We need the fixability to achieve both. Mike Fast asked what was included in the city-owned land assessment. He questions if Metro Parks were included or not. Alyssa Torrez answers that they are doing a strategic planning process now. Alyssa Torrez follows up from a previous meeting by confirming that the consultant team does have landscape architects and in planning commission as well. 3:33 PM Future Agenda Topics (Prioritized List) * Sidewalk Policies & Recommendations Subcommittee * TPAG Mission Statement * Process alignment: Commercial vs. Residential permits requirements * Housing Bill Update- Tacoma impacts * Pedestrian/Emergency Access DADU's * E-permits * Long Range Planning – update from city staff * Solid Waste Collection & Development Projects * Capital Bond Projects * Urban Forestry team for a presentation 3:33 Adjourn
Section 2 INTRODUCTION TO TACTICS I Key Points 1 The Elements of a Fire Team 2 The Elements of a Rifle Squad Soldiers with sharply honed skills form the building blocks of combat effective squads and platoons. They must maintain a high state of physical fitness. They must be experts in the use of their primary weapons. They must be proficient in infantry skills (land navigation, camouflage, individual movement techniques, survival techniques, and so forth). Finally, they must know and practice their roles as members of fire teams, squads, and platoons. Introduction The Army's smallest maneuver element controlled by a leader is the fire team. The fire team is the building block for all Army tactical operations. Fire teams make up squads; squads make up platoons. Army lieutenants lead platoons as part of an infantry rifle company. This section explains the elements, weapons, roles, and responsibilities of the fire team and rifle squad. Success in tactical operations depends on Soldiers at all levels understanding their tactical mission and the steps necessary to accomplish it. SGT Tommy Rieman led his rifle squad in a firefight in Iraq in 2003. These Soldiers faced enormous odds—and won. Beating 10:1 Odds, Soldier Earns Silver Star August 26, 2004—In a fight, two against one is bad odds. Ten against one is a recipe for disaster. Yet those were the odds SGT Tommy Rieman and his squad faced and beat when they were ambushed by more than 50 anti-American insurgents in Iraq last December. Rieman, 24, a team leader in Company B, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his heroic actions [that] December day during a ceremony at Devil Brigade Field August 6. He was also awarded the Army Commendation Medal with a "V" device for valor for a separate reconnaissance mission that took place in March 2003. Rieman was in charge during the patrol that garnered him the Silver Star because he had scouted the area before and knew the terrain. His eight-man patrol was in three light-skinned Humvees with no doors when the first rocketpropelled grenade hit. "The thing I remember most was the sound of the explosion. It was so loud," said Rieman. They were hit by three RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] and a barrage of small arms fire coming from 10 dug-in enemy fighting positions. Staying in the kill zone meant certain death, so the vehicles never stopped moving. Rieman knew he had to return fire. Bullets whizzed after them as the vehicles sped away from the ambush and the Soldiers found themselves caught in another ambush. There were maybe 50 enemy attackers blasting away at him with small arms fire from a grove of palm trees nearby. Injuries to his men were beginning to pile up. Out of [Rieman's] squad, SGT Bruce Robinson had lost his right leg in the RPG attack and SPC Robert Macallister had been shot in the buttocks. Rieman himself had been shot in the right arm and chest, and had shrapnel wounds to his chest, stomach, and ear. Worst of all, they were almost out of ammo. He began firing away with his M203 grenade launcher, raining round after round down on the attackers. After being battered by 15 of Rieman's 40mm grenades, the enemy's guns were silent. fire team an infantry element of four Soldiers: a fire team leader, an automatic rifleman, a grenadier, and a rifleman squad a nine-Soldier infantry unit made up of the squad leader and two fire teams platoon an infantry unit led by a lieutenant consisting of three rifle squads and a headquarters element If the platoon does not have enough sergeants to fill all the platoon's team leader positions, the most experienced specialist with the best leadership qualities will be promoted to the leadership rank of corporal and will lead a fire team. The corporal remains at the pay grade of a specialist (E-4), but has the additional leadership responsibilities of a sergeant. The corporal will remain the fire team leader until promotion to sergeant, or until the platoon receives a new sergeant. The Elements of a Fire Team SGT Rieman led an infantry rifle squad of eight other Soldiers. That nine-Soldier squad fought as two four-Soldier fire teams, plus the squad leader, SGT Rieman. A squad's fire teams are referred to as the Alpha Team and Bravo Team. Each fire team has four Soldiers—a fire team leader, a rifleman, an automatic rifleman, and a grenadier. The team members'rank and experience will range from a private (E-1) straight out of Initial Entry Training (IET) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) to a specialist (E-4) who may have anywhere from one to four years of experience. The team leader is generally a sergeant (E-5) with three to five years of experience. The team members'positions (rifleman, automatic rifleman, and grenadier) are based on their assigned weapons (rifle, squad automatic weapon [SAW], and M203 grenade launcher). The platoon leader and platoon sergeant consider each Soldier's experience, skill with the weapon, and longevity in the unit before assigning the Soldier a position on the fire team. The rifleman, team leader, and squad leader carry rifles from the M16/M4 family of weapons, based on the table of organization and equipment (TO&E) for various units. Rifleman The rifleman carries an M16/M4 rifle, a night-vision device, and an infrared (IR) aiming device. Riflemen carry close-combat optic devices and reflexive fire optics. Their role is to engage targets within the range and capability of their weapon. They may also serve as pace man, compass man, near- or far-side security, en route recorder, or ammo bearer. The M4 Carbine is the fourth generation of the Army's M16 rifle, which was introduced during the Vietnam War. It fires a 5.56 mm round. The M4 has been a part of the Army inventory since 1997. It uses a 30-round magazine and offers the rifleman two firing modes: semiautomatic (a single shot every time the rifleman pulls the trigger) and three-round burst (three shots every time the rifleman pulls the trigger). It has a shorter barrel than Figure 2.1 Fire Team Figure 2.2 M4/M4A1 Carbine Figure 2.4 Mounting the M68 Close Combat Optic to the M16A1/A2/A3 Figure 2.5 M68 Close Combat Optic Mounted on M16A4/M4-Series Weapons Thermal Weapons Sight for M16A1/A2/A3 the M16 and a collapsible stock, making it lighter and easier for Soldiers to use in close quarters, such as inside a building or in an urban area. Its enhanced upper rail allows Soldiers to mount various day and night sighting devices to improve their effectiveness. The M4 weighs about seven and a half pounds. A bayonet can be attached for handto-hand fighting. It can reach out—accurately—to 600 meters—or more than a quartermile away. Automatic Rifleman The automatic rifleman carries an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), a night-vision device, and an IR aiming device. The automatic rifleman's role is to use his or her weapon to maximum effect. The M249 Squad Automatic Weapon delivers accurate, lethal, and direct automatic fire. Like the M4, it fires a 5.56 mm round. It has been part of the Army inventory since 1987. Characteristics of the M16-/M4-Series Weapons TA B L E 2 . 1 \| 6.35 6.75 7.06 1.50 0.30 0.40 \| 7.78 8.48 8.79 1.50 0.30 0.40 \| 9.08 9.78 10.09 1.50 0.30 0.40 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 44.25 30.00 N/A N/A \| 44.88 39.63 N/A N/A \| 44.88 39.63 N/A N/A \| \| 12 3,250 700-800 \| 7 3,100 700-900 \| 7 3,100 800 \| \| 45-65 N/A 150-200 12-15 \| 45 90 150-200 A3 12-15 \| 45 90 N/A 12-15 \| M249 Squad Automatic Weapon M4 Carbine With M203A1 Grenade Launcher The M249 SAW uses 30-round M4 magazines or 200-round preloaded plastic magazines. It weighs a little more than 16 pounds, or twice the weight of an M4. The M249 has a maximum effective range of 1,000 meters—a full kilometer or more than half a mile away. Grenadier The grenadier carries an M203A1 grenade launcher attached to an M4. It adds about 11 pounds to the weight of the M4. The grenadier carries the same equipment as the others in the squad. The M203A1 grenade launcher fires out 40 mm grenade rounds. It can fire highexplosive (HE) rounds, tear gas (CN/CS/OC) rounds, smoke rounds, nonlethal projectiles, signal rounds, and practice rounds. The maximum effective range for the M203A1 is 350 meters—or three-and-a-half football fields. Fire Team Leader The fire team leader carries an M4 and leads by example. The leader moves the fire team and controls the rate and placement of its fire. Fire team leaders keep track of their teams and their teams'equipment. They make sure their teams meet unit standards and help their squad leaders as necessary. Buddy Teams Fire teams are divided into two-Soldier buddy teams. Buddy team members support and watch out for each other during combat or other operations. FM 7-8 states that the leader and the automatic rifleman form one buddy team and the grenadier and rifleman form the other, but this is not always the case. Based on unit standing operating procedures (SOPs) and depending on the mission, many units may place the grenadier with the team CS stands for 0-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, which is a white solid powder usually mixed with a dispersal agent, like methylene chloride, that carries the particles through the air. General Data for M249 Squad Automatic Weapon TA B L E 2 . 2 TA B L E 2 . 3 Technical Data for the M203/M203A1 Grenade Launcher leader so that the team leader can direct the grenadier to mark targets. Because the M203 can mark targets, some units assign M203s to squad leaders so that they can mark targets for the squad. Why These Weapons? At this point, you may be wondering why rifle team members carry different weapons. Why not have everyone carry a grenade launcher, for example? There are several reasons. The fire team must be able to engage and destroy the many different types of targets they are likely to meet on the battlefield. The different weapons the members carry give the team a balance of firepower, simplify the logistics of supplying ammunition, and vary the load each Soldier has to carry. The heavier the weapon, the less other gear or ammunition a Soldier can bear and the less he or she can maneuver. Critical Thinking Considering the characteristics, capabilities, and versatility of the fire team's weapons, what factors must the squad leader or fire team leader take into consideration when deciding which team member to assign to each weapon? The team uses its M16/M4s to engage individual enemy fighters, especially at close quarters, while the M249 is used to engage a concentration of troops or targets covering a larger area with heavy, continuous fire. Once you compare the maximum rates of fire, the sustained rates of fire, and the maximum range of the rifle and automatic rifle, you can easily understand the value of an automatic rifle on the fire team. The M249's rate of fire and range allow the gunner to cover fire team members when they are maneuvering on the offensive. It is also the backbone of the team's defense when attacked—leaders position the SAW to protect a unit's front, flanks, and rear. In the defense, leaders assign the M249 a final protective line to defeat the enemy's attempts to overrun their defensive position. The automatic rifleman has increased lethality (deadliness) and range over the rifleman, but because of the M249's high rate of fire, the automatic rifleman must also carry more ammunition than the rifleman does. The M203 grenade launcher is the most versatile of the fire team's weapons. The primary advantage the M203 has over the rifle and automatic rifle is that it provides the fire team with indirect fire capabilities; that is, the grenadier can engage targets that he or she cannot see along a direct line of sight. Because the M203 round travels at a high trajectory, or arch, the rounds can reach enemy soldiers in "dead space" (gullies, ditches, trenches, or other fighting positions), or it can reach enemy fighters taking cover in bunkers or in buildings. When shooting the high-explosive (HE) round, the grenadier is essentially sending out to 350 meters an exploding round with the lethality of a hand grenade—but at a distance far greater than any Soldier can throw a hand grenade. The dual purpose HE round can penetrate up to two inches of light armor, and therefore can destroy trucks and other lightly armored vehicles. During night operations, the grenadier can illuminate the enemy with the star parachute round, allowing other fire team members to see and engage the enemy. The grenadier can show the team members where the enemy is located by using the marking round. The marking round can also be used to indicate landing zones for helicopters or targets for close air support aircraft to attack. The grenadier can also use the star cluster I love the infantry because they are the underdogs. They are the mud-rain-frost-and-wind boys. They have no comforts, and they even learn to live without the necessities. And in the end they are the guys that wars can't be won without. Ernie Pyle, World War II correspondent as a prearranged signal to begin a certain tactical action. In urban environments, the grenadier can use tactical CS to flush the enemy out of hiding, or the grenadier can use the buckshot round when entering or clearing rooms or buildings. As you can see, the various ammunition available for the M203 gives the small fire team a lot of varied firepower and capability that a rifle and an automatic rifle can't provide. The grenadier must also carry a heavier load, however, due to the weight of each round. The Elements of a Rifle Squad Two fire teams and a squad leader make up the squad. The rifle squad leader is generally a staff sergeant (E-6) with six to eight years of experience, who came up from the ranks and started as a fire-team rifleman. The squad leader is responsible for everything the squad does—or fails to do. He or she is a tactical leader and leads by example. Among other things, the squad leader: * Maneuvers the squad and controls the rate and distribution of its fire * Trains the squad members in their individual and collective tasks * Manages the squad's needs, requesting and issuing ammunition, water, rations, and equipment * Keeps track of the squad's Soldiers and their equipment * Inspects the squad's weapons, clothing, and equipment and directs their maintenance. Figure 2.10 Squad Most of the maneuver and firepower of a rifle platoon derives from the platoon's three rifle squads. Later you will learn more about the infantry rifle platoon and the composition, duties, and responsibilities of the platoon's headquarters element. Together, the rifle squads and headquarters element make up the rifle platoon an Army lieutenant leads. Soon you will study the many types of missions the infantry fire team and squad may be called upon to complete as part of the infantry rifle platoon. Critical Thinking How do experience and time in service enhance the rifle squad leader's leadership? The noncommissioned officer (NCO) corps is called "the backbone of the Army." Why do you think that is? What can a second lieutenant expect to learn from his or her NCOs? Critical Thinking Why do all commissioned officers, regardless of branch, need to know infantry tactics? CONCLUSION The infantry is often described as "the tip of the spear." The four Soldiers in a fire team and the nine Soldiers in a rifle squad represent the sharpened tip of that spear. Success in a mission depends on all Soldiers in the fire team and squad understanding the unit's mission—its task and purpose—and how each Soldier's assigned weapon and each Soldier's role and responsibility relate to mission success. Fire teams and squads led by the Army lieutenant form the Army's basic maneuver element—the infantry rifle platoon—the foundation on which all tactical operations rest. Now that you understand the composition and leadership of the fire team and squad, in the next lesson you'll learn how individuals and fire teams move on the battlefield. Learning Assessment 1. Name the duty positions that make up a fire team. 2. Identify the weapons that each member of the fire team carries. 3. Name four responsibilities of the rifle squad leader. 4. Describe the primary purpose of each weapon in the fire team. Key Words fire team squad platoon References Field Manual 3-21.8, The Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad. 28 March 2007. Field Manual 3-22.9, Rifle Marksmanship. Change 3. 28 April 2005. Field Manual 3-22.31, 40 mm Grenade Launcher, M203. 13 February 2003. Field Manual 3-22.68,Crew Served Machine Guns, 5.56 and 7.62 mm. 31 January 2003. Tobin, J., ed. (1987). Ernie Pyle's War: America's Eyewitness to World War II. New York: Simon and Schuster. . US Army. (26 August 2004). Beating 10:1 odds, Soldier earns Silver Star. Soldier Stories Retrieved 15 July 2005 from http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/soldierstories/story.php?story_id_key=6307
COASTAL CAROLINA UNIVERSITY ALCOHOL AND DRUG POLICY I. Introduction Coastal Carolina University recognizes its responsibility for understanding how alcohol and other drug problems can present grave consequences to individuals and society. The University recognizes that substance use and abuse can adversely impact its greatest concerns: academic performance, student development and safety, and employee job performance. This policy describes the boundaries regarding the possession, sale and consumption of alcohol by students, faculty, and staff on the Coastal campus and in or at any Coastal owned or managed facility, or at any Coastal Carolina University hosted, sponsored or registered event, either on or off campus. Parameters for alcohol and drug use are regulated by the University consistent with state, local, and federal laws, including the Drug-Free Workplace laws. A. Philosophy The University's commitment is that every student be provided the best possible opportunity to achieve academic excellence, that each student has a campus environment in which to develop and mature, and that the safety of students, faculty, and staff be promoted. Coastal Carolina University is concerned with the welfare of the entire campus community. This policy, and the substance abuse programming for the entire campus which accompanies it, emphasizes that abstinence is a choice, that appropriate and legal use of alcohol is an option, but that alcohol and drug abuse are not options. Coastal Carolina University seeks to promote a safe and healthy environment free from the abuse of harmful substances; it seeks to maximize the potential of each campus community member to contribute to society and to achieve his or her full potential, while encouraging individual responsibility. In summary, the purpose of this policy is to accomplish the following: 1. To promote a healthy and safe environment for students, faculty, and staff. 2. To maximize the opportunity for academic excellence and student development. 3. To define expectations regarding the appropriate use of alcohol at recognized Coastal events. 4. To discourage the illegal use of alcohol and other drugs and to identify appropriate disciplinary procedures for those who engage in such illegal activities. 5. To demonstrate the commitment of Coastal Carolina University to provide education and prevention services designed to prevent alcohol and other drug abuse. 6. To demonstrate the commitment of Coastal Carolina University to provide early intervention and referral services in connection with alcohol and drug abuse. 7. To encourage those who have an alcohol or other drug problem to seek treatment and support services. B. Programs and Services: Education, Prevention, Intervention and Treatment Coastal Carolina University recognizes its responsibility to educate the campus community about alcohol and drug abuse problems as well as lowrisk legal alcohol use. This education takes place in formal and informal settings, through prevention and education programs and activities, individually and in groups. Students are encouraged to participate in campus activities, which promote alcohol and drug free experiences. Abstinence from alcohol and other drugs is encouraged and viewed as a legitimate and socially acceptable choice for any member of the campus community. Any student of the campus community has the opportunity to seek help for an alcohol or other drug problem and associated concerns. A diagnostic assessment will be made by either the Director of Counseling or the Alcohol and Drug Services Coordinator. Following initial counseling sessions, referral may be made to another agency, which may provide further treatment. University services available at no cost to the individual may include educational activities, structured groups, counseling, and self-help groups. The cost of off-campus services is the responsibility of the individual, not Coastal Carolina University. Any employee of the University who wishes to seek help for a possible alcohol or drug problem can contact the Office of Human Resources for a referral. C. Office of Alcohol and Drug Prevention The Office of Alcohol and Drug Services is located in the Office of Counseling Services. This office provides general information and referral, if necessary, for any type of alcohol or other drug issue or problems which arise within the campus community involving students. The Office of Alcohol and Drug Services provides services in the following areas: 1. Information on Alcohol and Other Drug Use and Abuse The Office of Alcohol and Drug Services maintains resource materials on alcohol and drug use and abuse, and related issues. Educational videos, books, and pamphlets are available for use, many free to take as needed. A computer is available for student use to access current information on the Web as well as to access Alcohol 101, the interactive computer "virtual party." 2. Educational Services Educational group meetings occur on a regular basis in response to residence hall students and others who are violators of the campus alcohol and drug policies. These group sessions are designed to provide each student an opportunity to examine alcohol use and related behavior, together with corrective action which may be necessary. This group introduces students to available services and information regarding alcohol use and abuse. Other educational services for those who violate our campus Alcohol Policy may include individual assessment and/or the interactive computer program Alcohol 101. Other educational programs may be designed to meet special needs of faculty, staff and students. 3. Prevention Programs Prevention activities are wide-ranging. They may include programs designed on an as-needed basis as well as assistance with event planning by other University services or departments. Student organizations may provide opportunities for alcohol and drug prevention programs through a variety of alternative social events, such as theme parties, movies, etc. Greek organizations will participate in alcohol risk management programs, including TIPS in the University. The Office of Student Activities will designate those students/officers who must successfully complete the recommended educational programs per the Office of Alcohol and Drug Services as well as Greek Life. 4. Assessment, Counseling, and Referral Services Students who are concerned about the use or abuse of alcohol and drugs – either their own or others – may receive assistance from the Alcohol and Drug Services Coordinator or the Director of Counseling, both located in the Office of Counseling Services. Counseling services may include: problem assessment; educational/therapeutic counseling; intervention; or referral to other agencies such as Waccamaw Mental Health, the Horry County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, or private practitioners. All counseling services are provided pursuant to all federal and state laws effecting the transfer of information including, but not limited to, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, the South Carolina Code of Laws, and Federal confidentiality rules. II. Campus Alcohol Policy This policy governs the possession and consumption of alcohol by students, faculty, and staff on the Coastal campus and in or at any Coastal owned or managed facility, or at any Coastal Carolina University hosted or registered event, either on or off campus. Throughout this policy, alcohol is defined to include beer, wine, and distilled spirits. This policy is based on a concern for the welfare of all members of the campus community. As members of the community, students, faculty and staff are expected to comply with and abide by the policies and guidelines as stated below, as well as the laws of the State of South Carolina and the federal government. Coastal Carolina University prohibits the possession of beer or wine by those under the age of 21, as defined in South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 20-7-8920. The University also prohibits the possession of liquor by those under the age of 21, as defined in South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 20-7-8925. This policy prohibits lying or giving false information concerning age in order to purchase beer, wine, or in order to obtain liquor, as defined in the South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 61-4-60, 61-4-80 61-4-90 and 61-4-10. Coastal Carolina University also prohibits giving beer, wine, or liquor to anyone who is under the age of 21 as defined in the South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 61-4-90. Coastal's Department of Public Safety will enforce all other laws governing alcohol use and abuse whenever necessary as defined in the South Carolina Code of Laws. This policy is subject to change to comply with new local, state, or federal laws pertaining to the possession and consumption of alcohol (already defined to include beer, wine, or distilled spirits). A. Alcoholic Beverage Possession and Consumption at Coastal Carolina University Alcohol will not be purchased, sold, served, provided, or present at student social events or student organization hosted events, unless it is properly registered and subject to S.C. State Law, the Coastal Carolina Alcohol and Drug Policy, and all other regulations contained in the Code of Student Conduct and the Student Handbook. B. Permitted Areas Subject to the provisions of Section II.A. above, on-campus consumption of alcohol is permitted in the following areas: 1. Designated facilities of Wheelwright Auditorium, such as the Blue Room. 2. Designated facilities of the Student Center, such as Room 208 and the first floor lobby. 3. Designated areas of the Singleton Building. 4. The Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts atrium and gallery. 5. All private dining rooms on campus. 6. Spadoni Park, for designated events only. 7. Designated areas of the Atheneum Hall. 8. The stadium/field house. 9. Designated areas of the Wall College of Business Building, to include the Board Room and Wall Auditorium Lobby. 10. Inside University Place apartments by residents of legal drinking age. 11. Other areas as designated by the President. C. Prohibited Areas On-campus possession and/or consumption of alcohol by individuals or groups is prohibited at Coastal Carolina University facilities and grounds, including but not limited to: 1. Main campus residence hall facilities owned by Coastal Carolina University, either in a room or apartment of the residence halls, or in public halls or lounge areas of the residence halls; or grounds surrounding residence halls. 2. All academic facilities owned or managed by Coastal Carolina University, either in a faculty or staff member's office or in the halls or classrooms. 3. All other areas not expressly designated in Section B stated above. D. Off-Campus Event Registration Coastal Carolina University neither condones nor recognizes off-campus events of student organizations where alcohol is either served or consumed, unless such events are sponsored by Coastal Productions, the designated student programming board of Coastal Carolina University. Any other student organization that hosts an off-campus event where alcohol is served and consumed shall be deemed to be doing so without the permission of the University. Accordingly, the University shall assume no responsibility for any damages or injuries that might arise as a result of such an event. Student organizations are not authorized to represent the University or to use the Coastal Carolina University name to enter into negotiations for contracts to gain goods or services without prior approval of the Office of Student Activities. Such organizations, its officers, members, and guests assume responsibility for complying with all University policies as well as local, state, and federal laws governing the use of alcoholic beverages. E. Coastal Productions Registered Off-Campus Events Coastal Productions, the designated student programming board of Coastal Carolina University, may host off-campus student events where alcohol is served, pending approval of the Director of Student Activities. When Coastal Productions registers an off-campus student event where alcohol is served, it must follow the procedures outlined below: 1. Coastal Productions must obtain registration approval from the Office of Student Activities before initiating negotiations with the host business establishment. 2. After Coastal Productions staff has made the necessary arrangements, it must obtain the final approval of the Office of Student Activities before monies can be disbursed in payment to the host business. 3. For events where deemed necessary by the Office of Student Activities, Coastal Productions officers are responsible for checking all individuals attending the event to assure they are students, faculty, or staff. Each person is permitted to bring one guest to such an event. 4. Coastal Productions and/or the Office of Student Activities will enter into a contract with the host business establishment to assure compliance with conditions stated hereafter: a. The business establishment hosting the event is responsible for verifying the age of each individual in attendance. Those 21 and older must wear a wristband in order to consume alcohol. The business establishment's bartenders are responsible for checking wristbands prior to serving alcohol. b. The business establishment hosting the event is responsible for controlling illegal consumption of alcohol and is legally responsible for any consequence of illegal consumption. c. The hosting business establishment will provide security police to patrol the area, including the parking lot, to control the illegal consumption of alcohol, including use by students under the legal drinking age. d. Non-alcoholic beverages and food must be readily available at such an event. e. The hosting business establishment will stop serving alcohol sixty minutes prior to the closure of the event. F. Coastal Productions and Other Student Organizations Registered On-Campus Events Student organizations may have alcohol served at properly registered on-campus events. Student organizations must use designated student officer(s) who will attend and oversee each organization-sponsored event. The designated officer(s) must have successfully completed alcohol education workshops as required by the Office of Alcohol and Drug Services. 1. Any student organization, including Coastal Productions, planning an on-campus event where alcohol will be served must obtain approval through the Office of Student Activities before registering any program and again before any monies can be dispersed to the business establishment providing the refreshments. 2. For events where deemed necessary by the Office of Student Activities, a representative of the student organization is responsible for checking all individuals attending the event to insure they are students, faculty, or staff. Each person is permitted to bring one guest to such an event. 3. The student organization sponsoring the event is responsible for insuring an approved process of verifying the age of each individual in attendance. Those 21 and older must wear a wristband in order to consume alcohol. The bartenders are responsible for checking wristbands prior to serving alcohol. 4. Appropriate amounts of non-alcoholic beverages and food must be provided at any event where alcohol is present. 5. The student organization will insure that the service of alcohol will stop 60 minutes prior to the scheduled closure of the event. G. General Guidelines for Recognized University Activities Where Alcohol is Served, Consumed, or Present to Include Non-Student Registered Events 1. The sale and service of alcohol must conform to all federal, state, local, and University policies/laws. 2. Any containers of alcohol, which are being transported on Coastal Carolina University premises, must be sealed and covered. 3. All students and their guests attending an activity where alcohol is served, consumed, or present must possess appropriate proof of age. Students who alter their I.D. cards to falsify their age are in violation of S.C. state law as well as Coastal Carolina University regulations and subject to its disciplinary proceedings and sanctions. 4. Students will be held responsible for their or their guest's behavior while attending these events. 5. If an event is registered by a student organization, then student leadership within the organization must have successfully completed alcohol education workshops as specified by the Office of Alcohol and Drug Services in order to review and develop procedures for having a responsibly held event regarding the use of alcohol. The Office of Student Activities will designate the appropriate student organization representatives expected to be in attendance at these educational trainings. H. Sanctions Students and faculty organizations, individual students, faculty, and staff in violation of the Coastal Carolina policies, as well as of state or federal law, regarding the use of alcohol are subject to the proceedings and sanctions of not only Coastal Carolina University but may also be subject to the civil and criminal court system. Coastal Carolina University is not a sanctuary that relieves students, faculty and staff of their responsibilities as citizens to abide by local, state, and federal laws, or Coastal Carolina University policies and procedures. Student discipline will be conducted in accordance with this policy and due process as specified in the Code of Student Conduct. 1. Sanctions for possession of alcohol by students at the residence halls may include, but are not limited to: fines, required attendance at educational or prevention programs, disciplinary sanctions which may include termination of residence hall contract and summary suspension. See the Residence Life Living Guide and the Code of Student Conduct. 2. Drinking on campus is not permitted under any circumstances by students, faculty, and staff unless at an approved campus event and location. Drinking in public and public intoxication both represent non-compliance with the laws of South Carolina and are therefore under the jurisdiction of the Office of Public Safety and other police officials. 3. Violations of the alcohol policy by students at any recognized student organization or University sponsored event may include but are not limited to the following sanctions: fines, required attendance at educational or prevention programs, and disciplinary sanctions which may include summary suspension. See the Code of Student Conduct. 4. Any student organization which provides alcohol at a registered event without following the proper procedures, or any student organization which uses the name of Coastal Carolina University and serves alcohol without following the proper registration procedure, will be referred as an organization or as individuals to the Vice President for Student Affairs for disciplinary action. The student organization or individuals may be held responsible for their actions as provided for in the Code of Student Conduct. 5. Faculty and staff in violation of policies will be disciplined according to the personnel policies and procedures of Coastal Carolina University. 6. The Higher Education Reauthorization Act of 1998 amended Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) to allow, but not require, institutions of higher education to notify the parents or guardians of students under the age of 21 who violate institutional policies pertaining to alcohol and drugs. III. Campus Drug Policy Coastal Carolina University prohibits the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession, or use of illegal drugs or controlled substances by Coastal students, faculty, and staff as set forth in South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 44-53-110 et seq. This policy also prohibits possession of drug paraphernalia (such as roach clips, bongs, water pipes, cocaine spoons, etc.) as defined in South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 44-53-110 and Section 44-53-391. Coastal Carolina University also prohibits the non-prescribed use of anabolic steroids as defined in South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 44-531510 et seq. The term "controlled substances" as used in this policy shall refer to those drugs and substances whose possession, sale, or delivery results in criminal sanctions under South Carolina law. A. Legal Aspects and Consequences As citizens, students, faculty, and staff have a responsibility for knowing and complying with the provisions of state law referenced above. Anyone violating these laws is subject to prosecution and punishment by the criminal courts as well as subject to disciplinary procedures conducted by the University. B. Coastal Carolina University Disciplinary Process Coastal Carolina University considers any violation of the drug policy to be a serious offense. The continued enrollment of students will be subject to conditions or restrictions which may include procedures recommended by the Director of Counseling. Sanctions imposed by Coastal Carolina University are in accordance with disciplinary procedures published in the Code of Student Conduct. These sanctions include, but are not limited to, suspension held in abeyance with conditions, summary suspension, removal from residence halls, and permanent suspension from Coastal Carolina University. C. Trafficking in Illegal Drugs on University Owned, Managed, or Leased Property Prior to Hearing: Because the distribution of illegal drugs or controlled substances is a threat and danger to health and safety of the community, when reasonable cause exists, Coastal Carolina University will immediately suspend alleged offenders prior to a hearing, in accordance with summary suspension policies as published in the Code of Student Conduct. Students found in violation of illegal distribution of drugs or controlled substances will be permanently suspended in accordance with disciplinary procedures in the Code of Student Conduct. Students who live in University owned, managed or leased housing facilities found to be in violation of this policy will also be subject to termination of housing contract as published in the Residence Life Living Guide and/or Residence Life Contract Terms and Conditions. D. Possession and Use of Illegal Drugs For students found in possession or use of illegal drugs, the sanctions will range from suspension held in abeyance with conditions, to permanent suspension in accordance with disciplinary procedures as published in the Code of Student Conduct . Students who live in University owned, managed or leased housing facilities found to be in violation of this policy will also be subject to termination of housing contract as published in the Residence Life Living Guide and/or Residence Life Contract Terms and Conditions. E. Possession of Drug Paraphernalia For students found in violation of the drug paraphernalia section of this policy, Coastal Carolina University's response will be determined in accordance with disciplinary procedures as published in the Code of Student Conduct. Students who live in University owned, managed or leased housing facilities found to be in violation of this policy will also be subject to termination of housing contract as published in the Residence Life Living Guide and/or Residence Life Contract Terms and Conditions. F. Drug-Free Workplace Policy The Federal Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 prohibits the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession, or use of illegal drugs in the workplace and provides for sanctions against faculty, staff, and student employees, permanent or temporary, who violate this policy. Pursuant to federal law, the policy also requires grant or contract employees to notify the employer of any criminal drug statute convictions for a violation occurring in the workplace no later than five (5) days after the conviction. Any student employee who violates the Drug-Free Workplace Policy is subject to prosecution and punishment by the criminal courts as well as to disciplinary procedures by Coastal Carolina University and may also be terminated from his/her position of employment by the supervising department. G. Eligibility for Federal Financial Aid Students found in violation of the drug policy jeopardize their ability to receive financial aid for which they might otherwise be eligible. IV. Future Revisions Coastal Carolina University reserves the right to update this policy at any time. Members of the campus community are responsible for being aware of all changes as published and disseminated.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Research International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodres Keystones aﬀecting sub-Saharan Africa's prospects for achieving food security through balanced diets ☆ Julian May School of Government Building, University of the Western Cape, Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Western Cape, South Africa ARTICLEINFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Malnutrition Food systems Urbanization Inequality Nutrition transition Capabilities Non-communicable disease Socio-economic dynamics determine the transition from diets characterized by the risk of famine, to those characterized by the risk of diet-related non-communicable disease (DR-NCD). This transition is of particular concern in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in which key socio-economic interactions that inﬂuence diet include economic growth and rapid urbanization; inequality and a growing middle class; and obesogenic food environments and an increasing prevalence of DR-NCD. In each case, countries in SSA are among those experiencing the most rapid change in the world. These interactions, styled as 'keystones', aﬀect the functioning of other components of the food system and the diets that result. Data from the wealthiest quartile of countries in SSA suggest that these keystones may be increasing the risk of DR-NCD, widening inequalities in health outcomes due to unbalanced diets. To address this, new consumer and government capabilities that address these keystones are required. Food sensitive urban planning, supporting food literacy and ﬁscal management of consumption are examples. 1. Introduction Despite a slowing growth rate, the world's population, estimated at 7.3 billion in 2015, is projected to reach around 9.7 billion people in 2050 (UNDESA, 2015a). To adequately feed this increase in population, the chair of the Committee on Food Security asserts, "…in the next 40 years we need to produce more food than we have produced over the last 8000 years" (Sheeran, 2012). Food security scenarios show that this is attainable (van Dijk & Meijerink, 2014). However as Godfray, Beddington, Crute, Haddad, Lawrence, Muir, et al., (2010: 817) caution, resolving production constraints alone will not be suﬃcient. Diet, lifestyle, and the accessibility and utilization of food should also be addressed. are exceptions such as the Global Nutrition Report (IFRPI, 2016), concern for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) tends to emphasize hunger and under-consumption (FAO, 2015; IAASTD, 2009). Transitions in diet, nutrition, epidemiology and food systems are of relevance throughout the world. Identiﬁed drivers include rising incomes, urbanization, trade liberalization and the changing food environment (Kearney, 2010). Although regional diﬀerences and dynamics determine whether diets are balanced and sustainable, the focus of the literature is on global trends, trends in developed countries and trends in large developing countries such as China and India (Godfray et al., 2010; Swinburn, Egger, & Raza, 1999; Pingali, 2007). While there Filling this gap is important since diets are changing rapidly in the 48 countries that make up SSA, while opportunities remain to avoid unhealthy and unbalanced diets (Haggblade et al., 2016). 1 In SSA, the food system is changing within an environment that has the highest projected agricultural production growth rates but also the highest prevalence of food insecurity in the world. The largest amount of population growth and movement will take place in SSA, placing further strain on urban infrastructure, food supply chains and agri-logistic networks (UNDESA, 2015a). Finally the region is likely to experience the greatest variability in climatic and political conditions, including disruptions from conﬂict, international migration and internally displaced people (FAO, 2012). The diets of these highly vulnerable groups are monotonous, lacking in micronutrients and are often macronutrient deﬁcient (Fayemi, Muchenje, Yetim, & Abdulatef, 2016). Even if 'science and good governance' were to succeed in producing more food with fewer inputs (Muchenje & Mukumbo, 2015), the complexity of food system matters if this accomplishment is to be translated into balanced diets. Van Dijk & Meijerink (2014: 9) recognize this in ☆ Comments received from participants at seminars given at the Institute of Development Research & Development Policy, Ruhr-Universität Bochum; the Department of Economics at the University of Paris 1, Pantheon-Sorbonne; and the Center for Development Research, ZEF, Bonn are acknowledged. Financial support from a South African National Research Foundation grant, UID: 91490, is also acknowledged. There are no actual or potential conﬂicts of interest including any ﬁnancial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately inﬂuence, or be perceived to inﬂuence, this work. No human subjects participation was necessary for the preparation of this manuscript. E-mail address: email@example.com. 1 The United Nations Statistics Divisions deﬁnition of SSA is adopted (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ accessed 31 March 2017). their review of food security scenarios, acknowledging that shifts in diets and consumer preference tend to be superﬁcially treated. With the aim of moving beyond highly aggregated approaches, I focus on SSA's largest economies, adopting a food systems approach to recognize the multi-dimensional nature of food security. The speciﬁcities linking the achievement of sustainable and balanced diets to economic and demographic context are explored to reveal the capabilities required by consumers and government to manage food choices and behavior. 2. Food security, diet and the food system Food security is conventionally deﬁned as possessing four dimensions: availability, access, utilization and stability (CFS, 2012). These are hierarchical in nature: food availability is necessary but not suﬃcient for access; access is necessary but not suﬃcient for utilization; stability is necessary but not suﬃcient for utilization (Webb, Coates, Frongillo, Lorge Rogers, Swindale et al., 2006:140). A shortcoming of this approach is that the nature of the food system is given little attention and the linkages between food security, diet, poverty and inequality are opaque. This neglects interactions between the multiple dimensions of food insecurity, diﬀerences in the dynamics and terms under which diﬀerent actors are included into the system, and the impact that both of these might have. Further, resolving a problem conceptualized as 'food security' risks excessive focus on a single dimension: increasing food production and reducing its cost rather than improving its utilization and the diets that result. This underplays the complexity and importance of nutrition security and diet by assigning these to as outcomes from the utilization of food. Such positions are being challenged and alternative approaches are emerging that focus more strongly on the access and utilization attributes of food security (Akram-Lodhi, 2015; Rocha, 2007; Timmer, 1988; Webb et al., 2006; Wittman et al., 2010:3). Adopting the capabilities approach of Sen's (1980), one response is to highlight food insecurity's connection with poverty and the functionings that follow such as being healthy or being nourished due to being able to access of balanced diet, or being safe by being able to manage food hazards ( Barrett, 2010 : 825; Timmer, Falcon, and Pearson, 1983:20 ). Food security can then be regarded as a form of deprivation, and as an outcome of vulnerability ( Barrett, 2010 :827). From this perspective, food security is 1) multi-dimensional requiring multiple forms of measurement; 2) its intensity and duration will vary; 3) it will have an intrahousehold aspect; 4) it has an absolute, subjective and relative nature; and 5) there is culpability for its production, and duty in its reduction ( Alkire & Foster, 2011; Santeramo, 2015a; Hulme & Shepherd, 2003; Haddad & Kanbur, 1990; Sen, 1983; Øyen, 2002 ). As with poverty, food insecurity and the unbalanced diets that result, are caught up in a web of deprivation whose resolution depends upon the systematic relationship between the di ﬀ erent forms of deprivation. This web possesses many dimensions that may be di ﬃ cult to measure, and where the choice of indicators may determine the policy options proposed ( Ravallion, 2003; Narayan, Chambers, Kaul Shah, & Petesch, 2000; Santeramo, 2015b; Webb et al., 2006 ). Although what exactly deﬁnes a balanced diet remains a subject of debate (Bravata et al., 2003; Schoenaker, Mishra, Callaway, & Soedamah-Muthu, 2016), a 'triple burden of malnutrition' is recognized that comprises under-nutrition, micronutrient deﬁciencies and over-nutrition (Pinstrup-Andersen, 2007). Most deﬁnitions are thus concerned with the quantity and quality of carbohydrates, protein, ﬁber and fats, as well as the micronutrients provided by the diet such as minerals, vitamins, and bioactive compounds (FAO, 2010: 219). The food system is responsible for providing diets that have these attributes. It can be broken down into sub-systems (Sobal, Kettel Khan, & Bisogni, 1998): chains of "…human-organized activities concerned with the production, processing, transport, selling, cooking and eating of food and the disposal of the wastes of such activities" (Green & Foster, 2005: 664). These can be represented as episodes taking place in the biophysical, economic, socio-cultural and governance sub-systems of a single food system (see Fig. 1: Onion Diagram of the Food System). 5 The activities include the use of physical, ﬁnancial, agro-climatic and geo-spatial resources to produce food; packaging and distribution networks to convey food; innovation and processing capacity to transform food; the life-world and socio-demographic dynamics of consumers to attach meaning and context to food; and the institutions and processes of political economy to negotiate contestations concerning food. Each requires unique capability sets for the functionings that they involve. Describing this as a "complex ecosystem" is one attempt to recognize the interaction between human actions and the food system (Drimie, Gillespie, Jere, & Msuya, 2010; Pollan, 2008). As with any ecosystem, the food system comprises many mutually interacting parts, heterogeneous in their arrangement and characterized by interdependence and symbiotic relationships (von Bertalanﬀy, 1968:171–196). These are arranged in sub-systems, each with their own networks and dynamics, and further sub-systems (Saaty & Kearns, 1985: 63–86). As with other ecosystems, the food ecosystem may be populated by "keystone species" that play a disproportionately large role in the system, and upon which the functioning of other parts of the system may depend (Paine, 1995:963). Plant, animal and bacteria species such as maize, bees or lactobacillus are examples often used in conservation biology (Foster, Krone, & Forney, 2008; Ze, Duncan, Louis, & Flint, 2012; Kuhlmann, 2009; Cristancho & Vining, 2004). This notion has been criticized as being ambiguous in its deﬁnition making it diﬃcult to determine what qualiﬁes as being a keystone (Mills, Soule, & Doak, 1993). Attempts to improve the precision of the concept focus on the impact of the species relative to its abundance, and the uniqueness of its contribution to the functioning of the ecosystem (Kotliar, 2000). With this clariﬁcation in mind, some socio-economic dynamics and institutions provide similar critical processes that shape the operation and outcomes of the food system (Mars, Bronstein, & Lusch, 2012; Österblom et al., 2015). Such keynotes are ﬁgurative and might be institutions and entities such as ﬁnancial markets, multinational corporations and the strategies adopted by these institutions (Iansiti & Levien, 2004). Some argue that as the producers, preparers and custodians of the food system, women play a keystone role (Brown, Feldstein, Haddad, & Peña, 1995). In each case, the removal of these actual species, or their metaphorical equivalents, would likely result in the reconﬁguration or even the collapse of the food ecosystem. Although a food eco-systems approach may reveal the episodes, behavior patterns and potential leverage points involved in ensuring balanced diets, this approach runs the risk of trying to account for all of its components and their multiple interactions. Moreover, using metaphors such as 'keystone species' may distort the intended meaning, and result in appealing, but inappropriate analysis and recommendations for action (Barua, 2011). Mindful of these risks, the lead of Popkin (1999), Hawkes (2006) and Kimenju, Rischke, Klasen, and Qaim (2015) is followed, and three socio-economic dynamics that qualify as keystones relevant to the achievement of balanced diets are selected. These are the interactions of: 1) economic growth and urbanization used in food security forecasting models; 2) inequalities and a growing middle class used in consumption forecasting; and, 3) the changing food environment and the prevalence of diet-related non-communicable disease (DR-NCD) used in epidemiological forecasting (Briggs, Wolstenholme, Blakely, & Scarborough, 2016). The impact of these interactions is likely to reconﬁgure the food system in SSA, resulting in diets that are balanced or unbalanced, and ultimately in changes in human well-being. These interactions are depicted in the third layer of Fig. 1. Although important, production and processing is not considered in this paper, which focuses on socio-economic processes. The objective is to identify policy concerns that move beyond production, market eﬃciency or food-aid responses to food insecurity, to consider capabilities of consumers and governments necessary to achieve sustainable and balanced diets in SSA. 6 3. Data and methods Secondary data collated by the World Bank, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Aﬀairs (UN/DESA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is used. Unless otherwise indicated, demographic projections are taken from The World Population Prospects: 2015 Revision (UNDESA, 2015b). The medium fertility variant is used for all population projections. The World Development Indicators (WDI) for 2014 updated on 10 August 2016 and accessed on 13 August 2016, have been used for all socio-economic indicators reported. Production data have been taken from various databases within FAOSTAT using the January 19, 2017 update accessed on 22 January 2017. Gross National Income (GNI) for 2014 has been used as the preferred indicator of economic prosperity. GNI for 2011 has been used for 16 SSA countries, including Angola, Cote d'Ivoire and Zambia. While acknowledging the progress made by oﬃcial statistics agencies in SSA, the reservations of Jerven (2013) regarding data quality must be kept in mind. As a result, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been used for historical trends. All GNI, GDP and income data are provided in current international dollars (Purchasing Power Parity – PPP) based on the 2011 International Comparison Program estimates. The 12 largest economies in terms of GNI have been selected. These are Angola, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. Henceforth these are referred to as the SSA 12. 4. Food security trends in SSA Various attempts have been made to assess the sustainability of the food system, and its capacity to feed the global population. Agrimonde (2009) is one of the most recent and comprehensive. Agrimonde is based on a detailed analysis of food production trends from 1961 until 2003 using FAO data and econometric modeling to predict two possible scenarios to 2050. The data are concerned with food availability and focus mainly on trends in human population; the use of food products; land use patterns; food production and yield; and net food trade. The point of departure for Agrimonde is that the level of future food consumption will depend upon population change and the growth of economic output per capita (Paillard, Treyer, & Dorin, 2014). The scenarios are useful point of departure for further debate concerning their implications at the regional level. In addition to providing direct information on the availability of food, these scenarios are also important because they signal a likely nutrition transition before 2050 in which in dietary patterns and nutrient intakes will also change. These nutrition and epidemiological changes are occurring at a rapid rate in SSA, as well as at earlier stages of economic and social development (Popkin & Gordon-Larsen, 2004). Although levels remain low, recent food security trends appear to be positive in SSA. While food production in SSA traditionally lagged that of the rest of the world, since 2005, the FAO's Food Production Index for SSA has been similar, or greater than that for the rest of the world. Food availability in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased by nearly 12% over the past two decades. In the case of the SSA 12, in 2014, only DRC, Nigeria and Uganda have indices lower than that for the rest of the world. As for food outcomes, the global trend is towards decreasing undernutrition. This has occurred in SSA and prevalence of under-nutrition (having a level of food intake that is insuﬃcient to meet dietary energy requirements) declined from 33% to 23.2% between 1990 and 92 and 2014–16. 2 Nonetheless, the total number of undernourished people has 2 The indicator is derived from food balance sheets, and is the product of a regression model estimating the probability of consuming less than the dietary energy requirement Source: IFPRI, 2016. continued to increase with an estimated 220 million in 2014–16 compared to 175.7 million in 1990–92 and SSA has the second largest share of the world's undernourished people after Southeast Asia and the highest prevalence. Projections by the USDA show that this situation is expected to improve the next 10 years, although at a slower rate than that of other regions. According to this model, the share of the region's population that is food insecure is projected to fall from its current 29% to 15% by 2026 (Rosen, Thome, & Meade, 2016). There are regional diﬀerences with the number doubling and the prevalence of undernourishment increasing in Central Africa from 33.5% in 1990–92 to 41.3% in 2014–16, while Western Africa has experienced the greatest decrease in the same period, from 24.2% to 9.6% (FAO, IFAD and WFP, 2015). There are also diﬀerences when alternative measures of undernourishment are used. For example, describing their food status, just one-ﬁfth of urban Africans self-report being deprived of an adequate amount of food: a prevalence that is well below the poverty headcount of most countries (Afro-barometer, 2015). The Global Hunger Index Score (GHI) calculated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI, 2016) and shown in Fig. 2 shows these trends for the SSA 12. 3 All countries experienced a decline in the score, with declines being particularly notable in Ghana, Angola and Ethiopia. South Africa is the only country to have experienced an increase in 2005. Direct measures of dietary outcomes follow these trends, although with more modest change. The number of underweight children in SSA (footnote continued) (DER). 3 The GHI does not report ﬁgures for the DRC. 7 has declined over the last two decades from 28.5% in 1990–92 to 21.1% in 2014–16. Stunting (being under the expected height for age) has reduced only marginally from 41% of under-ﬁve year old children in 1990 to 35.0% in 2012 (FAO, IFAD, & WFP, 2015; FAO, 2015; WHO, 2014). Greater progress has been achieved in some SSA 12 countries. In Ethiopia the prevalence of stunting fell from 57% in 2000 to 44% in 2011, and in Ghana stunting has fallen from 35% in 2003 to 28% in 2011. South Africa has experienced only a slight improvement, from 30% in 1993 to 27% in 2016 (Stats, 2017), reﬂecting the puzzling persistence of poor child outcomes despite an extensive social protection program and public health policies that target children (Devereux & Waidler, 2017). 5. Keystones to achieve food security with a balanced diet 5.1. Keystone 1: Economic growth and urbanization Rapid economic and population growth are among the most signiﬁcant megatrends aﬀecting food security and diet (Gandhi & Zhou, 2014). This is a potentially endogenous relationship since food security also aﬀects economic growth. If an economy produces insuﬃcient food, its expansion will increase the demand for food. If food demanded cannot be imported at an accessible and stable price, this may translate into higher wage demands, widening inequalities, reducing investment and thus slowing growth (Timmer, 1988). There has been a period of comparative prosperity in SSA since 2000. The combined GNI of SSA was $3258 billion in 2014, more than double the level in 2000. The wealthiest quintile of countries, the SSA 12, is home to 69% of the population of the region and contributes 82% of the GNI, and 78% of GDP. These economies have experienced consistent growth in per capita GDP, shown in Fig. 3, 4 at a time when the growth of most developed economies has been sluggish. The comparative population size and GNI of the SSA 12, shown in Fig. 4, reveals the signiﬁcant diﬀerences between these countries. Although Nigeria and South Africa dominate in terms of the size of their economies, Ethiopia and Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana have grown in terms of their share of total GNI of SSA. While the Nigerian economy is estimated to be larger than the South African, South Africa's GNI per capita ($12,113) is more than double that of Nigeria ($5443), and three times that of Ghana and Cameroon. In contrast, despite being one of the SSA 12, the DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world due to the size of its population. The total population of SSA, estimated to be 962 million in 2015, experienced an increase of almost 50% or 320 million people from 2000. This is the fastest rate of change of all regions (UNDESA, 2015a). By 2050, the region is expected to accommodate 2.1 billion people, a dramatic increase in its share of the global population that currently stands at 13% to over 21%. Half of the increase in population will be in ﬁve countries: Nigeria, Ethiopia, DRC, Tanzania and Uganda. This population growth is not simply due to high levels of fertility. Most countries are experiencing a decline in the number of children born per woman of reproductive age. Other drivers of population growth are important including a decline in infant mortality and increasing longevity. Although rural population of SSA will continue to grow, much of the expansion in population numbers is set to occur in urban areas. At 359 million people, the urban population in SSA accounted for 37.5% of the region's population in 2015, but is expected to reach 1.1 billion by 2050. This will then account for just over half of the total population of SSA, and almost one third of the world's urban population. This means that SSA will have the second largest number of urban dwellers after Asia. Further, 74% of the urban population of SSA is younger than 4 Note that the primary and secondary axes diﬀer in order to reﬂect the smaller absolute GDP/per capita in SSA. Pop 2014 GNI 2014 Fig. 4. Population and economy 2014 Source: WDI, 2016. 35 years of age: the highest proportion, and fastest growing in the world. Just over 27% of this urban population will be living in Nigeria alone, concentrated in Lagos which currently has a population of 12.6 million (UNDESA, 2014: 217). Kinshasa became SSA's second mega-city in 2015 with a population of 10.2 million while Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg and Luanda are expected to grow beyond 10 million by 2030 (UNDESA, 2014: 20). Urban population growth is not conﬁned only to the capital cities of SSA. One quarter of the 100 fastest-growing cities in the world are located in Africa, and in 2011, 52 cities on the continent had more than one million inhabitants which is expected to increase to 94 cities by 2030 (Mo Ibrahim Foundation, 2015). In addition to these secondary cities, small towns are also growing in size and in number (AfDB, OECD, & UNDP, 2016: 159). Fig. 5 provides the actual and projected growth of urban settlements, and shows that by 2050 about 40% of the urban population is expected to be living in cities of one million people or less. There are signiﬁcant diﬀerences between countries. In Ethiopia 83% of the urban population live in secondary cities and towns of less than 0.5 million people in 2015. This can be compared to Angola where 55% of the urban population live in Luanda, which has a population of over 5 million, and just 33% live in towns of less than 0.5 million. Rural to urban migration accounts for about one third of the population growth of SSA's cities. However urbanization does not necessarily imply poverty reduction, and can mean the transfer of people who are poor from rural to urban areas. Urbanization does also not necessarily arise from, or result in economic growth. This has been the case in some countries of SSA, such as Cameroon and the DRC 8 (UNDESA, 2014; Mo Ibrahim Foundation, 2015). Urbanization has also not been accompanied by industrialization, which has declined in relative importance in most SSA countries. Further such migration is not necessarily permanent. Insecure access to employment and poor living conditions has also resulted in a counter-urbanization movement and patterns of circular migration (Potts, 2013:9). This trend, evident in Zambia and Cote d'Ivoire, places further pressure on the production of food. Unless protected and absorbed into the urban fabric, arable land near to cities will be converted to informal settlements, while land in rural communities may be underutilized due to a shortage of labor at critical times. Managing the interaction between the economic growth and urbanization trends that have been depicted will require new capabilities for all aspects of the planning and habitation of cities, including those needed for food security. In some cases where cities have experienced a construction boom and rapidly rising housing prices, urban planning that takes account of food provision and foodways might be feasible. However in many cases new construction has not been suﬃcient to absorb the inﬂow and expansion takes place in unregulated, poorly serviced informal settlements. In 2014, 55% of the urban population of SSA was living in such settlements, ranging from three quarters of the urban populations of the DRC and Ethiopia to 23% for South Africa (UN-HABITAT, 2014; WDI, 2016). 5 As a further hindrance to the attainment of food security, economic growth and urbanization place pressure on basic services. In SSA, 17% of the urban population lack access to improved drinking water, 26% are without improved sanitation, and 39% of those with improved sanitation have access only to facilities shared with other households, and open defecation is practiced by 9% (WHO & UNICEF, 2014). As with other indicators, the situation varies across SSA, and in Kinshasa, 81% of the urban population lack access to improved drinking water while up to 90% of the natural springs in the city are thought to be contaminated (UNEP, 2010: 217). Even in Ghana, one of the fastest growing economies in SSA, only 13% of the population is using improved sanitation and open defecation is practiced by an estimated 20% of the population (UNEP, 2010: 249). Poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices increase the risk of enteric infections, the array of bacterial, parasitic, and viral pathogens that result in diarrhea. Ingestion of feces and soil contribute to this risk in polluted environments such as dense shack settlements where human overcrowding and animals are present. This is reﬂected in the rate of diarrhea episodes per person per year in SSA, which is the highest in the world at 1.29 compared to the global average of 0.75 (Hutton & Haller, 2004). Poor WASH also increases the risks associated with food safety hazards, especially when combined with the impact of climate change and the variability of water supply (Tirado, Clarke, Jaykus, McQuattersGollop, & Frank, 2010). Lastly, chronic and repeated microbial infections have been linked to environmental enteropathy, reducing the bioavailability of nutrients from food that has been consumed (Chambers & von Medeazza, 2014; Brown et al., 2015). Recognizing this, the Global Nutrition Report draws attention to the need for nutrition sensitive WASH capabilities (IFPRI, 2016: 70). Diet and the utilization patterns of food are also aﬀected by the availability of energy in urban areas. In SSA, by 2014 almost 72% of the urban population had access to electricity compared to 15.2% of the rural population. The African Development Bank (AfDB) expects that the demand for power will continue to increase, almost doubling between 2015 and 2035 (AfDB, 2014). Access to electricity can increase the shelf life of perishable food, reduce food hazards, and reduce the drudgery of food preparation and disposal. However access to electricity also has the potential to change 5 WDI make use of a durability and services deﬁnition to identify the population living in slums. *The Headcount reﬂects the percentage of the total population below the international poverty line. The Gap reﬂects the average of the poverty gap to the poverty line expressed as a percentage. The Gini coeﬃcient is a measure of income inequality in which 0 is perfect equality and 100 is perfect inequality. Source: WDI, 2016. consumption patterns, and may result in diets that include the greater consumption of processed food and beverages that contain high levels of salt, sugar and undesirable fats, a point that will be expanded below (Popkin, 2001). Government, especially municipal government, will need the capability to distribute, maintain and collect payment for this electricity when it is provided, while consumers will need the capability to manage their use of this service. 5.2. Keystone 2: Inequality and a growing middle class One of the pathways through which economic growth and urbanization impact diets are through increased incomes and rising inequality. The rise in the average per capita incomes of many countries previously classiﬁed as being low-income countries meant that more countries have graduated into middle-income status. Between 1993 and 2011 the poverty rate of SSA declined by 23% and concomitantly, there has been the increase of what Ncube, Lufumpa, and Kayizzi-Mugerwa (2011) refer to as a "ﬂoating class", and Hulme and Shepherd (2003) as the "churning poor": above the poverty line but highly vulnerable. The poverty levels for the SSA 12 are shown in Fig. 6, along with the Gini coeﬃcient, a measure of inequality. The DRC and Zambia have the largest share of their populations below the international poverty line of $1.90 per person per day, and have the greatest poverty gap (the depth of poverty measured as the average distance below the poverty line). Despite its comparative wealth, South Africa's headcount and poverty gap remain high at 16.6% of the population, and 4.9% of the poverty line respectively. Divergence between apparent economic wealth and household poverty is even more apparent for Nigeria in which the headcount and gap are 53.5 and 21.8% respectively. These patterns are reﬂected in the measure of inequality with South Africa being the most unequal, followed by Zambia and Nigeria. An outcome from this keystone of signiﬁcance to diet has been a growing class of medium and high spenders in SSA along with the more modest decline in poverty levels (WDI, 2016; Ncube et al., 2011). Estimates by the African Development Bank (AfDB) of the size of the middle class in Africa (not just SSA) are 327–355 million in 2010, or 34% of the population and projected to reach 1.1 billion by 2060 (Ncube et al., 2011). The AfDB estimates that consumer spending by the middle class amounted to almost one quarter of the continent's GDP. The deﬁnition of this group is generous: those with per capita daily consumption level of $2–20. At the lower end of the scale, 180 million 9 people are included who are highly vulnerable to becoming poor. This has led some analysts to suggest that further signiﬁcant growth in SSA's middle class is likely to be limited and that further economic growth will widen inequalities (Potts, 2013). Tschirley, Reardon, Dolislager, and Snyder (2015) show that the impact of economic growth in SSA has been mixed, having reduced, maintained and widened inequality, and that average incomes have increased in all income groups. Although there is a substantial literature exploring how changes in income aﬀect consumption choices, reviews suggest that the results are ambiguous (Haddad, Alderman, Appleton, Song, & Yohannes, 2003; Santeramo & Shabnam, 2015c). Some authorities contend that rising incomes increase the consumption of calories, a positive result when there is a high prevalence of caloric poverty. In other contexts, there is evidence that the income elasticity of calorie consumption may be close to zero (Bouis & Haddad, 1992; Subramanian & Deaton, 1996). It is not only calorie consumption that is uncertain. Bennett's law holds that rising incomes are associated with increased consumption of animal proteins, the decline of starchy staples and greater dietary diversity (Bennett, 1954). This is conﬁrmed by analysis of both the 1995 and 2005 rounds of the International Comparison Program, which shows that consumers in low income countries make larger adjustments to their food consumption patterns than those in middle and high income countries when incomes and prices change (Muhammad, Seale, Meade, & Regmi, 2011). These adjustments vary with changes being smaller for staple food consumption than for other food categories, and with households in higher income countries being more likely to spend more on nutritious food (Melo et al., 2015). Ruel, Minot, and Smith (2005) conﬁrm these patterns for SSA but also show that the pace is too slow to achieve desired levels of consumption of foods necessary for a balanced diet, notably fruit and vegetables. Barrett and Bevis (2015) go further to suggest that micronutrient intake does not increase at the same rate as macronutrient intake. Claro and Monteiro (2010) present evidence from Brazil that support this, showing that the demand for healthy foods such as fruit and vegetables is comparatively inelastic in both urban and rural contexts and does not increase as incomes rise. Darmon and Drewnowski (2015) show that while the cost of a healthy diet is rising, the cost of unhealthy diets that contain processed foods with excessive fat, salt and sugar and little nutrient value is declining. The higher costs of healthy diets is supported by the systematic review of Rao, Afshin, Singh, and Mozaﬀarian (2013) and suggest that these trends are also emerging in newly graduated middle-income countries. There are several implications that follow. While rising incomes could result in more diverse, and more balanced diets, it is also possible that food that is less healthy may be chosen, both due to preference as well as to its cost. Further, food choices will be aﬀected by income and price shocks to the household. These may be idiosyncratic such as the loss of employment or injury, covariant such as surges in food prices or economic crisis, or the result of life cycle events such as births or retirement from the labor market. Coping strategies to respond to such shocks aﬀecting economic access to food include reducing consumption; switching to cheaper sources of food energy and decreasing consumption of potentially nourishing non-staple foods (Ruel, Garrett, Hawkes, & Cohen, 2010). Each of these has an intra-household dimension in which some members of the household, notably women, may sacriﬁce their food quantity or quality to ensure that other members are not aﬀected. The long-term consequences of such coping strategies can be severe, especially those that aﬀect maternal health. For the SSA 12, the diﬀerences between national economic prosperity and the levels of income inequality shown above mean that these dynamics will vary by country, as well as between households. For example, for those in the bottom quintile in South Africa where the nutrition transition is largely complete, it seems likely that a decline in the ability to access food would result in a shift to cheaper, processed and potentially unhealthy food consumed away from the home (Neil, Rulof, Wicus, & Friedrich, 2015; Igumbor et al., 2012). In Nigeria, such a decline may result in a decline in the consumption of meat and an increase in the consumption of grains and tubers (Zhou & Staatz, 2016). In addition to the capabilities required to protect livelihoods, managing household diets in times of economic stress without access to subsistence agriculture emerges as an important capability for SSA's urbanizing population. Rising incomes present governments with opportunities to manage this keystone. Redistributive policies such as social protection to transfer resources to the food insecure are an option to manage the impact of shocks and life-course events. Policies to manage behavior include selective food taxes and rebates such as the sugar tax proposed for South Africa (Government of South Africa, 2016; Brownell & Frieden, 2009). In the context of SSA, many governments will need to improve their capability to design, implement and enforce such policies. They will also need to develop appropriate tools with which to measure the impact of these policies on food and nutritional insecurity (Santeramo, 2015a). 5.3. Keystone 3: Obesogenic food environments and non-communicable disease For diets, the implications of economic growth, urbanization, inequality and rising incomes are complex. As already discussed, as income rise, a nutrition transition takes place towards diets that emphasize convenience and reduced preparation time, and which contain more energy-dense processed foods and foods that are high in saturated and trans-fats, sugars, salt and cholesterol relative to their nutritional value (Popkin, 2003). This has been accompanied by an increase in the numbers who are overweight or obese and increasing numbers of younger people being over-weight or obese, and prone to DR-NCD (Ng et al., 2014). This results in an epidemiological transition with a shift from a backlog of common infections, under-nutrition, and maternal mortality, towards NCDs such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and mental illness, and health challenges directly related to globalization, such as pandemics and the health consequences of climate change (Frenk & Gómez-Dantés, 2011). Although urban consumers spend a smaller share of their income on food than those living in rural areas, about half of the expenditure of poor urban households in SSA is still made on food, and the bulk of food consumed is purchased (Frayne et al., 2010). Urban consumers purchase more food products that are highly processed, and which contain ingredients that are imported; they consume more animal protein and dairy; and they are more likely to be aﬀected by, and to respond to changes in global prices and preferences (Gómez & Ricketts, 2013; Tschirley et al., 2015; Nakamura et al., 2016). With urbanization and rising per capita incomes, obesogenic food environments are developing in SSA (Hawkes, 2006; Igumbor et al., 2012). Consumers show greater selectivity in the products that they consume, choosing to discard parts of animals (such as the oﬀal and hooves) and plants (such as the stalks and leaves) that may be nutritious but are less preferred. Urban consumers are also more likely to prefer convenience foods that require less time to prepare and increase their consumption of caloric sweeteners, especially from aerated beverages. Finally, 70% of urban households in SSA purchase from vendors in the informal economy and a signiﬁcant share of this expenditure is on prepared food. Some of this consumption is of minimally processed such as boiled maize cobs or grilled oﬀal. Increasingly, it includes unhealthy processed foods with a high fat, sugar and salt content (Frayne et al., 2010; Battersby & McLachlan, 2013). The achievement of balanced diets is strongly shaped by what is provided in the shelves and baskets of distributors in the formal and informal economy, and what eventually materializes on the plates of those who consume the food. The Agrimonde scenarios recognize that this has a critical impact on the food system as a whole. An important assumption of the scenarios is whether the plates of all regions in the world will converge towards providing an average consumption of Fig. 7. Overweight and obesity Source: IFPRI, 2016. 3000 kcal per person per day. Very diﬀerent outcomes are likely if prevailing trends of inequality continue as opposed to convergence at this level, which will both reduce under-nutrition and limit over-nutrition. A food ecosystem that is obesogenic, containing stimuli that encourage over-consumption, will have the opposite eﬀect (Swinburn et al., 1999). The latter scenario of widening inequality seems likely. There has been an increase in the numbers and share of people who are overweight and obese. Globally, 1.3 billion adults in the world are overweight, and of this group, 400 million are obese. By 2030, there could be 3 billion overweight and 1 billion obese people (Kelly, Yang, Chen, Reynolds, & He, 2008), and by 2050 half the world's population could be overweight or obese (Dobbs & Manyika, 2015). In SSA, 30% of the adult population is overweight or obese, and 6% are obese (WHO, 2014). Overweight is also on the rise among children below ﬁve years and in the adolescent group, especially among girls. As is shown in Figs. 7 and 8, there is considerable variation between men and women in the SSA 12, and between diﬀerent levels of economic wealth for all SSA counties. The trend line ﬁtted to Fig. 8 shows that higher levels of GNI per capita are associated with a higher prevalence of female overweight in SSA, a pattern that has been observed globally (FAO, 2002). South Africa (circled) has the highest prevalence at 64% of adult women. The other countries with extremely high prevalence and high GNI per capita are Seychelles (63%) and Botswana (59%). These countries also have relatively high inequality. South Africa is illustrative as to how changes in the diets of other SSA countries might unfold. Whereas seven million South Africans still experience chronic or more severe hunger, 21 million people are overweight or obese. Over the past ﬁfty years fat intakes among the bulk of the population have increased from 16% to 26% of total energy while carbohydrate intakes have decreased from 69% to 62% of total 10 energy in the past 50 years (Bourne, Lambert, & Steyn, 2002). This is compounded by a salt intake that is in excess of recommended levels (Hofman & Tollman, 2013). The consumption of caloric beverages is a further component of this. Compared with a worldwide average of 89, in 2010 South Africans consumed 254 cola products per person per year, an increase from around 130 in 1992. In 2010, up to half of young people were reported to consume fast foods, cakes and biscuits, cold drinks, and sweets at least four days a week (Igumbor et al., 2012). Carbonated drinks are now the third most commonly consumed food/ drink item among urban South African children aged 12–24 months; less frequently consumed than the staple, maize meal, but more often than milk (Stats, 2012). These unbalanced diets may be part of the explanation for the poor progress in child stunting discussed earlier. These trends are emerging elsewhere in SSA with indications of a triple burden in increasing numbers of countries (Abrahams, Mchiza, & Steyn, 2011). Cereal consumption is growing in almost all countries, with an average rate of 2% per decade between 1981 and 2007, and with Ghana growing the fastest at 13% per decade (Chauvin, Mulangu, & Porto, 2012: 34). The African Prosperity Report links the rise of an African middle class to expanded opportunities in the fast food industry (Legatum Institute, 2016). With a presence in Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, and plans to enter the DRC, KFC generated $2 billion in sales from more than 1000 KFCs across the continent in 2014. Adapting to local preferences, outlets also sell ﬁsh burgers, jollof rice (vegetable fried rice) and nshima (maize meal) in addition to the ubiquitous fried chicken (Kay, 2014). Kilimanjaro, a Nigerian owned competitor currently with 24 outlets, sells pounded yam, edikaikong (a local soup) and a catﬁsh combo meal. The aerated beverage market is also growing. Based in South Africa, the recently established Coca-Cola Beverages Africa Company will operate in eight of the SSA 12 to produce and distribute 40% of all Coca-Cola beverage volumes on the continent. This plant is the 10th largest CocaCola bottler worldwide. 6 The availability of these products can exacerbate the triple challenge of malnutrition discussed above. This goes beyond inequalities in the access to food to encompass inequalities in capabilities required to eﬀectively utilize food that result in unbalanced diets with poor health outcomes arising from DR-NCD (Burchi & De Muro, 2016; Vincent, Vincent, & Lamb, 2010). Globally, diabetes accounts for second largest share of the global burden of DR-NCDs after ischemic heart disease. This is set to increase and the prevalence of diabetes among all age groups worldwide, estimated to be 2.8% in 2000, is expected to rise to 4.4% by 2030, increasing the total number of people with diabetes from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030 (IDF, 2015; Wild, Roglic, Green, Sicree, & King, 2004). The costs associated with diabetes are estimated to mushroom worldwide by between $213 and 396 billion a year by 2025 (Björk, 2004). This is also the case in SSA. In 2000, an estimated 14 million adults aged 20–79 had diabetes in Africa, representing a regional prevalence of 2.1–6.7%. This is projected to reach 18.6% in 2030, an increase of 162%, and the second greatest increase after the Middle East (Wild et al., 2004). Notably, 59% of people with diabetes are in urban areas. The region also has the highest proportion of undiagnosed diabetes with over two thirds of those living with diabetes are unaware they have the disease. There is variation between and within countries. While the prevalence of diabetes in Ethiopia is only 2%, in some age groups and some contexts, it is much higher. Less than half of those diagnosed with diabetes in Ethiopia are receiving standard diabetes care (Haregu, 2012). 6 Accessed from https://kfc.co.za/ourstory/news/kfc-announces-the-opening-of-its1000th-restaurant-in-sub-saharan-africa; http://kilimanjaro-restaurants.com/; http:// www.coca-colacompany.com/press-center/press-releases/coca-cola-beverages-africabegins-operations, 28/03/17, respectively. 11 Similar trends are been found with respect to other DR-NCDs, with for example, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease increasing in SSA (Opie & Mayosi, 2005). In Ghana, hypertension, stroke and diabetes are now listed as among the top ten causes of death (Aikins, Addo, Ofei, Bosu, & Agyemang, 2012). Similar increases in prevalence are reported in neighboring Cameroon among the other SSA 12, while projections from the Global Burden of Disease Project estimate that from 1990 to 2020, the burden of cardiovascular disease in SSA will double (Tantchou Tchoumi & Butera, 2013; Mbewu & Mbanya, 2006). Despite these disturbing trends and their likely economic costs (Popkin, Horton, Kim, Mahal, & Shuigao, 2001), the policy response in SSA is muted. For example, public expenditure on diabetes healthcare in SSA is the lowest in the world, amounting to 7% of the region's total health budget (IDF, 2015). Few countries provide adequate coverage of drugs for cardiovascular disorders (Mocumbi, 2012). Although consumers may not have access to the information required to make healthy food choices in the face of unregulated demand management by food producers and retailers, few countries are attempting to regulate such advertising although this has been shown to impact on food choices (Vukmirovic, 2015). This leaves a potential policy and capability lacuna in SSA in the face of emerging obesogenic food environments. 6. Conclusion Changes in income, location, access to services and access to information are associated with changes in the prevalence of DR-NCDs. In SSA, trends in DR-NCDs have not been matched by increased resource allocations for their management. More than additional resources are required: also essential are the development of nutrition-sensitive capabilities for food security often neglected in policy interventions for food security. These include consumer capabilities needed to make good use of food, including being food literate, being able to adopt safe food practices, and being able to make healthy diet and lifestyle choices. Appropriate food preparation practices in environments prone to food safety hazards are necessary, while taking advantage of opportunities provided by urban environments is also important. New capabilities are also required for the public and private sectors, including being able to enforce and ensure adherence to regulations pertaining to advertising, labeling, traceability, supplementation, fortiﬁcation and food safety management; being able to manage the avoidance and treatment of DR-NCDs; being able adopt food sensitive ﬁscal and urban planning to manage food demand; and being able to introduce and ﬁnance social protection programs. 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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Redžo HASANAGIĆ, Leila FATHI, Zinaid KAPIĆ, Mohsen BAHMANI Aladin CRNKIĆ, Bahrudin HRNJICA, Miha HUMAR, EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL DETERMINATION OF THE LONGITUDINAL MODULUS OF ELASTICITY IN WOODEN STRUCTURES This paper aims to experimentally and numerically determine the longitudinal modulus of elasticity by the four-point bending method. Samples of wooden beams over which the experimental research was performed were made of silver fir (Abies alba) as prescribed by standard EN 408. The experimental part includes determining bending strength and deformation forces. Experimentally determined bending strength and deflection forces were the input data for evaluating the modulus of elasticity of wooden beams. A numerical analysis of the bending strength by the finite element method was carried out using the ANSYS software package. The numerical model agreed well with the experiments in terms of bending. A numerical model can predict the bending of beams of different sizes. Results showed that the experimental and numerical values are close and usable for further exploitation. Comparison between the experimental and computational force versus the displacement response showed a very good correlation in the results for the fir wood specimens under four-point bending tests. Redžo HASANAGIĆ (email@example.com), https://orcid.org/0000-00017439-0564, Zinaid KAPIĆ (firstname.lastname@example.org), Aladin CRNKIĆ (email@example.com), Bahrudin HRNJICA (firstname.lastname@example.org), https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3142-1284, University of Bihać, Faculty of Technical Engineering, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Leila FATHI (email@example.com), Mohsen BAHMANI (firstname.lastname@example.org) Shahrekord University, Department of Natural Resources and Earth Science, Shahrekord, Iran; Miha HUMAR (email@example.com), https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9963-5011, University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Wood Science, Ljubljana, Slovenia Keywords: bending force, modulus of elasticity, numerical analysis, solid wood Introduction Wood is a natural, uniform and heterogeneous material whose properties significantly vary within and between different species. Wood is one of the earliest construction materials that has been used for millennia. The structural use of wood and wood-based composites continues to increase steadily. Even more, new wood-based materials continue to develop and are being successfully introduced into the engineering and construction marketplace [Kržišnik, et al. 2018; Kržišnik et al. 2020; Hasanagić et al. 2021]. Modern building practice would not be possible without the state of the art composites. Through consideration of its many benefits as a natural resource, wood is becoming progressively popular as a building material, not only for carpentry but also for constructing supporting structures [Bowyer et al. 2016]. This increased usage places wood, alone or as part of a composite [Clouston et al. 2005], in many novel applications where it has never been used before [Mahapatra and Gustavsson 2009]. Many studies have focused on determining material properties experimentally and numerically. Numerous contributing factors impact the mechanical properties of wood and wood products, such as wood species, tree growth velocity, density, and local singularities (knots, cracks, and slope of the grain). Important factors influencing the mechanical properties of wooden elements are knots and deviations of fibres. Several researchers have developed finite element (FE) models to investigate the influence of knot and fibre deviations on wooden boards [Zandbergs and Smith 1988; Hackspiel et al. 2014; Lukacevic et al. 2014; Guindos and Guaita 2013]. Respective results describe experimental, analytical, genetic, and numerical modelling of wood and other wood-based materials, e.g., experimentally [Andor, et al. 2015; Raftery and Kelly 2015], analytical [Hasanagić et al. 2020; Winter, et al. 2012; Thorhallsson, et.al 2017; Nadir et al. 2016], genetic [Hasanagić 2018; Chu, et al. 2022; Hasanagić 2022] and numerically [Valipour and Crews 2011; Raftery and Harte 2013; de Jesus et. Al 2012; Rescalvo et al. 2020]. For example, the researchers [Hu and Guan 2019; Fajdiga et al. 2019] experimentally evaluated the elastic properties of beech and spruce wood using the finite element method (FEM). Respective authors compared the experimental and computational force and displacement response. This approach showed an excellent correlation in the results for the wood specimens under three-point bending tests, with Pearson′s correlation coefficient of r = 0.994 for the tangential and r = 0.988 for the radial orientation. The authors [Fajdiga et al. 2016] dealt with heat-treated beech wood, where it is experimental and numerical procedures were used to investigate the impact of heat treatment processes on the behaviour of wood without defects under compressive loads. In the research [Daudeville 1999], the fracture of a wooden structure was analysed, and the model of damage mechanics for the simulation of fracture in wood using experimental and numerical procedures was presented. Stresses and deformations of different thicknesses of softwood and hardwood during bending at three points were investigated using the finite element method [Gaff et al. 2015]. This study attempts to experimentally and numerically evaluate the longitudinal modulus of elasticity by the four-point bending method. The experimental part includes determining bending strength and deformation for wooden beams of fir trees. Experimentally determined bending and deflection forces values will be the input data for determining the modulus of elasticity of wooden beams. In addition to the experimental part, a numerical analysis by the finite element method will be performed, which will provide inputs for the numerical modelling of the modulus of elasticity. This study should be able to identify the influence of some selected parameters such as material properties, thickness, width, and length. Numerical simulation was performed to try to predict the change in bending behaviour of solid fir beams, where the model can be seen matching when it comes to the shift of experimentally tested samples and numerical simulation. Materials and methods Experimental test program The experimental test series used samples of silver fir wood (Abies alba) from Bosnia and Herzegovina for bending, whose average density and moisture content were 0.43 g/cm 3 , and 10%, respectively. The density obtained based on ISO3131:2016 standard. All samples were weighed using an electronic balance with an accuracy of 0.01 g to note their masses, whereas their dimensions for volume determination were measured with an electronic vernier calliper with an accuracy of 0.1 mm as specified in ISO 3131. Density was then determined as: Density=mass/volume. The moisture (MC) contents of samples were measured using a moisture meter (Nigos DVD 240) with an accuracy of ±2 %. Samples were kept in a constant climate room for with 20 °C temperature and 65% relative humidity to reach 12% equilibrium moisture content. We started with an assortment of 30 samples prepared according to their suitability for our needs according to standard EN 408:2013. Based on similar density, we further eliminated the samples until we obtained a series of 5 samples (Figure 2), for which the wood density between extremes does not deviate more than approx. 10%.The bending process was performed on rectangular four-point bending fir wood samples (Figure 1) with dimensions shown in Table 1: Table 1. Dimensions of fir samples \| Sample \| Fir 1 \| \| Fir 2 \| \| Fir 3 \| \| Fir 4 \| \| Fir 5 \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| dimensions \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| b (mm) \| \| 49.20 \| \| 49.60 \| \| 49.70 \| \| 49.40 \| \| 49.60 \| \| h (mm) \| \| 20.60 \| \| 20.70 \| \| 20.50 \| \| 20.50 \| \| 20.70 \| \| l (mm) \| \| 380.00 \| \| 380.0 \| \| 380.00 \| \| 380.00 \| \| 380.00 \| During the preparation of the samples, special attention was paid to achieving the best parallel orientation of the wood fibres and the growth rings along the entire length of the sample. Samples were also visually inspected and sorted according to the ring-width and orientation. Bending and tensile testing procedures Solid wood for various construction applications must be sorted by its strength before use. To make the process as feasible as possible, the measurement usually focuses on the most important mechanical properties: density, modulus of elasticity (MOE), and bending strength, according to standard [EN 408:2013]. The tests of the module of elastic, maximal force, and max displacement on the bending of five samples of fir wood were performed. The samples were always positioned so that they were subjected to maximum load to the limit of elasticity. The test samples, having a minimum length of approximately 19 times the depth of the section, were supported and symmetrically loaded in bending at two points throughout approximately 18 times the depth. The maximum force was measured within the loading points shown in Figure 1. From the measured parameters of the above tests, the MOE a may be calculated using the following equation (1) [EN 408 2013]: where: F2,F1= load in newtons on the regression line with a correlation coefficient of 0.99 w2,w1 =( increment of deformation in millimeters corresponding to F2-F1) [mm]. a = distance between a loading position and the nearest support in a bending test in millimeters [mm] I = second moments of area, in millimetres to the fourth power [mm] l1 = gauge length for the determination of modulus of elasticity in millimetres [mm]. The experiments used testing machine type SIL-50KNAG, manufactured by SHIMADZU, in which a working cylinder is located in the upper part of the testing machine. The working cylinder moves down (bending), while the lower head is stationary. Then, through a computer connected to the SIL-50KNAG type testing machine, the bending is measured at four points so that the values of the force achieved can be read in the diagram. The sample is placed between the heads, after which the MOE, displacement, and intensity of the bending force are examined. This procedure tests the mechanical properties of a material and characterises the mechanical resistance of the material and its deformability. The test speed is set on the computer to 1 mm/min. So, taking into account the preparatory - final time and extension time, the duration of each experiment is about 10 minutes. Numerical analysis Fir-wood beams were modelled in the ANSYS-2021R2 computer program by specifying material characteristics and girder geometry. The performed analysis is geometrically nonlinear, and a static calculation was performed. The ANSYS computer program uses Newton-Raphson method [Akram and Ann 2015] as an iterative solution procedure. In each iterative step, the tangential stiffness matrix changes, representing the slope of the curve in the deflection diagram of the ground state from which the iterative step starts. The deflection increment was calculated at each step until the force imbalance (residual) decreased to a satisfactorily small value. A coordinate system consisting of tangential (x), longitudinal (y), and radial components (z) was used in the modelling. The selected finite element mesh size is 15 mm, the number of nodes is 937, and the number of finite elements is 410 (Table 2). Deformations, displacements and stresses were observed in the computer model. Table 2. Wooden beam geometry and finite element mesh characteristics Results and discussion The paper presents the results of the study of experimental research and numerical modelling of the significant factors: length (l), width (b), and thickness (h) of the workpiece of the solid wood. For this research on the basis of similar density, we eliminated the samples and a series of 5 samples was determined, for which the wood density between the extremes did not deviate by more than approx. 10%. Out of a total of five selected samples were tested flexurally until rupture. The results are presented in Table 4. Table 3. Experimental results The experiment results and numerical simulation represent the intensity of MOE and force to the critical bending point (Table 4). The results obtained by numerical modelling in ANSYS (Fig. 3) and experimental test (Fig. 2) and a good match of the results can be observed. Figure 2 shows that the test beams of fir-wood at the point of the limit modulus of elasticity stretch in proportion to the load. The elongation displacement will increase proportionally for a particular increase in force F. The test tube is moved according to Hooke's law. All deformations of the material in this area are elastic. After the cessation of the load, the test tube returns to the initial position. To calculate a mean response force-displacement curve for each specimen's orientation, data from all five individual experimental tests were used for averaging (Figure 2). The model for numerical analysis of the flexural strength of specimens is designed to describe as accurately as possible boundary conditions and loads from an experiment on a physical model. The model shown in Figure 3 consists of simple sample geometry, supported by two supports and two indentations in the upper part that bend the sample (beam) on the y-axis. The numerical model was generated using finite element method elements as a required material model. One reason for this is to define the direction of the fibres in wood. Following the conditions of the experimental determination of flexural strength, the supports of the model are clamped. Due to the force acting on the beam, there would be no translation of the elements and displacement of the supports. The bending simulation of the test tube for the type of fir is shown in Figures 3 and 4. Local stress concentration due to load distribution at the end of the samples is represented in a numerical model (red). Figure 3 shows the stress distribution is parallel to the grain for the same fir pattern profile. Graphic representations of stress show concentrations as stresses at bending at four points. Fig. 4. Graphical representation of the numerical results of deflection displacement model representation The numerical displacement of the mean bending range was calculated. The projected numerical shift was slightly more significant was -8.54 mm, slightly higher (a difference of 16%, Figure 4) than the mean experimental value of -7.22 mm. Conclusion The computational model using finite element method was created and validated based on the experimental results by comparing mechanical responses. The computational model was validated using the inverse procedure to determine the constitutive material parameters. Five four-point bending tests were carried out to achieve a representative sample of experimental tests. Numerical simulations have shown the possibility of analysing the evolution of displacement in the considered wooden beams. The numerical model has been validated by comparing computational and experimental results, where the force-displacement diagrams were compared. The comparison showed a very good correlation of the results, with Pearson's correlation coefficient of r = 0.995. However, clean specimens and a homogeneous material model were considered, a first attempt to create a numerical model for later bending. References Akram S., Ann Q. [2015]: Newton raphson method. International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research 6 [7]:1748-1752 Andor K., Lengyel A., Polgár R., Fodor T., Karácsonyi Z. 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131st MAINE LEGISLATURE SECOND REGULAR SESSION-2024 An Act to Protect the Confidentiality of Attorney-Client E-mail Communications for Residents of Jails and Correctional Facilities Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Council pursuant to Joint Rule 203. Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. DAREK M. GRANT Secretary of the Senate Presented by Senator CARNEY of Cumberland. Cosponsored by Representative MOONEN of Portland. Printed on recycled paper 1 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 2 3 Sec. 1. 4 MRSA §1804, sub-§3, ¶P, as enacted by PL 2023, c. 394, Pt. A, §3, is amended to read: 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 P. Develop and maintain a registry of names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact information for attorneys who provide legal services to persons who are incarcerated. The commission shall on a weekly basis provide these names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact information to all sheriffs' offices and to the Department of Corrections. On the Monday following transmission of the information, the sheriffs' offices and the Department of Corrections have constructive notice that communications to and from these attorneys by residents of jails and correctional facilities are subject to the attorney-client privilege. The attorneys' names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact information are confidential. Sec. 2. 5 MRSA §200-N, as enacted by PL 2023, c. 394, Pt. A, §4, is amended to read: §200-N. Confidential attorney-client communications 1. Policies. By January 1, 2024, the The Attorney General shall adopt a written policy for the protection of confidential attorney-client communications by employees and agents of the Attorney General, which must include, at a minimum, processes to protect and ensure confidentiality of attorney‑client communications and processes to be followed in the event that there is a breach of attorney-client confidentiality. 2. Training. By January 1, 2024, the The Attorney General shall develop a training program for all state, county and municipal law enforcement officers and investigators who, as part of a criminal investigation, may inadvertently hear, view or read confidential attorney-client communications, which must include, at a minimum, practices and procedures for protecting and ensuring confidential attorney-client communications and practices and procedures to be followed in the event that there is a breach of attorney-client confidentiality. Sec. 3. 15 MRSA §709, sub-§4, as amended by PL 1979, c. 701, §11, is further amended to read: 4. Intercept. "Intercept" means to hear, view, read or record or aid another to hear, view, read or record the contents of any wire communication or oral communication through the use of any intercepting device by any person other than: A. The sender or receiver of that communication; B. A person within the range of normal unaided hearing or subnormal hearing corrected to not better than normal; or 36 C. A person given prior authority by the sender or receiver. 37 Sec. 4. 15 MRSA §714, as enacted by PL 2023, c. 394, Pt. A, §5, is amended to 38 read: 39 §714. Intercepted attorney-client communications of jail and correctional facility 40 residents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 1. Intercepted attorney-client communications of jail and correctional facility residents. If the sender or the recipient of an intercepted oral communication or wire communication was, at the time the communication was made, a resident in either a jail or an adult or juvenile correctional facility administered by the Department of Corrections and the other party was an attorney and if the resident demonstrates that the jail or correctional facility had actual or constructive notice at the time the communication was made of the attorney's name and, if the communication involved the use of a telephone, the jail or correctional facility had actual or constructive notice at the time that the communication was made of the attorney's telephone number and the communication was made directly to or from that telephone number: A. The contents of the intercepted oral communication or wire communication and the fact and circumstances of the communication are not admissible in a criminal proceeding, including a proceeding under chapter 305‑A; B. A person who viewed or, listened to or read the intercepted oral communication or wire communication and did not immediately discontinue viewing or, listening to or reading the communication as soon as the person had sufficient information to determine that the sender or the recipient of the communication was, at the time the communication was made, a resident in a jail or correctional facility and the other part party was an attorney, is disqualified from participating in an investigation of the resident and from appearing as a witness in a criminal proceeding in which the resident is a defendant, including a proceeding under chapter 305‑A; and C. A person who viewed or, listened to or read the intercepted oral communication or wire communication and saw or, heard or read information that may be relevant to a pending or anticipated charge against the resident or a defense the resident may assert, or may lead to the discovery of that evidence, is disqualified from participating in the investigation of the resident and from appearing as a witness in the pending or anticipated criminal proceeding in which the resident is a defendant, including a subsequent proceeding under chapter 305‑A on the pending or anticipated charge. For purposes of this subsection, the inclusion of the attorney's name and telephone number on a list transmitted by the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services pursuant to Title 4, section 1804, subsection 3, paragraph P to a sheriff's office or to the Department of Corrections constitutes constructive notice to a jail in the same county as the sheriff's office or to all correctional facilities administered by the Department of Corrections, respectively, beginning on the Monday following the transmission. 1-A. Applicability of subsection 1. Subsection 1 applies to an intercepted oral communication or wire communication for which: A. The sender or recipient of the communication was, at the time the communication was made, a resident in either a jail or an adult or juvenile correctional facility administered by the Department of Corrections and the other party was an attorney; and B. The resident under paragraph A demonstrates that the jail or correctional facility: (1) For an oral communication, had actual or constructive notice of the attorney's name at the time the communication was made; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 (2) Had actual or constructive notice of the attorney's name and telephone number at the time the communication was made, if the communication involved the use of a telephone and the communication was made directly to or from the attorney's telephone number; or (3) Had actual or constructive notice of the attorney's name and e-mail address at the time the communication was made or intercepted, if the communication involved the use of e-mail and the communication was made directly to or from the attorney's e-mail address. 1-B. Constructive notice. For purposes of this section, the inclusion of an attorney's name, telephone number or e-mail address on a list transmitted by the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services pursuant to Title 4, section 1804, subsection 3, paragraph P to a sheriff's office or to the Department of Corrections constitutes constructive notice of the name, telephone number or e-mail address to a jail in the same county as the sheriff's office or to all correctional facilities administered by the Department of Corrections, respectively, beginning on the Monday following the transmission. 2. Application of other law or rule. This section does not limit the applicability of any other provision of law or of the Maine Rules of Evidence regarding the admissibility or inadmissibility in evidence of attorney-client communications that do not meet the requirements of this section. Sec. 5. 34-A MRSA §1208, sub-§8, as enacted by PL 2023, c. 394, Pt. A, §13, is amended to read: 8. Standards regarding attorney-client communications. The commissioner shall establish mandatory standards: A. By January 1, 2024, for For the protection of confidential attorney-client communications by each county and municipal detention facility. The standards must include, at a minimum: (1) Processes to protect and ensure confidentiality of attorney-client communications, including but not limited to requirements that each facility develop and maintain a registry of the names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact information for attorneys who provide legal services to residents of the facility and that the attorneys' names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact information on the registry are confidential, except that each facility must proactively and by request of the attorney or the attorney's client who is a resident of the facility confirm the registration of an attorney's name, telephone number, e-mail address and other contact information; and (2) Processes to be followed in the event that there is a breach of attorney-client confidentiality; and B. By January 1, 2024, requiring Requiring each county and municipal detention facility to designate space within the facility for attorney-client meetings and the exchange of case materials and to make that space available to residents of the facility and their attorneys on a timely basis. Sec. 6. 34-A MRSA §1402, sub-§14, as enacted by PL 2023, c. 394, Pt. A, §14, is amended to read: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 28 29 29 30 30 31 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 14. Standards regarding attorney-client communications. The commissioner shall establish mandatory standards: A. By January 1, 2024, for For the protection of confidential attorney-client communications by each correctional facility. The standards must include, at a minimum: (1) Processes to protect and ensure confidentiality of attorney-client communications, including but not limited to requirements that each correctional facility develop and maintain a registry of the names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact information for attorneys who provide legal services to persons who are residents of the correctional facility and that the attorneys' names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact information on the registry are confidential, except that each correctional facility must proactively and by request of the attorney or the attorney's client confirm the registration of an attorney's name, telephone number, e-mail address and other contact information; and (2) Processes to be followed in the event that there is a breach of attorney-client confidentiality; and B. By January 1, 2024, requiring Requiring each correctional facility to designate space within the correctional facility for attorney-client meetings and the exchange of case materials and to make that space available to residents of the correctional facility and their attorneys on a timely basis. SUMMARY Public Law 2023, chapter 394 specified the consequences for the interception of an oral or wire communication, including a telephone call, between a person residing in either a jail or in an adult or juvenile correctional facility and an attorney; these communications are confidential. This bill extends those consequences to an intercepted attorney-client email communication if the resident can show that the jail or correctional facility had actual or constructive notice at the time the e-mail communication was made or intercepted of the attorney's name and the attorney's e-mail address and if the communication was made directly to or from that e-mail address. Similar to Public Law 2023, chapter 394, the bill provides that: 1. The contents and existence of the communication are not admissible in a criminal proceeding, including a post-conviction review proceeding; 2. A person who viewed, listened to or read the communication and did not immediately discontinue doing so as soon as the person had sufficient information to determine that the communication was protected by attorney-client privilege is disqualified from participating in an investigation of the resident and from appearing as a witness in a criminal proceeding in which the resident is a defendant, including a post-conviction review proceeding; and 3. A person who viewed, listened to or read the intercepted communication and saw, heard or read information that may be relevant to a pending or anticipated charge against the resident or a defense the resident may assert, or that may lead to the discovery of that evidence, is disqualified from participating in an investigation of the resident or appearing 44 as a witness in the pending or anticipated criminal proceeding in which the resident is a 1 46 anticipated criminal proceeding. 3 45 defendant, including a subsequent post-conviction review proceeding on the pending or 2 4 The bill also makes technical changes to remove previously expired deadlines.
Trend Micro Announces Strong First Quarter Results Enterprise business achieves nearly 30-percent growth globally, with US and Europe leading revenue growth. Trend Micro net sales in yen increase by 12 percent year over year Tokyo, Japan – April 26, 2007 – Trend Micro, Incorporated (TSE: 4704, NASDAQ: TMIC), a leader in network antivirus and Internet content security software and services, today announced earnings results for the first quarter 2007, including record net sales for the first quarter 2007. Trend Micro posted consolidated net sales of 23.25 billion Yen (or US $194.95 million, 119.27JPY = 1USD), and operating income and net income both performed above expectations. The company posted operating income of 6.63 billion Yen (or US $55.57 million) and net income of 4.35 billion Yen (or US $36.45 million) for the quarter. These figures reflect 12 percent growth in net sales compared to the same period a year ago. The Company continued to see strong growth, led by a 20-percent year-over-year revenue increase in North America and 14-percent in Europe, this was followed by Asia Pacific and Japan at 10-percent and 6-percent growth respectively. Much of the company's worldwide growth was buoyed by strong sales in Enterprise solutions, which experienced a 29-percent increase year-over-year. Long-term growth was further supported with the introduction of a number of new solutions and services, and ground-breaking, new Total Web Threat Protection technology. Trend Micro launched a new messaging security service for enterprise customers, InterScan Messaging Hosted Service. The Company also launched the beta version of a new consumer web-reputation service called TrendProtect, in March 2007 and announced the acquisition of HijackThis, a popular freeware anti-spyware program now available on TrendSecure that enables technically savvy users to identify and remove unwanted and malicious programs. "We were very pleased with our achievements in the first quarter of 2007, and particularly note the introduction of our Total Web Threat Protection technology which helps advance the preventative security available to customers against pernicious web threats, today and tomorrow," said Eva Chen, CEO of Trend Micro. "We delivered a number of new messaging-protection, small-medium business and mobile device solutions for both businesses and consumers, and the acquisition of HijackThis extends our ability to provide value-add services to end-users everywhere. Our steadfast focus on content security continues to support our potential for growth now and in the future." Based on information currently available to the company, consolidated net sales for the second quarter ending June 30, 2007 is expected to be 22.5 billion Yen (or US $192.31 million, based on an exchange rate of 117JPY = 1USD). Operating income and net income are expected to be 5.3 billion Yen (or US $45.30 million) and 3.0 billion Yen (or US $25.64 million), respectively. Growth rate figures are calculated from Japanese Yen results. Some discrepancy may therefore be noted in US Dollar comparisons owing to fluctuations in currency conversion rates. First Quarter Business Highlights Corporate * In March 2007, Trend Micro announced state-of-the-art Web threat protection technology. New in-the-cloud Trend Micro Web Reputation technology is a key new innovation being added to the Trend Micro multi-layered approach for dealing with evolving multi-component Web threats that take advantage of the interactive nature of the Internet. Total Web Threat Protection is a key component within the Trend Micro Secure Content & Threat Management security solutions portfolio. * Following closely the certification awarded to Trend Micro consumer products in the previous quarter, Trend Micro Client Server Messaging Security 3.6 client was awarded Microsoft Vista logo certification in March 2007. * New customers in the first quarter included: In the United States and Canada – BJC Healthcare. In Europe - RDC DATACENTRUM, ICT Center Justice department, and in China – TCL Group, DongFeng Automobile Co., LTD., China Mobile & Telecom Company FUJIAN Co., Ltd, China NETCOM(Group)Company Limited Beijing Branch and China Mobile Company HEBEI Branch Awards * At the beginning of March 2007, Channel Reseller News in North America announced the winners of its CRN 2007 Channel Champions. Trend Micro earned a Channel Champs award for Program & Support in the Client Security Software category. * At the end of March 2007, TechTarget's Information Security Magazine and SearchSecurity.com announced that Trend Micro AntiVirus plus AntiSpyware had been awarded the Information Security Readers Choice Silver Award in the Antimalware category. Patents Trend Micro was awarded the following patents in the first quarter 2007: * U.S. Patent No. 7,188,369, entitled " System and Method Having an Antivirus Virtual Scanning Processor with Plug-in Functionalities" covers a computer processor emulator that enables virus detection instructions to be safely performed in a virtual environment without exposing virus infection to the host computer. According to a specific example of the patented technology, the virtual processor allows polymorphic viruses and compressed viruses to be safely decrypted and uncompressed, respectively, eliminating the need to determine the actual encryption or compression algorithm. This is particularly advantageous as viruses use encryption and compression schemes that are new and more complex. Product Trend Micro introduced the following products in the first quarter 2007: * Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Hosted Service, Trend Micro Messaging Security Suite and Trend Micro InterScan Messaging Security Appliance, designed to provide enterprises a choice of solution form factor and to extend the security already available to protect corporate email as messaging threats evolve. * Trend Micro ScanMail for Exchange – the latest version of ScanMail for Exchange continues to provide businesses proven protection against a multitude of email-borne threats. The solution now also includes technology to protect against zero-day attacks, image spam, and for improved web-threat security it includes dedicated anti-spyware as well. * Trend Micro Worry-Free Security for small and medium-sized businesses – updates to Trend Micro Worry-Free security solutions include the addition of spyware and rootkit protection, further enhancing the comprehensive, single-installation security products already available for smaller organizations. * TrendProtect and HijackThis – The acquisition of popular freeware anti-spyware tool HijackThis complemented the launch of the beta version of TrendProtect, a new web-reputation service for consumers available at www.trendsecure.com. * Trend Micro Mobile Security 3.0 - The release of the latest version of Trend Micro Mobile Security protects users of the latest Nokia Smartphones against mobile malware while protecting against unwanted intrusions and data leakage through new firewall and intrusion detection technologies. Notice Regarding Forward-looking Statements Certain statements that we make in this release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon management's current assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it, but involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Many important factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in our forwardlooking statements. These factors include: - Difficulties in addressing new virus and other computer security problems - Timing of new product introductions and lack of market acceptance for our new products - The level of continuing demand for, and timing of sales of, our existing products - Rapid technological change within the antivirus software industry - Changes in customer needs for antivirus software - Existing products and new product introductions by our competitors and the pricing of those products - Declining prices for products and services - The effect of future acquisitions on our financial condition and results of operations - The effect of adverse economic trends on our principal markets - The effect of foreign exchange fluctuations on our results of operations - An increase in the incidence of product returns - The potential lack of attractive investment targets and - Difficulties in successfully executing our investment strategy We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For more details regarding risk factors relating to our future performance, please refer to our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. About Trend Micro Incorporated. Trend Micro Incorporated is a pioneer in secure content and threat management. Founded in 1988, Trend Micro provides individuals and organizations of all sizes with award-winning security software, hardware and services. With headquarters in Tokyo and operations in more than 30 countries, Trend Micro solutions are sold through corporate and value-added resellers and service providers worldwide. For additional information and evaluation copies of Trend Micro products and services, visit our Web site at www.trendmicro.com . Supplementary Information 1. Consolidated Unaudited Results of Operations for First Quarter Ending March 31, 2007 (US GAAP) *Figures for the First quarter of 2007 and 2006 are not audited. (1) Consolidated Results of Operations \| \| FY2007 \| FY2006 \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Current first quarter From January 1, 2007 To March 31, 2007 \| Previous first quarter From January 1, 2006 To March 31, 2006 \| Growth Rate \| \| Net sales Cost of sales Operating expenses Operating income Other income (expenses) Net income before taxes Income taxes Minority interest in income of consolidated subsidiaries Equity in earnings of affiliated companies Net income \| Millions of yen 23,252 4,429 12,195 \| Millions of yen 20,778 3,679 8,570 \| % 11.9 20.4 42.3 \| \| \| 6,628 883 \| 8,529 348 \| (22.3) 153.4 \| \| \| 7,511 3,185 0 21 \| 8,877 3,710 0 (22) \| (15.4) (14.1) (69.5) (196.1) \| \| \| 4,347 \| 5,145 \| (15.5) \| (2) Segment information Net sales to third parties \| \| FY2007 \| \|---\|---\| \| \| Current first quarter From January 1, 2007 To March 31,2007 \| \| Japan North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America \| Millions of yen 8,538 5,788 5,825 2,379 722 \| Deferred Revenue \| \| FY2007 \| FY2006 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| As of March 31,2007 \| As of March 31,2006 \| \| Japan North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America \| Millions of yen 22,904 15,960 12,849 3,966 1,507 \| Millions of yen 18,350 9,878 9,507 2,819 1,324 \| \| Total \| 57,186 \| 41,878 \| <Note> Classification of countries and regions into each segment. North America: U.S.A. Europe: Italy, Germany, France, UK, Ireland Asia Pacific: Taiwan, Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, China, Singapore, Thailand, India Latin America: Brazil, Mexico (3) Basis of consolidation The number of consolidated subsidiaries 19 (19 in overseas) The number of unconsolidated subsidiaries － (4) Increase (Decrease) of major assets, liabilities and shareholders' equity \| \| As of March 31, 2007 \| Increase (Decrease) \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| (Assets) Cash and cash equivalents Notes and accounts receivable, trade -less allowance for doubtful accounts and sales returns Marketable securities and securities investments Goodwill (Liabilities) Deferred revenue (Total of current and long term) (Minority interest) Minority interest in consolidated subsidiaries (Shareholders’ equity) Treasury stock \| Millions of yen 67,219 20,405 42,273 2,957 57,186 9 (15,651) \| Millions of yen (8,978) 481 633 (26) 4,411 2 (1,484) \| 2. Projected consolidated earnings (US GAAP) Projected earnings for the next quarter (April 1, 2007 through June 30, 2007) \| \| Net sales \| Operating income \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 2nd Qtr \| Millions of yen 22,500 \| Millions of yen 5,300 \| (Note) Since the business environment surrounding Trend Micro Group tends to fluctuate in the short run, it is difficult to make the highly reliable projection figures on a yearly basis. We, therefore, decided to announce the earnings on a quarterly basis in the fiscal year ending in December 2007 as well as earnings projection of the succeeding quarter. If we found through our calculation conducted from time to time that the net sales fluctuate from the most recent quarterly projection by more than 10%, or operating income or net income fluctuates by more than 30%, we will announce the revision of the earnings projection.
Contents lists available atScienceDirect Environmental Modelling & Software journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envsoft Evolutionary algorithm enhancement for model predictive control and real-time decision support * Andrea Zimmer a , * , Arthur Schmidt a , Avi Ostfeld b , Barbara Minsker a a Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States b Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion e Israel Institute of Technology, Israel Article history: Received 29 March 2014 Received in revised form 18 February 2015 Accepted 5 March 2015 Available online 7 April 2015 Keywords: Model predictive control Real-time Decision support Genetic algorithms Effective decision support and model predictive control of real-time environmental systems require that evolutionary algorithms operate more efﬁciently. A suite of model predictive control (MPC) genetic algorithms are developed and tested ofﬂine to explore their value for reducing combined sewer overﬂow (CSO) volumes during real-time use in a deep-tunnel sewer system. MPC approaches include the microGA, the probability-based compact GA, and domain-speciﬁc GA methods that reduce the number of decision variable values analyzed within the sewer hydraulic model, thus reducing algorithm search space. Minimum ﬁtness and constraint values achieved by all GA approaches, as well as computational times required to reach the minimum values, are compared to large population sizes with long convergence times. Optimization results for a subset of the Chicago combined sewer system indicate that genetic algorithm variations with a coarse decision variable representation, eventually transitioning to the entire range of decision variable values, are best suited to address the CSO control problem. Although diversity-enhancing micro-GAs evaluate a larger search space and exhibit shorter convergence times, these representations do not reach minimum ﬁtness and constraint values. The domain-speciﬁc GAs prove to be the most efﬁcient for this case study. Further MPC algorithm developments are suggested to continue advancing computational performance of this important class of problems with dynamic strategies that evolve as the external constraint conditions change. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction With increasing availability of data and information in near-real time, computationally efﬁcient model predictive control (MPC) algorithms are needed to improve real-time management of largescale, dynamic environmental systems (Maier et al., 2014). MPC (or receding horizon control) involves forecasting the future state of the system for an operational decision window and using a timevarying objective function to identify optimal solutions for the next decision window (Jin and Branke, 2005). This work focuses on a suite of genetic algorithm (GA) MPC approaches and tests their performance in optimizing hydraulics of combined sewer systems, which change rapidly due to shifts in rainfall and their forecasts. In pursuing these objectives, this work also presents new * Thematic Issue on the Evolutionary Algorithms. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: email@example.com (A. Zimmer). modiﬁcations to genetic algorithms that reduce the search space of the problem in order to improve computational efﬁciency. Genetic algorithms (Holland, 1975; Goldberg, 1989) are search techniques that identify optimal or near-optimal solutions using operations analogous to natural selection with a population of chromosomes; each chromosome represents a possible solution. Genetic algorithm evolution is based on assembling building blocks, or components, of good solutions (Goldberg, 2002). A GA is implicitly parallel (Goldberg, 1989) because within a population, the GA can process many of these building blocks at the same time. Several different blocks can remain in solution that each represent a subset of a good solution; over time these building blocks are combined into the optimal solution. As a result of utilizing building blocks, GAs prove more efﬁcient than enumeration algorithms (Goldberg, 2002) and avoid the curse of dimensionality encountered in dynamic programming (Michalewicz et al., 1992). Genetic algorithms undergo probability-based selection; the likelihood of an individual to undergo reproduction is a function of its ﬁtness (Goldberg, 1989; Cai et al., 2001). Goldberg (1989) asserts that due to inclusion of crossover, the GA does better than hill-climbing, or local search through incremental changes to the solution. Genetic algorithms are beneﬁcial for solving environmental problems due to their ability to solve nonlinear and discontinuous optimization problems for which gradient-based methods can ﬁnd only locally optimal solutions (Celeste et al., 2004; Nicklow et al., 2010). GAs also have extensive theory to support effective parameterization (Reed et al., 2000; Minsker, 2005), are easy to connect with nonlinear physics-based models, and are widely used. Note that other evolutionary algorithms and non-population based methods could also be used to account for non-linearity within an optimization framework. GAs have been implemented within MPC frameworks for several environmental applications. Muleta and Nicklow (2005) coupled a genetic algorithm and MPC within the United States Department of Agriculture's Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model and an artiﬁcial neural network (ANN) to determine optimal crop types for a 3-year planning horizon. Dhar and Datta (2007) minimized the deviation between target and actual reservoir levels in order to control downstream water quality. Celeste et al. (2004) also used GA MPC to optimize reservoir operation releases, while Rauch and Harremoes (1999) applied GA MPC to maximize the mean dissolved oxygen concentration below an urban wastewater system. Additional work has applied GA MPC to a wide range of studies outside the environmental ﬁeld: operation of an autonomous underwater vehicle (Naeem et al., 2005), a laboratory fermenter (Onnen et al., 1997), and real-time trafﬁc control signals (Lee et al., 2005; Memon and Bullen, 1996). Hu and Chen (2005) apply GA MPC for aircraft arrival sequencing and scheduling. During MPC, a strategy for the decision (in this case also the forecast) horizon is developed using the simulation model during the ﬁrst time interval. The ﬁrst interval of that optimized strategy is implemented while a new forecast is obtained and the next strategy is found. Although MPC approaches offer signiﬁcant advantage for enabling near-real-time control, the computational demands of applying heuristic algorithms such as GAs using an MPC approach can be daunting, particularly for complex non-linear problems such as combined sewer overﬂow (CSO) control. To address this problem, a suite of model predictive control genetic algorithms are developed in this work and tested ofﬂine to explore their value for reducing computational time to minimize CSO volumes in near-real time. The MPC algorithms assign sluice gate positions and pumping rates that minimize CSO ﬂows and limit high ﬂows that lead to hydraulic instabilities during spatially and temporally variable storm events using a numerical hydraulic model. This paper explores how MPC GAs computational performance can be improved, as recommended by Maier et al. (2014). Performance is improved by limiting ﬁtness evaluations using the following algorithmic approaches: the micro-GA (Krishnakumar, 1989; Pico and Wainwright, 1994; Coello and Pulido, 2001), the probability-based compact GA (Mininno et al., 2008), memory enhancements speciﬁc to MPC (Onnen et al., 1997), and domainspeciﬁc methods that reduce the number of decision variables values. The latter approaches were inspired by multiscale GAs developed by Babbar and Minsker (2006) and Sinha and Minsker (2007) and noted by Maier et al. (2014) as important to reducing the search space. All new GA approaches are compared to simple genetic algorithms with larger population sizes determined by GA theory (Reed et al., 2000; Minsker, 2005). The algorithms are tested on a hydraulic model that simulates ﬂow in a portion of the Chicago combined sewer system and deep tunnel along the northern portion of the Chicago River. The ﬁtness, or objective function value, of a chromosome (set of decision variable values, or real-coded genes) is computed using a hydraulic simulation model (Storage Routing Model, SRM; Zimmer et al., 2013). 2. Case study This section presents the location of the case study in Chicago where the MPC GA algorithms were tested and information on the storm event used for comparing the algorithms. 2.1. Case study description The GA MPC algorithms were tested on a portion of the Chicago combined sewer and interceptor system shown in Fig. 1. This section of the system ﬂows to a deep tunnel directly under the North Branch of the Chicago River, which spans approximately eight miles to its junction with the Mainstream system, from which the discharge ﬂows south. Fig. 1 portrays the vertical relationships between the components of three sequential dropshafts (CS-N08, CS-N05, and CS-N02) on the southern portion of the North Branch channel, which are the focus of the optimization, as they link the interceptor and deep tunnel sewers. North Branch interceptor carries overland and sanitary sewer ﬂows downstream (to the right in Fig.1), connects to the northward ﬂowing Mainstream interceptors, and then continues north to a pumping station and wastewater treatment plant. This connection is shown as the "Pumping Station Boundary" in Fig. 1. If conduit water levels get sufﬁciently high as a result of high water inﬂows and low pumping rates, water ﬂows over weirs (N02, N05, and N08 in Fig. 1) and towards connecting structures. At the connecting structures, ﬂow splits between a sluice gate to the deep tunnel and a CSO point. Sluice gate closures cause water levels to back up and ﬂow to the CSO structure, and thus are critical to the instigation of overﬂows. Flows that go to the deep tunnel are captured in downstream reservoirs and then later pumped to treatment plants. In this study, most of the Mainstream system is not included in the numerical SRM simulation in order to reduce computational effort for testing many GA conﬁgurations. The link between the smaller sub-system and the larger tunnel system is modeled through deep tunnel boundary conditions, depicted in the inset of Fig. 2. Deep tunnel boundary conditions must be deﬁned for ﬂow coming from upstream as well as water levels in the deep tunnel and downstream of the North Branch interceptor. Upstream ﬂow into the North Branch tunnel, as well as water levels at the intersection of the North Branch and Mainstream tunnels, are interpolated from the results of ofﬂine simulations (prior to optimization) using SWMM 5.0 (Rossman, 2010) for the entire TARP deep tunnel system. EPA SWMM 5.0 in this case is used to simulate the effects of the changing boundary conditions and data. In this way, SWMM emulates the effects of a real-life case in which boundary conditions would be known; it is simply used as an "update" as would any observed conditions from this model. This approach was needed because of the lack of data on actual boundary conditions in the Chicago system; ideally a real-time implementation of the approach would use measured data at the boundaries instead. The graph in Fig. 2 shows the logarithmic interpolation function that is used to interpolate Mainstream tunnel water elevation as a function of ﬂow rate calculated (through optimized decisions) to enter the junction. The interpolation is done between ﬂow points 2 and 1; point 2 represents a limiting low ﬂow condition in which no ﬂow arrives from dropshafts DSN02, DSN05, and DSN08. Point 1 in Fig. 2 represents the limiting high ﬂow condition in which maximum (fully opened gate) ﬂow occurs into the tunnel from DSN02, DSN05, and DSN08. The actual water surface elevation will be somewhere between these two points; coefﬁcients A and B in Fig. 2 are adjusted for the maximum and minimum modeled ﬂow rate and tunnel water elevation estimated by SWMM for each time step.
Unique Device Identification: Convenience Kits Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff DRAFT GUIDANCE This draft guidance document is being distributed for comment purposes only. Document issued on January 4, 2016. You should submit comments and suggestions regarding this draft document within 90 days of publication in the Federal Register of the notice announcing the availability of the draft guidance. Submit electronic comments to http://www.regulations.gov. Submit written comments to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Identify all comments with the docket number listed in the notice of availability that publishes in the Federal Register. For questions for the Center for Devices and Radiological Health regarding this document contact UDI Regulatory Policy Support, 301-796-5995, email: firstname.lastname@example.org. For questions for the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research regarding this document, contact the Office of Communication, Outreach and Development at 1-800-335-4709 or 240402-7800, email: email@example.com. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Preface Public Comment You may submit electronic comments and suggestions at any time for Agency consideration to http://www.regulations.gov. Submit written comments to the Division of Dockets Management, Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, (HFA-305), Rockville, MD 20852. Identify all comments with the docket number listed in the notice of availability that publishes in the Federal Register. Additional Copies CDRH Additional copies are available from the Internet. You may also send an e-mail request to firstname.lastname@example.org to receive a copy of the draft guidance. Please use the document number 1500010 to identify the guidance you are requesting. CBER Additional copies of this draft guidance document are also available from the: Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Office of Communication, Outreach and Development, 10903 New Hampshire Ave, Bldg. 71, Room 3128 Silver Spring, MD 20993, or by calling 1-800-835-4709 or 240-402-7800, by email email@example.com, or from the Internet at http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInform ation/default.htm. Table of Contents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Contains Nonbinding Recommendations Draft - Not for Implementation Unique Device Identification: Convenience Kits Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff This draft guidance, when finalized, will represent the current thinking of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) on this topic. It does not establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA or the public. You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations. To discuss an alternative approach, contact the FDA staff or Office responsible for this guidance as listed on the title page. I. Introduction On September 24, 2013, FDA published a final rule establishing a unique device identification system, including unique device identifier (UDI) labeling and data submission requirements (78 FR 58786) (the UDI Rule). Generally, under 21 CFR 801.20, the label and device package of a device must bear a UDI; 21 CFR 801.30 provides exceptions to this requirement. Under 21 CFR 801.30(a)(11), devices packaged within the immediate container of a convenience kit are excepted from UDI labeling requirements, provided that the label of the convenience kit bears a UDI. This draft guidance document is intended to outline the agency's proposed thinking that "convenience kit", as defined by 21 CFR 801.3, applies solely to two or more different medical devices packaged together for the convenience of the user where they are intended to remain packaged together and not replaced, substituted, repackaged, sterilized, or otherwise processed or modified before the devices are used by an end user. This position would constitute a change in policy. Throughout this guidance document, the terms "we," "us" and "our" refer to FDA staff from the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) and the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). "You" and "your" refers to the labeler, as that term is defined in 21 CFR 801.3. Any terms defined within this draft guidance are limited in their application to this draft 38 guidance document and the UDI regulations only and are not intended to be applied in any 39 context beyond the UDI regulations and policies pertaining to the unique device 40 identification system. This draft guidance is not intended to define the term "convenience 41 1 kit" for other regulatory purposes. Further, this guidance is in no way intended to suggest 42 that compliance solely with the requirements of the UDI Rule eliminates the need to comply 43 with any other applicable requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C 44 Act), its implementing regulations, or policies implemented thereunder. 45 46 FDA's guidance documents, including this draft guidance, do not establish legally 47 enforceable responsibilities. Instead, guidances describe the Agency's current thinking on a 48 topic and should be viewed only as recommendations, unless specific regulatory or statutory 49 requirements are cited. The use of the word should in Agency guidance means that 50 something is suggested or recommended, but not required. 51 II. Background 52 53 Section 226 of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA) and 54 section 614 of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) 55 amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) to add and amend section 56 519(f) (21 USC 360i(f)), which directs FDA to publish regulations establishing a unique 57 device identification system for medical devices. On September 24, 2013, FDA published a 58 final rule establishing a unique device identification system (the UDI Rule) (78 FR 58786). 59 The UDI Rule requires labelers to comply with UDI labeling and data submission 60 requirements, including that the label and each device package of a medical device 61 distributed in the United States bear a UDI, unless an exception or alternative applies. 62 63 Under 21 CFR 801.30(a)(11), individual devices packaged within a convenience kit are 64 excepted from the UDI labeling requirements of 21 CFR 801.20, provided that a UDI is on 65 the label of the immediate container of the convenience kit. The term "convenience kit" is 66 defined at 21 CFR 801.3 as "two or more different medical devices packaged together for the 67 convenience of the user." 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 The preamble to the UDI Rule expressed our thinking at the time that medical procedure kits, including orthopedic procedure kits, are convenience kits. Some medical procedure sets consist of hundreds of implants and reusable instruments on numerous trays configured specifically to the requirements of the surgeon and individual surgical procedure. Only a few of the individual implants in each kit may be selected for implantation. After the procedure, the kits are replenished with different implants, replacing those used during the procedure. 1 For example, the term "convenience kit" as used in this draft guidance document is not intended to be applied in interpreting the May 20, 1997, guidance entitled "Convenience Kits Interim Regulatory Guidance" (http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuidance/GuidanceDocuments/ucm080216.htm ). In addition, this draft guidance is not intended to apply to "medical convenience kit" as that term is used in 21 USC 360eee or 21 USC 353. The trays, including the replacement implants, the implants not chosen for surgical use, and 76 the reusable instruments, are sterilized for subsequent configuration and use. An individual 77 implant may undergo this process repeatedly for months or years before implantation. Since 78 the publication of the UDI Rule, we have determined that interpreting the term "convenience 79 kit" to include implantable devices and instruments that are provided by the labeler in sets or 80 trays as non-sterile and repeatedly reconfigured and sterilized (or cleaned and sterilized) 81 prior to use would be inconsistent with the purpose of the exceptions at 21 CFR 801.30 and 82 UDI Rule generally, for the reasons discussed below. 83 84 The overarching objective of the UDI Rule, as required by section 519(f) of the FD&C Act, 85 is to provide a system to adequately identify medical devices through distribution and use. 86 We interpret this to mean that the form of a UDI should, in conformity with 21 CFR 801.40, 87 be available to identify a device in both easily readable plain-text and in a form that can be 88 entered into an electronic patient record or other computer system via an automated process 89 when the device is used by an end user. The term "end user" means the individual using the 90 device on or on behalf of a patient (e.g., the patient, a caregiver, healthcare practitioner, or 91 clinical laboratory technologist). FDA included exceptions to UDI requirements at 21 CFR 92 801.30 "to make the overall UDI system more efficient and to ensure that the burdens 93 imposed by the UDI system are reasonably balanced with its benefits." (77 FR 40749). 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 Interpreting "convenience kit" in 21 CFR 801.3 as applying solely to devices packaged together for the convenience of the user where they are intended to remain packaged together and not replaced, substituted, repackaged, sterilized, or otherwise processed or modified before the devices are used by an end user fulfills these purposes. Where the kit is not intended to be altered prior to use, for example by processing or replacing devices therein, the UDI on the label of the immediate container of the convenience kit serves to adequately identify the devices through distribution and use. The UDI on the label of the immediate container of the convenience kit follows the group of devices until end use; there is no need for additional UDIs on the devices inside the kit. Conversely, excepting from UDI labeling and data submission requirements devices packaged together for the convenience of the user where they are not intended to remain packaged together and/or are intended to be replaced, substituted, repackaged, sterilized, or otherwise processed or modified before the devices are used by an end user does not fulfill the purpose of the exceptions at 21 CFR 801.30 or the UDI Rule generally. The UDI on the label of the immediate container of the kit may not follow the group of devices until end use, and devices originally contained in the kit may be intended to be replaced. Such an exception would not adequately identify medical devices through distribution and use. 114 FDA believes that there are significant benefits to requiring UDIs on devices included in 115 medical procedure kits, such as more rapid identification of adverse events and more rapid, 116 more efficient resolution of device recalls involving these devices. Further, requiring UDIs 117 on devices included in medical procedure kits will adequately identify these devices 118 throughout distribution and use, furthering the main objective of the UDI Rule as required by 119 section 519(f) of the FD&C Act. FDA expects that this interpretation may also provide 120 additional benefits such as inventory management and the detection of counterfeit devices. 121 122 The preamble to the UDI Rule noted that some comments to the proposed rule were 123 concerned that applying UDI requirements to medical procedure kits would require changes 124 in the way medical procedure kits are assembled and packaged, which could interfere with 125 sterilization processes and the use of the medical procedure kit. FDA believes that the 126 interpretation of "convenience kit" at 21 CFR 801.3, as proposed in this draft guidance, 127 generally would not interfere with the sterilization or use of medical procedure kits. With 128 respect to the direct marking requirement at 21 CFR 801.45, this requirement applies to 129 devices that are intended to be used more than once and intended to be reprocessed before 130 each use, which includes sterilization. 2 This requirement contemplates that direct marking of 131 UDIs generally will not interfere with these devices' sterilization, and if it would interfere 132 with the safety or effectiveness of the device, the exception at 21 CFR 801.45(d)(1) would 133 apply. With respect to the requirement that the label and each device package bear a UDI, 134 applying this to devices included in medical procedure kits generally would not necessitate 135 changes to the way convenience kits are assembled and packaged to avoid interference with 136 sterilization processes or the use of the kit. Even in cases that may require such changes, 137 FDA believes that the benefits, as discussed above, would outweigh any burdens associated 138 with this change in interpretation of "convenience kit" at 21 CFR 801.3. 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 In this draft guidance, FDA proposes to interpret the term "convenience kit" at 21 CFR 801.3 as applying solely to two or more different medical devices packaged together for the convenience of the user where they are intended to remain packaged together and the individual devices within the package not replaced, substituted, repackaged, sterilized, or otherwise processed or modified before the devices are used by an end user. III. Convenience Kits A. Definition 149 For the purposes of UDI compliance, we interpret the term "convenience kit" at 21 CFR 150 801.3 solely to apply to two or more different medical devices packaged together for the 151 convenience of the user where they are intended to remain packaged together and not 152 replaced, substituted, repackaged, sterilized, or otherwise processed or modified before the 153 devices are used by an end user. 154 155 While the term "packaged together" is not defined by the UDI Rule, we interpret it to mean 156 packed (i.e., wrapped or sealed) in a single container that is not intended to be unwrapped or 157 unsealed before it is used by an end user. The end user is the individual using the device on 158 or on behalf of a patient, e.g., the patient, a caregiver, healthcare practitioner, or clinical 159 2 We also encourage affixing a UDI permanently on devices even when not required . laboratory technologist. For example, in the case of implants, the implant would be used by 160 an end user, likely a healthcare practitioner, at the point of implantation in a patient. 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 This draft guidance is intended to define the term "convenience kit" for purposes of compliance with UDI labeling and data submission requirements only. B. Examples Example 1: First aid kit – convenience kit A first aid kit sold at retail in a sealed plastic case that contains medical devices including bandages, cold compresses, scissors, and an oral thermometer is a convenience kit for the purposes of UDI compliance because it contains two or more different medical devices that are packaged together for the convenience of the user and intended to remain packaged together and not replaced, substituted, repackaged, sterilized or otherwise processed or modified before being used by an end user. Therefore, the label of each individual device within the container is not required to bear a UDI, provided that a UDI is available on the label affixed to the immediate container of the kit. Example 2: Non-sterile orthopedic device tray or set – not a convenience kit An orthopedic device tray or set, sold or consigned, comprises non-sterile implants and reusable instruments. These devices are not intended to remain packaged together; rather, they are intended to be removed from their packaging before being placed in trays for a surgical procedure and sterilized prior to use, with the trays regularly reassembled and restocked for subsequent surgical procedures. This tray or set is not a convenience kit for the purposes of UDI compliance because the devices within the tray or set are intended to be removed from their original packaging and sterilized before use by an end user, i.e., prior to the point of implantation. Therefore, each device in the tray or set should comply with all applicable UDI labeling and data submission requirements. For example, each implant will need a UDI available for capture at point of implantation, and each instrument that is intended to be used more than once and intended to be reprocessed before each use will need to comply with the direct marking requirements of 21 CFR 801.45. Example 3: ACL disposable kit – convenience kit An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) disposable kit comprises sterile, single use instruments such as guide wires, drill tip guide pins, tunnel plugs, and graft passer that are used for ACL reconstruction procedures and are packaged and sealed in a single container. The container is intended to remain sealed until the contents are about to be used on a patient. The contents are used for a single procedure and the remainder of the contents of the container is then disposed, whether or not all the devices were used, because sterility has been compromised. This is a convenience kit for the purposes of UDI compliance because the container 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 Contains Nonbinding Recommendations Draft - Not for Implementation comprises two or more different devices packaged for the convenience of the user where they are intended to remain packaged together and the individual devices within the package not replaced, substituted, repackaged, sterilized, or otherwise processed or modified before the devices are used by an end user. Therefore, the label of each individual device within the immediate container is not required to bear a UDI, provided that a UDI is available on the label affixed to the immediate container of the kit . Example 4: Reusable medical devices packaged together – not a convenience kit Two different reusable surgical instruments are shipped in a single package. Per instructions for use, the package is opened and the instruments are sterilized before use on a patient. The package is not a convenience kit for the purposes of UDI compliance because the instruments are not intended to remain packaged together and each is intended to be sterilized before it is used by an end user Therefore, each instrument will need to comply with all applicable UDI labeling and data submission requirements. For example, each instrument that is intended to be used more than once and intended to be reprocessed before each use will need to comply with the direct marking requirements of 21 CFR 801.45. C. Questions and Answers 1. To be considered a convenience kit for UDI purposes, should all of the devices within a container be finished devices? Yes. We interpret "medical devices" in the definition of "convenience kit" at 21 CFR 801.3 ("two or more different medical devices packaged together for the convenience of the user") to mean finished devices and not device components. Finished devices are defined by 21 CFR 801.3 as "any device or accessory to any device that is suitable for use or capable of functioning," in contrast to components, defined by 21 CFR 820.3(c) as "any raw material, substance, piece, part, software, firmware, labeling, or assembly which is intended to be included as part of the finished, packaged, and labeled device." Components packaged together for assembly would not be packaged together for the convenience of the user. While a container of device components intended to be assembled into a single device may be considered a single device requiring a UDI (that is, a UDI is required on the label of the immediate container but not on the individual components), it does not fit the definition of convenience kit for UDI requirements. 2. How much variation is allowed for different convenience kits to be identified by the same device identifier (DI)? If I substitute one component for another, will the kit need a new DI? Under 21 CFR 830.50, whenever you make a change to a device that is required to bear a UDI on its label, and the change results in a new version or model, you must assign a new DI to the new version or model. A new version or model of a convenience kit results when the change to the convenience kit requires documenting this change in the device master record. 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 Contains Nonbinding Recommendations Draft - Not for Implementation 3. If all the devices in a container are not intended to be consumed in a single use, or used at the same time, can this be a convenience kit? Yes. If devices packaged together otherwise meet the definition of a convenience kit for UDI compliance purposes, all of the contents of the kit need not be intended to be consumed in a single use or used at the same time in order to be considered a convenience kit. Example 1, above, is a convenience kit despite the fact that all the individual devices may not be intended to be consumed in a single use. In that example, the devices within the first aid kit are intended to remain packaged together and not replaced, substituted, repackaged, sterilized, or otherwise processed or modified before use by an end user. 4. If devices in a container are intended to be restocked by the labeler, would this still be a convenience kit? No. In order to be a convenience kit as defined by 21 CFR 801.3, the immediate container cannot be intended to be opened and the individual devices replaced, substituted, repackaged, sterilized, or otherwise processed or modified before being used by an end user. In Example 1 above, the devices in the first aid kit are intended remain packaged together and not replaced; although the purchaser may replace devices consumed over time, such as bandages, this replacement is not intended by the labeler to occur prior to use by an end user. 5. What production identifiers (PIs) must be included in the convenience kit UDI? The convenience kit is itself a device. The UDI of the convenience kit must include any PIs that are required by 21 CFR 801.40(b). 6. If my device meets the UDI labeling exception for a convenience kit under 21 CFR 801.30(a)(11), may I still place a UDI on individual devices or device labels in the kit? Yes. 21 CFR 801.30(a)(11) is an exception, not a requirement. You may place UDIs on devices or device labels within a convenience kit. If individual devices with UDIs on the devices or device labels are included in a convenience kit, the device identifier (DI) record for the convenience kit submitted to the Global Unique Device Identification Database (GUDID) should include the DI for the kit itself and not the DIs for the individual devices in the kit. However, the individual device DIs may be included in the Device Description. 7. Are there any special rules for creating a DI record in the GUDID for a convenience kit? When entering information in the GUDID for a convenience kit, you should check the "Kit" box. Also, if the convenience kit is packaged individually, the base device count should be "1". A Unit of Use DI is not required for each device packaged within the immediate 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 Contains Nonbinding Recommendations Draft - Not for Implementation container of the convenience kit. For more details, go to GUDID Data Elements Reference Table. 8. How do I describe the devices within the convenience kit in the GUDID? We encourage you to submit information about the convenience kit itself, as well as information about the devices packaged within the convenience kit, in the "Device Description" field of the GUDID.
CHAPTER 18 PUBLIC RECORDS AND FAIR INFORMATION PRACTICES The alcoholic beverages division hereby adopts, with the following exceptions and amendments, rules of the Governor's Task Force on Uniform Rules of Agency Procedure relating to public records and fair information practices which are printed in the first Volume of the Iowa Administrative Code. 185—18.1(123,22) Definitions. As used in this chapter: "Agency." In lieu of the words "(official or body issuing these rules)", insert "alcoholic beverages division". 185—18.3(123,22) Requests for access to records. 18.3(1) Location of record. In lieu of the words "(insert agency head)" insert "Chief, Licensing Bureau, Alcoholic Beverages Division, 1918 S.E. Hulsizer, Ankeny, Iowa 50021"; and in lieu of the words "(insert agency name and address)", insert "alcoholic beverages division at the above-stated address". 18.3(2) Office hours. In lieu of the words "(insert customary office hours and, if agency does not have customary office hours of at least thirty hours per week, insert hours specified in Iowa Code section 22.4)", insert "8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays". 18.3(7) Fees. c. Supervisory fee. In lieu of the words "(specify time period)", insert "thirty minutes". 185—18.9(123,22) Disclosures without the consent of the subject. 18.9(1) Open records are routinely disclosed without the consent of the subject. 18.9(2) To the extent allowed by law, disclosure of confidential records may occur without the consent of the subject. Following are instances where disclosure, if lawful, will generally occur without notice to the subject: a. For a routine use as defined in rule 18.10(123,22) or in any notice for a particular record system. b. To a recipient who has provided the agency with advance written assurance that the record will be used solely as a statistical research or reporting record; provided, that, the record is transferred in a form that does not identify the subject. c. To another government agency or to an instrumentality of any governmental jurisdiction within or under the control of the United States for a civil or criminal law enforcement activity if the activity is authorized by law, and if an authorized representative of such government agency or instrumentality has submitted a written request to the agency specifying the record desired and the law enforcement activity for which the record is sought. d. To an individual pursuant to a showing of compelling circumstances affecting the health or safety of any individual if a notice of the disclosure is transmitted to the last known address of the subject. e. To the legislative services agency under Iowa Code section 2A.3. f. Disclosures in the course of employee disciplinary proceedings. g. In response to a court order or subpoena. 185—18.10(123,22) Routine use. 18.10(1) Defined. "Routine use" means the disclosure of a record without the consent of the subject or subjects, for a purpose which is compatible with the purpose for which the record was collected. It includes disclosures required to be made by statute other than the public records law, Iowa Code chapter 22. 18.10(2) To the extent allowed by law, the following uses are considered routine uses of all agency records: a. Disclosure to those officers, employees, and agents of the agency who have a need for the record in the performance of their duties. The custodian of the record may upon request of any officer or employee, or on the custodian's own initiative, determine what constitutes legitimate need to use confidential records. b. Disclosure of information indicating an apparent violation of the law to appropriate law enforcement authorities for investigation and possible criminal prosecution, civil court action, or regulatory order. c. Disclosure to the department of inspections and appeals for matters in which it is performing services or functions on behalf of the agency. d. Transfers of information within the agency, to other state agencies, or to local units of government as appropriate to administer the program for which the information is collected. e. Information released to staff of federal and state entities for audit purposes or for purposes of determining whether the agency is operating a program lawfully. f. Any disclosure specifically authorized by the statute under which the record was collected or maintained. g. The following records are routinely disseminated to members of the public: (1) Information collected and maintained concerning ownership and location of establishments licensed under Iowa Code chapter 123. (2) Information collected and maintained on licensees' and permittees' dramshop liability insurance. (3) Information collected and maintained concerning the status of contested case matters in which disciplinary action has been taken against a licensee or permittee. (4) Information collected and maintained identifying the names of distillers, vintners, and brewers, their employees, agents, representatives, and designated wholesalers. (5) Information identifying the name and address of a licensee's, permittee's, wholesaler's, or certificate of compliance holder's registered agent for service of process. (6) Information provided to the agency which identifies the names, addresses and telephone numbers of board members of organizations of interest to licensees and permittees. (7) Information identifying the names and addresses of nonliquor related vendors (i.e., landlords) and the names and addresses of the agency's sublessees. 185—18.11(123,22) Consensual disclosure of confidential records. 18.11(1) Consent to disclosure by a subject individual. To the extent permitted by law, the subject may consent in writing to agency disclosure of confidential records as provided in rule 18.7(123,22). 18.11(2) Complaints to public officials. A letter from a subject of a confidential record to a public official which seeks the official's intervention on behalf of the subject in a matter that involves the agency may, to the extent permitted by law, be treated as an authorization to release sufficient information about the subject to the official to resolve the matter. 185—18.12(123,22) Release to subject. 18.12(1) The subject of a confidential record may file a written request to review confidential records about that person as provided in rule 18.6(123,22). However, the agency need not release the following records to the subject: a. The identity of a person providing information to the agency need not be disclosed directly or indirectly to the subject of the information when the information is authorized to be held confidential pursuant to Iowa Code section 22.7(18) or other provision of law. b. Records need not be disclosed to the subject when they are the work product of an attorney or are otherwise privileged. c. Peace officers' investigative reports may be withheld from the subject, except as required by the Iowa Code. (See Iowa Code section 22.7(5)) d. As otherwise authorized by law. 18.12(2) Where a record has multiple subjects with interest in the confidentiality of the record, the agency may take reasonable steps to protect confidential information relating to another subject. 185—18.13(123,22) Availability of records. 18.13(1) General. Agency records are open for public inspection and copying unless otherwise provided by rule or law. 18.13(2) Confidential records. The following records may be withheld from public inspection. Records are listed by category, according to the legal basis for withholding them from public inspection. a. Sealed bids received prior to the time set for public opening of bids. (Iowa Code section 72.3) b. Tax records made available to the agency. (Iowa Code sections 422.20 and 422.72) c. Records which are exempt from disclosure under Iowa Code section 22.7. d. Minutes of closed meetings of a government body. (Iowa Code section 21.5(4)) e. Identifying details in final orders, decisions and opinions to the extent required to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or trade secrets under Iowa Code section 17A.3(1)"d." f. Those portions of agency staff manuals, instructions or other statements issued which set forth criteria or guidelines to be used by agency staff in auditing, in making inspections, in settling commercial disputes or negotiating commercial arrangements, or in the selection or handling of cases, such as operational tactics or allowable tolerances or criteria for the defense, prosecution or settlement of cases, when disclosure of these statements would: (1) Enable law violators to avoid detection; (2) Facilitate disregard of requirements imposed by law; or (3) Give a clearly improper advantage to persons who are in an adverse position to the agency. (See Iowa Code sections 17A.2 and 17A.3) g. Records which constitute attorney work product, attorney-client communications, or which are otherwise privileged. Attorney work product is confidential under Iowa Code sections 22.7(4), 622.10 and 622.11, Iowa R.C.P. 122(c), Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(3), and case law. Attorney-client communications are confidential under Iowa Code sections 622.10 and 622.11, the rules of evidence, the Code of Professional Responsibility, and case law. h. Any other records made confidential by law. 18.13(3) Authority to release confidential records. The agency may have discretion to disclose some confidential records which are exempt from disclosure under Iowa Code section 22.7 or other law. Any person may request permission to inspect records withheld from inspection under a statute which authorizes limited or discretionary disclosure as provided in rule 18.4(123,22). If the agency initially determines that it will release such records, the agency may, where appropriate, notify interested parties and withhold the records from inspection as provided in subrule 18.4(3). 185—18.14(123,22) Personally identifiable information. This rule describes the nature and extent of personally identifiable information which is collected, maintained, and retrieved by the agency by personal identifier in record systems as defined in rule 18.1(123,22). For each record system, this rule describes the legal authority for the collection of that information, the means of storage of that information and indicates whether a data processing system matches, collates, or permits the comparison of personally identifiable information in one record system with personally identifiable information in another record system. The record systems maintained by the agency are: 18.14(1) Licensing records. Licensing records include, but are not limited to, information identifying ownership, location, form of business entity and statements concerning eligibility of applicants to hold liquor licenses and permits. These records are collected and maintained pursuant to Iowa Code sections 123.19, 123.29, 123.30, 123.33, 123.42, 123.56, 123.124, 123.125, 123.127 to 123.129, 123.135, 123.173, 123.175, 123.176, and 123.180. Licensing records are stored on microfiche, in an automated data processing system, and in extant form. The information stored in the automated data system does not match, collate or permit comparison with other data processing systems. The information contained in licensing records is public information. 18.14(2) Contested case matters. These records are collected and maintained pursuant to Iowa Code sections 17A.12, 17A.3(1)"d," 17A.3(2), 123.24, 123.39, 123.49, and 123.50. Contested case matters are stored on microfiche, and in extant form. The information stored does not match, collate or permit comparison with other data processing systems. The information contained in contested case matters is public information. Contested case matters include all pleadings, motions, briefs, orders, transcripts, exhibits, and physical evidence utilized in the resolution of the matter. 18.14(3) Waivers of rule and declaratory rulings. Waivers of rule and declaratory rulings may contain information which identifies individuals. These records are maintained pursuant to Iowa Code section 17A.9 and rule 1.3(123,17A). Waivers of rule and declaratory rulings are stored on microfiche and in extant form. The method of storage does not match, collate or permit comparison with other data processing systems. The information contained in waivers of rule and declaratory rulings is public information. 18.14(4) Purchase orders, invoices, account numbers and personal identification numbers.Purchase orders and invoices include, but are not limited to, records of purchases of alcoholic liquor made by Class "E" liquor control licensees from the agency and related shipping and transmittal documents. Account numbers and personal identification numbers identify individual Class "E" liquor control licensees and provide the agency with a method of filling orders, shipping and obtaining payment for liquor from telephone orders by Class "E" liquor control licensees. These records are collected and maintained pursuant to Iowa Code sections 123.16, 123.24 and 123.30. Purchase orders are stored in extant form and in automated data processing systems. The automated data processing systems used to store these records do not match, collate, or permit comparison with other data processing systems except to the extent that such records may be used by warehouse personnel for inventory control, movement of alcoholic liquor within the warehouse, and filling and shipping orders to Class "E" liquor control licensees. The information contained in these records which identifies purchases made by individual Class "E" liquor control licenses is confidential pursuant to Iowa Code section 22.7. 18.14(5) Bailment shipments. Records of bailment shipments include, but are not limited to, information derived from suppliers concerning shipments of alcoholic liquor into the state warehouse facility, information generated internally concerning alcoholic liquor received from suppliers, information generated by the agency for accounting purposes concerning liquor purchases from suppliers, and information generated by the agency for purposes of inventory control. Records of bailment shipments may contain personally identifiable information on Class "E" liquor control licensees, and to the extent that such record contains information on purchases of liquor by individual Class "E" liquor control licensees, the record is confidential. These records are collected and maintained pursuant to Iowa Code section 123.30. Records of bailment shipments are stored in extant form and in automated data processing systems. The method of storage does not match, collate, or permit comparison with other data processing systems, except that comparisons may be made for purposes of agency tracking or auditing liquor inventory. 18.14(6) Nonliquor related vendors. Nonliquor related vendors include, but are not limited to, records of purchases of office supplies, warehouse supplies, trucks, trucking equipment and repairs, used in the internal operation of the agency. These records may contain personally identifiable information, and are collected and maintained pursuant to Iowa Code section 123.20. The information contained in these records is public information. These records are stored in extant form, and do not match, collate or permit comparison with automated data processing systems. 18.14(7) Leases. Leases include records related to agency subleasing of former state liquor stores, the names and addresses of sublessees and landlords, and information concerning the buildings. This information is collected and maintained pursuant to Iowa Code section 123.20, and is public information. The records are stored in extant form and do not match, collate or permit comparison with automated data processing systems. 18.14(8) Inspections and audits of licensees' books and records. Inspections and audits of licensees' books and records contain personally identifiable information relating to the operation of licensed establishments and beer and wine wholesalers' operations. These records are collected and maintained pursuant to Iowa Code sections 123.33, 123.138, and 123.185. These records are stored in extant form, and the manner of storage does not permit comparison with automated data processing systems. The information is public information, except to the extent that the records concerning purchases of liquor made by Class "E" liquor control licensees from the agency are confidential. To the extent that these records may be used in anticipation of formal administrative proceedings, criminal or civil proceedings against a licensee or permittee, this chapter does not apply to these records. 18.14(9) Litigation files. These files or records contain information regarding litigation or anticipated litigation, which includes judicial and administrative proceedings. The records include briefs, depositions, docket sheets, documents, correspondence, attorneys' notes, memoranda, research materials, witness information, investigation materials, information compiled under the direction of the attorney, and case management records. The files contain materials which are confidential as attorney work product and attorney-client communications. Some materials are confidential under other applicable provisions of law or because of a court order. Persons wishing copies of pleadings and other documents filed in litigation should obtain these from the clerk of the appropriate court which maintains the official copy. 18.14(10) Personnel files. The agency maintains files containing information about employees, families and dependents, and applicants for positions with the agency. The files include payroll records, biographical information, medical information relating to disability, performance reviews and evaluations, disciplinary information, information required for tax withholding, information concerning employee benefits, affirmative action reports, and other information concerning the employer-employee relationship. Some of this information is confidential under Iowa Code section 22.7(11). 185—18.15(123,22) Other groups of records. This rule describes groups of records maintained by the agency other than record systems as defined in rule 18.1(123,22). These records are routinely available to the public. However, the agency's files of these records may contain confidential information as discussed in rule 18.13(123,22). The records listed may contain information about individuals. 18.15(1) Rule making. Rule-making records may contain information about individuals making written or oral comments or proposed rules. This information is collected pursuant to Iowa Code section 17A.4. This information is not stored in an automated data processing system. 18.15(2) Commission records. Agendas, minutes, and materials presented to the alcoholic beverages commission are available at the central offices of the alcoholic beverages division, except those records concerning closed sessions which are exempt from disclosure under Iowa Code section 21.5(4). Council and commission records contain information about people who participate in meetings. This information is collected pursuant to Iowa Code section 21.3. This information is not stored in an automated data processing system. 18.15(3) Publications. News releases, annual reports, project reports, agency newsletters, etc., are available at the central offices of the alcoholic beverages division. Agency news releases, project reports, and newsletters may contain information about individuals, including agency staff or members of agency councils or committees. This information is not stored in an automated data processing system. 18.15(4) Statistical reports and compilations. Periodic reports of alcoholic liquor sales, statistics concerning statewide and regional consumption of liquor, wine, and beer, and lists of active and inactive licensees and permittees are available at the central offices of alcoholic beverages division. 18.15(5) Policy manuals. The agency employees' manual, containing the policies and procedures for programs administered by the agency, is available in every office of the agency. Subscriptions to all or part of the employees' manual are available at the cost of production and handling. Requests for subscription information should be addressed to Chief, Licensing Bureau, Alcoholic Beverages Division, 1918 S.E. Hulsizer, Ankeny, Iowa 50021. Policy manuals do not contain information about individuals. 18.15(6) Other records. All other records that are not exempted from disclosure by law. 185—18.16(123,22) Other records. The agency maintains a variety of records which do not generally contain information pertaining to named individuals. The agency maintains the following records, not heretofore listed, which do not generally contain personally identifiable information: inventory control reports, records of purchases by the agency from vendors, auditing data, budgetary information, reports of total licensing fees generated by class of licensee or permittee, reports of total number of licenses and permits issued, reports of total number of bottles sold or purchased, reports of gallons of alcoholic liquor sold or purchased, bills of lading, and manifests. 185—18.17(123,22) Applicability. This chapter does not: 1. Require the agency to index or retrieve records which contain information about individuals by that person's name or other personal identifier. 2. Make available to the general public records which would otherwise not be available under the public records law, Iowa Code chapter 22. 3. Govern the maintenance or disclosure of, notification of or access to, records in the possession of the agency which are governed by the rules of another agency. 4. Apply to grantees, including local governments or subdivisions thereof, administering state-funded programs, unless otherwise provided by law or agreement. 5. Make available records compiled by the agency in reasonable anticipation of court litigation or formal administrative proceedings. The availability of such records to the general public or to any subject individual or party to such litigation or proceedings shall be governed by applicable legal and constitutional principles, statutes, rules of discovery, evidentiary privileges, and applicable rules of the agency. These rules are intended to implement Iowa Code section 22.11. [Filed 5/2/88, Notice 3/23/88—published 5/18/88, effective 6/22/88]
London's low pay landscape Sakinah Abdul Aziz and Joe Richardson, Living Wage Foundation, March 2023 Living costs in London are some of the highest in the world. As such, the experience of low pay in London is often even more challenging than in other parts of the UK. For most of the last decade, Londoners were less likely to experience the issue of wages failing to match living costs, with the higher salaries that come with working in the capital meaning a lower proportion were earning less than the real Living Wage. However, recent evidence shows this is beginning to shift. With the cost-of-living-crisis driving already sky-high living costs, this is an unwelcome development for the capital's workforce. As of April 2022, a higher proportion of jobs in London were paid below a real Living Wage than the UK as a whole – the first time this has occurred. Similarly, London is now the region with the fourth highest proportion of low paid jobs, having been the second lowest in April 2012. While all regions have seen a drop in low paid jobs, London's decline has been the lowest by some distance. This briefing note will explore the scale of low pay in London and examine why London has lagged behind other regions when it comes to alleviating low pay over the last decade. It will also outline where low pay is typically concentrated in the capital, with attention to the sectors, boroughs and communities which are more likely to have jobs paid less than the Living Wage. We identify the sharp increases made to the government's National Living Wage (NLW) over recent years as a key driver of why other regions have seen their levels of low pay decline more than London. These increases have had 'ripple effects' up the income distribution, which has pushed more workers above the real Living Wage for all regions of the UK. However, due to the NLW not accounting for London's higher living costs, this has been less effective in pushing workers above the London Living Wage rate. 1 This is the key reason as to why London's low paid workers have been less likely to feel this benefit. When it comes to the geographical distribution of low pay within London, there is a clear divide between jobs in Inner and Outer London. For instance, the top five Local Authorities that are worst impacted by low pay in the UK are all Outer London boroughs, with these jobs being lower paid than those in Inner London, despite workers experiencing London's higher living costs. Similarly, there is also a clear sectoral divide, with low paid sectors such as 'Accommodation and food services', 'Wholesale and retail' and 'Administrative and support services' all having a proportion of low paid jobs above the London average. The findings in this briefing note underscore the importance of paying a wage that is based on what it costs to live, and why this is particularly vital in the UK's most expensive city. 1 To reflect higher living costs in the capital, the real Living Wage rate is higher for London than for the rest of the UK. The current real Living Wage rates are £11.95 for London and £10.90 for the rest of the UK. More information can be found here: https://www.livingwage.org.uk/what-real-living-wage Scale of low pay in London Around 1 in 7 jobs (13.6 per cent) in London are paid less than the Living Wage, compared to 1 in 8 jobs (12.2 per cent) for the UK as a whole. Whilst not a huge difference, this is the first time since the figure was first recorded (April 2012) that London has had a higher rate of low pay than the UK as a whole. As outlined in Figure 1, in both London and the UK, the rate of below Living Wage pay has declined sharply over recent years (since 2018), with the percentage of low paid jobs falling to record lows for both areas (13.6 per cent for London, 12.2 per cent for the UK). However, the rate of low pay in London has not fallen by as much over this period, which is why it now has a higher incidence of low pay. Taking a more long-term view, whilst moving in the right direction London has made less progress when it comes to alleviating low pay over the past decade. Since 2012, the percentage of low paid jobs in London has fallen by less than 3 percentage points, while over the same period, the UK has seen the rate of low pay fall by almost 8 percentage points. 10% Apr-12 Apr-13 Apr-14 Apr-15 Apr-16 Apr-17 Apr-18 Apr-19 Apr-20 Apr-21 Apr-22 Source: Living Wage Foundation analysis of ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) Figure 2 tracks the incidence of low pay for all UK regions between 2012 and 2022. As can be seen, all regions have seen the overall percentage of low paid jobs decline. However, the drop has been much less pronounced for London, which has seen the lowest decline. While it is true that in 2012, London had a lower level of low paid jobs than most other regions, this was also the case for the South East, which has still seen a drop of almost 7 percentage points. This has resulted in London becoming the fourth highest region in the UK when it comes to the proportion of low paid jobs, having been the second lowest in 2012. Figure 2: Employee jobs paid below the Living Wage by Region, UK, 2012-2022: Drivers of low pay in London The evidence presented above points to a shift in the regional distribution of low pay across the UK, particularly where the capital is concerned. It is therefore worth considering the key drivers of this. Increases to the National Living Wage The National Living Wage (NLW) has undergone a series of sharp increases over recent years. The key driver of this was the remit provided to the Low Pay Commission (LPC) to increase the NLW to two thirds of median earnings by 2024. 2 This has been reflected in the increases to the NLW since 2018, and particularly over the past two years, with the figure rising by 6.6 per cent in April 2022, and due to increase by 9.7 per cent in April 2023, which will see it climb to £10.42 an hour. As Figure 3 illustrates, each of these increases were high compared to the years prior (in both nominal and percentage terms). While the NLW has remained below the real Living Wage rate, the increases have had 'ripple effects' up the earnings distribution, and pushed more workers above the UK real Living Wage rate. This is reflected in the fact that between April 2018-April 2022, the proportion of jobs paid less than the Living Wage in the UK has dropped from 22.9 per cent to 12.1 per cent – a drop of almost 11 percentage points. However, this has been less impactful in London, due to the fact that unlike the real Living Wage, the National Living Wage does not have a separate rate for London, despite the increased living 2 Francis-Devine, F. (2022) National Minimum Wage statistics. London: House of Comms Library. costs in the capital. The lack of regional variance has meant that there has remained a higher level of divergence between the London Living Wage and the NLW, therefore meaning that even as the NLW has seen higher increases, these increases have not been as effective at pushing workers up to or above the London Living Wage rate. Once again, this is reflected in the fact that since 2018, the percentage of low paid jobs in London has fallen by 6.9 per centage points, while the figure for the UK as a whole has fallen by 10.7 per centage points. Source: Living Wage Foundation analysis of National Minimum/National Living Wage, UK Living Wage and London Living Wage rates. It should also be noted that a smaller proportion of London's workforce are directly affected by increases to the wage floor, due to a smaller proportion of workers being paid the NLW. For instance in 2021, 3 per cent of jobs in London were paid at or below the NLW, compared to 7 per cent for the UK as a whole, with jobs in the North East and Northern Ireland being more than twice as likely to be earning the NLW/NMW as workers in London. 3 As such, the 'bite' of the increases to the NLW is lower, as is the ripple effect across the income distribution. This is consistent with the LPC's review that strong wage floors help to reduce regional pay inequalities. 4 Wage growth among lower earners The lower impact of the NLW in London also appears to have had some impact on wage growth for low earners in London, and this is another interconnected driver of low pay in the capital. For example, looking at the lowest earning decile (bottom 10 per cent of earners), nominal wage growth has been lower for those in London than for the UK as a whole in 8 of the last 10 years, with the main exception being in 2021 when the LPC revised down its recommended increase to the minimum wage from £9.04 to £8.91 due to the pressures on the labour market caused by the pandemic. There is a similar trend amongst the lowest earning quintile (bottom 20 per cent of earners), with those in London having lower nominal wage growth in 9 of the last 10 years compared to the UK. 3 Low Pay Commission (2021) National Minimum Wage. London: Low Pay Commission. 4 Low Pay Commission (2021) National Minimum Wage. London: Low Pay Commission. Who is most impacted by low pay in London? As mentioned above, low pay impacts Londoners unequally, with certain communities being more likely to be low paid than others. This section will explore the scale of low pay in London across different Local Authorities, sectors and communities. Local Authority Jobs in Outer London are considerably more likely to be paid less than the Living Wage than those in Inner London. Crucially, workers with jobs in Outer London face the higher cost of living that comes with living in the capital, without having the higher wages seen in Inner London. As such, Outer London is host to many below Living Wage 'hotspots', not just in London, but in the UK overall. For example, each of the top five Local Authorities with the highest proportion of low paid jobs in the UK are Outer London boroughs: Haringey (34.2 per cent), Bexley (33.1 per cent), Redbridge (31.9 per cent), Waltham Forest (30.4 per cent) and Harrow (29.8 per cent). While Outer London has long been an area with higher levels of low pay, this is the first time in which each of the top five areas with the highest incidence of low pay nationally have all been in Outer London. Contrastingly, boroughs in Inner London typically have very low levels of below Living Wage pay, particularly the City of London (3.6 per cent), Tower Hamlets (5.7 per cent), Camden (6.2 per cent) and Islington (7.2 per cent). Looking at the top 25 UK Boroughs for low paid jobs, Outer London boroughs account for 11 of them, while Inner London boroughs account for none. This is another illustration of the regional inequality within London when it comes to the incidence of low paid jobs. Industry and occupation In London, as with the UK, particular industries have higher levels of below Living Wage pay. Hospitality (Accommodation and Food Services) is the sector with the highest incidence of low paid jobs, with more than half (52.9 per cent) of jobs in London's hospitality sector being low paid. Similarly, with this sector having 107,000 low paid jobs in London, it accounts for almost a fifth (18.7 per cent) of all London's low paid jobs, despite accounting for just 5 per cent of total jobs in the capital. Other industries with elevated levels of low pay are 'Wholesale and retail' (31.4 per cent), 'Administrative and support services' (26.8 per cent), 'Other Service Activities' (21.4 per cent) and 'Arts, Entertainment and Recreation' (20.4 per cent). Looking at Occupations (One-Digit-SOC), the distribution of low pay in London is also uneven. For example, a majority of jobs in London's 'Elementary administration and service occupations (e.g. bar staff and cleaners) and 'Customer service occupations' (e.g. call centre workers) are low paid – 59.5 per cent and 55.2 per cent respectively. Similarly, the 'Textiles, printing and other skilled trades' has an above average incidence of low pay in London (43.0 per cent), as does the 'Leisure travel and related personal service occupation' (37.8 per cent) and the 'Process plant machine operatives' and 'Caring personal services' (e.g. care workers and childminders) occupations – both 32.3 per cent respectively. Gender and working hours In London, a higher proportion of jobs (15.7 per cent) held by women are paid below the Living Wage, compared to jobs held by men (11.7 per cent). This amounts to 317,000 jobs paid below the Living Wage held by women, and 258,000 jobs held by men. Similarly, part time jobs are considerably more likely to be low paid than full time jobs (38.1 per cent compared to 7.3 per cent). The exception, however, is that, within the 'part time' jobs group in London, those held by men are more likely to be low paid than those by women (46.0 per cent compared to 33.9 per cent) – this is also consistent with the figures of the UK as a whole. However, women are still much more likely to be in part time work in the first place, and therefore account for a larger number of low paid part time jobs in the capital – of the 328,000 low paid part time jobs in London, 192,000 are held by women and 136,000 are held by men. Source: Living Wage Foundation analysis of ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). Ethnicity and migration status In London, certain ethnic groups have elevated levels of low pay. As outlined in Figure 6, almost a third (29.7 per cent) of Pakistani/Bangladeshi workers in London earn less than the Living Wage, while the same is true for around a quarter (23.1 per cent) of Black workers. White workers, on the other hand, face a much lower risk of being low paid (10.4 per cent), as do Indian workers (13.4 per cent). These findings chime with the picture seen across the UK as a whole. Previous Living Wage Foundation research has shown that white, Indian and Chinese workers face the lowest risk of being low paid, while Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers face the highest risk. 5 Source: Living Wage Foundation analysis of LFS. LFS data was re-weighted to ASHE using standard re-weighting techniques. To ensure sufficient sample sizes, quarterly LFS data from 2020–2022 was aggregated for each ethnic group, and certain ethnic groups were grouped together; 'Pakistani' and 'Bangladeshi'; 'Chinese' and 'Other Asian; 'Mixed/multiple ethnic groups' and 'Other ethnic group'. Data was then scaled to be consistent with the latest available ASHE data. Alongside ethnicity, other factors also determine Londoners' likelihood of experiencing low pay. Migration status also plays a role (though this is also intertwined with ethnicity). For instance, 17.1 per cent of workers born outside the UK earn less than the Living Wage, compared to 11.5 per cent of those born inside the UK. This is despite the fact that migrants play a significant role in the London economy. For instance, around 37 per cent of people living in London were born outside the UK, 6 while a similar proportion (38 per cent) 7 of jobs are held by migrants. Furthermore, analysis by PwC found that around a fifth (22 per cent) of London's Gross Value Added comes from migrant workers. 8 5 Reddyhoff, L and Richardson, J (2022) A Living Wage matters: the role of the Living Wage in closing ethnicity pay gaps. London: Living Wage Foundation. 6 House of Commons (2021) Migration Statistics. House of Commons Briefing Paper. 7 HMRC (2022) Payrolled employments in the UK by region, industry and nationality, from July 2014 to June 2021 8 PwC (2018) Facing Facts: the impact of migrants on London, its workforce and economy. Housing status London has the lowest rate of home ownership of all regions in the UK, with 46.8 per cent of the capital's population owning their homes or having a mortgage, while 53.2 per cent are renters. For context, the region with the second lowest home ownership rate is the North East, where 60.7 per cent are either mortgage holders or own their homes and 39.3 per cent are renters. 9 Our research shows renters are also twice as likely to be low paid, with around a fifth of renters (19.1 per cent) earning less than the Living Wage, compared to a tenth (9.9 per cent) of mortgage holders or property owners. This finding is particularly concerning given that rents in London have risen rapidly over the past 12 months. 10 This is despite London already having higher average rental costs than anywhere else in the UK before the latest price spiral. 11 Age Low pay typically impacts young workers disproportionately. London's young workers are no different in this respect, with the youngest workers (aged 18-21) being the most at risk of being paid less than the Living Wage. Of these workers in London, 62.8 per cent are low paid. This compares with 49.5 per cent of jobs held by workers in the same age bracket in the UK as a whole. That said, there appears to be a significant drop off once workers enter their early-to-midtwenties, with just 13.1 per cent of those aged 22-29 in London being paid less than the Living Wage. Interestingly, older workers in London (those aged 60 and above), are the second most likely age group to be low paid, with almost a fifth (17.3 per cent) earning less than the Living Wage. Conclusion The findings in this briefing underline that despite London's reputation for high paid jobs, there remains a significant proportion of the London workforce earning less than what it costs to live. In recent years, the capital's workforce has been less likely to see the benefits of the sharp increases to the NLW, and this has resulted in low pay being more prevalent in London than in most other regions of the UK. With living costs in London rising at alarming speeds, it is more crucial than ever that workers in the capital receive a real Living Wage. 9 ONS (2022) Housing, England and Wales: Census 2021 10 For example, research by property search website Zoopla found that asking prices for rent had risen by 17 per cent in 2022 – the highest level of rental growth across all UK cities. Zoopla (2022) Rents reach least affordable level in 10 years. 11 ONS (2022) Private rental market summary statistics in England: April 2021 to March 2022.
ALISA CHAPTER AUGUST, 2016 INTERIM HADASSAH BULLETIN MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2016 7:15P.M. Congregation Beit Shalom Our own MURIEL HERTAN Speaking on Current U.N. News Muriel represents ORT at the U.N. as an NGO (Non-Governmental organization). All are Welcome Refreshments will be Served Last month we announced our new Alisa Hadassah WebSite. To access the website, use this address: www.hadassah.org/alisa If you tried to click on the link last month and were unsuccessful, we apologize. The word alisa, must be lower case. We are working on getting this corrected. Check out the newsletters and announcements. Let us know what you think…write us at email@example.com MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2016 7:15P.M. Congregation Beit Shalom MEMBERS OF ALISA CHAPTER WILL SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES SERVING WITH: VOLUNTEERS FOR ISRAEL VFI is a diverse group of American men and women ages 17 and up who volunteer in Israel performing non-military activities. Members of the Alisa chapter will relive their experiences with you. You will be able to share this information with your children and grandchildren who might then consider volunteering in VFI. All are Welcome Refreshments will be Served 1 SAVE THE DATE WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016 -12:30 PM (note time change) LUNCH BUNCH AT Noodlefan, a Thai-Asian Restaurant, 557 Englishtown Rd. Please call Phyllis Soffer @409-3379 or Marilyn Taffet @ 860-8406 for reservations/questions. THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2016 - 11:00 AM FASHION SHOW, LUNCHEON & BOUTIQUE Will be held at the Knob Hill Golf Club; 1 Shinnecock Dr; Manalapan, NJ. Chico's Fashions will be shown. Please contact Judy Gerstein at 609-860-8446. Cost $43 Please note this event is WAIT LIST ONLY MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2016 -7:15 PM - our Monthly Meeting MURIEL HERTAN will speak about Current U.N. news. Muriel represents ORT at the U.N. as an NGO (Non Governmental organization). At Congregation Beit Shalom. THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016 - 1:30 PM MARVIN GORDON, the owner of JADA ART GALLERY, will present a program of lesser known Jewish artists and the art world of today. We will meet at the home of Sara Gross, 3 Whitehall Rd in GW. Please contact Ella Goldstein at 609-235-9616 or email (preferred) at firstname.lastname@example.org THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 - 8:30 AM – TOUR OF EAST GREENWICH VILLAGE Docent led tour of the East Village by Barry Feldman. Price of $48.00 pp includes bus and guided tour. We will visit such sites as the Bowery, St. Marks Church, Walk of Yiddish Stars. Lunch will be on your own. Bus Departs from GW Parking Lot at 8:30 AM. Questions call Fran Solomon 609-395-8707. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2016 -7:15 PM - our Monthly Meeting Learn about VOLUNTEERS FOR ISRAEL. VFI is a diverse group of American men and women ages 17 and up who volunteer in Israel performing non-military activities. Members of the Alisa chapter will relive their experiences with you. You will be able to share this information with your children and grandchildren who might then consider volunteering in VFI. At Congregation Beit Shalom. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 – 11:30-4:00 PM HADASSAH LUNCHEON CARD & GAME PARTY. Luncheon will be a dairy menu. At GW Ballroom. Contact Marilyn Gerstein @609-409-9176 for further information. Cost $26 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 – BATTLEGROUND STATE PARK This site in Manalapan, where one of the largest battles of the American Revolution took place, will be our meeting location. There will be a lecture on Jews in the American Revolution, with an optional tour of the battlefield after the presentation. Contact Ella Goldstein at 609-235-9616 or email (preferred) at email@example.com. A $3 donation to the park is suggested. Time & meeting place for carpool to be announced. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2016 – 1:10 PM A Regional Event depending on location. HADASSAH METRO AREA DAY AT CITIFIELD. NY METS vs PHILADEPHIA PHILLIES (final Mets Home game). Tickets at http://www.hadassah.org/events/Mets. Cost $36 - $54 Flyer at http://www.hadassah.org/regions/connecticut/images/mets-flyer.pdf. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2016 – 1:00 PM Presented by Hadassah Associates ROBERT KIM BINGHAM, author of "Courageous Dissent" will speak at Monroe Township Senior Center. 2 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016 – 6:30 PM, SUPPER AND LEARN SUPPER AND LEARN at Monroe Township Senior Center. Our speaker will be E.M. Rose, author of "The Murder of William of Norwich." This event occurred in England in 1144 and effected relations between the Jews and the Church. The cost for the evening, which will include a box supper, is $26.00. Place checks in Lockbox #19 Attention Supper & Learn, OR mailed to Greenbriar at Whittingham; 100 Whittingham Dr; Monroe Township, NJ 08831 Attention: Lockbox 19 – Supper & Learn, deadline October 10. Questions call Diane Altman @609-860-1193 . SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2016 ANNUAL MYRTLE WREATH LUNCHEON. Special Regional Honoree, Lauren Hersh, Director of Anti-Trafficking Policy and Advocacy at Sanctuary for Families. Further details to follow. MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2016 -7:15 PM - MEMBER APPRECIATION at GW Ballroom. Further details to follow. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2016 -10:00 AM ROSH CHODESH Program presented by SORELLA SCHILLER, at the home of Ruth Goldstein, 1 Severn Way in GW. Please contact Ella Goldstein at 609-235-9616 or email (preferred) at firstname.lastname@example.org Donations to Hadassah would be appreciated at all Education programs where there is no charge. There will be a collection bowl in evidence at the door. HOLIDAY GREETINGS PLEASE NOTE PROCEDURAL CHANGES We've changed our procedure for holiday greetings. Instead of two separate solicitations for Passover and Rosh Hashanah, we are now collecting only once for both holidays. A $10 donation will result in the printing of your name in our bulletin for Rosh Hashanah Greetings and then again for Passover Greetings. Claire Lazar will be chairing this effort If you are interested, place your check and PRINT your name as you would like it to appear, in Lock Box #19, or mail to: Greenbriar at Whittingham, 100 Whittingham Drive, Monroe Township, NJ 08831, Attn: Lock Box #19Holiday Greetings JUNE MONTHLY MEETING SIMCHAS [x] Ronny Swinkin - 46th birthday of Perry Aidelbaum [x] Sara Fisher - Ethan's middle school graduation [x] Ronny Swinkin - 50th birthday of Mitchell Aidelbaum [x] Tiby Lapkin - Israeli grandson's visit with her [x] Lila Gottlieb in honor of the birth of her 1 st grandchild, Jonathan Stanton Gottlieb [x] Marilyn Taffett - forthcoming 3 rd great grandchild [x] Evey Rabinowitz - H.S. graduation of her youngest grandson, Eric. [x] Evey Rabinowitz – College graduation of her granddaughters, Jamie & Chelsea [x] Gloria Kraus - granddaughter Brooke's "Sweet Sixteen" [x] Sara Fisher- Bar Mitzvah of her Grandson Jacob. [x] Roberta Fachler - moving into Greenbriar [x] Roberta Fachler - grandson's H.S. graduation [x] Roberta Fachler - granddaughter's birthday [x] Joanne Ferstan - the repair of her home plumbing [x] Gail Shinberg - granddaughter's H.S. graduation [x] Sheila Farber - granddaughter Emma's first birthday [x] Sheila Farber – grandson, Jack's pre-K graduation [x] Merna Leventhal - granddaughter Susie & Husband Matthew's 11 th Anniversary [x] Joy Keiles - 58 th Wedding Anniversary [x] Wilma Appel - 67 th Wedding Anniversary 3 Alisa Hadassah 20 Wintons Way Monroe Twp., N.J. 08831 DATED MATERIAL NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID Freehold, N.J. Permit No. 351 CURRENT RESIDENT OR NEW JERSEY: Information filed by Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, Inc. andHadassah Medical Relief Association, Inc. with the New Jersey Attorney General concerning this charitable solicitation may be obtained from the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey by calling (973) 504-6215. Registration with the Attorney General does not imply endorsement FLORIDA: A copy of the official registration and financial information for Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America, Inc. (#SA-01298) and Hadassah Medical Relief Association, Inc. (SD046-3) may be obtained from the Division of Consumer Affairs Services by calling toll-free within the state 1-809-HELP-FLA. Registration does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by the state. SHABBAT & HO LIDAY CANDLE LIGHTING TIME: 9/9 @6:58; 9/16 @6:46 7/29 @7:57; 8/5 @7:49; 8/12 @7:40; 8/19 @7:31; 8/26 @7:20; 9/2@7:09; REMINDER: PLEASE DO NOT CONDUCT HADASSAH BUSINESS ON SHABBAT/HOLIDAYS Save the Date for our Annual Myrtle Wreath Luncheon on Sunday October 30, 2016. We will honor chapter Women Who DO and hear from Region's special Myrtle Wreath Honoree, Lauren Hersh, the Director of Anti-Trafficking Policy and Advocacy at Sanctuary for Families. If you are not yet a Life member of Hadassah, but are currently a paid up annual member in good standing National Hadassah is offering you the opportunity to purchase a life membership at the discounted price of $180. Contact Natasha Rosenbaum. ALIVE IN OUR HEARTS So many of our deceased spouses, partners, friends & family are gone but not forgotten by our community. To memorialize your loved ones during the month of their passing fill out the form available at our monthly meetings or at our website www.hadassah.org/alisa under the section announcements. Cost $2 per name. Questions call Diane Altman CELEBRATE YOUR SIMCHAS AT OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS 4 By purchasing a candle on our Simcha cake you can share your simchas with all of us at our general meeting. Your simchas will be announced at the monthly meeting and will also be included in our monthly bulletin. The donation for each candle is $2, which is used to offset the cost of refreshments.
Tips for Educators Working with Dual-Identified English Learners Alma Contreras-Vanegas, Ph.D. Sam Houston State University Abstract General education teachers are not properly prepared to support the unique needs of dualidentified students. Dual-identified students have different needs than ELs or SPED students alone and this paper provides strategies for educators to better support the needs of these students in the classroom. Strategies will include effective collaboration between general education teachers and ESL specialists as well as special education teachers; effective communication with families of dual-identified students; culturally responsive teaching, and implementation of various accommodations and modifications. Keywords: dual-identified students; Els; special education Introduction Previous research in special education has demonstrated that educators in the US K12 schools are not fully prepared to work in inclusive classrooms with dual-identified linguistically diverse students (Gonzalez, Okhremtchouk & Esposito, 2021; Esposito, Hamdan & Benitez, 2014; Park & Thomas, 2012). By definition, dual-identified students are English learners (ELs) who also have a disability (TEA, n.d.) and are thereby impacted by two conditions at the same time. Park and Thomas (2012) claim that ELs face many challenges due to their language and cultural backgrounds, but those who are dual-identified have even more challenges to overcome. ELs with special education needs (e.g., intellectual disability, hearing impairments, speech impairments, visual impairments, autism spectrum disorder, orthopedic impairments, brain injury, etc.) are struggling with multiple overlapping/intersecting threats at the same time. Their 1 oral language and literacy skills in English serve as a filter as they receive help and instruction for their special needs. For example, a fourth-grade child who arrived in the United States two years ago and is at the intermediate level of English proficiency has been identified as having dyslexia, but all the services have been provided only in English. Unless the instruction for special education is provided in students' first language, the quality of help they are receiving and their success for improvement are largely decided by their English language proficiency. Therefore, dual-identified students' disabilities and needs are not necessarily captured in the sum of their conditions (e.g., dyslexia and intermediate language proficiency), but take place at the complex intersection of these conditions in which one condition may perpetuate the other. In light of the sociocultural and socioeconomic factors in the US K12 public schools as well as the recent theoretical developments in special education, I argue that a poststructural perspective is necessary to better understand the needs and challenges of dual-identified students. According to this theoretical position, the dual-identified students' needs should not be categorized in static boxes of their stand-alone conditions but should be approached as overlapping and intersecting complex conditions that require the collaboration of multiple parties such as teachers and parents. A poststructuralist approach to conceptualizing dual-identified ELs' needs opens the possibility of deconstructing the traditional and static understanding of special education and language proficiency as stand-alone and isolated categories which might sometimes occur at the same time. For example, teachers should have the opportunity to be certified to teach children who are dual-identified as ELs and with special needs. With a type of program that prepares educators to teach children who are ELs and who have special needs, they will be fully certified and prepared to support their needs as one entity versus having to seek out other specialists. These educators would not only understand how to support the students with their disability, but also be knowledgeable in second language acquisition to better support their learning of a new language. In addition, these educators will be able to communicate with families in their L1 and avoid miscommunication as they would be certified in bilingual education. In this paper, I present tips and strategies for teachers and parents with the objective of bringing them together to help address the complex needs of dual-identified ELs. Background to Dual-identified ELs In recent years, the percentage of ELs in the US K12 schools increased from 4.5 million students (about twice the population of New Mexico) to 5.1 million between 2010 and 2019 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). Furthermore, "ELs with disabilities were more likely to be classified as having a specific learning disability, or speech or language impairment," (U.S. Department of Education, 2017). According to the Coalition of Education (2022), "792,000 ELs were identified as students with disabilities in the Fall of 2019, representing 15.5 percent of the total EL student enrollment. In comparison, students with disabilities made up 14.4 percent of the public-school enrollment in 2019-20" (p. 4). The national statistics for ELs in K12 public schools are also mirrored in the state of Texas. According to the Texas Education Agency (2023), individualized education plans (IEPs) are created for every child aged 3-21 receiving special education services in Texas and are part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA ensures "that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for future education, employment, and independent living," (Texas Education Agency, 2023, p. 5). By law, inclusive educators need to meet the educational needs of each individual child in their classroom. By differentiating instruction for their dual-identified students while teaching a whole group lesson, inclusive educators can provide the opportunity for the success of everyone. For example, if a student is identified as having a vision impairment and is at an advanced level in English proficiency, the educator will need to be sure the student is able to see the book adequately by either providing an additional book for the student to use at their desk or sit close enough to see the pictures while its being read. In addition to making sure the student can see the book adequately, the educator will need to address the English proficiency level of the student by allowing them to process the information in chunks and checking for understanding by asking questions along the way. Collaboration between General Education Teachers and ESL/SPED Specialists When general education teachers have students who are linguistically diverse and/or have a disability, they tend to rely on and share the responsibility of these students with ESL specialists and SPED teachers to help them when designing adequate lessons for these students (Contreras-Vanegas, Uzum, & Blackwell, 2022; Jones, Buzixk & Turkan, 2016). Although ESL and SPED teachers are experts in these areas, it is beneficial for general education teachers to be prepared as well to support these students in their classrooms. Most students with disabilities and linguistically diverse students are primarily educated in mainstream classrooms (Jones et al., 2016). Furthermore, general education teachers are the micro-level policymakers in the classrooms and make spontaneous decisions that may impact these students' learning. Without the collaboration between ESL/SPED specialists and general education educators, certain gaps will exist. The needs of a child who is linguistically diverse and who also has learning disabilities do not mean they have two separate needs that should be addressed independently of one another. The child's needs interact in a dynamic way that is much more complex and needs to be addressed as a whole. From a poststructuralist perspective, the identity of an individual "... is unstable, flexible, ongoing, negotiated, and multiple," (Kouhpaeenejad & Gholaminejad, 2014, p 200). As children continue to progress in their English proficiency and/or content knowledge, their needs change and should be reassessed continuously. This can be accomplished by sharing intervention plans and documents between the ESL and SPED specialists and informing each other on students' struggles in an area, response to an intervention, and progress in general. ESL and SPED specialists can create an online platform or drive where they can see each other's plans, notes, and comments on these documents while keeping the student's name confidential. For example, if the ESL specialist worked with a student for a short session on past tense verbs, the notes taken from that session can be shared with the general education teacher to help continue working on the same strategy during class. Dual-identified students require special attention to their language development along with any academic challenges. General education teachers need to be aware of their student's language proficiency level in each domain (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in order to effectively plan a lesson at their level and provide appropriate accommodations. As general education educators need to assess the language proficiency of their students, they will also need to be aware of the learning challenges they have and how to properly modify the content to meet their needs. Accommodations and modifications are "intended to remove barriers to students' ability to access test items, they can be inappropriately assigned or ineffective" (Jones, et al., 2013, p 236). Focusing on Dual-identified Students' Needs in the Classroom Many teacher education programs in the US include certification tracks in ESL for general education teacher candidates. In a series of courses such as multicultural education, second language acquisition, sheltered instruction, and ESL methodology, teacher candidates learn about modifications and accommodations they can make for EL students in their future classrooms. In these courses, teacher candidates develop a theoretical background and practical skills to teach EL students language and content at the same time. That is, they learn strategies to provide language scaffolding while they are teaching content such as Math, Social Studies, and Science. These education programs often have SPED courses as well, preparing teacher candidates for SPED students in their future classrooms. While the curriculum in these teacher education programs supports the candidates to prepare for EL and SPED students, the intersectionality is not paid enough attention at the curricular or policy level. That is, these two areas often run the danger of operating in two independent silos and may not inform each other in terms of policy and curriculum, while they have many overlapping areas. Therefore, I outline how dual-identified students may have different needs than EL or SPED students alone and present tips and strategies for teachers and teacher educators to prepare for this special population. The following are strategies inclusive educators can adopt in their teaching to better support the unique needs of their dual-identified students. Strategies Collaboration with Colleagues When teaching children who are dual-identified, inclusive educators need to have open communication with parents, English as a Second Language (ESL) specialists, and special education (SPED) educators alike. Communication will be crucial to the development of appropriate identification/classification, lessons that may include modifications and IEPs in addition to any language accommodations needed to make content comprehensible for these students. General education teachers should take advantage of the collaboration between other colleagues in the school who may specialize in specific areas such as ESL or SPED. Special education teachers have a wealth of knowledge on how to work with students who have different IEPs. If general education teachers need support on how to work effectively with their students in their IEPs, they should contact their SPED colleagues for support. If general education teachers need to know more about how to accommodate content for their student's English proficiency level, they should contact their ESL liaison or specialist. Effective Communication Between Parents/Caretakers and Educators There is ample research supporting the idea that a partnership between the home and school is vital for the success of students (Uzum & Contreras-Vanegas, 2020, Barger et al., 2019). Barger et al. (2019) explained there are two types of family involvement which include school-based and home-based support. Families may become involved in school-based settings by meeting teachers for a teacher-parent conference, volunteering for school events, or getting involved in a parent-teacher organization (PTO) (Barger et al., 2019). Home-based involvement may include parents helping children with their homework, providing resources to further assist children in their learning, and encouraging children in their academic goals (Barger et al., 2019). Educators should not disregard the knowledge parents can contribute to support the education of their children (Uzum & Contreras-Vanegas, 2020; Barger, Kim, Kuncel & Pomerantz, 2019). For example, parents can help educators by recording what children can do at home and showing the video to the educator or vice versa, where the educator can demonstrate how to solve a mathematical problem and share a video with the parents to help at home. Parents may also share what expectations they have at home for their children or what their expectations are for the teacher according to their cultural and educational background. Flexibility in Meeting Parents/Caretakers Many times, parents with linguistically diverse backgrounds come from lower socioeconomic status which may mean that they are not always available to meet during the day due to work or lack of transportation. According to the Department of Education (2016), linguistically diverse students represented 14 percent of all homeless children enrolled in public U.S. schools. For this reason, giving parents or caretakers of linguistically diverse children alternative ways to meet may help teachers accomplish their goals more effectively. To this end, it is important for educators to remain flexible and make themselves available in different ways. Teachers may offer their support by meeting over the telephone, online (Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc.), in person during the day or after school, or at different locations that may be accessible for the parents/caregivers (home, community center, etc.). This is especially important for students who may have accommodation and transportation issues. Interpreters Effective communication also includes having an interpreter when needed so that parents can understand the information provided and ask questions freely (U.S. Department of Justice, n.d.). Educators can also ask for assistance when sending home flyers, and newsletters, or explaining homework assignments for them to be translated. Many schools have ESL/bilingual personnel that may help with these tasks, but schools need to provide "translation or interpretation from appropriate and competent individuals and not rely on or ask students, siblings, friends, or untrained school staff to translate or interpret for parents" (U.S. Department of Justice, n.d.). If schools do not have access to personnel that may help with translation, educators can advocate for the school to budget money for these materials as the relationship between school and home is crucial for the success of every student (Uzum & ContrerasVanegas, 2020). As educators can support the relationship with parents by having effective communication, they can also support effective learning in the classroom with their students with culturally relevant teaching. Culturally Responsive Teaching Educators can support the educational success of all their students if they incorporate different cultures as this creates a safe learning environment for everyone. By incorporating examples from different cultures, students are better able to connect to the lessons and activate their schema (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2018), and make meaningful contributions in class discussions. Teachers can incorporate culturally relevant information in lessons by showing visuals, and videos, sharing objects from different countries, or including characters with different abilities. For example, if educators in Texas are teaching about landforms in social studies using the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) 4.A. "to identify major landforms and bodies of water, including each of the seven continents and each of the oceans, on maps and globes" (Texas Administrative Code, 2018), they can show pictures of different parts of the world that students are from. Students may also share pictures of landforms from their home country or the country in which their family members are from. During science instruction, if there is a lesson about animals, teachers can incorporate animals seen in different countries and again have students share what animals they have seen when visiting other parts of the world. Another example is during reading instruction, teachers may choose culturally relevant textbooks in their lessons. These books may have a setting in a different country, characters speaking a different language, or characters with different ability levels. Books may be written in different languages and have English alongside them. There are books available in a bilingual/dual language copy that help students read in their first language (L1) and be able to compare the vocabulary in their second language (L2). An example of a culturally relevant story about day of the dead written both in Spanish and English is The spirit of tío Fernando by Morella Fuenmayor. By including books with different languages and characters of different abilities, students can relate to them and make personal connections. Culturally relevant teaching encapsulates the different needs dual-identified students require to be successful in the classroom. Anytime language is involved, it is critical for educators to remember that it is part of a person's cultural identity. Inclusive teachers should encourage students to use their L1 to help them while they are still learning their L2 and remind them that it is an asset and not a hindrance to knowing two or more languages. Translanguaging in the Classroom When writing, students should be allowed to incorporate words or phrases that are in their L1. This practice is often referred to as "translanguaging." Wu, Garza, and Guerra, (2020) define the concept as "how language users strategically select a language, or some features of it, and incorporate them into their language practices to serve their communication needs," (p. 25). The reason to allow students to use L1 within their writing assignments in English (also known as a translanguaging approach) is that there may be words that do not translate well. For example, if a student is going to talk about their fifteenth birthday party it does not hold the same significance as if they were to write it in Spanish, their L1, as the following "mi quinceañera." If a student were to translate this to English as "my fifteenth birthday party," it does not hold the same significance as the word quinceañera. The significance of a quinceañera is a celebration of a young girl becoming a young lady (Socci, 2021). When students are allowed to use their L1 within their assignments, educators are taking a translanguaging approach to teaching and allowing students to express their full thoughts and share meaningful experiences. As educators focus on incorporating the students' L1 in their writing, it is also important they include linguistic and academic accommodations or modifications. Accommodations/Modifications Educators need to be prepared to create both linguistic accommodations and academic modifications for their students. Linguistic accommodations include adapting lessons according to the child's English proficiency. English proficiency levels may differ according to the four domains of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The levels of English may vary between beginner, intermediate, advanced, and advanced high (Wu, Garza & Guerra, 2020). It is important for educators to know what level their culturally linguistic student holds in each domain before they can create accommodations for any lesson. According to Wright, Wright, and Webb O'Connor (2017), accommodations keep the child learning the same information but may need additional time to complete the task and a modification creates a change in a test or assignment such as completing only half of the test. Linguistically diverse learners without disabilities may need accommodations to "attempt to level the playing field by teaching compensatory strategies or techniques," (Wright, Wright, & Connor, 217, p. 54) unlike students with disabilities who may need modifications. Educators with linguistically diverse learners who also have a disability will need modifications done to their assignments to be sure they are at the adequate language level and content level. Accommodations educators use can include when teaching is providing one-on-one support, partnering students according to English proficiency level, providing extra time to complete an assignment, providing a word bank, providing sentence stems, chucking information in more manageable sections, allowing students to use their L1, etc. (Texas Education Agency, 2009; Wright, Wright & Connor, 2017). For example, in a second-grade classroom, an educator may have students working on writing the stages of the water cycle and a beginner/intermediate EL may have sentence stems to help them write a complete sentence such as, "The first step in the water cycle is ________." Modifications for children with an IEP may be very specific to their needs, but some ideas may be to simplify the content to the level of understanding of the student or reduce the number of math problems that they will need to complete (Wright, Wright, & Connor, 2017). For example, a child who is in the second grade has an IEP that requires her to work on singledigit addition and subtraction word problems while her typically developing peers are working on a more complex math problem. This student can still work on word problems, but the level of complexity will match their developmental level and still work on the skill their typically developing peers are working on. Accommodations and modifications need to be thoughtfully prepared for each student to ensure the success of their academic growth. Whether culturally linguistic students are working to improve their target language (English) or working on growing in their content knowledge, educators still need to challenge them and have high, but realistic expectations for each one of them. The balance between meeting the students where they are academically and linguistically is a balance that any teacher can do if they are well prepared for the task. Table 1 below summarizes all the strategies listed above with the possible impact they will have if applied in the classroom. Table 2 connects the different strategies with personnel working together. Table 1 Summary of Strategies work as others. Have partners at the same English proficiency level, extra time, provide sentence stems, word bank, etc. Academic modifications: creating a change in a test or assignment to the level of understanding. Table 2 Strategy Connections with Personnel Conclusion Dual-identified students have many challenges they will encounter and need to overcome during their academic schooling (Park & Thomas, 2012). Educators will need to be better prepared to support ELs with special needs (e.g., hearing impairments, intellectual disability, autism spectrum, etc.) in their classrooms. Educators of dual-identified students have many strategies they can use to help meet both their academic and linguistic needs. Educators can create effective communication with the family/caregivers of dual-identified students by remaining flexible and making themselves available for parent-teacher conferences in different ways (in-person meetings, phone, etc.) and sharing information with families in a language they can understand. Educators may also include translanguaging and other culturally responsive teaching techniques in their lessons by having students share information from their background and allowing students to use their L1 within their assignments as they transition to all English. Finally, educators need to be aware of how to properly implement accommodations and modifications in their lessons according to their linguistic or academic needs. With these strategies, educators of dual-identified students will have a better opportunity to be successful in meeting the needs of this special population. References Barger, M.M., Kuncel, N.R., Kim E.M., & Pomerantz E.M. (2019). The relation between parents' involvement in children's schooling and children's adjustment: A meta-analysis. American Psychological Association, 145, 855-890. Contreras-Vanegas, A., Uzum, B. & Blackwell, W. (2022). PACE: Steps for equitable outcomes for ELs. TESOL Connections: Keeping English Language Professionals Connected. Department of Education. Our Nation's English Learners (2017). https://www2.ed.gov/datastory/el-characteristics/index.html#datanotes` Echevarria, J., Vogt, M.E., & Short, D.J. (2018). Making content comprehensible for elementary English learners: The SIOP model (3rd ed.). Pearson. Esposito, M.C., Hamdan, K. & Benitez, X. (2014). Providing effective special education teachers in low-income urban settings: Implications for educational leadership. In A. Issala Hara, K., Hamdan, & A.H. Normore (Eds.). Pathways to excellence: Developing and cultivating leaders for the classroom and beyond. Emerald Publishing. Gonzalez, T., Okhremtchouk, I.S. & Esposito M.C.K. (2021). Arizona and California special education teachers on their readiness to work with dual language learners: Re-centering social justice in special education. Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, 20, 142-162. Jones, N.D., Buzick, H.M. & Turkan, S. (2016). Including students with disabilities and English learners in measures of educator effectiveness. Educational Researcher, 42 (4), 234-241. Keller-Allen, C. (2006). English language learners with disabilities: Identification and other state policies and issue. State Directors of Special Education. Kouhpaeenejad, M.H. & Gholaminejad, R. (2014). Identity and language learning from poststructuralist perspective. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(1), 199-204. National Center for Education Statistics (IES>NCES) (2022). https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96 Park, Y. & Thomas, R. (2012). Educating English-language learners with special needs: Beyond cultural and linguistic considerations. Journal of Education and Practice, 3(9), 52-58. Socci, A.M. (2021). The significance of quinceañeras: What are quinceañeras? Where did the tradition originate? And how should I dress for one? Washington Parent. Texas Administrative Code (2018). Texas Education Agency (TEA). Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies. Elementary. https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc= &p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=2&ch=113&rl=13 Texas Education Agency (TEA) (2009). Navigating the ELPS: Using the new standards to improve instruction for English learners. file:///F:/Sam%20Houston%20State%20University/TESL3303/ELPS_handouts.pdf Texas Education Agency (TEA) (2023). Technical Assistance: Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development. https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/iep-development-216-23.pdf Texas Education Agency (TEA) (n.d.). Dual Identified Students. https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/dual-identified-students.pdf The Coalition of Education (2022). English learners in public schools. file:///F:/Manuscripts/2023/Tips%20for%20working%20with%20linguistically%20diver se%20students%20who%20also%20have%20disabilities/ELs%20Stats.pdf U.S. Department of Justice: Civil Rights Division. (2015). https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/dcl-factsheet-lep-parents-201501.pdf Uzum, B. & Contreras-Vanegas, A. (2020). 4 Factors to develop language proficiency FAST. TESOL Connections: Keeping English Language Professionals Connected. Wu, H.P., Garza, E. & Guerra, M.J. (2020). Second Language Education for Teacher Candidates & Professionals (2 nd edition). Kendall Hunt.
HUNTINGTON UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT RESERVE PLAN (UPDATED OCTOBER 2023) 2008 Building Improvement Fund (Capital Reserve authorized under Education Law) Creation – This reserve was created on May 20, 2008 via voter approval. Purpose – This reserve may be used to fund the cost of any object or purpose for which bonds may be issued. Funding Methods – Voter approval is required to establish and fund this reserve. In accordance with the approved proposition, this reserve may be funded via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund. Use of Reserve – Use of this reserve requires voter approval. The proposition to use these funds must be specific to a set of projects and dollar amounts. Funding Level – As stated in the approved 2008 proposition, this reserve was created with a cumulative contribution limit of $10,000,000, with an annual contribution not to exceed $2,000,000. No further contributions can be made to this fund, as the maximum contribution was reached on 6/30/13. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $0 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: $66 2013 Building Improvement Fund (Capital Reserve authorized under Education Law) Creation – This reserve was created on May 21, 2013 via voter approval. Purpose – This reserve may be used to fund the cost of any object or purpose for which bonds may be issued. Funding Methods – Voter approval is required to establish and fund this reserve. In accordance with the approved proposition, this reserve may be funded via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund. Use of Reserve – Use of this reserve requires voter approval. The proposition to use these funds must be specific to a set of projects and dollar amounts. Funding Level – As stated in the approved 2013 proposition, this reserve was created with a cumulative contribution limit of $10,000,000, with an annual contribution not to exceed $2,000,000. No further contributions can be made to this fund, as the maximum contribution was reached on 6/30/17. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $0 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: $11,845 2017 Building Improvement Fund (Capital Reserve authorized under Education Law) Creation– This reserve was created on May 16, 2017 via voter approval. Purpose – This reserve may be used to fund the cost of any object or purpose for which bonds may be issued. Funding Methods – Voter approval is required to establish and fund this reserve. In accordance with the approved proposition, this reserve may be funded via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund and/or budget appropriations and the interest accrued on such funds over the term of the capital reserve fund. Use of Reserve – Use of this reserve requires voter approval. The proposition to use these funds must be specific to a set of projects and dollar amounts. Funding Level – As stated in the approved 2017 proposition, this reserve was created with a cumulative contribution limit of $12,500,000. No further contributions can be made to this fund, as the maximum contribution was reached on 6/30/21. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $180,465 (including interest) 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: $62,378 (including interest) 2018 Building Improvement Fund (Capital Reserve authorized under Education Law) Creation – This reserve was created on May 15, 2018 via voter approval. Purpose – This reserve may be used to fund the cost of any object or purpose for which bonds may be issued. Funding Methods – Voter approval is required to establish and fund this reserve. In accordance with the approved proposition, this reserve was funded initially from the District’s repair reserve, but may be funded further via end-of-year budget surplus funds, budget appropriations and/or interest accrued on such funds over the term of the capital reserve fund. Use of Reserve – Use of this reserve requires voter approval. The proposition to use these funds must be specific to a set of projects and dollar amounts. Funding Level – As stated in the approved 2018 proposition, this reserve was created with a cumulative contribution limit of $1,500,000. Accumulation of funds into this reserve must cease at $1,500,000 or after 5 years, whichever is earlier. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $365,550 (including interest) 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: $13,708 (including interest) 2022 Building Improvement Fund (Capital Reserve authorized under Education Law) Creation – This reserve was created on May 17, 2022 via voter approval. Purpose – This reserve may be used to fund the cost of any object or purpose for which bonds may be issued. Funding Methods – Voter approval is required to establish and fund this reserve. In accordance with the approved proposition, this reserve may be funded via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund and/or budget appropriations and the interest accrued on such funds over the term of the capital reserve fund. Use of Reserve – Use of this reserve requires voter approval. The proposition to use these funds must be specific to a set of projects and dollar amounts. Funding Level – As stated in the approved 2022 proposition, this reserve was created with a cumulative contribution limit of $15,000,000. Accumulation of funds into this reserve must cease at $15,000,000 or after 10 years, whichever is earlier. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $4,135,026 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: $4,926,351 (including interest and reserve funding) *All capital reserve recommended balances reflect the utilization of the May 2023 voter-approved capital project funding sources. Employee Benefit Accrued Liability Reserve (authorized under General Municipal Law) Creation – This reserve was created on August 5, 2002. Purpose – This reserve is used to pay for unused accumulated leave time contractually provided to certain groups of employees. This typically includes payment for unused sick and vacation days. This fund cannot be used to pay for such items as retirement incentives, FICA and Medicare payments, and retiree health insurance. Funding Methods – This reserve has typically been funded via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund. Use of Reserve – This reserve is used when an employee separates from the District and payment of accumulated leave is required. These transactions flow through the budget from reserve transfer contributions. This reserve will continue to be used by the District to make such payments. Funding Level – It is desired that this reserve be funded at 100% of the accrued liability for unused accumulated leave time. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $6,396,846 (including interest) 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: Up to $6,548,640 (including interest) Repair Reserve (authorized under General Municipal Law) Creation – This reserve was created on February 12, 2007. Purpose – This reserve is used to pay for unanticipated, non-recurring repairs to district capital improvements, facilities and equipment. Funding Methods – This reserve may be funded via: a. Dedicated budgetary appropriation; or b. Such revenues as not required by law to be paid into any other fund or account. Use of Reserve – In accordance with law, a public hearing must be held in order to use funds from this reserve, except in an emergency. Funds used without holding a public hearing must be repaid to the fund over two years. Use is restricted to the purpose stated above. On May 15, 2018 the voters authorized the transfer of repair reserve monies to the 2018 Building Improvement Fund. Funding Level – This reserve was created with a cumulative contribution limit of $1,000,000. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $0 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: $0 Retirement Contribution Reserve (authorized under General Municipal Law) Creation – This reserve was created on May 7, 2012. Purpose– This reserve is used to pay for district expenses to the NYS Employees Retirement System (ERS) only. Payments to the NYS Teachers Retirement System (TRS) from this reserve are not permitted. Funding Methods – This reserve has typically been funded via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund. Use of Reserve – The plan calls for annual use of this fund in decreasing amounts so as not to create a budgetary shortfall. Funding Level – A funding level equal to approximately three years' worth of ERS billings is desired. There is no statutory ceiling on the amount that may be funded. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $5,909,132 (including interest) 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: Up to $5,513,760 (including interest) Retirement Contribution Reserve Sub-Fund (authorized under General Municipal Law) Creation – This reserve was created on May 13, 2019. Purpose – This reserve is used to pay for district expenses to the NYSTRS only. Payments to the NYSERS from this reserve are not permitted. Funding Methods – This reserve has typically been funded via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund. Use of Reserve – The plan calls for annual use of this fund in decreasing amounts so as not to create a budgetary shortfall. Funding Level – A funding level equal to 2% of the total compensation or salaries of all certificated employees in District who are paid TRS members during the fiscal year immediately preceding. The sub-fund reserve balance shall not exceed 10% of the total compensation or salaries of all certificated employees in District who are paid TRS members during the fiscal year immediately preceding. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $2,143,085 (including interest) 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: Up to $2,228,939 (including interest) Unemployment Insurance Payment Reserve (authorized under General Municipal Law) Creation – This reserve was created on June 7, 2010. Purpose – This reserve is used to reimburse the state for payments made to claimants for whom the district uses the benefit reimbursement method. The benefit reimbursement method suggests reimbursement to the State for actual claims incurred. The district does not pay the State a fixed premium for unemployment insurance coverage. Funding Methods – This reserve has typically been funded via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund. Use of Reserve – Monies budgeted within the General Fund address incidental claims incurred by the District during the normal course of business. Funding Level – This reserve was initially funded at $100,000. At this time, the proposed level is deemed appropriate by our external auditors. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. ``` 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $58,320 (including interest) 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: Up to $177,191 (including interest) ``` Workers' Compensation Reserve (authorized under General Municipal Law) Creation – This reserve was created on June 19, 2006. Purpose – This reserve is used to pay for actual workers' compensation claims related to medical expenses and self-insurance administrative costs. It cannot be used to pay for workers' compensation insurance premiums. (This includes a prohibition against using these funds to pay our annual contribution to the cooperative NYSIR). Funding Methods – This reserve has typically been funded via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund. Due to the district's participation in NYSIR, funds may be added based only on need and available fund balance. Use of Reserve – This reserve will be used to pay claims filed during the time period when the district was self-insured. In June 2022, the District engaged an actuary to re-evaluate the selfinsured claims. The balance in this reserve will be used for the final settlement purposes if payment to NYSIR is required. Otherwise, all remaining funds will be returned to the General Fund. Funding Level – The current funding level is not sufficient to pay 100% of the previously determined actuarial value of all outstanding self-insured claims. Any excess will be used at the time of settlement and either paid to the cooperative or returned to the General Fund. Monitoring of Reserve – This reserve is monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $2,214,415 (including interest) 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: Up to $2,566,962 (including interest) The following two items are not reserve accounts, but are equally as important to district revenue planning: Unassigned Fund Balance Creation – Retention of these funds are allowed by law. Purpose – These funds are unrestricted and may be used for any valid purpose. Funding Methods – These funds have been accumulated via end-of-year surplus monies from the District's General Fund. Use of Funds – These funds are designated only for unanticipated emergency expenses or revenue shortfalls that cannot be addressed via the General Fund budget or with other available reserves. Funding Level – The maximum legal limit = 4% of the ensuing budget. Monitoring of Balance – These funds are monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $5, 718,733 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: $5,853,886 Assigned Fund Balance - Appropriated for Subsequent Years Creation – These funds represent fund balance that has been set aside for a particular purpose, namely to reduce the tax levy required in support of the ensuing year's budget. – These funds are set aside and returned to the community's taxpayers by lowering the Purpose levy required to support the district's budget. Funding Methods – These funds are assigned for a particular purpose. Use of Funds – It is recommended that the practice of returning these funds occur only as warranted. Funding Level – Over time, the district has reduced its assigned fund balance, as less funding has been available for this purpose. It is recommended that the planned amount of assigned fund balance, included as a revenue source in future budgets, be limited. Monitoring of Balance – The balance and use of these funds are monitored by the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Management Services. 6/30/22 – Closing balance: $1,000,000 6/30/23 – Recommended balance: $600,000
ALL-HAZARDS PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE, AND RECOVERY Tierney is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Natural Hazards Research Center, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, Boulder. Bruneau is Director, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, and Professor of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering, University at Buffalo. Hurricane Katrina made landfall near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, at the mouth of the Pearl River, during high tide, causing a storm tide approximately 30 feet deep, and toppling segments of the I-90 bridge. Conceptualizing and Measuring Resilience A Key to Disaster Loss Reduction KATHLEEN TIERNEY AND MICHEL BRUNEAU In recent years, particularly after the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, resilience has gained prominence as a topic in the field of disaster research, supplanting the concept of disaster resistance. Disaster resistance emphasizes the importance of predisaster mitigation measures that enhance the performance of structures, infrastructure elements, and institutions in reducing losses from a disaster. ies to conceptualize and measure disaster resilience. The resilience-related projects have involved researchers from a range of disciplines, including civil, structural, and lifeline engineering; sociology, economics, and regional science; policy research; and decision science. The goals of the multiyear effort were to define disaster resilience, develop measures appropriate for assessing resilience, and then demonstrate the utility of the concept through empirical research. Resilience reflects a concern for improving the capacity of physical and human systems to respond to and recover from extreme events. For the past seven years, researchers affiliated with the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER), sponsored by the National Science Foundation and headquartered at the University at Buffalo, have collaborated on stud- To develop a framework, the MCEER research team drew on various literatures and research traditions that have focused on resilience and related concepts, including ecology, economics, engineering, organizational research, and psychology. The literature revealed consistent cross-disciplinary treatments in which resilience was viewed as both inherent strength and the ability to be flexible and adaptable after environmental shocks and disruptive events. R4 Framework MCEER researchers defined disaster resilience as …the ability of social units (e.g., organizations, communities) to mitigate hazards, contain the effects of disasters when they occur, and carry out recovery activities in ways that minimize social disruption and mitigate the effects of future disasters. (1) Critical infrastructure systems—including transportation and utility lifeline systems—play an essential role in communitywide disaster mitigation, response, and recovery and therefore are high-priority targets for resilience enhancement. Resilient systems reduce the probabilities of failure; the consequences of failure—such as deaths and injuries, physical damage, and negative economic and social effects; and the time for recovery. Resilience can be measured by the functionality of an infrastructure system after a disaster and also by the time it takes for a system to return to predisaster levels of performance. Figure 1 plots the quality or functionality and the performance of infrastructure after a 50 percent loss. The "resilience triangle" in the figure represents the loss of functionality from damage and disruption, as well as the pattern of restoration and recovery over time. Resilience-enhancing measures aim at reducing the size of the resilience triangle through strategies that improve the infrastructure's functionality and performance (the vertical axis in the figure) and that decrease the time to full recovery (the horizontal axis). For example, mitigation measures can improve both infrastructure performance and time to recovery. The time to recovery can be shortened by improving measures to restore and replace damaged infrastructure. In examining the attributes and determinants of resilience, MCEER investigators developed the R4 framework of resilience: Robustness—the ability of systems, system elements, and other units of analysis to withstand disaster forces without significant degradation or loss of performance; Redundancy—the extent to which systems, system elements, or other units are substitutable, that is, capable of satisfying functional requirements, if significant degradation or loss of functionality occurs; Resourcefulness—the ability to diagnose and prioritize problems and to initiate solutions by identifying and mobilizing material, monetary, informational, technological, and human resources; and Rapidity—the capacity to restore functionality in a timely way, containing losses and avoiding disruptions. In transportation systems, robustness reflects the ability of the entire system—including the most critical elements—to withstand disaster-induced damage and disruption. Redundancy can be measured by the extent that alternative routes and modes of transportation can be employed if some elements lose function. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, for example, expanded use of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system and the trans-Bay ferries overcame to some extent the loss of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Resourcefulness reflects the availability of materials, supplies, repair crews, and other resources to restore functionality. Hurricane Katrina was a catas trophe because of the extent and severity of the physical damage and the inability to move critical resources into the disaster-stricken region. Rapidity is a consequence or outcome of Ferry Marissa Mae Nicole carries local traffic across the Bay of St. Louis, Mississippi, during construction of the new I-90 bridge. 15 Improving Resilience with Remote Sensing Technologies RONALD T. EGUCHI AND BEVERLEY J. ADAMS The performance of highway bridges is a major concern after earthquakes and other extreme events. Serious damage can impede critical emergency response, and the failure to detect collapsed bridge spans—particularly during the first few minutes of an earthquake—can result in serious injuries and fatalities. mining the scale of site visits and of relief efforts and in setting priorities. During the past five years, a group of researchers from the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research in Buffalo, New York, has investigated the use of remote sensing technologies to detect urban damage and to assist in emergency response. The research has focused on damage detection, including the development of algorithms for using optical and synthetic aperture radar data to locate highway and building collapses, as well as a mapping scheme to display and disseminate earthquake-related geospatial data. Another technology is a tiered reconnaissance system (TRS), which uses satellite images to determine the location, extent, and severity of building damage after an earthquake; the accompanying photographs offer a schematic representation. Output from the TRS can assist in deter- Schematic Representation of the Postearthquake Tiered Reconnaissance System ( a ) Note: Color in original images (a) and (b) indicates severity of damage. (a) Tier 1: Regional—moderate-resolution imagery detects changes and allows a quick assessment of regional damage. (b) Tier 2: Neighborhood—high-resolution imagery allows detailed analysis for determining the level of damage within communities. (c) Tier 3: Per building—supports the prioritization and coordination of field-based response and recovery and of field reconnaissance. A second major effort in postdisaster damage assessment was completed recently under the Joint Program on Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Technologies of the U.S. Department of Transportation and NASA. As part of the Safety, Hazards, and Disasters Consortium led by the University of New Mexico, ImageCat, Inc., developed innovative methods for near real-time damage assessment of highway bridges. The methods employ remote sensing technology. The products from the research were Bridge Hunter, which produces a catalogue of key bridge attributes and images from a range of airborne and satellite sensors, and Bridge Doctor, which assesses the damage state of bridges by evaluating changes between images acquired before and after an earthquake. Eguchi is CEO, ImageCat, Inc., Long Beach, California; Adams is Managing Director, ImageCat Ltd., London, United Kingdom. improvements in robustness, redundancy, and resourcefulness. The slow pace of restoration and recovery in the Gulf Region after Hurricane Katrina indicates low levels of resilience throughout the area. At the same time, some states, communities, and infrastructure systems have proved more resilient than others. The literature and the MCEER research consider resilience to comprise both inherent and adaptive properties (2–3). Inherent resilience refers to an entity's ability to function well during noncrisis times. Adaptive resilience refers to an entity's demonstrated flexibility during and after disasters—the ability to adapt behavior and exercise creativity in addressing disaster-induced problems. These two properties of resilience may be correlated; entities with inherent resilience also may be better able to develop and implement adaptive coping strategies. Resilience Domains MCEER investigators identified four dimensions or domains of resilience: the technical, organizational, social, and economic (TOSE): The technical domain refers primarily to the physical properties of systems, including the ability to resist damage and loss of function and to fail gracefully. The technical domain also includes the physical components that add redundancy. Organizational resilience relates to the organizations and institutions that manage the physical components of the systems. This domain encompasses measures of organizational capacity, planning, training, leadership, experience, and information management that improve disaster-related organizational performance and problem solving. The resilience of an emergency management system, therefore, is based on both the physical components of the system—such as emergency operations centers, communications technology, and emergency vehicles—and on the properties of the emergency management organization itself—such as the quality of the disaster plans, the ability to incorporate lessons learned from past disasters, and the training and experience of emergency management personnel. The social dimension encompasses population and community characteristics that render social groups either more vulnerable or more adaptable to hazards and disasters. Social vulnerability indicators include poverty, low levels of education, linguistic isolation, and a lack of access to resources for protective action, such as evacuation. Local and regional economies and business firms exhibit different levels of resilience. Economic resilience has been analyzed both in terms of the inherent properties of local economies—such as the ability of firms to make adjustments and adaptations during nondisaster times—and in terms of their capacity for postdisaster improvisation, innovation, and resource substitution (3). In general, social and economic resilience relate to the ability to identify and access a range of options for coping with a disaster— the more limited the options of individuals and social groups, the lower their resiliency. Resilience Metrics Understanding the attributes and dimensions of resilience provides guidance for defining and achieving acceptable levels of loss, disruption, and system performance. The R4 approach highlights the multiple paths to resilience. Investments can improve all four resilience components—robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness, and rapidity. The TOSE framework emphasizes a holistic approach to community and societal resilience, looking beyond physical and organizational systems to the impact of the disruptions on social and economic systems. The MCEER perspective suggests a range of approaches to enhance resilience, including mitigation-based strategies, the development of a robust organizational and community capacity to respond to disasters, and improving the coping capabilities of households and businesses. In conjunction with disaster loss estimation techniques and other types of decision support tools, the MCEER resilience framework can help community officials, transportation and utility lifeline service organizations, and other stakeholders to explore the outcomes and trade-offs associated with different resilience-enhancing strategies. For example, MCEER investigators are now collaborating with officials of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to assess the resilience of the electric power and the water systems after earthquake-induced damage and disruption. References 1. Bruneau, M., S. E. Chang, R. T. Eguchi, G. C. Lee, T. D. O'Rourke, A. M. Reinhorn, M. Shinozuka, K. Tierney, W. A. Wallace, and D. von Winterfeldt. A Framework to Quantitatively Assess and Enhance the Seismic Resilience of Communities. Earthquake Spectra, Vol. 19, No. 4, 2003, pp. 733–752. 2. Rose, A. Defining and Measuring Economic Resilience to Earthquakes. In Research Progress and Accomplishments, 2003–2004. Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2004, pp. 41–54. 3. Rose, A., and S.-Y. Liao. Modeling Regional Economic Resilience to Disasters: A Computable General Equilibrium Model of Water Service Disruptions. Journal of Regional Science, Vol. 48, No. 1, 2005, pp. 75–112. 17 ALL-HAZARDS PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE, AND RECOVERY Jilek is General Manager, Fedorko is Security Director, and Subrt is Safety and Security Manager, Prague Public Transit Co., Inc., Czech Republic. ˇ (Above:) Prague Castle and the Vltava River at ordinary high water level. (Right:) Removable flood walls deployed in the city center, August 2002. The Prague Subway's New Flood Protection System Lessons from the Disaster of 2002 TOMAS JILEK, ANTONIN FEDORKO, AND JIRÍ SUBRTˇˇ The Vltava River passes through the city of Prague in the Czech Republic. The river has several dams upstream, and two major tributaries run into the Vltava just before it reaches the city. every 100 years. Flood levels have been recorded since 1827, and the highest summer floods occurred in 1890. The 100-year flood level was established at 50 centimeters above the 1890 flood levels. Because of the proximity of the river, the city's subway system has included protections against flooding, based on the probability of occurrence once In August 2002, disastrous floods struck the city. The unexpected surge was likely a once-every-500years occurrence; some experts have theorized about river floods on a 1,000-year cycle, but historic records are not available to verify the possibility. The 2002 floods affected parts of the city situated at lower levels, as well as the transportation system and public transit system, which comprises tram, bus, and subway services. Because the subway is deep underground, subway tunnels were flooded to a greater extent than other affected parts of the city. Since then, Prague has worked to address its flood protections, with particular attention to the underground stations. The solutions are not simple but can apply to other subway systems that face similar dangers.
List of Publications Dr. Andreas Pfrang, Institute for Energy and Transport, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Petten, Netherlands Publications in peer reviewed journals A. Pfrang, D. Veyret, G. Janssen, G. Tsotridis. Imaging of membrane electrode assemblies of proton exchange membrane fuel cells by X-ray computed tomography. Journal of Power Sources 2011, 196(12), 5272-5276 A. Pitois, A.Pilenga, A. Pfrang, G. Tsotridis. Temperature-dependent CO desorption kinetics on supported gold nanoparticles: Relevance to clean hydrogen production and fuel cell systems. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2011, 36(7), 4375-4385 A. Pfrang, D. Veyret, F. Sieker, G. Tsotridis. X-ray computed tomography of gas diffusion layers of PEM fuel cells: Calculation of thermal conductivity. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2010, 35(8), 3751-3757 A. Pitois, A. Pilenga, A. Pfrang, G. Tsotridis, B. Abrams, L.B. Chorkendorff. Temperature dependence of CO desorption kinetics at a novel Pt-on-Au/C PEM fuel cell anode. Chemical Engineering Journal 2010, 162(1), 314-321 A. Pfrang, Y.Z. Wan, Th. Schimmel. Early stages of the chemical vapor deposition of pyrolytic carbon investigated by atomic force microscopy. Carbon 2010, 48(3), 921-923 A. Pitois, J.C. Davies, A. Pilenga, A. Pfrang, G. Tsotridis. Kinetic study of CO desorption from Rt/Pu PEM fuel cell anodes: Temperature dependence and associated microstructural transformations. Journal of Catalysis 265 (2009), 199-208. IE best peer-reviewed scientific paper award 2009, Institute for Energy of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission 2009 JRC Excellence award for the best peer-reviewed scientific paper, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission G.J.M. Janssen, E.F. Sitters, A. Pfrang. Proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells durability evaluated by load-on/off cycling. Journal of Power Sources 191 (2009), 501-509. N. Deyneka-Dupriez, U. Herr, H-J. Fecht, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel, B. Reznik, D. Gerthsen. Interfacial adhesion and friction of pyrolytic carbon thin films on silicon substrates. Journal of Materials Research 23 (2008), 2749-2756. A. Pfrang, K. Schladitz, A. Wiegmann, Th. Schimmel. Calculation of the evolution of surface area and free volume during the infiltration of fiber felts. Chemical Vapor Deposition 13 (2007), 705-715. B. J. Mullins, A. Pfrang, R.D. Braddock, Th. Schimmel, G. Kasper. Detachment of liquid droplets from fibres – experimental and theoretical evaluation of detachment force due to interfacial tension effects. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 312 (2007), 333-340. C.G. Poulton, C. Koos, M. Fujii, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel, J. Leuthold, W. Freude. Radiation modes and roughness loss in high index-contrast waveguides. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 12; Special Issue on Nanophotonics (2006), 1306-1321. V. De Pauw, A. Collin, W. Send, J. Hawecker, D. Gerthsen, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Deposition rates during the early stages of pyrolytic carbon deposition in a hot-wall reactor and the development of texture. Carbon 44 (2006), 3091-3101. W. Freude. C.G. Poulton, C. Koos, J. Brosi, M. Fujii, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel, M. Müller, J. Leuthold. Nanostrip and photonic crystal waveguides: the modelling of imperfections. Proc. 15th International Workshop on Optical Waveguide Theory and Numerical Modelling (OWTNM'06), Varese, Italy, April 20–21, (2006), 1–2, invited paper. W. Freude, C. Poulton, C. Koos, J. Brosi, M. Fujii, M. Müller, J. Leuthold, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Nano-optical waveguide devices with random deformations and nonlinearities. Conference Digest of the 3rd International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (ICMAT'05), Symposium F: Nano-Optics and Microsystems, Singapore, July 3–8, (2005), invited paper. A. Pfrang. Von den Frühstadien der Pyrokohlenstoffabscheidung bis zum Kompositwerkstoff Untersuchungen mit Rastersondenverfahren. Dissertation, Verlag Dr. Hut, München (2005). M. Kiderlen, A. Pfrang. Algorithms to estimate the rose of directions of a spatial fiber system. Journal of Microscopy 219 (2005), 50-60. A. Pfrang, B. Reznik, Th. Schimmel, D. Gerthsen. Microstructure analysis of a carbon-carbon composite using argon ion etching. Microscopy and Microanalysis 11 (2005), 46-55. A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Quantitative analysis of pyrolytic carbon films by polarized light microscopy. Surface and Interface Analysis 36 (2004), 184-188. E.G. Bortchagovsky, B. Reznik, D. Gerthsen, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Optical properties of pyrolytic carbon deposits deduced from measurements of the extinction angle by polarized light microscopy. Carbon 41 (2003), 2430-2433. A. Pfrang, B. Reznik, Th. Schimmel, D. Gerthsen. Comparative study of differently textured pyrolytic carbon layers by atomic force, transmission electron and polarized light microscopy. Carbon 41 (2003), 181-185. A. Pfrang, K.J. Hüttinger, Th. Schimmel. Adhesion imaging of carbon fiber reinforced materials in the pulsed force mode of the AFM. Surface and Interface Analysis 33 (2002), 96-99. Publications at international conferences or workshops A. Pfrang, D. Veyret, G. Tsotridis, X-ray computed tomography of gas diffusion layers and membrane electrode assemblies of PEM fuel cells. Microscopy Conference 2011, Kiel, Germany, 2011. A. Pfrang, D. Veyret, G. Tsotridis, G. Janssen. X-ray computed tomography of PEM fuel cells International Conference on Materials for Energy, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2010. . A. Pfrang, A. Pitois, A. Pilenga, G. Tsotridis. Investigation of PEM fuel cell electrodes by transmission electron microscopy, scanning eectron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. International Conference on Materials for Energy, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2010. A. Pfrang, D. Veyret, G. Tsotridis. Investigation of gas diffusion layers of PEM fuel cells by x-ray computed tomography. Ulm ElectroChemical Talks 2010, Ulm, Germany, 2010. D. Veyret, A. Pfrang, G. Tsotridis. Modeling of PEMFC. IEA (International Energy Agency) Annex 22 - Spring workshop, Petten, Netherlands, 2010. A. Pfrang, A. Pitois, D. Veyret, G. Janssen. Micro- and nanostructure analysis of PEM fuel cell components. IEA (International Energy Agency) Annex 22 - Spring workshop, Petten, Netherlands, 2010. A. Pfrang, A. Pitois, G. Tsotridis, G.J.M. Janssen, E.F. Sitters, J.A.Z. Pieterse. Investigation of supported catalyst nanoparticles by transmission electron microscopy, Microscopy Conference 2009, Graz, Austria, 2009. A. Pfrang, D. Veyret. Microstructure analysis and calculation of thermal conductivity of gas diffusion layers of PEM fuel cells. European Fuel Cell Forum 2009, Luzern, Switzerland, 2009. J.A.Z. Pieterse, J.W. Dijkstra, J. Boon, Y.C. van Delft, A. Pfrang, M. Ligthart, E.J.M. Hensen, R.W. van den Brink. Steam reforming in membrane reactors using nickel catalysts. 21st North American Catalysis Society Meeting (NAM), San Francisco, USA, 2009. A. Pfrang, R. Ermel, E. Kerscher, T. Beck, Th. Schimmel. Quantitative measurement of fiber pull-out by laser scanning confocal microscopy. Workshop on Mechanical Testing for Next Generation Nuclear Systems, Petten, Netherlands, 2008. S. Walheim, M. Barczewski, R. Gröger, M. Müller, A. Pfrang, B. Riedel, Ch. Obermair, Th. Koch und Th. Schimmel. Chemical patterning and chemical contrast imaging with the tip of an atomic force microscope. Nano 2007, Chisinau, Moldova, 2007. S. Walheim, M. Barczewski, R. Gröger, M. Müller, A. Pfrang, B. Riedel, Ch. Obermair, Th. Koch und Th. Schimmel. Chemical patterning and chemical contrast imaging with the tip of an atomic force microscope. EMRS Fall Meeting, Warsaw, Poland, 2007. A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Pyrolytic carbon surfaces investigated by atomic force microscopy. Carbon 2006, Aberdeen, Scotland, 2006. A. Pfrang, V. DePauw, M. Guellali, R. Oberacker, M. Hoffmann, D. Gerthsen, Th. Schimmel. Texture analysis of pyrolytic carbon by polarized light microscopy, x-ray diffraction and selected area electron diffraction: A quantitative model. Carbon 2006, Aberdeen, Scotland, 2006. A. Pfrang, R. Ermel, T. Beck, E. Kerscher, M. Müller, C. Ziebert, S. Ulrich, Th. Schimmel. Mechanical properties of pyrolytic carbon analyzed by nanoindentation, atomic force microscopy and laser scanning confocal microscopy. Carbon 2006, Aberdeen, Scotland, 2006. A. Li, O. Deutschmann, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Transient 2D simulation of CVI of methane using multi-step deposition and hydrogen inhibition models. Carbon 2006, Aberdeen, Scotland, 2006. A. Pfrang, D. Bach, D. Gerthsen, Th. Schimmel. Texture characterization of pyrolytic carbon layers: a quantitative study by polarized light microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. Spring Meeting of the European Physical Society, Dresden, 2006. A. Pfrang, Y.Z. Wan, Th. Schimmel. Direct observation of intermediate phases of pyrolytic carbon by atomic force microscopy. Spring Meeting of the European Physical Society, Dresden, 2006. A. Pfrang, K. Schladitz, A. Wiegmann, Th. Schimmel. Calculation of the evolution of surface area and free volume during the infiltration of fiber felts. Spring Meeting of the European Physical Society, Dresden, 2006. C.G. Poulton, C. Koos, M. Fujii, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel, J. Leuthold, W. Freude. Roughness in high index-contrast waveguides. COST ("European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research") P11, Twente, Niederlande, 2005. A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Pyrolytic carbon coated stents investigated by atomic force microscopy. Frontiers Annual Meeting, Karlsruhe, 2005. A. Pfrang, Y.Z. Wan, Th. Schimmel. Pyrolytic carbon coatings for medical applications investigated by atomic force microscopy. CFN Summer School Nano-Biology, Bad Herrenalb, 2005. W. Freude, C. Poulton, C. Koos, J. Brosi, M. Fujii, M. Müller, J. Leuthold, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Nano-optical waveguide devices with random deformations and nonlinearities. Invited talk, 3rd lnternational Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (ICMAT 2005), Singapore, 2005. A. Pfrang, Y.Z. Wan, Th. Schimmel. Direct observation of intermediate phases of pyrolytic carbon by atomic force microscopy. Carbon 2005, Gyeongju, Korea, 2005. Best Poster Award A. Pfrang, K. Schladitz, A. Wiegmann, Th. Schimmel. Calculation of the evolution of surface area and free volume during the infiltration of fiber felts. Carbon 2005, Gyeongju, Korea, 2005. A. Pfrang, D. Bach, D. Gerthsen, Th. Schimmel. Texture analysis of pyrolytic carbon by polarized light microscopy and selected area electron diffraction: A quantitative model for the correlation between extinction angle and orientation angle. Carbon 2005, Gyeongju, Korea, 2005. V. De Pauw, A. Collin, W. Send, D. Gerthsen, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Early stages of pyrolytic carbon deposition. EMC 2004: 13th European Microscopy Congress, Antwerpen, Belgien, 2004. V. De Pauw, A. Collin, W. Send, D. Gerthsen, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Microscopic investigations of pyrolytic carbon islands deposited on silicon substrates. Carbon 2004, Providence, USA, 2004. A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Intermediate phases of pyrolytic carbon observed by atomic force microscopy. Carbon 2004, Providence, USA, 2004. A. Pfrang, Y.Z. Wan, V. De Pauw, W. Send, D. Gerthsen, Th. Schimmel. Early stages of the chemical vapor deposition of pyrolytic carbon investigated by atomic force microscopy. Carbon 2004, Providence, USA, 2004. A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Quantitative analysis of pyrolytic carbon by polarized light microscopy Carbon 2004, Providence, USA, 2004. . A. Pfrang, B. Reznik, Th. Schimmel, D. Gerthsen. Microstructure analysis of a carbon-carbon composite using argon ion etching. Carbon 2004, Providence, USA, 2004. A. Pfrang, Y.Z. Wan, Th. Schimmel. Investigation of the early stages of the chemical vapor deposition of pyrolytic carbonby atomic force microscopy. Nano 2004, 7 th International Conference on Nanostructured Materials, Wiesbaden, 2004. V. De Pauw, A. Collin, W. Send, D. Gerthsen, A. Pfrang, Th. Schimmel. Early stages of pyrolytic carbon deposition on planar substrates in a hot-wall reactor. Carbon 2003, Oviedo, Spanien, 2003. A. Pfrang, B. Reznik, D. Gerthsen, Th. Schimmel. A comparative study of pyrocarbon microstructure by atomic force, transmission electron and polarized light microscopy. Carbon 2002, Peking, China, 2002. A. Pfrang, I. Yalman, H. Gliemann, K.J. Hüttinger, Th. Schimmel. Investigation of chemical vapor infiltrated carbon fiber felts by combined scanning force techniques. Carbon 2002, Peking, China, 2002. A. Pfrang, B. Reznik, D. Gerthsen, Th. Schimmel. Comparative study of pyrocarbon microstructure by atomic force, transmission electron and polarized light microscopy. Deutsch-Chinesischer Workshop, "Fundamentals and Application of Nano Science: Building Blocks, Modeling and Structuring", Karlsruhe, 2002. A. Pfrang, I. Yalman, Th. Schimmel. Tribological and adhesive properties of carbon/carbon composites on a microscopic scale investigated by scanning force techniques. DeutschChinesischer Workshop, "Fundamentals and Application of Nano Science: Building Blocks, Modeling and Structuring", Karlsruhe, 2002. A. Pfrang, W. Send, D. Gerthsen, Th. Schimmel. Growth, adhesion and wear of pyrolytic carbon thin films studied on the nanometer scale. 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INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR SOIL MECHANICS AND GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING This paper was downloaded from the Online Library of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). The library is available here: https://www.issmge.org/publications/online-library This is an open-access database that archives thousands of papers published under the Auspices of the ISSMGE and maintained by the Innovation and Development Committee of ISSMGE. EPB tunnelling in deltaic deposits: Observations of ground movements A. Gens, A. Di Mariano & M.T. Yubero Department of Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences, Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain ABSTRACT: The Line 9 of Barcelona Metro is currently under construction. The southern part of the line connects the city to the airport and is completely excavated in soft deltaic deposits of Holocene age. In this part, tunnelling is performed by two EPB machines of 9.4 m diameter. The paper first describes the specific geology of the area. Information derived from the excavation of this part of Line 9 is presented and reviewed. In particular, the following issues are addressed: history of volume loss distribution along the line, magnitude and shape of subsidence troughs, influence of pressures used during tunnelling on observed movements, and contributing causes to observed instances of larger ground movements. The paper may constitute a useful case record for other EPB tunnelling projects in soft soil. 1 INTRODUCTION 9.4 m diameter EPB machines excavating in opposite directions from Mas Blau Station (Fig. 1). A new Metro line, named Line 9, is currently under construction in the Barcelona metropolitan area (Di Mariano et al., 2007; Gens et al., 2006). It has a total length of 47.8 km, out of which nearly 44 km correspond to tunnelling. The project includes the construction of 52 stations. For civil engineering planning purposes, the project was divided into 4 major parts (Fig. 1): Part 1, the southern part, connects Barcelona city to its airport; Part 2, the south-eastern part, links to the Logistic Activities Zone of the Port of Barcelona; Part 3, the central part, runs through the high part of the city and, finally, Part 4, the northern part, connects Barcelona to the densely populated cities of Badalona and Santa Coloma de Gramanet (Ormazabal et al., 2008). The southern part of the line, i.e. Part 1, is completely excavated in soft deltaic deposits of Holocene age, which constitute, at the larger scale, a rather homogeneous geological profile. In this area, tunnelling is performed by means of two The present paper specifically refers to the excavation of the Line 9 between Mas Blau Station and Barcelona airport (Fig. 1). This 4.33 km-long section of the Line crosses an urban area close to some sensitive structures. Ground movements have therefore been a special concern during tunnel design and construction. An extensive instrumentation system has been deployed to control the magnitude and distribution of ground movements and also displacements of the structures during and after the excavation of the line. The article first summarily describes the special geology of the area and its implications for tunnelling. Afterwards, the information derived from this part of the excavation is presented and reviewed. In particular, the following issues are addressed: history of volume loss distribution along the line, magnitude and shape of subsidence troughs, and influence of pressures used during tunnelling on observed movements. Attention is also paid to contributing causes to observed instances of larger ground movements. 2 LOCATION AND GROUND CONDITIONS The part of the Line 9 (L9) route described in this paper was constructed under L9 Contract T1D that starts at Mas Blau Station and ends at Terminal entre Pistes Station, inside Barcelona airport (Fig. 1). Tunnelling works started in April 2008 and lasted approximately one year. Figure 2 shows a plan view of this part of the line. It also indicates the location of the three instrumented reference sections present, the four stations of this route and, finally, the five intermediate ventilation and emergency shafts. Of the four stations only one, the Terminal Actual Station, has been fully constructed underground and lacks a structure above ground. It will provide access to the old Barcelona Airport Terminal. The longitudinal section shown in Figure 3 summarizes the geology along the tunnel route of Contract T1D. The top layer comprises made ground (R) of varying thickness overlying a thin stratum of brown fine silts (Ql1). Below it, gray fine sands, with some gravel inclusions (Ql2) are encountered which are in turn underlain by a gray layer (Ql3) of mixed composition: silty clays with some interlayered sands, sandy silts, clays and silts. The Ql3 layer is the main soft deposit and it reaches depths of approximately 50 m below ground level. It overlies the base gravels (QL4) where a confined aquifer is located. All of these materials are of Quaternary age and layers QL2 to QL4 belong to the deltaic deposits of the Llobregat River (Fig. 1). The water table is nearly horizontal and is located 0–1 m above sea level. Except in the proximity of the Stations, the ground cover of the tunnel is about 16 m, with a cover/diameter (C/D) ratio of approximately 1.7. Around the Stations this ratio decreases reaching a minimum value of 1.0 in the area of Terminal Actual Station. 3 TUNNEL EXCAVATION Tunnelling of Contract T1D was performed using a Herrenknecht Earth-Pressure-Balance (EPB) boring machine. The running tunnel was lined with 8.43 m Inner Diameter (ID) pre-cast segmental concrete rings, the segment length along the tunnel being 1.5 m. Six segments plus one key formed a full ring of 0.32 m thickness. The advantage of EPB tunnelling is the possibility of providing substantial support to the excavated face at all times, thus allowing good ground movements control (Mair, 2008). During the excavation of the L9 Contract T1D, bentonite was systematically injected in the over-excavated annulus around the shield and the tail void was always grouted simultaneously to the EPB shield advance, in order to improve ground movement control (Wongsaroj et al., 2006). Three different pressures were applied: the face pressure (Pf), a bentonite pressure (Pb) and the grouting pressure (Pg) (Di Mariano et al., 2009; Gens et al. 2009). Pf represents the support pressure to the excavation face provided partly by the thrust from the cutter head and partly by the chamber pressure (Mair, 2008); pressure Pb is the pressure of the bentonite injection around the shield, in the annular void between the shield and the ground due not only to the over-excavation of the cutter head but also to the conicity of the shield; pressure Pg corresponds to the pressure of the grouting injection that fills the gap between the extrados of the lining and the excavated ground (tail void). Typical face pressure values were in the range 2.0–3.0 bars, while shield pressures varied approximately from 1.3 to 2.0 bars and grouting pressures from 2.0 to 3.5 bars. In order to achieve optimum performance with EPB machines, the excavated soil must form a suitable plastic mass of soft consistency and low friction that can readily be extruded from the head chamber through the screw conveyor (Peña Duarte, 2007). Natural ground does not usually have ideal properties when excavated, so modifications of its properties through soil conditioning may be necessary. The most common conditioners used in the tunnelling process are foams, polymers and clays (Peña Duarte, 2007). Foams were the only spoil conditioning agent used inside the chamber pressure in Contract T1D. Actually, when the excavated section was entirely in the Ql3 layer and its composition was mostly clayey, no spoil conditioning agent was needed. After the first 250 m of the tunnel drive, access into the chamber pressure, by means of compressed air, was considered necessary to check the state of the cutting tools. No maintenance works were required. Afterwards, all the interventions at the cutter head were done at atmospheric pressure in the ventilation and emergency shafts and also in the Terminal Actual Station. In general, the wear and damage of the cutting tools was very limited in this section of the Line. The advance of the EPB face with time is shown in Figure 4, together with the advancing tunnelling rates. The overall average advance rate, along the route of Contract T1D, was about 28.5 m/day, Figure 3. Sketch geological profile along the tunnel route of Contract T1D. Sections A, B and C are the instrumented reference sections at chainage 4150 m, 4000 m and 2750 m, respectively. sections in greenfield situations with no buildings located nearby. Figure 5 shows, as an example, the instrumented section at chainage 4 + 000 m. The following instrumentation is deployed: seven levelling points along the transverse section of the tunnel, three extensometers (left, right and centre), two inclinometers (left and right), four open standpipe piezometers and three vibrating wire piezometers. Figure 4. EPB face position vs. time. The Figure also indicates the advancing tunnelling rates. i.e. 19 rings per day (stoppage periods are not included in these values) (Fig. 4). The maximum recorded daily advance was 90 m, or 60 rings. In Figure 4, the continuous vertical black lines indicate the positions of the shafts and the station where maintenance works were performed. The discontinuous line, which corresponds to Ciutat Aeroportuaria Station, indicates that the latter was constructed after the passage of the EPB machine and could not be used for maintenance. Finally, the vertical line, with solid black points, designates the location of the boring machine during the hyperbaric inspection. 4 GROUND MOVEMENT OBSERVATIONS 4.1 Volume loss An extensive monitoring program was commissioned prior to the start of the excavation. Instrumentation was installed to measure not only the movements of nearby buildings, but also surface and subsurface movements as well as pore water pressures. Surface movements were monitored through levelling points and automatic sensors installed on the surface along longitudinal and transverse sections of the tunnel. Three instrumented reference sections were also installed to keep track of the deep ground movements at Two transverse settlement profiles, measured after the passage of the EPB beyond the zone of influence, are shown in Figure 6. Both of them refer to the instrumented section at chainage 4 + 000 m. The open points and the discontinuous line indicate the surface ground movement while the solid points and the continuous line represent the settlement trough at a depth of 9.5 m. Both profiles can be reasonably approximated in the form of a Gaussian distribution (Mair et al., 1993). In that case, the volume of the settlement trough per unit length, V s is: where, S max represents the ground vertical movement at the tunnel centre line and i the distance of the point of inflection of the curve from the tunnel centre line. The settlements caused by tunnelling are usually characterized by the volume or ground loss, V l , which is the volume V s expressed as a percentage of the notional excavated volume of the tunnel (Burland, 2001): Where D is the tunnel diameter. For practical purposes, the trough-width parameter at surface level (i) can be estimated with the following expression (O'Reilly & New, 1982): where the parameter K depends on soil type and H 0 is the depth of the tunnel axis. For subsurface settlement profiles the trough-width parameter i sub (z) can be expressed as (Mair et al., 1993): z being the depth at which the distribution of settlements is considered and K sub (z) the subsurface parameter K at a depth z. For the surface settlement trough in Figure 6, equation (2) gives a volume loss of 0.68% and a trough-width parameter (i) of 8.5 m resulting in a K parameter equal to 0.42. At a depth of 9.5 m, the subsurface parameters i sub and K sub equal to 5.9 m and 0.55 respectively. Table 1 summarizes the values of K, and i, relative to both surface and subsurface Gaussian distribution curves at the three instrumented reference sections. The subsurface curves are always calculated at a depth of 9.5 m. In common with field measurements in other cases, the parameter K appears to increase with depth, Table 1. K parameter and total volume loss at the three instrumented reference sections. *The subscript "sub" stands for subsurface. giving proportionally wider settlement profiles closer to the tunnel (Mair et al., 1993). In addition to the three instrumented reference sections, several additional transverse sections were installed on which surface settlements were measured (Nyren et al., 2001). Field observations indicated that the parameter K assumes an average value of approximately 0.50 at ground level, on nearly the entire route of Contract T1D. This value was hence used to evaluate volume losses along the excavation using only the settlement above the axis of the tunnel. Figure 7 shows the computed volume loss along the route, after the passage of the EPB beyond the zone of influence. The majority of values lie between 0.0 and 0.6 per cent, a rather low range of values given the soft nature of the excavated ground. Higher volume losses were observed in two areas: the first one close to chainage 3 + 851 m where shaft 6 is located and the second one in the area of chainage 1 + 201 m, corresponding to shaft 3. Usually, the shafts along the route were used to carry out scheduled maintenance works to the cutter head under atmospheric conditions. The process of the boring machine entering into a shaft or exiting from it caused sometimes difficulties for maintaining the required face pressure. That is why volume losses in the proximity of the shafts were usually higher than in the rest of the L9 route. Moreover, whenever the EPB machine stopped, as in the case of the hyperbaric inspection, the restart of the excavation works generally represented a critical phase with higher ground losses. Negative values of volume losses in Figure 7 refer to negative ground vertical movements, i.e. ground heave. Such negative values were registered in about 140 m of tunnelling in the gray fine sands of the Ql2 layer, just after the exit of Terminal Actual Station. Although the heave values are quite small, they probably indicate an excessively high face pressure. 4.2 Components of ground movements associated with EPB tunnelling An example of the ground movements commonly associated with EPB tunnelling is shown in Figure 8 (Cording, 1991; Mair and Taylor, 1997; Dimmock, 2003 and Wongsaroj et al., 2006). Three components of settlements are indicated: the ground vertical movement measured when the face of the EPB machine is at the monitoring section (S Face ), the settlement due to the passage of the shield (S Shield ), and the settlement caused by both the closure of the tail void behind the shield and the deflection of the lining (S Tail ). Finally, the total settlement (S Total ) is defined as the sum of the three previous components. Delayed settlements caused by creep and/or consolidation are not explicitly considered in this paper. When measured, they were generally much smaller than the excavationinduced settlements. As an example, Figure 9 shows the variation of the ground vertical movement with distance from the tunnel face, at a measuring point at chainage 2 + 900 m. The movement directly above the tunnel face, S Face , is here less than 2 mm. In this case, S Face represents approximately 10% of the total settlement. Generally, in the route of Contract T1D, the proportion of S Face with respect to S Total is quite low and often below 10%. Indeed, in some cases the arrival of the EPB face causes a small heave. At the same point (Fig. 9), the vertical movement due to the passage of the shield, S Shield , is only 0.4 mm. The proportion of S Shield with respect to S Total varies greatly along the route, depending on several factors such as the excavated materials, the efficiency of the bentonite injection and the EPB rate of advance. In any case, the largest proportion of settlement by far corresponds to the closure of the tail void and the deflection of the lining (S Tail ). This applies to the entire route of Contact T1D and it is in fact very characteristic of EPB tunnelling. 5 INFLUENCE OF EPB OPERATING PRESSURES ON VOLUME LOSS During the EPB advance in the Contract T1D route, face, shield and grouting pressures were measured at the injection points every ten seconds. A large amount of field data is therefore available to examine the potential influence of such pressures on volume loss. A drawback, however, lies in the fact that the range of variation of the pressures employed is limited, thus reducing the scope for examining the effect of large pressure variations. Three components of volume loss have been defined (Wongsaroj et al., 2006): the volume loss measured as the tunnel face reaches the monitoring section (V LF ), the volume loss measured when the end of the shield passes the monitoring section (approximately 10 m after the passage of the EPB face) (V LS ) and the tail volume loss when the EPB has advanced enough, beyond the monitoring section, and the surface settlement has stabilised (V LT ). All three components defined are incremental. Accordingly, three pressure ratios have been introduced: the Face Pressure Ratio (FPR), the Bentonite Pressure Ratio (BPR) and the Grouting Pressure Ratio (GPR). The three ratios represent the face pressure, the bentonite pressure and the grouting pressure, respectively, normalised with respect to the overburden pressure at tunnel axis. Figure 10 shows the relationship between the face volume loss, V LF , and the face pressure ratio. It can be observed that the face volume loss is quite small in all cases and even negative at times. It can be concluded that, in this case, when face pressures are in the range 48–78% of the overburden pressure, the face volume loss is maintained well inside the ±0.2% range. The volume loss V LS measured when the end of the shield passes the monitoring section versus the bentonite pressure ratio is shown in Figure 11. Again, the volume loss is often very low and close to zero. The highest value of shield volume loss observed along the route of Contract T1D is only a little over 0.2%. Bentonite pressures in the range 33–74% of the overburden pressure are capable to keep the shield volume loss below 0.3% and generally much lower. Figure 10. Face volume loss vs. face pressure ratio. The effect of the normalized grouting pressure on the tail volume loss is shown in Figure 12. Despite the large scatter in the data, there appears to be a rough tendency of the tail volume loss to decrease as the grouting pressure ratio increases. Identifying the causes of such scatter is not easy, as a number of additional factors (e.g. advanced rate, lining deflection, creep deformations) may contribute to it. As mentioned above, the volume loss due to the closure of the tail void represents the greatest percentage of the total volume loss, so the grouting injection has always been considered a very important operation. In the case described here, a full closure of the tail gap with no grouting applied would result in a volume loss of approximately 7%. In any case, the good control of the three EPB operating pressures has resulted in quite low overall volume losses taking into consideration the soft characteristics of the ground. 6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The paper describes the excavation of a 4.33 kmlong section of the Metro Line 9 between Mas Blau Station and Barcelona airport. The excavation has been performed in soft deltaic deposits with a number of sensitive structures close to the alignment. The overall average advance rate of the EPB machine along the route was 28.5 m/day Volume losses lie generally in the range 0.0–0.6%, even though higher values have been observed at times. Most of the larger volume losses are associated with the entrance to or exit from shafts used for maintenance purposes. The parameter K that defines the width of the surface settlement trough has generally a value of about 0.5. Data from deep instrumentation confirms that K appears to increase with depth. The face settlements and volume loss are always quite small and, sometimes, even negative indicating heave ahead of the EPB machine. The shield volume loss is more variable but also normally small. Most of the volume loss is associated with the closure of the gap after the passage of the shield. In spite of a large scatter of the data, there appears to be a correlation between the grouting pressures used and the tail volume loss. In any case, the volume loss observed in the majority of cases is quite limited and the range of pressures adopted has been successful in reducing settlements to quite acceptable values in spite of the poor geotechnical characteristics of the excavated ground. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors thank GISA for the technical and financial support provided for the performance of the work reported in this paper. The contribution of the Ministry of Education and Science through research grant BIA2008-06537 is also gratefully acknowledged. REFERENCES Burland, J.B. 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Dietary patterns of university students in the UK: A crosssectional study SPRAKE, EF, RUSSELL, JM, CECIL, JE, COOPER, RJ, GRABOWSKI, P, POURSHAHIDI, LK and BARKER, Margo <http://orcid.org/0000-0002-10165787> Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/22945/ This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version SPRAKE, EF, RUSSELL, JM, CECIL, JE, COOPER, RJ, GRABOWSKI, P, POURSHAHIDI, LK and BARKER, Margo (2018). Dietary patterns of university students in the UK: A cross-sectional study. Nutrition Journal, 17 (1), p. 90. Copyright and re-use policy See http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html RESEARCH Open Access Dietary patterns of university students in the UK: a cross-sectional study E. F. Sprake 1 , J. M. Russell 2 , J. E. Cecil 3 , R. J. Cooper 4 , P. Grabowski 1 , L. K. Pourshahidi 5 and M. E. Barker 6* Abstract Background: University represents a key transition into adulthood for many adolescents but there are associated concerns about health and behaviours. One important aspect relates to diet and there is emerging evidence that university students may consume poor quality diets, with potential implications for body weight and long-term health. This research aimed to characterise dietary patterns of university students in the UK and their sociodemographic and lifestyle antecedents. Methods: An online, cross-sectional survey was undertaken with a convenience sample of 1448 university students from five UK universities (King's College London, Universities of St Andrews, Southampton and Sheffield, and Ulster University). The survey comprised a validated food frequency questionnaire alongside lifestyle and sociodemographic questions. Dietary patterns were generated from food frequency intake data using principal components analysis. Nutrient intakes were estimated to characterise the nutrient profile of each dietary pattern. Associations with sociodemographic variables were assessed through general linear modelling. Results: Dietary analyses revealed four major dietary patterns: 'vegetarian'; 'snacking'; 'health-conscious'; and 'convenience, red meat & alcohol'. The 'health-conscious' pattern had the most favourable micronutrient profile. Students' gender, age, year of study, geographical location and cooking ability were associated with differences in pattern behaviour. Female students favoured the 'vegetarian' pattern, whilst male students preferred the 'convenience, red meat & alcohol' pattern. Less healthful dietary patterns were positively associated with lifestyle risk factors such as smoking, low physical activity and take-away consumption. The health-conscious pattern had greatest nutrient density. The 'convenience, red meat & alcohol' pattern was associated with higher weekly food spending; this pattern was also identified most consistently across universities. Students reporting greater cooking ability tended towards the 'vegetarian' and 'health-conscious' patterns. Conclusions: Food intake varied amongst university students. A substantial proportion of students followed health-promoting diets, which had good nutrient profiles obviating a need for dietary intervention. However, some students consumed poor diets, incurred greater food costs and practised unfavourable lifestyle behaviours, which may have long-term health effects. University policy to improve students' diets should incorporate efforts to promote student engagement in cooking and food preparation, and increased availability of low cost healthier food items. Keywords: Food consumption, Principal components analysis, Survey, University students * Correspondence: firstname.lastname@example.org 6 Food & Nutrition Group, Business School, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK Background University students represent a substantial proportion (50%) of the UK young adult population [1] and an individual's university career may be influential in the establishment of long-term eating patterns and thus chronic disease risk. This population also represents a group of young adults with a set of unique factors driving dietary intake: the transition to university life may be associated with increased autonomy over food choice, small food budgets, and exposure to new social groups and food cultures. A limited body of data indicates that the dietary behaviours of UK university students are not conducive to either short- or long-term health. Alcohol consumption has received most research attention revealing that binge drinking is endemic [2, 3]. There are also indications of high intakes of confectionery and fast foods, and low consumption of fruit and vegetables [3, 4]. Although there is some evidence that dietary behaviours track from adolescence to adulthood [5, 6], the transition from home to university life has been associated with unfavourable changes to food intake: increases in alcohol and sugar intake, and decreases in fruit and vegetable consumption have been reported [7]. Additionally, the first year of university life has been identified as a period associated with body weight gain in both North American [8] and UK students [9, 10]. Such weight gain may have long-term repercussions, since overweight during young adulthood has been identified as a significant predictor of obesity later in life [11]. Furthermore, high rates of body dissatisfaction and dieting behaviours have been noted, particularly amongst female students [12, 13]. Such engagement in dieting behaviour and dysfunctional relationships with food not only impact on dietary adequacy [14, 15], but may also create tension and conflict for young people as they develop relationships with new peer groups [16]. Dietary studies of British university students are constrained by crude dietary assessment, small sample size and generally focus on a single university [3, 4]. Furthermore, their analytical approach has been on single foods and/or nutrients, which has allowed assessment of intake relative to dietary recommendations. Using multivariate statistical techniques to identify dietary patterns through intake of multiple interrelated food groups captures the complexity and multidimensional nature of diet, which is representative of real life food consumption [17]. This approach also allows greater insight into the different patterns of food consumption that naturally occur within a population and facilitates identification of sub-groups who may be most in need of health promotion efforts. Universities in particular may represent a setting in which dietary behaviours are open to change and large groups of young adults can be reached, representing an appropriate target for health promotion efforts. A dietary patterns approach has been used widely in various UK population groups, but has not been employed to characterise the diets of university students. This study aimed to identify dietary patterns that exist within a UK university student population, to assess the nutritional profile of these patterns, and to examine socio-demographic and lifestyle variables underpinning these patterns. Methods Study design This cross-sectional study involved a convenience sample of five regionally and socio-economically diverse universities throughout the UK (Universities of: Sheffield, Ulster, King's College London (KCL), Southampton and St Andrews). These universities had responded positively to an invitation to participate in the research study; contact was made via university Human Nutrition or Health Sciences departments. A web-survey, comprising a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) (Tinuviel Software Ltd., Warrington, UK) was used to assess dietary intake. Socio-demographic and lifestyle data were also collected. The survey was conducted between Autumn 2013 and Spring 2015. Data collection was preceded by a pilot study, which was used to refine the web-survey. Ethical approval was obtained from each participating university. Informed consent for participation was obtained on the first page of the web-survey. Subjects & recruitment All British and European Union students less than 30 years of age at the five participating universities represented eligible participants. A cut-off of 30 years was chosen in order to focus on the dietary behaviours of young adults. International students (non-Home or non-EU) were not included because of possible heterogeneity in food choice (this issue was identified in the pilot study), and the dietary assessment instrument used was Euro-centric. Students identifying as international students on the first page of the online survey could not proceed. Only health sciences students were recruited at the University of Southampton, because of logistical issues in distribution of the survey. All students were recruited through university email distribution lists. This email provided study details and emphasised that students did not have to be eating a healthy diet to participate. Participants were required to recall their habitual diet over the most recent university semester (three months). This was the autumn semester 2013 for students at Sheffield, the autumn semester 2014 for students at Ulster and KCL, and the spring semester 2014 for students at Southampton and St Andrews. Participants who provided their contact details were entered into a prize draw; each person could win one of 40 £20 high street vouchers. Participant eligibility A total of 1683 students across the five universities responded to the survey. Figure 1 shows numbers of students excluded based on fulfilment of various eligibility criteria. The cut-offs for implausible energy intakes in the Nurses' Health Study (< 500 Kcal/day and > 3500 Kcal/day) and Healthcare Professionals' Follow-up Study (< 800 Kcal/day or > 4200 Kcal/day) were used to identify and exclude participants reporting implausible energy intakes the current study. Using this method, 24 participants were identified as over-reporters (8 males; 16 females) and three participants were identified as under-reporters (1 male; 2 females). A total of 1448 students comprised the final sample. Dietary data A validated 111-item FFQ originally developed by the Medical Research Council was employed to assess dietary intake (DietQ; Tinuviel Software Ltd., Warrington, UK; [18, 19]. The FFQ was piloted among 40 students at the University of Sheffield. Feedback from the pilot study led to three further items being incorporated into the questionnaire (consumption of hummus; tofu; water). Frequencies of consumption in the questionnaire were expressed as follows: every day = 7/week, through to once per week = 1/week; once every 2–3 weeks (F) = 0.5/week; rarely/never (R) = 0. Where absolute quantities of consumption were given, these were converted into number of portions consumed per day. Food and nutrient intakes were generated directly from these FFQ data using the nutritional analysis software QBuilder (Tinuviel Software, Warrington, UK). The original 111 foods/food groups listed in the FFQ were condensed into 55 broader foods/food groups for dietary patterns analysis. These 55 foods/food groups are detailed in Additional file 1 : Table S1. Socio-demographic, anthropometric and lifestyle data The following socio-demographic information was collected: age; gender; degree programme and year of study; full/part-time study; nature of term-time residence; ethnicity; religion; socioeconomic status (SES); maternal education; and university attended. Information on dieting/ weight loss behaviour, supplement use, cooking ability (four response options from 'able to cook wide range of meals from raw ingredients' through to 'unable to cook at all'), smoking status (students were asked to self-identify as a never smoker, ex-smoker, social smoker or regular smoker), self-reported physical activity levels (students were required to self-identify as not very active, moderately active or very active), body weight (kg) and height (m) (for calculation of body mass index (BMI), kg/m 2 ), cooking behaviours (consumption of: meals made from raw ingredients; pre-prepared foods; ready meals and take-aways; and meals from university cafeteria) and weekly food expenditure (£) was also collected. Identification of dietary patterns To generate dietary patterns, the 55 food/food group intake variables were entered into a principal component analysis (PCA) and a varimax (orthogonal) rotation was performed. The number of components retained was determined by the scree plot, parallel analysis and component interpretability [20]. Food/food groups with factor loadings > 0.32 were used to interpret each dietary pattern. Statistical analysis Pearson's product moment correlation coefficients were calculated between pattern scores and absolute nutrient intakes. Partial correlation coefficients were also calculated, which adjusted for energy intake. Correlation coefficients ≥0.5 and ≤− 0.5 were considered strong. Examination of scatter plots revealed no evidence of non-linear relationships between component scores and nutrient intakes. General linear models (GLMs) were firstly fitted for demographic variables alone (model 1) and then with additional eating factors (model 2). Maternal education was not included in the models, since data were not available for all students. Religion was also not included due to confounding with ethnic background. Variables were categorised into two groups for entry into a GLM: 1) demographic variables: gender, age, leisure-time physical activity, BMI, smoking, ethnicity, year of study, term-time accommodation, university attended, and full-time/part-time status 2) cooking- and eating-related variables: cooking ability, animal food consumption, frequency of consumption of meals prepared using raw ingredients, frequency of consumption of meals using pre-prepared foods, frequency of consumption of ready-meals and take-aways, frequency of consumption of meals from university cafeteria, frequency of skipping breakfast, frequency of skipping lunch, and amount spent on food. For each retained dietary component a GLM was fitted with demographic variables only (Group 1). A second GLM was then fitted, which included significant demographic variables and variables from Group 2. Multicomparison post-hoc tests with Sidak correction were carried out to aid interpretation of significant factors in the GLM. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20 was used for all statistical analyses. A p value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Results Participant characteristics The sociodemographic characteristics of the sample are shown in Table 1. The sample comprised 1064 (73.5%) women and 384 (26.5%) men. The majority of students were White British (n = 911; 62.9%) and registered for full-time study (n = 1394; 96.3%). The mean age of the sample was 21.5 years (SD 2.63 years). The majority of respondents were from the University of Sheffield (n = 567; 39.2%), Ulster University in Northern Ireland (n = 443; 30.6%) and KCL (n = 305; 21.1%). The remaining students were from the Universities of Southampton (n = 79; 5.5%) and St Andrews, Scotland (n = 54; 3.7%). Just over one-third of students were studying a health-related degree. The majority of students (n = 1000; 69.1%) reported a healthy BMI (18.5 – 24.99 kg/m 2 ); mean BMI was 22.8 kg/m 2 (SD 4.64 kg/m 2 ). In terms of eating behaviours of the sample, just under two-thirds of students described themselves as regular meat-eaters, whilst approximately 10% of students identified themselves as vegetarian. Just over half (55%) of students reported that they were able to cook a wide range of meals from raw ingredients, and 73% consumed self-cooked meals from raw ingredients 'every' or 'most' days. One in four students reported that they consumed meals cooked from pre-prepared foods, which could be assumed to represent convenience foods, 'most days' or 'everyday'. Approximately 30% of students reported that they skipped breakfast at least most days. Just less than one quarter of students spent less than £20 on food each week; a weekly food budget of £20–29 was most common. Almost one in five students spent over £40 on food each week. Full details are provided in tabular form in Additional file 1: Table S2). Dietary patterns Four principal components were retained, which explained 21.7% of the total variance in food intake. The first component explained 8.4% variance; the three remaining components explained 5.7%, 4.2% and 3.4% of the variance in food intake respectively. Table 2 shows the factor loadings of each of the food groups in the four dietary components retained. The first dietary component had high positive factor loadings (≥ 0.32) for pulses, beans and lentils, tofu, meat alternatives, hummus, nuts, and other green vegetables and salad items. It had high negative factor loadings for poultry, processed meat, and red meat and offal. This dietary pattern was labelled 'vegetarian' , because there was a clear tendency towards consumption of non-meat protein sources and avoidance of all meat and fish products. The second dietary component had high positive factor loadings for biscuits, cakes and sweet pastries, milk- and cream-based desserts, confectionery, crisps and savoury snacks, fruit juice, other bread, pizza and fizzy drinks. This component was labelled 'snacking' , because it was mainly characterised by snack-type foods that generally did not represent components of main meals, require no preparation and offered many options for mobile consumption. The third component had high positive factor loadings for fatty fish and canned tuna, white- and shellfish, nuts, eggs, fresh fruit, other green vegetables and salad items, oat- and bran-based breakfast cereals, herbal and green tea, and low fat/low calorie yogurts. This dietary pattern was labelled 'health-conscious' , because it was characterised by foods typically associated with improved health, and was congruent with dietary components labelled 'health-conscious' or 'prudent' in other dietary pattern studies [21]. Finally, the Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics of the sample a Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics of the sample (Continued) Full or part time status Full time Part time Year of study 1st year undergraduate 2nd year undergraduate 3rd year undergraduate 4th or higher year undergraduate Postgraduate Other Term-time residence University catered accommodation University self-catered accommodation Private accommodation with other friends/students Private accommodation on own 1394 54 489 301 264 136 245 13 58 340 610 63 96.3 3.7 33.8 20.8 18.2 9.4 16.9 0.9 4.0 23.5 42.1 4.4 a where percentages do not total 100% this is due to missing data b This question was not available for University of Sheffield students fourth component was labelled ' convenience, red meat & alcohol ' , because it had high factor loadings for red meat and savoury foods requiring little or no preparation, and it was the only component with a positive loading on alcoholic drinks. There were also high factor loadings for fried food, pasta and rice, ready-made sauces, pizza, chips, alcoholic drinks, processed meat, red meat and offal, and eggs; there was a strong negative factor loading for low fat/low calorie yogurts. Correlational analyses Pearson's correlation coefficients between dietary pattern scores and energy intake were calculated. These are displayed in Table 3. There was a weak negative correlation between the 'vegetarian' pattern and energy intake (r = − 0.096; p < 0.01), but a weak positive correlation between the 'health-conscious' pattern and energy Table 2 Factor loadings of the 55 food groups in the four principal components extracted from the PCA of frequency of food intake data of 1448 university students Table 2 Factor loadings of the 55 food groups in the four principal components extracted from the PCA of frequency of food intake data of 1448 university students (Continued) Food groups with factor loadings ≥0.10 & ≤− 0.10 are displayed; those ≥0.32 are highlighted in bold and those ≤− 0.32 are italicised intake ( r = 0.271; P < 0.01). The ' snacking ' and ' convenience, red meat and alcohol ' dietary patterns exhibited the strongest correlations with energy intake ( r = 0.582 and r = 0.547 respectively). Owing to these significant associations, energy-adjusted nutrient intakes were used to explore relationships with dietary patterns scores. There were strong positive correlations (0.5 ≥ r < 0.6; p < 0.01) between the ' vegetarian ' pattern and energyadjusted intakes of fibre, copper and thiamin. The ' healthconscious ' pattern was the most nutrient dense, with significant, positive, strong correlations (0.5 ≥ r < 0.7; p < 0.01) for energy-adjusted intakes of selenium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and biotin. The ' snacking ' pattern was strongly positively correlated with energy-adjusted non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES) ( r = 0.524; P < 0.01). Alcohol intake (energy-adjusted) was negatively correlated with scores on the ' snacking ' pattern ( r = − 0.317; P < 0.01). Only intake of total sugars (energy-adjusted) was strongly and negatively correlated with the ' convenience, red meat & alcohol ' pattern ( r = − 0.577; P < 0.01). General linear models Adjusted mean pattern scores by demographic and cooking/eating behaviour variables from the GLMs are provided in Table 4 (Model 1) and Table 5 (Model 2). The text that follows summarises the key findings. Pattern 1 – Vegetarian In Model 1 (demographic variables only) female gender (p < 0.001), middle age group (p = 0.020), moderate leisure-time activity levels (p = 0.045) and ex-smoker status (p = 0.025) were independently associated with higher scores on the vegetarian dietary pattern. Attendance at Ulster University was independently associated with lower 'vegetarian' pattern scores (p < 0.001). In Model 2 (demographic variables & food/eating related variables), female gender (p < 0.001), middle age group (p = 0.020), greatest self-reported cooking ability (p = 0.036), least frequent consumption of pre-prepared foods (p = 0.047) and lower consumption of animal products (p = 0.036) were independently associated with higher 'vegetarian' pattern scores. Attendance at Ulster University (p < 0.001) was independently associated with lower scores. Pattern 2 – Snacking In Model 1, low leisure-time physical activity (p < 0.001), attendance at Ulster University (p = 0.003), full time student status (p = 0.001) and living with parents/other relatives (p < 0.001) were independently associated with higher 'snacking' pattern scores. In Model 2, lower leisure-time physical activity participation (p = 0.012), attendance at Ulster University (p = 0.029), living with parents/other relatives or in university catered accommodation (p = 0.033), and fulltime student status (p < 0.001) were independently associated with greater pattern score. Infrequent consumption of meals prepared from raw ingredients (p < 0.001), and frequent consumption of pre-prepared foods (p < 0.001) and ready meals/take-aways (p < 0.001) were also independently associated with high 'snacking' pattern scores. Pattern 3 – Health-conscious In Model 1, 'very active' physical activity levels (p < 0.001), 'White Other' ethnicity (p = 0.004) and third year of undergraduate study (p = 0.041) were independently Table 3 Pearson's correlations between dietary pattern scores and estimated average daily nutrient intakes from frequency of food intake data γ P< 0.01 Correlation coefficients between absolute nutrient intakes and relative nutrient intakes adjusted for energy intakes are both shown. Correlation coefficients ≥0.5 are highlighted in bold associated with higher scores on the ' health-conscious ' pattern. Youngest age group ( p = 0.015) and attendance at University of Sheffield were independently associated with lower scores ( p < 0.001). In Model 2, the five significant demographic factors identified in Model 1 remained independently associated with 'health-conscious' pattern scores. Additionally, reporting being 'able to cook a wide range of meals from raw ingredients' (p = 0.002), daily consumption of meals made from raw ingredients ( p < 0.001) and pre-prepared foods ( p = 0.002), greatest amount of money spent on food ( ≥ 50/week) ( p < 0.001), at least occasional consumption of animal products ( p < 0.001) and infrequent skipping of breakfast ( p < 0.001) were independently associated with higher health-conscious pattern scores. Rare – compared to occasional or almost daily - consumption of take-aways/ready meals was associated with lower scores ( p = 0.042). Table 4 General Linear Model 1 – Demographic Variables Table 4 General Linear Model 1 – Demographic Variables (Continued) Independent associations between dietary pattern scores and non-nutrient variables. p values < 0.05 are highlighted in bold. Common superscript letters indicate significant post-hoc differences between categories within each variable Pattern 4 – Convenience, red meat & alcohol Discussion In Model 1, male gender (p < 0.001), lowest leisure-time physical activity levels (p = 0.032), and regular/social smoking status (p < 0.001) were independently associated with higher scores on the 'convenience, red meat & alcohol' diet pattern. An independent inverse association between living alone in private accommodation and score on this pattern approached significance (p = 0.053). In Model 2, higher pattern scores were independently associated with male gender (p < 0.001), regular/social smoking status (p < 0.001), most frequent consumption pre-prepared foods (p = 0.040), frequent consumption of ready-meals/take-aways (p < 0.001), frequent breakfast skipping (p < 0.001), regular consumption of animal products (p < 0.001) and greater amounts of money spent on food (p < 0.001). Lower scores were independently associated with living alone (p = 0.026) and spending less money on food (p < 0.001). This study aimed to identify dietary patterns within a UK university student population and to delineate the sociodemographic, lifestyle and other behavioural characteristics of students favouring these patterns. Dietary patterns analysis unveiled heterogeneity in food choice with students following four major dietary patterns: 'vegetarian' , 'snacking' , 'health-conscious' and 'convenience, red meat & alcohol'. These patterns explained approximately one fifth of the variance in food intake. Students' gender, age, geographical location and cooking ability were associated with differences in pattern behaviour. Clustering of lifestyle risk factors with dietary patterns was also evident, with less healthful dietary patterns associated with smoking, low physical activity and take-away consumption. Students tending to the 'convenience, red meat & alcohol' pattern reported spending more money on food each week. The 'vegetarian' , 'snacking' and 'health-conscious' patterns identified here are analogous to those previously reported Table 5 General Linear Model 2 – Demographic + Eating related variables Table 5 General Linear Model 2 – Demographic + Eating related variables (Continued) Occasionally 1.130 0.036 0.068 0.302 Table 5 General Linear Model 2 – Demographic + Eating related variables (Continued) Independent associations between dietary pattern scores and non-nutrient variables. p values < 0.05 are highlighted in bold. Common superscript letters indicate significant post-hoc differences between categories within each variable in adult and adolescent UK populations [ 22 , 23 ]. The ' convenience, red meat & alcohol ' pattern shares features (positive factor loadings for red meat, chips, alcohol) with a major dietary pattern (labelled drinker/social) reported among approximately 480 20 – 25 year olds in Northern Ireland, derived from 7-day diet history data [ 24 ]. favourable nutrient profile - being particularly dense in micronutrients such as biotin, vitamin B12, vitamin D and selenium - is at odds with the stereotype of student eating patterns, but concurs with published research on dietary patterns among UK adults [21, 22] and a small-scale study of university students in Birmingham, UK [4]. The 'snacking' and 'convenience, red meat and alcohol' patterns have common features with published data on the food preferences of British university students [2, 4]. Existing studies allude to non-prudent consumption patterns, reporting low consumption of fruit and vegetables alongside high intakes of confectionery, alcohol, and fried, ready-made and convenience foods [2–4]. We have shown that both the 'snacking' and 'convenience, red meat and alcohol' patterns were least nutrientdense. Indeed it is noteworthy that these two patterns were additionally positively correlated with energy intake and did not feature fruit and vegetables; dependence on such a pattern may increase risk of positive energy balance and hence weight gain. The 'health-conscious' pattern, which had a It is of note that a vegetarian diet was the predominant pattern identified in the current study, and indeed 10% of students described themselves as vegetarian. The latter figure is less than that reported in a survey of over 3000 university students studying in Northern Ireland, which reported that 22% of students did not eat meat [3]. Although a vegetarian pattern has been described in the wider UK diet pattern literature [21–23], it was a minor component, in keeping with the low prevalence of vegetarianism among British adults nationally (3%) [25]. Whilst high rates of binge drinking have previously been documented among student populations [3, 26], and there is a popular stereotype of students as heavy drinkers, only one pattern ('convenience, red meat & alcohol') was high in alcoholic beverages. Furthermore students following this pattern were also more likely to smoke, have frequent consumption of take-aways and pre-prepared foods and engage in lower levels of physical activity. This clustering of behaviours is important, since the negative health outcomes associated with multiple lifestyle risk factors are greater than the sum of individual health risk behaviours [27]. Conversely students favouring more healthful dietary patterns reported greater engagement in other health-promoting lifestyle choices, including not smoking, greater participation in physical activity. Aggregation of lifestyle behaviours has previously been reported in both university student and adult populations [26–28]. Gendered food preferences were also evident, especially in relation to meat consumption. Specifically, female students favoured a 'vegetarian' diet, whilst male students scored highly on the 'convenience, red meat & alcohol' pattern. Greater meat and fast food consumption among male students has previously been reported, and vegetarianism is more prevalent amongst female students [3, 24]. Although a recent British student study observed no gender differences between eating patterns [4], this study lacked detailed dietary assessment. Dietary preferences also varied between participating universities. Generally, students at Ulster University favoured less healthful patterns, whilst those at the Universities of Southampton, St Andrews and KCL tended towards more healthful diets. Students attending the University of Sheffield were least likely to adopt a 'health-conscious' dietary pattern. This gradient is congruent with national data, which indicates that the population of Northern Ireland consumes a diet of poorer quality than the UK as a whole [29]. Dietary gradients were also evident in relation to geography in a comparative study of university students from seven universities across the UK, although absence of information on specific university location limits comparison [2]. It is also possible that dietary differences observed between universities may arise because of socioeconomic gradients across universities. Missing data on social class for students at the University of Sheffield precluded adjustment for this possibility. However information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) indicates an SES gradient between universities: a greater proportion of students at Ulster University are from manual occupational backgrounds than from KCL, Sheffield and Southampton (no data available for St Andrews) [30]. Maternal education data for Ulster, KCL, St Andrews & Southampton corroborated these differences (data for University of Sheffield not available). The wider literature consistently reports a positive association between socioeconomic status and diet quality across UK population groups [21, 23, 28]. However, the tendency for students at the University of Sheffield to score lowest on a ' health-conscious ' diet is not in line with this explanation. The possibility of selection bias should be considered. There were differences in recruitment method between the University of Sheffield and Ulster University (recruitment email distributed directly to all students via a global mailing list), and the other three participating sites (e.g. study advertisement on student volunteers webpage). These recruitment differences may have biased the sample towards health-motivated students at KCL, St Andrews and Southampton. The lack of association between university attended and consumption of the 'convenience, red meat & alcohol' diet also deserves attention. This homogeneity suggests that this pattern is pervasive across all universities studied, substantiating popular beliefs that the diet of UK university students is one of poor quality. This study also revealed that older students favoured more healthful dietary patterns and there was evidence of a positive linear relationship between age and scores on the 'health-conscious' pattern. It is possible that as students mature they become increasingly aware of the impact of dietary choices on health and well-being, and health thus becomes an increasingly important determinant of food choice. Studies among the general UK adult population report similar age effects [21, 22]. A student survey conducted in Northern Ireland reported a positive gradient in diet quality by year of study [3]. In contrast, other student-specific research has failed to detect an association between eating habits and age (or year of study), although most of these studies have not collected detailed dietary data [2, 4, 10, 26]. Finally, 45% of the current sample reported limited (or non-existent) cooking ability, being at best only able to cook a limited range of meals from raw ingredients. Students with poor cooking ability were less likely to adopt healthier (vegetarian; health-conscious) diets than their more skilled counterparts. This association has not been documented among a university student population, but corroborates associations found in several adult studies [31, 32]. No association, however, was identified between cooking ability and scores on the less healthful dietary patterns (snacking; convenience, red meat & alcohol). Whilst it is likely that students who lack culinary skills may be forced to rely on convenience foods to ensure meal provision, other factors such as time pressures and (lack of) cooking enjoyment may be more salient in determining students' decisions around consumption of these foods [33, 34] . Study strengths and limitations The current study had a number of strengths and limitations that should be acknowledged. FFQs are not optimal for the measurement of absolute dietary intake, but the use of a dietary pattern approach permitted ranking according to food group intake and so was considered appropriate. Furthermore, use of an FFQ allowed dietary intake to be captured over a 3-month semester and facilitated recruitment of a large, geographically diverse sample, albeit a convenience one. Ideally, the sampling frame would have included a greater number of universities and involved stratification by year of study, subject group and socioeconomic indices in order to give a nationally representative profile of student eating patterns. Moreover, only health-sciences students were recruited at Southampton, which may represent a source of bias. The small number of students recruited from St Andrews may been seen as an under-representation of students from a Scottish university, but it should be noted that the total student population at St Andrews (population of around 8000 students) is much smaller than that of Sheffield, Ulster and KCL (between 25,000 and 30,000 students). It should also be noted that all dietary studies suffer from selection bias, in which more health- or diet-aware individuals choose to participate. Consequently, the prominence of the vegetarian and health-conscious dietary patterns may have been over-estimated in this study. Indeed, the BMI distributions were also biased towards healthy, in keeping with other student surveys [4, 26]. There was lack of fit in statistical models for 'convenience, red meat and alcohol' , and 'vegetarian' dietary patterns. It should be noted that these models are developmental and clearly only cover some of the potential antecedents of following such patterns. Convenience, red meat, alcohol and vegetarian dietary choices are likely to be influenced by a raft of social, cultural and political factors, which have not been included in the model. For example, it is recognised that adoption of a vegetarian diet is related to concern about the environment and animal welfare, as well as for health reasons and weight management [35, 36]. Similarly, there is enormous heterogeneity in motives for drinking alcohol including coping, enhancement of social status, religious practice, personality type and alcohol availability [37, 38]. Implications for policy and future research directions Importantly, policy makers must recognise not all students consume poor diets at university: a large group of students consumed nutritionally favourable and healthpromoting diets and do not appear in need of dietary intervention. However, students who consumed poor diets and practised unfavourable lifestyle behaviours were also identified, which may have long-term health effects. Targeted interventions towards these students are necessary. Furthermore, contemporary policy to limit red meat and alcohol consumption has greatest relevance to male students. University policy to improve students ' diets should also incorporate efforts to promote student engagement in cooking and food preparation, and increased availability of low cost healthier food items. This study also highlights a number of future research needs. Replication of this research among a large representative sample of UK university students would be pertinent. Secondly, in light of the association between cooking ability and dietary consumption patterns, investigation of the potential for a cooking skills intervention to improve dietary intake is warranted. Finally, the public health impact of dietary patterns and other lifestyle risk factors established during university become most important if these behaviours track forward into working adult life and represent a blueprint for long-term dietary preferences. Longitudinal research is now needed to investigate this possibility. Conclusion This study provides a unique insight into the dietary patterns of UK university students along with associated nutritional content. It has identified a number of antecedents of both healthful and unhealthful dietary practices. Four patterns emerged, with evidence of more healthful dietary practices amongst female and older students, and those with greater self-reported cooking ability. Students in Northern Ireland appeared to favour less healthful dietary patterns than those in Great Britain. Male students tended towards a diet founded on convenience food, red meat and alcohol; this pattern was germane to all participating universities. These findings are relevant to future health promotion interventions and behaviour change in this important population. Additional file Additional file 1: Table S1. Details of the constituent foods comprising the 55 foods/food groups entered into the PCA. Table S2. Eating behaviours and other eating-related characteristics of the Phase 1 sample. (DOCX 26 kb) Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge Professor Peter Emery at King's College London and Dr. Penelope Nestel at The University of Southampton for their assistance in administration of the survey. We would also like to acknowledge Anthony Johns from Tinuviel Software for his assistance in setting up the online survey. Funding This study was conducted as part of EFS's PhD project. The University of Sheffield was its sponsor. Availability of data and materials The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Authors' contributions This manuscript represents original work, which has not been published previously and is not being considered by another Journal. The authors' responsibilities were as follows: EFS, JMR & MEB conceived and designed the study. EFS was primarily responsible for data collection and analysis, with advice from JMR. EFS wrote the first draft of the manuscript, with help from MEB. JC & LKP facilitated recruitment of students from the University of St Andrews and Ulster University, respectively. All authors contributed to revisions and approval of the final manuscript. Ethics approval and consent to participate Ethical approval was obtained from 3 participating university. University of Sheffield Medical School Research Ethics Review, SMBRER288; University of St Andrews Teaching and Research Ethics Committee, MD11298; University of Ulster Research Ethics, 14/0096. University of Sheffield ethical approval covered the research at Kings College London and Southampton. Each participant gave informed consent on the first page of the web-survey. The provision of consent enabled access to the full survey. Consent for publication Not applicable Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interest. Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Author details 1 Human Nutrition Unit, Department of Oncology & Metabolism, The Medical School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2RX, UK. 2 Corporate Information & Computing Service, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2GU, UK. 3 Medical & Biological Sciences Building, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9TF, UK. 4 School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DA, UK. 5 Nutrition Innovation Centre for Food & Health (NICHE), Ulster University, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK. 6 Food & Nutrition Group, Business School, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK. Received: 10 July 2018 Accepted: 24 September 2018 References 1. British Government. Participation Rates in Higher Education: Academic Years 2006/2007–2013/2014. London: British Government; 2015. 2. 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` Research article Effects of an Impulse Frequency Dependent 10-Week Whole-body Electromyostimulation Training Program on Specific Sport Performance Parameters Joshua Berger 1 , Oliver Ludwig 1 , Stephan Becker 1 , Marco Backfisch 1 , Wolfgang Kemmler 2 and Michael Fröhlich 1 1 Department of Sports Science, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany 2 Institute of Medical Physics, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany Abstract The difference in the efficacy of altered stimulation parameters in whole-body-electromyostimulation (WB-EMS) training remains largely unexplored. However, higher impulse frequencies (>50 Hz) might be most adequate for strength gain. The aim of this study was to analyze potential differences in sports-related performance parameters after a 10-week WB-EMS training with different frequencies. A total of 51 untrained participants (24.9 ± 3.9 years, 174 ± 9 cm, 72.4 ± 16.4 kg, BMI 23.8 ± 4.1, body fat 24.7 ± 8.1 %) was randomly divided into three groups: one inactive control group (CON) and two training groups. They completed a 10-week WB-EMS program of 1.5 sessions/week, equal content but different stimulation frequencies (training with 20 Hz (T20) vs. training with 85 Hz (T85)). Before and after intervention, all participants completed jumping (Counter Movement Jump (CMJ), Squat Jump (SJ), Drop Jump (DJ)), sprinting (5m, 10m, 30m), and strength tests (isometric trunk flexion/extension). Oneway ANOVA was applied to calculate parameter changes. Posthoc least significant difference tests were performed to identify group differences. Significant differences were identified for CMJ (p = 0.007), SJ (p = 0.022), trunk flexion (p = 0.020) and extension (p=.013) with significant group differences between both training groups and CON (not between the two training groups T20 and T85). A 10-week WB-EMS training leads to significant improvements of jump and strength parameters in untrained participants. No differences could be detected between the frequencies. Therefore, both stimulation frequencies can be regarded as adequate for increasing specific sport performance parameters. Further aspects as regeneration or long term effects by the use of different frequencies still need to be clarified. into the muscle and thus to involuntary muscle contraction. Maximum strength increase is paramount in EMS. In a review, Filipovic et al. (2012) reported that a 3-to-6-week EMS training can result in maximum increases of up to 58.8 % in isometric and 79.5 % in dynamic maximum strength. Key words: WB-EMS, muscle fiber, jumping, sprinting, performance diagnostics. Introduction For many years, electromyostimulation (EMS) training has been established as a proven type of training in the areas of rehabilitation and clinical intervention. After injuries, it enables athletes to reduce a decrease in performance and to support the reconstruction of muscles, as well as to create new stimuli in training routine (Seyri and Maffiuletti, 2011). A particular focus is placed on whole-body-EMS (WB-EMS) training: electrodes are attached to the skin all over the body (upper arms, gluteus, chest, abdomen, lower and upper back, thighs, shoulder) and stimulate the muscles underneath them via an externally applied stimulus. The stimulation of the motor units results in signal transduction Planning and implementing WB-EMS training, however, need to take into account many parameters. For example impulse duration and rest intervals, impulse width, number of training units per week, regeneration times, fatigue, dynamic or static exercises have an essential impact on the effectiveness of WB-EMS (Filipovic et al., 2011; 2012; 2016). Especially the exertion intensity significantly influences the strength development of the target muscles in WB-EMS training (Binder-Macleod and McDermond, 1992). A linear interrelationship seems to exist between impulse intensity and strength development (Maffiuletti, 2010). There is also a positive relationship between a muscle's strength development during training and the resulting strength increases (Binder-Macleod and McDermond, 1992). This means that impulse intensity plays an essential role in terms of strength increase through EMS training. A further factor deemed important due to the associated muscular stimulation method is the stimulation frequency in Hertz (Hz) applied during training. Frequency is the number of impulses per second that reach the muscle via the electrode attached to the skin and trigger a contraction (Bossert et al., 2006; Wenk, 2011). An interrelationship was identified between the frequency applied and the strength development in the muscle (Binder-Macleod and McDermond, 1992). To date, numerous studies have dealt with the application of different frequencies under varied conditions (Amaro-Gahete et al., 2018b; Filipovic et al., 2011; Moreno-Aranda and Seireg, 1981). In the past, the variability of training protocols and experimental implementation often result in difficulties to compare the individual analyses. Meanwhile, a more standardized use of stimulation parameters and protocols over the last years enables a better comparability between different studies (Filipovic et al., 2011; Selkowitz, 1989). Thestimulation frequency in WB-EMS training usually ranges between 20 and 150 Hz (Vatter et al., 2016; Vogelmann, 2013). There is no consensus on the existence of an "optimal" frequency range. In their review, Filipovic et al. state that frequencies around 76 Hz lead to an optimal strength development of the musculature (Filipovic et al., 2011). Frequencies below 50 Hz have only been analyzed to a limited extent so far. Force development during WB-EMS training positively correlates to strength increases observed in the target muscles, with the optimal choice of protocol having a significant effect on training success (Binder-Macleod and McDermond, 1992). At a frequency of 5 Hz, for example, the muscles completely relax between the contractions, whereas the individual impulses sum up with increasing frequency. This means that the muscle can no longer relax completely with increasing frequency. Summing the individual impulses results in a higher strength development in the muscles and a so-called unfused (incomplete) or fused (complete) tetanic contraction (tetanus). Furthermore, the impulse frequency seems to correlate directly with force development (Glaviano and Saliba, 2016). Bigland-Ritchie et al. (1979) were able to show that muscular stimulation at a frequency of 20 Hz generates only 65 % of the strength compared to stimulation at 50-80 Hz. Kramme (2007) attributes an optimal faradic stimulation of striated musculature to frequencies of 50 Hz (Kramme, 2007), adue to fused tetanus (Wenk, 2011). High frequencies seem to lead to faster neuromuscular fatigue and can therefore result in an earlier decrease of performance (Bigland-Ritchie et al., 1979) because the organism is subject to higher exertion (Glaviano and Saliba, 2016; Gondin et al., 2010). Apart from the strength development generated by the different frequencies, specific frequencies are attributed with an increased stimulation of specific muscle fiber types. Frequencies of 20-40 Hz mostly cause a stimulation of the slow type-I fibers (slow-twitch, ST), whereas stimulation between 50 and 120 Hz rather activate the faster type-II muscle fibers (fast-twitch, FT) (Frenkel et al., 2004; Vogelmann, 2013). For this reason, the use of an "optimal" stimulation frequency has not been unambiguously clarified. Depending on the author, the modes of action and frequency ranges and, accordingly, the applicability differs. In today's WB-EMS training, it seems to be generally agreed that a stimulation frequency around 85 Hz represents an effective value wherefore it is usually applied most of the time (Berger et al., 2019; Brocherie et al., 2005; Filipovic et al., 2011; Micke et al., 2018). Nevertheless, the authors have no knowledge of scientific evidence pertaining to the direct comparison of the 20 Hz and 85 Hz stimulation frequencies and their impact on specific performance parameters. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine: a) whether a 10-week EMS training might have an impact on specific sport performance parameters, and b) if any difference might occur between a control group (CON), a training group exercising at 20 Hz (T20), and a group exercising at 85 Hz (T85), under otherwise identical stimulation conditions. Methods The study was conducted using a randomized controlled trial (RCT). The participants were randomly assigned to one of the three groups (two training groups, one control group; groups were assigned by drawing cards).The training groups completed a 10-week training phase with 1.5 training units per week (Kemmler et al., 2016a; Kemmler et al., 2016b). They only differed due to the stimulation frequency used in WB-EMS (20 Hz or 85 Hz), all other contents and stimulation parameters were identical. CON was instructed not to engage in exercise during the period. Performance parameters (jump-, sprint- and strength parameters) were measured both before and after the intervention. This study design enabled us to compare within and between group differences to identify possible differences in the increase in performance due to the impulse frequency used. Participants A total of 58 persons participated in the study. Seven people did not complete the 10-week WB-EMS training or the final diagnostics, they were excluded from the data analysis (Figure 1) (Schulz et al., 2010). Thus, a total of 51 participants were included in the analysis. The anthropometric data are shown in Table 1. Inclusion criteria were an age between 18 and 40 years, < 1h/week of athletic activity, being new to WB-EMS training, and no internal and orthopedic limitations. Before the study began, the participants were informed about relative and absolute contraindications, and potential exclusion criteria were verified (Kemmler et al., 2016a; Vatter et al., 2016). The participants gave their written consent. The study was approved by the ethics commission responsible (ref. no. 02/17) and was conducted based on the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association, 2013). Procedures Anthropometric and performance parameters were recorded during both pre- and post-tests. Each participant performed a jump session of a total of three different jumps: counter movement jump (CMJ), squat jump (SJ), and drop jump (DJ). For all three types of jumps, proper arm positioning (hands on hips) and leg extension during the jump (no flexing to extend the jump phase, i.e., no skewing the height of the jump) were ensured. The participants could self select how deep they lowered their body (not more than 90° knee angle). To exclude an eccentric movement in the SJ, the participants had to remain in the reversal point for 2 seconds (Faude et al., 2010). Jump heights and contact times were measured by means of the Optojump Next optical measurement system (Microgate, Bolzano, Italy). For the evaluation of the DJ, a reactive strength index was calculated based on jump height divided by ground contact time. Linear sprint diagnostics were conducted using the Witty Kit photoelectric sensor system (Microgate, Bolzano, Italy), measuring the linear sprint times over the 5 m, 10 m, and 30 m distances. The start was performed without a signal from a standing position 50 cm away from the first photoelectric sensor. The participants started at their own discretion without the influence of response time (Faude et al., 2010). Static trunk extension and flexion (isometric strength tests) were measured by Back Check 607 (Dr. Wolff GmbH, Arnsberg, Germany). This required the participants to stand with dangling arms and slightly bent knee joints. They were fixated at the iliac crest area by one dorsal and one ventral pad in the sagittal plane. For measurement recording purposes, two pads with force transducers were placed without pressure at the sternum Table 1. Anthropometric data of the different groups (control group (CON), 20 Hz training group (T20) and 85 Hz training group (T85)). Data are means ± SD. and between the shoulder blades. The maximum strength was recorded in both directions. The tests were performed three times (30 seconds rest between the tests) with the maximum value being used for analysis (Weissenfels et al., 2019). All participants were randomly assigned to one of the two training groups or to the control group. Participants and the investigators were not informed about the assignment at any time during the study in order to achieve double blinding. In WB-EMS, the training groups differed only in the stimulation frequencies applied. Participants performed a familiarization session before training began. This session lasted 12 minutes and included a low-intensity impulse familiarization to prepare for the upcoming training sessions and to get to know the WB-EMS training better (Kemmler et al., 2016a). The10-week training included a total of 15 WB-EMS sessions. Participants alternatingly exercised once or twice a week, so that an average of 1.5 training sessions was performed per week and overexertion was avoided (Berger et al., 2017; Kemmler et al., 2016a; 2018). All training units were personalized and featured one trainer for two participants, this ensured optimal support and immediate care and supervision. The training times were performed at the same time of the day to avoid fluctuating diurnal performances. Before each training session, a brief anamnesis questionnaire on the current health condition was completed in order to exclude spontaneously occurring contraindications. This included aspects such as sudden nausea, lack of sleep, physical exertion within the previous 24 hours, or recent consumption of alcohol, drugs, or pain medication. In case of present contraindications, the training was not performed. The participants were instructed not to perform the training with a completely empty stomach, and to ensure sufficient intake of liquids (at least 500 ml within the last hour) in order to prevent circulatory problems and performance losses (Kemmler et al., 2016a). The other parameters were based on the standard experimental parameters of WB-EMS application: Impulse width 350 µs, duty cycle 50 % (4 s impulse, 4 s break), bipolar impulse without impulse increase (square pulse) during an overall training time of 20 minutes (Kemmler et al., 2018; Vogelmann, 2013). Intensity was controlled by means of a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale (0=no exertion, 10=maximum exertion), which is a subjective method of determining intensity that is commonly used in (including upper arms, gluteus, chest, abdomen, lower and upper back, thighs, shoulder) (Kemmler et al., 2012). Each electrode could be individually controlled. The exercises were selected based on the integrated Miha Bodytec exercise catalog. Therefore, the training programs applied represented training content typical for WBEMS studios. Exercise selection especially focused on long sequences of basic exercises in order to simultaneously stimulate as many muscle groups as possible (Figures 2a2i). The participants were instructed to maintain a pretension in their muscles before the impulse was applied in order to avoid unpreparedness and thus potential negative reactions. It was also ensured that the test persons completely mastered the training exercises before the intensity and thus complexity of the exercise was increased. practice (Amaro-Gahete et al., 2018a; 2018b; Kemmler et al., 2018). Participants were instructed to exercise at a perceived intensity between 6 and 7 and not to exceed this value in order to avoid overexertion (Borg and Kaijser, 2006). It was also ensured that the selected intensity did not have any negative effect on the range of motion (ROM) during the movements to allow a full movement amplitude during the exercises. The intensity was individually increased through the RPE scale and targeted specific muscle groups in order to ensure adequate exertion. WB-EMS training was performed using the Miha Bodytec 2 WBEMS device (Miha Bodytec, Augsburg, Germany), which is a stationary system including a control panel for impulse control and a monitor to control the exercises via an integrated avatar. The electrodes were connected to the WBEMS device via an electrode vest and additional belts. This enabled simultaneous stimulation of 16 body regions Statistical analyses All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS Statistics (IBM, Version 25.0, Chicago, IL, USA) setting level of significance at p < 0.05. All values are given as means ± standard deviation (SD). Since ANOVA is known to be robust against infringements of the normal distribution and all variances were homogeneous (Levene test) it was applied every time (Field, 2009; Schmider et al., 2010). Therefore, ANOVA was used to examine the effect of group on CMJDELTA (CMJPOST – CMJPRE = CMJDELTA) and all other parameters of the jump tests (SJ, DJ), sprint tests (5 m time, 10 m time, 30 m time) and strength tests (trunk flexion, trunk extension). Furthermore, all confidence intervals were calculated and stated. To estimate interaction effect sizes, partial eta squared (ηp²) was computed with ηp² ≥ 0.01 for small, ≥ 0.059 for medium, and ≥ 0.138 for large effects (Cohen, 1988; Levine and Hullett, 2002). A median split was applied to check whether the parameter improvements showed differences between the two training groups (T20, T85). Results Jump parameters All jump diagnostics values and the difference between PRE and POST (Delta, Δ) including the percentage changes are illustrated in Table 2. The CMJ exhibited significant changes between the groups (F(2, 47) = 5.54, p = 0.007, ηp² = 0.191), differences in pairs between CON and T20 (p = 0.002) as well as between CON and T85 (p = 0.013). The SJ also exhibited significant changes between the groups (F(2, 47) = 4.15, p = 0.022, η p ² = 0.150), differences in pairs between CON and T20 (p = 0.018) and between CON and T85 (p = 0.01). No significant differences were identified for the DJ (F(2, 46) = 2.38, p = 0.104, η p ² = 0.094). No difference was found in the extent of improvement for the jump parameters between the T20 and T85 training groups based on an additional median split. Both groups reacted in similar ratios to the training interventions. Figure 3a-c shows the jump parameter boxplots. Sprint parameters Table 2 also shows the sprint diagnostics values. There were no significant changes in the sprint results at 5 m (F(2, 47) = 0.30, p = 0.744, ηp² = 0.012), 10 m (F(2, 47) = 0.64, p = 0.534, ηp² = 0.026), and 30 m (F(2, 47) = 0.68, p = 0.511, ηp² = 0.028). Figure 3 d-f shows the sprint parameter boxplots. Strength parameters Trunk flexion exhibited significant changes between the groups (F(2, 48) = 4.24, p = 0.020, ηp² = 0.150) as well as differences in pairs between CON and T20 (p = 0.042), and between CON and T85 (p = 0.006). Trunk extension also exhibited significant changes between the groups F(2, 48) = 4.75, p = 0.013, ηp² = 0.162) as well as differences in pairs between CON and T20 (p=.003), and between CON and T85 (p = 0.048). No distribution difference was found for the strength parameters between the T20 and T85 training groups based on an additional median split. Both groups reacted in similar ratios to the training interventions. Figure 3 g-h shows the strength parameter boxplots. Table 2. Descriptives, ANOVA and multiple comparisons of all parameters. Values are presented as means (± SD). a Results of the univariate ANOVA of the Delta values; b Group comparisons: control group (CON), 20 Hz training group (T20), 85 Hz training group (T85); * p < 0.05, **p < 0.0.1 Discussion In many areas, WB-EMS training is considered to be an intense, effective, and time-saving training. The current state of research pertaining to the stimulation frequencies applied is rather insufficient, though (Filipovic et al., 2011). Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the effects of a frequency-based, 10-week WB-EMS training on selected performance parameters, focusing on potential differences between the stimulation frequencies applied (20 Hz and 85 Hz). The main findings of this analysis were a) 10-week WB-EMS training has a positive effect on performance increase in CMJ, SJ, trunk flexion, and trunk extension; and b) differences in performance increase were identified between the control group and the training groups. However, no frequency-based difference was identified for the performance increase of the training groups relative to one another under otherwise identical stimulation conditions. This is why the original assumption of different performance increases of T20 and T85 through the application of different frequencies cannot be confirmed (Frenkel et al., 2004; Gregory and Bickel, 2005). Jump parameters In previous analyses, EMS has shown to increase jump parameters as CMJ (+25.2 %), SJ (+21.4 %) and DJ (+12 %) significantly (Filipovic et al., 2012). However, these performance increases seem to depend largely on the stimulation and training protocols used. Increases of 25.2 % in the CMJ were observed in female track and field athletes. However, a parallel pre-season strength/EMS training was performed over a period of 6 weeks, therefore the results cannot be clearly attributed to the EMS training (Willoughby and Simpson, 1998). An increase of 21.4 % in SJ was achieved by a combined local EMS and plyometric jump training for volleyball players, which shows the same problem as in the previous study due to the mixing of the training forms (Maffiuletti et al., 2002). Looking at physically active test persons without a high-performance athletic background and parallel training, the performance increases resulting from a combined EMS training are 7.3 % for CMJ and 7.5 % for SJ (Herrero et al., 2006). This is in accordance with our results in this study (CMJ 9.5 %, SJ 10.3 %). Filipovic et al. (2016) analyzed the impact of a 14week WB-EMS training on strength, sprint speed, jump height, and kicking capacity in 22 soccer players. The WBEMS sessions were performed twice a week (a total of 28 units) in addition to the regular training (6-7 times per week). Improvements were observed for SJ (8.0%) and also in the sprint time at the 5 m distance (2.9 %). However, these results were not confirmed by our findings. In addition to the different participant characteristics (soccer players), a potential reason for this discrepancy could be the higher number of training sessions performed during the study of Filipovic (14 weeks, 28 units). After 7 weeks of treatment (14 units, similar to our investigation) improvements of only 4.2 % for SJ and 1.8 % for 10 m time were identified, but none for the 5 m distance. In contrast to the time measured for the 5 m distance after 14 weeks, the improvements in the 10 m sprint were not confirmed (Filipovic et al., 2016). Amaro-Gahete et al. (2018b) also analyzed a performance increase after a 6-week WB-EMS application (1 unit per week) using 6 recreational runners. They were able to identify improvements of 4.4 % for CMJ and 8.4 % in the Abalakov jump (CMJ with free-swinging arms). They believe that these improvements are due to neuromuscular adjustments, improved intermuscular coordination, or changes in muscle size(Amaro-Gahete et al., 2018b). In summary, the performance increases of CMJ and SJ are similar or higher (CMJ 9.5 %, SJ 10.3 %) than those described in literature. The lack of improvement in the DJ may possibly be due to the highly coordinative requirements of this type of jump. Previous studies recorded improvements in the DJ height of up 12 % (Filipovic et al., 2012) in very active athletes. However, due to the abovementioned requirements the strength increases may not be transferable to less trained persons. Sprint parameters Not only the jump parameters can benefit from a strength increase in the target musculature, but also the sprint speed (Filipovic et al., 2016). The current state of research is not very comprehensive in this case, either. WB-EMS is rather neglected over locally applied EMS. Brocherie et al. (2005) analyzed the impact of 9 local EMS units on the m. quadriceps femoris with a duration of 12 minutes each (85 Hz, 250 s; 4 s impulse duration; 20 s impulse break) in 17 ice hockey players. They found a resulting improvement of the 10 m skate sprint time of 4.8 % (Brocherie et al., 2005). Through local stimulation of the m. quadriceps femoris of 40 test persons with a duration of 34 minutes each for 16 units (120 Hz; 400 s; 3s impulse duration; 30 s impulse break), Herrero et al. (2006) achieved a significant improvement of 2.4 % in the 20 m distance sprint time. The problem of the comparability of study protocols is also shown here, as the previous studies have used a local EMS application, whereas we have applied WB-EMS. We could not detect any performance gains over the tested distances. A possible reason could be the focus on the local EMS application in comparison to a WB-EMS application, because the body is exposed to much greater stress and the isolated local EMS training could be more effective in direct relation to the sprint values and the motor implementation of the generated strength gains. Comparable to our study is the intervention of Filipovic et al. (2016). They achieved an improvement of 2.9 % in the 5 m sprint time after a 14-week WB-EMS training applying similar stimulation parameters as we did in our tests. Performance increases over distances of 10 m, 20 m and 30 m did not occur, just as in our study. The improvement in the 5 m sprint time could also be due to multiple soccer training. Furthermore, in contrast to the untrained persons who participated in our study, the test persons consisted of high-performance athletes, who are better at transferring potential strength gains to a sport-specific movement. Sprints are characterized to a large extend by technical components such as a maximum speed of cyclic movements. Those technical influences on the sprinting time could be a possible reason for the lack of improvement here, even if there is an increase in force or an improvement of the vertical jump height. Strength parameters The large-area electrodes applied during WB-EMS training stimulated, among others, the rectus abdominis muscle (trunk flexion), the erector spinae (pars lumbalis and thoracalis) muscle, and the multifidii muscles (trunk extension). According to our training protocol we can assume an adequate training stimulus and therefore muscle strengthening during the 10-week training period (Ng and Richardson, 1994). Previous studies have already shown positive effects of several weeks of WB-EMS training on strength parameters. A training session once a week over a period of 12 weeks showed improvements of 14.6 % - 15.6 % for the trunk extension and 15.3 % - 17.6 % for the trunk flexion (Weissenfels et al., 2018; Weissenfels et al., 2019). During a 16-week training phase with 1.5 training units per week, improvements of 11.6 % were achieved for the back extensors (Kemmler et al., 2016b; 2018). These findings are congruent with our results despite deviations in the intervention duration. We were able to demonstrate significant improvements in isometric forces of trunk flexion and extension in both training groups with high effect sizes (² > 0.15). We observed percentage improvements between 14.2 % and 20.9 % for back extension and between 14.9 % and 17.1 % for back flexion in the training groups during the 10-week training program. In conclusion, we were able to generate similar strength gains as in the existing literature with the same or slightly increased training effort (1.5 sessions/ week) over a shorter period of time. However, there were no significant differences between the two training groups. Both 20 Hz and 85 Hz therefore seem to be adequate stimulation frequencies. Nevertheless, T20 showed the greatest increases in trunk extension strength. The back muscles (especially the M. erector spinae), which are responsible for posture stabilization, consist mainly of slow type-I fibers (men: 62.0 % 9.3 %, women: 67.8 % 10.5 %). In contrast, T85 exhibited the greatest increase in trunk flexion strength. On average, the associated muscle groups consist of a slightly higher proportion of faster type-II fibers (type I: 46.1 %, type II: 53.9 % (Johnson et al., 1973)). These compositions potentially explain the different responses to the stimulation frequencies applied. Stimulation protocol The stimulation protocols applied as well as the contents of the described studies about performance increases of di- verse parameters vary strongly and are therefore not easily comparable. According to the authors' knowledge, this is the only analysis based on a WB-EMS training applying different frequencies and a device-specific training program over a period of multiple weeks with healthy, untrained test persons. Differences in performance increase among the groups due to the application of different stimulation frequencies and otherwise identical stimulation protocols have not been reported. A potential explanation lies in the contraction behavior of the stimulated muscles and their response to an involuntary, externally applied stimulus. In voluntary muscle contractions, the motor units (MU) are usually stimulated according to their size, i.e., from the small to the large MU. Small, slow MU are responsible for stimulating slower type-I fibers (slow-twitch, ST) and faster, larger MU for the contraction of faster typeII fibers (fast-twitch, FT) (Enoka, 2002). In WB-EMS training, a conversion of the recruiting pattern may take place so that a stimulation of the faster type-II fibers occurs early on. The reason for this phenomenon is that larger MU have larger axons, which have a lower stimulus threshold than smaller axons as they occur in smaller MU (Enoka, 2002). Moreover, larger MU are often located closer to the skin surface which may result in an earlier stimulation (Fehr, 2011; Garnett and Stephens, 1981). Concerning EMS training, Gregory and Bickel (2005) suggest that nonselective synchronous recruiting of MU occurs , which, by implication, means simultaneous stimulation of both muscle fiber types during low strength production (Seyri and Maffiuletti, 2011). Therefore, a predominant stimulation of a specific muscle fiber type depending on the frequency selected would not be determinable. Moreover, the forcefrequency relationship (FFR) may represent a relevant influencing factor pertaining to the stimulation frequency to be selected. The FFR defines the interrelationship between strength production and selected stimulation frequency during an EMS application. The force produced in the muscle increases with increasing frequency as the individual impulses accumulate, until a maximum summation on a force plateau occurs (Binder-Macleod and McDermond, 1992). For frequencies < 5 Hz, Binder-Macleod and McDermond (1992) were able to show a complete relaxation of the m. quadriceps femoris between the individual impulses and a summation to fused tetanus with increasing frequency. A growing exertion intensity caused by an increased strength production may have a positive association with the strength increases generated in EMS training, which would support an increase of the stimulation frequency applied (Binder-Macleod and McDermond, 1992; Selkowitz, 1989). However, strength production increases caused by stimulation frequency increases also lead to increased metabolic demands of the muscle (energy requirement, phosphocreatine ratio values, pH level) and can therefore not be maintained for an unlimited time (Glaviano and Saliba, 2016). Accordingly, fatigue of the target musculature is linked to stimulation. Therefore, it seems to be necessary to reduce the stimulation frequency in order to ensure sufficiently long exertion without causing too much fatigue and potential muscle damage. This means that a frequency needs to be as low as possible to ensure maximum strength production at a minimum rate of fatigue (Binder-Macleod and McDermond, 1992; Delitto and Snyder-Mackler, 1990). For example, Glaviano et al. (2016) describe an optimal stimulation frequency of 30-50 Hz and explain the application of these low frequencies with the possibility to increase the impulse width to 400600 µs in order to achieve optimal strength production at a minimum rate of fatigue and muscle damage (Glaviano and Saliba, 2016). Binder-Macleod and McDermond (1992) increase this assumption to a frequency of 60 Hz. Based on this fact, Dreibati et al. (2010) analyzed three different stimulation frequencies (20, 50, and 100 Hz; impulse width 300 µs) in terms of the resulting fatigue respectively production of the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the m. quadriceps femoris at the end of a 20-minute EMS session. After stimulation, they recorded 38, 33, and 27 % of the original MVC, which lead them to assume a stronger degree of fatigue and a resulting loss of strength caused by an increased stimulation frequency. They concluded that stimulation at frequencies exceeding 60 Hz in an athletic context does not elicit further increases, therefore lower frequencies should be selected (Dreibati et al., 2010). However, their analysis only refers to the local application of EMS at the m. quadriceps femoris, a WB-EMS session was not performed. Filipovic et al. (2016) define a frequency of ≥ 50 Hz as a precondition for the development of high intensities, the average stimulation frequency for performance increases seem to be 68.6 ± 31.7 Hz (Filipovic et al., 2011). Concerning our study, no difference was identified among the stimulation frequencies used. However, this could be based on the fact that the stimulation frequency of 20 Hz did not result in optimal, sufficient strength production, and 85 Hz led to faster fatigue. The increased frequency of 85 Hz may not have led to significant increases in performance when compared to 20 Hz. Therefore, future studies may be well advised to select a stimulation frequency around 60 Hz in order to ensure optimal strength production in association with minimum fatigue and performance losses due to higher metabolic demand. The question whether the frequency selected will then have a significant impact on the performance parameters tested cannot be answered clearly at this point. Based on the test participants' feedback, though, a subjectively higher tolerability of the 85 Hz stimulation was observed. A stimulation frequency of 20 Hz felt uncomfortable to some participants due to the perceived individual impulses in the contracting musculature. Unfortunately, we only recorded the RPE values of the intensity and did not make an objective determination of the intensity. Future studies should take into account the degree of fatigue in the athlete or user in training, particularly in terms of periodization in high-performance sports and try to investigate a method to control the current intensity objectively for a better comparison. Training protocols should be selected depending on the state of fatigue. The interrelationship between frequency applied and intensity of the resulting fatigue, as well as the utilization of different stimulation patterns (constant frequency train or doublet frequency train) should be taken into account for an optimal performance increase for a competition and an optimal regeneration after a WB-EMS training (Dreibati et al., 2010). A variation of the stimulation frequency during a training session from higher to lower frequencies may also be suitable for controlling fatigue during the training session and to prevent performance decreases and prolonged regeneration times. Limitations Due to the complexity and comprehensive scope of the training and the individual support, no major sample was included in the study. Furthermore, the training program was unspecific and performed without additional electrodes. This was a conscious decision because of the intended utilization of the applications specified by the manufacturers in order to enable comparability with the training programs of WB-EMS studios or commercial use. Additional stimulation of the calf musculature or other muscle groups, as well as an integration of sports-specific exercises (e.g., jumps) or coordinative contents might have increased the jump or sprint performance more significantly. The intensity of the stimulation was determined by an RPE scale, which is quite common in WB-EMS, but does not allow an objective assessment of the intensity. Aspects such as the current level of hydration, skin conductivity or daily form may influence the perception of the applied stimulus. This could be reflected in the objective measurability of the intensity, although subjectively the identical value on the RPE scale is perceived. The use of objective intensity measurement should therefore be investigated in future studies. Previous analyses included the one-repetition maximum or maximal voluntary contraction of various muscle groups, such as m. quadriceps femoris or m. triceps surae, which enabled a more comprehensive conclusion pertaining to the causes of the positive changes of the jump height. Since we were not able to include this type of measurement in this study, an evidence-based interpretation of the interrelation between jump height and strength cannot be provided here. Future studies are recommended to integrate a follow-up test in their study protocol in order to examine delayed adaptations of the muscles and their components due to a prolonged regeneration phase (Maffiuletti et al., 2002; Micke et al., 2018). Conclusion Overall, the current findings suggest that 10-week WBEMS training results in significant improvement of jump (CMJ, SJ) and strength parameters (trunk flexion and extension). A difference in the stimulation frequencies applied was not identified. Both stimulation frequencies were similarly suitable for performance increases. It is, however, currently impossible to make a statement on the effects of frequency selection on long-term aspects, such as regeneration, an offset performance increase after training intensity reduction, or training termination, or whether the stimulation frequency has any significant influence on these factors at all. Acknowledgements The authors thank all participants for their contribution to the study. This research received no external funding. The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. References Amaro-Gahete, F.J., De-la-O, A., Sanchez-Delgado, G., RoblesGonzalez, L., Jurado-Fasoli, L., Ruiz, J.R. and Gutierrez, A. (2018a) Functional exercise training and undulating periodization enhances the effect of whole-body electromyostimulation training on running performance. Frontiers in Physiology 9, 720. 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Experimental Neurology 64, 414427. Binder-Macleod, S.A. and McDermond, L.R. (1992) Changes in the force-frequency relationship of the human quadriceps femoris muscle following electrically and voluntarily induced fatigue. Physical Therapy 72, 95-104. Borg, E. and Kaijser, L. (2006) A comparison between three rating scales for perceived exertion and two different work tests. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports 16, 5769. Bossert, F.-P., Jenrich, W. and Vogedes, K. (2006) Leitfaden elektrotherapie: Mit anwendungen bei über 130 krankheitsbildern. Elsevier, Urban&FischerVerlag. Brocherie, F., Babault, N., Cometti, G., Maffiuletti, N. and Chatard, J.-C. (2005) Electrostimulation training effects on the physical performance of ice hockey players. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 37, 455-460. Cohen, J. (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, New Jersey Hove and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Delitto, A. and Snyder-Mackler, L. (1990) Two theories of muscle strength augmentation using percutaneous electrical stimulation. Physical Therapy 70, 158-164. Dreibati, B., Lavet, C., Pinti, A. and Poumarat, G. (2010) Influence of electrical stimulation frequency on skeletal muscle force and fatigue. Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine 53, 266277. Enoka, R.M. (2002) Activation order of motor axons in electrically evoked contractions. Muscle and Nerve 25, 763-764. Faude, O., Schlumberger, A., Fritsch, T., Traff, G. and Meyer, T. (2010) Leistungsdiagnostische testverfahren im fußball–methodische standards. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Sportmedizin 61. Fehr, U. (2011) Elektromyostimulation im sport: Zur optimierung des sportartspezifischen krafttrainings am beispiel rudern. Aachen: Shaker. Field, A. (2009) Discovering statistics using spss. Sage publications. Filipovic, A., Grau, M., Kleinöder, H., Zimmer, P., Hollmann, W. and Bloch, W. (2016) Effects of a whole-body electrostimulation program on strength, sprinting, jumping, and kicking capacity in elite soccer players. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine 15, 639-648. Filipovic, A., Kleinöder, H., Dörmann, U. and Mester, J. (2011) Electromyostimulation—a systematic review of the influence of training regimens and stimulation parameters on effectiveness in electromyostimulation training of selected strength parameters. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 25, 3218-3238. Filipovic, A., Kleinöder, H., Dörmann, U. and Mester, J. (2012) Electromyostimulation—a systematic review of the effects of different electromyostimulation methods on selected strength parameters in trained and elite athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 26, 2600-2614. Frenkel, J., Knopp, U. and Winter, J. (2004) Revolution der elektrotherapie. Wolfsheim/Rhh.: M.E.M. e.V. Garnett, R. and Stephens, J. (1981) Changes in the recruitment threshold of motor units produced by cutaneous stimulation in man. The Journal of Physiology 311, 463-473. Glaviano, N.R. and Saliba, S. (2016) Can the use of neuromuscular electrical stimulation be improved to optimize quadriceps strengthening? Sports Health 8, 79-85. Gondin, J., Giannesini, B., Vilmen, C., Dalmasso, C., Le Fur, Y., Cozzone, P.J. and Bendahan, D. (2010) Effects of stimulation frequency and pulse duration on fatigue and metabolic cost during a single bout of neuromuscular electrical stimulation. Muscle and Nerve 41, 667-678. Gregory, C.M. and Bickel, C.S. (2005) Recruitment patterns in human skeletal muscle during electrical stimulation. Physical Therapy 85, 358-364. Herrero, J., Izquierdo, M., Maffiuletti, N. and Garcia-Lopez, J. (2006) Electromyostimulation and plyometric training effects on jumping and sprint time. International Journal of Sports Medicine 27, 533-539. Johnson, M.A., Polgar, J., Weightman, D. and Appleton, D. (1973) Data on the distribution of fibre types in thirty-six human muscles: An autopsy study. Journal of the Neurological Sciences 18, 111129. Kemmler, W., Fröhlich, M., von Stengel, S. and Kleinöder, H. (2016a) Whole-body electromyostimulation ? The need for common sense! Rationale and guideline for a safe and effective training. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Sportmedizin 67, 218-221. Kemmler, W., Teschler, M., Weißenfels, A., Bebenek, M., Fröhlich, M., Kohl, M. and von Stengel, S. (2016b) Effects of whole-body electromyostimulation versus high-intensity resistance exercise on body composition and strength: A randomized controlled study. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2016, 9. Kemmler, W., Von Stengel, S., Schwarz, J. and Mayhew, J.L. (2012) Effect of whole-body electromyostimulation on energy expenditure during exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 26, 240-245. Kemmler, W., Weissenfels, A., Willert, S., Shojaa, M., von Stengel, S., Filipovic, A., Kleinöder, H., Berger, J. and Fröhlich, M. (2018) Efficacy and safety of low frequency whole-body electromyostimulation (wb-ems) to improve health-related outcomes in non-athletic adults. A systematic review. Frontiers in Physiology 9, 573.. Kramme, R. (2007) Medizintechnik. Verfahren–systeme– informationsverarbeitung. Heidelberg: Springer. Levine, T.R. and Hullett, C.R. (2002) Eta squared, partial eta squared, and misreporting of effect size in communication research. Human Communication Research 28, 612-625. Maffiuletti, N.A. (2010) Physiological and methodological considerations for the use of neuromuscular electrical stimulation. European Journal of Applied Physiology 110, 223-234. Maffiuletti, N.A., Dugnani, S., Folz, M., Di Pierno, E. and Mauro, F. (2002) Effect of combined electrostimulation and plyometric training on vertical jump height. 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(1989) High frequency electrical stimulation in muscle strengthening: A review and discussion. The American Journal of Sports Medicine 17, 103-111. Seyri, K.M. and Maffiuletti, N.A. (2011) Effect of electromyostimulation training on muscle strength and sports performance. Strength and Conditioning Journal 33, 70-75. Vatter, J., Authenrieth, S. and Müller, S. (2016) Ems consulting and training manual. Stuttgart: Glucker Kolleg. Vogelmann, T. (2013) Elektromyographische muskelstimulation /muskelaktivierung (ems/ema) im leistungs-/breitensport: Trainingseffekte im vergleich zu konventionellem training. Hamburg: Diplomica Verlag. Weissenfels, A., Teschler, M., Willert, S., Hettchen, M., Fröhlich, M., Kleinöder, H., Kohl, M., von Stengel, S. and Kemmler, W. (2018) Effects of whole-body electromyostimulation on chronic nonspecific low back pain in adults: A randomized controlled study. Journal of Pain Research 11, 1949-1957. 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Key points - A 10-week WB-EMS training improves strength and jump performance parameters of untrained persons significantly. - There is no difference in performance gains regarding the frequency applied during WB-EMS - 20 Hz as well as 85 Hz seem appropriate for an effective WB-EMS training AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Joshua BERGER Employment PhD-Student at the Department of Sports Science, Technische Universität, Kaiserslautern, Germany Degree MSc Research interests Whole-body-EMS training, Sports performance diagnostics in competitive sports E-mail: email@example.com Oliver LUDWIG Employment Scientist and Lecturer at the Department of Sports Science, Technische Universität, Kaiserslautern, Germany Degree PhD Research interests Biomechanics in sports, gait and posture E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org Stephan BECKER Employment PhD-Student at the Department of Sports Science, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern Degree MSc Research interests Biomechanics in soccer E-mail: email@example.com Marco BACKFISCH Employment PhD-Student at the Department of Sports Science, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany Degree MSc Research interests Performance analysis in soccer E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org- kl.de Wolfgang KEMMLER Employment Full Professor at the Institute of Medical Physics, Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany Degree Prof., PhD Research interests osteoporosis research, bone- muscle interaction, whole-body-EMS, training in prevention and rehabilitation E-mail: email@example.com- erlangen.de Michael FRÖHLICH Employment Full Professor at the Department of Sports Science, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany Degree Prof., PhD Research interests Performance analysis, methods and methodology, evaluation research E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org- kl.de Joshua Berger Department of Sports Science, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Help Help Software Tutorial Building a Load Sizing Project with a LiveSteam Humidifier and SAM-e Distributor Help Tutorials provide step-by-step examples of complete load sizing projects and browser projects with the various humidifier and distributor technologies. In this tutorial, you will learn how to build a load sizing project with an LS Humidifier and SAM-e Distributor Proprietary Notice This document and the information disclosed herein are proprietary data of Nortec Humidity Ltd. Neither this document nor the information contained herein shall be reproduced, used, or disclosed to others without the written authorization of Nortec Humidity Ltd., except to the extent required for installation or maintenance of recipient's equipment. Liability Notice Nortec does not accept any liability for installations of humidity equipment installed by unqualified personnel or the use of parts/components/equipment that are not authorized or approved by Nortec. Copyright Notice Copyright 2015, Nortec Humidity Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 2 Log In and Projects List 3 Create a New Project 4 Project Home Page 5 Load Sizing Tab 8 Humidifiers Tab 10 Distributors Tab 11 Controls Tab 13 Summary Tab 15 Project Submittals and Requesting a Quotations 1\| Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor Log In and Projects List To begin, start by logging into your Help account. Once completed, hover your mouse over the Projects tab and then select List all Load Sizing Projects as shown in Figure 1: Projects List. The Projects list is where all of your projects are stored. Projects are stored in the cloud and are available from whichever device you access Help with. There are two types of Projects: Load Sizing Projects: Allow you to calculate humidification loads and select product step by step through a wizard style approach. Selections can be supplemented by adding product from the Product Browser Catalog. Browser Projects: Allow you to create your own Bill of Material with product from the Product Browser Catalog. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor \|2 Create a New Project To create a new project, select the Add icon shown in Figure 2: Create a New Project to add a load sizing project. A dialogue box, as shown below, will appear and request project information. Give the project a name such as "LS and SAM-e Tutorial", set the units to imperial, and set the city to Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier Int', Ontario, Canada. Help includes Weather Data for a variety of locations, setting the city allows Help to use appropriate conditions for your region. Click Save at the bottom-right when you have finished editing values. 3\| Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor Project Home Page You will be redirected to the Project Home Page, shown below. This is the main page from which your project will be built. Here you can modify the project name, units, dates, weather data and notes, as well as add Zones. All product selections that you will make are grouped together in Zones. Zones represent an area or sub-area in the project being served by a humidification system. Buildings will often contain multiple Zones. Your project must contain at least one Zone in order to be complete. To add a Zone, click the Add button as highlighted in Figure 4: Project Home Page. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor \|4 Load Sizing Tab Once you have added a new Zone, you will be redirected to the Load Sizing tab as shown in Figure 5: Load Sizing. The Load Sizing tab is where you will enter the specific parameters for your zone. 5\| Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor For this exercise, the following settings will be used: 1. Load Size Method: Calculated. , This permits you to enter in air flow and conditions to calculate a load. The alternative, Manual allows users to specify a load directly. 2. System Type: Ensure that Duct Humidification is selected By default Help will select components to distribute steam in duct unless you specify that it will be inspace. 3. Calculation Method: Isothermal. Isothermal is used for steam systems, while the two adiabatic options are used for nozzles and evaporative media systems. 4. Duct Details: Duct Type: Rectangular Duct Orientation: Horizontal Duct Width: 72 inches Duct Height: 72 inches 5. Air Flow: Outside Air %: 25%. This is the percentage of the air volume that will be outdoor air. The balance will be return air from the space. Air Volume: 20000 CFM 6. Moisture Gains and Losses Moisture gains: 0 lb/hr Moisture Losses: 0 lb/hr 7. Outside: Select the Use Weather Data icon 8. Inside: Temp. Leaving Humidifier: 55 o F. This is the temperature of air entering the steam distributor in duct. Space Design Temp: 75 o F. This is the temperature of the space you are humidifying. Space Design Humidity: 40% RH. This is the humidity setpoint of the space you are humidifying. 9. Natural Exchange: Leave unselected 10.Use Economizer: Leave unselected Scroll down and review the schematic drawing shown in Figure 6: Schematic Drawing. The Schematic Drawing, Psychrometric Chart, and Parameter table can all be viewed by clicking on their respective tabs. They provide a graphical representation of the parameters entered above. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor \|6 Clicking the Export Icon at the top right hand corner of the diagrams will export any of these documents as either a PDF or CSV file. Only the Parameters section has the option to export either PDF or CSV. Alternatively, these graphics can be exported from the Project Home Page under the Document Center tab. Back at the top of the Load Sizing page, the blue Load Calculations box will have a calculated humidification load of 157.45 lbs/hr and a duct velocity of 555.56 feet per minute. This box updates automatically as you type values and click other fields on the page. The Absorption Distance will also show values between 0.37 and 2.29 ft. These values are presented as a range since the specific distributor used will be configured in a later step. 7\| Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor Humidifiers Tab The next step is to select a humidifier. Do this by clicking on the Humidifiers tab as shown in Figure 7: Humidifiers Tab or by selecting the Next button below Load Sizing. The humidifiers tab contains a listing of humidifier technologies that match your selections and load from the Load Sizing Tab. For this tutorial, select LiveSteam as the humidifier. LiveSteam humidifiers distribute steam from a central facility boiler into your building ventilation system. A Choose Humidifier dialogue box will appear asking for you to enter the Steam Pressure in psi. Values between 5 and 50 psi are acceptable, however for this project enter 10 psi. Next, change the Type to Stainless Steel and select Get Valve Recommendations. Help will then calculate the capacities of the available steam control valves and highlight a recommended valve. The recommended valve is the first one that exceeds the load calculated in the previous step. In this case, the CV = 5.00 valve should be highlighted with a capacity of 162.23 lbs/hr. Check the select bubble next to this valve selection. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor \|8 The Choose Humidifier dialogue box will extend, allowing you to configure options for your valve selection. The following options will be used: 1. Quantity: 1. The quantity field allows you to use multiple smaller valves or redundant valves. 2. Actuator: Electric, 0 -10 VDC. You can specify various types of actuators to meet the needs of different projects. 3. Wye Strainer: Stainless Steel. A wye strainer filters debris and corrosion from the steam prior to the steam valve. All strainers have stainless steel filter screens, however, you can specify a stainless body, bronze body, or to provide a strainer from your own source. 4. Primary Trap: Stainless Steel, Bucket. The primary trap removes condensate from humidifier. You can specify various types of straps or to provide your own. For stainless steel based project such as this one; the bucket trap is the most economical. Click Save when you are done and Help will begin building a Bill of Materials as shown in Figure 8: Humidifier Bill of Materials. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor 9\| Distributors Tab The next step is to add a distributor. Do this by clicking on the Distributors tab at the top of the page or the Next button below the humidifiers Bill of Materials. Help will present distributor options compatible with your project. Available options will vary with duct geometry, load, and humidifier type specified. For this tutorial, select a SAM-e Short Absorption Manifold. The SAM-e short absorption manifolds are designed to fit a variety of duct sizes and offer the shortest absorption distances. Selecting a SAM-e will cause a page extension that will allow you to configure your SAM-e. Select the following options: 1. Select Distributor Based On: Zone Load. The capacity will be matched to the humidification load. Alternatively, the distributor capacity can be matched to the humidifier capacity. In this case, the humidifier is a valve. 2. Tube Material: 304 Stainless Steel. Either 304 or 409 stainless can be selected for tubes. 409 is a more economical material, but may discolor with time. 304 stainless is a higher grade stainless that will maintain its appearance for the life of the product. 3. Support Frame: Galvanized Steel. Support frames allow the manifold assembly to be easily secured to the duct ceiling. Frames are available in Galvanized or Stainless Steel and are optional for horizontal flow ducts, but are required for vertical flow ducts. 4. Support Stand: None In some applications, the SAM-e needs to be raised above the duct floor in order to accommodate trapping or to cross an obstacle. Support stands, available in 12 inch or 20 inch heights, allow for installation in this case. Selecting a support stand will reduce the tube height to fit the distributor in the duct. 5. Separator: SAM-e Header. The SAM-e header can be used as a condensate separator to remove any condensate traveling with the boiler steam prior to it entering the distributor tubes. Alternatively an external separator can be used. 6. Distributor Trap: Cast Iron, F&T. Select the steam trap that will remove condensate from the distributor. You can select various materials or to provide one from your own source. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor \|10 7. Insulation: Check box Insulation covers both the header and steam tubes minimizing heat transfer and improving system efficiency. 8. Inlet Adapter: Automatically Select. Help will automatically match an inlet adapter to your selected humidifier. Alternatively, you may prefer to specify your own inlet adapter. 9. Inlet Adaptor Length: 5 inches The SAM-e's inlet adaptor is available in 3 possible lengths (5, 10, 12ft.) 10.Tube Spacing: 12 inches. It is best practice to select the widest spacing that meets your available absorption distances. Wider tube spacing will result in fewer tubes minimizing both costs and heat losses. After configuring the SAM-e you will be able to configure additional options for the distributor as well. Here you may add steam line reducers as well as steam and condensate hoses to your distributor. Help will create a dynamic Bill of Materials for the distributor selection at the bottom of the page. This list will update as you configure your product. You may review this list as well as edit and make changes using the icons at the top right hand corner of the list. Select Next when you are finished. 11\| Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor Controls Tab You will now be directed to the Controls tab. Clicking on the Controls tab at the top of the page will also bring you here. The controls tab allows you configure controls for your project. Controls are optional, so this step can be skipped if controls will not be provided. There are two options: 1. Controls by Nortec configures a complete control package provided by Nortec. 2. Controls by Others configures a control package with the primary control signal coming from another source such as a building automation system. In either case safety switches and building automation gateways can be included. For this tutorial, select Controls by Nortec with Assisted Selection. A controls package will be configured with a modulating demand control signal, modulating high limit, and air proving switch. Make the following selections as illustrated in Figure 10: Controls Configuration: 1. Signal Type: Demand. Demand signals send the humidifier a signal telling it the percentage at which it should operate as opposed to reporting a setpoint (transducer signal). LiveSteam humidifiers are only compatible with Demand signals and it is the only option available. 2. Channels: Dual. Select whether you will have one or 2 modulating control signals controlling the humidifier. The humidifier will operate until the first signal has been satisfied before becoming idle. Dual modulation is commonly used in cases where the humidifier will be used with a modulating high limit control. 3. Channel 1 Location: Wall. Select whether you would like the humidistat to be a wall mounted or duct mounted model. For this example, the primary humidistat will be located on the wall in the conditioned space. 4. Outdoor Temperature Sensor: None. The outdoor temperature sensor connects to a humidistat. It will allow the humidistat to reduce the space humidity level in response to cold outdoor temperatures minimizing the risk of condensation on windows. 5. Channel 2 Location: Duct. The second channel will be the duct mounted modulating high limit stat. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor \|12 6. Include Air Proving Switch: Check box This on/off safety device prevents humidifier operation unless air is flowing in the duct. 7. Include On/Off High Limit Switch: Leave unchecked This on/off safety device prevents condensation in the duct by stopping humidification if the duct humidity levels exceed a certain level. In this example, this is redundant as a modulating high limit is being used instead. Selecting Generate will update the Controls Bill of Materials found below. Click Next to complete the selection. 13\| Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor Accessories Tab The next step allows you to add accessories to the current Zone. Selecting the Next button on the previous page will bring you to this step or you can choose the Accessories Tab for the navigation Bar at the top of the page. Here you have the option to add any common accessories such as water filters and condensate pumps, as well as view the bill of materials for the Zone. For this tutorial, a drain water cooler will be selected to comply with local plumbing regulations. Add an accessory to your project by clicking the green plus sign to the left of the chosen accessory, shown below in Figure 11: Accessories Tab. Add one "Drain Water Cooler, SelfActuated" and you will see it added to the Parts and Accessories Bill of Materials list at the bottom of the page. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor \|14 Selecting the Show Details icon, shown in Figure 11: Accessories Tab, beside an accessory name will expand its window and allow you to view a description of the part as well as any related schematics. This will also give you access to three other icons listed below: Information Icon: Redirects to the Nortec product's webpage. 3D Models: Redirects to Nortec's AutoDesk Seek site, where Revit models, manuals and dwg files can be downloaded. Product Document Exporter:Exports a packacing containing this information. Useful for generating product cut sheets and PDFs of relevant info. Select Next once you have finished adding any desired accessories. 15\| Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor Summary Tab You will now be directed to the Summary Tab. Clicking on the Summary tab in the Navigation Bar at the top of the page will also bring you here. Here you will see a complete bill of materials for the entire Zone shown in Figure 12: Zone Summary. The product selection for this zone has now been completed. Select the Done button to return to the Project Home Page. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor \|16 Project Submittals and Requesting a Quotation On the project home page under the Document Center tab shown below, you can export a submittal package as well as other useful information. You can also request a quote from your local Nortec agent. Selecting Project Exports will bring up a dialogue box as shown in Figure 14: Export Center. Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor 17\| Help can generate the following documents: Bill of Material: A listing of the entire product selected, broken down by zone. Humidifier Schedule: An engineering schedule for the humidifiers included on the project. Can be incorporated into a larger mechanical schedules. Specification: An engineering specification for incorporation into a larger mechanical specification. Help dynamically builds the specification based on selected product to save time and reduce editing. Submittal Package: A detailed package containing relevant information, drawing, wiring diagrams, and a bill of materials for your project. Zone Table: A summary of each zone along with its key design conditions. Zone Exports: Allows you to export the schematic diagram, psychrometric chart, or zone parameters that appear on the Load Sizing tab of each zone. Custom Exports: Allow you to create Submittals, Specifications, and Distributor Drawings containing only zones you specify for multi-zone projects. Selecting Request Quote will bring up a dialogue box allowing you to enter any comments or and notes and to confirm your contact information. Selecting the Request button will send a pricing request to the agent along with a copy of the project. Your local representative will contact you shortly regarding pricing and further information. Congratulations, you have successfully completed this tutorial! Help Tutorial – LiveSteam Humidifier & SAM-e Distributor \|18 U.S.A. 826 Proctor Avenue Ogdensburg, NY 13669 CANADA 2740 Fenton Road Ottawa, Ontario K1T 3T7 TEL: 1.866.NORTEC1 FAX: 613.822.7964 EMAIL: email@example.com WEBSITE: www.humidity.com
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF STANISLAUS STATE OF CALIFORNIA Regular Session All Supervisors Present Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag Tuesday July 27, 2004 Gary Hinshaw, Stanislaus County Fire Warden, and Dr. John Walker, Public Health Officer, gave an update regarding the West Nile Virus. Richard Jantz, Deputy Executive Officer, gave an update to the Board regarding the State budget situation. The Governor announced that he and the State Senate and Assembly have struck a deal, and that he expects full votes from both houses later this week. He spoke regarding SCA 9, which includes protection for local revenues but also gives the State legislature, after meeting certain criteria, the ability to transfer money from local government to the State. Mr. Jantz stated that the County and other local governments need to take a closer look at SCA 9 before giving up on Proposition 65. He does not believe that SCA 9 gives the same level of protection to local government as Proposition 65. Supervisor Simon encouraged the Board to continue to support Proposition 65 versus SCA 9. He noted that the County's budget crisis is a direct result of State legislature, along with the cooperation of the Governor, continuing to steal money from local government. Supervisor Mayfield and Supervisor Paul also spoke regarding continued support of Proposition 65, in order to protect the County's money. Miguel Donoso spoke regarding problems in the Bret Harte area due to gangs and drugs. He believes that the lack of education and job opportunities is contributing to this problem. He asked that a task force be formed, made up of members of the community, to address this issue. Kimberly Neville, a UDW home care worker for 9 years, thanked the Board for providing leadership in negotiating a mutually beneficial contract. Patricia Boyd spoke in support of increased wages and benefits for IHSS employees. Simon/Paul unan. Adopted the consent calendar after removing from consent items A5a Approval to Consolidate with the General Election to be Held on November 2, 2004 the City of Modesto Special Election Relating to the Robertson Road Infill Area – Measure M; and, B8 Approval to Apply for and Accept a California State Incentive Grant for the Reduction of Binge Drinking-Related Problems Among Youth and Young Adults from the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs A1 Approved the minutes of 7/13/04 A2a Accepted the resignation of Linda Sawdey from the Stanislaus County Emergency Medical Services Committee 2004-547 A2b Accepted the resignation of Jack Bray from the Woodland Avenue Fire Protection District Board 2004-548 A2c Accepted the resignation of Charles A. Morris from the El Solyo Water District Board 2004-549 A3a Appointed Ray S. Prock to the Agricultural Advisory Board 2004-550 A3b Appointed Charles Obert to the Stanislaus County Parks and Recreation Commission 2004-551 A3c Appointed Mike Passalaqua to the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District 2004-552 A4 Proclaimed August 2004 as Child Support Awareness Month in Stanislaus County 2004-553 A5b Consolidated the City of Oakdale Municipal Election with the General Election to be held on 11/2/04 2004-554 A5c Consolidated the City of Hughson Municipal Election with the General Election to be held on 11/2/04 2004-555 A5d Consolidated the Yosemite Community College Governing Board Member Election with the General Election to be held on 11/2/04 2004-556 A5e Consolidated the Yosemite Community College Local Community College Repair and Overcrowding Measure - Measure E with the General Election to be held on 11/2/04 2004-557 B1 Approved an educational stipend for Cathy Winchester, Administrative Clerk III, from August 2004 through April 2006 - BHRS 2004-558 B2 Authorized the appointment of Karen Curci to the position of Manager II in the Probation Department at a salary above the midpoint of the band, which is $68,400 annually – Probation 2004-559 B3 Authorized the CEO to negotiate a discounted prepayment of County normal retirement contribution cost and directed the Auditor-Controller to transfer the negotiated amount to the Retirement Fund by 7/30/04 – Retirement 2004-560 B4 Awarded a contract to Grossmann Design Group for $56,050 to provide all services incident to the design and administration of the remodel of the Nick W. Blom Salida Regional Library Phase II located in Salida, CA; authorized the Project Manager to execute the contract on behalf of the Board, and to issue the Notice to Proceed upon approval of insurance; authorized the Project Manager to negotiate and sign other agreements and work authorizations necessary to manage the project as long as the cost is within the project budget; approved the project schedule; and, approved the project budget 2004-561 B5 Approved the substitution of the fire protection and concrete subcontractors for Clark & Sullivan for the Gallo Center for the Arts 2004-562 B6 Awarded a contract to the Low Bidder, Bruce Harper Construction of Plymouth, CA, for $57,500 to remodel the interior of the Animal Control Quarantine Building at 2846 Finch Road, Modesto; approved including one alternate, painting, to the base bid in the amount of $12,590; authorized staff to purchase and install 51 containment units from T-Kennel Systems under sole source criteria not to exceed $90,515 to house animals in the facility; authorized the transfer of $11,896 from Animal Control Public Facility Fees to the construction budget to paint the facility and authorized the Auditor-Controller to make proper transfers as reflected on the budget journal; authorized the Project Manager to issue a Notice to Proceed contingent upon receipt of the proper insurance and bonds; and, authorized the Project Manager to negotiate and sign other agreements and work authorizations necessary to manage the project as long as the cost is within the amount budgeted 2004-563 B7 Approved a cooperative agreement between Stanislaus County and the Stanislaus Workforce Alliance which states that the private sector (Workforce Alliance) will contribute the first $30,000 toward completion of an EIR for the proposed Stanislaus County/Highway 99 Corridor Enterprise Zone Designation 2004-564 C1 Accepted the Revised CSA #18 Annual Engineer's Report for FY 2004/05, dated 7/15/04, and Ordered the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors to replace the Engineer's Report filed on 7/13/04, with the Revised CSA #18 Annual Engineer's Report for FY 2004/05 – PW 2004-565 D1 Approved the Stanislaus County Community Development Block Grant Program Income Work Plan for the 2004-2005 Fiscal Year – Planning 2004-566 D2 Set a public hearing for 9/21/04 at 6:40 p.m. to consider the approval of the 2003/04 Community Development Block Grant Final Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER) – Planning 2004-567 D3 Rescinded all or a portion of Williamson Act Contract #1971-0105 (Lampley Road., Hickman area), and approved new contract pursuant to Minor Lot Line Adjustment Application 2004-22; authorized the Planning Director to execute a new contract; finds the new contract or contracts would enforceably restrict the adjusted boundaries of the parcel for an initial term for at least as long as the unexpired term of the rescinded contract or contracts, but for not less than 10 years; finds there is no net decrease in the amount of the acreage restricted; in cases where two parcels involved in a lot line adjustment are both subject to contracts rescinded pursuant to this section, this finding will be satisfied if the aggregate acreage of the land restricted by the new contracts is at least as great as the aggregate acreage restricted by the rescinded contracts; finds at least 90 percent of the land under the former contract or contracts remains under the new contract or contracts; finds after the lot line adjustment, the parcels of land subject to contract will be large enough to sustain their agricultural use, as defined in §51222; finds the lot line adjustment would not compromise the long-term agricultural productivity of the parcel or other agricultural lands subject to a contract or contracts; finds the lot line adjustment is not likely to result in the removal of adjacent land from agricultural use; and, finds the lot line adjustment does not result in a greater number of developable parcels than existed prior to the adjustment, or an adjusted lot that is inconsistent with the General Plan - Planning 2004-568 Simon/Grover unan. A5a Consolidated the City of Modesto Special Election relating to the Robertson Road Infill Area – Measure M, with the General Election to be held on 11/2/04; and, amended the ballot language, as requested by the City of Modesto, by deleting reference that the area would first need to be annexed to the City 2004-569 Grover/Paul unan. *B8 Approved an application for a $750,000 California State Incentive Grant for the reduction of binge drinking-related problems among youth and young adults from the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs; authorized the Director of BHRS, or his Designee, to sign the grant application; authorized the Director of BHRS to accept the grant on behalf of the County if awarded; and, authorized the Director of BHRS, or his Designee, to negotiate agreements related to the grant – BHRS 2004-570 Grover/Mayfield unan. B9 Authorized CSA to reinstate the Wednesday extended hour schedule effective September 2004 – CSA 2004-571 Mayfield/Simon unan. B10 Approved leaving refuse collection rates unchanged for the period of 8/1/04 through 6/30/05 – DER 2004-572 Mayfield/Simon (Paul oppose)(4-1) B11 Authorized the Registrar of Voters to negotiate, award and execute a contract for the purchase and installation of a new countywide voting system for Stanislaus County, total costs of which are not to exceed a combination of available State Voting Modernization funds and Federal Help America Vote Act funds – Clerk/Recorder 2004-573 Board recessed at 11:20 a.m. Board reconvened at 11:29 a.m. Simon/Mayfield unan. B12 Approved the future Integrated County Justice Information System (ICJIS) enhancements that will enable the justice agencies, both internal and external, to improve information management and business efficiencies; authorized the formation of an ICJIS Partner Committee to encourage participation of all justice agencies across the County to the benefit of all citizens; approved standardizing the same open system approach used in the ICJIS Project for all new system development in the County as well as the re-use of this software wherever possible as the informational technology infrastructure cost is 80% less than traditional costs; and, approved using the new software standard contract and risk management process developed during the ICJIS Project, as the standard for all future software development in the County 2004-574 Caruso/Mayfield unan. C2 Adopted the results of the ballot procedure for the formation of the Bret Harte Landscape and Lighting District in compliance with Proposition 218; finds support votes were 237, protest votes were 28, and incomplete ballots were 36; finds that all of the parcels within the Bret Harte Landscape and Lighting District will receive equal benefit from the formation of the district; formed the Bret Harte Landscape and Lighting District and confirmed the boundary of the district as being those described on Exhibits "A" and "B", which are made a part hereof; directed the Department of Public Works to file the formation with the California State Board of Equalization; ordered the installation of street lights; confirmed and approved the method for calculating the amount of the annual assessment that will be used to pay for street lighting service; set the 2004/05 annual assessment at $24.22 per parcel, the parcels subject to the annual assessment are shown on Exhibit "C", which is made a part hereof; authorized the Auditor-Controller to add the annual assessment to the 2004/05 Tax Roll; authorized the Auditor-Controller to establish a fund for the Bret Harte Landscape and Lighting District; and, made the Engineer's Report a part of the record of this proceeding – PW DL-40-2 2004-575 Corr 1 Referred to the Auditor-Controller, the East Side Mosquito Abatement District Budget for Fiscal Year 2004-2005. DM-1-A-27 Corr 2 Referred to the Department of Parks and Recreation, a copy of the California State Parks' Central Valley Strategy brochure from the State of California Department of Parks and Recreation. Corr 3 Referred to the Environmental Review Committee, a letter from Sage Institute Inc. and a copy of the Waterford Unified School District, Richard Moon Elementary School Mitigated Negative Declaration. Corr 4 Referred to the Chief Probation Officer, a Notice of Public Hearing from the Department of the Youth Authority on the proposed changes to Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations regarding Religious Services to Wards. Corr 5 Referred to the Chief Probation Officer and the Sheriff, a copy of the Violence Prevention Research Program's study of the Life Cycle of Crime Guns: A Description Based on Guns Recovered From Young People in California from the University of California, Davis. Corr 5 Acknowledged receipt of claims and referred to the CEO-Risk Management Division the following claims: Raul Barrera; Jermaine Beard; Steve Pfarr; Robert L. Thomas, Sr.; Victoria Landon; and, Christine Nelson. Supervisor Paul requested that a small task force be formed comprised of staff from the Offices of the Assessor, Tax-Collector and Auditor-Controller to streamline the process of filing final maps. She also asked regarding the authority of the Auditor-Controller to write a check to the Consolidated Fire District, and why the Fire District ordered new vehicles without sufficient funding. Richard Jantz, DEO, noted that the County was examining this issue and will bring a full report back to the Board. Supervisor Mayfield noted the need of a full review of the District's budget. Supervisor Simon requested that the report describe the Board of Supervisors' responsibility. County Counsel noted that the Auditor-Controller is auditing the District's financial status and will bring a detailed report to the Board. Supervisor Grover noted that the fire chiefs adjacent to the Consolidated Fire District are concerned that if this district is not staffed because of lack of funding, the mutual aide agreements will be affected. Supervisor Grover and BHRS Director Dan Souza met with Congressman Radanovich and CMS staff in Washington, DC regarding Medicare funding for the staffing of the Behavior Health Center. Supervisor Grover and Supervisor Caruso met with individuals regarding the State Water Quality Control Board's decision that the waste from canneries be classified as industrial waste. This waste cannot go to a landfill since it is ninety percent liquid and would need to be treated as sewage, which may cause the canneries to close due to the exorbitant expense. Deputy Executive Officer Jantz and Supervisor Grover met with Kaiser staff regarding the County traffic issues associated with the proposed Kaiser hospital. He also spoke regarding information presented concerning protecting local revenue. County Counsel explained the process used to appoint the Office of County Counsel, which has a statutory 4-year term. His first term began in 1984 and he has been reappointed to five consecutive terms. Counsel noted that a department head recruitment usually takes many months to complete and, therefore, his practice has been to have the Board consider his reappointment well before the actual term ends, to allow sufficient time to recruit for a new County Counsel if he is not reappointed. He also noted that his term ended in March 2004 and that it was neither appropriate nor practical to delay appointment until January 2005 when a new Board is seated. He stated that this Board and any new Board could evaluate his performance as County Counsel at any time and would consider his reappointment to a new term in 2008. Adjourned to closed session at 12:25 a.m. for conference with Legal Counsel - Existing Litigation: Randell E. Francis v. Board of Retirement Association, Stanislaus County. Superior Court Case No. 172034. Government Code 54956.9(a) Adjourned at 1:40 p.m. ATTESTED: CHRISTINE FERRARO TALLMAN, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Stanislaus State of California BY: ELIZABETH A. KING, Assistant Clerk of the Board of Supervisors (The above is a summary of the minutes of the Board of Supervisors. Complete minutes are available from the Clerk of the Board's Office.)
Landscape Links Grant Grant guidelines Published by Local Land Services Title: Landscape Links Grant First published April 2023 More information Andy Vinter, Senior Land Services Officer, Natural Asset Protection, North Coast Local Land Services. Justine Graham, Team Leader, Natural Asset Protection, North Coast Local Land Services. www.lls.nsw.gov.au Acknowledgments The Landscape Links Grants is a component of the NRM Framework funding provided by the NSW Government. Reference: VF22/1019#05 © State of New South Wales through Local Land Services, 2023. Disclaimer: The information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing April 2023. However, because of advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that information upon which they rely is up to date and to check currency of the information with the appropriate officer of Local Land Services or the user’s independent adviser. Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation are a leading threat to our native flora and fauna, and landscapes that support sustainable regional communities. This threat has been exacerbated by the three-fold impacts of drought, fire, and floods experienced in the North Coast region since 2019. The cumulative impact of these events has highlighted the need to improve landscape habitat connectivity to safeguard native species in the NSW North Coast. Funding support for Landscape Links Assistance is available for landholders and land managers to create or enhance priority biodiversity habitats and corridors on their property. Funding between $10,000 – $25,000 is available per landholder or property for restoration works within the 2023/2024 financial year. Applicants are required to provide an in-kind contribution equal to or greater than the total amount of funds requested. The grant will support habitat restoration works including weed control, revegetation, pest animal control, habitat augmentation (for example, nest boxes), fencing, off-stream watering, and minor erosion and sediment control works. The Landscape Links map on the funding website indicates eligible project areas that are only being offered in the Port Macquarie-Hastings, Kempsey Shire, and Nambucca Valley Local Government Areas. The Landscape Links Grant is being delivered by North Coast Local Land Services with funding support from the New South Wales Government. Project focus The project is focused on the recovery of nationally threatened species and ecological communities listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 by connecting key habitats. A Landscape Links map has been developed to identify key habitat areas and links for investment across the North Coast region. It includes nationally threatened species and ecological communities, as well as key fauna and climate change corridors, and areas under private land conservation. Priority will be given to projects that benefit multiple species or ecological communities. An indication of the benefit your project can offer can be seen in the interactive project mapping tool provided. Hence, the Grant will only consider sites that are found within or immediately adjacent to these areas identified on the map. Landscape Links Grant \| Grant guidelines Figure 1. The interactive mapping tool built into the Grant application. Pink areas indicate wildlife and climate change corridors, Threatened Ecological Communities and threatened fauna/flora (EPBC Act), and Collaborative Australian Protected Areas of the North Coast. The darker the shading indicates more layers overlapping, and therefore there is more potential for that area to act as a Landscape Link. Eligible lands The grant is open to both landholders and land managers to undertake works on private land, Aboriginal Land, or managed Crown Land. Applicants must demonstrate a management agreement is in place for works on managed Crown Lands. Applications are limited to one property per applicant. Multiple applications for a single property will not be considered. Applicants must also have $20 million public liability insurance. Eligible activities Eligible activities include: * Restoration of habitat using a range of techniques, including weed control, regeneration, and planting of endemic native vegetation species. Pest species control activities, including baiting^, shooting^, trapping, tracking, and monitoring. * Habitat augmentation, such as installing nesting boxes or constructed hollows, or management of specific habitat features such as old-growth trees. * Fencing that better manages stock access into priority habitat areas. * Off-stream water points for livestock (including troughs and consumables), where fencing impacts stock access to watering points within habitat areas. * Minor gully erosion and sediment control works that address impacts on priority habitat areas. * Some weed control works may require permits or special conditions when working in sensitive areas. ^Persons undertaking baiting or shooting must hold the relevant accreditations. Ineligible activities Activities that are not eligible for funding include: * Retrospective works (i.e., works already completed). * Planting of non-native species. * Fencing that does not exclude stock from priority habitat areas. * Instream works or sediment extraction. * Works that are considered the regular standard obligation of a landholder e.g., repairs, maintenance, and biosecurity obligations. * Construction of dams, or installation of pumps, and irrigation systems. * Activities that are funded by another program or related to consent conditions on pre-existing Development Applications or other Local, State or Federal Government Orders. Landscape Links Grant \| Grant guidelines Delivery Applicants may use the grant to purchase materials and deliver the project themselves, or use the payment to procure materials and labour from a licensed contractor. Ability to deliver works before the 5th of May 2024 is critical, with final reporting by the 19th of May 2024. Proof of works, including photos, mapping, and records of expenditure and in-kind support will be required. Successful applicants will receive funds as an upfront payment. Funding recipients must be willing to enter into a funding agreement and allow for site inspections by North Coast Local Land Services staff. The following table provides guidance on how eligible works components will be valued and funded through the application process. For eligible activities and costs that are above the predetermined value, please provide a quote and justification for the activity and/or expense. Planting costs include ground preparation, tube stock, weed mats, tree guards, fertiliser, watering, other planting materials, and plant establishment. Fencing includes materials, gates, and installation. Landscape Links Grant \| Grant guidelines Landcare support Applicants are invited to nominate if they would like to receive support during the delivery of project works from their Local Landcare Network: Hastings Landcare Inc, Macleay Landcare Network or Nambucca Valley Landcare. This will help applicants access advice and adopt best practices during the implementation of their project. If you are requesting Landcare support, please contact the relevant Local Landcare Coordinator for your region before you start your submission. \| Local Landcare Network \| Website \| Contact name \| Contact email \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Hastings Landcare Inc \| landcare.nsw.gov. au/groups/hastings- landcare-inc \| Stephen Allwood \| office@ hastingslandcare. org.au \| \| Macleay Landcare Network \| www.macleay landcare.org.au \| Louis Marree \| louis. macleaylandcare@ gmail.com \| How to apply Think through your project and planned works before commencing your application. The Landscape Links Grant will be an online single-stage application process. Previewing the application form and collecting the necessary information is recommended before starting the online application form. The application includes a simple mapping system with instructions. This will help inform the assessment panel of the site's ecological value and its ability to act as a landscape link. The remainder of the form will include check boxes and long and short answers that will assist the assessment panel in scoring the application against the assessment criteria. There will be the opportunity to upload supporting documentation, including site images and a map. Applications are open from the 22nd of April 2023 and close at midnight on the 14th of May, 2023. On receipt of the application, confirmation will be emailed to applicants. Applications are then assessed against the eligibility and assessment criteria. Application support If you experience any technical difficulties or require assistance with the application process please contact North Coast Local Land Services on 1300 795 299 and ask to speak with the Landscape Links project officer. Email requests can be sent to firstname.lastname@example.org Aboriginal Heritage Where a project involves ground disturbance, the North Coast Local Land Services team will undertake a desktop record search to ensure the works will not impact any known Aboriginal heritage sites. Should any Aboriginal heritage sites be identified, this will be discussed with the North Coast Aboriginal Heritage Officer. In most cases, no change will be required. However, in some cases, changes will be necessary. These changes may involve relocating affected works to another part of the property or more significant changes in rare circumstances. Landscape Links Grant \| Grant guidelines Funding deed If approved for funding, all successful applicants will be required to enter into a funding agreement (contract) with North Coast Local Land Services. The agreement will detail the landholder's responsibilities for the project, such as what works are to be undertaken, completion dates and maintenance requirements. This will also require the landholder or manager to commit to providing 10 years of site maintenance after the completion date. Once the funding agreement is signed by Local Land Services and you (and the landowner if you do not own the property concerned), you will need to invoice North Coast Local Land Services for the funding amount. Works permits and licences Depending on the works proposed, a range of permits or permissions may be required. It is the responsibility of the applicant to organise and pay for the cost of obtaining any permits or permissions before works commence. Work standards Weed control Carefully planning activities onsite can reduce the spread of weeds in an area. The life cycle of weeds, particularly seeding, should be considered when planning works. The selection of weed control methods should consider the weed infestation scale, the site's sensitivity, and native flora and fauna to off-target damage. Great care should be taken when working near waterways or on highly erodible soil. Methods Control option considerations depend on site-specific values, conditions and weed species. Projects will be funded for chemical, mechanical, and hand removal methods to control weeds. A combination of methods is likely to be required. A minimum of three treatment runs should be undertaken during the project. The use of chemicals to control invasive weeds must comply with all relevant legislation and as prescribed in the chemical label and safety data sheet. There are also requirements under the Pesticides Act 1999 and the Pesticides Regulation 2017 to keep records of pesticide use and for pesticide users to undergo training. Use of machinery for clearing weeds is to be limited to where use is appropriate and is to follow manufacturer instructions for the safe use of equipment and appropriate permits. It is recommended you seek advice from experienced contractors and research the appropriate weed control and bush regeneration techniques. Infestation level Applicants will be required to identify the different levels of weed infestation at your site during the application process. Three levels of weed infestation will need to be identified: Low, Medium, and High. Low weed infestation Native plant species are the majority vegetation type present. There is a low-level presence of weeds which may or may not threaten or impact the site's biodiversity * A targeted low level of intervention may be required to prevent the potential impact of weeds on the natural assets present (for example, chemical control using spot or foliage spray methods or manual techniques). Medium weed infestation * Native vegetation is in average condition. There is a moderate infestation of weeds which if left unmanaged will impact the level of quality of the site. * A medium level of intervention is required to prevent further deterioration of the site's natural assets (for example, targeted chemical control using spot or foliage spray or mechanical/manual control using cut and paint or stem injection methods). Landscape Links Grant \| Grant guidelines High weed infestation * Native vegetation is in poor condition. Weeds are the dominant vegetation with minimal presence of native plant species. Without major management, the site will continue to decline. * A high level of intervention is required to restore the site's biodiversity and improve connectivity to natural assets adjacent to the site (for example, mechanical control using machinery including harvesters or excavators followed by foliage spray). For more information see: * Weeds of the North Coast of NSW * Australian Association of Bush Regenerators Revegetation Revegetation plantings should only be used in areas where natural regeneration is lacking. It is ideally used to connect areas of habitat on your property, establish vegetation buffers around sensitive areas, or fill in gaps in existing vegetation. Any planting must be of native, endemic species that are suitable to the site. Planting designs, plant densities, and species selection will depend on the site conditions present. In general, incorporating a range of plant types (trees, shrubs and groundcovers) and species types (gum trees, wattles, she-oaks, melaleucas, lomandra, and rainforest species) will improve biodiversity outcomes. Allow 2 – 5 m between trees, with clumps of shrubs between, and aim for 20 – 30% canopy trees and 70 – 80% mid-storey trees and shrubs. Contact your Local Landcare Network or bush regeneration contractor for advice regarding planting designs and species selection appropriate for your site. All revegetation activities funded by North Coast Local Land Services must achieve and maintain at least 70% survival over the life of the management agreement. Stock exclusion fencing must be installed where stock could potentially access the site. For more information, see: * Managing native vegetation after a bushfire emergency * Rural Living Handbook * Managing native vegetation on a rural property * Trees near me Grazing management Livestock will need to be excluded from areas undergoing habitat regeneration or revegetation. The use of fencing and off-stream water points will help applicants manage grazing impact on the restoration site. Controlled grazing (short periods in general) may occur after the first three years when vegetation has re-established and when soil moisture is relatively low. Appropriate stocking rates must be used to ensure no less than 80% of ground cover is maintained at all times. If tree/shrub damage becomes evident, livestock must be removed immediately. Fencing All materials used to construct fences should be in new or good-quality condition. All fences are to include a gate for site/management access. Fences should be consistent with wildlife-friendly fencing guidelines by incorporating plain wire at the top and bottom. It is preferable to not use barbed wire at all, but a maximum of 3 strands of barbed wire will be allowed. When fencing around waterways you should place your fence a minimum distance of 10 m from the top of the bank or around water features. Further information on fencing can be found here: * Fencing off your Riparian areas for productivity and rehabilitation * Wildlife-friendly fencing Landscape Links Grant \| Grant guidelines Off-stream watering Off-stream water points, accompanied by fencing, can reduce stock trampling in restoration areas. Troughs should be concrete or plastic and placed in an area that will not cause erosion (site hardening with gravel may be required). For more information, see: * Reticulated water systems * Stock and Waterways: A NSW Manager's Guide * Fish Screens Australia * Information on water licensing Pest animal control Pest animals can have considerable and ongoing impacts on wildlife by damaging wildlife habitats or by direct predation. Addressing pest animal impacts can be challenging for individual landholders that are often better delivered by multiple land managers at a localised scale. Nevertheless, there are some actions landholders can undertake to reduce the impact on wildlife at a property scale. In this circumstance, having a clear objective that addresses the impact on your biodiversity assets is a good start. You should also consider developing a program that can be replicated annually and will help develop the skills and resources required to sustain the activity. Engaging contractors is an effective method of obtaining property-specific advice and developing your capacity to continue the activity in future years. For example, you may set up permanent or removable trap enclosures to sustain an annual pig or deer control program. Identifying pest predator movement corridors can help plan for cage or soft jaw trapping programs in selected wildlife habitat areas. Game cameras can be used to monitor pest animal activity and identify suitable trap locations and record trapping activity. Contact your nearest Local Land Service Office for advice on pest animal control and the training workshops available to support this work. All pest animal management activities should consider the welfare of targeted and non-target species, and comply with the relevant animal welfare Acts. Practical measures to prevent harm include checking traps daily, installing camera monitoring of trapping activity, and the use of humane methods of destruction. Check with Local Land Services or Local Council if you need further advice. Further information can be found here: * Pest animal management * Problems with foxes brochure * Problems with wild rabbits brochure * Problems with feral pigs brochure * Problems with wild dogs brochure * Feral cats * Wild deer Habitat augmentation Nest boxes and constructed hollows are 2 commonly used habitat augmentation activities that increase the number of nesting sites available for native birds and arboreal mammals. Nest boxes come in a wide range of sizes and entrance holes that are designed to suit a specific size class of animals. Projects should include a variety of types or size classes, with the greater proportion comprised of the smaller size class and the larger types for forest owls limited to one per standard property size. Constructed hollows are made with a boring tool and are generally limited to the smaller size class. They have a distinct advantage in reducing installation failure and offer a more 'natural' home for wildlife. Any habitat augmentation project should include monitoring after 6 – 12 months to check for occupation and use. The placement and installation of nest boxes and constructed hollows are considered significant factors in their success. Nest boxes must be properly secured and placed to suit the target animal. Similarly, constructed hollows are situated to suit the target animal and the host tree. The installation of these structures is also a potentially hazardous activity involving operating at heights often in difficult terrain. We recommend the use of contractors to improve safety procedures and ensure the installation is completed successfully with minimal harm to host trees. Landscape Links Grant \| Grant guidelines Many organisations supply nest boxes as partially made 'flat-packs' or fully constructed boxes with installation fittings provided. Information about constructed hollows is available at www.hollowhog.com.au/ and from selected arborists or contractors. More information can be accessed here: * Wildlife nest box Erosion and sediment control Jute matting is a biodegradable material that offers short-term (~3 years) erosion control. It can be used in areas with exposed soil where planting occurs and will support native vegetation establishment and reduce soil loss. Jute matting is best used on steep areas and laid in vertical, overlapping rows. A trench should be dug at the top of the mat which is then pinned and buried in the trench. The mat should then be unrolled, and pinned, using 3 pins/m 2 . When placing more than one roll, create a 10cm overlap for adjacent rolls. If you are going to plant, wet the mat, then create individual slits for each plant. Coir Logs are rolls of organic fibre (e.g. coconut) enclosed in a robust mesh and installed in disturbed areas using stakes. Coir logs can be used to prevent the risk of soil erosion of recently disturbed creeks and gullies and facilitate the establishment of ground covers to rehabilitate the area. Logs are placed across the slope and the entire log should be in contact with the soil. In some instances, a shallow trench can be dug to anchor the log into the ground. Placement should ensure surface water cannot pass under the log, or soil will be lost. The spacing of logs will depend on the level of the slope, with steeper sites requiring closer spacing. Wooden stakes should be placed every 30 cm on either side of the log, and logs placed end-to-end should be tied together using a natural rope. Planting between the log rows will accelerate site recovery. Further information can be found here: * Erosion: Type, Impacts and Management Actions * Gully erosion and control guide Monitoring Monitoring of revegetation sites involves the recording and analysis of observations over time. It is an important aspect of any project and provides evidence of work completed and outcomes achieved. Successful applicants will be expected to complete monitoring activities during the project duration. One of the simplest ways to monitor a project is through photographs. A fixed location must be set up to ensure the same area is photographed over time. These photographs can then provide a record of changes in the vegetation. The photo monitoring point must be identifiable by including a star picket or fixed feature within the photo frame. You should try to take the photo facing south which will provide better detail in the photos produced. When selecting a photo monitoring point, the future growth of vegetation must be considered, this is particularly important when planting trees as the photo point should not be blocked by future tree growth. Photos should be taken before works commence and after works are completed, and then annually at the same time of year throughout the maintenance agreement. Ensure all the relevant sites and activities are covered in your photo monitoring. Photos will need to be easily found for reporting and should be saved with a consistent and identifiable file name (for example, ProjectName – Site – PhotoPoint - Date). Where applicable, other information or data may need to be collected for reporting purposes. For example, the occupation rate and species use for nest box or constructed hollows, or the species and numbers of pest animals controlled. Landscape Links Grant \| Grant guidelines
Hearing date: Decision issued: August 25, 2014 Citation issued: March 18, 2014 THE LAW SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA In the matter of the Legal Profession Act, SBC 1998, c. 9 and a hearing concerning GEORGIALEE ALIDA LANG RESPONDENT DECISION OF THE HEARING PANEL ON FACTS AND DETERMINATION June 25, 2014 Panel: Ken Walker, QC, Chair Dr. Gail Bellward, Public representative Peter Warner, QC, Lawyer Counsel for the Law Society: Carolyn S. Gulabsingh Counsel for the Respondent: D. Geoffrey Cowper, QC INTRODUCTION [1] An Agreed Statement of Facts was filed in this matter. We thank both counsel for their effort and work involved in creating the Agreed Statement of Facts. [2] On March 18, 2014 the Discipline Committee authorized the issuance of a citation against the Respondent alleging that "On May 31, 2013, in the course of representing yourself in a Legal Professional Act section 71 review of your bill before a Supreme Court Deputy Registrar, you had settlement discussions with the opposing party, AB, in the absence of his counsel, knowing that he was represented by counsel, and without his counsel's consent, contrary to Rule 7.2-6 of the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia. This conduct constitutes professional misconduct, pursuant to s. 38(4) of the Legal Profession Act." [3] The Respondent has, from the outset, acknowledged her mistake in having the settlement discussion with AB, but submits that, under all of the circumstances, her mistake does not amount to professional misconduct. [4] In consideration of all of the circumstances, does the Respondent's conduct amount to professional misconduct? There is no allegation in the citation of an included offence of "breach of the Rules" because the alleged misconduct is not specifically prohibited by the Law Society Rules, only by the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia (herein the "Code"). Accordingly, the optional outcomes for this hearing are either a finding of professional misconduct or dismissal of the citation. [5] The Rule in questions states: 7.2-6 Subject to rule 7.2-7, if a person is represented by a lawyer in respect of a matter, another lawyer must not, except through or with the consent of the person's lawyer: (a) approach, communicate or deal with the person on the matter; or (b) attempt to negotiate or compromise the matter directly with the person. FACTS [6] The facts or circumstances in this case are unusual. Ms. Lang acted for her client AB in what we refer to as estate litigation. AB was Ms. Lang's friend for a long period of time. AB was married to a lawyer who was a close friend of Ms. Lang for many years. Ms. Lang had no retainer agreement with AB, but during the solicitor client relationship two sizeable accounts were sent to AB. The first account was paid. The second was disputed. [7] The dispute concerning the accounts resulted in a review of the accounts before a Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court. During this proceeding Ms. Lang represented herself and AB was represented by a lawyer, Paul Jaffe. During the hearing Ms. Lang had given evidence on March 15, 2013 and cross-examination of her occurred on May 30, 2013 and was to continue on May 31, 2013. Ms. Lang had thus by then spent two days on the witness stand in her capacity as a "party". [8] Prior to continuation of the hearing on May 31, 2013, the following events occurred: (a) On the way to court Ms. Lang commented to her assistant that Ms. Lang intended to discuss settlement with AB and his lawyer when they arrived at the courthouse. (b) At court before 10:00 a.m., Ms. Lang saw AB's lawyer in the courtroom without AB. She noted to Mr. Jaffe that his client had not yet arrived, and then she and the assistant left the courtroom and waited out in the hall. Ms. Lang did not speak to Mr. Jaffe about settlement before leaving. (c) When AB arrived, Ms. Lang greeted him and asked if she could speak to him. (d) AB agreed and they went into a private interview room and shut the door. AB's lawyer was not present and was unaware of this. (e) Ms. Lang had a very brief conversation, including an exchange of comments on the relative merits of each side's case, and she offered to settle the accounts at a discount. (f) During the brief conversation, AB said he needed to speak to his lawyer concerning the offer before he would agree to settle. (g) In response, Ms. Lang stated that she believed Mr. Jaffe would not agree to the proposed settlement. (h) AB repeated his desire to speak to his lawyer, and at this point the conversation ended. (i) The entire conversation lasted between three and ten minutes. (j) AB and his lawyer spoke privately, and Ms. Lang met them both and asked if the settlement was acceptable. It was rejected. (k) Ms. Lang then apologized for speaking to AB about the settlement without his lawyer being present. (l) Ms. Lang told them she would self-report her conduct to the Law Society. She hand-wrote such a letter, which was typed and dated that day, disclosing and apologizing for her error. (m) Ms. Lang also disclosed and apologized to the Deputy Registrar conducting the hearing. (n) The matter was settled later that day. POSITION OF THE PARTIES [9] The Law Society asks us to find that the breach of the Code in these circumstances amounts to professional misconduct. The Law Society asks us to infer from the evidence that the contact with AB was of a planned and deliberate nature. [10] Counsel for the Respondent asks us first to look at the Respondent as a "party" to the proceeding and thus not acting as a lawyer in that proceeding. This argument could be described as the "professional misconduct versus conduct unbecoming" argument. His second argument asks us to dismiss the citation on the basis that the misconduct does not reach the threshold of professional misconduct required to be proven by the Law Society. ISSUES [11] Was the conduct of the Respondent in contacting and negotiating with a client represented by a lawyer, professional misconduct in these circumstances? Or was it conduct unbecoming a member of the profession? ANALYSIS [12] The Panel finds that the Respondent's actions related directly to her practice as a lawyer, despite her role as a party in the review of her account, and accordingly a finding of "conduct unbecoming" is not an available option. [13] The oft quoted case of Law Society of BC v. Martin, 2005 LSBC 16 at para. 171, stated the test as "whether the facts as made out disclose a marked departure from that conduct the Law Society expects of its members; if so, it is professional misconduct." At para. 154 of that decision the panel stated: … The real question to be determined is essentially whether the Respondent's behaviour displays culpability which is grounded in a fundamental degree of fault, that is whether it displays gross culpable neglect of his duties as a lawyer. [14] This statement of the test has been accepted and adopted in a number of decisions from the Law Society of BC since then, including Re: Lawyer 12, 2011 LSBC 35 (Benchers on Review), and in Law Society of BC v. Gellert, 2013 LSBC 22. In the Gellert decision, the panel adopted and applied the following analysis taken from the panel decision in Law Society of BC v. Lyons, 2008 LSBC 09, at para. 35: … panels must give weight to a number of factors, including the gravity of the misconduct, its duration, the number of breaches, the presence of absence of mala fides, and the harm caused by the respondent's conduct. Our application of that analysis to the facts in this case is as follows. The gravity of the misconduct [15] We find that the circumstances were serious. The Respondent was a party to an action where her former client was represented. The Respondent had a personal financial interest in the outcome. It was her account that was being challenged, and she was certainly and acutely aware that her former client was represented by Mr. Jaffe. She could not have forgotten that her cross-examination was not complete and Mr. Jaffe was entitled to ask more questions. Duration of the conduct [16] It lasted only three to ten minutes, and so we find this is not an aggravating factor. The number of breaches [17] This is also not an aggravating factor as the conduct was a single occurrence not repeated. The presence or absence of mala fides [18] There is no direct evidence of intention in the Agreed Statement of Facts. Mr. Cowper argues that, because the Respondent was a "party", she had her "party" hat on and was not aware of her breach. Ms. Gulabsingh argues that the circumstances point to planned and deliberate conduct. We are unable to conclude that the Respondent intended to breach the rule. We do find that she ought to have known not to contact Mr. Jaffe's client without his consent. [19] We do not find that the Respondent in those circumstances had mala fides. We do find that her conduct was intentional and that she did intend to speak directly to AB in the absence of Mr. Jaffe. We find that her conduct in not speaking to Mr. Jaffe in court and then waiting outside to greet AB evidences her intention to resolve or settle the matter without Mr. Jaffe present. Her statement to AB to the effect that Mr. Jaffe would not support the settlement also evidences that intent. [20] We find that her immediate confession and apology to Mr. Jaffe and the self-report to the Law Society are commendable and to her credit, and evidence a quick realization on her part that she had done wrong. The fact that her transgression could not have long remained unknown to Mr. Jaffe supports our finding that she did not knowingly breach the rule, i.e. her breach was most likely not planned and deliberate. [21] Lawyers are not perfect and a standard of perfection is not required of them. We find that the Respondent focused on settlement and the rule she broke was not at the top of her mind during her breach of it. The Respondent's conduct in contacting and negotiating with the "client" of another lawyer was intentional. The Martin case, among many others, confirms that a finding of "intentional malfeasance" is not a prerequisite to a finding of professional misconduct. Harm [22] We find that no harm resulted to AB or anyone else, so this is not a factor of significance. Mr. Jaffe was close by, AB sought and obtained his advice, and later in the day the entire dispute was settled to AB's satisfaction. Other factors [23] Peculiar to this case is the fact that the Respondent and AB were friends for many years. AB was a sophisticated client (we note he was handling a complex estate). He had legal counsel and was also married to legal counsel. The Respondent was in a dual role here as "party" and counsel for herself. The Respondent had spent the day before being cross-examined on the witness stand, and it is understandable that she would be thinking and acting like a "party" and forgetful of her other role as counsel for herself. These factors, in our view, go some way to explaining the transgression, but do not, in our view, justify or excuse it. [24] The test is really about what is expected of a lawyer in these circumstances. Does the conduct amount to a marked departure from the conduct expected of lawyers? Here, the Respondent was a party and a lawyer. She was a party because of her professional status. It was her account that was being challenged. We expect that lawyers who are parties will not forget their professional obligations. The Respondent was acutely aware that AB was represented by a lawyer. The Respondent's conduct fell markedly below the conduct expected and displayed a fundamental degree of fault. The Respondent ought to have remembered she could not discuss settlement without the consent or attendance of Mr. Jaffe. [25] We find that her focus was to find a resolution of her dispute. We do not find that she was focused on breaching the rule. [26] Accordingly, we find that the Respondent breached Rule 7.2-6 of the Code by contacting and negotiating with AB without the consent of his lawyer, and that, in all of the circumstances, this conduct constitutes professional misconduct. SEALING ORDER [27] The Law Society sought a sealing order pursuant to Rule 5-6 and 5-7 of the Law Society Rules, an application supported by Mr. Cowper on behalf of the Respondent. The purpose of such an order is to protect the confidential material obtained during the investigation and filed with us. The Law Society sought to have the Agreed Statement of Facts, the exhibits and the transcript all sealed and not available to the public. It is important that the competing values of open, transparent hearings versus protection of client confidentiality be balanced. Any member of the public would have been able to attend this hearing and hear submissions and listen to the evidence. The usual procedure for protecting client confidences would have been followed by excluding members of the public from portions of the hearing where confidential client information was about to be revealed. While most of these hearings do not attract much public or media attention, the principle of hearings being "open" is important. We think that the right balance in this case is to seal the exhibits that contain client information, and we so order. The Agreed Statement of Facts will be redacted to use initials to protect the names and identity of clients and witnesses. The lawyers' names will not be redacted. If a transcript is ordered, we direct Law Society staff to redact the names of witnesses and clients by the use of initials. [28] We do recommend that the Law Society review its policies and procedures concerning such confidentiality/sealing orders, in light of the original request for all of the material to be sealed.
Home Sanctuary Category : August 1997 Published by Anonymous on Aug. 02, 1997 INSIGHT Home Sanctuary The most important space in the Hindu home is the shrine room, strictly reserved for worship and meditation. This Insight explores the how, where and why of establishing a home shrine, focusing on the four major sects. What is the center of your home? The kitchen, the workshop, the living room or den? The ancients designated a crucial part of the home as a sacred sanctuary, a fortress of purity to which dwellers could retreat before dawn each day, to commune with their higher nature and with God and the Gods. This center of spiritual force is called devatarchanam, the "place for honoring Divinity." Sacred architecture places it in the northeast corner, the realm of Isana, where its potency naturally flourishes. Scriptures speak but little of this tradition, perhaps because its necessity is taken for granted. Nevertheless, the custom has lived on, and every prominent devout Hindu home has a holy shrine room, often opulent, sometimes austere, the domiciles' most auspicious quadrant, reserved for religious pursuits, and like a miniature temple, radiating blessings constantly through the abode and out to the community. Love and joy come to Hindu families who worship God in their home through the traditional ceremony known as puja, meaning adoration or worship. Through such rites and the page 1 / 9 divine energies invoked, each family makes the house a sanctuary, a refuge from the concerns and worries of the world. The center of that sanctuary, the site of puja, is the shrine, mystically tied to the temple to which they pilgrimage weekly. Puja is performed daily--usually in the early morning, but also in the afternoon or evening--generally by the head of the house. All members of the family attend. Rites can be as simple as lighting a lamp and offering a flower at the Lord's holy feet, or they can be most elaborate and detailed, with myriad Sanskrit chants and offerings. The essential and indispensable part of any puja is devotion. Without love and reverence in the heart, outer performance is of little value. But with true devotion even simple gestures become sacred ritual. As in a temple, the images or icons of God and Gods are the focus of the shrine room. These are called murti in Sanskrit, worshiped and cared for as the physical body of the the Divine. Hindus do not worship these "idols" per se. They worship God and the Gods who by their infinite powers spiritual hover over and indwell the image. Murtis of the Gods are sanctified forms through which their love, power and blessings flood forth to bless the family. The God's vibration and presence can be felt in the image, and the Divinity can use the images as a temporary physical place body or channel. Hindus believe and expect that the God is actually present and conscious in the murti during puja, aware of thoughts and feelings and even sensing the worshiper's gentle touch on the metal or stone. The great Adi Shankaracharya, while espousing a strict monism, wrote, "Although Parabrahman is all pervading, to attain Him one should accept that He is 'more' present in one particular place, just as we see Vishnu in the Shaligrama, a small round stone." The Vaishnava saint Ramanuja similarly stated, "Although the Lord is all pervading, using His page 2 / 9 omnipotent powers He appears before devotees to accept their devotion through an image." The Science of Ritual:Puja is a ceremony in which the ringing of bells, passing of flames, presenting of offerings and chanting of mantras invoke the devas and Gods, who then come to bless and help the devotees. Puja is holy communion, full of wonder and tender affections. Thus the home shrine is a place of tremendous importance, made more and more sacred by the culmulative power of prayer. Daily puja is the axis of religious life, and the puja room is the heart of the home. Chanting the Vedas is the magic enlivener. In the words of Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, "The Veda mantras being the root cause of creation, the mere chanting of Veda mantras would, by their vibrations, make the Devas appear in person." The home shrine is also the locus for private and group meditation, prayer, mantra recitation and devotional singing. Its sanctity is protected by never using it for other purposes. This space is meticulously cared for, kept immaculate and elaborately decorated to look like a small temple. It should be well-lit and free from drafts and household disturbances. The altar is generally close to the floor, since most of the puja is performed while seated. But when there are small children in the home it is often higher, as to be out of their reach. Pictured in this Insight (please see hard copy) are "typical" altars (slightly larger than life) of the four major Hindu denominations: Saivism, Vaishnavism, Saktism and Smartism. In truth, Hinduism consists of ten thousand lineages and more, each with its unique traditions, and as many variations in home altars as well. Yet, there are many similarities. page 3 / 9 At a Ganesha shrine, for example, an icon, or murti, of the elephant-headed God is placed at the center of the altar. A metal or stone image is considered best, but if not available there are two traditional alternatives: 1) a framed picture, preferably with a sheet of copper on the back, or 2) A kumbha, which is a symbol of Ganesha made by placing a coconut on a brass pot of water with five mango leaves inserted between the coconut and the pot. The coconut is husked but the tuft of fibers at the top is not removed. Most shrines also honor a picture of the guru of the family lineage, either on the altar or adorning the walls. Bathing the God's image is often a central part of puja. For this, special arrangements are established at the altar to catch the sacred water or milk as it pours off the icon. Most simply, the murti may be placed in a deep tray to catch the water. After the bath, the tray is removed and the murti dried off, then dressed and decorated. More elaborately, a drain is set up so the water flows into a pot at the side of the altar. If devotees are in attendance, this blessed water is later served by the pujari (the person performing the ritual) who places a small spoonful in each devotee's right palm. Holy Accoutrements:Puja implements for the shrine are kept on large metal trays. On these are arranged ghee lamps, bells, cups, spoons and pots to hold the various sacraments. Available from Indian shops, these are dedicated articles, never used for purposes other than puja. Their care, cleaning and polishing is considered a sacred duty. Usual items include: 1) water cups and a small spoon for offering water; 2) a brass vessel of unbroken, uncooked rice (usually mixed with turmeric powder), also for offering; 3) tray or basket of freshly picked page 4 / 9 flowers (without stems) or loose flower petals; 4) a standing oil lamp, dipastambha, that remains lit throughout the puja; ideally kept lit all day; 5) a dipa (or lamp with cotton string wick) for waving light before the Deity; 6) a small metal bell, ghanta; 7) an incense burner and a few sticks of incense, agarbhatti; 8) sacraments of one's tradition, such as holy ash, vibhuti; sandalwood paste, chandana; and red powder, kumkuma (these are kept it polished brass or silver containers); 9) naivedya, an offering for the Deity of fresh fruit and-or a covered dish of freshly cooked food, such as rice (never tasted during preparation); 10) a camphor (karpura) burner for passing flame before the God at the height of puja; 11) brass or silver pots for bathing the murti; 12) colorful clothing for dressing the murti; 13) flower garlands; 14) additional oil lamps to illumine and decorate the room; 15) a CD or tape player. Purity: Before entering the shrine room, all attending the ceremony bathe and dress in fresh, clean clothes. It is a common practice to not partake of food at least an hour or more before puja. The best time for puja is before dawn. Each worshiper brings an offering of flowers or fruit (prepared before the bath). Traditionally, women during their monthly period refrain from attending puja, entering the home shrine or temple or approaching swamis or other holy men. Also during this time women do not help in puja preparation, such as picking flowers or making prasada for the Deity. Use of the home shrine is also restricted during periods of retreat that follow the birth or death of a family member. Worshipful Icons: As seen in the main illustrations, the images enshrined on home altars vary according to lineage and page 5 / 9 denomination. All icons, however, are either anthropomorphic, meaning human in appearance; theriomorphic, having animal characteristics (for example, Lord Hanuman, the monkey God); or aniconic, meaning without representational likeness, such as the element fire, or the smooth Shaligrama stone, worshiped as Lord Vishnu. Other objects of enshrinement include divine emblems or artifacts, including weapons, such as Durga's sword; animal mounts, like Siva's bull; a full pot of water, indicating the presence of the Devi; the sun disk, representing Surya; the holy footprints or sandals of a God or saint; the standing oil lamp; the fire pit, mystic diagrams called yantra; water from holy rivers; and sacred plants, such as the tulsi tree. All these are honored as embodiments of the God or Goddess. The Vedas enjoin: "The Gods, led by the spirit, honor faith in their worship. Faith is composed of the heart's intention. Light comes through faith. Through faith men come to prayer, faith in the morning, faith at noon and at the setting of the sun. O Faith, give us faith!" Do Hindus Worship Idols? By Sadhu Shantipriyadas,, Swaminarayana Fellowship From the moment the Vedic rites are completed and a statue or painting of the Deity is consecrated, the Lord through the image manifests all His glory and grace. He accepts various devotions. He listens to prayers and woes. He is at once a confidante and giver of blessings. Thus, an image cannot be said to be merely a beautiful statue or doll, nor an excellent painting. The image is God. Said Swami Vivekananda, "It has become a trite saying that page 6 / 9 idolatry is bad, and everyone swallows it at the present time without questioning. I once thought so, and to pay the penalty of that, I had to learn my lessons sitting at the feet of a man who realized everything from idols. I allude to Ramakrishna Paramahansa. Yet, idolatry is condemned. Why? Some hundreds of years ago, some man of Jewish blood happened to condemn it. He happened to condemn everybody else's idols except his own. If God is represented in any beautiful form or any symbolic form, said the Jew, it is awfully bad; it is sin. But if He is represented in the form of a chest with two angels sitting on either side, it is the holiest of holies. If God comes in the form of a dove, it is holy. But if He comes in the form of a cow, it is heathen superstition, condemn it..." Over the centuries, in their condescending haste and missionary fervor to convert the rest of the world to the "One and only correct faith, and to commit the souls of the otherwise damned to God," various religions have condemned image worship with fanatic zeal. This has led to a shallow refutal of image worship and a misinterpretation of the Hindu image worshiped. To complicate the issue, image worship is also frowned on by some professing Hindus. The question of image worship will be debated for years to come. Here it suffices to say that with the ancient Hindus image worship was not left to be treated as an ignorant and useless practice fit only for the ignorant and spiritually immature; even the greatest visited mandirs and worshiped images, and these thinkers did not do so blindly or unconsciously. A human necessity was recognized, the nature of the necessity was understood, its psychology systematically analyzed, the various phases of image worship, mental and page 7 / 9 material, were defined. The modern Hindu follows in footsteps of his forebearers. Through the image, the eye is taught to see God, and not to seek God. The first lesson received at the sanctum is to be applied everywhere: see God in everything! A Hindu Home Is More than a House By V. Ganapati Sthapati,, Master Architect, Chennai In Indian architecture, the dwelling is itself a shrine. A home is called manushyalaya, literally, "human temple." It is not merely a shelter for human beings in which to rest and eat. The concept behind house design is the same as for temple design, so sacred and spiritual are the two spaces. The "open courtyard" system of house design was the national pattern in India before Western models were introduced. The order introduced into the "built space" accounts for the creation of spiritual ambience required for the indweller to enjoy spiritual well-being and material welfare and prosperity. At right (please see hard copy) is a typical layout of a square building, with a grid of 9x9=81 squares, meant for family persons (for yogis, scientists and artists, a grid of 8x8=64 is prescribed). The space occupied by the central 3x3=9 squares is called Brahmasthanam, meaning the "nuclear energy field." It should be kept unbuilt and open to the sky so as to have contact with the outer space (akasha). This central courtyard is likened to the lungs of the human body. It is not for living purposes. Religious and cultural events can be held here--such as yajna (fire ritual), music and dance performances and marriage. page 8 / 9 The row of squares surrounding the Brahmasthanam is the walkway. The corner spaces, occupying 2x2=4 squares, are rooms with specific purposes. The northeast quarter is called Isana, the southeast Agni, the southwest Niruthi and northwest Vayu. These are said to possess the qualities of four respective devatas or Gods--Isa, Agni, Niruthi and Vayu. Accordingly--with due respect to ecological friendliness with the subtle forces of the spirit--those spaces (quarters) are assigned as follows: northeast for the home shrine, southeast for the kitchen, southwest for master bedroom and northwest for the storage of grains. The spaces lying between the corner zones, measuring 2x5=10 squares, are those of the north, east, south and west. They are meant for multi purposes. For home worship, griha puja, the Deity icon should be smaller in size than in a temple. The agreeable and generally recommended height of the standing image without pedestal is one's own fist (mushti) size, measured with the thumb raised. page 9 / 9
Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Consolidated Financial Statements June 30, 2023 and 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS To the Board of Directors Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. San Jose, California Opinion We have audited the accompanying consolidated financial statements of Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. (a California nonprofit corporation) (the ''Organization''), which comprise the consolidated statements of financial position as of June 30, 2023 and 2022, and the related consolidated statements of activities, functional expenses, and cash flows for the years then ended, and the related notes to the consolidated financial statements. In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. as of June 30, 2023 and 2022, and the changes in their net assets and their cash flows for the years then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Basis for Opinion We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements section of our report. We are required to be independent of Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. and to meet our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with the relevant ethical requirements relating to our audits. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion. Responsibilities of Management for the Financial Statements Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, and for the design, implementation, and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of consolidated financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the consolidated financial statements, management is required to evaluate whether there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc.'s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the consolidated financial statements are available to be issued. Auditor's Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not absolute assurance and therefore is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control. Misstatements, including omissions, are considered material if there is a substantial likelihood that, individually or in the aggregate, they would influence the judgment made by a reasonable user based on the consolidated financial statements. 1 INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT In performing an audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, we: - Exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. - Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, and design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks. Such procedures include examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. - Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc.'s internal control. Accordingly, no such opinion is expressed. - Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluate the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. - Conclude whether, in our judgment, there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc.'s ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time. We are required to communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit, significant audit findings, and certain internal control related matters that we identified during the audit. 2 September 28, 2023 Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Financial Position June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 3 Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Consolidated Statement of Activities For the Year Ended June 30, 2023 (In thousands) 4 Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Consolidated Statement of Activities For the Year Ended June 30, 2022 (In thousands) Without Donor With Donor 5 Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Consolidated Statement of Functional Expenses For the Year Ended June 30, 2023 (In thousands) 6 Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Consolidated Statement of Functional Expenses For the Year Ended June 30, 2022 (In thousands) 7 Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows For the Years Ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 8 Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows For the Years Ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 9 1. NATURE OF OPERATIONS Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. (the "Organization" or "AOF"), formerly known as Accion, The U.S. Network Inc., was incorporated on December 7, 2011. AOF envisions a world in which all hardworking entrepreneurs have the financial access and tools they need to improve their lives and enhance the well-being of their families, communities, and local economies for years to come. The mission of AOF is to assist in building world-class microfinance institutions in the United States to enhance economic development through increasing access to credit and otherwise promoting financial inclusion and health for members of low-to-moderate income communities. AOF works on a national scale to propel the flow of resources, support, tools, and information through fundraising, training and education, media, partnerships, and programmatic opportunities to encourage development, sustainability, and growth. AOF is classified as a publicly supported, tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, incorporated in the state of Delaware. AOF is the sole member of Accion Opportunity Fund Community Development and Subsidiary ("AOFCD"). AOFCD is a Community Development Financial Institution certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and was previously named Opportunity Fund Community Development. AOFCD was formed as a for-profit organization on December 8, 1993. On September 30, 2000, AOFCD converted to a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. Since then, AOFCD has been classified as a publicly supported, tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is exempt from California franchise taxes under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 23701(d). AOFCD's mission is to drive economic mobility by delivering affordable capital and responsible financial solutions to determined entrepreneurs and communities. AOFCD relies on earned revenue from interest and fee income generated by its mission-oriented programs as well as charitable donations from individuals and institutions to fund the costs of its operations. AOFCD also borrows funds from individuals and institutions to use for its small business lending program and for general operating expenses. AOFCD maintains offices in California and its programs primarily reach clients and borrowers in California but also in forty-four other states. Small Business Lending Program AOFCD makes loans to small businesses that lack access to affordable credit from traditional sources. Since inception, AOFCD has made over 26,900 loans totaling $813 million to small businesses whose owners are primarily people of color and low and moderate income. Many loans to California-based borrowers are enrolled in a loan loss reserve partially funded by the State of California as part of its Capital Access Program (see Note 8 - CASH FOR LOAN LOSS RESERVES). 1. NATURE OF OPERATIONS (continued) Small Business Lending Program (continued) Beginning in June 2020, in response to COVID-19, AOFCD began offering lower cost loans with interest rates from 4-4.25% to select borrowers who were severely impacted by COVID-19. AOFCD also began participating in select public-private partnerships that offer low-rate loan programs. These loans are typically backstopped by a loan loss reserve program administered by a government program and sold to a special purpose credit vehicle where only a portion of the loans, typically 5-10%, remain on the consolidated statement of financial position. In April 2020 AOFCD was approved as a Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") lender by the U.S. Small Business Administration. This product for small businesses ranges in size based on the payroll of the company, has a 1% fixed interest rate, and may be fully forgivable if the funds are used for an eligible purpose. As of June 30, 2023, substantially all PPP loans have been fully repaid. AOFCD sells participations in its loan portfolio. The purpose of these sales is to manage credit concentration in AOFCD's portfolio and to generate liquidity to provide for additional loan growth. Loans are typically sold at a premium over face value and AOFCD retains the servicing of the loans, for which it charges a monthly fee. Small Business Technical Assistance AOF provides wraparound technical assistance to diverse underserved small business owners in multiple ways. AOF hosts frequent educational webinars in English and Spanish to help small business owners navigate challenges they face on a range of topics including e-commerce strategies, crisis management, navigating conversations with employees, adapting their supply chain, and many more. AOF partners with organizations to offer one-on-one personal and business financial coaching. This comes in the form of financial coaching over the phone, and through a partnership to pair small business owners with mentors on a range of topics. New Market Tax Credits Program In 2003, AOFCD was certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury Community Development Financial Institution Fund ("CDFI Fund") as a Community Development Entity ("CDE") under its New Market Tax Credit ("NMTC") program. As of June 30, 2023, AOFCD has received a cumulative total of $498 million of tax credit allocations. AOFCD through its subsidiary CDE, the LCD New Markets Fund, LLC uses these allocations to attract new capital to support large real estate projects providing high community impact in low-income areas. As of June 30, 2023 and 2022, AOFCD has deployed $471.5 million and $424 million in Qualified Equity Investments ("QEIs"), respectively. 1. NATURE OF OPERATIONS (continued) Ratings AOFCD is rated by Aeris, a national organization which provides ratings, data, and advisory services to support investment in CDFIs. As analyzed June 30, 2022, AOFCD is rated AA-, fourstar. AA- is a rating of Financial Strength and Performance demonstrating AOFCD "has very strong financial strength, performance, and risk management practices relative to its size, complexity, and risk profile." Four-star is the highest possible impact rating, demonstrating "exceptional alignment of its impact mission, strategies, activities, and data." 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES Basis of accounting The consolidated financial statements have been prepared on the accrual basis of accounting in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Basis of presentation The Organization presents information regarding its consolidated financial position and activities according to two classes of net assets: - Net assets without donor restrictions - Net assets that are not subject to donor-imposed restrictions and may be expended for any purpose in performing the primary objectives of the Organization. These net assets may be used at the discretion of the Organization's management and the board of directors. - Net assets with donor restrictions - Net assets with donor-imposed time or purpose restrictions. Restricted net assets with donors' restrictions become unrestricted when the time restriction expires or the donor stipulated purpose has been accomplished, at which time they are reported in the statement of activities as net assets released from restrictions. Principles of consolidation Because AOF and AOFCD share the same board membership, according to generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), their financial statements are consolidated as presented here. The consolidated financial statements consist of the financial position of AOF and AOFCD as of June 30, 2023 and 2022 , and the statements of activities, statements of functional expenses, statements of cash flows and related notes for the years then ended. All material intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The supplementary information is presented for standalone financial statements of AOF. Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) Principles of consolidation (continued) The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of a subsidiary, LCD New Markets Fund, LLC (the "LLC") of which AOFCD is the managing member with a 99% interest. The LLC is a Delaware limited liability company that was formed in April 2003. All material intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Use of estimates The preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities as of the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from these estimates. Reclassifications Certain 2022 balances have been reclassified to conform to the 2023 consolidated financial statement presentation. These reclassifications have no effect on previously reported change in net assets. Investments in NMTC entities There are 15 NMTC entities, over which AOFCD exercises significant influence, and are included in the consolidated financial statements using the equity method of accounting. The investment is recorded at cost then adjusted for AOFCD's proportionate share of undistributed earnings or losses (see Note 15 - COMMITMENTS). AOFCD has a 0.01% financial interest in each of these entities. As of June 30, 2023 and 2022, AOFCD has related-party receivables from certain of these entities related to asset management fees and operating advances totaling $0 and $16 thousand, respectively. In fiscal year 2023 and 2022, AOFCD closed three and two entities, respectively, when the projects were unwound and reached the end of the seven-year NMTC compliance period. There are ten shelf entities that have not yet been utilized in an NMTC project yet as of June 30, 2023. The limited liability companies were formed in the State of Delaware to qualify as CDEs under the provisions of Section 45D of the Internal Revenue Code and to make qualified Low Income Community Investments from the proceeds of Qualified Equity Investments received from the NMTC Investor Entities. 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) Investment in Acceso Loan Fund, LLC On December 9, 2019, AOFCD entered into an agreement with Acceso Loan Fund, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company ("Acceso"). Acceso is organized to provide loans to small businesses that would otherwise have difficulty accessing capital, particularly minority owned businesses by (i) investing in loans to small businesses, (ii) managing and monitoring such investments, and (iii) engaging in any other activities incidental or ancillary thereto or otherwise permitted by the Delaware Act as the Manager deems necessary or advisable. AOFCD's capital investment in Acceso has been made through a generous contribution from a corporate donor. AOFCD accounted for the investment activities using the equity method of accounting. As of June 30, 2023 and 2022 , the balance of investment in Acceso was $830 thousand and $830 thousand, respectively. Cash and cash equivalents The Organization considers all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less at the date of purchase to be cash equivalents. The Organization maintains cash and cash equivalents with commercial banks and other major financial institutions. By policy, the Organization invests in low risk highly liquid investments at top rated financial institutions. Only limited deposits exceed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") limits of $250 thousand. Management believes it is not exposed to any significant risk on its cash accounts. Restricted cash Restricted cash consists of cash accounts that are required by the donor to be maintained for a specific purpose or loan program. Contributions and grants revenue recognition Contributions and grants that are restricted by the donor are reported as an increase in net assets without donor restrictions during the reporting period in which the restrictions are met, otherwise such support is reported as an increase in net assets with donor restrictions. All other contributions and grants are recognized as revenue when received or promised without conditions. Conditional contributions and grants are not recognized until they become unconditional, which is when donor stipulated barriers are overcome and the Organization is entitled to the assets transferred or promised. There were no conditional contributions and grants as of June 30, 2023. Loan program revenue recognition Loan interest revenue is recognized using the contractual maturity and the stated interest rate on the loan. Loan origination fees are earned when the loan transaction is funded. 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) In-kind contributions Donated facilities, equipment, and services are reflected in the accompanying financial statements at fair market value at the time of receipt. Donated services are recognized if the services received create or enhance nonfinancial assets or require specialized skills, are provided by individuals processing those skills, and would typically need to be purchased if not provided by donation. Other volunteer services that do not meet these criteria are not recognized in the financial statements. During the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, AOFCD received legal pro-bono services valued at $0 thousand and $68 thousand, respectively, and referral broker's fees valued at $680 thousand and $791 thousand, respectively. AOFCD values these in-kind professional services based on estimated current rates for similar legal and referral services. Contributions receivable Contributions receivable consist of unconditional pledges that have not yet been received. The Organization records a present value discount for the future cash flows of these pledges, if material to the consolidated financial statements. As of June 30, 2023 and 2022 a present value discount of $1,250 thousand and $861 was recorded to the consolidated financial statements, respectively. The Organization annually evaluates contributions receivable for collectability. As of June 30, 2023 and 2022, an allowance of $500 thousand and $500 thousand was recorded for doubtful accounts for contributions receivable to the consolidated financial statements. Loans receivable Loans receivable are stated at the principal amount outstanding net of the allowance for loan losses (see Note 7 - LOANS RECEIVABLE AND LOAN LOSS RESERVE). Interest income on a loan is accrued on the principal outstanding at the loan's stated interest rate. AOFCD prepares an annual assessment of its originations fee income and the cost associated with the origination of loans in order to evaluate whether the capitalization and amortization of these fees and costs is material to the consolidated financial statements. The net amount of deferred origination fees and costs, if any, would be reported as part of the loans receivable balance. For the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, AOFCD did not defer any origination fees or costs because they were immaterial to the consolidated financial statements taken as a whole. Sale and assignment of loans receivable AOFCD sells participations in its loan portfolio and retains a percentage of ownership of 5-10% in each loan along with the servicing. As of June 30, 2023 and 2022, AOFCD has not recorded a servicing asset or servicing liability as the fees AOFCD earns approximates adequate compensation for the costs associated with servicing the participated loans. Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) Allowance for loan losses The allowance for loan losses represents management's estimate of probable losses inherent in AOFCD's loan portfolio. Credit exposures deemed to be uncollectible are charged to the allowance when management believes collectability of the principal is unlikely which usually occurs when the loan is 150 days delinquent. Recoveries from the borrower, or the underlying collateral, of loans previously charged off are credited to the allowance. Recoveries from cash loan loss reserve funded by the California Capital Access Program ("CalCAP") are recorded as contributions and grants recoveries (see Note 8 - CASH FOR LOAN LOSS RESERVES). Management evaluates the adequacy of the allowance based on historical losses by product or channel along with consideration of the adequacy of cash loan loss reserves available. The allowance for loan losses is presented in Note 7 - LOANS RECEIVABLE AND LOAN LOSS RESERVE. Investments The Organization invests in marketable securities and fixed income instruments. Investments are recorded at fair value. Unrealized gains and losses represent market fluctuations and are recorded on a monthly basis through the Statement of Activities. Interest and dividend income are recognized when earned (see Note 4 - INVESTMENTS). Fair value measurements Investments are shown at their estimated fair value in accordance with FASB ASC 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures." Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Realized gains and losses are recorded using the specific identification method upon the sale of investment assets. The fair value of investments is subject to ongoing fluctuation. The amount ultimately realized upon disposition will differ from the amounts reported in these consolidated financial statements. Certain items are carried at cost on the consolidated statement of financial position, which approximates fair value due to their short-term, highly liquid nature. These items include cash and cash equivalents, interest and fees receivable, prepaid expenses, accounts payable and accrued expenses. The preceding methods described may produce a fair value calculation that may not be indicative of net realizable value or reflective of future fair values. Furthermore, although the Organization believes its valuation methods are appropriate and consistent with other organizations, the use of different methodologies or assumptions to determine fair value of certain financial instruments could result in a different fair value measurement at the reporting date. Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) Property, equipment, and intangibles Acquired property, equipment, and intangible assets exceeding $5 thousand are capitalized and recorded at amortized cost. Donated assets are valued at their estimated fair market value on the date donated. Expenses for repairs that materially extend the useful life of an asset are capitalized at cost. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the assets of five years for furniture, three years for computers and software, and four years for intangibles. Leasehold improvements are amortized using the straight-line method over the lesser of the assets' estimated useful lives or the term of the applicable lease. Functional expense allocation The costs of providing the various program and supporting services have been summarized on a functional basis in the consolidated statement of activities and statement of functional expenses. Accordingly, certain costs have been allocated, based on estimates of time, space, and other factors, among the classifications. New accounting pronouncement In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 842, Leases, to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by requiring the recognition of right-of-use ("ROU") assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet. Most prominent among the changes in the standard is the recognition of ROU assets and lease liabilities by lessees for those leases classified as operating leases. Under the standard, disclosures are required to meet the objective of enabling users of financial statements to assess the amount, timing, and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. ROU assets represent AOFCD's right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent AOFCD's obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Operating lease ROU assets and liabilities are recognized at the commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As the implicit rate of the leases is not determinable, AOFCD uses an incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the lease commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments. AOFCD adopted the standard effective July 1, 2022 and recognized and measured leases existing at, or entered into after, July 1, 2022, with certain practical expedients available. Lease disclosures for the year ended June 30, 2022 are made under prior lease guidance in FASB ASC 840. 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) New accounting pronouncement (continued) AOFCD elected the available practical expedients to account for existing capital leases and operating leases as finance leases and operating leases, respectively, under the new guidance, without reassessing (a) whether the contracts contain leases under the new standard, (b) whether classification of capital leases or operating leases would be different in accordance with the new guidance, or (c) whether the unamortized initial direct costs before transition adjustments would have met the definition of initial direct costs in the new guidance at lease commencement. As a result of the adoption of the new lease accounting guidance, AOFCD recognized an initial lease liability of $1,406 thousand and a right-of-use asset of $1,366 thousand. The standard had a material impact on AOFCD's statement of financial position, but did not have a material impact on AOFCD's statement of activities, nor statement of cash flows. The most significant impact was the recognition of ROU asset and lease liability for the operating lease on the consolidated statement of financial position. Income tax status AOF and AOFCD are exempt from federal income taxes under the provisions of Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, AOF and AOFCD qualify for charitable contribution deductions and have been classified as organizations that are not private foundations. Income which is not related to exempt purposes less applicable deductions, is subject to federal and state corporate income taxes. The Organization had no unrelated business income for the year ended June 30, 2023. AOF is exempt from New York state income taxes under Section 102 of the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law. AOF may be liable for income taxes based on income earned in other states and in which it has not yet applied for exemption. As of June 30, 2023, AOF assessed the amount of state taxes, if any, to be immaterial to its financial statements and did not accrue any tax liability in its Statement of Financial Position. AOFCD is exempt from California state income taxes under the provision of Section 23701d of the Revenue and Taxation Code. AOFCD may be liable for income taxes based on income earned in other states and in which it has not yet applied for exemption. As of June 30, 2023, AOFCD assessed the amount of state taxes, if any, to be immaterial to its financial statements and did not accrue any tax liability in its Statement of Financial Position. 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued) Uncertain tax positions The Organization is subject to potential examination by taxing authorities for income tax returns filed in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, the State of California, and the State of New York. The tax years that remain subject to potential examination for the U.S. federal jurisdiction are years ended June 30, 2020, and forward. The State of California and New York tax jurisdictions are subject to potential examination for years ended June 30, 2019 and forward. As of June 30, 2023, management did not identify any uncertain tax positions. Fiscal agency transaction The Organization was subject to pass-through grants in which AOF acted as a fiscal agency by agreeing to use assets on behalf of another Organization. The Organization recognized a liability to the beneficiary, rather than a contribution received. Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 3. LIQUIDITY The financial assets that are available within one year of June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively, for operations and programs needs are as follows: 2023 2022 The Organization's management reports on its operating and loan capital liquidity on a quarterly basis to the Finance Committee of the Board. AOFCD manages its liquidity to be in compliance with its loan covenants. AOFCD's loan covenants require it to keep at least 90 days of operating cash on hand. For the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, AOFCD was in compliance with this loan covenant. To help manage unanticipated liquidity needs, AOFCD has operating lines of credit in the amount of $13 million, of which $0 was drawn and also has committed loan program credit facilities in the aggregate amount of $23 million of which only $13 million was drawn as of June 30, 2023. 4. INVESTMENTS The Organization follows the provisions of the Fair Value Measurements and Disclosure topic of the FASB ASC (820-10-35). These standards establish a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value. This hierarchy consists of three broad levels: Level 1 inputs consist of unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and have the highest priority, Level 2 inputs consist of observable inputs other than quoted prices for identical assets, and Level 3 inputs consist of significant unobservable inputs. All investments are at quoted prices in active markets for identical assets (Level 1 input). Investments consisted of the following: Investment earnings (losses) during the years consisted of the following: Interest income consisted of interest earned from cash, cash equivalent and restricted cash in the amount of $1,600 thousand. 5. RESTRICTED CASH Restricted cash consisted of the following: 2023 2022 (1) AOFCD and the State of California's CalCAP program (see Note 8 - CASH FOR LOAN LOSS RESERVES) jointly own a cash account held at a commercial bank. Each entity owns its own contributions made to the program when enrolling eligible loans. 6. CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVABLE Future maturities of these receivables are as follows: The Organization considers members of the board of directors, the executive team, and their immediate family members to be related parties. For the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, contributions from these related parties included in revenue totaled $3.4 million and $9.9 million, respectively. Additionally, contributions receivable from related parties as of June 30, 2023 and 2022 totaled $10.4 million and $11.6 million, respectively. 7. LOANS RECEIVABLE AND LOAN LOSS RESERVE Small business loans AOFCD offers loans product to small businesses from $5 to $250 thousand with fixed interest rates ranging from 5.99% to 21.9% and terms of up to 60 months. For borrowers who qualify for various public-private partnerships which we participate in and described in Note 1, AOFCD also offers lower cost loans with interest rates ranging from 4.0 to 4.25%. During the year ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, AOFCD disbursed $71.7 million to 2,322 borrowers and $113.2 million to 2,450 borrowers in the Small Business Program, respectively. In April 2020 AOFCD was approved as a Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") lender by the U.S. Small Business Administration. This product for small businesses ranges in size based on the payroll of the company, has a 1% fixed interest rate, and may be fully forgivable if the funds are used for an eligible purpose. During the year ended June 30, 2021, AOFCD disbursed $23.1 million among 1,367 PPP loans, the program ended in June 2021. During fiscal year 2022, AOFCD has helped 1,786 borrowers obtain loan forgiveness from the SBA for loans amounts totaling $28.7 million. During fiscal year 2023, AOFCD has helped 36 borrowers obtain loan forgiveness from the SBA for loans amounts totaling $1.3 million. In total, during the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, AOFCD disbursed $71.7 million among 2,322 loans and $113.2 million among 2,450 loans in the Small Business Program, respectively, combining standard and PPP loans. Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 7. LOANS RECEIVABLE AND LOAN LOSS RESERVE (continued) Small business loans (continued) Small business program loans receivable are as follows: (1) Balance of loan participations owned by third parties / investors. In fiscal year 2023 and 2022, AOFCD sold participations in 749 loans for a total of $31.7 million, and 308 loans for a total of $26.7 million, respectively. Troubled debt restructurings ("TDRs") As a result of an evaluation of a borrower's financial circumstances, AOFCD may modify the terms of a loan that AOFCD otherwise would not consider but for the borrower's financial difficulties. As of June 30, 2023, there were 180 TDRs in the Organization's small business portfolio accounting for a total of $2.2 million representing 1.70% of the total portfolio. As of June 30, 2022, there were 168 TDRs accounting for $2.0 million representing 1.32% of the total portfolio. Aging schedule 2023 aging schedule by category 7. LOANS RECEIVABLE AND LOAN LOSS RESERVE (continued) Aging schedule (continued) 2022 aging schedule by category Payment deferrals and forgiveness As a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, AOFCD raised a significant amount of fundraising to help small businesses survive the crisis. Clients with difficulty making their payment and attesting hardship could be eligible for up to three payment deferrals. As of June 30, 2023, AOFCD deferred $577 thousand of borrower payments to 238 unique clients. Additionally, clients with prolonged hardship could be eligible for all or a portion of their payment forgiven. As of June 30, 2023, AOFCD extended forgiveness totaling $1.2 million on 1,419 payments for 620 unique clients. As of June 30, 2022, AOFCD deferred $179 thousand of borrower payments to 138 unique clients and extended forgiveness totaling $1.5 million on 2,085 payments. Allowance for loan losses AOFCD maintains both an allowance for loan losses and cash loan loss reserves (see Note 8 CASH FOR LOAN LOSS RESERVES) which together are adequate to cover potential losses from its portfolio. The following table summarizes the allowance for loan losses as follows: 8. CASH FOR LOAN LOSS RESERVES AOFCD participates in a State of California program called the California Capital Access Program ("CalCAP") that has been funded in part by the Small Business Credit Initiative ("SSBCI"). SSBCI is a federal program that provides funding to states to expand access to credit for small businesses. Through this program the state provides cash reserves that protect AOFCD against potential credit losses. When an enrolled loan is deemed uncollectable, AOFCD can claim up to 100% of the loss to CalCAP. This protection is limited to the amount of cash in those reserves. Nearly all of AOFCD's loans to California-based businesses are enrolled in this program. On an annual basis, the State of California can recapture a portion of its contributions to the Small Business Reserve for those loans no longer in the program subject to certain defined minimum thresholds. During the years ending June 30, 2023 and 2022, CalCAP withdrew $287 thousand and $0 thousand, respectively. Cash for loan loss reserves consist of the following: 2023 2022 (1) Reserves for small business loans with general purpose. This portion of the reserve is not included in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position. (2) State reserves for loans extended to businesses in the trucking industry with the purpose of meeting environmental standards of the State of California. AOFCD is not required to contribute to this reserve and it is not included in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position. 9. PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT, NET Property and equipment consisted of the following: Depreciation and amortization expense for the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 was $837 thousand and $924 thousand, respectively. 10. REVOLVING LINES OF CREDIT AOFCD entered into multiple lines of credit agreements with multiple banks and other financial institutions in a total amount of $36 million. These lines of credit mature between July 2023 and December 2028 and carry annual interest rates between 3.00% and 6.50%. The aggregate outstanding balances as of June 30, 2023 and 2022 were $13.0 million and $11.0 million, respectively. 11. NOTES PAYABLE AOFCD has entered into multiple notes payable agreements with various institutions for a total of $125.98 million. These notes payable mature between August 2023 and October 2032 and carry annual interest rates between 0% and 4.5%. As of June 30, 2022, AOFCD has entered into multiple notes payable agreements with various institutions for a total of $110.26 million. These notes payable mature between October 2022 and November 2030 and carry annual interest rates between 0% and 4.5%. AOFCD entered into multiple agreements with individual investors in the amount of $9.70 million. These impact investments mature between August 2023 and May 2028 and carry annual interest rates between 0.78% and 3.39%. As of June 30, 2022, AOFCD entered into multiple agreements with individual investors in the amount of $8.25 million. These impact investments mature between August 2022 and May 2027 and carry annual interest rates between 0.64% and 3.39%. Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 11. NOTES PAYABLE (continued) The organization acts as guarantor to a significant portion of the debt held by AOFCD. Certain of the notes payable agreements require AOFCD to comply with various financial covenants. AOFCD was in compliance, or received a temporary waiver, on all covenants as of June 30, 2023 and 2022. Future maturities of all debts are as follows: Year ending June 30, 12. NET ASSETS WITH DONOR RESTRICTIONS Net assets with donor restrictions were for the following purposes: 12. NET ASSETS WITH DONOR RESTRICTIONS (continued) Net assets with donor restrictions were for the following purposes: 13. RETIREMENT PLAN AOFCD provides a defined contribution 403(b) retirement savings plan ("Plan") for all eligible full-time and part-time employees. The Plan provides for employee contributions, through a salary reduction agreement, plus employer contributions at AOFCD's discretion. During the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 , AOFCD contributed approximately $697 thousand and $495 thousand, respectively, to the Plan for participating employees. 14. LEASES In December 2022, AOFCD entered a non-cancelable operating lease for office facilities and office equipment in the City of San Jose effective July 1, 2023, with a monthly rent of $27,954. The lease will expire in July 2026. The Organization also entered a non-cancelable operating lease for office facilities and office equipment in the city of Commerce effective July 1, 2021, with a monthly rent of $8,012. The lease will expire in November 2026. Additional information related to the two leases are as follows: Accion Opportunity Fund, Inc. Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements June 30, 2023 and 2022 (In thousands) 14. LEASES (continued) The scheduled minimum lease payments under the lease terms are as follows: Future minimum lease payments related to leases as of June 30, 2022, before the adoption ASC842 Leases were as follows: Year ending June 30, Lease expenses for the years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, was $539 thousand and $523 thousand, respectively. 15. COMMITMENTS New Markets Tax Credits commitments AOFCD provides indemnifications for its various NMTC projects in an event of a tax benefit recapture. The NMTC tax benefit recapture risk is based on the initial qualified equity investment amount, adjusted based on the life of the project. The indemnification period ends after ten years and nine months: seven years of the tax benefit period and three years nine months after the last tax return showing benefits has been filed. 15. COMMITMENTS (continued) New Markets Tax Credits commitments (continued) The following recapture events may trigger indemnification by AOFCD: (1) the CDE ceases to be a qualified CDE; (2) the CDE fails to invest the substantially all the QEI in Qualified Loan Income Community Investments ("QLICIs") (the "substantially all test"), or (3) the QEI is redeemed before the end of the tax credit period. Management has taken significant steps to mitigate these potential indemnification risks and believes that the likelihood of a recapture event is remote. Total amounts currently at risk are $93 million and future amounts are $43 million. The maturity dates range from April 2024 through February 2034 at which times AOFCD is no longer liable. 16. TRADEMARK AGREEMENT The Organization entered into a trademark agreement with Accion International Inc. effective February 28, 2020 with an initial three-year term. The two parties renewed for another 3-year term in February 2023 and agreed that the agreement will auto-renew for 3 years at a time until one of the parties terminates it. The agreement provides for the legal use of the 'Accion' brand name by the Organization. 17. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS Subsequent events have been evaluated through the date of the financial statements, September 28, 2023, which is the date the consolidated financial statements were available to be issued. The Organization did not have subsequent events that required recognition or disclosure in the consolidated financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2023.
EU.EM.NET Proje ect W.P 2 Synthe esis Report "This project has been funded Commission. This publication re and the Commission cannot be may be made of the information d with support from the European eflects the views only of the author, held responsible for any use which n contained therein." Sandrine Reiter 5/14/2013 CONTENT Table of Contents the EU.EM.NET project. he countries reports and main common points and ions ociation of Austrian Hoteliers ociation of Austrian travel ncies and tour operators ers (e.g. regional associations, ociation of certain types of ployers in the tourism sector Association of Aerial senger line companies etc.) \| Country \| Public bodies \| Chhambers \| Educational actors \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Austria \| - Parliament committee for Tourism - Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth: Department for Tourism and Historical Objects - Governments of the Nine “Länder” (Provinces) administrations - Organisations founded by \| - Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Employer association, membership compulsory for all Austrian enterprises) - Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour - Austrian Association of Labour Unions \| - VET Schools - Universities of Applied Sciences - Universities \| \| \| government to foster tourism: o Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) o Austrian Hotel and Tourism Bank o Austrian Economic Service (Austria Wirtschaftsservice) \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Bulgaria \| - State Agency for Tourism at the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism; \| - Bulgarian Tourist Chamber; - Regional Tourist Chamber: Varna, Burgas, Plovdiv, Plevеn. \| - Tourism Colleges; - Vocational Schools of Tourism; - Training centres for quality of employment in tourism. \| \| \| \| \| \| - Deveelopment agencies like Istrian Tourrism Agency - Varioous other associations by proffession (bartenders, waitters,etc…) \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| UK \| - People1st – Sector Skills Council - Department for Culture, Media and Sport (responsible for tourism & hospitality) \| Hospitality Guild \| - Universities - Colleges \| - The Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality (CTH) - The Hotel and Catering Interrnational Management Assoociation (offers only global proffessional hospitality qualification) - The Association of British Travel Agennts - The Institute of Travel and Tourrism - The Tourism Society - The British Hospitality Assoociation. \| \| Luxembourg \| - Ministère des classes moyennes et du tourisme (department tourisme). (Toursimministry) \| - Chamber of commerce \| \| - ONTT (National Tourism Board) ORT (Regional Tourism Board) - HORRESCA : Hotels, bars and restaaurants associations - EUROTOQUES and VATEL: Chef’s assoociation - GAVVL : Travel agencies \| \| Macedonia \| \| - Chamber of Commerce of Macedonia - Chamber of Tourism and hospitality - Economic Chamber of Macedonia for Tourism \| \| - HOTTAM (hotels association) - ATAM (tourist agencies: issues relatted to incentives, tourism prommotion... - Orgaanization of Employers of Maccedonia-Association of Hotels \| \| \| \| \| \| and tourist agencies: issues relatted to branch collective agreeement \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Romania \| - Regional development agencies \| - Chamber of Commerce \| \| - Tourrism and Hospitality Proffessional associations \| \| Slovakia \| - National level: Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional development of the Slovak Republic - Section Tourism; Slovak Tourist Board (responsible for marketing and state promotion) - Local level : Eight self- governing bodies at regional level, Self-governing regions and associations of towns and villages (4 regional tourism organisations and 34 local tourism organisations) \| \| - 120 VET schools - 6 HEIs \| - Slovak tourism association (Zväzcestovnéhoruchu, wwww.zcrsr.sk): employers assoociation - Assoociation of commerce and tourrism of the Slovak republic (Zväzobchodu a cestoovnéhoruchuSlovenskejrepu blikyy, www.biznis.sk ) - Assoociation of sommeliers of the Slovak republic (www.assr.sk) - Slovak association of cooks and conffectioners (www.sakc.eu) - Slovak association of camping and caravaning (wwww.caravaning.sk) - Slovak cyclooclub(www.cykloklub.sk) \| \| Country \| General information \| \|---\|---\| \| Austria \| \| \| Bulgaria \| 131 180 employees \| \| Croatia \| 90 000 employees : 6,4% of total empployment in Croatia 3341 Business units engaged in hotel and restaurant activity 13 763 BU of tradesmen \| \| UK \| 2 046 000 employees, 7% of total employment \| \| Luxembourg \| 14 000 employees, 6,3% of total employment \| \| Macedonia \| \| \| Romania \| \| \| Turkey \| \|---\| \| Country \| Schools \| Training levels \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Austria \| - Vocational education schoolss : o Secondary vocationall schools medium level (20 schools) o Upper-level secondarry vocational colleges (22 schools) - Vocational schools for apprenntices o Berufsschulenapproxx. 13500 apprentices in tourism - University level o Universities of applied sciences in tourism( 9 school sites) o Private universities (11 school) o Public universities (222 Universities) \| \| \| Bulgaria \| \| - Level 3 o 40% of employees - Level 4 o 50 % of employees - Level 6 o 10% of employees - Academic level o few employees \| \| Croatia \| - 91 VET Schools - Faculty of Tourism and Hospittality Management - private colleges, business schhools and faculties \| - 2 years education o Assistant chef o Assistant waiter - 3 years education o Chef o Chef JMO o Waiter JMO o Confectioner JMO o Assistant chef and connfectioner o Assistant chef and connfectionner TES \| \| \| \| o Assistant waiter TES - 4 years education o Hotel and tourism tecchnician o Commercial hotel andd tourism commercialist \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| UK \| \| - Training levels (In General, noot specific to T&H sector) o level 4 and above 17.55% o Level 3 22% o Level 2 27.5% o Level 1 and entry leveel 22% o No Qualifications 11%% - Learners classification o 476 Travel managemeent o 4 395 Event managemment o 781 Tourism o 17 Tourism studies o 1 934 Tourism managgement o 1 371 Hospitality o 5 Hospitality studies o 1 625 Hospitality mannagement o 5 454 Recreation, spoort & leisure studies o 9 583 Hospitality, leisure, tourism & transport - 212 Hospitality, leisure, tourissm & transport not elsewhere classified \| \| Luxembourg \| - Lycée technique hôtelier « Alexis Heck » Diekirch - Apprentissage hôtelier au Lyccée technique de Bonnevoie - BBI-LUX, Wiltz (Private) \| - Service :25% level 2, 75% unqualified - Cooking:25% unqualified, 75%% level 2 and 3 - Reception: 95% level 2 and 3 - Middle management in all secctors : level 2, 3 , 6 and 7 - Hotelerie-restaurant: level 3 aand 4 \| \| Macedonia \| - 8 high schools (2,6% of seconndary students) - University education o BA in Hotel and restaurant management, in Tourism, in Gastronomy o MA in tourism managgement, in Hotel \| - 4 years education : Hotel and catering technician - 3 years education: Waiters, Chhef, Confectioner/Pastry Cook \| \| \| management \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Romania \| \| Existing qualification levels: - Upper secondary education - Post-secondary non-tertiary eeducation - Short-cycle tertiary educationn - Master’s or equivalent level \| \| Slovakia \| - 120 schools providing VET proogrammes for tourism and hotel management out of whhich 24 dedicated to services provision in tourism - 6 HEIs: o Department of Tourissm and Food services, Faculty of Economics, MatejBel University in BanskaBystrica o Department of Tourissm and Hotel Management, Faculty of Managemeent, University of Presov o Department of Servicces and Tourism, Faculty of Commerce, Universitty of Economics in Bratislava o Department of Tourissm, Faculty of Central European Studies, Coonstantine the Philosopher University in Nitra o Department of Econoomics and Tourism, Faculty of Pedagogy, Catholicc University in Ruzomberok o Faculty of Tourism, Goethe Uni Bratislava (private) \| \| \| Austria \| - Social media and inteernet - Social skills (mainly ccommunication) - Language skills - Leadership skills for mmanager \| \|---\|---\| \| Bulgaria \| - Foreign languages - Marketing - Accounting - HR management - Entrepreneurship \| \| Croatia \| - Use of modern technnologies - Foreign languages - Communication skillss - Social skills - Problem solving - Innovation - Soft Skills - Management and Leadership skills \| \| UK \| - IT and Social Media - Management and Leadership : product excellence, managing a more diverse flexible workforce, autonomy and responsibility, financce management - Customer service skills - Marketing and e-marrketing - Catering to guests/cuustomers from abroad - Business support serrvices \| \| Luxembourg \| - IT and social media - Higher qualified proffessionals - New legal regulation knowledge \| \| Macedonia \| - Foreign languages - Communication skillss - Soft skills : Self-initiative, team work, leadership, creativity \| \| Romania \| - ICT and modern equiipment - Foreign languages - Communication skillss \| o o answer to the diversity of clients) ns need seem to be quite similar . IT and social media are skills that nee sh forward by the expansion of internet. Communication skills and m ountry.The development of social skills in order to adapt the offer to mers from abroad,..) is also to be taken into account. Finally, more m erved in the different countries, regarding skills anticipation. ories can be identified regarding skills anticipation practices: 3 countries wherethere are no real identified practices. No anticipatio actors. Skills need identification relies on market reaction to problem ctices are progressively spreading out. For the moment they are mor en in place for a few years now and are well identified and fully opera y, actors' implication is quite disparate; from no coordinated implica roach managed thanks to one unique council in Austria (AMS) and UK ational.
Sion (West), Mumbai – 400022. (Autonomous) Faculty: Science Program: B.Sc. Subject: MICROBIOLOGY Academic Year: 2018 – 2019 F.Y.B.Sc Credit Based Semester and Grading Syllabi approved by Ad-hoc Board of Studies in Microbiology to be brought into effect from June 2018. 1 PREAMBLE With the introduction of Autonomy by the S.I.E.S. College of Arts, Science and Commerce under the University of Mumbai; from the academic year 2018-19; the syllabus for the F.Y.B.Sc Microbiology has been drafted to cover the many aspects of the subject. The syllabus has been planned to cover basic techniques of Microbiology and an introduction to newer advanced techniques which will be dealt in detail in the second and third year of the course. The syllabus is also designed as per the norms of the CBGS pattern which consists of two semesters per academic year. The students will be introduced to validation and calibration in order to prepare them for industry work. Study of living forms needs a basic understanding of Biochemistry and Genetics. These two fundamental topics will be taught in the First year at a basic level and will cover advanced aspects in the next two years of the course. Hence the module of Macromolecules and Genetics has been introduced in the syllabus. The aim of the course is to prepare the students over three years so that they are competent to think independently and be trained for a career in research or industry. 2 \| \| SEMESTER I \| \|---\|---\| \| Course Code \| Title \| \| Course code SIUSMIC11 \| FUNDAMENTALS OF MICROBIOLOGY \| \| Unit-I \| History, Introduction and Scope Of Microbiology Prokaryotic Cell Structure, \| \| Unit-II \| Genetics and Biotechnology \| \| Unit-III \| Nutrition and Cultivation \| \| Course code SIUSMIC12 \| BASICSOF MICROBIOLOGY I \| \| Unit-I \| Microscopy and Staining \| \| Unit-II \| Eukaryotic Cell Structure \| \| Unit-III \| Control of Microorganisms \| \| SIUSMICPI \| PRACTICALS \| \| \| SECTION-1 FUNDAMENTALS OF MICROBIOLOGY. (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC11 \| \| \| SECTION-2 BASICS OF MICROBIOLOGY I (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC12 \| \| \| SEMESTER II \| \|---\|---\| \| Course code SIUSMIC21 \| BASICS OF MICROBIOLOGY II \| \| Unit-I \| Study Of Different Groups Of Microbes-I \| \| Unit-II \| Study Of Different Groups Of Microbes-II \| \| Unit-III \| Microbial Interactions \| \| Course code SIUSMIC22 \| EXPLORING MICROBIOLOGY. \| \| Unit-I \| Microbial growth \| \| Unit-II \| Biomolecules \| \| Unit-III \| Microbes and human health \| \| SIUSMICPII \| PRACTICALS \| \| \| SECTION-1 BASICS OF MICROBIOLOGY II (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III of SIUSMIC21) \| \| \| SECTION-2 EXPLORING MICROBIOLOGY. (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III of SIUSMIC22) \| Learning objectives The syllabus is drafted with the following objectives – - To introduce the subject of Microbiology which is not taught at the junior college - To teach them Microbial techniques, biosafety methods and analytical methods - To train the students for projects and assignments so that they can do independent study - To prepare the student for advance studies in the subject of Microbiology Expected outcome The students after three years of the course in Microbiology will be well trained for careers in - Pharmaceutical industry - Research Institutes - Clinical Research work - Environmental monitoring - Quality assurance F.Y.B.Sc. MICROBIOLOGY SYLLABUS SEMESTER I \| Course code SIUSMIC11 \| PAPER I \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| FUNDAMENTALS OF MICROBIOLOGY \| 45 LECTURES 2 CREDITS \| \| UNIT \| TOPIC \| LECTURES \| \| Unit I \| 1.Historical aspects of Microbiology and Prokaryotic Cell structure 1.1History and scope of Microbiology (3L) a. Golden Age of Microbiology-Koch’s Postulates, Medical Microbiology, Immunology, industrial microbiology and microbial ecology b. Future of microbiology 1.2 Prokaryotic Cell structure and Function (12L) a. Cell wall b. Cell membrane c. Components external to cell wall-Capsule, Slime layer d. Flagella, Pili, Fimbriae e. Cytoplasmic matrix-Inclusion bodies, magnetosomes, ribosomes, gas vesicles f. Bacterial endospores and their formation \| 15 \| \| Unit II \| 2.Genetics and Biotechnology 2.1. Genetics (7L) DNA as genetic material; Forms of DNA;Types of RNA; Griffith, Avery andMcCleoad, Hershey and Chase experiment Watson and Crick Model 2.2 Nucleic acids: (3L) Nitrogenous bases- Purines, Pyrimidines Pentoses-Ribose, Deoxyribose Nomenclature of Nucleosides and nucleotides, polynucleotide chain to show bonding between nucleotides (Phosphodiester bonds) Basic structure of RNA and DNA 2.3. Biotechnology (5L) a. Introduction Biotechnology as an interdisciplinary science b. Energy and Biotechnology –Biofuels c. Biotechnology and Health care –Diagnosis and treatment d. Bio fertilizer, Bio pesticide and Vermicomposting e. Bioleaching, Biosensors f. Biosafety – introduction \| 15 \| \| UnitIII \| 3.1: Nutrition and Cultivation (10L) a.Nutritional requirements – Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sulfur and growth factors. \| 15 \| b.Nutritional types of microorganisms c. Ingredients and Types of Culture media with examples d. Physical conditions required for growth. 3.2. Isolation and Preservation of Cultures (5L) a.Isolation of microorganisms and pure culture techniques b. Study of cultural characteristics c. Preservation of microorganisms d. Culture Collection Centers \| Course code SIUSMIC12 \| PAPER II \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| BASICS OF MICROBIOLOGY I \| 45 LECTURES 2 CREDITS \| \| UNIT \| TOPIC \| LECTURES/SEM \| \| Unit I \| 1.1Microscopy (8L) a. History of microscopy b. Optical spectrum, Lenses and mirrors c. Simple and compound light microscope d. Dark field Microscopy e. Phase contrast Microscopy f. Electron microscopy-TEM, SEM 1.2 Staining and Contrast enhancement techniques (7L) a. Dyes and stains: Types, Physicochemical basis, Fixatives, Mordants, Decolorizers b. Simple and differential staining c. Special staining (Cell wall, Capsule, Lipid granules, Spores, Metachromatic granules and Flagella) \| 15 \| SEMESTER II \| Course code SIUSMIC21 \| PAPER I \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| BASICS OF MICROBIOLOGY II \| 45 LECTURES 2 CREDITS \| \| UNIT \| TOPIC \| LECTURES \| \| Unit I \| 1. Study of Different Groups of Microbes (I) : 1.1Viruses: (7L) a. Historical highlights, General properties of viruses b. Structure of viruses-capsids, envelopes, genomes c. Cultivation of viruses- overview d. Bacteriophages: Lytic cycle. Lysogeny e. prions,viroids 1.2. Rickettsia,Chlamydia, Mycoplasma (3L) General features and medical significance 1.3. Actinomycetes (3L) General features of Nocardia and Streptomyces Importance: ecological, commercial and medical 1.4. Archaebacteria (2L) Characteristics of major Archaeal groups \| 15 \| \| Unit II \| 2. Study Of Different Groups Of Microbes (II) : 2.1 Protozoa (4L) Major Categories of Protozoa Based on motility, reproduction. Medically important Protozoa. Life cycle of Entamoeba 2.2 Algae (5L) Characteristicsof algae: morphology, Pigments, reproduction, Cultivation of algae. Major groups of Algae – an overview.Biological,Medical and economic importance of Algae. Differences between Algae and Cyanobacteria 2.3 Yeasts and Molds (5L) Characteristics: structure, Reproduction.Cultivation of Yeasts and Molds. Major fungal divisions- overview. Life cycle of yeast, Biological and economic importance 2.4 Slime molds and Myxomycetes(1L) \| 15 \| \| Course code SIUSMIC22 \| PAPER II \| \|---\|---\| \| \| EXPLORING MICROBIOLOGY \| \| UNIT \| TOPIC \| \| Unit I \| 1. Microbial growth (15L) 1.1. Definition of growth, Mathematical Expression, Growth curve (2L) 1.2. Measurement of growth (7L) a. Direct microscopic count – Breed’s count, Petroff – Hausser counting chamber- Haemocytometer b. Viable count – Spread plate and Pour plate technique c. Measurements of cell constituents d. Turbidity measurements – Nephelometer and spectrophotometer techniques 1.3 Types of growth(3L) Synchronous growth, Continuous growth (Chemostat and Turbidostat) 1.4. Influence of environmental factors on growth.(3L) a. Microbial growth in natural environment b. Diauxic growth- concept and example \| Unit II Unit III 2. Biomolecules 2.1 Water- Structure, properties in brief (3L) 2.2. Chemical foundation: (2L) a. Biomolecules as compounds of carbon with a variety of functional groups b. Macromolecules as the major constituents of cells d. Configuration and Conformation with definitions and suitable examples only e. Types of Stereoisomers and importance of stereoisomerism in biology f. Types of bonds and their importance: Electrovalence, covalent, ester, phosphodiester, thioester, peptide, glycosidic 2.3 Carbohydrates: (3L) Definition, Classification, Biological role, Monosaccharides, oligosaccharides (maltose, cellobiose, sucrose, lactose) and polysaccharide (starch, glycogen, peptidogycan, cellulose) 2.4 Lipids: (3L) Fatty acids as basic component of lipids and their classification, nomenclature, storage lipids and structural lipids Types of lipids with general structure of each and mention examples 2.5 Amino acids, proteins and enzymes: (4L) General structure and features of amino acids (emphasis on amphoteric nature) Classification by R-group(no structures), Uncommon amino acids and their functions Peptides and proteins- Definition and general features and examples with biological role Primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary structures of proteins- Brief outline 3. Microbes and human health 3.1 Difference between infection and disease. (2L) Important terminology: Primary infection, secondary infection. Contagious infection, occupational disorder, clinical infection, subclinical infection, Zoonosis, genetic disorder, vector borne infection 3.2 Factors affecting infection: (3L) Microbial factors: adherence, invasion, role of virulence factors in invasion, colonization and its effects. Host factors: natural resistance, species resistance, racial resistance 15 3.3 Individual resistance: (3L) Factors influencing individual resistance: Age, nutrition, personal hygiene, stress, hormones, Addiction to drugs/ alcohol. Interaction between Microbes and host is dynamic. Types of immunity- active, passive, racial, species 3.4 Host defense against infection: Overview (7L) i) First line of Defense: skin, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary tract, eyes ii) Second line of defense: Biological barriers: Phagocytosis, Inflammation iii) Third line of defense: Brief introduction to antibody mediated and cell mediated immunity REFERENCES FOR PAPER I AND II 1. Advances in Biotechnology S. N. Jogdand ,6th Edition revised, Himalaya Publishing House, 2007 2. Brock Biology of Microorganisms 11th Michael T.MadiganandJ.M.Martin , Ed. International edition ,2006, Pearson Prentice Hall. 3. Foundations in Microbiology International 2002 edition, Kathleen Park Talaroand Arthur Talaro McGraw Hill 4. Fundamental Principles of Bacteriology, A.J. Salle, McGraw Hill Book Company Inc.1984 5. Fundamentals of microbiology, Martin Frobisher 9th edition ,W. B. Saunders Co., 1974 6. General Microbiology, Stanier, Ingraham et al , 4thand 5th ed. 1987, Macmillan Education Ltd 7. Microbiology TMH 5th Edition by Michael J. Pelczar Jr., E.C.S. Chan ,Noel R. Krieg 8. Outlines of Biochemistry 5th edition, Conn P. Stumpf, G. Bruening and R. Doi. John Wiley and Sons. New York 1995 9. Prescott, Harley, Klein-Microbiology, 5th and 6th edition, International edition 2002 and 2006, McGraw Hill Biology of Microorganisms by Brock 11th edition 10. Principles of Biochemistry. 4th Edition. Lehninger D. Nelson and M. Cox. W.H. Freeman and Company. New York 2005 11. Textbook Of Microbiology , R. Ananthanarayan 7th Edition, Universities Press, 2009 \| \| SECTION-1 FUNDAMENTALS OF MICROBIOLOGY. \| \|---\|---\| \| Unit-I \| 1. Assignment : Contribution of Scientists in the field of Microbiology 2. Special staining: Cell wall, capsule, endospore, Flagella, lipid, metachromatic granules. \| \| Unit-II \| 3. Preparation of biofertilizer 4. Preparation of yoghurt 5. Production of fungal SCP or Production of Mushrooms 6. Leavening of bread or wine making 7. Immobilization of amylase producing fungi and demonstration of activity 8. Nucleic acid detection by DPA and Orcinol. \| \| Unit-III \| 9. Preparation of Culture Media: a. Liquid medium(Nutrient Broth) b. Solid Media(Nutrient agar, Sabourauds agar) 10. Preparation of slant ,butts and plates 11. Inoculation techniques and Study of Growth: a. Inoculation of Liquid Medium b. Inoculation of Solid Media(Slants, Butts and Plates) 12. Study of Colony Characteristics of pigmented and nonpigmented bacteria. 13. Study of Motility (Hanging Drop Preparation) 14. Use of Differential and Selective Media: (MacConkey and Salt Mannitol Agar) \| \| \| SECTION-2 BASIC TECHNIQUES INMICROBIOLOGY. \| \| Unit-I \| 1. Parts of a microscope 2. Micrometry 3. Dark field and Phase contrast : Demonstration \| \| Unit-II \| 4. Monochrome staining 5. Gram Staining 6. Negative Staining. \| c. Control of microorganisms using dry heat (e.g.Sterilization of Dry powders, Rubber gloves, Bandages, Screw capped tubes) 8. Effect of UV Light, Desiccation, surface tension 9. Osmotic Pressure, heavy metals (Oligodynamic action) 10. Effect of dyes, phenolic compounds and chemotherapeutic agents (disc inhibition method) 11. Evaluation of Disinfectant \| \| PRACTICALS SEMESTER 2 SECTION-1 \| 2 Credits \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| \| 1 Credit \| \| \| BASICS OFMICROBIOLOGY. \| (45 lectures) \| \| Unit-I \| 1. Spot assay and plaque assay of Bacteriophage (Demonstration) 2. Slide Culture technique (Actinomycetes and Fungal Culture) \| \| \| Unit-II \| 3. Isolation of yeast, cultivation of other fungi 4. Cultivation on Sabouraud’s agar 5. Static and Shaker Cultures 6. Fungal Wet mounts and Study of Morphological Characteristics: Mucor, Rhizopus, Aspergillus, Penicillium 7. Permanent slides of Algae, Protozoa 8. Isolation of anaerobes 9. Study of protozoa using wet mount from hay infusion broth \| \| \| \| 10. Normal flora of skin and saliva 11. Cough plate technique on SIBA 12. Wet Mount of Lichen 13. Isolation of Rhizobium 14. Isolation of Azotobacter \| \| \| \| SECTION-2 EXPLORING MICROBIOLOGY. \| 1 Credit (45 lectures) \| \| Unit-I \| 1. Growth curve (Demonstration) only in complex media. 2. Breed’s Count 3. Haemocytometer 4. Viable count: Spread plate and pour plate. 5. Brown’s opacity 6. Effect of pH and temperature on growth 7. Optimum Growth Conditions pH and temperature 8. Methods of culture preservation \| \| Guidelines for Examination Pattern:- There are two theory papers of 60 marks each (External assessment) at the end of each term. There are 40 marks given for internal assessment of both the theory papers at the end of each term. Practicals (External Assessment) of 50 marks at the end of each term for each paper PRACTICAL EXAMINATION PATTERN (Semester end practical examination):- 50 Marks Per Section Section-I based on course-1, Section-II based on course-2 \| 1. \| Laboratory work (Section-I, II) \| \|---\|---\| \| 2. \| Journal (Section-I, II) \| \| 3. \| Viva (Section-I, II) \| \| Grand Total \| \| PRACTICAL BOOK / JOURNAL Semester I and II For each semester end practical Examination, students are required to present a duly certified journal for appearing at the practical examination, failing which they will not be allowed to appear for the examination. In case of loss of Journal and/ or Report, a Lost Certificate should be obtained from Head/ Co-ordinator / In-charge of the department, failing which the student will not be allowed to appear for the practical examination. PATTERN OF THEORY EXAM FOR PAPER I and II Total marks:- 60 Q1:- Unit I – 15 Q2:- Unit II – 15 Q3:- Unit III – 15 Q4:- Unit I, II and III – 15 All the above questions will have internal choice. Program: B.Sc. Course: Microbiology Syllabus for S.Y.B.Sc. To be implemented from 2018-2019 1 PREAMBLE With the introduction of Autonomy by the S.I.E.S. College of Arts, Science and Commerce under the University of Mumbai; from the academic year 2018-19; the syllabus for the S.Y.B.Sc Microbiology has been drafted to cover the many aspects of the subject. The syllabus has been planned to cover basic techniques of Microbiology and an introduction to newer advanced topics such as Nanobiotechnology, Biofilms, Bioremediation, Biosensors. The syllabus is also designed as per the norms of the CBGS pattern which consists of two semesters per academic year. The students will be introduced to Industrial Microbiology, validation and calibration in order to prepare them for industry work. Hence the module of Industrial, Food and Dairy microbiology has been introduced in the syllabus. The aim of the course is to prepare the students over three years so that they are competent to think independently and be trained for a career in research or industry. 2 S.Y.B.Sc Microbiology Syllabus (General Outline) For autonomy Semester III \| \| SEMESTER III \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Course Code \| Title \| Credits \| Lectures / week \| \| SIUSMIC-31 Theory \| Biomolecules and Analytical Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| 3 \| \| Unit-I \| Estimation of Biomolecules and Biostatistics \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-II \| Nucleic acid chemistry and Genetic elements \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-III \| Analytical techniques 1 \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| SIUSMIC-32 Theory \| Environmental Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| 3 \| \| Unit-I \| Air Microbiology \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-II \| Fresh Water and Sewage Microbiology \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-III \| Soil and Geo Microbiology \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| SIUSMIC-33 Theory \| Advances in Microbiology and Medical Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| 3 \| \| Unit-I \| Nanobiotechnology, Biofilms and biosensors with applications \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-II \| Epidemiology and Diagnostic Microbiology \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-III \| Introduction to Immunology \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| SIUSMICP-3 \| PRACTICALS \| 3 Credits \| 9 \| \| SECTION-1 \| Biomolecules and Analytical Microbiology (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-31) \| 1 Credit (45 lectures) \| 3 \| \| SECTION-2 \| Environmental Microbiology (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-32) \| 1 Credit (45 lectures) \| 3 \| \| SECTION-3 \| Advances in microbiology and Medical Microbiology (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-33) \| 1 Credit (45 lectures) \| 3 \| 3 S.Y.B.Sc Microbiology Syllabus (General Outline) For autonomy Semester IV \| \| SEMESTER IV \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Course Code \| Title \| Credits \| Lectures / week \| \| SIUSMIC-41 Theory \| Metabolism and Basic Analytical Techniques \| 2 Credits (45 Lectures) \| 3 \| \| Unit-I \| Introduction To Metabolism and Bioenergetics \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-II \| Enzyme Kinetics \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-III \| Analytical techniques 2 \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| SIUSMIC-42 Theory \| Industrial, Food and Dairy Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 Lectures) \| 3 \| \| Unit-I \| Industrial Microbiology \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-II \| Food Microbiology \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-III \| Dairy Microbiology \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| SIUSMIC-43 Theory \| Microbial diversity, taxonomy and Applications Of Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| 3 \| \| Unit-I \| Microbial Taxonomy \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-II \| Microbial diversity in extreme environments andMetagenomics \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| Unit-III \| Biofertiliser, Biopesticide , Bioremediation \| 15 lectures. \| 1 \| \| SIUSMICP-4 \| PRACTICALS \| 3 Credits \| 9 \| \| SECTION-1 \| Metabolism and Basic Analytical Techniques (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-41) \| 1 Credit (45 lectures) \| 3 \| \| SECTION-2 \| Industrial, Food and Dairy Microbiology (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-42) \| 1 Credit (45 Lectures) \| 3 \| 4 \| Course Code \| Title \| Credits \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC-31 Theory \| Biomolecules and Analytical Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| \| Unit-I \| Unit I: Estimation Of Biomolecules and Biostatistics \| 15 Lectures \| \| \| 1.1 Macromolecular composition of a microbial cell \| 1 \| \| \| 1.2 Methods of elemental analysis: Carbon ,Nitrogen and Phosphorus \| 2 \| \| \| 1.3 Estimation of Proteins and amino acids Proteins by Biuret method (Direct and indirect) Amino acids by Ninhydrin method \| 2 2 \| \| \| 1.4 Estimation of Carbohydrates Total carbohydrates by Anthrone method Reducing Sugars (maltose) by DNSA method Reducing sugar Felhing’s method \| \| \| \| 1.5 Extraction of Lipids by Soxhlet method \| 1 \| \| \| 1.6 Estimation of Nucleic acids General principles and extraction of nucleic acids DNA by DPA method, RNA by Orcinol method \| 2 \| \| \| 1.7 Basics of Biostatistics: Introduction to Biostatistics Sample and Population Data presentation: Dot diagram, Bar diagram, Histogram, Frequency curve. Central Tendency: Mean, Median, Mode Summation, notations. \| 5 \| \| Unit II \| Unit II: Nucleic acid chemistry and Genetic elements \| 15 Lectures \| \| \| 2.1 Nucleic acid chemistry Denaturation of double helical DNA and RNA Nucleic acid from different species can form Hybrids, Nucleotides and nucleic acids undergo non enzymatic transformations, DNA methylation \| 6 \| \| \| 2.3 Other Functions of nucleotides \| \| \| \| 2.4 Central dogma of life, Genetic code \| 4 \| \| \| 2.5 Plasmids and types of Plasmids \| 2 \| \| \| 2.6 Transposons (Structure and Types) \| 3 \| \| Unit III \| Unit III: Analytical Techniques 1 \| 15 Lectures \| \| \| 1.1 Spectroscopic Techniques Visible, UV and IR spectrophotometry Principles, instrumentation and applications \| 8 \| 5 5 1.2 pH meter: principle, instrumentation and \| \| 1.3 Electrophoresis General principles, Factors affecting electrophoresis, apparatus, support media – agarose gels, polyacrylamide gels and applications \| 5 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC-32 Theory \| Environmental Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| \| Unit-I \| Unit I: Air Microbiology \| 15Lectures \| \| \| 1.1 Aeromicrobiology: Important airborne pathogens and toxins, Aerosols, nature of bioaerosols, aeromicrobiological pathway, microbial survival in the air, extramural aeromicrobiology, intramural aeromicrobiology \| 7 \| \| \| 1.2 Sampling Devices for the Collection of Air Samples, Detection of microorganisms on fomites \| 5 \| \| \| 1.3 Air Sanitation \| 2 \| \| \| 1.4 Air Quality Standards \| 1 \| \| Unit-II \| Unit II : Fresh Water and Sewage Microbiology \| 15 lectures. \| \| \| Unit II (A) Fresh Water Microbiology: \| \| \| \| 2.1 Fresh water environments and micro-organisms found in Springs, rivers and streams, Lakes, marshes and bogs \| 3 \| \| \| 2.2 Potable water: Definition, water purification, water quality standards and pathogens transmitted through water \| 2 \| \| \| 2.3 Microbiological analysis of water: Indicator organisms and their detection in water- Total Coliforms, Faecal Coliforms and E. coli, Faecal Streptococci, Clostridium perfringens \| 2 \| \| \| Unit II (B) Sewage Microbiology: \| \| \| \| 2.4 Modern Waste Water treatment: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Treatment \| 1 \| \| \| 2.5 The nature of wastewater and Monitoring of waste water treatment process (BOD,COD) \| 2 \| \| \| 2.6 Removal of Pathogens by Sewage treatment Processes \| 1 \| \| \| 2.7 Oxidation Ponds and Septic tanks \| 1 \| \| \| 2.8 Sludge Processing \| 1 \| \| \| 2.9 Disposal of treated waste water and biosolids. \| 2 \| \| Unit III \| Unit III: Soil and Geo Microbiology: \| 15 lectures. \| \| \| 3.1 Terrestrial Environment Soil- Definition, Composition, function , Textural triangle Types of soil microorganisms and their activities \| 2 \| \| \| 3.2 Methods of studying soil microorganisms: Sampling, Cultural methods, Physiological \| 5 \| 2 15 6 \| \| 3.3 Biogeochemical Cycles: Carbon cycle, Nitrogen cycle, Sulphur cycle, Phosphorus Cycle, Iron cycle \| 6 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 3.4 Soil Bioremediation \| 2 \| \| SIUSMIC-33 Theory \| Advances in microbiology and Medical Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| \| Unit I \| Unit I: Nanobiotechnology, Biofilms and biosensors with applications \| 15 lectures \| \| \| 1.1 Nanobiotechnology: Introduction of Nanobiotechnology and application in drug and gene delivery, Types of nanomaterials, nanoparticles, nanocapsules, nanotubes, liposomes, nanogels, Dendrimers, Gold nanoparticles (Definition and applications) \| 8 \| \| \| 1.2 Biofilms and biosensors with applications: Biofilms: Introduction of biofilms, Types of biofilms, Mechanism of formation of biofilms and applications of biofilms. Biosensors: Introduction, design, working and applications of biosensors \| 7 \| \| Unit II \| Epidemiology and diagnostic Microbiology \| 15 lectures. \| \| \| 2.1 Epidemiological terminology: Epidemiology, sporadic diseases, endemic diseases, Hyperendemic Diseases, Epidemic Diseases, Index Case, Pandemic Disease, Outbreak \| 1 \| \| \| 2.2 The Spread of Infection: a) Reservoirs of infection-Human reservoir, Animal reservoir, non-living reservoir. b) Transmission of Disease- Contact transmission, Vehicle Transmission and vectors \| 2 \| \| \| 2.3 Nosocomial infection: (1L) Microorganisms in hospitals, compromised host, Transmission and control of Nosocomial infection \| 1 \| \| \| 2.4 Isolation of Pathogens from clinical specimens: a) Growth media and Culture b) Collection of specimens, handling and transport c) Types of specimens and their culture ---Blood, Urine, Faeces, sputum, Cerebrospinal fluid, pus, genital and culture of Anaerobes. \| 4 \| \| \| 2.5 Identification of microorganisms from specimens: a) Microscopy b) Growth-Dependent Identification Methods \| 2 \| \| \| 2.6 Rapid Methods of Identification: Molecular Methods and Analysis of \| 5 \| 7 7 \| \| Metabolic Products: a) Nucleic Acid –Based Detection Methods b) Gas liquid Chromatography c) Plasmid Fingerprinting \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Unit III \| Introduction to Immunology \| 15 lectures. \| \| \| 3.1 Basic concepts in immunology Haematopoiesis, Blood cell types, Components of immune system – Cells and organs of the immune system \| 6 \| \| \| 3.2 Types of Immunity: Innate and Acquired \| 3 \| \| \| 3.2 Humoral and Cell mediated immune response \| 4 \| \| \| 3.3 Phagocytosis and Acute and chronic inflammation \| 2 \| \| SIUSMICP-3 \| PRACTICALS \| 2 Credits \| Notional Periods \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Section-1 \| Biomolecules and Analytical Microbiology (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-31) \| \| \| \| \| 1. Estimation of total sugar by Anthrone method 2. Estimation of reducing sugar by DNSA method 3. Estimation of reducing method by Felhing’s method 4. Estimation of protein Biuret method (indirect and direct) 5. Extraction of lipid by Soxhlet method (Demonstration) 6. Isolation and detection of DNA from onion /E.coli 7. Estimation of DNA by DPA method 8. Estimation of RNA by Orcinol Method 9. Data presentation and interpretation 10 Use of pH meter 11 U.V. spectrophotometer (Demo) 12 Electrophoresis(Demo) \| 1Credit (45 lectures) \| Self Study (45) \| \| Section-2 \| Environmental Microbiology (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-32) \| \| \| \| \| 1. Enumeration of microorganisms in air and study of its load after fumigation 2. Study of air microflora and determination of sedimentation rate 3. Routine analysis of water: a. Standard Plate Count b. Detection of Coliforms in water: Presumptive Test, Confirmed Test and Completed Test c. Rapid Detection of E.coli by MUG Technique (Demonstration) 4. Waste water analysis: a. Study of microbial flora in raw and treated sewage \| 1 credit (45 lectures) \| Self Study (45) \| 8 8 \| \| b. Determination of total solids in wastewater c. Determination of BOD and COD of wastewater 5. Total viable count of soil microflora 6. Isolation of bacteria, Actinomycetes and fungi from soil 7. Enrichment and isolation of Nitrosifiers, Nitrifiers, Cellulose degraders, Sulphate reducers and Phosphate solubilisers from soil 8. Winogradskys column 9. Visit to a sewage treatment plant or water purification plant \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Section-3 \| Advances in microbiology and Medical Microbiology (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-33) \| \| \| \| \| 1. Study of biofilm: slide immersion tech and staining. 2. Preparation of nano particles and study their antibacterial activity. 3. Blood staining by the Field’s method 4. Use of Selective and Differential Solid Media: Mac Conkeys agar, SS agar, XLD agar, TCBS agar, SIBA, Salt Mannitol agar, CLED agar, Cetrimide agar. 5. Use of Biochemical Media/Tests for Identification of Pathogens: Carbohydrate fermentation, Indole test, Methy Red test,Vogues Proskauer test, Citrate Utilization, Lysine Decarboxylase, Gelatin Liquefaction, Nitrate Reduction, Phenylalanine deaminase test, Urease test, TSI agar, Oxidase test, Catalase test, Bile solubility test, Coagulase test, Optochin test and Bacitracintest. 6. Preparation of serum and plasma 7. Single Radial Immuno Diffusion assay 8. Blood grouping (Direct) 9. Phagocytosis (Demo) \| 1 Credit (45 lectures) \| Self Study (45) \| 9 9 REFERENCES: SIUSMIC-31 1. A handbook book of Organic analysis: qualitative and quantitative 4th edition, Hans Thacher Clarke, CBS publishers and distributors, New Delhi. 2. An Introduction To Practical Biochemistry by Plummer David (1979)TMH 3. Biostatistics. P.N. Arora, P.K. Malhan. Himalaya Publishing House. 4. Genetics-A molecular approach, Peter J. Russell (2006) 2nded. 5. Laboratory Manual in Biochemistry, J. Jayaraman, (2003) New Age International Publishers 6. Methods In Microbiology,Vol.5B, Ed. Norris and Ribbon, Academic Press 7. Methodsinbiostatisticsformedicalandresearchworkers.6 th edition. B. K. Mahajan.Jaypee brothers, Medical Publishers (P)ltd 8. Principles and Techniques of practical biochemistry by William and Wilson. 9. Principles and techniques of Biochemistry and Molbiology 6 th ed, Keith Wilson and John Walker, Cambridge University press,2006 10. Principles of Biochemistry, Lehninger: 4 th Ed.,D.Nelson and M. Cox, W. H. Freeman and Co., (LPE) REFERENCES: SIUSMIC-32 1. Air Quality Standards- NAAQS Manual , Volume I 2. Environmental Microbiology , 2nd Edition; Raina M. Maier, Ian L. Pepper, Charles P. Gerba, 2010 Academic Press 3. Fundamental Principles of Bacteriology , 7th Editon; A.J. Salle ,Tata Mc Graw Hill Publishing Company 4. Fundamentals of Microbiology, 9th Edition , Frobisher, Hinsdill, Crabtree,Goodheart, 1974, Saunders College Publishing 6. Prescott's Microbiology, 8th Edition; Joanne M. Willey, Linda M. Sherwood, Christopher J.Woolverton,2011, Mc Graw Hill InternationalEdition 5. Introduction to Environmental Microbiology – Barbara Kolwzan, Waldemar Adamiak. 7. Soil Microbiology-4th Edition, N.S Subba Rao,2000, Oxford and IBH Publishing PvtLtd REFERENCES: SIUSMIC-33 1. Bionanotechnology - Andrew and Waqar, One Central Press Ltd, UK., November, 2014. 2. Brock biology of microorganism by Michael T Madigan. and John M Martinco.Pearson education. 3. Diagnostic Microbiology, Bailey and Scott, 11th edition Publ:Mosby 4. Immunology Essential and Fundamental, Third Edition, Pathak andPalan. 5. Immunology; Kuby 6thedition. 6. Microbiology By Prescott, Harley, Klein's 7thEdn 7. Microbiology, An Introduction by Tortora, Funke and Case 9 th and11th edition, Pearson education. 8. Practical medical microbiology by Mackie and McCartney 14th edition. Publ: Churchill Livingstone 9. Textbook of Mocrobiology by Anantnarayan and Paniker's, 8 th Ed. 10. The Elements of Immmunology by Fahim Khan. Pearson Education. 10 \| Course Code \| Title \| Credits \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC-41 Theory \| Metabolism and Basic Analytical Techniques \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| \| Unit-I \| Introduction To Metabolism and Bioenergetics \| 15 Lectures \| \| \| 1.1 Bioenergetics and thermodynamics: Energy transformations, thermodynamic quantities, standard –free energy, difference between ΔG and ΔGo’ \| 6 \| \| \| 1.2 Structure of ATP, phosphoryl group transfer and ATP, Types of energy –rich compounds, multi-roles of ATP, inorganic phosphoryl group donor \| 5 \| \| \| 1.3 Biochemical and chemical reactions, Biological oxidation-reduction reaction \| 4 \| \| Unit-II \| Enzyme Kinetics \| 15 Lectures \| \| \| 2.1 Introduction of Enzymes: General properties of enzymes Concept of activation energy Rate law for a simple catalysed reaction, Michaelis- Menten equation and it’s derivation Lineweaver Burk plot Classification of enzymes \| 6 \| \| \| 2.2.Overview of Coenzyme: Coenzymes: Different types and reactions catalyzed by coenzymes NAD+: structure, occurrence and biochemical function \| 2 \| \| \| 2.3 Enzyme Kinetics: Saturation kinetics Effect of temperature and pH Effect of Inhibitors- Reversible and irreversible, competitive, Non competitive and uncompetitive inhibitors, Multisubstrate reactions- Ordered, Random and pingpong reactions. Allosteric effects in enzyme catalysed reactions- Koshland-Nemethy and Filmer model and Monod, Wyman and Changeux model \| 7 \| 11 11 \| Unit-III \| Analytical techniques 2 \| 15 Lectures \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 3.1 Paper and thin layer Chromatography Introduction to chromatography, types of chromatography Paper chromatography: Principle, circular, ascending and descending Paper Chromatography, Thin layer chromatography : principle, preparation of TLC plates, procedure for TLC, preparative TLC, 2D TLC, HPTLC \| 4 \| \| \| 3.2 Column chromatography : Introduction and principle Size Exclusion chromatography , Ion Exchange chromatography, Affinity chromatography, High Performance Liquid chromatography Gas chromatography \| 8 \| \| \| 3.3 Centrifugation Introduction : basic principles of sedimentation, Types, Preparative centrifugation and its applications, Analytical centrifugation and its application \| 3 \| \| SIUSMIC-42 Theory \| Industrial, Food and Dairy Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| \| Unit-I \| Industrial Microbiology \| 15 lectures \| \| \| 1.1 Strains of industrially important microorganisms: a. Desirable characteristics of industrial strain b. Principles and methods of primary and secondary Screening. \| 3 \| \| \| 1.2 Types of fermentations: a. Surface and Submerged, b. Batch, continuous fermentation c. Solid state fermentation 1.3 Design of an ideal fermenter: conventional stirred tank reactor \| 5 \| \| \| 1.3 Concept of upstream and Downstream processing Industrial inoculum build up \| 3 \| \| \| 1.4 Media for industrial fermentations: a. Production and Inoculum media, b. Media components :- Carbon source, nitrogen source, amino acids and vitamins, minerals, water, buffers, antifoam agents, precursors, inhibitors and inducers \| 4 \| \| Unit-II \| Food Microbiology \| 15 lectures \| \| \| 2.1 Introduction: Significance, food as a substrate and sources 2.2 Intrinsic and extrinsic factors \| 3 \| 12 12 \| \| 2.4General principles of food preservation (principle of each method and example of foods only): High temperature (Including TDT, TDP, D, F and Z value), Low temperature (Freezing), Asepsis, Drying, Radiations, Chemical preservatives. \| 5 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| \| 2.5 Food control agencies:- HACCP, FDA, FSSAI \| 2 \| \| \| 2.6 Methods of detection of microorganisms in food: overview of cultural, microscopic, physical, chemical and bioassay methods \| 3 \| \| Unit-III \| Dairy Microbiology \| 15 lectures \| \| \| 3.1 Milk- Definition , composition, \| 1 \| \| \| 3.2 Spoilage of milk: Sources of contamination of milk Color defects Flavour defects Ropiness of milk Stormy fermentation of milk \| 3 \| \| \| 3.3 Pasteurization of milk-LTLT, HTST, UHT Method Efficiency testing of Pasteurization (Phosphatase Test) \| 3 \| \| \| 3.4. Milk products:- production of a Yoghurt \| 1 \| \| \| b Butter \| 1 \| \| \| c Cheese-Cheddar and Cottage cheese \| 2 \| \| \| d Dried milk \| 1 \| \| \| 3.5. Quality control ofmilk:- a. Rapid platform test:- MBRT,Resazurin b. Microbiological analysis of milk.:- SPC, Coliform count, Psychrophiles, Thermophilic count. \| 3 \| \| SIUSMIC-43 Theory \| Microbial diversity, taxonomy and Applications Of Microbiology \| 2 Credits (45 lectures) \| \| \| Microbial Taxonomy \| \| \| \| 3.1 Introduction to microbial taxonomy Systems of classification(Cavalier Smith 6 kingdom) Bergey’s manual The three domain concept based on phylogeny Nomenclature Taxonomic ranks Numerical Taxonomy \| 4 \| 13 13 3.3 Genetic analysis \| \| 3.5 Phylogenetic analysis Nucleic acid sequencing Analysis of individualgenes Multilocus gene sequence analysis Whole genome sequence analysis 3.6 Phylogenetic tree: Types \| 4 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Unit-II \| Biodiversity in extreme environments and Metagenomics \| 15 lectures \| \| \| Biodiversity In Extreme Environments 2.1 Extreme Environments and their types with respect to the physical conditions which lead to microbial stress a) Temperature based environments- Low and high temperature environments b) pH based environments- Acidic and alkaline environments, Acid mine drainage c) Environments with high salt concentration \| 7 \| \| \| 2.2 Applications of extremophiles: a) Applications of Acidophiles and Alkalophiles b) Applications of halophiles- in biotechnology and medicine c) Applications of psychrophiles in pharmaceuticals and environment. d) Applications of thermophiles and hyperthermophiles in enzymology \| 7 \| \| \| 2.3 Metagenomics \| 1 \| \| Unit-III \| Biofertiliser, Biopesticide , Bioremediation \| 15 lectures \| \| \| 3.1 Biofertiliser: Introduction of Biofertilizers Different types of biofertilizers Mass production of Biofertilizers Application of Biofertilizers Azolla as cattle feed List of Biofertilizer production units Constraints in Biofertilizer Technology, Biofertilizer strains developed \| 8 \| \| \| 3.2 Biopesticides Introduction of biopesticides Types of Biopesticides Basic requirements for establishment of Biopesticide units, Technical Aspects of Biopesticides Major biopesticides produced and used in India Biopesticide formulations \| 3 \| \| \| 3.3 Bioremediation: Introduction of Bioremediation Principle of Bioremediation Factors affecting Bioremediation \| 4 \| 14 Microbial Populations used for Bioremediation \| SIUSMICP-4 \| PRACTICALS \| 2 Credits \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Section-1 \| Metabolism and Basic Analytical Techniques (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-41) \| 1 Credit (45 lectures) \| \| \| 1. Problems on bioenergetics to calculatethe Keq; Gibbs energy, enthalpy, etc 2. Isolation of amylase, protease, lipase producers 3. Extracellular production of invertase from yeast 4. Effect of pH, Temp, substrate and enzyme concentration on activity of invertase. 5. Determination of Km and Vmax of an enzyme 6. Separation and identification of amino acids and sugars by ascending paper chromatography 7. Density gradient centrifugation \| 1 Credit (45 lectures) \| \| Section-2 \| Industrial, Food and Dairy microbiology (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-42) \| \| \| \| 1. Crowded plate technique 2. Antibiotic producer screening by Wilkins overlay method 3. Antibiotic spectrum determination(streak/strip) 4. Isolation of food spoilage agent: a) Fruit/Vegetable- Physical and Microscopic and Pectinolytic agent b) Meat - Proteolytic, lipolytic, sacchrolytic 5. Determination of TDT and TDP 6. Determination of Salt and sugar tolerance 7. Determination of MIC of a Chemical preservative 8. Visit to Food/Dairy industry 9. RPT of Milk– RRT, MBRT, DMC 10. Microbiological Quality Control of Milk as per BIS/FSSSAI 11. Analysis of Cheese, Paneer, Butter, Yogurt/curd as per BIS/FSSAI (Group experiment) 12. Solid state fermentations (group experiment) \| 1 Credit (45 lectures) \| \| \| Microbial diversity, taxonomy and Applications of Microbiology (Practicals Based On Unit-I,II and III Of SIUSMIC-43) \| \| 15 REFERENCES: SIUSMIC-41 1. Fundamentals of Biochemistry. D. Voet and J. Voet Publisher Wiley plus Edition5th. 2. Instrumental Methods of chemical analysis, V.K. Ahluwalia, Ane Books Pvt.Ltd;2015. 3. Laboratory manual in Biochemistry- J.Jayaraman. 4. Lehninger- Principles of Biochemistry- David Nelson, Michael Cox. 4th edition W.H. Freeman and Company[Low price edition- for sale in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan] 5. Outlines of Biochemistry. E.E. Conn and P. K. Stumpf , G. Bruening, R.N.Doi. 5 th Edition, John Wiley and sons. 6. Principles and techniques of Biochemistry and Mol biology 6th ed, Keith Wilson and John Walker, Cambridge University press,2006 7. Principles and Techniques of practical biochemistry by William andWilson. 8. Principles of Biochemistry- G. Zubay, W.W. Parson, D.E.Vance. Wm. C. Brown Publishers 9. Understanding Enzymes: Trevor Palmer 4 th Edition. REFERENCES: SIUSMIC-42 1. Fermentation Technology by H. A. Modi, 2009. Vol 2, Pointer Publications, India 2. Food Microbiology, Frazier and Westhoff , Tata McGraw Hill, 4thEdition 3. Industrial Microbiology by Casida L. E., 2009 Reprint, New Age International (P) Ltd,Publishers, NewDelhi 4. Industrial Microbiology. A. H. Patel. MacMillan. New Delhi.1984. 5. Microbiology By Prescott, Harley, Klein's 7thEdn 6. Milk and Milk Products by Eckles and Eckles 7. Modern Food Microbiology. James Jay. 5thEd, 8. Outlines Of Dairy Technology, Sukumar De, Oxford University Press 9. Prescott and Dunn's ''Industrial Microbiology''.1982 4th Edition, McMillan Publishers 10. Principles of Fermentation Technology by Stanbury P. F., Whitaker A. and HaII- S. J., 1997, 2nd Edition, Aditya Books Pvt. Ltd, NewDelhi. REFERENCES: SIUSMIC-43 1. Biopesticide Formulations, Possibility of Application and Future Trends Slavica Gašić and Brankica Tanović, Pestic. Phytomed. (Belgrade), 28(2), 2013, 97–102 Review paper 2. Biopesticides: An eco-friendly approach for pest control; Journal of Biopesticides 3(1 Special Issue) 186 - 188 (2010) 186,Suman Gupta and A. K. Dikshit 3. Bioremediation - An Overview Jr. of Industrial Pollution Control 27(2)(2011) pp 161168, V. Mary Kensa 4. Bioremediation: Features, Strategies and applications, Shilpi Sharma. 5. Brock Biology of Microorganisms, Madigan, Martinko, Dunlap and Clark (2009) 12 th edition, Pearson Education 6. Characteristics and Significance of Microbial Biofilm Formation Biofilms Importance and Applications; Periodicum Biologorum., Vol 109, No 2, 2007. Indian Journal of Biotechnology, Vol8, April 2009, pp159-169. 7. Current Research, Technology and Education Topics in Applied Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology. A Mendez Vilas Edition 8. General Microbiology; Stanier R.Y. And Other, MacMillan (1989) 5 th editon 16 9. Microbiology: Prescott's, Harley and Klein's, Willey, Sherwood, Woolverton (2008) 7th edition, McGraw-Hill International edition 10. Microbiology: Prescott's, J.M. Willey, L.M. Sherwood, C.J. Woolverton, (2011) 8th edition, McGraw-Hill International edition 11. Molecular Biotechnology : Principles And Applications Of Recombinant DNA; Glick, Bernard; Pasternak, Jack 2003. 12. Text book of Biotechnology by R C Dubey. 4thedition 13. www.ianetwerk.nl Biofilm as New Biomaterial 17 Guidelines for Examination Pattern:- There are three theory papers of 60 marks each (External assessment) at the end of each term. There are 40 marks given for internal assessment for each theory papers at the end of each term. Practicals (External Assessment) of 50 marks at the end of each term for each paper \| PAPER \| TYPE OF EXAM \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| THEORY \| \| Paper I \| Paper II \| \| Paper I, II and Paper III (INTERNAL) for semester III and IV \| CLASS TEST (MCQ) \| 20 \| 20 \| \| \| PARTICIPATION IN THE CLASS \| 5 \| 5 \| \| \| ASSIGNMENT \| 15 \| 15 \| \| Theory \| TERM END EXAM \| 60 \| 60 \| \| \| TOTAL \| 100 \| 100 \| PRACTICAL EXAMINATION PATTERN Semester end practical examination):- 50 Marks Per Section Section-I based on course-1, Section-II based on course-2 and Section-III based on course-3 \| Sr.No. \| Particulars \| \|---\|---\| \| 1. \| Laboratory work (Section-I, II, III) \| \| 2. \| Journal (Section-I, II,III) \| \| 3. \| Viva (Section-I, II,III) \| \| Grand Total \| \| PRACTICAL BOOK / JOURNAL Semester III and IV For each semester end practical Examination, students are required to present a duly certified journal for appearing at the practical examination, failing which they will not be allowed to appear for the examination. In case of loss of Journal and/ or Report, a Lost Certificate should be obtained from Head/ Co-ordinator / In-charge of the department; failing which the student will not be allowed to appear for the practical examination. 18 PATTERN OF THEORY EXAM FOR PAPER I and II Total marks:- 60 Q1:- Unit I – 15 Q2:- Unit II – 15 Q3:- Unit III – 15 Q4:- Unit I, II and III – 15 All the above questions will have internal choice. 19 Program: B.Sc. Course: Microbiology Syllabus for T.Y.B.Sc. To be implemented from 2018-2019 (Credit Based Semester and Grading System with effect from the academic year 2018–2019) PREAMBLE The existing university syllabus of T.Y.B.Sc. Microbiology was due for revision as per the CBSGS pattern which is done as follows and will be implemented from the academic year 2018- 2019 under autonomy. Keeping in tune, with the revised autonomous syllabi of F.Y.B.Sc. and S.Y.B.Sc., the committee has taken utmost care to maintain the continuity in the flow of information of higher level at T.Y.B.Sc. Hence some of the modules of the existing university T.Y.B.Sc. syllabus have been upgraded with the new modules in order to make the learners aware about the recent developments in various branches of Microbiology (like Microbial Genetics, Molecular Biology, Virology, Medical Microbiology, Immunology, Microbial Biochemistry, Industrial Microbiology, Microbial Biotechnology) with an objective to raise the students awareness in interdisciplinary courses such as Biostatistics, Bioinformatics , Bioinstrumentation, Nanoscience All the 8 courses of theory and practicals (Semester-V and Semester-VI together) are compulsory to the students offering microbiology as a single major subject (6 un0its pattern of the old course). These courses are:- 1. SIUSMIC51and SIUSMIC61 2. SIUSMIC52 and SIUSMIC62 3. SIUSMIC53 and SIUSMIC63 4. SIUSMIC54 and SIUSMIC64 However, students opting for double major subject (3 units pattern of old course) shall have following 04 courses of theory and practicals (Semester-V and Semester-VI together) compulsory:- 1. SIUSMIC51 and SIUSMIC61 2. SIUSMIC52 and SIUSMIC62 T. Y. B. Sc. MICROBIOLOGY THEORY SEMESTER-V \| COURSE CODE \| TITLE \| \|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC51 \| MICROBIAL GENETICS \| \| Unit I \| DNA REPLICATION \| \| Unit II \| MUTATION AND REPAIR \| \| Unit III \| GENETIC EXCHANGE \| \| Unit IV \| TRANSCRIPTION, GENETIC CODE AND TRANSLATION \| \| SIUSMIC52 \| MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY PART I \| \| Unit I \| MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY I \| \| Unit II \| MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY II \| \| Unit III \| GENERAL IMMUNOLOGY-I \| \| Unit IV \| GENERAL IMMUNOLOGY-II \| \| SIUSMIC53 \| MICROBIAL BIOCHEMISTRY : PART- I \| \| Unit I \| BIOLOGICAL MEMBRANES and TRANSPORT \| \| Unit II \| BIOENERGETICS and BIOLUMINESCENCE \| \| Unit IV \| FERMENTATIVE PATHWAYand ANABOLISM OF CARBOHYDRATES \| \|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC54 \| BIOPROCESS TECHNOLOGY \| \| Unit I \| STRAIN IMPROVEMENT AND STERILIZATION TECHNIQUES \| \| Unit II \| FERMENTER EQUIPMENT AND CONTROL \| \| Unit III \| DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS \| \| Unit IV \| TRADITIONAL INDUSTRIAL FERMENTATIONS PART-I \| N.B.- (I) Each theory period shall be of 48 minutes duration. Theory component shall have 240 instructional periods plus 240 notional periods per semester which is equal to 384 learning hours.For theory component the value of One Credit is equal to 38.40 learning hours. (II) Each practical period shall be of 48 minutes duration. Practical component shall have 240 instructional periods plus 60 notional periods per semester which is equal to 240 learning hours.For practical component the value of One Credit is equal to 40 learning hours. T. Y. B. Sc. Microbiology Theory: SIUSMIC-51(Microbial Genetics) Learning Objectives: Microbial Genetics is an undergraduate T.Y. B.Sc. Microbiology course that deals with both conceptual and practical tools for generating, processing and understanding biological genetic information. It develops knowledge of the underlying theories of genetics which exhibits a broad understanding of genetic exchange among prokaryotes. It also gives students hands-on competence in fundamental molecular biology theories and laboratory techniques. It gives an overview of recombinant DNA technology and biotechnology applications utilising genetic manipulation. It also provides practical experience of the major analytical techniques used in bioinformatics. It also deals with basic structure and life cycle of different types of viruses and explains different terminologies like cancer, prions, viriods and their mechanism. This course will help students to build on the basic information regarding DNA structure transcription, translation and genetic code that they have gained in S. Y.B.Sc. Learning Outcomes: Students should be able to- a) Understand the molecular mechanism involved in DNA replication b) Understand how to identify and classify mutations in DNA followed by mechanism of DNA repair c) Understand basic concepts of homologous recombination and genetic exchange among prokaryotes d) Understand natural plasmids and transposons present in prokaryotes e) Understand an account of prokaryotic gene structure and the mechanisms controlling gene expression SIUSMIC-51: MICROBIAL GENETICS \| Course Code \| Title \| Lectures/ Semester \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC51 \| MICROBIAL GENETICS \| 2.5 Credits 60Lectures \| \| \| UNIT I DNA REPLICATION 1.1. Historical perspective— conservative, dispersive, semi-conservative, Bidirectional and semi- discontinuous 1.2. Prokaryotic DNA replication – Details of molecular mechanism involved in Initiation, Elongation nd Termination 1.3. Enzymes and proteins associated with DNA replication- primase, helicase, topoisomerase, SSB, DNA polymerases, ligases, Ter and Tus proteins 1.4. Eukaryotic DNA replication-- Molecular details of DNA synthesis, replicating the ends of the chromosomes 1.5. Rolling circle mode of replication \| 15L 4L 4L 4L 2L 1L \| \| \| UNIT II MUTATION AND REPAIR 2.1. Mutation 2.1.a.Terminology: alleles, homozygous, heterozygous, genotype, phenotype, Somatic mutation, Germline mutation, Gene mutation, Chromosome mutation, phenotypic lag, hotspots and mutator genes 2.1. b. Fluctuation test. \| 15 L 2L 1L \| \| \| 2.1. c. Types of mutations: Point mutation, reverse mutation, suppressor mutation, frameshift mutation, conditional lethal mutation, base pair substitution, transition, transversion, missense mutation, nonsense mutation, silent mutation, neutral mutation, pleiotropic mutations. \| 2L \| 2.1.d. Causes of mutation: Natural/spontaneous 5 L \| 3.2.c. Transduction i. Introduction and discovery ii. Generalised transduction iii. Use of Generalised transduction for mapping genes iv. Specialised transduction \| 3L \| \|---\|---\| \| Unit IV: TRANSCRIPTION, GENETIC CODE AND TRANSLATION \| 15L \| \| 4.1 Transcription in Eukaryotes - Eukaryotic RNA polymerase, Transcription of protein- coding genes by RNA polymerase II, Transcription initiation, The structure and production of Eukaryotic mRNAs, Production of mature mRNA in Eukaryotes, Processing of Pre-mRNA to mature mRNA. Self Splicing of Introns, RNA editing 4.2 Genetic code - Nature of genetic code and characteristics of genetic code, wobble hypothesis and problems based on genetic code. 4.3 Translation process - Transfer RNA, structure of tRNA, tRNA genes, Recognition of the tRNA anticodon by the mRNA codon, Adding of amino acid to tRNA , Ribosomal RNA and Ribosomes, Ribosomal RNA Genes, Initiation of translation, Initiation in Bacteria, Initiation in eukaryotes, Elongation of the polypeptide chain, termination of translation, protein sorting in the cell. \| 6L 3L 6L \| SIUSMIC-52 (Medical Microbiology and Immunology: Part-I) Learning objectives: One of the most important areas of microbiology, medical microbiology encompasses the aetiology, transmission, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, laboratory diagnosis, prophylaxis, and treatment of various diseases that are enlisted in the syllabus. This course will help students to build on the basic information regarding host defence mechanisms that they have gained in S.Y.B.Sc. Immunology is an integral part of Medical Microbiology and this course is designed for T.Y.B.Sc. Microbiology students and it is assumed that the students have achieved a basic understanding of Innate Immunity and Host Defence mechanisms. The course has been designed to help understand the ability of our immune system to defend against invading pathogens in a logical fashion. This includes our innate ability to defend against microorganisms (innate immunity); should this first line of defence fail, how we can fight infections (acquired immunity); if we react excessively, what price we pay (hypersensitivity); and very importantly, how we can prevent pathogens from infecting us (vaccination). Learning Outcomes: (Medical Microbiology) Students should be able to- - Give details of the virulence factors and other features of the pathogen - Correlate these virulence factors with the pathogenesis and clinical features of the disease - Comment on the mode of transmission, epidemiology and therefore modes of prophylaxis of these diseases - Given a few key clinical features, identify the likely causative agent. - Comment on the methods of diagnosis of the disease. Learning Outcomes: (Immunology) Students should be able to- - Conceptualize how the innate and adaptive immune responses coordinate to fight invading pathogens - Discuss the role of antigen in initiating the immune response - Correlate the structure and functions of immunoglobulin SIUSMIC-52: MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY I \| Course Code \| Title \| Lectures/ Semester \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC52 \| MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY I \| 2.5Credits (60Lectures) \| \| \| Unit I: MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY- I Study of A Few Infectious Diseases (w.r.t. Cultural Characteristics of the etiological agent, pathogenesis and clinical features laboratory diagnosis, treatment and prevention only. 1. Respiratory tract infections i. S. pyogenes infections ii. Influenza iii. Tuberculosis iv. Pneumonia caused by K.pneumoniae and S.pneumoniae 2. Study of urinary tract infections 3. CNS infections i. Tetanus ii. Polio iii. Bacterial meningititis \| 15L 8L 3L 4L \| \| \| UNIT II : MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY- II Study of few diseases (w.r.t. Cultural characteristics of the etiological agent, pathogenesis and clinical features, laboratory diagnosis, treatment and prevention only) 2.1 Study of skin infections i. Pyogenic skin infections caused by Pseudomonas and S.aureus ii. Leprosy \| \| UNIT III : GENERAL IMMUNOLOGY-I 15L 15 SIUSMIC-53 (Microbial Biochemistry Part-I) Learning objectives: This course is designed for T.Y.B.Sc. Microbiology students to achieve a basic understanding of solute transport and metabolism. The course has been designed to expose students to methods of studying energy generation, fermentative metabolism as well as anabolism. There has been a lot of importance attached to biochemical reactions in living cells. The student must be exposed to the mechanism of solute transport and methods to study the same. The students are already exposed to laws of thermodynamics in the lower level; however, they should be made aware of the electron transport chain in Prokaryotes and Mitochondria. ATP synthesis and anabolic mechanisms need to be explained to the students to understand the breakdown of mono, di and oligosaccharides. The students will also be exposed to the fermentative pathways and anabolic reactions. Learning Outcomes: Students should be able to- - Understand the architecture of the membrane and how solute is transported inside the cell. - Describe and explain the electron transport chains in prokaryotes and mitochondria and understand the mechanism of ATP synthesis. - Explain bioluminescence mechanism and its significance - Discuss the experimental aspect of studying catabolism and anabolism and the various pathways for the breakdown of carbohydrates along with reactions in amphibolic pathways. - Describe various other pathways which produce different end products. - Describe anabolic reactions in carbohydrate synthesis. - Apply the concepts of energetics and catabolism in biodegradation of various substrates. SIUSMIC-53: DETAIL SYLLABUS \| Course Code \| Title \| L/ Semester \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSM IC 53 \| MICROBIAL BIOCHEMISTRY:(Part- I) \| 2.5 Credits (60L) \| Membrane transport mechanisms inE. coli synthase ( No Kinetics) 2.4.5. Mechanism by Rotational catalysis 2.4.6. Structure of bacterial ATP synthase 2.4.7. Inhibitors of ETC, Inhibitors of ATPase,Uncouplers, Ionophores 17 2.4.5. Mechanism by Rotational catalysis 2.4.6. Structure of bacterial ATP synthase 2.4.7. Inhibitors of ETC, Inhibitors of ATPase,Uncouplers, Ionophores 2.5 Other modes of generation of electrochemical energy 02 \| 3.3 Amphibolic role of EMP and TCA cycle 3.4 Energetics of Glycolysis, ED and TCA pathway – Balance sheet only(No efficiency calculation) \| 01 01 \| \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| UNIT IV FERMENTATIVE PATHWAY AND ANABOLISM OF CARBOHYDRATES 4.1 Fermentative pathways (With structures and enzymes) 4.1.1. Lactic acid fermentation – i. Homofermentors ii. Heterofermentors iii. Bifidobacterium pathway (Schematic) 4.1.2. Alcohol fermentation i. by ED pathway in bacteria ii. by EMP in yeasts 4.2 Other modes of fermentations in microorganisms 4.2.1 Mixed acid, 4.2.2 Butanediol 4.2.3. Butyric acid 4.2.4. Butanol-acetone 4.2.5. Propionic acid (Acrylate pathway and succinate propionate pathway) 4.3 Anabolism of Carbohydrates 4.3.1. General pattern of metabolism leading to synthesis of a cell from Glucose 4.3.2. Gluconeogenesis (Mitochondrial aspect not included) 4.3.3. Biosynthesis of Glycogen 4.3.4. Biosynthesis of Peptidoglycan \| 15 04 05 06 \| 15 \| SIUSMIC‐54 (BIOPROCESS TECHNOLOGY) Learning Objectives Bioprocess Technology and Environmental Microbiology course is designed to develop the learner's ability to study the techniques used in the different phases of industrial microbiology such as strain improvement, basic fermentation equipment and its sterilization aspects. It gives an in depth focus of the different types of fermenters used in industry for production of different products, and also emphasizes its process parameters. It includes the principles and describes the main steps and processes in the industrial production of beverages and enzymes. The downstream process and the environmental aspects of the final product are also included. Industrial and Environmental Microbiology becomes an important application based paper covering microbial fermentations as well as applying the techniques of molecular biology to enzyme technology, animal tissue culture as well as plant tissue culture. Thus, it becomes a laboratory to market scenario where the entire products reach. The learner is provided with the details of productions of important products like antibiotics, vitamins, organic acid and enzymes along with the analysis techniques using various instruments and statistical tools. The learner is expected to learn the need of Quality management and regulatory bodies as the products need to fulfill these requirements. Thus this paper readies the learner to understand and apply the knowledge of fermentation technology and related products. This course aims to enable graduates to enter industry with an appropriate level of understanding of the need for both the science and business aspects to be achievable to make a viable product and enhance their enterpreunial skills. Learning Outcomes: Students should be able to- - Describe the applications of microbes and its strain improvement in Industrial Microbiology. - Apply kinetic formula to determine growth and productivity parameters of batch and continuous fermentations - Describe the design of bioreactors for different applications and its process parameters - Design media, growth conditions and techniques for producing and recovering different types of products of commercial value - Design an industrial process by keeping in view the strict guidelines for its recovery and disposal - Learner will be well –versed with the environmental aspects such as carbon credits and containment levels. - Learn to develop the corrective measures for dealing with the environmental pollution and its consequences. SIUSMIC-54: DETAIL SYLLABUS \| Course Code \| Title \| L/ Semester \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC 54 \| BIOPROCESS TECHNOLOGY \| 2.5 CREDITS (60 L) \| \| \| Unit I: Strain Improvement and sterilization Techniques \| 15 \| \| \| 1.1 Strain improvement of industrial microorganisms i. selection of mutants with altered permeability ii. isolation of mutants not producing feedback inhibitors/repressors (all methods- 1e.g. only) iii. Use of auxotrophs for production of primary metabolites- e.g. aspartate family iv. The selection of induced mutants synthesizing improved levels of primary metabolites. v. Isolation of induced mutants for secondary metabolites. vi. isolation of mutants that do not recognize the presence of inhibitors and repressors with e.g. (gradient plate – lysine) vii. isolation of auxotrophic mutants (e.g. – Penicillin Davies and miniature technique) viii. Isolation of resistant and revertant mutants 1.2 Sterilization and achievement of aseptic conditions i. Introduction Medium sterilization (concept of nabla factor) ii. Methods of batch sterilization iii. The design of continuous sterilization process iv. Sterilization of air and gasses \| 10L 5L \| UNIT II 15L 15 T.Y.B.SC. MICROBIOLOGY PRACTICALS (SEMESTER-V) COURSE CODE: SIUSMICP51 [PRACTICALS BASED ON SIUSMIC51, CREDITS -1.5L- 60, NOTIONAL PERIODS-15] 1. UV survival curve – determination of exposure time leading to 90% reduction 2. Isolation of mutants using UV mutagenesis 3. Replica plate technique for selection and characterization of mutants – auxotroph and antibiotic resistant 4. Isolation and detection of plasmid DNA. 5. Preparation of competent cells and transformation COURSE CODE: SIUSMICP52 [PRACTICALS BASED ON SIUSMIC52, CREDITS -1.5L-60, NOTIONAL PERIODS-15] 1. Study of iron sequestration- siderophore production in Pseudomonas spp. 2. Acid fast staining of M.tuberculosis. 3. To determine SLO and SLS activity of S.pyogenes 4. Identification of isolates obtained from nasal swabs, skin swab, pus, sputum, stool and urine by morphological, cultural and biochemical properties. 5. Antigen Preparation: O and H antigen preparation of Salmonella. Confirmation by slide agglutination 6. Study of germ tube formation in yeast Candida albicans 7. Demonstration experiments- Widal COURSE CODE: SIUSMICP53 [PRACTICALS BASED ON SIUSMIC53; CREDITS-1.5, L- 60, NOTIONAL PERIODS-15] 1. Isolation and study of Bioluminescent organisms 2. Study of oxidative and fermentative metabolism 3. Qualitative and Quantitative assay of Phosphatase 4. Detection of organic acids by TLC 5. Study of Homo and Heterofermentation 6. Glucose detection by GOD/POD 7. βgalactosidase activity COURSE CODE: SIUSMICP54 [PRACTICALS BASED ON SIUSMIC54, CREDITS -1.5, L- 60, NOTIONAL PERIODS-15] 1. Alcohol fermentation.- a) Efficiency of fermentation b) Alcohol tolerance for yeast. c) Sugar tolerance for yeast. d) Chemical estimation –Sugar by Cole's method e) Chemical estimation–Alcohol 2. Gradient plate technique for analogue resistant mutants. 3. Production of amylase- detection, shake flask or solid substrate cultivation and estimation. (Qualitative) 4. Industrial visit SEMESTER V: TEXT BOOKS AND REFERENCE BOOKS SIUSMIC51: Text books 1. Benjamin A. Pierce (2008), "Genetics a conceptual approach", 3 rd ed., W. H. Freeman andcompany. 2. D,.Nelson and M.Cox, (2005), "Lehninger's Principles of biochemistry", 4 th ed., Macmillan worth Publishers. 3. Fairbanks and Anderson, (1999), "Genetics", Wadsworth PublishingCompany. 4. M.Madigan, J.Martinko, J.Parkar, (2009), "Brock Biology of microorganisms", 12 th ed., Pearson Education International. 5. Nancy Trun and Janine Trempy, (2004), "Fundamental bacterial genetics", Blackwell Publishing 6. Peter J. Russell (2006), "Genetics-A molecular approach", 2 nd ed. 8. R. H. Tamarin, (2004), "Principles of genetics", Tata McGrawHill. 7. Prescott, Harley and Klein, "Microbiology", 7th edition Mc Graw Hill international edition. 9. Robert Weaver, "Molecular biology", 3rd edn. Mc Graw Hill international edition. 10. Snustad, Simmons, "Principles of genetics", 3 rd edn. John Wiley and sons,Inc. SIUSMIC51: Reference books: 1. Benjamin Lewin, "Genes IX", , Jones and Bartlett publishers. 2. JD Watson, "Molecular biology of the gene" 5 th edn. SIUSMIC52: Text books: 1. Ananthanarayan and Panicker's, Textbook of Microbiology, 9 th edition 2. Bacterial Pathogenesis –A molecular approach Abigail Salyer And Dixie Whitt 2nd Ed ASM press 3. Fahim Khan, Elements of Immunology, Pearson Education 4. Jawetz, Melnick and Adelberg's Medical Microbiology, 26 th Edition, Lange publication 5. Kuby Immunology, 6 th Edition, W H Freeman and Company 6. Pathak and Palan, Immunology: Essential and Fundamental, 1 st and 3 rd Edition, Capital Publishing Company SIUSMIC52: Reference books / Internet references: 1. Baron Samuel , Medical Microbiology, 4 th edition 2. http://www.macmillanlearning.com/catalog/static/whf/kuby/ 3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7627/ 4. Kuby Immunology, 7 th Edition, W H Freeman and Company SIUSMIC53: Text books: 1. Conn, E.E., P. K.Stumpf, G.Bruening and R. Y. Doi. 1987. Outlines of Biochemistry, 5 th edition, 1987. John Wiley and Sons. New York. 2. Gottschalk,G., (1985), Bacterial Metabolism, 2 nd edition, SpringerVerlag 3. Mathews, C.K., K.E. van Holde, D.R. Appling, S,J, Anthony-Cahill (2012) Biochemistry, 4 th edn.Pearson 4. Nelson D. L. and M.M. Cox (2005), Lehninger, Principles of biochemistry.4 th edition, W. H. Freeman and Company 5. Rose, A.H. (1976) Chemical Microbiology, 3 rd edn Butterworth-Heinemann 6. Stanier, R. Y.,M. Doudoroffand E. A. Adelberg. General Microbiology, 5 th edition, The Macmillan press Ltd 7. White, D., (1995), The Physiology and Biochemistry of Prokaryotes, 3 rd edition, Oxford University Press 8. Wilson and Walker, 4 th edn 9. Zubay, G. L (1996), Biochemistry, 4 th edition, Wm. C. Brown publishers SIUSMIC53: Reference books: 1. Cohen, G.N. (2011). Microbial Biochemistry. 2 nd edn,Springer 2. Zubay, G. L (1996), Principles of Biochemistry, Wm. C. Brown publishers SIUSMIC54: Text books 1. Casida L. E., "Industrial Microbiology"(2009) Reprint, New Age International (P) Ltd, Publishers, New Delhi 2. Environmental degradation : issues and challenges by Shitole and Sable, Global research publication(2012) 3. H. A. Modi, (2009). ''Fermentation Technology'' Vols 1 and 2, Pointer Publications, India 4. Okafor Nakuda (2007) ''Modern Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology'', Science Publications Enfield, NH, USA. 5. Peppler, H. J. and Perlman, D. (1979), "Microbial Technology''. Vol 1 and 2, Academic Press 6. Stanbury P. F., Whitaker A. and HaII--S. J., (1997), "Principles of Fermentation Technology", 2nd Edition, Aditya Books Pvt. Ltd, NewDelhi. SIUSMIC54: Reference books 1. Crueger W. and Crueger A. (2000) "Biotechnology -"A Textbook of Industrial Microbiology", 2nd Edition, Panima Publishing Corporation, New Delhi. 2. Prescott and Dunn's ''Industrial Microbiology''(1982) 4th Edition, McMillan Publishers T. Y. B. Sc. MICROBIOLOGY THEORY SEMESTER-VI \| SIUSMIC61 \| rDNA TECHNOLOGY, BIOINFORMATIC AND VIROLOGY \| \|---\|---\| \| Unit I \| RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY \| \| Unit II \| BASIC TECHNIQUES IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS \| \| Unit III \| VIROLOGY I \| \| Unit IV \| VIROLOGY II \| \| SIUSMIC62 \| MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY II \| \| Unit1 \| MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY III \| \| Unit II \| CHEMOTHERAPY \| \| Unit III \| IMMUNOLOGY III \| \| Unit IV \| IMMUNOLOGY IV \| \| SIUSMIC63 \| MICROBIAL BIOCHEMISTRY : PART II \| \| Unit I \| LIPID METABOLISM AND CATABOLISM OF HYDROCARBONS. \| \| Unit II \| METABOLISM OF PROTEINS AND NUCLEIC ACIDS \| \| Unit III \| METABOLIC REGULATION \| \| Unit IV \| PROKARYOTIC PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND INORGANIC METABOLISM \| \| SIUSMIC64 \| APPLIED AND INDUSTRIAL MICROBIOLOGY \| \| Unit I \| TRADITIONAL INDUSTRIAL FERMENTATIONS PART 2 \| \| Unit II \| ADVANCES IN BIOPROCESSES TECHNOLOGY: \| \| Unit III \| BIOINSTRUMENTATION AND BIOSTATISTICS \| \| Unit IV \| QUALITY ASSURANCE AND REGULATORY PRACTICES \| SIUSMIC-601 (rDNA TECHNOLOGY, BIOINFORMATICS AND VIROLOGY) Learning Objectives Microbial Genetics is an undergraduate T.Y. B.Sc. Microbiology course that deals with both conceptual and practical tools for generating, processing and understanding biological genetic information. It develops knowledge of the underlying theories of genetics which exhibits a broad understanding of genetic exchange among prokaryotes. It also gives students hands-on competence in fundamental molecular biology theories and laboratory techniques. It gives an overview of recombinant DNA technology and biotechnology applications utilizing genetic manipulation. It also provides practical experience of the major analytical techniques used in bioinformatics. It also deals with basic structure and life cycle of different types of viruses and explains different terminologies like cancer, prions, viriods and their mechanism. Learning Outcomes Students should be able to- 1. Understand the basic concepts and techniques of recombinant DNA technology 2. Understand the basic concepts of Bioinformatics. 3. Understand the basic structure, classification, enumeration, cultivation and life cycle of viruses 4. Understand the terms like cancer, prions, viriods and their mechanisms 5. Understand regulation of lambda phage SIUSMIC-61: DETAIL SYLLABUS \| Course Code \| Title \| L/ Semester \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC6 01 \| RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY, BIOINFORMATICSandVIROLOGY \| 2.5 Credits (60 L) \| \| \| UNIT I RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY 1. 1 Recombinant DNA technology: i. Site specific mutagenesis of DNA, Uses of DNA polymorphism, STRS and VNTRS,DNA molecular testing for human genetic diseases(Only RFLP),DNA typing, gene therapy, Genetic engineering of plants and ii. Animals. 1.2 Basic steps in Gene Cloning. 1.3 Cutting and joining DNA molecules--Restriction and modification systems, restriction endonucleases, DNA ligases 1.4 Vectors i. Plasmids as cloning vectors. The plasmid vectors, pBR322 vector ii. Cloning genes into pBR322 iii. Phage as cloning vectors, cloning genes into phage vector iv. Cosmids v. Shuttle vectors- YAC, BAC 1.5 Methods of artificial transformation 1.7.Screening and selection methods for identification and isolation of recombinant cells \| 15 3L 1L 2L 4L 2L 3L \| \| 3.2 Viral classification (Baltimore) 3.3 The viral replication cycle- attachment, penetration, uncoating, types of viral genome and their replication, assembly, maturation and release. 3.4 Cultivation of viruses- cell culture techniques, embryonated egg, laboratory animals, Cell culture methods: Equipment required for animal cell culture, Isolation of animal tissue \| 2L 4L 5L \| \|---\|---\| SIUSMIC-62 (MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY andIMMUNOLOGY-II) Learning objectives: One of the most important areas of microbiology, medical microbiology encompasses the aetiology, transmission, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, laboratory diagnosis, prophylaxis, and treatment of various diseases that are enlisted in the syllabus. This course will help students to build on the basic information regarding host defence mechanisms that they have gained in F.Y.BSc. Immunology is an integral part of Medical Microbiology and this course is designed for T.Y.B.Sc. Microbiology students and it is assumed that the students have achieved a basic understanding of Innate Immunity and Host Defence mechanisms. The course has been designed to help understand the ability of our immune system to defend against invading pathogens in a logical fashion. This includes our innate ability to defend against microorganisms (innate immunity); should this first line of defence fail, how we can fight infections (acquired immunity); if we react excessively, what price we pay (hypersensitivity); and very importantly, can we prevent pathogens from infecting us (vaccination). Learning Outcomes: (Medical Microbiology) Students should be able to- - Give details of the virulence factors and other features of the pathogen - Correlate these virulence factors with the pathogenesis and clinical features of the disease - Comment on the mode of transmission, epidemiology and therefore modes of prophylaxis of these diseases - Given a few key clinical features, identify the likely causative agent. - Comment on the methods of diagnosis of the disease. Learning Outcomes: (Immunology) Students should be able to- - Understand the effector responses- Humoral Immunity and Cell Mediated Immunity and differentiate between them - Acquire an understanding of the role of immune system in disease: - Unregulated response resulting in Hypersensitivity - Apply the concept of immunity to prevention of disease by development of vacc SIUSMIC-62: DETAILSYLLABUS \| Course Code \| Title \| L/ Semester \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC 602 \| MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY II \| 2.5 Credits (60L) \| \| \| UNIT I MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY III Study of a few diseases with emphasis on cultural characteristics of the aetiological agent, pathogenesis, laboratory diagnosis and prevention. 1. Study of vector-borne infections -Malaria 2. Study of sexually transmitted infectious diseases -Syphilis, AIDS, Gonorrhoea 3. Study of emerging infections- Dengue, chikungunya, leptospirosis \| 15 02 08 05 \| 36 2.3 Mechanisms of drug resistance- Its evolution, pathways, origin and prevention 03 UNIT III 15 15L iii. Cellular events within germinal centers- Overview Affinity maturation, somatic hyper-mutation and class switching iv. Generation of plasma cells and memory cells 38 iv. Generation of plasma cells and memory cells SIUSMIC-63 (MICROBIALBIOCHEMISTRY: PART-II) Learning objectives: There are a large number of macromolecules such as lipids, carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids which are catabolised by the living cells. Cells also bring about biosynthesis of these macromolecules. Various enzymes play a major role in these biochemical reactions. These enzymatic reactions are regulated. The learner must be made aware of the mechanisms of catabolism, anabolism as well as the regulation of this mechanism in the living cell. There are prokaryotic cells which bring about photosynthesis to generate energy. Prokaryotic cells are also involved in metabolism of inorganiccompounds. This course is designed for TYBSc Microbiology students and it is assumed that the students already have a basic understanding of macromolecules. The course will help students to understand the metabolism of macromolecules as well as the regulation of metabolic reactions. The students would also learn photosynthetic reactions in prokaryotic cells and metabolism of inorganic compounds. Learning Outcomes: Students should be able to- - Understand the reactions involved in metabolism of lipids and hydrocarbons. - Describe and explain protein catabolism as well as anabolic processes in the cell. - Explain nucleic acid metabolism and recycling of nucleotides. - Discuss the mechanism of regulation with regards to allosteric proteins, gene expression as well as through other mechanisms like end product inhibition and covalent modification. - Describe prokaryotic photosynthesis with respect to photosynthetic pigments, photochemical apparatus and light and dark reactions. - Describe metabolism of inorganic compounds and Lithotrophy SIUSMIC-63 : DETAIL SYLLABUS \| Course Code \| Title \| L/ Semester \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC 63 \| MICROBIAL BIOCHEMISTRY PART II \| 2.5 Credits (60L) \| \| \| UNIT I LIPID METABOLISM AND CATABOLISM OF HYDROCARBONS 1.1 General introduction to Lipids 1.1.1. Lipids and their functions 1.1.2. Action of lipases on triglycerides /tripalmitate 1.1.3. Phospholipids and their properties 1.1.4. Common phosphoglycerides in bacteria 1.2 Catabolism of Lipids 1.2.1.Oxidation of saturated fatty acid β oxidation pathway Energetics of β oxidation of Palmitic acid 1.2.2. Oxidation of propionic acid. 1.2.3. Degradation of poly beta hydroxy butyrate 1.3 Anabolism of Lipids 1.3.1. Biosynthesis of straight chain even carbon Saturated fatty acid (palmitic acid) 1.3.2. Biosynthesis of phosphoglycerides in bacteria 1.3.3. Biosynthesis of PHB 1.4 Catabolism of aliphatic hydrocarbons 1.4.1. Oxidation of saturated aliphatic Hydrocarbon (n-alkane) 1.4.2. Omega oxidation pathway- i)Pathway in Corynebacterium and yeast ii)Pathway in Pseudomonas \| 15 02 05 06 02 \| UNIT III 15 15 Covalent modification of enzymes i. General examples without structures ii. Monocyclic cascade andinterconvertable enzyme definition iii. Glutamine synthetase system of E.coli 3.4. Regulation by proteolytic cleavage 3.5 Regulation of EMP and TCA (Schematic and Role of Pyruvate dehydrogenase Complex) 01 \| UNIT IV PROKARYOTIC PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND INORGANIC METABOLISM \| 15L \| \|---\|---\| \| 4.1 Prokaryotic photosynthesis 4.1.1 Early studies on photosynthesis i. Light and dark reactions ii. Bacterial photosynthesis iii. Hill reaction 4.1.2. Phototrophic prokaryotes -Oxygenic, Anoxygenic phototrophs examples only 4.1.3.Photosynthetic pigments 4.1.4.Location of photochemical apparatus 4.1.5.Photophosphorylation- Light reactions in i. Purple photosynthetic bacteria ii. Green sulphur bacteria iii. Cyanobacteria (with details) 4.1.7.Dark reaction i. Calvin Benson cycle ii. Reductive TCA 4.2 Inorganic Metabolism A) Assimilatory pathways- i. Assimilation of nitrate, ii. Ammonia fixation – Glutamate dehydrogenase, Glutamine synthetase, GS-GOGAT, Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase iii. Biological nitrogen fixation (Mechanism for N fixation and protection of nitrogenase) 2 iv. Assimilation of sulphate B) Dissimilatory pathways- i. Nitrate as an electron acceptor (Denitrification in Paracoccus denitrificans) ii. Sulphate as an electron acceptor 4.3. Lithotrophy– i. Enlist organisms and products formed during oxidation of Hydrogen, carbon monoxide, Ammonia, Nitrite, Sulphur, Iron. \| 09 03 02 01 \| SIUSMIC-64 (APPLIED and INDUSTRIAL MICROBIOLOGY) Learning Objectives Bioprocess Technology and Environmental Microbiology course is designed to develop the learner's ability to study the techniques used in the different phases of industrial microbiology such as strain improvement, basic fermentation equipment and its sterilization aspects. It gives an in depth focus of the different types of fermenters used in industry for production of different products, and also emphasizes its process parameters. It includes the principles and describes the main steps and processes in the industrial production of beverages and enzymes. The downstream process and the environmental aspects of the final product are also included. Industrial and Environmental Microbiology becomes an important application based paper covering microbial fermentations as well as applying the techniques of molecular biology to enzyme technology, animal tissue culture as well as plant tissue culture. Thus, it becomes a laboratory to market scenario where the entire products reach. The learner is provided with the details of productions of important products like antibiotics, vitamins, organic acid and enzymes along with the analysis techniques using various instruments and statistical tools. The learner is expected to learn the need of Quality management and regulatory bodies as the products need to fulfill these requirements. Thus this paper readies the learner to understand and apply the knowledge of fermentation technology and related products. This course aims to enable graduates to enter industry with an appropriate level of understanding of the need for both the science and business aspects to be achievable to make a viable product and enhance their enterpreunial skills. Learning Outcomes Students should be able to- - Understand the actual process involved in fermentations of important products. - To apply the knowledge of applications of animal and plant tissue culture techniques. - Learn the applications of enzymes in various fields. - Understand the working of important instruments used in biochemical analysis and also learn to analyze the results using statistical tools. - Learn the salient features of quality management and regulatory procedures. - Understand the commercial and economic aspects of applied microbiology. SIUSMIC-64: DETAIL SYLLABUS \| Course Code \| Title \| L/ Semester \| Notional Periods \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| SIUSMIC64 \| APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY \| 2.5 Credits(60 L) \| Self Study (60) \| \| \| UNIT I TRADITIONAL FERMENATIONS- II i. Penicillin and Semisynthetic Penicillin ii. Vitamin B12 from Propionibacterium and iii. Pseudomonas iv. Glutamic Acid(direct) v. Citric acid vi. Mushroom \| 15 04 03 02 03 03 \| 15 \| \| \| UNIT II ATC, PTC, ENZYME TECHNOLOGY 2.1 Animal Cell Cultivation and applications i. Animal Cell Lines, ii. Methods of cultivation and establishment of cell lines iii. Animal cell culture fermenters, Large scale cultivation procedures 2.2. Plant Tissue Culture i. Methods of cultivation of organ culture, callus culture and cell suspension culture, ii. Application in Agriculture a) (Disease resistant plants, virus free plants) b) Horticulture (Micropropagation) c) Industry (secondary metabolites production),Transgenic plant (Insect resistant plants) \| 15 05 05 \| 15 \| 05 Chemicals and Pharmaceutical production iii. The five variables, In process Items, Finished Products, Labels and Labeling, Packaging materials iv. Documentation, Regulations, Control of Microbial contamination during manufacture, Premises and contamination control Manufacture of sterile products, Clean and Aseptic Area. Important publications related to QA 4.3 Sterilization Control and Sterility Assurance: i. Bio-burden determinations Environmental monitoring Sterilization ii. Monitors – Physical, Chemical and Biological indicators iii. Sterility Testing 04 T.Y.B.SC. MICROBIOLOGY PRACTICALS (SEMESTER-VI) COURSE CODE: SIUSMICP07 [PRACTICALS BASED ON SIUSMIC61; CREDITS: 1.5, L:60, NOTIONAL PERIODS-15] 1. Enrichment of coliphages, phage assay (pilot and proper). 2. Restriction digestion of lambda phage /any plasmid DNA 3. Amplification of DNA by PCR and confirmation of it by gel electrophoresis [Demo.] 4. Western Blot.(Demo) 5. Bioinformatics practical 6. Animal cell culture(demo) 7. On Line Practical a) Visiting NCBI and EMBL websites and list services available, software tools available and databases maintained b) Visiting and exploring various databases mentioned in syllabus and i. Using BLAST and FASTA for sequence analysis ii. Fish out homologs for given specific sequences (by teacher – decide sequence of some relevance to their syllabus and related to some biological problem e.g. evolution of a specific protein in bacteria, predicting function of unknown protein from a new organism based on its homology) iii. Six frame translation of given nucleotide sequence iv. Restriction analysis of given nucleotide sequence v. Pair-wise alignment and multiple alignment of a given protein sequences vi. Formation of phylogenetic tree COURSE CODE: SIUSMICP62 [PRACTICALS BASED ON SIUSMIC62; CREDITS -1.5,L- 60,NOTIONAL PERIODS-15] 1. Demonstration of malaria parasite in blood films 2. Selection and testing of antibiotics using the Kirby-Bauer method 3. Determination of MBC of an antibiotic. 4. Blood grouping – Direct and Reverse typing 5. Coomb's Direct test 6. Determination of Isoagglutinin titre 7. Demonstration experiments-VDRL COURSE CODE: SIUSMICP63 [PRACTICALS BASED ON SIUSMIC63; CREDITS -1.5, L- 60, NOTIONAL PERIODS-15] 1. To study catabolite repression by diauxic growth curve. 2. Protein estimation by Lowry's method 3. Estimation of uricacid 4. Qualitative and Quantitative assay of Protease 5. Qualitative assay of Lipase 6. Study of breakdown of amino acids – Lysine decarboxylase and Deaminase activity 7. Study of Lithotrophs – Nitrosification and Nitrification COURSE CODE: SIUSMICP64 [PRACTICALS BASED ON SIUSMIC64; CREDITS: 1.5, L: 60, NOTIONAL PERIODS 15] 1. Bioassay of an antibiotic (Ampicillin) 2. Bioassay of Cyanocobalamin. 3. Immobilization of yeast cells for invertase activity- making of beads, Determination of activity and count by haemocytometer. 4. Carrot explants culture (Demo). 5. Sterility testing of injection water. 6. Chemical estimation of Penicillin 7. Estimation of Phenol 8. Biostatistics problem Semester-VI: Text Books and Reference Books SIUSMIC 61: Text books: 1. A textbook of biotechnology R.C.Dubey 4 th ed. S.Chand. 2. Arthur Lesk, (2009), "Introduction to Bioinformatics", 3 rd Edition, Oxford University Press 3. Benjamin A. Pierce (2008), "Genetics a conceptual approach", 3 rd ed., W. H. Freeman and company. ed., Pearson Education International. 4. Edward Wagner and Martinez Hewlett, (2005) "Basic Virology", 2 nd edition, Blackwell Publishing 5. Fairbanks and Anderson, (1999), "Genetics", Wadsworth Publishing Company. 6. M.Madigan, J.Martinko, J.Parkar, (2009), "Brock Biology of microorganisms", 12 th 7. Peter J. Russell (2006), "Genetics-A molecular approach", 2 nd ed. 8. Prescott, Harley and Klein, "Microbiology",. 7th edition Mc Graw Hill international edition. 9. Primrose and Twyman, (2001), "Principles of gene manipulation and genomics", 6 th ed, Blackwell Publishing 10. R. H. Tamarin, (2004), "Principles of genetics", Tata McGrawHill.. 11. Robert Weaver, (2008), "Molecular biology", , 3rd edn. Mc Graw Hill international edition. 12. S.Ignacimuthu, (2005), "Basic Bioinformatics", Narosa publishing house. 13. Snustad, Simmons, "Principles of genetics", 3 rd edn. John Wiley and sons, Inc. 14. Teri Shors,.(2009) , "Understanding viruses", Jones and Bartlett publishers. Reference books: 1. Benjamin Lewin, ( 9 th edition), "Genes IX", , Jones and Bartlett publishers. 2. Flint, Enquist, Racanillo and Skalka, "Principles of virology", 2 nd edn. ASM press. 3. JD Watson, "Molecular biology of the gene", 5 th edn. 4. T. K. Attwood and D. J. Parry-Smith, (2003), "Introduction to bioinformatics", Pearson education SIUSMIC62 : TEXT BOOKS: 1. Ananthanarayan and Panicker's, Textbook of Microbiology, 9 th edition 2. Bacterial Pathogenesis –A molecular approach Abigail Salyer And Dixie Whitt 2nd Ed ASM press 3. Fahim Khan, Elements of Immunology, Pearson Education 4. Jawetz, Melnick and Adelberg's Medical Microbiology, 26 th Edition, Lange publication 5. Kuby Immunology, 6 th Edition, W H Freeman and Company 6. Pathak and Palan, Immunology: Essential and Fundamental, 1 st and 3 rd Edition, Capital Publishing Company REFERENCES: 1. Baron Samuel , Medical Microbiology, 4 th editionhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7627/ 2. Kuby Immunology, 7 th Edition, W H Freeman andCompany 3. http://www.macmillanlearning.com/catalog/static/whf/kuby/ SIUSMIC603: TEXT BOOKS 1. Cohen, G.N. (2011). Microbial Biochemistry. 2 nd edn,Springer 2. Conn, E.E., P. K. Stumpf, G. Bruening and R. Y. Doi. 1987. Outlines of Biochemistry, 5 th edition, 1987. John Wiley and Sons. NewYork. 3. Gottschalk, G., (1985), Bacterial Metabolism, 2 nd edition, Springer Verlag H. Freeman and Company. 4. Madigan, M.T. and J.M. Martinko 2006. Brock Biology of Microorganisms. Pearson Prentice Hall; 5. Nelson, D.L.and M.M. Cox(2005),Lehninger, Principles of biochemistry.4 th edition, W. 6. Salle, A.J. Fundamental Principles of Bacteriology, 7 th edn McGraw Hill Book Co. 7. Stanier, R. Y., M. Doudoroff and E. A. Adelberg. General Microbiology, 5 th edition, The Macmillan press Ltd 8. White, D., (1995), The Physiology and Biochemistry of Prokaryotes, 3 rd edition, Oxford University Press REFERENCE BOOKS: 1. Principles of Biochemistry, Lehninger, 5 th edn W. H. Freeman and Company 2. Zubay, G. L (1996), Principles of Biochemistry, Wm. C. Brown publishers SIUSMIC604: TEXT BOOKS 1. Casida L. E., "Industrial Microbiology" 2009 Reprint, New Age International (P) Ltd, Publishers, NewDelhi 2. Crueger W. and Crueger A. 2000 "Biotechnology -"A Textbook of Industrial Microbiology", 2nd Edition, Panima Publishing Corporation, New Delhi. 3. H. A. Modi, 2009. ''Fermentation Technology'' Vol: 1 and 2, Pointer Publications ,India 4. Prescott and Dunn's ''Industrial Microbiology''(1982) 4th Edition, McMillan Publishers 5. R. C. Dubey, 2005 A Textbook of ''Biotechnology'' S. Chand and Company, New Delhi 6. Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques By C. R. Kothari, New Age International, 2004 7. Stanbury P. F., Whitaker A. andHaII--S. J., 1997, "Principles of Fermentation Technology", 2nd Edition, Aditya Books Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi. REFERENCE BOOKS: 1. Peppler, H. J. and Perlman, D. (1979), "Microbial Technology''. Vol 1 and 2, Academic Press. 2. Principles and application of Statistics in Biosciences by Dr D.V.Kamat (2012),Manan Prakashan MODALITY OF ASSESSMENT: THEORY EXAMINATION PATTERN A) Internal Assessment - Theory 40 marks \| Sr No \| Evaluation type \| \|---\|---\| \| 1 \| One Assignment/Case study/Project \| \| 2 \| One class Test (multiple choice questions / objective) \| B) External examination - Theory 60 marks 1. Unit I-15 2. Unit II-15 3. Unit III-15 4. Unit IV-15 All the above questions will have internal choice Practical Examination Pattern: A. Internal Examination:-There will not be any internal examination/ evaluation for practicals. B. External (Semester end practical examination) :- \| Sr. No. \| Particulars \| \|---\|---\| \| 1 \| Laboratory work \| \| 2 \| Journal \| \| 3 \| Viva/Quiz \| The students are required to present a duly certified journal for appearing at the practical examination, failing which they will not be allowed to appear for the examination. In case of loss of Journal and/ or Report, a Lost Certificate should be obtained from Head of the Department/ Co-ordinator of the department; failing which the student will not be allowed to appear for the practical examination. Overall Examination and Marks Distribution Pattern for Semester V \| Course \| SIUSMIC51 \| \| \| SIUSMIC52 \| \| \| SIUSMIC53 \| \| \| SIUSMIC54 \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Internal \| External \| Total \| Internal \| External \| Tot al \| Intern al \| External \| Tot al \| Internal \| External \| Total \| \| Theory \| 40 \| 60 \| 100 \| 40 \| 60 \| 100 \| 40 \| 60 \| 100 \| 40 \| 60 \| 100 \| SEMESTER VI \| Course \| SIUSMIC61 \| \| \| SIUSMIC62 \| \| \| SIUSMIC63 \| \| \| SIUSMIC64 \| \| \| Grand Total \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| Internal \| External \| Total \| Internal \| External \| Tot al \| Intern al \| External \| Tot al \| Internal \| External \| Total \| \| \| Theory \| 40 \| 60 \| 100 \| 40 \| 60 \| 100 \| 40 \| 60 \| 100 \| 40 \| 60 \| 100 \| 400 \| \| Practicals \| - \| 50 \| 50 \| - \| 50 \| 50 \| - \| 50 \| 50 \| - \| 50 \| 50 \| 200 \| 58
MOX-Report No. 41/2020 Not the magic algorithm: modelling and early-predicting students dropout through machine learning and multilevel approach Cannistrà,M.; Masci, C.; Ieva, F.; Agasisti, T.; Paganoni, A.M. MOX, Dipartimento di Matematica Politecnico di Milano, Via Bonardi 9 - 20133 Milano (Italy) email@example.com http://mox.polimi.it Not the magic algorithm: modelling and early-predicting students dropout through machine learning and multilevel approach M. Cannistrà # , C. Masci ♮ , F. Ieva ♮ , T. Agasisti # , and A. M. Paganoni ♮ June 4, 2020 # DIG - Department of Management Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, via Lambruschini 4/b, Milano, Italy firstname.lastname@example.org email@example.com MOX - Modelling and Scientiﬁc Computing, Department of Mathematics, Politecnico di Milano, via Bonardi 9, Milano, Italy firstname.lastname@example.org email@example.com firstname.lastname@example.org Abstract According to OECD, almost 30 per cent of students leave tertiary education programs without obtaining a degree. This number measures a dead loss of human capital and a waste of public and private resources. This paper contributes to the existing knowledge about students dropout by combining a theoretical-based model with a data-driven approach to detect students who are more likely to leave university in the ﬁrst year. We propose the use of multilevel statistical models and machine learning methods, applied to administrative data from a leading Italian university. The ﬁndings are encouraging, as the methodology is able to predict at-risk students very precisely. We provide evidence of the essential role of data relative to early performance (i.e. grades obtained in the ﬁrst semester). Moreover, the selection of major strongly inﬂuences the probability of dropping out. Keywords: Learning Analytics, Early Warning Systems, Student dropout, Machine Learning, multilevel models, HE students. ♮ "Universities should use data regularly and systematically to identify high-risk students, target them with interventions, and evaluate those interventions' eﬀectiveness" von Hippel and Hoﬄinger, 2020 1 Introduction The Italian Higher Education (HE) system is plagued by a high level of dropout, with many students abandoning their Bachelor courses during the ﬁrst or second year. According to the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR), the dropout rate for the cohort of students from whom complete data are available is around 28.2 per cent, with almost two-thirds of them (20 per cent) dropping out in the ﬁrst two years ("ANVUR: Rapporto biennale sullo stato del Sistema Universitario e della ricerca", 2018). This data is particularly worrying because of the low proportion of people holding a tertiary education degree in Italy. OECD (2019) indicates that the percentage of 25-34 years old adults with higher education was 28 per cent, with the same share being 19 per cent for the adults 25-64 years old (reference year: 2018) - both indicators are well below the OECD average. Understanding the dropout phenomenon is so important, in Italy, that a number of academic studies explored it under many diﬀerent viewpoints. For example, Belloc, Maruotti, and Petrella (2010) aims at individuating personal features of students who are more likely to dropout (instead of universities' institutional factors), administering a questionnaire directly to the students. In the related study in Belloc, Maruotti, and Petrella (2011), the authors utilise administrative data from one university for the same purpose, employing novel statistical techniques in the analysis. The authors in Aina (2013) use (Italian) data from the European Community Household Panel and detects the strong role of parental background in aﬀecting persistence - with students from disadvantaged families more likely to dropout, all other factors held constant. Such diﬀerence related with socioeconomic background has been conﬁrmed more recently by Ghignoni (2017) as well as by Contini, Cugnata, and Scagni (2018). The work in Di Pietro and Cutillo (2008) suggests that degree ﬂexibility can help reducing likelihood to dropout - and employ data about a national reform undertaken in Italy 2001 for testing this intuition. A high incidence of dropout rates in the functioning of the HE system generates equity and eﬃciency issues. On the equity side, various students demonstrate how there is a correlation between socioeconomic background and dropout, and the academic literature conﬁrms that disadvantaged students are more at-risk of dropping out. Unfortunately, reforms and interventions for expanding the access to HE were not successful in reducing the socioeconomic gradient of the dropout (Bratti, Checchi, & De Blasio, 2008; Brunori, Peragine, & Serlenga, 2012; Oppedisano, 2011). When considering eﬃciency, dropout represents a net waste of resources. Indeed, educating students is a costly activity, which generates returns in the long run due to the credentials acquired and the human capital accumulated. When students do not conclude their courses with a degree, these beneﬁts are not realised and only the costs accrue to the educational activities. A recent trend in the interventions for improving retention and reducing dropout rates is the use of Learning Analytics tools (De Freitas et al., 2015). Speciﬁcally, the use of advanced techniques, rooted in both the statistical and Machine Learning domains, is applied to predict the students who are more at-risk of dropping out. If algorithms demonstrate to be eﬀective in predicting students' performance, the early identiﬁcation of students atrisk can be helpful for designing targeted interventions for improving their chances of retention (Burgos et al., 2018). While a growing number of studies starts considering the speciﬁc use of predictions for remedial education, the debate about the best models to be employed for predictions is far from being concluded, and the empirical solutions proposed are not widely accepted. In this paper, we use administrative data from Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi), Italy, to test some novel models to formulate predictions of at-risk students. The database gathers various cohorts of ﬁrst-year Bachelor students (in Engineering) and covers 9 years (from 2010 to 2019); overall, it includes more than 110,000 students, with associated 10,000,000 entries, each of which is a speciﬁc event related with the student journey (her initial administrative record, exams, etc.). The research stems from an institutional initiative launched by PoliMi under the label "Data Analytics for Institutional Support", which broad aim is to leverage the available (administrative) datasets of the university to analyze many aspects of the academic life, and support better decision-making. The priority assigned to the Research Group is to detect the main causes of students' dropout, which is substantial in PoliMi (about 30 per cent). At the same time, the initiative's objective is to create remedial initiatives, for helping students at-risk to avoid giving-up. The primary step consisted in the development of an algorithm that should be able to identify students at-risk early in their academic career, i.e. at the end of the 1 st semester of the 1 st year. The Research Group performed various analyses for setting the best performing algorithms as possible, embarking a profound methodological work along with deep empirical testing. This fundamental step will pave the way to subsequent interventions for reducing dropout and for testing their eﬀectiveness, which represents the most recent frontier of the academic literature on this speciﬁc use of Learning Analytics (Larrabee Sønderlund, Hughes, & Smith, 2019). In this work, we report the ﬁndings from the application of newly developed algorithms to the problem of early detecting students who are potentially at-risk of dropout. We use various cohorts of 1 st year Bachelor students as the applicative case, including Engineering students only (thus, excluding Architecture and Design). This paper answers three research questions: a. How important is that the predictive algorithm takes into account the grouped nature of data, i.e. considering that students are enrolled to diﬀerent degree programs - so that their probability of dropping out is conditional to the degree program they chose? b. Which characteristics are more frequently associated to the risk of dropping out? And speciﬁcally, how important are the diﬀerent groups of variables that are available in improving prediction? - please note that we have data about individual demographics, prior achievement and current academic results. c. How do alternative algorithms' types (Machine Learning vs generalised linear models) perform in predicting actual dropout? This paper innovates the current state-of-the-art of the ﬁeld in two main directions. First, we develop a comprehensive theoretical model for studying dropout in a data analysis perspective, complementing the application of techniques to the existing data with a conceptual approach for exploring the determinants of dropout. The current approaches based on Learning Analytics are indeed very much data-driven, while paying less attention to the theoretical foundations of the models developed for the empirical analyses. We build a bridge between the literature about university dropout/success (Aljohani, 2016) and the one about the use of Learning Analytics techniques in the ﬁeld (Daniel, 2015; Leitner, Khalil, & Ebner, 2017). Second, we compare diﬀerent algorithms, built following alternative hypotheses and speciﬁcations, to test the validity and robustness of a number of statistical and Machine Learning methods. Given that the practical use and application of predictive models will produce real eﬀects on the academic life of students (for example, by activating targeted interventions), assessing the reliability of the algorithms and their stability across speciﬁcations becomes a crucial feature of any exercise of this kind. The remainder of the paper is organised as follows. In the section 2, we develop the theoretical framework for deriving the empirical models in the Learning Analytics perspective. Section 3 describes the available data, together with a background about the main characteristics of PoliMi - which are necessary to put the case in perspective and it illustrates the methodologies employed for the empirical analysis. Section 4 reports the main results, ordered according to the three research questions. Lastly, Section 5 discusses the main implications and general suggestions towards implementing future interventions for helping at-risk students. 2 Theoretical framework 2.1 The individual educational timeline - an overview The investigation of dropout phenomenon within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has been a concern for educators, university managers and policy makers. The academic literature distinguishes between two approaches investigating the features of this phenomenon: theory-driven and data-driven. The ﬁrst stream deepens the reasons and the psychological constructs behind withdrawing decisions, identifying theoretical fundamentals and drawing a conceptual model to guide the inquiry. Diﬀerent authors (Cabrera, Stampen, & Hansen, 1990; John, Paulsen, & Starkey, 1996; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980; Spady, 1970; Tinto, 1975) propose their models to show the processes of interactions between students, their characteristics and the institutions that lead to dropout (Tinto, 1975). In particular, the model considers the interaction between the student and the university environment in which individual attributes are exposed to inﬂuences, expectations, and demands from a variety of sources (such as courses, faculty members, administrators, and peers). The interaction between these two aspects allows the student to have success or failure in both the academic and social system (Spady, 1970). Hence, these studies focus on the necessity to contextualise the student's educational career in a speciﬁc community and situation. An alternative approach deals with data-driven studies, in which students' characteristics are analysed longitudinally to ﬁnd the best statistical models predicting dropout or graduation (Barbu et al., 2019; Korhonen & Rautopuro, 2019; Li, Rusk, & Song, 2013; Seidel & Kutieleh, 2017; Sothan, 2019; Vicario et al., 2018). In this case, researchers are less interested in explaining the phenomenon per se, while the focus is on ﬁnding the most performing model to forecast students who withdraw. In fact, the prediction of low performers is increasingly getting the attention of academics (Saa, Al-Emran, & Shaalan, 2019). In addition, data mining approach to education is fastly becoming an important ﬁeld of research due to its ability to extract new knowledge about this aspect from a huge amount of students' data (Wook, Yusof, & Nazri, 2017). The eﬀorts behind the present study converge into the development of a clear theoretical framework, placed in midway between the two approaches, considering the educational process and the need of predicting students' outcome as early as possible. On one side, the environmental factors appeared not as external but as student's attributes; while, on the other side, the data-driven approach is substituted with an information-driven modelling. This study wants to go beyond traditional data-driven models; indeed, they focus attention on the algorithms' composition to improve prediction's performance, which depends on data typology and availability. With the aim of ﬁlling the gaps within the two approaches, the theoretical framework proposed in this paper poses its basis on students' educational journey. This concept lays its foundation on Cunha and Heckman (2007), where the formation of individual skills (both cognitive and non-cognitive) is the result of a process where investments, environments and genes intervene. These factors interact and inﬂuence each other, to produce behaviours and abilities, overcoming the old "nature vs. nurture" distinction. In fact, the individual characteristics are the results of both innate and acquired factors. The technology that governs this process is formed by sequential periods, which are multistage and interrelated, so each period is inﬂuenced by the previous one and, in turn, inﬂuences the next. This means that inputs and investments in each stage produce outputs, which will be inputs of next stages themselves. For the purpose of our framework, we consider the Cunha and Heckman (2007) educational stages as school cycles (see Figure 1): childhood, primary school, middle school and high school (we use "K12" to refer to all school's grades until the 12 th ) and university. During each stage, it is possible to gather diﬀerent types of information about students. The collected information deal with educational path, such as grades or school data, or with personal and demographic information, for instance the citizenship or family's situation. It is highly relevant the moment in which information is collected: some demographic characteristics appears in the timeline at individuals' birth (for example, gender or date and place of birth), while examinations at middle schools are stored within the K12's group. The key feature of this model is that individual experiences enrich students' personal timeline. Starting from the assumption that the process of skills' formation is multistage and interrelated (Cunha & Heckman, 2007), the milestone of the proposed framework relies on the possibility to predict student's dropout, considering groups of variables related to the educational stages, in diﬀerent periods of time. In the perspective described above, educational data scientists may take into consideration how a single piece of information (e.g. single variable) may add an informative advantage to the prediction of dropout, in relation to the various educational stages. This approach allows the analysts to consider students' performance as the result of a cumulative process over time. Further and most important, educational data scientists may predict students' outcome (in this case dropout) standing on diﬀerent points along the timeline. In other words, it is possible to predict student's outcome considering new variables or variables' group each time. This conception allows ﬁnding the optimal stage to observe student's outcome, facing the trade-oﬀbetween prediction accuracy, which normally improve when adding more features, and the potential timing to intervene, that needs to be reduced as much as possible, so with early predictions. The proposed framework aims at addressing the managerial challenge for education: helping students deemed as at-risk the earliest moment possible. 2.2 The theoretical framework for Higher Education Institutions: practical application and academic literature From an operational standpoint, a complete picture about students' career and personal characteristics cannot be obtained, so a reduced view of the proposed theoretical framework needs to contextualise it into real-world practice. Institutions have an incomplete outlook about student's educational path, mostly based on two types of variables: dynamic, such as the digital footprints students leave within their organization (Azcona, Hsiao, & Smeaton, 2019), and static, with demographic information usually registered at the enrolment moment and data about educational performance over time. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) observe students' academic performance and the associated characteristics, without knowing the broader picture of previous history. Universities can make hypotheses about their students' previous career, using available information. The practical action is that institutions and educational data scientists need to position themselves along the student's timeline and look at their present, past and available characteristics, to predict future outcome (for example, graduation versus dropout). Intuitively, the more information is available, the more accurate is the prediction. However, this is an optimization problem: from a managerial perspective, the timing of the prediction is equally important to its accuracy, e.g. an early prediction with 85 per cent of dropout prediction accuracy is preferable to a late one with 95 per cent of accuracy. The complete timeline from HEIs' perspective comprises students' information, grouped according to educational path stages, as illustrated in the previous paragraph: (i) demographic characteristics, (ii) previous studies information (K12 information) and (iii) academic performance. To conﬁrm the choice of these groups of variables, Saa et al. (2019) develops an interesting meta-analysis taking into consideration 36 studies about dropout prediction at universities: it emerges that the determinants mostly related to dropout are previous grades and class performance, demographics, social information, instructor attributes, course attributes, course evaluations, environment, eLearning activity. From these results emerges that the selection of the three groups of features, as proposed in the current paper, is acceptable and generalisable. From the university's standpoint, it is worth considering the academic performance group as the central one in the analysis. It can be divided into sub-groups, seeing academic career as a timeline too, composed by within-year periods (e.g. Winter and Spring terms). The various stages inﬂuence each other to contribute to the ﬁnal outcome. The reference theories concerning dropout started in 1970 when Spady (1970) associates the Durkheim theory of suicide (Friedman, 1952) with withdrawing. Breaking the ties with society, or university environment, means a lack of integration. The social interactions are the basis to be integrated into a community. Starting from Spady's work, many researchers retake this concept trying to ﬁgure out forces and features mostly explaining social integration (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2000; Cabrera et al., 1990; John et al., 1996; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980; Tinto, 1975). These authors invest eﬀorts in mapping and identifying the forces which are conducive to students' dropout. To conﬁrm the choice of variables to be considered, most of these theories utilises demographic and academic information (i.e. family conditions, previous studies, experiences and academic performance) as inputs. Authors also map non-measurable factors to explain dropout, such as motivation, social integration and other non-cognitive features. The psychological aspects related to dropout decisions opens the discussion about the features which are too complicated and diﬃcult to be integrated into a Machine Learning algorithm. Anyway, this interesting part requires separate discussions, combining diﬀerent methodologies for its study. When focusing only on the data-driven studies, the framework proposed is based on the academic articles, selected according to three conditions: (a) published after 2009, (b) apply Machine Learning techniques to predict dropout and (c) published on highly-ranked academic journal. The analysis of these academic papers focuses on highlighting the most powerful predictors of student's dropout. In particular, each study adopting Machine Learning algorithms, aside from showing algorithms' performance in terms of accuracy of predictions, displays individual determinants most correlated to dropout decision than institutional features. Based on this information, we aim at categorizing such determinants according to the variables' groups already deﬁned in the theoretical framework. In particular, demographic information (it collects data about the individual, such as place and year of birth, gender, parents' info, etc.), previous studies (it collects information about previous schools, such as grades or school's information) and academic performance (it collects academic performance measurements, such as exams, credits, course, etc.). For this reason, as shown in the Table 1, the cited studies are useful in justifying the adoption of the three variables' groups: both academic literature's streams, in fact, take into consideration, for the explanation of dropout phenomenon, a series of social and educational factors, which can be categorised into one (or more) of the three groups' variables. In this sense, Table 1 resumes the studies supporting each group in their prediction analysis. The proposed theoretical framework is useful for identifying factors associated with the risk of dropout, and as a consequence can represent a valuable help for decision-makers in setting remediation interventions to increase retention (something which is beyond the scope of the current paper, though). The present research helps to underline how the variables' groups may add a comprehensive advantage to this kind of modelling. In fact, this allows to take into consideration the educational history of the student, when predicting her future outcome. Table 1: Variables' groups: their deﬁnitions and the supporting literature of data-driven studies. Demographic information Previous studies Academic performance Notes: the choice of each variables' group is supported by the listed literature. Data-driven studies, selected according to the date of publishing, the modelling's choice and the journal, are classiﬁed according to the predictors mostly related to dropout prediction which belong to one or more groups. 3 Materials and Methods 3.1 The context of Politecnico di Milano and technical details about its data Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi) trains students in Engineering, Architecture and Design majors. It is now worldwide recognised as the most prestigious public university, positioning at the 1 st place according to QS ranking 2020. Worldwide, it is considered reference point for its research activity, appearing among the ﬁrst 50 universities for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. PoliMi counts 46, 324 enrolled students in Academic Year 2019/2020 in Bachelor and Master programs, among which 7, 260 are future architects, 4, 305 designers and 34, 759 engineers. On the teaching side, the university relies on 1, 430 professors, divided into the three disciplines - Engineering, Architecture and Design. In 2019, the Rector of the university creates a central team of Data Analytics for Institutional Support to improve decision-making process with an evidence-based approach. Extracting valuable information from students' learning behavior is one of team's main task, in the perspective of improving student life at PoliMi, deﬁning new support activities for students and decreasing the number of students who dropout. This study investigates the dimensions and characteristics of student dropout at PoliMi, making a further distinction between early and late dropout. In particular, early dropout occurs when the student drops within the 3 rd semester after enrolment, while late dropout when the student drops later on. For instance, let us suppose the student enrolled in September of the Academic Year 2009/2010, if she dropped before February 2011, it will be labelled as "early dropout", while if she dropped later as "late dropout" (see Figure 2). From a methodological viewpoint, in an early warning system perspective, the group of variables about academic performance includes those until the end of ﬁrst semester of the ﬁrst year. Appendix A reports the list of variables used in the analysis with their explanation and descriptive statistics. 3.2 Methodology The data we analyse cover students enrolled in diﬀerent engineering programs at Politecnico di Milano. Students are nested within diﬀerent degree programs, this induces a natural source of dependence among students enrolled in the same degree program. Therefore, the dependence structure among students is not homogeneous across the sample (i.e. it can be diﬀerent across programs), but it has a latent structure, that is relevant and deserves to be taken into account. Classical regression models assume independence among observations and, therefore, they do not take into account this latent structure. On the other hand, multilevel regression models (Agresti, 2018; Goldstein, 2011; Pinheiro & Bates, 2006) are able to handle the hierarchical structure within the data and to model the structural dependence among them. These models disentangle the variability explained by each level of grouping of data and, therefore, help us in understanding the contribution given to each diﬀerent aspect to the phenomenon of student dropout. A second methodological aspect concerns the informative groups of variables as introduced in the theoretical framework. The academic literature indicates that the most powerful predictors for student dropout are categorised within three groups, that are (i) demographic information, (ii) previous studies and (iii) academic performance. These three areas of information are somehow sequential, in the sense that each group adds information, later in time, to the previous ones. Table 6 reports the list of variables we consider for each group. We are interested in measuring the importance of each group and, in the perspective of predicting student dropout as soon as possible, in identifying the minimum set - early in time - of information that allows us to have good predictions for student dropout. To this end, we start running our model considering only the ﬁrst group and then adding the others sequentially, with the aim to see how the predictive power increases by adding each group of information and which is minimum amount of information we need to have an "accurate prediction". We start with the "poorest" model that considers only demographic information and we conclude with the most complete one, that contains all the information (including early academic performance). In this way, we investigate both how much the predictive power increases by adding each group and which group registers the highest informative gain. Lastly, generalised linear models are the most frequently used techniques in the literature to predict student dropout. Nonetheless, they impose a parametric functional dependence between the covariates and the response that sometimes may be too restrictive or unrealistic for data that describe complex contests (as the one we are exploring now). For this reason, we compare the results of generalised linear models with the ones obtained applying Machine Learning techniques, such as classiﬁcation trees and Random Forest (Breiman, 2001; Hastie, Tibshirani, & Friedman, 2009). These are ﬂexible methods able to investigate non linear associations among the covariates and the response and to model interactions among the covariates. Moreover, recent developments in this context allow classiﬁcation trees to handle hierarchical data: in Fontana, Masci, Ieva, and Paganoni (2018) the authors propose a method to ﬁt generalised mixed-eﬀects regression trees (GMERT), while in Pellagatti, Masci, Ieva, and Paganoni (2020) the authors extend GMERT developing a new method to ﬁt generalised mixed-eﬀects random forest (GMERF). These methods have the strength and the ﬂexibility of Machine Learning techniques and they still consider the nested structure of data. In the light of this discussion, we run 18 diﬀerent models, that are listed in Table 2. Table 2: The diﬀerent models for analysing early and late dropout prediction. \| \| Set of covariates included in the model \| \| \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| \| demographic info \| \| demographic info + previous studies \| \| demographic info + previous studies + academic performance \| \| \| generalised linear model \| not nested \| nested \| not nested \| nested \| not nested \| nested \| \| classification tree \| not nested \| nested \| not nested \| nested \| not nested \| nested \| \| random forest \| not nested \| nested \| not nested \| nested \| not nested \| nested \| Our aim in specifying the diﬀerent models is twofold: (i) the former is to ﬁnd out which kind of models is able to well predict student dropout; (ii) the latter is, applying diﬀerent models, to investigate how this predictive accuracy does change across models, how and when it increases and which kind of information we can derive from diﬀerent model assumptions. We recall now the basics of multilevel models, specifying their modelling both for the generalised linear models and for the tree-based methods. Let Yij be the binary variable that is equal to 1 if the j−th student within the i−th degree program, for j = 1, . . . , ni and i = 1, . . . , N, dropped his/her studies and equal to 0 otherwise. ni is the total number of students who concluded their career (either dropped or graduated) enrolled in the i−th degree program and N = 20 is the total number of degree programs. Being Yij a Bernoulli variable where Yij = 1 with probability pij and Yij = 0 with probability (1 − pij), the classical logistic regression model (Agresti, 2018) takes the form: where µij = pij. pij is the probability that student j within degree program i drops, g(µij) is the logit link function, i.e. g(µij) = logit(µij) = logit(pij) = log pij 1−pij , P is the total number of predictors, β is the (P + 1)−dimensional vector of coeﬃcients and xij is the (P + 1)−dimensional vector of the covariates (including 1 for the intercept) relative to the (ij)-th observation. This modelling assumes that all the observations Yij (i.e. single students) are independent, that is to say, the production process of the outcome (dropout or not) is not aﬀected by common factors across students. If we now take into account the nested structure of data (i.e. students being enrolled into degree programs), the multilevel logistic regression model (Agresti, 2018), considering two levels, takes the following form: Conditionally on the random eﬀects coeﬃcients denoted by bi, the multilevel logistic regression model assumes that the elements of Yi are independent. zij is the (Q+1)−dimensional vector of predictors for the random eﬀects, bi is the (Q+1)−dimensional vector of their coeﬃcients and Ψ is the (Q+1)×(Q+1) within-group covariance matrix of the random eﬀects. In multilevel models, ﬁxed eﬀects are identiﬁed by parameters associated to the entire population, while random ones are identiﬁed by group-speciﬁc parameters. In our case study, bi are the coeﬃcients relative to the i−th degree program. Moving now to a Machine Learning (ML) approach, multilevel classiﬁcation trees (Fontana et al., 2018) basically substitute the linear ﬁxed-eﬀects part in Eq. (2) with a classiﬁcation tree structure: where f(xij) is not a linear combination of the coeﬃcients β but it is a partition of the covariates space into boxes (or rectangles) and the prediction within each box is the mode of all the observations that belong to that box. The absence of a speciﬁc functional form makes this method very ﬂexible and able to better model interactions among the covariates. Similarly, multilevel random forest (Pellagatti et al., 2020) takes the form in Eq. (3), where f(xij), instead of being a standard classiﬁcation tree, is a random forest, that is an ensemble of classiﬁcation trees. Random forest basically works taking many training sets from the entire population, building a separate prediction model using each training set, and averaging the resulting predictions. Moreover, during this process, it considers diﬀerent subsets of covariates for each training set, in order to give all variables the possibility to be taken into account in the tree splits - avoiding the risk that some variables cover the eﬀect of other less signiﬁcant ones (Hastie et al., 2009). Therefore, the advantage of random forest is twofold: it reduces the model variance and it handles the presence of highly correlated covariates, disentangling their associations with the response variable. Random forest gives as output the importance ranking of the covariates in predicting the response, measured as the mean decrease in Gini index - i.e. we can add up the total amount that the Gini index is decreased by splits over a given predictor, averaged over all trees of the ensemble (Raileanu & Stoﬀel, 2004). 4 Results The sample of students with ended career that we consider is composed by three categories of students: (i) graduated students, (ii) students who early dropped out (within the ﬁrst three semesters after the enrolment), (iii) students who late dropped out (after the ﬁrst three semesters after the enrolment). Since our aim is to investigate the determinants of both the two types of dropout, we run the models in Table 2 twice: one considering graduated students versus early dropout students, and the other considering graduated students versus late dropout students. We train our models on a training set, that is composed by students with ended career enrolled between a.y. 2010/2011 and a.y. 2014/2015 and we test it on a test set composed by students with ended careers enrolled in a.y. 2015/2016. In particular, in our models, Yij = 1 when student j within degree program i dropped, early or late depending on the model setting, and Yij = 0 when he or she graduated; X is the matrix of the ﬁxed-eﬀects covariates that contain all student-level characteristics shown in Table 6 (sequentially included in the models, according to the diﬀerent groups) and, lastly, when running multilevel models, i.e. when we take into account the hierarchical structure of students nested within degree programs, we include in the random eﬀects part only a random intercept, i.e. where bi is the value-added given by the i−th degree program to the dropout probability: if bi is negative, students within the i−th degree program are on average less likely to drop with respect to the others; while, if bi is positive, students within the i−th degree program are on average more likely to drop with respect to the others. Given Eq. (4), f (xij) is equal to a linear combination of the ﬁxed-eﬀects covariates in the case of a multilevel linear model, to a classiﬁcation tree in the case of a multilevel classiﬁcation tree and to a random forest in the case of a multilevel random forest. In order to compare the performance of the ﬁtted models, we compute two indexes: (i) the Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC), that provides an aggregate measure of performance across all possible classiﬁcation thresholds; (ii) the sensitivity index. We choose to measure the sensitivity index among the set of possible performance indexes because we are interested in ﬁnding the model that better identiﬁes the students at risk, i.e., the model with highest sensitivity. In Tables 3 and 4, we report the results of the ﬁtted models in terms of AUC and sensitivity, for early and late dropout prediction, respectively. Table 3: Area Under the Curve (AUC) and sensitivity index (sens) of the 18 models run for early dropout versus graduated. \| \| demographic info \| \| demographic info + previous studies \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| generalised linear model \| not nested AUC: 0.568 sens: 0.099 \| nested AUC: 0.593 sens: 0.312 \| not nested AUC: 0.626 sens: 0.465 \| nested AUC: 0.641 sens: 0.506 \| not nested AUC: 0.971 sens: 0.888 \| \| classification tree \| not nested AUC: 0.532 sens: 0.083 \| nested AUC: 0.581 sens: 0.267 \| not nested AUC: 0.533 sens: 0.075 \| nested AUC: 0.621 sens: 0.507 \| not nested AUC: 0.887 sens: 0.778 \| \| random forest \| not nested AUC: 0.528 sens: 0.006 \| nested AUC: 0.583 sens: 0.291 \| not nested AUC: 0.586 sens: 0.101 \| nested AUC: 0.639 sens: 0.415 \| not nested AUC: 0.967 sens: 0.870 \| Notes: The sensitivity is obtained as sensitivity = # true positive # true positive+# false negatives , where the true positives are the students correctly classiﬁed as dropout by the model and the false negatives are the students that are wrongly identiﬁed as graduated by the model. Table 4: Area Under the Curve (AUC) and sensitivity index (sens) of the 18 models run for late dropout versus graduated. \| \| demographic info \| \| demographic info + previous studies \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| generalised linear model \| not nested AUC: 0.689 sens: 0.403 \| nested AUC: 0.719 sens: 0.443 \| not nested AUC: 0.768 sens: 0.566 \| nested AUC: 0.783 sens: 0.601 \| not nested AUC: 0.956 sens: 0.822 \| \| classification tree \| not nested AUC: 0.662 sens: 0.261 \| nested AUC: 0.696 sens: 0.379 \| not nested AUC: 0.620 sens: 0.261 \| nested AUC: 0.751 sens: 0.5526 \| not nested AUC: 0.869 sens: 0.752 \| \| random forest \| not nested AUC: 0.643 sens: 0.263 \| nested AUC: 0.707 sens: 0.388 \| not nested AUC: 0.719 sens: 0.324 \| nested AUC: 0.777 sens: 0.548 \| not nested AUC: 0.939 sens: 0.774 \| Notes: The sensitivity is obtained as sensitivity = # true positive # true positive+# false negatives , where the true positives are the students correctly classiﬁed as dropout by the model and the false negatives are the students that are wrongly identiﬁed as graduated by the model. Multilevel versus Classical models From Tables 3 and 4, we can highlight that the predictive performance, both in terms of AUC and sensitivity, is always higher in multilevel models than the one in the correspondent models that do not take into account the nested nature of data, all else equal. This ﬁnding suggests that taking into account the nested structure of students within degree programs improves the performance of the model and identiﬁes a source of variability within students performance that is due to their grouping structure. The diﬀerence between the two types of models - i.e. multilevel and not multilevel - is particularly relevant when we consider only demographic information or demographic information and previous studies as covariates while it decreases when we consider also the academic performance. Hereafter, we focus our attention on the results of multilevel (nested) models. The importance of student-level covariates Considering now the three groups of covariates, we observe that the predictive performance of models when we consider only demographic information of students is quite low and it does not increase much when we add previous studies among the covariates. Instead, we observe a sharp increase in predictive power when we add information about the academic performance, reaching very high predictive performance. This result suggests that the background of students alone is not suﬃcient to obtain a good proxy of their academic career, while a very big portion of variability in students dropout is explained by students academic performance during the ﬁrst semester. This evidence points at conﬁrming the importance to monitor the early performance of students as a good indicator for their subsequent results. Parametric models versus Machine Learning From the comparison of generalised linear models with classiﬁcation trees and random forest, it emerges that classiﬁcation trees have almost always lower predictive power than generalised linear models and random forest. In particular, the performance of multilevel generalised linear models and multilevel random forest are very close to each other and are the best ones. We therefore focus on the interpretation of multilevel generalised linear models and multilevel random forest results, to compare them and to investigate which kind of insights about student dropout phenomenon we can extract from these two diﬀerent models. 4.1 Multilevel generalised linear model versus Multilevel random forest Table 5 reports the results of the multilevel generalised linear models, adding the three groups of covariates sequentially, both for early and late dropout, respectively. Table 5: Results of multilevel linear models in Eq. (4) for early and late dropout respectively, considering as ﬁxed-eﬀects covariates: (1) demographic information, (2) demographic information and previous studies, (3) demographic information, previous studies and academic performance in the ﬁrst semester. Notes: Results are reported in terms of regression coeﬃcients point estimates with their standard deviation (in brackets) Stars represent the statistical signiﬁcance: ∗ p<0.1; ∗∗ p<0.05; ∗∗∗ p<0.01. We observe that, by adding groups of covariates, the importance of the previous group changes, both for early and late dropout predictions. Since we believe that is essential to take into account at least the ﬁrst semester career of students in order to have an accurate proxy of their dropout probability, we directly look at the complete models, the ones with highest predictive performances, for early and late dropout, i.e. models (3e) and (3l), that include all the three groups of covariates. In this way, we can interpret the net associations of the demographics and the previous studies with the dropout probability, after adjusting for the ﬁrst semester career. By looking at models (3e) and (3l) coeﬃcients, several interesting observations emerge: males are more likely to early and especially late drop than females; Native Italians oﬀ-site are more likely to early drop than Native Italians in-site, while they do not diﬀer in terms of late dropout probability; non-Italian students, either in-site, oﬀ-site or not having residence in Italy, are more likely to late drop than Native Italians in-site; students starting their careers at PoliMi at an older age than the average, are more likely to late drop; students who attended technical high schools are more likely to late drop than the ones who attended scientiﬁc high schools; the higher is the admission test score at PoliMi, the higher is the probability of students early dropout and the lower is the probability of students late dropout; the higher is the number of credits obtained at the ﬁrst semester, the lower are both the early and late dropout probabilities; students doing more than one attempts per exam during the ﬁrst semester are less likely to early drop and more likely to late drop with respect to students doing one attempt per exam; students that do not attempt any exam during the ﬁrst semester are more likely both to early and late drop with respect to students doing one attempt per exam; if students change degree program during their career does not seem to be signiﬁcant; lastly, regarding the students family income, it does not result to be signiﬁcantly associated to early dropout probability, while students with DSU, low income or unknown income are more likely to late drop than students with maximum income group. Regarding the random eﬀects, the estimated random intercepts, ˆ bi, for i = 1, . . . , N, that represent the value-added, either positive or negative, of the 20 degree programs to the dropout probability of their students are reported in Figure 3, together with their conﬁdence intervals. Degree programs with estimated ˆ bi whose conﬁdence interval is totally positive (or negative) have on average students more (or less) likely to dropout, all else equal. variability in the response that is given to the grouping level (degree programs). In particular: meaning that 9.6 per cent of the unexplained variability in student early dropout phenomenon is given by the grouping of students within degree programs and, equivalently, 8.1 per cent of the unexplained variability in student late dropout is given by the grouping of students within degree programs. These percentages reach almost 10 per cent of student variability, suggesting that for equal student characteristics there is still heterogeneity in the likelihood of student dropout across degree programs, as there are certain degree programs in which students are more likely to leave their studies than in others, or vice-versa. By looking at Figure 3 and considering the VPCs, we observe that the magnitude of the degree program eﬀects on early and late dropout is similar, but still a bit higher on the early dropout phenomenon. Degree programs that have signiﬁcantly diﬀerent from zero eﬀect, vary between early and late dropout prediction. In particular, there are degree programs whose eﬀect is coherent between early and late dropout: Students in Engineering 8, 10 and 12 are more likely to both early and late drop with respect to other students; Students in Engineering 1, 14 and 16 are less likely to both early and late drop. On the opposite, there are degree programs whose eﬀect is very diﬀerent between early and late dropout: students in Engineering 3, for example, are more likely to early drop but less likely to late drop with respect to the average; students in Engineering 13 are in line with the average regarding the late dropout but they are less likely to early drop. Diﬀerences among degree programs might be due to various aspects: internal diﬃculties of degree programs, structural diﬀerences or movement of students from certain engineering courses to other faculties due to external drivers. With the available data it is not possible to investigate these mechanisms more profoundly, but we will explore this topic in future research. We then focus on the results of multilevel random forest. As for the linear case, we extract information about both the ﬁxed-eﬀects part and the estimates of the random intercepts. Regarding the ﬁxed-eﬀects part, random forest give us as output the importance ranking of the covariates in predicting student dropout, measured as the mean decrease in Gini index. Figure 4 reports the variable importance plots computed by the random forest in Eq. (4) with the 3 groups of covariates added sequentially, both for early and late dropout. By looking both at the top and bottom panels of Figure 4, we observe that the importance of the covariates of the ﬁrst two groups is extremely small when compared to the one of the covariates in the third group, both for early and late dropout. Indeed, when considering the entire set of covariates (panels c and f), the most important covariates are the ones regarding the ﬁrst semester career at the university. In particular, for early dropout, the most important covariates are the number of total credits obtained and the average attempts per exam, while, for late dropout, the number of total credits explains, alone, almost all the variability in the response. Indeed, the predictive powers of TotalCredits1sem and Attempts1sem have a diﬀerent order of magnitude with respect to the other covariates. It is reasonable to think that the average number of attempts varies more between the ones who drop immediately and the one who graduate than between the ones who drop after more than one year and the one who graduate. Indeed, it is likely possible that who drops immediately does neither attempt any exams, while who drops after one year, attempts more times without succeeding, before to dropout. Regarding the random-eﬀects part, Figure 5 reports the random intercepts estimated for each degree program, together with their conﬁdence intervals. Comparing Figures 3 and 5, we observe that the degree course intercepts estimated by the multilevel generalised linear model and the multilevel Notes: panels (a), (b) and (c) regard the models for predicting early dropout considering as covariates demographic information, demographic information + previous studies and demographic information + previous studies + academic performance, respectively; panels (d), (e) and (f) regard the models for predicting late dropout considering as covariates demographic information, demographic information + previous studies and demographic information + previous studies + academic performance, respectively. random forest are coherent. In particular, when considering the early dropout phenomenon, the degree courses that have signiﬁcant positive or negative eﬀects identiﬁed by the two models are the same, while, regarding the late dropout phenomenon, they are mostly the same apart from Engineering 7 and 13 whose estimates of multilevel random forest are negative, while and the ones of multilevel generalised linear model are not statistically diﬀerent from zero. The VPCs estimated by multilevel random forest models are: that are slightly higher than the ones in Eq. (5), obtained by multilevel generalised linear models. It can be the case that random forests are better able to identify the true eﬀect of diﬀerent programs on the dropout phenomenon. In all the models, the VPCs estimated for early dropout response are higher then the VPCs estimated for late dropout response, suggesting that there is more heterogeneity in student early dropout across degree programs than the heterogeneity in student late dropout. Variable importance plots showed in Figure 4 identify which are the most important variables in predicting student dropout, but they do not give us information about the type of associations (either direct or inverse) of these variables with the response. To this end, partial dependence plots (Breiman, 2001) show the partial association between the response variable (student dropout probability) and each covariate, net to the eﬀects of all the other covariates. Taking into account panels (c) and (f) of Figure 4, we select the most important variables in each of these two panels and we show in Figure 6 their partial dependence plots. These plots are particularly useful for exploring non-linear associations between the variables of interest. Notes: The X-axis reports the range of the covariate, while the Y-axis report the change in the predictor ηij (that is directly proportional to the dropout probability pij) relative to the considered covariate. Panels (a) and (b) show the partial plots of Total Credits 1sem and Attempts 1sem, respectively, relative to the probability of student early dropout; panel (c) shows the partial dependence plot of Total Credits 1sem relative to the probability of student late dropout. By looking at panel (b) of Figure 6, we see that doing zero attempts per exam, is associated to higher early dropout probability, while doing one and especially more than one attempts per exam is associated to lower early dropout probability. By looking at panels (a) and (c), we see that the probability of both early and late student dropout decreases when the number of credits obtained at the ﬁrst semester increases and, moreover, the number of credits is linear with the predictor η. This evident linear association is conﬁrmed also by the very low p-value that this covariate has in the multilevel generalised linear model and explains the reason why the performances of multilevel generalised linear models are at the same level or even better than the ones of multilevel random forest. Indeed, being Total Credits 1sem the most signiﬁcant covariate, i.e. the one with the highest predictive power, and having it a linear association with the predictor η, generalised linear models perform better than random forest. This evidence explains also the higher VPCs of multilevel random forest with respect to the ones of multilevel generalised linear models. Indeed, given that the tree-based structure worse ﬁt the ﬁxed-eﬀects part (whose most important characteristic is the linearity of the Total Credits 1sem eﬀect), the percentage of unexplained variability at student level is higher and the random eﬀects part gains power. This speciﬁc ﬁnding raises a ﬁnal reﬂection about the use of ML techniques. They are known to be very ﬂexible and to perform good prediction results in complex data structures, when nonlinearities and interactions are at play. In our case, the situation is partly diﬀerent. Here, the dropout phenomenon is characterised by some important linear relationships. Moreover, the theory helps us in identifying some important variables a priori. In these circumstances, the parametric models (well trained to ﬁt the unknown functional form) are actually able to obtain good predictions. Appendix B reports a reﬂection about the robustness of model choices. In particular, we run a sensitivity analysis comparing the performances of the model when considering ﬁrst semester versus ﬁrst year (ﬁrst two semesters) student career information. Results conﬁrm that the early warning system (ﬁrst semester information model) works suﬃciently well: the gain in prediction performance when considering the entire ﬁrst year is not so high to justify the waiting until the end of the ﬁrst year to identify the students at risk. 5 Concluding remarks This paper demonstrates how useful and powerful can data analysis be, which estimates the likelihood that a student drops out in the ﬁrst year of university attendance, or even later. Providing decisionmakers with adequate tools for such predictions is a critical development of HE management nowadays. If properly used, the quantitative evaluation of factors associated with higher dropout risk can help reducing the loss of human capital, by retaining more students. Moreover, these systems hold the promise of improving the eﬃciency and eﬀectiveness of universities' operations. In such a perspective, a functioning Early Warning System (EWS) should become part of the toolbox of any HE institution in the next years. University managers and decision-makers should become familiar with data produced by EWSs. This is a new core competence, that can be acquired and/or strengthened with some formative interventions. The ﬁndings presented in this research advance the state-of-knowledge in this ﬁeld. Speciﬁcally, the main results derived from the empirical analysis can be summarised in three key messages. First, the diﬀerent algorithms developed and tested in developing the empirical (ﬁnal) model perform very similarly. This evidence should reassure the analysts and decision makers about the robustness of the ﬁndings - with the consequence that the algorithms can be used immediately. Second, the inclusion of academic results at the end of the ﬁrst semester dramatically improves the quality of predictive modelling of dropout. Interestingly, these variables are much more predictive and relevant than demographic characteristics and previous achievement during high school (this ﬁnding is consistent with (Von Hippel & Hoﬄinger, 2020)). Third, the consideration of the grouping variable (i.e. the degree program chosen by each student) also plays a central role. Indeed, the outcomes of the empirical analysis clearly reveals heterogeneous incidence of attending a speciﬁc degree program. Thus, a multilevel structure of both linear models and ML techniques has been speciﬁcally set and employed for developing the ﬁnal version of algorithms to be used. The critical reading of these messages, coupled with the interpretation of the theoretical framework that we propose in Section 2, suggests two major practical implications of the present study. (i) On one side, the amount and quality of available information is a notable condition for the EWS to work properly. The database built with PoliMi data is enough broad and complete - indeed, the prediction of at-risk students works pretty well. At the same time, the collection of data might be expanded in scope for taking individuals' beliefs, motivation and attitudes into account. These soft elements are central for maximizing students' performance, but they are not monitored regularly and in a structured way. A clear suggestion is to create surveys and automated collection methods for asking students more details about perceptions of their own internal life. Self-reported information can be important here. (ii) On the other side, the systematic adoption of an online platform and digital evaluation systems can further improve the institution' s ability of monitoring at-risk students. To the extent that teaching activities are weekly supported by digital platforms, the (dynamic) analysis of students' performance over time can be added to the model for detecting poor-performers and at-risk students early on time. If the ﬁndings presented in this paper are accepted as credible and relevant, the way forward is constituted by two steps. The ﬁrst consists of the establishment of a Unit dedicated to Data Analytics at the level of the single institution. Building capacity in each university is useful, and creating internal units for "learning from its data" is a necessary development of managerial responsibilities. The second step deals with the design and implementation of interventions for supporting at-risk students. The literature highlights and suggests diﬀerent experiences, which validity and replicability must be assessed carefully. Also, each intervention must be accompanied by a rigorous evaluation procedure, aiming at understanding "what works" and weaknesses. 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The former ones are the so-called "digital prints" left in correspondence to some key administrative facts, such as register at exams' sessions, accept or retake grades or pay university's fees. Static data comprises all the information that administrative oﬃce registers at the moment of enrolment, such as citisenship, gender or date/place of birth, previous school performance or the university admission test score. The university Administration and IT oﬃces supply the dataset used in the analysis, recording students' information from 2010 to 2019. The number of observations is more than 10 million and each of them represents an administrative event or a student's set of features. The whole dataset is divided into multiple sub-datasets, according to type of information. Hence, data cleaning activity requires to merge the datasets through their linkage with unique encrypted key and to keep only concluded careers, using the student as a unit of analysis, so that we ﬁnally consider around 110, 000 students for the analysis. The students' features lastly selected and included into the analysis are summarised in Table 6. The variables are presented and classiﬁed in the diﬀerent groups described in the Section 2.2. A key methodological point consists in the deﬁnition of dropout. Indeed, the career of each student is classiﬁed as active, if the student is actually enrolled, as suspended, if the student temporally suspends the career (for example for long trip or pregnancy), as graduated, if the student obtained the degree, or dropout. This last label identiﬁes students with career's status "deﬁnitely closed for a reason diﬀerent from graduation". In this view, a further clariﬁcation is needed: we do not know if dropout students withdraw from Higher Education completely, or just move to another university, changing their academic career. Anyway, this study adopts the university's perspective, providing insights to improve its own retention strategy (i.e. not caring about whether the students succeed in a diﬀerent institution once moved from it). The empirical model also includes the diﬀerent study programs as key variables. Politecnico di Milano oﬀers three kinds of degree courses, grouped in three Schools: Engineering, Architecture and Design. This paper only includes results for the Engineering courses, but the same analysis has been extended for the remaining ones (results available on request from the authors). Speciﬁcally, this paper considers the various programs within the School of Engineering as an important element, to detect whether dropout is systematically diﬀerent across programs. The model considers this important feature of the dataset: its hierarchical structure (students nested into programs) — see details in Section 3.2. Some evidence from descriptive statistics This paragraph provides an overview of main information coming from descriptive statistics of variables (See Table 7). In general, students at PoliMi are mainly male (77.7 per cent), Italian (95.1 per cent) and holding a scientiﬁc degree from secondary schools (72.4 per cent). The academic path is, in the 17.4 per cent of the cases, not linear, registering a change in their degree program within the university - representing a quite high internal mobility. It is relevant to note that the ﬁrst year is quite similar to all the courses, allowing students to move among them without losing the formative credits already acquired. When looking at the academic careers, the graduated students register 25 credits earned in the ﬁrst semester of the ﬁrst year, against the 5 of dropout students. The situation seems more worrying if we look at the ﬁrst year: in fact, the cumulative amount of credits earned by graduated students is 52, while the dropout ones is 9. To capture the dimensions of dropout phenomenon, the graduated students are 62.6 per cent of the total considered into the analysis; while dropout occupies the remaining 37.4 per cent, which is composed by 21.6 per cent of early dropouts and 15.8 per cent of late ones. Table 7: Descriptive statistics of variables used in the models. Note: Total contains all the students with concluded careers at PoliMi, Graduated contains only graduated students at PoliMi and Dropout contains only dropout students at PoliMi. Appendix B: Sensitivity analysis: does this early warning system work well? In Section 3.2, for both early and late dropout prediction, we included in the third group of covariates of the model, i.e. the group regarding the university career, only the information of the ﬁrst semester of the ﬁrst year. This choice is driven by the aim of implementing an early warning system able to predict the wright response as soon as possible. When predicting late student dropout, since the students considered in the model are the ones who attended at least three semester of university, it is possible to consider among the covariates the information of the entire ﬁrst year of career, instead of only the ﬁrst semester. This choice should improve the predictive performance of the model, at the cost of identifying the at risk students later in time, i.e. at the end of the ﬁrst year instead of at the end of the ﬁrst semester. In the perspective to analyze whether it is worth to "wait", we run multilevel generalised linear models and multilevel random forest, including all the three groups of covariates, but considering TotalCredits1y and the Attempts1y instead of TotalCredits1s and the Attempts1s, i.e. the number of credits obtained and the average attempts per exam computed in the ﬁrst year instead of in the ﬁrst semester. The response variable is the binary variable that takes value 1 if the student is a late dropout student and 0 if the student graduated. Table 8 reports the comparison in terms of AUC and sensitivity indexes, of the models considering only ﬁrst semester information and ﬁrst year information. Table 8: Area Under the Curve (AUC) and sensitivity index (sens) of Multilevel generalised linear models and Multilevel random forest with the complete set of covariates considering, among the career information, (i) only the ﬁrst semester and (ii) the ﬁrst year, for late dropout prediction. \| \| demographic info + previous studies academic performance 1semester \| \|---\|---\| \| Multilevel generalised linear model \| AUC: 0.957 sens: 0.824 \| Results show that, even if the predictive performances increase by adding to the ﬁrst semester career information the second semester career information, the gain is not so high to justify the waiting until the end of the ﬁrst year to identify the students at risk. The small diﬀerence between the two models predictive performance suggests that the ﬁrst semester information is by itself very informative and suﬃcient to quite precisely predict the students dropout probability and, therefore, it is possible to accurately predict the student dropout probability just observing the beginning of the student university career. This result is very important for a practical viewpoint, as it suggests to use the model for proposing supporting interventions to students as soon as at the end of the ﬁrst semester. MOX Technical Reports, last issues Dipartimento di Matematica
DOWNTOWN PARKING COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Thursday, September 10, 2015 David Gebhard Public Meeting Room 630 Garden Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 1) CALL TO ORDER: 7:30 a.m. 2) ROLL CALL LIAISONS PRESENT: Randy Rowse, City Council John Campanella, Planning Commission OTHERS PRESENT: 3) CHANGES TO AGENDA Malcolm Hamilton, Administrative Assistant, said Item 8 (Fiesta Occupancy Survey) will not be presented or distributed at the meeting. 4) PUBLIC COMMENT None. 5) APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FROM THE REGULAR MEETING OF JULY 9, 2015 Motion: To approve the minutes from the regular meeting of July 9, 2015. Made By: Trey PinnerSecond: Kate Schwab Discussion: Tom Williams said he will abstain from the motion because he was not present at the July 9, 2015 meeting. Vote: Yeas: 5 Nays: 0 Abstain: 1 (Williams) Absent: 1 (McKnight) 6) OPERATING AND CAPITAL BUDGETS FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2015 Malcolm Hamilton, Administrative Assistant, presented the operating and capital budgets for the year ended June 30, 2015. Chair LaBrie asked if the Parking and Business Improvement Area (PBIA) assessments have increased due to Sonos moving offices into downtown Santa Barbara. Malcolm Hamilton said Sonos is being assessed, however, the payment amounts are confidential. Committee Member Williams asked if the Downtown Parking Program will be reimbursed for rising DOWNTOWN PARKING COMMITTTEE MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 Page - 2 – electricity costs related to the operation of the 911 Call Center. Browning Allen, Transportation Manager, said the annual Police Department rent will be adjusted to cover increases in electricity costs related to the 911 Call Center. Chair LaBrie asked if there were any significant design changes from when the Cota Lot Access Control Project was originally brought before the committee. Browning Allen said Sarah Clark, Parking Resource Specialist, worked with the equipment vendor to lower the quoted price of equipment. Victor Garza, Parking Superintendent, said vehicles will be entering from Santa Barbara Street and exiting onto Cota Street. Malcolm Hamilton, Administrative Assistant, presented the Downtown Parking capital reserves projection. Committee Member Williams asked staff to discuss the different components of the capital reserve requirement and explain why the council reserve requirement is relatively flat while operating costs are increasing. Malcolm Hamilton said the capital improvement program has been fairly consistent between $900,000 and $1.2 million, which is one component of the capital reserve requirement. In addition, the operating budget contributes two more components to the reserve requirement. Although the operating budget is increasing each year, the scale of the chart makes the reserve requirement seem fairly flat. Committee Member France asked staff to provide further detail into why the reserve projection significantly increased between FY 13 and FY 14. Malcolm Hamilton said staff changed the underlying assumptions of Hourly Parking Revenue to be more realistic and in line with recent activity. Committee Member Pinner commented that the projections are based on budgeted numbers and the Parking Program continues to receive more revenue than budgeted which pushes the reserve projection higher. Mr. Pinner added that the net income of the Parking Program depends on the difference of revenues and expenses, so underspending the budget also contributes to higher reserve balances. Motion: To accept the operating and capital budgets report. Made By: Trey PinnerSecond: Sean Pratt Discussion: Vote: Yeas: 6 Nays: 0 Abstain: 0 Absent: 1 (McKnight) 7) CITYWIDE WAY-FIND DIRECTIONAL SIGNAGE PROGRAM Browning Allen informed the committee that City Council appropriated funds to hire a consultant to study and design a coherent wayfinding directional signage program. Mr. Allen introduced Teri Green as the project manager for the Citywide Wayfinding Directional Signage Project. Ms. Green gave a presentation on the project and showed draft designs for the city and parking specific signs. Ms. Green said the proposed signage will need to be reviewed and/or approved by the Historic Landmark Commission (HLC), Architectural Board of Review (ABR), and Sign Committee. Chair LaBrie asked if the project has been reviewed by stakeholders outside of the city such as national or international groups for visibility and readability. Although staff has not explicitly sought feedback from stakeholders outside of the city, Teri Green said Hunt Design, the sign consultant, brings extensive wayfinding signage and municipal branding experience to the project. Ms. Green added that waterfront stakeholders provided their input to staff regarding their experience with guiding and directing visitors from out-of-town. Committee Member Williams said the sign study needs to include signage with the international blue background, white "P" parking signs, otherwise he does not foresee a great benefit to downtown parkers. Browning Allen said the ad hoc design subcommittee did not support a parking sign with a blue background behind the "P". After reviewing the first design drafts, staff recommended adding "Public Parking" to the signage to assist people that are not familiar with the common parking signage of a "P" set in a circle. Mr. Allen said the pedestrian signage is also important to assist people finding their way back to the public parking lots. Chair LaBrie commended staff on the large undertaking of making revisions to the city signage. Mr. LaBrie DOWNTOWN PARKING COMMITTTEE MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 Page - 3 – said there is a tradeoff between effectiveness and how well the design fits the surroundings; extremely bright signs would be visible but also incongruent with the surroundings. Mr. LaBrie said he needs more assurance that the consultant and stakeholders believe the signage will be effective for drivers and pedestrians. Teri green, Project Manager, said the ad hoc design subcommittee consisted of members from the HLC, ABR, and Sign Committee, and it was unanimous that the blue background for parking signs would not fit the Santa Barbara style. Browning Allen, Transportation Manager, said staff are confident in the consultant's ability to balance the needs of the community and effectiveness of the signs. Mr. Allen said Hunt Design is responsive to community requests but firm in their recommendations for visibility and effectiveness. Committee Member Schwab asked if a Downtown Parking Committee (DPC) member should attend the design review meetings. Teri Green said it would be helpful and supportive of the project to have a DPC member present. Ms. Schwab asked if staff anticipates the maps being approved with the sign project. Ms. Green said staff does expect approval of the maps, which will be the same map that is currently used by the Downtown Parking Program in several of the parking garages, with a few updates. Vice-Chair Pinner said it may be possible to test the effectiveness of the signs with a focus group of people that are unfamiliar with Santa Barbara. Mr. Pinner said there have been discussions about naming the parking lots and this project may be an opportunity to have that conversation again. Mr. Pinner asked what the net effect on the number of signs will be with this project. Browning Allen said staff envisions a small decrease in the total number of signs. The existing "P-arking" signs that direct traffic to the Downtown Parking Lots will be replaced. Mr. Pinner said he is supportive of the green parking signs if that is what the consultant recommends. Mr. Pinner said there are different hues of blue which are more subdued and possibly more appropriate in the downtown core. Committee Member Schwab asked what colors are on the existing "P-arking" signs. Browning Allen said the signs have a white background with green lettering. Ms. Schwab asked if the major point of contention with a blue background and white "P" is the design preference. Teri Green said the blue color would conflict with the Santa Barbara style, which is a focus of the ad-hoc design subcommittee. Committee Member Williams questioned if the city is gaining enough visibility from the new signs to justify the investment in a whole redesign and installation of new sign program. Teri Green said coloring is not the only issue with visibility as some signs are placed near the ground, have small lettering, or are set back from the street. Chair LaBrie asked which committees and boards will receive the feedback given by the DPC. Teri Green said the DPC's comments will be received by the design review boards: HLC, ABR, and Sign Committee. Browning Allen said staff will ask Hunt Design to revisit the parking signage and confirm their belief that the green parking signs will be effective. Committee Member Pratt said the new signs look great and he believes they are designed well. He said it is exciting to have a unifying approach to city signage. Mr. Pratt said it is encouraging to see that staff was thorough in their research and design. Committee Member France asked what the timeline is for bringing the project to the design review boards and committees. Mr. France followed by asking when staff will receive estimated costs for installation. Teri Green said the project will go before the ABR in late September or early October, the HLC in October, and Sign Committee in November. Ms. Green said staff will request a phasing plan from hunt design with costs for each phase and the cost if all the signs are installed in one shot. Ms. Green said staff are hoping to use existing pole bases to save on installation costs. Committee Member France asked if the design review boards will approve a general design style separate from the content and placement of signs. Browning Allen said the signs will be fairly set with content and design. Councilmember Rowse recommended staff review this project with the City Attorney's Office due to a recent Supreme Court decision regarding municipal signage. Planning Commissioner John Campanella said it is important that the signs are free standing and not DOWNTOWN PARKING COMMITTTEE MEETING MINUTES SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 Page - 4 – attached to buildings. Mr. Campanella said he would be concerned about visibility at night. Teri Green, Project Manager, said the signs will meet all the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices standards including reflective and anti-graffiti coatings. Hunt Design will produce full size mockups to test visibility and placement. Motion: That the Downtown Parking Committee: A. Support the design concept of the wayfinding directional parking signs with noted concerns about the effectiveness of the signs; and B. Recommend the approving boards and committees revisit the coloring of the encircled "P" with the possibility of an international standard that fills with blue and has white lettering. Made By: Trey PinnerSecond: Sean Pratt Discussion: Vote: Yeas: 6 Nays: 0 Abstain: 0 Absent: 1 (McKnight) 8) FIESTA OCCUPANCY SURVEY This item was deferred to a future meeting. 9) SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS This item was not discussed. 10) OPERATIONS UPDATES These updates were not discussed. 11) ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:50 a.m.
Division of Economic and Financial Studies ECON232 ECONOMETRIC PRINCIPLES First Semester - 2003 GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Introduction The course provides an overview of econometric principles of relevance to applied economic/financial research. The course serves two purposes. Firstly, it may be taken as a general overview course for students who do not intend to take further econometrics courses but who would wish to benefit from an exposure to econometrics beyond the level obtainable from ECON141, Introductory Econometrics. ECON232 is designed as an intermediate econometrics course for the average economics student who is aware of the need to obtain a moderate degree of quantitative sophistication in his/her economics education. As such students majoring in finance and marketing would also find this course valuable. Secondly, ECON232 is designed as a prerequisite course for more advanced econometrics courses such as ECON233 (Financial Econometrics) and/or ECON333 (Econometric Methods). Economics/finance students who do not wish to pursue ECON233 and/or ECON333, may nevertheless make use of the background knowledge acquired in this course to pursue more quantity-analysis-type works in both academic and business fields. ECON232 is a core unit for award of a Bachelor of Economics degree. 2. Prerequisites ECON141 and (ECON110 or ECON111 or BBA103) 3. Lectures There is one two-hour lecture per week at the following time and place: Day Class: Wednesday 11 am−1 pm C5C T2 Evening Class: Thursday 6 pm−8 pm E6A 131 Lecturers: Daehoon Nahm (W1−W7), Chris Heaton (W8−W13) 4. Tutorials There will be 8 tutorial meetings throughout the semester. The weeks in which tutorial groups will meet are as follows: The tutorials in Weeks 2 and 8 will be held in a computer lab (C5C 213/215). In these weeks, the students enrolled in any of the three tutorial sessions marked with an asterisk (), that is, Wed 4, Thu 9, and Thu 4 sessions, have to attend one of the unmarked sessions as the computer lab is not booked for those three time slots. (The new computer lab, C5C 213/215, has 50 computer terminals.) 5. Text D. Gujarati, Basic Econometrics, McGraw-Hill, fourth edition Two copies of the above book have been reserved in the Reserve Section of the Library. Students may also find the following text useful for some topics: * R Ramanathan, Introductory Econometrics with Applications, Harcourt Lecture notes that contain lecture slides, examples, and tutorial questions will be available at the unit home page (online.mq.edu.au/pub/ECON232) and from the MU Co-op bookshop at the beginning of the semester. Students will find the lecture notes extremely useful. Students are strongly recommended to attend lectures and tutorials because being absent from lectures/tutorials could seriously disadvantage them. The reasons may include: (i) Some important points are not found in the text but explained in lecturers/tutorials. (ii) Errors in the texts are corrected in lectures. (iii) The approaches to certain problems that are recommended by the lecturer are often different from those in a text. 6. Computing Students are required to use computers to carry out certain tasks of the course, such as tutorials and an assignment. It is assumed that students are familiar with the procedure needed to log on to the Division's student computing network from a computer in the students' computing labs. The software programs used in this course include: DxData for Windows and Shazam. Students do not have to use Shazam to perform their tutorial and assignment tasks if they are familiar with other program, but discussions in the lectures and tutorials, and the test and examination questions will be based on output that is produced using Shazam. It is well understood that there are many other programs that are more user-friendly than Shazam. However, the program is used in this course because of the following reasons: * The set of commands you create are saved in a file and can be read or modified later if needed. This helps you see clearly how variables are defined and how models are specified. Furthermore, you can recall how you obtained certain results weeks or even months after you obtained the results simply by reading through the command file as long as you keep it. * It is easy to manipulate data (that is, to read data series, to generate new variables, and to use only a part of the data etc.). * It is flexible enough to be applied to all possible situations that can arise from the topics of this course. * Its output contains all necessary statistics that are used in this course. * The copyright arrangement is so generous that students are allowed to install the program on their home computer. (Program CD's will be made available for a three-day loan at the ERIC from the second week.) 7. Assessment The components of assessment in this course are as follows: (1) Mid-semester test 15% A 50-minute multiple-choice test will be held in place of the regular lecture on Wednesday 9 April (Week 6) between 11 am − 12 am. You will need a calculator for the test. (2) Assignment 15% There is one assignment that should be submitted by 5 pm, Monday 19 May (Week10). Late assignments will lose 20 marks out of the full 100 marks for each day overdue. (Each day ends at 5 pm for this purpose.) Students are strongly recommended to keep a photocopy of their assignment to insure against loss. In early Week 9, tutorial boxes designated ECON232 will be prepared in the ERIC where students can submit their assignments. A list of the students who will have submitted before or on the due date will be posted soon after the due date. So, check the unit home page or the door (or the wall near the door) of the LIC's office (C5C370) for this. Students who find their record in that list incorrect should see the LIC immediately. (3) Final Examination 70% Computer outputs and statistical tables are provided. Only non-programmable calculators are allowed into the examination room. The time and venue of the exam will be organised and announced in due time by the University. Under the current grading system, a standardised numerical grade (SNG) will be awarded together with a band grade HD, D, Cr, P, PC, or F. It is important for students to note that the SNG is NOT the weighted aggregate of the raw marks for the above three assessment components. It is rather a detailed grade that is chosen from 0 to 100 based on other criteria as well as the raw marks. For instance, the SNG for a student who gains a raw aggregate mark of 55 but fails the test/examination would be lower than 45 indicating that he/she fails the unit. As such, an SNG of, say, 73 or 74 does NOT mean that the student's aggregate mark is one or two marks below the threshold for a D. It means that his/her work and performance in the unit is of predominantly good quality and did better than other students in the Cr band but not quite of superior quality needed for a D. 8. Requirements to Pass This Unit To pass ECON232, students must satisfy each of the following requirements: (1) An overall satisfactory performance in all assessment components; (2) A combined pass in the mid-semester test and final examination; and (3) Submission of the assignment and gaining a pass mark for it. 9. Plagiarism Students are strongly warned against plagiarism. If detected, the marks for all assignments involved will be forfeited or/and students involved will be referred to the Disciplinary Committee. 10. Application for Special Consideration Students may apply for special consideration if they are unable to attend an examination or if they consider that their examination preparation or overall performance in the unit has been affected by unavoidable disruption or misadventure. All claims have to be substantiated by signed Professional Authority Form, and if they are based on non-medical grounds, supporting documentation (such as statutory declarations by independent witnesses, police reports, or statements from sufficiently senior officials in the place of employment) must also be provided. If accepted, in most cases, the students will be required to sit a supplementary examination on a date set by the Division. So, students who intend to be away must take account of this rule in scheduling any travel after lodging the request. The format of the supplementary examination may be different from the usual examination. To prevent students from abusing this facility and to protect only the students with genuine reasons, the result of supplementary examination will replace the result of the usual examination if a student tries a supplementary examination as well as the usual examination. This implies that a student will fail the unit if he/she fails the supplementary examination regardless of his/her performance in the usual examination. If you believe this rule unfairly disadvantages you, contact the lecturer in charge before lodging the request form. 11. Unit Homepage http://online.mq.edu.au/pub/ECON232 (Note that ECON should be capital letters.) The unit homepage will be gradually constructed at the above URL over the semester. Students must NOT use this unit homepage as a sole source of information needed for the course. Although the staff will endeavour to place as much information and as quickly as possible, there is always possibility that the information provided in the homepage will be incomplete and/or late. The complete and primary source of necessary information is lectures/tutorials and the unit homepage should only be used as a supplementary source. 12. Course Outline Topic 1: Review (1) Review of statistical concepts (Appendix A) 1 Constants and random variables Probability distribution Population and random sample Estimators and estimates Sampling distribution of an estimator Point estimation and interval estimation Expected values Unbiasedness of an estimator Variance Efficiency of an estimator Consistency of an estimator Mean Squared Error (MSE) criterion Joint, marginal, and conditional distributions Statistical independence (2) Review of Regression Analysis (Chs. 1,2,3,4) 1 The codes in parentheses indicate relevant sections in the text by Gujarati, 4th edition. Simple (gross) Correlation Causality Population regression models OLS estimation Sample regressions Interpretation of coefficient estimates (7.1−7.3) Standard (classical) assumptions Gauss-Markov Theorem Normality assumption and the sampling distribution of the OLS estimator Probability distributions related to Normal distribution Central limit theorem Measures of goodness of fit (7.5, 7.8) Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Scaling and units of measurement (6.2) Functional forms (brief) Topic 2: Hypothesis Testing (Chs. 5, 8) Equality restrictions and restricted regression Single equality hypothesis testing Testing the significance of individual coefficients Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing Types of errors in hypothesis testing Significance level and power of a test P-value method Multiple equality hypothesis testing Structural stability test (Chow test) Choosing between linear and log-linear (double-log) regression models Topic 3: Multicollinearity (Ch. 10) Nature of the problem Perfect collinearity Multicollinearity (imperfect) Consequences Detection Remedy Topic 4: Heteroscedasticity (Ch. 11) Nature of the problem Consequences Detection Remedy ARCH models (22.10−11) Topic 5: Dummy variables (Ch. 9) Dummy independent variables Structural change and dummy variables Interaction effects Seasonal dummies Combining time-series and cross-sectional data Dummy dependent variables (Binary-choice models) (15.1−4) Topic 6: Autocorrelation (Ch. 12) Nature of the problem Consequences Detection Remedy Topic 7: Functional Forms and Specification Errors (6.4−10, 7.9−10, Ch. 13) Functional form Omitting relevant variable(s) Including irrelevant variable(s) Measurement errors 13. Course Diary \| Week \| \| Dates \| Lecture \| \| Tutorial \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 \| \| March 5,6 \| Review \| \| X \| \| 2 \| \| March 12,13 \| Review \| \| Tut 1 (C5C 213) \| \| 3 \| \| March 19,20 \| Hypothesis Testing \| \| Tut 2 \| \| 4 \| \| March 26,27 \| Hypothesis Testing \| \| X \| \| 5 \| \| April 2,3 \| Multicollinearity \| \| Tut 3 \| \| 6 \| \| April 9,10 \| Mid-Semester Test Heteroscedasticity \| \| X \| \| \| April 14 − April 27 \| \| \| Mid-semester Break \| \| \| 7 \| \| April 30, May 1 \| Heteroscedasticity \| \| Tut 4 \| \| 8 \| \| May 7,8 \| Dummy Variables \| \| Tut 5 (C5C 213) \| \| 9 \| \| May 14,15 \| Dummy Variables \| \| X \| \| 10 \| \| May 21,22 \| Assignment due on Monday Autocorrelation \| \| Tut 6 \| \| 11 \| \| May 28,29 \| Autocorrelation \| \| X \| \| 12 \| \| June 4,5 \| Specification & Measurement Errors \| \| Tut 7 \| \| 13 \| \| June 11,12 \| Functional Forms Examination Briefing \| \| Tut 8 \| 14. Staff Daehoon Nahm Lecturer in Charge Phone: 9850-9615 Room: C5C-370 Email: email@example.com Chris Heaton Phone: 9850-9921 Room: C5C-303 Email: firstname.lastname@example.org
EMI is executive El Dorado plan, HMRC statistics reveal Almost 10,000 UK based SMEs are now using the Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) stock options based HMRC approved scheme – a stunning 15 percent increase on the previous year. From the chairman The main reason they do so is that EMI is proving to be an El Dorado for the 27,000 employees selectively incentivised by it, as the average gain per employee taken out of the scheme in the 2016-7 fiscal year was an eye-watering £88,260. The number of small gazelle-type companies operating the EMI rose to a record 9,890 in the fiscal year 2016-17, compared to 8,610 who used it during 2015-16. SME companies are issuing EMI options to an average of eight key employees per qualifying company. This was revealed in the latest HMRC commentary on the annual share scheme statistics, published in late July. The average gain looks even more impressive when viewed against the initial value of the average EMI award per employee, which was a much more modest £18,500. Furthermore, although the overall cost of approved share schemes Income Tax & NICs relief to the Treasury in terms of lost revenue fell to £920m in 2016-7, EMI took a large slice of that - £280m – almost twice as much as its £160m bill for tax and NICs relief in the previous fiscal year, when the number of EMI employee participants was 23,000 (4,000 less). As key employees exercising their EMI options are subject only to Capital Gains Tax on their gains at a maximum 20 percent rate, which is reduced to just ten percent if they qualify for Entrepreneurs' Relief, the Treasury is now taking a big revenue loss from the explosive popularity of EMI. HMRC acknowledged this in its commentary: "When comparing the 2016-17 EMI figures with those from This means that the 27,000 EMI participants in 2016-7 (mostly executives and senior managers, chosen by the owners), who comprise around one percent of the total estimated number of UK Eso employee participants, collectively are receiving 30 percent of the total annual UK share schemes income tax and NICs relief. In yet another newspad scoop, editor Fred Hackworth reveals the truth behind the opaque HMRC stats: share schemes are benefiting the few more than the many. It will be a clarion call to the parties are working hard to reach those many who are "just about managing". No blame attaches to the HMRC statisticians who are unfailingly helpful. But they need guidance to produce the answers we need, especially about the numbers of people benefiting under each scheme. They need more ministerial interest too: perhaps a hotline to Business via an interdepartmental committee under Mel Stride. We must learn lessons too from the US, where President Trump has not hesitated to find legislative space for an important new bipartisan Esop initiative of just the kind we need here. Malcolm Hurlston CBE 2015-16, it can be seen that there is an increase across all the metrics for the scheme. This trend has been evident since 2009-10, but has been increasing more strongly between 2011-12 and 2016-17. EMI gains increased considerably in 2016-17, reflecting the growing nature of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at which it is aimed. EMI share prices often reflect changes in innovation and performance delivered by the companies, rather than share price changes on the main stock exchanges generally, as many companies with EMI schemes are relatively small and not listed. For this reason, the gains and associated value with EMI shares can be quite volatile over short periods." Assuming the EMI participant who cashes in a £90,000 gain, has already used up in his/her annual Furthermore, the £88,260 average gain made by individuals cashing in EMI options in 2016-17, implies that many gains that year were already over the £100,000 mark. salary the universal income tax allowance, then the tax and NICs relief on this EMI gain will be c. £40,000. By contrast, CGT liability on such a gain could be as low as only £3,935 if such a person has the additional benefit of Entrepreneurs Relief. Already, EMI has risen to second place among the four approved schemes in terms of tax and NICs relief – well ahead of both SAYE (£180m relief) and CSOPs (Company Share Option Plan - £50m relief) and moving up fast on the Share Incentive Plan (SIP - £410m relief ). Both EMI and CSOP are discretionary approved schemes in which user companies do not have to offer the share options to all full-time employees. That a select group of high-achieving employee shareholders should be receiving such a big slice of total taxpayers' subsidy money allocated to share schemes, could soon attract political attention. If this trend continues, some may question whether EMI tax and NICs relief should be capped per participating individual and the surplus redistributed among the other tax-approved schemes, or left as it is, in recognition of the success achieved by EMI companies. This potentially uncomfortable statistic may be the reason why HMRC went out of its way in its statistical commentary to excuse the EMI's grand prix performance. It pointed out that EMI rules allow user companies to offer key employees share options worth up to £250,000 over a three year period – far more than in the other approved schemes. HMRC said: "Because of restrictions on EMI schemes, fewer employees utilise them and as the maximum value of options that can be granted is £250,000 per employee, so the gain per employee can be much greater and it is therefore an attractive means of remuneration for employees in eligible companies." first, it is notoriously difficult to value accurately shares in start-up or very young companies – so although EMI options are granted at 'market value,' the price can look low in retrospect, if the company proves to be very successful; In defence of the huge EMI gains being made by key employees, three things need saying: secondly, these statistics inform us only about the winners – EMI companies who did well and whose employees cashed in their options, but not about those which failed, often leaving participants with worthless options; finally, many EMI schemes set up in the high tech sector are 'exit only' – in which vesting has to be triggered by a seismic event, either the sale of the company or a change of control. Then key employees will exercise their options, buy their shares on the day that the company sale is completed and then sell them to the buyer, as do the rest of the shareholders. Normally, the buyer has to pay a healthy premium above the market price to acquire the company – and this is when fortunes can be made, though sometimes the company sale event never happens… was granted more than a year prior to disposal." As Centre legal member Bird & Bird says in its EMI client briefing note: "EMI tax relief is very generous: there is no income tax or social security on grant; no income tax or social security on exercise (assuming the option was not granted at a discount and is exercised within ten years of grant); Capital Gains Tax (CGT) at a top rate of 20 percent on the sale of the option shares with no minimum holding period. However, individual key employees who qualify for Entrepreneurs' Relief (ER) are subject to CGT at the rate of only ten percent on the first £10m of lifetime gains. The ER conditions have been relaxed for shares acquired during the exercise of EMI options. Option-holders qualify for ER on the sale of EMI option shares if the option The enviable gains being made under EMI are only Qualifying companies will generally qualify for a Corporation Tax deduction equal to the spread for the accounting period in which the option is exercised (even if participants are exempt from income tax). Many SMEs however are currently barred from offering EMI to their key players if for example they have a gross asset value of more than £30m; as are companies with more than 250 employees, or companies 51 percent or more controlled by other companies and there are many disqualified trading activities, such as banking, insurance, leasing, property development, running a nursing home and so on. subject to CGT beyond the annual exemption level of £11,300 worth of gains. However, an individual may not hold unexercised qualifying options to acquire EMI shares worth more than £250,000 and gains cannot be transferred into ISAs – unlike the proceeds from SAYE or SIP schemes. Yet the runaway success of EMI supports the illusion in certain publications that UK employee share schemes are on the up, when the reality is that all the other tax approved employee share schemes are either on a plateau, or sliding backwards. Thus the official statistical tables showed that the other tax approved share schemes – Company Share Option Plan (CSOP); SAYE-Sharesave and the Share Incentive Plan (SIP), each suffered minor declines in usage during the fiscal year ended April 6 2017, compared to the previous year. The number of companies operating SAYE fell slightly from 520 to 510; companies operating CSOP fell slightly from 1,150 to 1,140 and companies operating the SIP declined from 800 to 780. You have to look back to a decade ago (2006-7) to grasp the scale of the decline of all three schemes, compared to the phenomenal advance of EMI. The company usage numbers for each approved scheme ten years ago were: EMI 6,240; SAYE 780; CSOP 2450 and SIP 940. So, for example, during the past decade, the usage of CSOP has more than halved, while the take-up of EMI by SME companies climbed by more than 50 percent. The number of companies operating at least one of the other three schemes has declined by 1,740 since 2006-07, a 42 percent decrease, with the majority of the decline attributable to the CSOP, said HMRC's commentary. Centre chairman Malcolm Hurlston said "The share schemes are well intentioned but belong to the last century. our analysis of HMRC stats shows that the tax benefits intended for the many are being ladled out to the few." The next highest by realised gain per employee (after the £88,260 average withdrawal value from EMI) was in the SIP, where the average realised employee gain withdrawn from the scheme was £8,150. In the CSOP, the average amount taken out of the scheme was £7,970 per employee and just £2,570 per employee in SAYE-Sharesave plans. The latest HMRC statistics show that in 2016-17, 98 percent of companies using EMI did not operate other tax-advantaged schemes. Whilst the number of employees exercising their options in EMI schemes has remained relatively constant, there is an overall decreasing trend in both SAYE and CSOP. In the SIP, both the number of purchased partnership shares (down from 5.38m* in 2015-6 to 4.18m in 2016-7) and the number of matching shares awarded (down from 3.92m to 2.99m) fell substantially during 2016-7 from the previous year. The value of SIP free shares awarded decreased by 60 percent in 2015-16 and deteriorated further in 2016-17 with an additional fall from the previous year of 50 percent. The value of partnership and matching shares acquired have both decreased by 16 percent since 2015-16, though the value of dividend shares remain unchanged from 2015-16. HMRC commented: "EMI is a scheme introduced in the Finance Act 2000 and has expanded to form 83 percent of all companies offering tax-advantaged schemes." Finally, there is an overall limit of £3m on the total initial market value of shares in a company over which unexercised EMI options may be held by all employees, to prevent companies from handing out the share options like confetti. The Centre would be happy to print the views of its members on whether or not the current levels of Income Tax and NICs relief available for using the approved EMI share option scheme should be left untouched, or capped. Please let us know what you think. Statistical health warning: the number of SIP partnership share awards itemised in HMRC's 2016 -7 share scheme statistics does NOT correspond to the actual number of employee participants because in many companies they have the option of either purchasing the shares every month, as well as yearly. Thus the statistics record the number of share purchase transactions made on behalf of employees. EVENTS Guernsey seminar – November 30 Given recent developments, such as the introduction of the UK Trusts Register and the growth in the establishment of employee ownership trusts (not to mention Brexit), it has never been more important for those interested in employee share schemes and trusteeship to stay informed about the latest expert views and enjoy the continuing education which our seminars offer. This year's Guernsey seminar, held in partnership with the Guernsey branch of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (STEP), will take place at the Old Government House Hotel, St Peter Port, on Friday November 30. The year's programme will include a talk on Joint Share Ownership Plans and the role of the trustee. The seminar will conclude with a networking lunch. Expert speakers include: Elaine Graham, Zedra; Alison MacKrill, STEP/Appleby; Graham Muir, CMS; Paul Malin, Haines Watts; David Pett, Temple Tax Chambers; David Craddock, David Craddock Consultancy Services and Charlotte Fleck, Pett Franklin. The seminar will be chaired by Malcolm Hurlston, who founded the Esop Centre. Book and pay before October 19 to qualify for one of the following early-bird discounts for this unique Attendance prices: Esop Centre/STEP members: £375, Non-members: £480 half-day event: 50 percent off a third delegate or ten percent off your total booking price. Only one early bird offer can be used for each organisation, whichever gives the larger discount. To book email firstname.lastname@example.org or call the admin team on 020 7239 4971 Third British Isles symposium - March 7 2019 - Employee equity plan case histories with focus on both large and SME UK companies More speaker bids are invited from Centre members for the third British Isles share schemes symposium, which will take place on Thursday March 7 2019. The full-day event is being hosted by senior legal member Travers Smith at its London offices in Snow Hill, EC1. The programme will include talks and debates on: - Regulatory & compliance issues; GDPR and Mifid II - Case study of a tech company that used EMI share options creatively at the same time as attracting external investment - EMI –Why is EMI such an El Dorado for key employees in SMEs? - How best could the government improve EMI? Exit-only EMIs. - Hybrid EOTs: the new way to structure MBOs & employee ownership - Employee Ownership Trusts - What kind of businesses are using EOT and why? - Are EOTs really employee share plans? - Interactive share plan communications – what works best? - Latest developments in international share plans - The likely impacts of Brexit on employee share schemes - How to re-energise other tax-approved share plans - the Company Share Option Plan (CSOP); SAYE-Sharesave and the Share Incentive Plan (SIP). - Are employee share schemes worth the effort and expense of setting up and operating? - Executive equity reward packages: new design parameters, performance share plans & shareholder activism Early speaker bids have been received from Centre members: Pett Franklin; share schemes adviser The RM2 Partnership and host Travers Smith. So, if you are a Centre member wanting to make a topic presentation and/or a share plan case study, get your speaker bid in now, in order to avoid disappointment. Please email Fred Hackworth at email@example.com or call the team on +44 (0)207 239 4971. - Employee equity trustee matters Speaker slots will cost Centre members £240 each, compared to a £395 admission charge for member practitioner (service provider) delegates. Nonmember service provider delegates will pay £595 for admission. Speakers and delegates from plan issuer companies will be admitted free of charge. Partner Mahesh Varia, who is head of incentives and remuneration at Travers Smith, will help the Centre draw up the programme. Travers Smith is a member of the 'Silver Circle' of leading UK law firms. The symposium, a highlight in the Centre's calendar, will include a buffet lunch and finish with an informal drinks reception in the late afternoon. MOVERS AND SHAKERS On the move Centre supporter Veronique Japp is joining IHS Markit this month as head of in-house global equity compensation, having taken a career break after Equatex. Centre member employee ownership law firm Fieldfisher plans to create 125 jobs in Belfast over next three years. The firm will recruit graduates for legal and risk-management roles. Mitan Patel has moved from Equatex Global to Fidelity Stock Plan Services, where he has been appointed European regional lead, based in London. Former Esop Centre director David Poole is now director of marketing at Georgian Partners, Toronto, Canada. Centre member Index Ventures has produced an informative pocket-sized handbook on stock options for European entrepreneurs. Entitled 'Rewarding Talent' the handbook gives tech start-ups and others crucial advice on how to hire and retain the best employee talent available. Dominic Jacquesson, director of talent at Index Ventures, said: 'In order to create an effective option plan you need to know how much to award to each team member in your start-up. We compiled the largest ever set of benchmark data, comprising more than 4,000 option grants from more than 200 startups across the US and Europe. We want to help you get this right.' Delegates attending the Centre's recent conference in Paris almost fought for copies of the handbook, which highlights the importance of nonperformance based stock option awards to key staff. Contact Dominic at Index Ventures for more info. Centre trustee member Ogier succeeded in removing Salamander Trust Company (Salamander) as trustee of two Guernsey law trusts and the appointment of Jupiter Trustees in its place. Salamander had been trustee of two Guernsey law trusts since 2015. In spring this year, the beneficiaries' family learned that all the directors of Salamander had resigned following the arrest of at least one of the principals behind Salamander. The Trusts were effectively paralysed, with the trustee (Salamander) still in existence but unable to operate due to lack of directors. The provisions of the two trust instruments were such that it was impossible either to remove Salamander or to appoint a new trustee without the assistance of the Guernsey Court. newspad awards 2018 Framed award certificates, kudos and publicity await the winners, so do ensure that you, and/or colleagues, submit at least one entry for a newspad award this year. Nominations are now open for the Centre's newspad 2018 Awards, for the best employee equity plans, either already operating, or about to launch. This annual competition presents an opportunity for friends, share plan advisers and their clients to show off their best all-employee equity plans to the rest of the industry. This year's categories for which you can submit entries are: - Best UK centred all-employee share plan (companies with fewer than 5,000 employees) - Best all-employee international share plan (companies with more than 5,000 employees) - Best employee financial education programme - Best use of video communication - Best share plan communications - Best use of technology in employee share plans - Laurie Brennan award for astounding achievement - The most creative solutions to employee cultural, jurisdictional or social diversity issues when launching international all-employee share plans You can enter share plans in more than one category. Entries involving employee share plans in non- member companies will be accepted directly or through advisers, but advisers must be Esop Centre members in order to submit entries. For details how to enter see: www.esopcentre.com/ awards. The process is simple. Entries involving executive/managerial equity reward schemes will be accepted at the editor's discretion, provided at least 250 executives/ managers participate. The judges of the 2018 newspad awards will be: Damian Carnell, director at Willis Towers Watson, specialist in executive reward and employee share plans; Anna Watch, head of executive share plans (governance & compliance) at member firm BT, Robert Head, director of Neo Reward and formerly head of global share plans at Pearson with Malcolm Hurlston chairing. Sponsorship opportunities: The newspad awards will be published in the journal, which has an influential audience worldwide. However, members are invited to propose a celebratory event to host the awards, in association with the Centre; contact Juliet Wigzell at Centre HQ. Email: firstname.lastname@example.org telephone: +44 (0)20 7239 4906. Winners and commentary will be published in a special edition of newspad. UK CORNER Smell the Eso beans… Paddy & Scott's ceo, Scott Russell, said that the decision to start a share scheme was taken in order "to attract, and retain high calibre talent, inspiring business growth and motivating our expanding team." The shares are being given to ten of Paddy & Scott's head office full time Bean Barn Suffolk coffee firm Paddy & Scott's is launching an all-employee share scheme after diversifying from cafes to become the replacement for Starbucks in 31 branded coffee shops in UK Marriott Hotels. The company, which employs 27 staff in Suffolk, is branching out overseas, with interests in Hong Kong and Shanghai and plans to move into the UAE. staff who have been with the company for more than a year, to thank them "for consistent and outstanding performance." Centre chairman Malcolm Hurlston, was quoted by the East Anglian Daily Times and by the Ipswich Star, giving his reaction to the new Eso: "An employee share ownership plan is the best tonic for any company. Making everyone an owner is a brilliant move. Both customers and the bottom line will notice the difference," said Mr Hurlston. However, he warned that Eso schemes were not a panacea. "Share schemes are more complex to administer than cash incentive schemes and therefore more expensive to provide. As share prices can fall, the size of the reward is unpredictable, which is of special concern during times of economic uncertainty. For this reason companies often offer shares on favourable terms by, for example, offering free awards, discounts of matching share offers. However, share schemes are at worst almost invariably 'no-lose' for employees if the company fails to progress," added the Centre chairman. The Eso will enable staff to become equity partners, allowing them a share in the business profits, as well as taking a key role in the business strategy and development. The scheme is the brainchild of Paddy & Scott's brand director Jon Reed, who described the head office team as heroes: "They are very much part of the business, developing new product ranges, delivering exceptional customer service and playing a key part in the business," he said. "We're proudly investing in our team as a way of rewarding them for their commitment whilst fuelling ambition for the future." Roller-coaster ride for RM employee shareholders RM's flotation price was 330p but rose 38 percent on the first day of trading to 455p, leading to criticism that it had been sold off too cheap. Its closing price on May 14 this year was 614p - 86 percent higher than its float price - but by early June it had slipped back to 495p and then to 475p at the end of August. In just six weeks' time, Royal Mail Esop participants can start selling their free shares without incurring any Income Tax and NICs bills. Given the roller-coaster ride in the value of their Share Incentive Plan (SIP) employee shares, since the privatisation of Royal Mail (RM) five years ago, many posties will be wondering whether it would be best for them to hang on to most, if not all, of their employee shares, or sell them tax free at the first opportunity on the fifth anniversary of receiving them. However, on August 31, RM's huge army of employee shareholders received their final dividend of 16.3p for the 2017-8 fiscal year – a healthy 6.4 percent increase on the previous year. From October 15 2016, posties have had the option of selling their SIP shares (for the first time) and receiving a cash payment based on the RM share price. However, those who have already cashed their shares will have had to pay income tax and NICs on the proceeds. Basic rate taxpayers have had to pay 20 percent income tax and 12 percent NI while higher rate taxpayers have paid 40 percent income tax and two percent extra in NI (assuming the full amount of NI at 12 percent has already been paid). There was no mad rush to sell early. Fewer than one in five cashed in their shares with the remainder opting to hold onto their shares until at least mid-October this year. As part of the privatisation of RM, the government announced that about 150,000 posties would each receive 725 free Share Incentive Plan (SIP) shares in two initial tranches, making it the UK's largest all -employee share ownership scheme. Two years later qualified postal workers got 70 more free shares each when the government sold off its last 14 percent equity chunk of the now completely privatised RM. In addition, postal employees have received occasionally small extra packets of free shares from those who left the company and who were forced to surrender their employee shareholdings. The maximum number of free shares being held now rose to 832 by the autumn of 2016. At present, RM employees hold about 12 percent of the company's total equity, but that power base they have would be dented if postal workers ditched their shares en masse. Under the rules of the SIP, employees can keep their shares for as long as they like while they remain a Royal Mail employee. Those wishing to hold onto they will stay in the SIP and continue to receive any dividends while RM is trying to solve heavy future pension commitments in an original way. Usually, there is either the traditional defined-benefit scheme, where beneficiaries get a pension based on earnings, which companies complain is unaffordable or, the more modern defined-contribution scheme, where the pension level depends on how much is in each employee's personal pot and which workers complain make retirements unaffordable. Recently, RM has agreed with the Communications Workers Union to offer a hybrid solution – a collective defined contribution (CDC) scheme whereby the fund aims for, rather than promises, a certain payout. The idea is that all employees pay their shares need take no action -employed by RM. into a collective fund (like defined-benefit) and not a personal pot (as in defined-contribution). Investment returns can then be enhanced for everyone, as fund managers do not have to hedge bets as each person nears retirement. Meanwhile, employers reckon it's more affordable because the firm is not on the hook for a set payout, as it is in defined-benefit. CDC schemes don't yet exist in the UK and the law would need to be changed to allow them. Meanwhile, even Royal Mail admits that there's nothing else in the world that is comparable. SHAREHOLDER CORNER Question received from employee shareholder: This came as a surprise (this was never mentioned in all the information we were provided about the SIP) and now I have a few questions: if I left the company, who would buy the shares? And how would the price be determined? Currently I'm invested in the company I work for via a SIP. I have a batch of three-year-old free shares that I was hoping to sell to put towards a house deposit, but despite the documentation confirming I am free to dispose of the shares after three years the trustee of the scheme has said I cannot. Essentially, because the trust will not buy them or approve sale to a third party. At the moment I'm concerned that what I see on my annual statement of holdings is misleading. I should say that I am aware of the implications of the 3/5 year points from a tax perspective. It's more about this seemingly grey area of sale and pricing, which I've not been able to find any information on. How do you value a private company? Answer from employee shareholder panellist: This is an issue facing investors in private equity investor trusts and venture capital trusts. If a company is unquoted, there is no market for its shares, so no share price as such. What the trusts do is assess the net asset values (NAV) of each company they invest in (based on their balance sheets) and use those to declare their own NAV. Most VCTs offer shares at a premium to NAV (normally about five percent) and have a discretionary scheme to buy back shares at a discount to NAV (often five percent to ten percent). There is a parallel with investing in a SIP in a private company in general, where monthly savings are used to buy the shares at an agreed period (monthly, or more likely quarterly, half yearly or annually). Whatever the frequency, the trustees must have a pricing mechanism to know how many shares contributions can buy. Designing a share plan: It's surprising that the trustees hadn't thought of this and it might simply be that nobody has wanted to sell their shares from the SIP before. Private companies often restrict share ownership to people actually working in the company - which means that shares can't be registered in the names of outsiders. But that suggests that there must be a mechanism for buying back the shares if somebody resigns. This might not always be available - they might have windows at certain times of the year (such as once the annual accounts are compiled and up-todate NAV can be calculated) when shares can be purchased and sold. It seems odd that the same mechanism could not be used to buy back shares from those wishing to sell their shares from the SIP. Suggestion: Exit routes are a major challenge in share plans and much time is spent on defining what constitutes a good as against a bad leaver. The rules for quoted companies concentrate on when a participant crosses the threshold into becoming a share owner once they become a shareholder, there might be a holding period, otherwise they take on the risks of ownership and are free to dispose of their shares as they wish. It might be worth asking the company secretary about this. It might be that the trustee has no mandate to buy the company shares from individuals but that there is a mechanism operated by the company secretary for executives that could be made available to all employees. Institute conclusion: Either way, it's worth making a fuss. I have always argued that participating in employee share plans brings similar benefits for the employer (in terms of increased commitment, engagement and focus on the company strategy) as actual share ownership. This would be undone if participants feel let down by the administration of the plan, and particularly if they are prevented from selling at a point when they always expected to be able to. It's in the company's best interests to sort this out! With our help one employee shareholder was able to guide another: "Hi Malcolm, Many thanks for that information. As the response says, I am the first employee to ask about withdrawing shares and yes I agree it is strange that they haven't thought this through. There is a share price agreed with HMRC (who validate the scheme) but there is no documentation stating that this price will be honoured. I would expect that to be the case but who knows. There are a lot of grey areas at present." Many Royal Mail shareholders (see story above) will surely welcome guidance too. Employee shareholders with questions should write to email@example.com. Employee shareholders (and employee share plan professionals who wish to help anonymously) ready to join our guidance panel should write to firstname.lastname@example.org. It seems employees are seen as patients rather than agents and are in need of prior guidance. UK CORNER (continued) State loan guarantee sought for SME Esops Throughout the western world, as the Baby Boomer generation retires, millions of small privately-held businesses are in danger of folding, as it is difficult to find others, including siblings, to take over the reins. Trade sales often fail, or result in cherrypicking, where the best factories and plants are sold off as going concerns, but the rest closed down with much of the workforce thrown onto the scrapheap. Centre chairman Malcolm Hurlston is urging new small businesses minister, Kelly Tolhurst MP, to set up an Esop loan guarantee scheme to help SME employees in the UK either to buy out their employer, or to share business ownership in the case of an owner exit. The lack of a UK statebacked loan guarantee scheme has become glaring since August 13 when, in a rare example of bipartisan cooperation, President Trump signed the Main Street Employee Ownership Act that allows the US Small Business Administration (SBA) to lend money direct to employee-owned businesses that wish to buy out retiring smallbusiness owners, or to employees wanting to form an employee-owned business. For the first time, it permits SBA back-to-back loans to companies which lend to the Esop trust and now allows loans to owner sellers who want to remain as part-owners and/or executives/managers of the company. Loans can be given to fund the Esop transitional costs too. At present in the UK, there are perhaps only half a dozen or so specialised finance houses which offer an Esop loan funding service and almost all of these are based in London. Which is why Mr Hurlston wants a meeting with the new minister in order to map out the nuts and bolts of how a similar UK state guarantee scheme might look. The alternative - selling the business to the workforce - keeps jobs and skills in the local community. US SMEs are sold to their managers or workers using one of three methods: an Esop, a worker cooperative or an employee trust. The Esop, created in 1956 by the political economist Louis Kelso, is the most common way to do this because it gives employees a way to buy companies and has meaningful federal tax incentives. This allows the new owners to set up a trust, which secures a loan that the company itself will pay back over several years. A key feature is that the company, not the employees, provides collateral for the loan, and as the loan is paid down, new shares are distributed to employees and managers. Employee trusts are a new form of ownership, similar to Esops in some ways. Their goal is to ensure a company remains employeeowned in perpetuity by keeping the shares within the trust itself. Unions condemn ever larger ceo rewards The highest total payout last year was £47.1m for Jeff Fairburn, ceo of housebuilder Persimmon, who was forced to donate a substantial slice of his £100m+ equity bonus to charity, after it emerged that his Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) scheme was not capped. UK ceo total reward rose by 11 percent last year to almost £4m – more than five times faster than average rises for rank-and-file employees, said a new report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD). The large rises – mainly via maturing executive equity incentive schemes - came amid criticism from investors and ministers about excessive executive reward. According to the CIPD, the median pay for FTSE 100 ceos was £3.93m last year, up from £3.53m in 2016. Rank-and-file UK employees received an average increase of only two percent. The HR industry group found that ceos were paid on average 145 times more than their employees – a ratio up from 128 times in 2016. The report revealed that an employee on a median salary of £23,474 would have to work 167 years to make the same amount that a FTSE 100 boss on median pay makes in a year. Almost a fifth of the UK's biggest companies appear on a named and shamed list of firms that pay their senior executives 'excessive' amounts despite shareholder rebellions. The number of FTSE top 100 companies placed on the government-backed The GMB union, which took Cedric the pig to the agm of British Gas (now owned by Centrica) in order to protest over 'snouts in the trough' executive pay greed 20 years ago, called the findings a "badge of national shame". public register rose from nine in 2017 to 18 in 2018. Their names are added to the list if their executive reward policies attract dissent from more than 20 percent of voting shareholders at their agms. Many of the agm rebellions are not so much about basic salary increases awarded to top executives, but to incentive package add-ons, such as Long Term Incentive Plans, which often double or triple basic salaries once they vest. Shareholder groups claim that in some cases the bonus targets for full pay-out of executive incentive schemes are too easily reached or gamed. PM Theresa May last year ordered the creation of the world's first public register of companies that ignored shareholder concerns and awarded "pay rises to bosses that far outstrip the company's performance". She said top executives collecting vast sums for mediocre performance risked damaging "the social fabric of our country", and that calling out firms publicly would help tackle the "abuses and excess in the boardroom.'' While shareholder anger at executive pay in the FTSE 100 increased, the number of rebellions across companies in the wider FTSE All-Share index fell from 68 to 61. Chris Cummings, ceo of the Investment Association, which compiles the list, said the increase in the number of serious FTSE 100 pay rebellions was deeply disappointing: "Shareholders clearly remain unimpressed with the approach to pay last year, and are frustrated the message is not getting through to some boardrooms. FTSE 100 companies must do more to ensure the reward packets of their top team align with company performance and remain at levels that shareholders find acceptable." The biggest pay rebellions this year were at the Russian gold mining firm Petropavlovsk, Royal Mail, and the house-building company Persimmon. Meanwhile, in the US, the non-governmental Economic Policy Institute (EPI) said the average ceo reward, including salary, bonuses, restricted stock grants, long-term incentive payouts and stock options, in the biggest 350 companies was $18.9m in 2017, an 18 percent increase over 2016. This produced a ceo-to-line worker ratio of 312-to-1, one of the largest gaps on record. It was 20-to-1 in 1965, 58-to-1 in 1989 and 270-to-1 in 2016. Total ceo compensation had risen by almost 1,000 percent (based on stock options granted) or 1,070 percent (based on stock options realised) between 1978 and 2017, according to the EPI. Financial Times ceo John Ridding is to hand back his 2017 total reward rise of £510,000 after the paper's National Union of Journalists chapel wrote to FT staff saying John Ridding's £2.6m pay was absurdly high. The chapel called on him to hand some money back to help those employees paid much less. Mr Ridding said his salary was set by the FT's Japanese owners Nikkei and was independently assessed and "highly performance -related". He added: "While our performance has been strong, I recognise that the size of the consequent jump in my own total reward in 2017 feels anomalous and has created concerns," he wrote in an email to FT staff. "For now, I have decided to reinvest into the FT the increase awarded in 2017, which is £510,000 before tax." New round of free shares for Admiral employees Cardiff-based car insurer Admiral posted a rise in half-year profit as it saw strong growth in customer numbers, despite the 'Beast from the East' hitting its household arm. The group, which owns brands including Elephant and Confused.com, booked a nine percent rise in pre-tax profit to £211m in the six months to June 30. The results mean around 10,000 staff will each get £1,800 in free shares under Admiral's employee share scheme Admiral's motor insurance division was behind the rise with profits of £249.5m, up from £224.2m. Turnover grew 14 percent to £1.66 bn, while customer numbers were also up 14 percent to 6.23m. Brexit customs and supply chain certification which is getting a lot of attention in light of Brexit, reported Centre member Deloitte. It has consistently been mentioned by the UK Government as an important element of its customs policy, both in the context of the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU, and as a measure to reduce frictions for UK trade with the rest of the world. AEO was introduced by the EU in response to the WTO SAFE framework to improve the safety and security of the international supply chain after 9/11. AEO covers customs processes. AEO traders are subject to fewer physical checks on imports and exports and fewer post import clearance audits by HMRC, and benefit from reductions to the level of security required as part of customs comprehensive guarantee requirements. AEO is applied across the EU and is mutually recognised with similar initiatives globally, making it an attractive focal point of customs simplifications with the EU. It remains to be seen how the negotiations around the future relationship between the UK and EU develop, but it is likely that AEO will remain important and should be assessed as part of your organisation's Brexit readiness activities. Contact Scot McManus at Deloitte for further information. Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) is a Many UK companies rely on EU Directives to eliminate withholding tax (WHT) on interest, royalties and dividend income from related companies in the EU. When the UK leaves the EU, the Directives will cease to apply, and UK companies will then revert to bilateral tax treaty rates which are not always zero – for example, the treaty with Italy does not eliminate WHT on interest, royalties and dividends flowing to the UK. This could happen on March 29, next year (recent German clearances granted to eliminate dividend WHT currently assume this), or from January 1 2021 if the draft Withdrawal Agreement is ratified, because the draft indicates that the Directives would continue to apply until the end of a transition period, if there is one. Repatriation programmes should be kept up to date to minimise any impact. This may not only affect UK-headed multinationals, as many foreign groups (for example US-parented groups) use the UK as an intermediate holding jurisdiction. Any new WHT burden could be an absolute cost. It may be possible to reorganise structures but it in many countries and/or treaties there are (or will be postBEPS) anti treaty-shopping rules which can deny benefits. An early review is advisable. A further complexity arises for UK parented multinationals who have structures through which dividends, royalties or interest flow from their US operations into subsidiaries established in other member states. Currently having a listed parent company resident in a member state (i.e. the UK) typically means that other EU subsidiaries in the group are eligible to access tax treaties with the US. Once the parent company is not resident in a member state then in many cases the US tax treaties will no longer be accessible, resulting in potential increases to US withholding taxes (up to 30 percent). It is hoped that the US may apply discretionary relief in those circumstances, but this is far from certain and is not a matter under the UK's control. A review of US treaty applicability post Brexit is strongly recommended (Deloitte and KPMG) The EU's investment arm has almost shut down funding to UK start-ups in a move that deprives young technology companies of a key source of financial support. The European Investment Fund (EIF) put just €61m (£53m) into UK-focused funds last year, a 91 percent drop from 2016, despite UK taxpayers continuing to fund the EIF, which is majority owned by the European Investment Bank. The fund has, at times, accounted for up to a third of all the investment in UK-based venture capital funds. The EIF, a partnership between the EIB and private investors, backs investment funds rather than companies directly. It has never said that it has cancelled investment in the UK, but technology investors claim that it effectively turned off the taps when Article 50 was triggered a year ago. The fund's annual report revealed that it had backed just three UK -focused investors, compared to 20 in 2016. The EIF's overall level of funding across Europe remained stable at €9.3bn but the amount committed to UK -focused investors dropped from €708.8m to €61.1m, less than one percent of its total investment. The figures do not include pan -European funds, some of which are based in the UK. However, UK technology start -ups attract more funding than any other EU country by a wide margin. Venture capital investors put £3bn into UK high tech in 2017, more than four times the next biggest market, Germany, according to London & Partners . The EIF denied it had formally stopped investment in Britain. The EU Council formally adopted the tax intermediaries' directive (originally proposed by the European Commission in June 2017) requiring mandatory reporting by tax intermediaries and the automatic exchange of information by the tax authorities of member states for certain cross-border arrangements concerning individuals and companies. If there is no intermediary, or all intermediaries are based outside the EU, or are covered by legal professional privilege, the requirement to report will fall on the taxpayer. Political agreement had already been reached earlier in the year. Member states will have until December 31 next year to transpose it into national laws and regulations. Arrangements implemented from the date the Directive enters into force (20 days after publication in the Official Journal) must be disclosed in August 2020. It is not known when publication will take place, said Centre member Deloitte. See https://deloi.tt/2J57rpf High street retail woes and Eso Should the government stop raising the National Living Wage (NLW) by more than price inflation in order to prevent a further jobs massacre? This Hardly noticed in the share schemes community so far has been the torrent of jobs disappearing in the UK retail sector, which could have unpleasant implications for employee share ownership. Store closures, company restructuring and Carillion's collapse resulted in one of the bleakest six months for retailers in post-war history. 10 question was being asked by a desperate UK retail industry after 35,000 retail jobs were either axed, or put at risk, in the first half of the year. Store group victims included M & S, which announced the closure of 100 stores by 2022. House of Fraser had already threatened to close 31 of its 59 stores, affecting up to 6,000 jobs (including 4,000 who work for its in-store concessions), but went into administration before Mike Ashley, owner of Sports Direct, bought the group for £90m. Even he was forced to announce that at least 12 HoF stores would close. Ashley already owned 11 percent of HoF and has a 29 percent equity stake in Debenhams too, fuelling rumours of an eventual merger of the two store groups. There are Eso schemes at some of these retailers: Centre member Equiniti looks after the employee equity plans at HoF. Tesco is another major client. Last October, J. Sainsbury's announced 2,000 store and back-office roles would go in a shake-up of its HR departments. That followed a head office cull in the summer, which eliminated 1,000 jobs. Sainsbury's then had more than 20,000 SAYE -Sharesave employee participants, but has rather less than that now. Meanwhile, the last Poundworld stores were disappearing from UK high streets last month with the further loss of 2,300 jobs. In these and other cases, every extra job lost as a result of the cutbacks is either a share scheme participant lost, or a potential participant lost. These inflation-busting pay rises are beginning to undermine the moral argument for installing the Company Share Option Plan (CSOP), which has proved very effective in supplementing the pay of some formerly very low-paid supermarket and other retail employees. One of the chief culprits for this jobs massacre, claim retailers, is the National Living Wage, which rose again in April – by a daunting 4.7 percent from £7.50 to £7.83 an hour for employees aged over 25. £313 for a 40 hour week equates to £16,276 gross per year. Employees under the age of 25 should qualify for the National Minimum Wage, (NMW) which is now £7.38 (up 4.7 percent) for those aged between 21-24 and £5.90 (up 5.3 percent) for those aged 18-20. Tesco's annual wages bill was already around £4.5bn before April's NLW increase, meaning every one percent increase in pay costs the UK's biggest retailer around an extra £45m. The application of the NLW has meant a 15 percent increase to its hourly wages. The retail sector as a whole has to find an extra £3bn to finance the cost of the living wage over the next two years, at a time when warehouse internet home deliveries, rising business rates and upward only rent reviews will be doing more damage to town and city centre departmental stores. No wonder many retailers will think twice, or even three times, before launching a new Eso plan in their businesses. The collapse of construction outsourcing giant Carillion, with £7bn of liabilities and just £29m in cash, has resulted in the loss of 2,778 jobs so far and up to 19,000 others (in its supplier companies) still face an uncertain future, though 13,516 other Carillion jobs have been saved, said The Official Receiver. The latest batch of Carillion redundancies included 340 construction industry apprentices, a move condemned by the union Unite as "an act of crass stupidity." Taxpayers are suffering huge losses and there is £2bn worth of unpaid bills to 15,000 suppliers and subcontractors – who stand to get nothing. The company's pension scheme, with its 27,000 members, has collapsed with an £800m deficit and has become the biggest ever scheme to be sheltered by the taxpayer-funded Pension Protection Fund. Since January Toys R Us and Maplin have filed for administration, while fashion retailers such as New Look and Select are closing stores too. Tesco announced it was stripping out a layer of management from stores, putting up to 1,700 jobs at risk, in a bid to cut costs by £1.5bn. More than 800 senior Asda shop-floor workers were facing a pay cut or redundancy after the chain embarked on a further cost-cutting drive. Morrisons too announced job cuts. Food retailers swung the axe on employees in head office, payroll and IT departments (many of them Eso participants) and on the shop floor – mostly full-time staff – where the biggest payroll savings can be made. About 600 restaurant employees stood to lose their jobs as troubled Italian chain Prezzo began closing 94 sites in an attempt to keep the company trading. The company will try to offer employees roles at other restaurants, in a bid to bring job losses down. Jamie's Italian, Byron and Strada have all been forced to close sites and secure lower rents on other locations to avoid disappearing altogether. The Gaucho Group made 540 staff redundant at its 22 Argentine themed UK Cau restaurants, which shut after it collapsed into administration. Struggling Carpetright is closing 92 stores, with the loss of 300 more jobs, while New Look, the struggling fashion retailer, is to axe 60 stores, with the expected loss of 1,000 jobs. Mothercare began closing 60 of its 137 stores, with the loss of 900 jobs. B & Q's troubles were matched by its major competitor Homebase, where sales slumped after a botched takeover. Up to 1,500 jobs were at risk at Homebase, as the DIY chain prepared to close 42 stores via a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA). 11 David Craddock and others have argued at recent Centre conferences that more all-employee share/ option awards would be better for companies and the economy than annually pumping up the national living wage to levels that some companies can no longer afford without sweeping payroll cuts. David says that Eso is a much more flexible tool for employers because if things go pear-shaped, then employee benefits like share schemes can be cut back much more easily and are far less costly than sacking or laying off hundreds of employees. SAYE-Sharesave schemes are most suitable in these situations because even if the firm goes bust, employee participants still get their monthly contracted SAYE contributions returned to them, plus any interest. In the event of liquidation, CSOP awards would simply lapse with employees losing nothing either. Disguised remuneration https://deloi.tt/2n6XzxE HMRC issued Spotlight 44 'Disguised remuneration: schemes affected by the loan charge.' Spotlight schemes are usually those about which HMRC think there is the greatest need to warn potential users. Spotlight 44 discusses schemes affected by the April 2019 disguised remuneration loan charge, how to settle before the loan charge arises, and what happens if taxpayers do not settle, said Centre member Deloitte. See Announcements under the MAR, Disclosure, Guidance & Transparency Rules: AIM-listed Grafenia plc announced that it had granted further options under the company's Save as You Earn share scheme for all employees. Its SAYE was launched in January 2017 and requires employees to commit to making a fixed regular payment of between £5 and £500 for 36 months. These instalments are paid into a savings account, operated by RBS, held independently from the company. Eligible employees were invited to subscribe for options over ords of a nominal one penny each with an exercise price of 11.5 pence per share. The options have a savings contract start date of September 1 2018 and are exercisable when all *Global worth Real Estate Investments announced that 32,589 ords of nil par value, which had been held in treasury, have been utilised to satisfy awards made under the share award plan in place for employees of the company's subsidiaries, such shares having vested automatically in accordance with that plan. Global Real Estate Investments now holds 93,976 ords in treasury. The total number of ords in issue, excluding shares held as treasury shares, is 132.5m 36 payments have been made, between September 1 2021 and February 28 2022. A total 52 employees elected to participate in the SAYE and, therefore, a grant of 1,505,719 options over ords was made on August 14, equating to 1.96 percent of the total voting rights in the company. The number of shares now under option is 5.67m, equating to 7.39 percent of the total voting rights in Grafenia. Ceo Peter Gunning said: "Last year we launched our SAYE. We thought that the best way to encourage our teams to think like owners, was to help them become owners - to give them a path to becoming shareholders. Since then, our team has grown. We've brought sign businesses into the Grafenia family. We decided to re-open the scheme again this year so that new members could join too. We're delighted so many did. Around half of our whole team is now participating in the SAYE." EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP More EO awareness called for In the UK, around 325 employee-owned businesses employ 200,000 people. Deb Oxley, ceo of the Employee Ownership Association (EOA), said: "Hundreds more companies are in the pipeline waiting to convert…and the sector is forecast to double over the next decade." Accordingly, the EOA commissioned a study to outline sector challenges, as well as policy measures to confront them, as Joseph Lampel, a co-author of the study and University of Manchester business professor, explained in Real Business. The report, entitled The Ownership Dividend and authored by Lampel and two colleagues from the Cass Business School, Ajay Bhalla and Aneesh Banerjee, concluded that "employee ownership can provide the positive responses needed to many of the challenges currently facing the UK economy." Lampel said: "The employee-owned sector counts for over £30bn in annual revenue across the UK and is growing at a rate of ten percent a year." Employee ownership in the UK is seen as a path for preventing the loss of family-owned businesses as owners retire. However, only 42 percent of SMEs have ownership succession plans. The report claimed that the family business sector comprised 85,000 companies with £519bn in annual revenues, so a lot of potential business was at stake. "This threat of firms melting away presents serious concerns for the UK's growth prospects," noted Lampel and his coauthors. "Just as a business requires a talent pipeline to survive, the wider economy needs firms to rise in stature," the report authors added. In the UK, only 28 percent of employee-owned firms are similar to Esops in that worker ownership occurs through a 12 pension-like trust mechanism, while eight percent involve direct employee share ownership (as worker cooperatives have), and 64 percent involve a mix of both features—a hybrid structure that barely exists in the US. The report set out three major blocks to EO growth in the UK: 1) a lack of awareness and understanding of the business ownership form among business advisors, 2) a need to develop sector -specific leadership capacity, and 3) a failure to include education about employee ownership in business schools. In response, the report called on the "government to invest in ownership capacity building." He and his co-authors called for a new national strategy for business ownership. While EO businesses were growing, awareness and appreciation of the model was low in the very range of sectors, institutions and professions for which its relevance and value were high. Business owners who consider succession are rarely aware of an employee ownership sale option. In parallel, the sector's profile is low within financial services, business education, Westminster and Whitehall. Compounding that low profile was an absence of any national statistics on the sector's size, distribution and impact. TRUSTEE NEWS HMRC published the August edition of the Trust and Estates Newsletter, which reminded trustees who need to register using the Trust Registration Service re fiscal year 2017/18 that they should do so by January 31 2019, or, in practice, October 5, this year, if they have to notify an income or capital gains tax liability and an update on the EU's fifth Money Laundering Directive, which the UK must implement by 2020 and which will require a significantly increased number of trusts to register with HMRC, said Centre member Deloitte. COMPANIES Ryanair ceo Michael O'Leary waived his bonus for 2017-2018 following the flight cancellations crisis that gripped the Irish carrier last year. In the lowfares airline's annual report, Europe's largest low- Twenty executives at Crossrail collectively took home more than £800,000 in bonuses last year, despite the project running £590m over budget. Their bonuses were earned in the fiscal year 2016/17 and paid in 2017/18. The biggest beneficiary was former ceo Andrew Wolstenholme who left the project in March. He was paid a performance related bonus of £160,000 on top of his base salary of £476,772 and a further bonus of £97,734 as compensation for loss of employment. Wolstenholme took up his new role as as group md at the maritime and land division of BAE Systems. cost carrier said that despite record profits in the last financial year, ceo O'Leary decided not to take the bonus he was entitled to. This can be worth as much as a year's salary – about €1m for O'Leary. In the previous financial year, his bonus was €950,000. In the year ended April 6, O'Leary was paid €1.06m and was given €1.25m worth of shares in the airline. Ryanair said O'Leary had waived his bonus due to the pilot scheduling mix-up in September 2017 that resulted in a serious labour dispute and 20,000 flight cancellations. TUI Group: The board of TUI, based in Hanover and Berlin, bought-back 59,200 of its own shares under the German Joint Stock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz - AktG). The Shares bought back were transferred to employees of TUI Group participating in the employee share participation plan 'oneShare'. The shares purchased cost €1,015,211 without transaction costs) on the basis of share price of €17.15. These shares were being transferred to the employees participating in 'oneShare' immediately after the completion of the buyback. Sopra Steria, the French based information consultancy and services firm, reported €2.01bn revenues in the first half of 2018, an increase of 6.5 percent, and 5.3 percent on an organic basis. Profit from recurring operations came to €99.2m. That included a €22.1m expense related to employee share-based payments (€17m in the first half of 2017), as a result of the renewal of the 'We Share' employee share ownership plan and of the long-term incentive plan set up for the group's key managers. WORLD NEWSPAD Dividend bonanza for employee shareholders in US companies Over the full year the final total value of US buybacks is likely to exceed $1 trillion – equivalent to more than three percent of current total US stock market capitalisation. Record US share prices are being fuelled by massive corporate buybacks of their own shares. In the second Q, the value of US share buy-backs was $433bn – almost double the $242bn spent on share buy-backs in the first Q. Many UK employee shareholders who have rights to dividends from their US based employers are reaping the benefits in terms of bigger annual payouts and seeing the value of their employee share portfolios rocket. Reduce the supply of shares and the share price tends to go up – as most market commentators and senior executives know. This is why Mrs May's government is currently studying whether some 13 controls should be imposed on the ability of UK based companies to copy their US counterparts by buying back their own shares in the market. The fear is that some corporate chiefs on both sides of the pond are encouraging artificial share price rises – by ordering more share buy-backs in time to ensure maximum level pay outs of their incentive equity plans. Meanwhile, the number of listed companies on the NYSE or NASDAQ has almost halved to 4,000 from 7,400 in 1996. Many more companies than before go private, according to a report by private equity investor Pantheon. The number of US flotations fell from an annual c. 300 between 1980 and 1996 to just 140 in the years that followed. Since 1996, de-listings have exceeded new listings by more than 80 percent. A key difference in recent years has been the increasing availability of private funding. Being able to attract finance without all the headaches associated with a public quote has seen the average age of a company at flotation rise from eight years to 11 since the Nineties. US: Symantec is cancelling an Employee Share Purchase (ESP) programme, after announcing 1,000 job cuts following disappointing sales. The firm has cancelled a discounted share purchase worker-loyalty programme too, as an additional cost-saving measure. The ditching of the ESP has knocked morale, according to an employee, who contacted The Register. The source suggested the move would encourage some of its top employees to leave: "Symantec cancelled the employee stock purchase plan when employees were about to buy in at a 52-week low. This will save the company money it had budgeted to sell the stock to employees at the agreed discount. It is anticipated top performers in the company will be fed up and will move on to other companies. That will reduce the headcount by the expected amount and Symantec will not have to pay any severance packages for redundancies," claimed the source. Symantec's ESPP offers a 15 percent discount off stock purchasable every six months on a limit of up to ten percent of gross salary. Usually, this is free money for employees, equating to around 1.5 percent of their salary but Symantec's declining share price makes it less attractive. Symantec is subject to an audit investigation into its accounting practices and executive commentary on historical financial results and has not filed its annual report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2018. "The company's financial results and guidance may be subject to change based on the outcome of the audit committee investigation," Symantec said. "At this time, the company does not anticipate a material adverse impact on its historical financial statements for the third quarter of fiscal year 2018 and prior." Symantec won't be issuing shares to employees until it files its outstanding 10-K returns. Oz: Around 400 Commonwealth Bank executives have taken a collective A$100m (GBP 57m) pay cut for their part in a series of financial scandals that have savaged the bank's reputation. Former ceo Ian Narev dropped almost A$14m in long term bonuses last year, while new ceo Matt Comyn lost A$1.9m. The bank's Annual Report details the impact of the board's decision to withhold bonuses over the past two years and said, "most senior leaders within the organisation [are] being held most accountable" for the failures of compliance and conduct. The bulk of the cuts — A$60m — (GBP34m) were made in 2017 when executive short term bonuses were cut to zero and non-executive directors had their fees cut by 20 percent. The chair of the bank's remuneration committee, Sir David Higgins, said the most senior executives — including former executives — have been held accountable. "Executives have been directly impacted by the AUSTRAC settlement and the findings of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority's (APRA) Prudential Inquiry Report into CBA," Sir David said. "The Board has exercised its discretion to adjust downwards individual executive remuneration outcomes, having regard to other risk and reputation matters." Oz: Ceo pay in Australia has hit record highs according to an analysis by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI). Reported pay for ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) 100 ceos is the highest for 17 years. Median realised pay for an ASX100 ceo rose 12.4 percent to A$4.36m (US$3.2m) and was up 22 percent to A$1.76m (US$1.3m) for ASX101-200 ceos. The ACSI said that persistent and increasing bonus payments to Australia's top ceos are driving remuneration to record levels. The analysis coincides with figures published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics which showed the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) at 2.1 percent, wiping out Australia's near record low wage growth of 2.1 percent. This means that real wage growth is now zero. Employees in the private sector, who account for 85 percent of the workforce, are experiencing wages growth of 1.9 percent, which is well below the rate of inflation. 14 In the public sector, the average annual wages growth is 2.3percent. Canada: The 2018 Canadian Esop Association's recent Employee Ownership Conference welcomed 105 delegates to Edmonton, Alberta, its largest attendance to date. - The need to communicate and celebrate the Esop with employees - highlight the ownership issue and not retirement - shares can be split any way that works for everyone The Association asked them to share the most powerful ideas or thoughts from the conference and this is how they replied: - Easily the most powerful is the use of symbols allowing shareholders to state on their emails that they are a 'shareholder' or 'I am an owner'; and, jackets or rings etc - The need to market Esop better within own their organisation with continued efforts to build ownership culture - The need to expand employee engagement but avoid the employee feeling of "entitlement" - An Esop for all employees - ensure that plans set -up are those that have the best tax advantage - The concept of a buyer corporation to repurchase shares from departing employees the idea that private equity companies might be willing to partner with employee groups to provide exit for owners - Each Esop is a customised solution - make it work for your company fit, what works for another may not always work for you. It must be able to evolve and morph with time - Make everyone aware of the tax aspects – which can be non-standard, or involve different implementations - The Esop programme can be flexible and can be custom made to suit both the current and potential owners - Ideas for educating employees on Esop and keeping it front of mind - The idea of where an Esop can help take a company after investing in the process over the long haul - the ability for a company to shape its Esop to help meet its vision and goals "Generally we regard any pay package that doesn't align pay with performance as not in the best interest of shareholders," said Michael Cheng, vice president of ESG Research at MSCI Inc. "Share awards that don't come with performance metrics defeat the whole purpose of equity retention policies, which are meant as incentives to executives to create value for the company and all shareholders." In April, Pinduoduo issued more than 250m shares, worth at least $1bn, to a company controlled by Mr Huang. While the filing doesn't specify any strings attached or performance metrics, it does say Huang plans to donate stock to two charitable foundations that he intends to establish. Pinduoduo, which is backed by Tencent Holdings and known as PDD, plans to go public in the US, offering 85.6m US Depository Shares at $16 to $19 apiece, according to a stock exchange filing. Huang will own 46.8 percent after the IPO, assuming an over-allotment option isn't exercised, while controlling the vast majority of its voting power. China: Chinese ceos are starting to get ten-figure bonuses when their company goes public, said a The Employee Share Ownership Centre is a membership organisation which lobbies, informs and researches on behalf of employee share ownership. newspad of the Employee Share Ownership Centre report by Bloomberg. For example, the ceo of Shanghai-based Pinduoduo received at least $1bn of stock without any performance hurdles as his ecommerce company prepares for a US IPO. Colin Huang, the head of Pinduoduo, may soon have an $8.3bn fortune, based on his holdings in the ecommerce operator and the IPO bonus. That would make him among the 25 richest people in China, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Lei Jun, the head of Beijing-based smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. enjoyed a $1.5bn payday, with no strings attached, when his company went public in July. When JD.com went public in 2014, it incurred $591m of costs from a stock grant to its chief. The concept of an IPO bonus that's not tied to future performance metrics is unusual because a public offering itself is a way of compensating ceos and their lieutenants. Founders like the heads of Pinduoduo, Xiaomi and JD already hold substantial stakes and would become billionaires even without the extra payout. That raises concerns that such rich pay-days are coming at the expense of future shareholders, and could push start-ups to take on public investors even if they're not ready. 15
Brooklyn Journal of International Law Volume 33 Issue 3 SYMPOSIUM: Corporate Liability for Grave Breaches of International Law 2008 Out at Home: Challenging the United StatesJapanese Player Contract Agreement Under Japanese Law Victoria J. Siesta Follow this and additional works at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/bjil Recommended Citation Victoria J. Siesta, Out at Home: Challenging the United States-Japanese Player Contract Agreement Under Japanese Law, 33 Brook. J. Int'l L. (2008). Available at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/bjil/vol33/iss3/9 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at BrooklynWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Brooklyn Journal of International Law by an authorized editor of BrooklynWorks. Article 9 OUT AT HOME: CHALLENGING THE UNITED STATES-JAPANESE PLAYER CONTRACT AGREEMENT UNDER JAPANESE LAW INTRODUCTION lthough it is an inherently American game, thus dubbed the "American Pastime," 1 baseball is no exception to globalization. 2 For years, Major League Baseball ("MLB") scouts have traversed South America, Latin America and the Caribbean in search of outstanding talent. 3 Moreover, players from across Asia have excelled in MLB for more than a decade. 4 Indeed, the main reason that international players come to MLB is to prove their skills in the world's premiere baseball forum. 5 InA 1. Casey Duncan, Note, Stealing Signs: Is Professional Baseball's United StatesJapanese Player Contract Agreement Enough to Avoid Another "Baseball War"?, 13 MINN. J. GLOBAL TRADE 87, 88 (2003). 2. William B. Gould IV, Globalization in Collective Bargaining, Baseball, and Matsuzaka: Labor and Antitrust Law on the Diamond, 28 COMP. LAB. L. & POL'Y J. 283, 289–90 (2007); Krikor Meshefejian, The Global Reach of America's Pastime: Antitrust Implications of the US-Japanese Player Contract Agreement, ILL. BUS. L.J., Oct. 5, 2005, http://iblsjournal.typepad.com/illinois_business_law_soc/2005/10/the_love_of_the.html. 3. On Opening Day of 2004, nearly half of all MLB players were born outside of the United States, and players from thirty-three foreign countries currently play for either MLB teams or their minor league affiliates. MLB's globalization is largely due to the efforts of Major League Baseball International, the global arm of MLB, which was organized in 1989 to "focus[] on the worldwide growth of baseball" and has offices in Beijing, New York, London, Sydney and Tokyo. The Official Site of Major League Baseball: International, http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/international/index.jsp?feature=mlbi (last visited Apr. 14, 2008). 4. In 1995, Pitcher Hideo Nomo became the first Japanese player since the signing of the 1967 United States-Japanese Working Agreement to play in MLB. Ichiro Suzuki followed Nomo in 2000, becoming the first Japanese player to utilize the current Posting System. ROBERT WHITING, THE MEANING OF ICHIRO: THE NEW WAVE FROM JAPAN AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR NATIONAL PASTIME 97 (2004) [hereinafter WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO]. Currently, the New York Yankees' roster includes pitcher ChienMing Wang of Taiwan, and the Seattle Mariners' roster includes pitcher Cha Seung Baek of South Korea. The Official Site of The New York Yankees: Team: Active Roster, http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=425426 (last visited Apr. 14, 2008); The Official Site of The Seattle Mariners: Team: Active Roster, http://seattle. mariners.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=430657 (last visited Apr. 14, 2008). 5. Gould, supra note 2, at 293–94; see Andrew F. Braver, Note, Baseball or Besoburo: The Implications of Antitrust Law on Baseball in America and Japan, 16 N.Y.L. SCH. J. INT'L & COMP. L. 421, 446 (1996) (identifying the quality of baseball in the United States as superior to that of Japan). Hideki Matsui, former Japanese player and current outfielder for the New York Yankees, explained that many Japanese players come to MLB to "help Japanese baseball enhance its reputation" and that their success is "proof ternational players are not selected in MLB's amateur draft, but are signed at a young age by MLB clubs and begin their careers in the minor league system. 6 For Japanese players, however, the process is unique. 7 While under contract in Japan, a player must be posted by his team and then bid on by interested MLB teams. 8 The result is a highly restrictive system which unjustly limits the posted player's mobility and market value. 9 Most theories suggest that the United States-Japanese Player Contract Agreement ("Posting Agreement"), 10 used for Japanese player transfers to MLB, violates U.S. antitrust laws as codified in the Sherman Act. 11 Others posit that posting falls under the National Labor Relations Act 12 as a mandatory subject of collective bargaining. 13 However, the Posting Agreement's limitations on player mobility stem from the Nippon Professional Baseball ("NPB") league's desire to keep Japanese players in Japan. 14 Furthermore, the Posting Agreement would be largely unnecessary if NPB's free agency system was less restrictive. 15 Thus, the resolution to this problem rests not in the laws of the United States, but rather that the level of Japanese baseball is high." Japan Today—Matsui Weighs in on Turmoil Facing Japanese Baseball, http://www.japantoday.com/jp/shukan/243 [hereinafter Matsui Interview] (last visited Apr. 14, 2008). Masanori Murakami, a former NPB and MLB player, stated that MLB "is the best league" and analogized a Japanese player's desire to come to MLB to that of "a musician going to Carengie Hall." Jim Caple, Dice-K 2.0 , http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=darvish [hereinafter Caple, Dice-K ] (last visited May 21, 2008). 6. Posting of Michael McCann to Sports Law Blog, http://sports-law.blogspot. com/2006_11_01_archive.html (Nov. 27, 2006, 6:10pm). 7. Id. 8. United States-Japanese Player Contract Agreement, paras. 5–7, Dec. 15, 2000, available at http://jpbpa.net/convention/2001_e.pdf [hereinafter Posting Agreement] (last visited Apr. 14, 2008). 9. See discussion infra Part II.B. 10. Posting Agreement, supra note 8. 11. Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 1–7 (2007); e.g., Gould, supra note 2, at 294–95 (noting possible antitrust violations). 12. National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 151–169 (2007); e.g., Gould, supra note 2, at 306 (noting possible labor law violations); Elliot Z. Stein, Note, Coming to America: Protecting Japanese Baseball Players Who Want to Play in the Major Leagues, 13 CARDOZO J. INT'L & COMP. L. 261, 267 (2005). 13. Gould, supra note 2, at 287; Stein supra note 12, at 267. Another theory examines the effect of contract enforcement on the Posting System. Duncan, supra note 1, at 87– 88. 14. "The posting system was obviously designed to benefit the Japanese team owners; it allowed them to . . . control the flow of players to the U.S." WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 146. 15. Duncan, supra note 1, at 97; Matsui Interview, supra note 5. in those of Japan. 16 In addition, Japanese players cannot successfully challenge the limitations of the posting system 17 under the laws of the United States, therefore they must do so under either Japanese antimonopoly or labor laws. 18 The purpose of this Note is to examine the Posting Agreement with respect to Japanese antimonopoly and labor laws and to ascertain whether the process violates the provisions of either body of law. Part I explains the history of baseball in both the United States and Japan, including the development of their respective players' unions. Part II sets forth the tensions underscoring baseball relations between the United States and Japan and discusses how they led to the implementation of the current posting system. Part III examines antitrust and labor issues with regards to U.S. laws and explains why a comparable analysis under Japanese laws is proper. Part IV uses Japanese antimonopoly and labor laws to analyze the Posting Agreement, and Part V proposes player-friendly modifications to the current system. I. THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL IN THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN A. Major League Baseball in the United States Although some controversy exists as to the true origins of baseball, the Mills Commission published a report in 1907 concluding that Abner Doubleday invented the game in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. 19 16. In both cases, U.S. courts recognize exemptions that render such arguments ineffective in securing additional player rights for the Japanese players. Gould, supra note 2, at 285 (referencing the judicially-created baseball exemption from U.S. antitrust law); id. at 297 (referencing both the statutory and non-statutory labor exemptions from U.S. antitrust law). Furthermore, Japanese players lack standing as MLB players to bring an action under either law. See discussion infra Part III. 17. The process defined in the Posting Agreement is commonly referred to as the posting system, or posting. Geoffrey R. Smull, International Player Trades and Japan's Anti-Monopoly Law: A Look at the Continued Viability of the United States-Japan Player Contract Agreement, ASIA L. NEWS (Am. B. Ass'n, Wash., D.C.), Spring 2005, at 1, available at http://www.abanet.org/intlaw/committees/africa_eurasia/asia_pacific/spring 05newsletter.pdf. 18. Id. at 5 (discussing possible labor and antimonopoly law violations in Japan); Braver, supra note 5, at 453–54 (discussing ripeness of posting system for challenge in Japanese courts under antimonopoly law). 19. The Mills Commission was a panel organized in 1905 by Albert G. Spalding, former pitcher and sporting goods entrepreneur, to end the speculation surrounding the origins of modern-day baseball. The report was published on December 30, 1907, and the panel consisted of former National League presidents Col. A.G. Mills, Nicholas E. Young, and the Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley; the Hon. Arthur P. Gorman, a U.S. Senator and former president of National Baseball Club of Washington; George Wright and The original National League ("NL") formed in 1876 and the American League ("AL") began operating in 1900. 20 MLB formed in 1903 when both leagues merged. 21 In an effort to prevent players from jumping to rival baseball leagues, the AL and NL placed renewal clauses in their standard player contracts. 22 Players signed one-year contracts giving individual teams the option to unilaterally renew those contracts at the end of the season for which they were signed. 23 The clause was generally applied to the entire contract, therefore perpetually binding the player until his team declined the option. 24 Although MLB was reluctant to grant free agency to its players, the result was inevitable as baseball players, like so many other employees in the United States, unionized. 25 The Major League Baseball Players Association ("MLBPA") formed in 1954 and initially protested the inadequacies of MLB's pension fund, 26 but later lobbied for collective bargaining and alleged antitrust violations pertaining to the reserve clause. 27 Through MLBPA's efforts as well as legislation 28 and various lawsuits, 29 free agency was established. 30 When Alfred J. Reach, who were former players and prominent businessmen; and Amateur Athletic Union president, James E. Sullivan. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: History, http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/museum/history.jsp (last visited May 13, 2008). 20. Jon S. Greenwood, Note, What Major League Baseball Can Learn From Its International Counterparts: Building a Model Collective Bargaining Agreement for Major League Baseball, 29 GEO. WASH. J. INT'L L. & ECON. 259, 260 (1995). 21. MLB operated as a single league format until 1969 when it divided into the AL and NL. Id. 22. See Duncan, supra note 1, at 103–09 (discussing contract jumping in baseball prior to free agency and later use of one-year contracts and renewable options). Additionally, Major League Rule 4-A(a) allowed each MLB club to submit a list of up to forty players to the Commissioner's Office that they wished to "reserve" for the following season. This rule allowed teams to secure an interest in a player on the list without fear that another team would entice him to switch clubs. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp. v. Major League Baseball Players Ass'n, 532 F.2d 615, 622 (8th Cir. 1976). Further, Rule 3(g) explicitly prohibited negotiations with players while they were under contract with another team and justified the measure as preserving MLB's competitive balance. Id. 23. Kansas City Royals Baseball, 532 F.2d at 618. 24. Id. at 624. 25. Greenwood, supra note 20, at 272–73. 26. Gould, supra note 2, at 286. 27. Id. at 286–87. MLBPA negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement in professional baseball in 1968. Greenwood, supra note 20, at 272. For the current collective bargaining agreement between MLBPA and MLB, see 2007-2011 Basic Agreement, Dec. 20, 2006, available at http://mlbplayers.mlb.com/pa/pdf/cba_english.pdf [hereinafter Basic Agreement] (last visited Apr. 14, 2008). 28. Curt Flood Act of 1998, 15 U.S.C. § 26b (2007). players attain free-agent status, they enjoy the freedom of contract negotiations with any MLB team. 31 Per the collective bargaining agreement, even players yet to reach free agency may seek higher pay in salary arbitration proceedings. 32 Today, MLB is considered the best baseball in the world 33 and operates two leagues, AL and NL, with each comprised of three divisions: East, Central, and West. 34 Each year, the divisional winners meet in the playoffs, ultimately resulting in the AL and NL champions playing the World Series to determine the MLB champion. 35 MLB's talent pool is incredibly diverse, with players haling from the United States, South America, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Canada, Taiwan, and Japan. 36 Recently, MLB extended its global interests into China, and India is slated for MLB International developmental programs. 37 The "Ameri- 29. E.g., Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972) (upholding the baseball exemption, but finally conceding that baseball was interstate commerce and reiterating that only Congress could remove the exemption); Kansas City Royals Baseball, 532 F.2d 615 (affirming arbitrator's decision that when a team exercises the renewal option in a standard player contract, the contract is renewable for only one year, not perpetually). 30. Free agency allows MLB players to negotiate with any and all MLB teams, generally resulting in a better contract, including a higher salary, for the player. See Greenwood, supra note 20, at 273–74 (discussing the effects of free market competition on player salaries). See also Alex Belth: Landmark Moments in Free-Agent History, Dec. 2, 2005, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/baseball/mlb/12/02/landmark.freeagency/ index.html (briefly discussing the legal battles that helped shape free agency as well as memorable signing "firsts" in MLB). 31. The current Basic Agreement provides: "Following the completion of the term of his Uniform Player's Contract, any Player with 6 or more years of Major League service who has not executed a contract for the next succeeding season shall be eligible to become a free agent." Basic Agreement, supra note 27, art. XX(B)(1). "Players who . . . become free agents under this Agreement shall be eligible to negotiate and contract with any [MLB] Club without restrictions or qualifications." Id. art. XX(B)(2) (emphasis added). 32. Any player's salary may go to arbitration if both the player and his current team consent to it. However, if the player has accumulated at least three years of MLB service, but less than the six years required for free agency, his salary may be submitted to arbitration without the other party's consent. In either circumstance, arbitration is "final and binding." Id. art. VI(F)(1). 33. Braver, supra note 5, at 446. 34. Greenwood, supra note 20, at 260–61. 35. Id. 36. The Official Site of Major League Baseball: International, supra note 3. 37. Jim Caple, Good Showing in '08 Olympics Will Spur Interest, Mar. 1, 2007, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2766716&type=story. can Pastime" has truly become an international phenomenon, and continues to expand. 38 B. Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan Americans brought baseball to Japan in 1873, 39 and the sport quickly became not just a game, but a way of life. 40 Baseball grew in popularity and became an organized professional league in 1936. 41 NPB is made up of two leagues, the Central and the Pacific, and players develop in a minor league system. 42 Like its counterpart in the United States, the Japanese Professional Baseball Players Association ("JPBPA") represents NPB's players in labor and salary matters. 43 Whereas the certification of MLBPA revolutionized American baseball in the 1960s, Japan did not have an equivalent association concerned with players' rights until 1985. 44 When JPBPA first organized, there was little support for collective actions in Japan. 45 At the time, JPBPA had a minimal effect on the game in Japan, as it only mustered support for minor changes to NPB. 46 In stark contrast to MLBPA, JPBPA evinced an unwillingness to strike in 38. See Jeff Passan, Revenue Stream of Consciousness, Dec. 16, 2006, http://sports. yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-international121806&prov=yhoo&type=lgns (discussing MLB's international expansion and revenues). 39. Stein, supra note 11, at 267; WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 52– 53. During the Meiji Reformation, the Japanese solicited help from various countries in establishing an army, a navy, and a solid infrastructure. American professors who were in Japan to help establish this infrastructure were the first to introduce baseball to the Japanese. Id. 40. In 1886, the First Higher School of Tokyo established a baseball team and infused it with disciplines typically taught in Japanese martial arts. Id. at 53. Even today, when Japanese players practice, they focus more on their "inner self" than on skills and frequently push themselves towards mental limitations rather than physical ones. Id. at 52. 41. Organized in 1936, the Japan Occupational Baseball League was the first professional league in Japan. In 1939, it became the Japanese Baseball League and was renamed Nippon Professional Baseball in 1950 after reorganization. See WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 148–49 (discussing establishment of Japanese professional baseball); Rising Sun Baseball: A Nippon Baseball League Primer, http://risingsunbaseball.com/ (last visited May 13, 2008). 42. NPB teams each have one minor league, or farm, team. Greenwood, supra note 20, at 261 (stating that each NPB team has one minor league club). 43. Stein, supra note 11, at 269; Smull, supra note 17, at 2. 44. Braver, supra note 5, at 451. 45. Members of the union showed little support for its initiatives after formation and, following comments by one owner, an entire team of players withdrew from the bargaining unit. The team eventually rejoined the players' association. Braver, supra note 5, at 451–52. 46. JPBPA negotiated a raise in the minimum league salary as well as pensions in 1988. Greenwood, supra note 20, at 278–79. order to obtain better conditions, higher pay, or even a free agency system. 47 Although Japanese baseball is considered inferior to MLB, 48 its players are brought up in the "besoburo" 49 way of life 50 and nonetheless become national heroes in NPB. 51 Japanese players aim to prove the adequacy of NPB baseball in the U.S. market, but they are also lured by the prospect of less restrictive free agency. 52 Additionally, corruption and harsh training conditions in NPB make MLB an attractive option. 53 Although there is documented history of players switching leagues, 54 most players "choosing" to leave MLB for Japan are at the end of their careers and have been released by their MLB teams. 55 The "desire" of MLB players 47. Following unionization, one JPBPA representative assured the Japanese public that NPB players would not strike, stating that the Japanese players "would not act like Americans." Braver, supra note 5, at 452. 48. Paul White, Japan Frets Over Talent Exodus to North America, USA TODAY, Mar. 28, 2007, http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2007-03-28-japan-effect_N. htm. Americans are historically reluctant to accept Japanese baseball as exhibiting quality equivalent to that of MLB. Some, including current and former MLB managers, think of Japanese baseball as a "second-rate, Ping Pong type of game." WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 25. One reason for this belief is that Japanese players tend to be smaller in both stature and physical composition than MLB players. This was minimally acceptable for pitchers but not for position players like Ichiro Suzuki, an outfielder, who checked-in at a mere five feet, nine inches 156 pounds prior to entering MLB. Id. 49. "Besoburo" is the Japanese word for baseball. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 53. 50. "Japan has imbued [besoboru] with its own philosophy: a Zen samurai emphasis on discipline, spirit and selflessness." Robert Whiting, Batting Out of Their League, TIME MAG., Apr. 30, 2001, at 24, available at http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/japan_ view/baseball.html [hereinafter Whiting, Batting Out of Their League]. 51. See Duncan, supra note 1, at 91 (indicating playing success of Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, and Tsuyoshi Shinjo). 52. Matsui Interview, supra note 5. 53. When Japanese players are drafted by NPB, they nominate their preferred teams, which induces teams to secretly pay players to make specific choices. See id. Additionally, observers note that Japanese pre-season training camps are more like military academies in their strict rules and demanding workouts, which are usually all-day affairs in freezing conditions. Whiting, Batting Out of Their League, supra note 50. 54. Eight Japanese players have left NPB via the posting system: Ichiro Suzuki, Kazuhisa Ishii, Akinori Otsuka, Norihiro Nakamura, Shinji Mori, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Akinori Iwamura, and Kei Igawa. Posting System, http://www.baseball-reference.com /bullpen/Posting_System (last visited Apr. 14, 2008). Other players, such as Houston Astros' second baseman Kazuo Matsui, have come to MLB via free agency following the completion of their NPB contracts. Stein, supra note 11, at 261–62. 55. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 73 (characterizing NPB as "a lucrative market for aging major leaguers"); Whiting, Batting Out of Their League, supra to switch leagues notwithstanding, NPB imposes a limit of three foreign players per team. 56 II. THE UNITED STATES-JAPAN BASEBALL RELATIONSHIP A. History Between MLB and NPB Prior to World War II, the United States and Japan had a working relationship that allowed MLB players to travel to Japan. 57 The United States sent envoys on barnstorming tours where they demonstrated the superiority of U.S. baseball and fostered amicable international relations. 58 This congenial relationship, however, was often marred by nationalist sentiments, as demonstrated by the case of Eiji Sawamura. 59 After compiling an impressive pitching performance against MLB opposition, Sawamura downplayed the pitching skill required to strike out the biggest names in U.S. baseball. 60 He reduced the matter to three words: "I hate America." 61 Assuming Sawamura's pitching prowess translated to MLB success, 62 it would be difficult to find a forgiving and embracing populace in note 50 ("American players have been part of the Japanese baseball equation for years but only in the form of minor leaguers, benchwarmers and aging stars."). 56. NPB takes great pride in its Japanese players' skills and the league's overall level of play and therefore limits the amount of direct American influence in the sport. In 1999, one NPB team manager publicly stated a desire to have an all-Japanese team. Whiting, Batting Out of Their League, supra note 50. Similarly, Yu Darvish, a half-Iranian and half-Japanese pitcher, was only pursued during NPB's amateur player draft by one team because his background did not fit within Japan's "very homogenous society." Caple, Dice-K, supra note 5. 57. Braver, supra note 5, at 445. 58. Id. 59. Tom Singer, Matsuzaka Posting System's Latest Gem, Nov. 14, 2006, http://mlb.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/bos/y2006/m11/d14/c1740635.jsp. 60. In 1935, at the age of seventeen, Sawamura pitched against a U.S. team during a barnstorming tour and struck out four consecutive batters representing the biggest names in U.S. baseball at that time: Charlie Gehringer, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmie Foxx. Id. 61. Following the strikeouts, Sawamura was quoted as saying, "My problem is I hate America, and I cannot make myself like Americans." Id. 62. Many consider Japanese baseball to be inferior to the MLB product; the sentiment was much stronger prior to the recent era which has seen the successful transition of players such as Nomo, Ichiro, and Hideki Matsui. See Jim Albright, Why Haven't we Had More Japanese Players in the Majors; http://baseballguru.com/jalbright/analysis jalbright15.html [hereinafter Albright, More Japanese Players] (last visited Apr. 14, 2008) (discussing quality of Japanese baseball players and teams from the early twentieth century through the 1960s). the United States to cheer for him following such a statement. 63 Unsurprisingly, player exchanges did not occur between the two leagues until three decades later. 64 During the 1960s, Japanese teams sent their players to train in MLB's minor league system. 65 Masanori Murakami came to America in 1964 as part of a training expedition to the San Francisco Giants. 66 Prior to his arrival in San Francisco, his NPB club, the Nankai Hawks, agreed to an option clause granting the Giants the right to purchase Murakami's contract if he played with the parent club. 67 The Giants exercised this right after Murakami was called-up from the minor leagues, but the Hawks vehemently opposed it and pressured Murakami to return to Japan. 68 Following this announcement, MLB and NPB tensions escalated and both sides threatened lawsuits. 69 Eventually, the leagues reached a compromise and Murakami played in San Francisco for one year, and was then allowed to return to Japan without further challenge. 70 Following this incident, both sides signed the Working Agreement of 1967, mandating that each league respect the other's reserve system. 71 This agreement essentially created a "de facto ban" and nearly thirty years passed before another Japanese player emerged in MLB. 72 63. During the Tokyo Giants' United States tour in 1935, the Pittsburgh Pirates tried unsuccessfully to recruit Sawamura to play in MLB. Sawamura declined the offer, citing haughty women, bad rice, and an inability to speak English as a few of his reasons for not wanting to live in America. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 72. 64. Attitudes towards the United States slowly improved following the end of the U.S. occupation of Japan after World War II. Even so, "support networks" for Japanese players attempting to make the move did not exist at this time and it was therefore more difficult for a Japanese player to adapt to his new surroundings. Albright, More Japanese Players, supra note 62. 65. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 73–74. 66. Like other minor leaguers, Murakami and other Japanese players spent time playing in the minors to gain experience, but could be called up to the parent club. Id. at 73– 74. 67. Id. 68. The Hawks went so far as to tell Murakami that if he chose to remain in the United States, he might never be able to return to NPB. Id. at 75–76. 69. Id. at 76–78. MLB alleged that Nankei's refusal to let Murakami play in MLB was a breach of their working agreement. Additionally, when San Francisco exercised its right to Murakami, he signed a standard player contract and became part of MLB. Therefore, he also became part of the reserve system under which he was perpetually bound to the Giants until (and if) they unilaterally decided not to renew his contract. Id. 70. Id. at 79–80. 71. Id. at 84. 72. Id. at 118. Don Nomura, a Japanese agent, decided that 1995 was the optimal time for a Japanese superstar to enter MLB. 73 The image of MLB in the minds of its fans was tarnished due to the labor strike of 1994, 74 and Nomura knew of an unexploited loophole in the de facto baseball ban. 75 He contacted Hideo Nomo, a dominant Japanese pitcher, and explained his simple, yet undetected loophole. 76 Nomo could retire from Japanese baseball, forcing his NPB team to release him from his contract and allowing him to join MLB as a free agent. 77 Amid outrage from both Japanese fans and the league, 78 Nomo retired from NPB and moved to MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers. 79 After winning Rookie of the Year Honors in 1995, 80 Nomo was no longer considered a traitor, but rather a national star in his homeland and a testament to competitive Japanese baseball. 81 The next NPB star to move to MLB was Hideki Irabu in 1997, when the San Diego Padres negotiated for his rights from the Chiba Lotte Marines. 82 Irabu, however, did not want to leave Japan and refused to play in San Diego, despite Chiba Lotte's repeated warnings that he did not have a choice. 83 The Padres, frustrated with Irabu's unwillingness to play in San Diego, finally transferred his rights to the New York Yankees. 84 Although MLBPA was against this move, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig allowed the transfer, but later prohibited any future purchase of 73. Id. at 102–03. 74. The MLBPA and MLB ownership were unable to reach an agreement preventing a labor stoppage in 1994. Greenwood, supra note 20, at 273–74. While players were seeking more money, MLB ownership sought unilateral implementation of a salary cap to contain player salaries. Id. Because of the strike, the World Series was cancelled for the first time since championship play began. Id. at 260–61. In the hearts and minds of American fans, the game had lost its appeal. See Matsui Interview, supra note 5 (stating that following the strike, MLB "faced a significant decline in fans"). 75. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 103. 76. Id. at 102–04. 77. Id. 78. The Japanese media publicly assaulted Nomo, referring to him as both a "traitor" and a "troublemaker." Stein, supra note 11, at 270–71. 79. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 107. 80. Id. at 112. 81. Whiting, Batting Out of Their League, supra note 50. 82. San Diego had a working agreement with Chiba Lotte, including "exclusive rights" to Irabu. Richard Sandomir, Baseball: Irabu's Legacy is a High-Stakes Auction, INT'L HERALD TRIB., Dec. 6, 2006, at 20. 83. Both Irabu and his agent opposed his going to the United States and likened the process by which San Diego obtained his rights to "indentured servitude." Id. 84. Irabu asserted that if he had to play in MLB, he would only do so for the Yankees. Id. player contracts. 85 Then in 1998, Nomura used the Nomo loophole again to bring Alfonso Soriano to the New York Yankees, 86 prompting MLB and NPB to discuss a mutually agreeable protocol for Japanese player transfers to MLB. 87 B. The Posting System MLB and NPB signed the Posting Agreement on July 10, 2000, and established the posting system. 88 Posting allows Japanese players who have not yet attained the minimum eight years of service which triggers true free agency in NPB to come to MLB. 89 It also provides compensation to the posted player's NPB team for the loss of an elite athlete. 90 The "Initial Termination Date" of the Posting Agreement was December, 15, 2002, but it remains operative on a yearly basis so long as neither league notifies the other of its intention to terminate the agreement. 91 85. Chief Operating Officer of MLBPA Gene Orza referred to the working agreement between San Diego and Chiba Lotte as "trafficking in human flesh" and opposed it because it deprived Irabu of his freedom. Id. Although MLBPA was unsuccessful in its attempt to invalidate the working agreement, MLB later prohibited any agreement that assigned "exclusive rights" of players to any MLB team. Id. 86. Although not a Japanese native, Soriano was under contract with an NPB team and wanted to play in MLB. Following Nomo through the narrow loophole in the Japanese-American ban, Soriano eventually landed in New York and played second base for the Yankees. Even though Soriano was a "foreign player" by Japanese standards, he was still under contract with NPB and his "retirement" occurred at age twenty-one, enraging NPB officials. Additionally, NPB claimed that it had closed the loophole prior to Soriano leaving the league, which angered MLB officials as it signaled NPB's unilaterally amending the working agreement. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 141– 45. 87. MLB and NPB began negotiating for a player transfer system in 1998 and officially entered into the Posting Agreement on July 10, 2000. Duncan, supra note 1, at 100–01. 88. Id. Although the agreement was signed in July 2000, it was not effective until December 15, 2000. Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 17. 89. Tim Kurkjian, Posting Process Needs to be Altered, Dec. 15, 2006, http://sports. espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=kurkjian_tim&id=2697354; see Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para 4 (requiring MLB teams to inquire with the NPB commissioner regarding players currently under contract in Japan). 90. Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 9. This provision was included to address NPB's concerns over the dilution of the league because of players leaving for MLB. Stein, supra note 11, at 272. 91. The original agreement "terminated" on December 15, 2002 (the "Initial Termination Date"), unless the Commissioner of either league notified the other "(180) days prior to the Initial Termination Date . . . of his intention to modify or terminate" the agreement. When neither side did so, the agreement became effective from year-to-year and remains so until either Commissioner gives notice otherwise "(180) days prior to any anniversary of the Initial Termination Date." Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 17. Pursuant to the Posting Agreement, an MLB team may inquire as to an NPB player's status between November 1 and March 1 of any given year. 92 If the player's NPB team agrees to posting, 93 it notifies the NPB Commissioner's office who then notifies the MLB Commissioner's office. 94 The MLB Commissioner then informs all MLB teams and within four days of notification interested teams must submit a sealed bid to the MLB Commissioner. 95 At the conclusion of the bidding period, the MLB Commissioner notifies NPB of the highest bid without disclosing the name of the bidding team. 96 The NPB team then has an additional four days to either accept or reject the bid. 97 If accepted, the MLB team is disclosed and has thirty days to negotiate a contract with the posted player. 98 If successful, the player joins his new MLB team and the bid price is passed on as a transfer fee to his NPB team within five days. 99 However, if the negotiations fail, the player returns to Japan until the posting period of the following year and no money changes hands. 100 Teams are expected to negotiate in good faith and the MLB Commissioner oversees the process. 101 The Posting Agreement satisfies MLB's interest in obtaining the best talent in the world and assuages NPB's fear that it is becoming nothing more than a farm team for MLB. 102 One integral group, however, is left 92. Id. para. 9. An NPB team may also decide to post a player without prior MLB inquiry. Id. para. 8. 93. Id. para. 5. 94. Id. para. 9. 95. Id. 96. "At the conclusion of the bidding period, the U.S. Commissioner shall determine the highest bidder . . . [and] then shall notify the Japanese Commissioner of the amount of the bid submitted by the successful bidder." Id. para. 10 (emphasis added). 97. Id. Teams decide whether to accept or reject the MLB team's bid because they are the ones that will eventually get that money if the negotiations are successful, not the player. Id. paras. 9, 11. 98. Id. para. 11. 99. Id. 100. Id. para. 12. Some criticize this provision in the Posting Agreement because there is a real possibility that some teams may submit high bids, fully aware that they will not be able to sign the player within the thirty-day window, simply to block another team from doing so for at least another year. Gould, supra note 2, at 294. 101. The MLB Commissioner has "the authority to oversee the bidding procedures . . . to ensure that they [have] not been undermined in any manner." Furthermore, the MLB Commissioner has the power to revoke a team's exclusive rights, or to declare any contract between a Japanese player and the winning bidder void if he "deems [that the contract] was the result of conduct that was inconsistent with [the] Agreement or otherwise not in the best interests of professional baseball." Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 13. 102. Whiting, Batting Out of Their League, supra note 50. out: the Japanese players. 103 Under the posting system, players have minimal involvement and their only decision is whether to accept the MLB team's offer. 104 Because only one MLB team may negotiate with the player, his market value, and thus his final contract value, is kept artificially low. 105 In addition, NPB teams generally post players because the prospect of extraordinary bid prices is attractive to their financially despondent organizations. 106 The notion of exorbitant bids somewhat counters an original selling point of the posting system, which was that blind bidding ensured that large-market teams would not be the only organizations capable of landing celebrated Japanese players. 107 The stark, unfair nature of the system as it relates to NPB players' rights was not thrust into the forefront until the 2006 off-season. 108 103. MLB teams usually end up with great players who make an immediate impact on their respective teams, while the NPB teams collect the multi-million dollar transfer fees, leaving the Japanese players with a chance to play in the United States for less money than they would be worth on the free agent market. Kurkjian, supra note 89. 104. The Posting Agreement specifically prohibits MLB teams from contacting Japanese players under contract with NPB without MLB's Commissioner asking permission of the NPB Commissioner. Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 4. Additionally, MLB must still seek NPB's approval and follow the posting rules. Id. para. 5. The player is only personally involved in the negotiation of his contract with a team that has "sole, exclusive, and non-assignable" rights to him. Id. para. 11. 105. Under posting, the player's "purchase price" is a combination of both the bid amount and the resulting contract terms. Since only one team may negotiate with him, the player has diminished leverage and is denied his "maximum earning potential." Kurkjian, supra note 89. 106. Id. At the time of writing, there was much speculation about when, or if, NPB's biggest young star, Yu Darvish, would be posted. Bobby Valentine, former MLB manager and current manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines, speculated that Darvish's possible move to MLB will depend on whether his team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, "[are] in a state where they need a lot of money." Caple, Dice-K, supra note 5. 107. Small-market teams favored blind bidding because they felt that it leveled the playing field for them against large-market clubs. Kurkjian, supra note 89. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are the only small-market team to successfully bid and negotiate a contract with any NPB player. In 2005, the Devil Rays signed a two-year, $1.3 million contract with Shinji Mori, formerly of the Seibu Lions. Most recently, during the 2006 offseason, the Devil Rays signed a three-year, $7.7 million contract with third baseman Akinori Iwamura, formerly of the Yakult Swallows. Tampa Bay paid a total of $5.5 million in transfer fees to the NPB teams for both players. Posting System, supra note 54. Daisuke Matsuzaka's posting in 2006 seemingly thwarted this reasoning. Kurkjian, supra note 89. 108. See Kurkjian, supra note 89 (discussing how the posting process deprived Daisuke Matsuzaka and his agent, Scott Boras, of leverage in the negotiating of Matsuzaka's contract with the Boston Red Sox). C. Daisuke Matsuzaka In 2000, the Seattle Mariners bid roughly $13 million for Ichiro Suzuki, and later signed him to a three-year contract worth $12 million. 109 The amount of money bid for Ichiro has not been questioned because he was expected to be a star, and his skills have successfully transferred to MLB. 110 Following Ichiro's signing, the posting system experienced modest success until 2006, when it was criticized for encouraging high bidding and unfair practices. 111 In November 2006, the Boston Red Sox submitted a sealed bid to the MLB Commissioner's office of $51.1 million for the negotiating rights to Daisuke Matsuzaka. 112 The Red Sox later signed a six-year, $52 million contract with the Japanese pitcher. 113 Prior to this astronomical bid, MLBPA opposed the posting system, 114 but did not challenge it and most MLB team executives kept their personal opinions about the system to themselves. 115 Following the bid, however, sports writers and team executives openly stated that MLB had to change the system. 116 One unidentified executive went so far as to refer to the posting system as "silly" and even "stupid." 117 MLB free agents rely on competition among at least two teams in negotiating the best possible contract. 118 Here, NPB players are explicitly deprived of that right in that they may only negotiate with one MLB 109. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 22–24. 110. Kurkjian, supra note 89. Others, like Hideki Irabu, were unable to translate their NPB success into MLB stardom. Many see Irabu as one of the Yankees' worst investments. Sandomir, supra note 81. 111. Sandomir, supra note 81; Gould, supra note 2, at 294. 112. Kurkjian, supra note 89. 113. The contract includes a $2 million signing bonus and provides for a base salary of $6 million in 2007, $8 million in 2008–2010, and $10 million in 2011 and 2012. Beginning in 2009, Matsuzaka's contract contains escalators for his performance in both Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player voting. He also has a no-trade provision and various other benefits. Matsuzaka Contract Details, http://www.boston.com/sports/base ball/redsox/articles/2006/12/15/matsuzaka_contract_details/ (last visited Apr. 14, 2008). 114. Gene Orza, then counsel to MLBPA, questioned the legality of posting because it deprived the player of choice and "totally ignore[d] his rights," but later admitted that MLBPA was limited in its efforts to help the Japanese players by the fact that JPBPA would not act on behalf of its members. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 146–47. 115. Kurkjian, supra note 89. 116. Id. 117. Id. Given the trend in escalating posting prices, baseball insiders speculate that if Darvish Yu, a young and powerful pitcher, is posted within the next few years that he will garner up to a $75 million bid from an eager MLB team. Caple, Dice-K, supra note 5. 118. Greenwood, supra note 20, at 273. team. 119 By eliminating every other MLB team from negotiations, posting keeps a player's market value artificially low. 120 It is reasonable to apply at least part of the bid price to the final contract price in ascertaining a player's market value, as both amounts together represent what he is worth to the MLB team. 121 Arguably then, Matsuzaka's value was over $100 million, while he personally realized just half of that amount and had little choice in doing so. 122 Not every Japanese player desires to become an MLB hero but, for those who do, the process is utterly antiplayer. 123 III. U.S. ANTITRUST AND LABOR LAW A. The MLB Antitrust Exemption In 1922, the United States Supreme Court decided the landmark case of Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore, Inc. v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. 124 Plaintiff, an organized professional baseball league, alleged that MLB's AL and NL purchased other Federal League clubs and "induc[ed] all those clubs . . . to leave [that] League" in violation of the Sherman Act. 125 While the trial court found for the plaintiffs, the Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the business of baseball did not fall within the scope of the Sherman Act, and the Supreme Court affirmed. 126 In the decision, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., concluded that the business of baseball was of "giving exhibitions of baseball, which [is] purely [a] state affair[]," thus rejecting plaintiff's claim that MLB's practices violated federal antitrust laws. 127 Furthermore, Justice 119. Kurkjian, supra note 89. 120. See supra note 114. 121. See Kurkjian, supra note 89 (discussing debate over what constitutes "purchase price" for luxury tax purposes). In essence, MLB teams have to pay twice for a player, which is "an expensive restriction." WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 146. 122. See supra note 121, and accompanying text. 123. Stein, supra note 11, at 266. 124. 259 U.S. 200 (1922). 125. The Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore was one of eight member teams of the Federal League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, which was one of various professional baseball leagues that attempted to compete with a fairly young, yet well-established, MLB for the professional baseball market. Plaintiffs alleged that MLB was trying to monopolize the U.S. baseball market and extinguish, through prohibited business practices, any leagues that attempted to compete with them. Id. at 207. 126. The trial court found a conspiracy to monopolize the baseball market in violation of the Sherman Act and awarded $80,000 in treble damages for the antitrust violation. Id. at 208–09. 127. Id. at 208. Holmes noted that while such exhibitions require players to cross state lines and are undoubtedly money-makers, "the transport is a mere incident, not the essential thing." 128 Moreover, baseball could not be designated "interstate commerce" within the scope of the Sherman Act because its product was one of "personal effort," which is not a component of commerce. 129 Thus, the Supreme Court created baseball's antitrust exemption and placed the decision to remove it squarely in the hands of Congress. 130 In 1952 Congress issued its "Celler Report" 131 on the study of monopoly power which, following hearings on the business of baseball, concluded that "[t]he evidence adduced . . . would clearly not justify the enactment of legislation flatly condemning the reserve clause." 132 This Congressional inaction coupled with Federal Baseball led later courts to apply the exemption established therein to validate the reserve clause. 133 128. Justice Holmes stated that player transport was an incident to an "exhibition [of baseball that], although made for money would not be called trade or commerce in the commonly accepted use of those words" and "[t]hat which in its consummation is not commerce does not become commerce among the States because the transportation that we have mentioned takes place." Id. at 209. 129. Id. 130. See Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc., 346 U.S. 356, 357 (1953) (holding that Federal Baseball concluded that Congress did not intend to include baseball within the scope of the Sherman Act and was effectively put on notice with the Federal Baseball decision that only it could amend the law through legislation specifically geared to bring baseball within the scope of antitrust laws, and yet did nothing to accomplish the task); see also Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258, 285 (1972) (denying Curt Flood's request for free agency). Although the Flood Court concluded that "[p]rofessional baseball is a business and it is engaged in interstate commerce," it nonetheless upheld Federal Baseball because "what the Court said in Federal Baseball in 1922 and what it said in Toolson in 1953, we say again here in 1972: the remedy, if any is indicated, is for congressional, and not judicial, action." Id. at 282–85 (emphasis added). 131. Kansas City Royals Baseball Corp. v. Major League Baseball Players Ass'n, 532 F.2d 615, 619 (8th Cir. 1976). 132. 1952 Report of the Subcommittee on Study of Monopoly Power of the House Committee on the Judiciary, H. R. Rep. No. 2002, 82d Cong., 2d Sess., 229 (quoted in Flood, 407 U.S. 258, 272–73). 133. E.g., Toolson, 346 U.S. at 356; and Flood, 407 U.S. at 282–84. As early as 1902, players challenged MLB's reserve system, albeit unsuccessfully. Nap Lajoie challenged the reasonableness and equitability of the renewable provision in the standard player contract and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania found that the contract was reasonable and the consideration adequate. The court further stated that "mutuality of remedy [does not] require[] that each party should have precisely the same remedy, either in form, effect, or extent." Philadelphia Ball Club v. Lajoie, 202 Pa. 210, 220 (Pa. 1902). See also American League Baseball Club of Chicago v. Chase, 149 N.Y.S. 6, 16 (N.Y. 1914) (denying "the proposition that the business of baseball for profit is interstate trade or commerce" and finding baseball outside the scope of the Sherman Act). The Chase court Indeed, it was this reasoning that prompted the Supreme Court to uphold the baseball exemption with specific regard to the reserve clause in 1972 with its decision in Flood v. Kuhn. 134 The exemption lasted for over seventy-five years before Congress finally removed it as it pertained to employment issues, with the Curt Flood Act of 1998 ("Flood Act"). 135 There are limitations to the Flood Act's application, however, in that Congress tailored its provisions to only "major league baseball players [who] play baseball at the major league level." 136 Furthermore, section 26b(c) states that "[o]nly a major league baseball player has standing to sue under this section," and section 26b(c)(1) defines a major league player as "a per- further noted that "[b]aseball is an amusement, a sport, a game that comes clearly within the civil and the criminal law of the state, and it is not a commodity or an article of merchandise subject to the regulation of Congress on the theory that it is interstate commerce." Id. at 17. 134. Flood, 407 U.S. at 282. The Court stated that the baseball exemption was "an aberration," but that it was "loathe . . . to overturn [Federal Baseball and Toolson] judicially when Congress, by its positive inaction, ha[d] allowed those decisions to stand for so long and . . . ha[d] clearly evinced a desire not to disapprove them legislatively." Id. at 282–84. Curt Flood's claim nonetheless helped create free agency for all MLB players and just four years later, two MLB players challenged the system by filing a grievance with the league. Andy Messersmith of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dave McNally of the Montreal Expos both played the 1975 MLB season under the Standard Uniform Player's Contract because neither signed a new contract following the 1974 season. Section 10(c) of the contract allowed each player's respective team to unilaterally renew their contract for another year. Following the 1975 season, both teams attempted, again, to renew the players' contracts under the same terms and Messersmith and McNally filed grievances alleging that the provision only applied to one renewal year and that they were actually free agents under contract to no team. The League, on the other hand, argued for perpetual renewability, stating that the renewal provision applied to the entire contract, including the renewal provision. In Messersmith's and McNally's case, the arbitrator found that the League's interpretation of the Uniform Player Contract was incorrect and that the renewal provision only allowed for a one-year renewal of all terms of the contract, excluding the renewal provision. Thus, both players were declared free agents and were free to negotiate with any team in MLB for a new player contract, despite the protests of MLB officials. Kansas City Royals, 532 F.2d at 617–20. Following the Messersmith and McNally grievances, the Basic Agreements between MLBPA and MLB provided that "Arbitration Panel[s] shall not have jurisdiction or authority to add to, detract from, or alter in any way the provisions of such agreements." Basic Agreement, supra note 27, art. XI. 135. Curt Flood Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 26b (2007). Section 26b(a) states: "the conduct, acts, practices or agreements of persons in the business of organized professional major league baseball directly relating to or affecting employment of major league baseball players to play baseball at the major league level are subject to the antitrust laws to the same extent . . . [as] in any other professional sports business affecting interstate commerce." Id. § 26b(a). 136. Id. son who is a party to a major league player's contract, or is playing baseball at the major league level." 137 Therefore, not only are minor league ballplayers excluded from the Flood Act's provisions, 138 but it is impossible for Japanese players to assert that the Posting Agreement violates the Flood Act because, under the aforementioned provisions, a Japanese player can neither claim that he is a "major league baseball player" nor that he "plays baseball at the major league level." 139 B. Labor Law and the MLBPA-MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement Under the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"), 140 MLB must negotiate with MLBPA regarding topics relating to "wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment." 141 In Silverman v. Major League Baseball Player Relations Committee, 142 the Second Circuit concluded that anti-collusion, free agency and reserve issues were mandatory subjects of bargaining and that to hold otherwise "would ignore the reality of collective bargaining in sports." 143 One theory suggests that the omission of the posting system from the current collective bargaining agreement ("Basic Agreement") 144 is itself a violation because posting is 137. Id. §§ 26b(c), 26b(c)(1) (emphasis added). 138. In addition to the Flood Act specifically identifying and defining "major league baseball player," section 26b(b)(1) avers that it does not "create, permit or imply a cause of action by which to challenge under the antitrust laws, or otherwise apply the antitrust laws to . . . the minor league level, any organized professional baseball amateur first-year player draft, or any reserve clause as applied to minor league players." Id. § 26b(b)(1). 139. See id. §§ 26b(c), 26b(c)(1) (defining players eligible to assert a claim under the Act). When Japanese players are posted, they are still under contract with their NPB team, hence the posting system provides the NPB team with compensation in the amount of the winning MLB team's bid. Further, these players have never played a single out in a major league game, and will not do so until, and unless, they reach an agreement to play for the winning MLB team. Therefore, they are not "major league players," but rather are still NPB players, and lack the necessary standing to sue MLB for an antitrust violation pursuant to the Flood Act. See generally Posting Agreement, supra note 8 (Posting Agreement is required for Japanese players to transfer to MLB because they are still under contract with NPB). 140. 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 151–169 (2007). 141. Employers and employee representatives are obligated to negotiate in good faith, although neither side is required to accept the other's proposal or to make concessions. Id.. § 158(d). 142. 67 F.3d 1054 (1995). 143. Id. at 1060–62. The Silverman court also analyzed salary arbitration and likened it to "interest arbitration," whereby employers and unions settle disputes over certain issues by sending them to an arbitrator, rather than engaging in collective bargaining. Id. at 1062. Nonetheless, the court found that there was "reasonable cause to believe that [salary arbitration] is a mandatory subject of bargaining." Id. 144. Basic Agreement, supra note 27. a mandatory topic for collective bargaining, rather than a permissive one. 145 However, the problem with Japanese players alleging that the Posting Agreement is a violation of the Basic Agreement is two-fold. First, these players are not contemplated within the definition of "player" found in the Basic Agreement. 146 Second, posting is neither covered by the Basic Agreement nor is it a mandatory subject of bargaining. 147 The Basic Agreement applies to "Major League Players, and individuals who may become Major League Players during the term of [the] Agreement, with regard to all terms and conditions of employment." 148 Under this definition, Japanese players seem to fall within the purview of the Basic Agreement 149 and could, therefore, argue that the Posting Agreement falls within this rubric such that it is a "mandatory subject of bargaining." 150 Although the Basic Agreement encompasses employment issues relating to "individuals who may become Major League Players," 151 Japanese players do not fall under that determination. The only players included in this category are those that are drafted by MLB teams and who begin playing in the parent clubs' minor league farm systems. 152 Thus, posting cannot be considered a mandatory subject of the MLBPAMLB bargaining relationship. Additionally, the Basic Agreement states that players "shall be entitled to negotiate in accordance with the provisions set forth in this Agreement." 153 Posting is not specifically covered in the Basic Agreement, nor is it implied by its provisions. 154 The article dealing with "International Play" 155 only pertains to "any game or series of games played by a Club or Clubs" outside the continental borders of MLB, or in which a foreign 145. Gould, supra note 2, at 306–07; Stein, supra note 11, at 287–89. 146. See Basic Agreement, supra note 27, art. II (defining "player"). 147. There is no section that either directly or indirectly refers to Japanese, or any foreign players for that matter, within the Basic Agreement, nor does it make any mention of the posting system. The only references to player signings are found within the Articles pertaining to Salaries, the Assignment of Player Contracts, and the Reserve System, none of which encompass posting. Id. arts. VI, XIX, XX, respectively; see also Gould, supra note 2, at 300 (citing the 2006 Basic Agreement, which is largely the same as the current Basic Agreement). 148. Basic Agreement, supra note 27, art. II. 149. See id. (referencing "players who may become" MLB players) (emphasis added). 150. Stein, supra note 11, at 285–87. 151. Basic Agreement, supra note 27, art. II. 152. Sections of the Basic Agreement refer to Minor League Players and MLB player assignments to the minor league clubs, as well as the allocation of draft picks to member clubs losing ranked players to the free agency system. Id. arts. XIX, XX. 153. Id. art. II (emphasis added). 154. Gould, supra note 2, at 300. 155. Basic Agreement, supra note 27, art. XV(J). club is a participant. 156 The article also refers to "Joint Cooperation" among MLB clubs regarding international activities, but again there is no mention of international player acquisitions or the rights afforded to such players. 157 Rather, the provision attaches only to international competition and league-wide contracts. 158 Japanese players could only oppose posting as a violation of the Basic Agreement if MLBPA decides to bring them within its definition. 159 MLBPA, however, has no incentive to include Japanese players as members of its bargaining unit. 160 Japanese players are under contract with other teams, in another league and have their own representation in the JPBPA. 161 If Japanese players want their playing conditions changed in NPB, their union approaches their teams and their respective league; they do not seek help from MLBPA. 162 The Basic Agreement does not reference posting and, since Japanese players are both under contract in NPB and members of JPBPA, they do not fall within the meaning of "Major League Player" and may not challenge posting as such. 163 IV. JAPANESE ANTIMONOPOLY AND LABOR LAW A. Japanese Antimonopoly Law Japan did not adopt antitrust laws similar to the Sherman Act until the conclusion of World War II, 164 when it enacted the Act Concerning Pro- 156. The Article specifically relates to games played "outside the United States and Canada; or within or without the United States and Canada against a foreign club or clubs." The continental borders of MLB, as used above, pertain to the United States and Canada as there are currently no MLB clubs attributed to any cities or countries outside of the two aforementioned North American countries. Id. 157. Id. art. XV(J)(4). 158. The provision "includ[es] but [is] not limited to, international play, international events for which Player participation is sought by or on behalf of a Club or Clubs (such as clinics or skill competitions), [and] international competition among nations." In addition to international competition on the field of play, the provision provides for "the exploitation of international rights, such as media and sponsorship contracts." Id. 159. But cf. Stein, supra note 11, at 287–88 (recognizing that the Basic Agreement does not cover the Posting Agreement, but stating that this omission is itself a violation of MLB's obligation to address mandatory subjects of collective bargaining). ``` 160. Id. at 290–91. 161. Smull, supra note 17, at 2. 162. Id. ``` 163. This is further evidenced, both that Japanese players are not covered by MLBPA and the lack of incentive to include them, by the fact that MLBPA offered to help JPBPA contest the validity of the Posting Agreement, either in the United States or Japan, and JPBPA refused the offer. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 147. ASIC 164. B APANESE J L AWS 393 (Hiroshi Oda ed., 1997). hibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade ("Antimonopoly Act"). 165 The Antimonopoly Act was drafted during the postwar occupation and, therefore, resembles the Sherman Act in many ways. 166 Both the Sherman Act and the Antimonopoly Act are primarily concerned with prohibiting illegal restraints of trade, unfair business practices, and monopolization. 167 For the purposes of this Note, the most striking difference between Japanese and U.S. antitrust law is that Japan does not have a baseball exemption. 168 This fact alone makes the Japanese legal system a more attractive vehicle for challenging the Posting Agreement. 169 The baseball exemption notwithstanding, U.S. jurisprudence finds certain sports' business practices violative of antitrust legislation as either unfair trade practices or illegal restraints of trade. 170 It 165. Act Concerning Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade, Law No. 54, (1947) (Jp.) [hereinafter Antimonopoly Act], translated at http://www.jftc.go.jp/e-page/legislation/ama/ama.pdf (last visited Apr. 14, 2008). 166. Following World War II, occupational forces in Japan assisted the Japanese government in the drafting and adoption of the Antimonopoly Act, the premise of which was largely against common economic practice in Japan at the time. Braver, supra note 5, at 436. Prior to World War II, the Japanese government routinely interfered in the affairs of private businesses and there was little in the way of wealth distribution, as most power was concentrated in a few companies. Id. The Antimonopoly Act was modeled after the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act, but was stricter. Enforcement of the Antimonopoly Act was lax, primarily because of Japan's traditional allowance of cartels. Only after amendments to the act in 1974 was the law strengthened and cartel fines increased. Even then, however, the United States criticized Japan's relaxed implementation, which led to further amendments throughout the 1990s. ODA, supra note 164, at 393. Much of the resistance to enforcement of the Antimonopoly Act stemmed from Japan's contempt of the occupational forces because they represented both defeat and the imposition of Western laws and ideals. Id. at 439–40. 167. Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 1–7 (2007); Antimonopoly Act §1. 168. Smull, supra note 17, at 3 (stating that Japanese antimonopoly law does not recognize a baseball exemption); see discussion supra Part III (referencing the baseball exemption). 169. Smull, supra note 17, at 3. 170. Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972) (holding that the reserve system was a violation, but the exemption was entitled to stare decisis, and the Court left removal of the exemption to Congress); Smith v. Pro Football, Inc., 593 F.2d 1173, 1189 (D.C. Cir. 1978) (holding that the NFL's rookie player draft was a violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act because it had "severe anticompetitive effects and no demonstrated procompetitive virtues" and was therefore an unreasonable restraint of trade); Mackey v. NFL, 543 F.2d 606, 623 (8th Cir. 1976) (stating that NFL's "Rozelle Rule," which required compensation for a team losing a player to another NFL team via free agency, was an unreasonable restraint of trade because it promoted a highly restrictive system of free agency in which player mobility was deterred rather than encouraged). follows, therefore, that these violations are the proper context under which to analyze the posting system with regards to Japanese law. 171 The Antimonopoly Act defines an unfair trade practice as "[a]ny act . . . which tends to impede fair competition" within the scope of activities generally classified as unfair and designated an unfair trade practice by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission. 172 Of the six activities set forth in section 2, the current posting system fits squarely within both "[d]ealing with another party on such conditions as will unjustly restrict the business activities of the said party" 173 and "[d]ealing with another party by unjust use of one's bargaining position." 174 Furthermore, because the amount of the winning bid goes to the posted player's NPB team, thereby depriving the player of his full market potential, the posting system could arguably be considered "[d]ealing at unjust prices." 175 By its nature, the posting system is an unjust restriction on NPB players' business activities. 176 Initiating the process for a possible transfer to MLB relies not on the player's approval, but ultimately on that of his NPB team. 177 Further, once the highest bid is determined, the winning team is awarded the "sole, exclusive, and non-assignable right to negotiate with and sign" the player. 178 Moreover, if the NPB club does not accept the bid, or if the MLB team fails to sign the player, "another request 171. See Smull, supra note 17, at 5; and Braver, supra note 5, at 453–54 (both noting the availability of Japanese antitrust claims). 172. Antimonopoly Act § 2(9). Japan's Fair Trade Commission is an independent fiveperson agency charged with enforcing the Antimonopoly Act, and is largely based on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Braver, supra note 5, at 438. 173. Antimonopoly Act § 2(9)(iv). 174. Id. § 2(9)(v). 175. Id. § 2(9)(ii); Smull, supra note 17, at 2. 176. See discussion supra Part II.B (detailing inequities of posting system); see Antimonopoly Act § 2(9)(iv) (prohibiting practices that unjustly restrict the another party's business activities). 177. Posting Agreement, supra note 8, paras. 5, 6. Additionally, the Japanese club may make one of its players available for posting without any inquiry on the part of an MLB team. Id. paras. 7, 8. Either way, the player's prerogative in the matter is never mentioned in any paragraph relating to the initial inquiry. 178. Id. para. 11. Buttressing this part of the problem is the fact that the MLB team that submits the winning bid does little more than quote a number. The bid price does not change hands unless the MLB team successfully negotiates a contract with the player and, in the event that no agreement is reached, there is no penalty on the team; the entire bid is then off the table and neither the player nor the NPB team sees any money. Once again, the Japanese player is subjected to this process and has no say in where he goes or with whom he may negotiate, further proving the "anti-player" nature of the posting system. Rehan Waheed, The Posting System in Major League Baseball, J. OF BUS. L. SOC'Y, Nov. 2, 2006, http://iblsjournal.typepad.com/illinois_business_law_soc/2006/11/ the_posting_sys.html. for posting with respect to that Japanese player shall be prohibited until the following November 1." 179 The only time the posted player is personally involved in this process is when he negotiates with the winning MLB team. 180 Thus, posting unjustly restricts a player's freedom of choice and his ability to "shop" his talents to an array of MLB teams and may, therefore, be a violation of the Antimonopoly Act. 181 Additionally, the posting system may be actionable as an "undue use of one's bargaining position." 182 Here, NPB and MLB each have superior bargaining positions to the Japanese players. 183 While both organizations have power over the player, it is ultimately the NPB team that can unduly control the process since they must approve a player's posting before further action is taken. 184 This skewed power is also visible where the NPB team has the sole right to reject the winning MLB bid, thereby ensuring that no team will have the opportunity to negotiate with the player until at least the following November. 185 MLB has superior bargaining power because by awarding "sole, exclusive, and non-assignable" rights to the player, only one team "competes" for his services and his contract value is kept artificially low. 186 Essentially, the player has no bargaining power and if he does not acquiesce to the bidding team's final offer, or if his NPB team does not approve both the initial posting and the bid amount, he must return to Japan for at least another year. 187 Alternatively, if either of the preceding analyses is insufficient to establish a violation, the combination of the two may be viewed as "[d]ealing at unjust prices." 188 It is difficult to grasp the concept of a sixyear contract worth $52 million 189 as "unjust," until the terms of Daisuke Matsuzaka's player contract are compared with the $51.1 million windfall for his former NPB team, the Seibu Lions. 190 In total, the Boston Red 179. Posting Agreement, supra note 8, paras. 11, 12 (emphasis added). 180. Id. 181. Smull, supra note 17, at 5; Meshefejian, supra note 2. 182. Antimonopoly Act, Law No. 54, § 2(9)(v) (1947) (Jp.). 183. Smull, supra note 17, at 5. 184. Posting Agreement, supra note 8, paras. 6–8. 185. Id. para. 11. 186. Id. Thus restricting the number of teams involved in negotiations to one. Smull, supra note 17, at 5; see discussion supra Part II.C. 187. Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 12. 188. Antimonopoly Act, Law No. 54, § 2(9)(ii) (1947) (Jp.). 189. Matsuzaka Contract Details, supra note 113. 190. Boston bid $51.1 million for the rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka, all of which was transferred to the Seibu Lions upon Matsuzaka's agreement to Boston's contract offer. Kurkjian, supra note 89; see Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 11 (detailing the procedure and timeframe for transfer of the bid amount to the NPB club). Sox spent roughly $100 million to acquire Matsuzaka, 191 and arguably his talent alone commanded such a price tag. 192 Furthermore, Matsuzaka has to earn his money over the course of the next five seasons 193 while Seibu received their transfer fee once the contract was signed. 194 Therefore, Matsuzaka received an "unjust price" for his services as his contract reflects only one-half of his potential value. 195 One other possible violation of Japanese antitrust laws is that posting is established by an international agreement, and section 6 of the Antimonopoly Act prohibits parties from signing "an international agreement or international contract which contains such matters as constitute an unreasonable restraint of trade or unfair business practices." 196 As established above, Japanese players have colorable claims against posting under either provision. Further, the Antimonopoly Act provides for private causes of action by "person[s] whose interests are infringed or likely to be infringed" by the illegal conduct. 197 Thus, if either the JPBPA or any individual posted player can show an undue restraint of trade or an unfair business practice associated with the Posting Agreement, they can bring a suit in Japan for either monetary damages or injunctive relief. 198 Furthermore, enforcement of the Antimonopoly Act favors the idea that any international agreement in violation of section 6 is unenforceable and 191. Even before negotiations took place, Boston's total package for Matsuzaka was expected to be between $80 and $100 million. Barry M. Bloom, Red Sox Win Matsuzaka Bid, MLB.com, Nov. 15, 2006, http://mlb.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/mlb/y2006/ m11/d13/c1739983.jsp. 192. In an interview following MLB's announcement regarding the Red Sox's winning bid, Omar Minaya, General Manager of the New York Mets, said, "You've got to pay a pitcher like Matsuzaka when he's already proven himself in the Olympics and in Japan and the [World Baseball] Classic. A lot of people respect this pitcher." Id. (alteration in original). 193. At the time of writing, Matsuzaka had completed one full season with the Red Sox, a campaign that brought the World Series trophy back to Boston for the second time in the past four years. Nick Cafardo, Well-earned Recognition, BOSTON GLOBE, Nov. 4, 2007, at E19. 194. Paragraph 11 states that, "the U.S. Major League Club shall pay the Japanese Club the amount of its successful bid within five (5) business days of the confirmation of terms." Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 11. It is also worth noting that Seibu agreed to post Matsuzaka following his Most Valuable Player performance in the 2006 World Baseball Classic in part due to the team's financial troubles. Kurkjian, supra note 89. The team even marketed Matsuzaka throughout the posting process as "a national treasure." Singer, supra note 59. 195. See supra notes 121 and 122, and accompanying text. 196. Antimonopoly Act, Law No. 54, § 6 (1947) (Jp.); see Smull, supra note 17, at 4 (explaining the possibility of a section 6 claim for JPBPA). 197. Antimonopoly Act § 24. 198. Id. §§ 24–26; Smull, supra note 17, at 4. entirely null and void. 199 According to JPBPA, however, it is near futile to bring a lawsuit in the Japanese legal system because "trials last forever [in Japan]." 200 MLBPA even offered to assist its Japanese counterpart in pursuing the action, in either the United States or Japan, but the offer was rejected. 201 Thus, the Posting Agreement remains effective and will continue to limit Japanese players' mobility and earning potential until action is taken to invalidate it. 202 B. Japanese Labor Law In Japan, unions meeting certain criteria 203 are permitted to negotiate towards collective bargaining agreements with employers and are not liable for concerted activity, such as strikes. 204 Since formation in 1985, JPBPA has been a far weaker version of MLBPA, 205 and remains reluctant to strike because of "traditional Japanese cultural views of collective harmony, company loyalty, and a tendency to promote the benefit of the group over the individual." 206 Nonetheless, JPBPA has successfully em- 199. Smull, supra note 17, at 4. 200. Whiting, Batting Out of Their League, supra note 50. 201. Toru Matsubara, an official with JPBPA responded to MLBPA by saying that court proceedings in either country would be too lengthy and, therefore, that "the problem can't be helped." WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 147. 202. Id. at 146–47. 203. Article 28 of Japan's Constitution guarantees the right of collective action, which "inherited many of the effects of the guarantee of the dispute right in advanced capitalist countries." KAZUO SUGENO, JAPANESE LABOR LAW 539–40, (Leo Kanowitz, trans.) (1992). To come within the purview of the Labor Union Act, a Japanese union must have "formed voluntarily . . . for the main purposes of maintaining and improving working conditions and raising the economic status of the workers." Labor Union Act, Act No.174, art. 2(1) (1949) (Jp.), translated at http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/hourei/ data/lua.pdf (last visited Apr. 14, 2008). In addition, labor unions must be financially independent of their employer. Id. art. (2)(1)(ii). 204. Labor Union Act, arts. 1(1), 6; SUGENO, supra note 203, at 539–40 (discussing collective action by unions, including "dispute acts" such as strikes and boycotts). Furthermore, if an employer refuses to "bargain collectively with representatives of the workers employed by the employer without justifiable reasons," it is considered an unfair labor practice. Labor Union Act, art. 7(ii). Justifiable collective actions are exempt from criminal liability. Id. art. 2. Also, employers cannot claim damages arising from strikes or other "acts of dispute." Id. art. 8. Dispute acts are typically defined as those which "impair an employer's normal operation of its business conducted in the course of a labor dispute" and include strikes and picketing. SUGENO, supra note 203, at 544. Justifiable dispute acts must be "aimed at achieving an object of collective bargaining." Id. at 550. 205. Stein, supra note 11, at 269. 206. Duncan, supra note 1, at 93. For a general discussion of the evolution of Japanese cultural opinions towards labor, see ANTHONY WOODIWISS, LAW, LABOUR AND SOCIETY IN JAPAN: FROM REPRESSION TO RELUCTANT RECOGNITION (1992). ployed both the collective bargaining and concerted activity mechanisms to effect changes within NPB. 207 Therefore, JPBPA could feasibly utilize either of these rights to achieve player-friendly changes to the posting system. 208 Pursuant to Japanese labor law, JPBPA has a right to bargain collectively with NPB regarding payment and working terms and conditions. 209 Also, if JPBPA is established in its constitution as a democratic organization affording equal treatment to all of its members, it may claim administrative relief from unfair labor practices. 210 The union may demand collective negotiations regarding posting because it directly affects both players' salaries and working terms and conditions, and it is within NPB's power to change the system. 211 Furthermore, although posting affects the aforementioned player interests, JPBPA was neither consulted during the drafting of the Posting Agreement, nor did the union ratify it. 212 If JPBPA demands collective bargaining and NPB refuses to negotiate, it would constitute an unfair labor practice within the purview of 207. In 1993, NPB instituted its first free agency system. NPB's system was fashioned after MLB's system, but remains a more restricted version of the free agent market. Braver, supra note 5, at 453. Some suggest that this Americanization was the product of former MLB stars playing in Japan and making more money than the native Japanese players and bringing their "pro-union" attitude with them. Id. at 446–48. 208. Smull, supra note 17, at 5. 209. Labor Union Act, arts. 1, 6. 210. Article 5(1) of the Labor Union Act states that any labor union meeting Article 5(2) constitutional requirements and complying with the Article 2 definition of a labor union may utilize administrative procedures and be awarded remedies pursuant to the provisions of the Act. Id. art. 5(1); SUGENO, supra note 203, at 423–31 (explaining qualifications of labor unions as a prerequisite for taking action pursuant to the Labor Union Act). If a union alleges unfair labor practices in violation of Article 7 of the Labor Union Act against the employer, the union may file, within one year of the act's commission, a motion with the Labor Relations Commission, which will then investigate the matter and determine whether it should proceed to a hearing. Labor Union Act, art. 27. If the matter goes to hearing, the Labor Relations Commission may award the relief sought by the movant or it may dismiss the motion. Id. art. 27-12(1). 211. Although there is no provision in the Labor Union Act that specifically addresses topics for collective bargaining, it is generally accepted that any issue which relates to employee interests for which the employer has the "discretion to respond" is appropriate. SUGENO, supra note 203, at 485–86. With regards to posting, NPB exerts power over the player both before he is posted and after MLB teams bid for his negotiating rights and therefore have the discretion to respond to player inquiries as well as the overall agreement with MLB. See supra Part IV.A (discussing NPB's superior bargaining power to that of its players). 212. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 147. the Labor Union Act. 213 JPBPA could then submit the issue to the Labor Relations Commission or they could initiate a strike. 214 At present, the posting system is a sensitive issue in Japan, with JPBPA likening the process to "human trafficking." 215 Since 1985, JPBPA has only gone on strike once, but the attempt was successful. 216 Given that posting directly relates to players' rights, it is reasonable to expect that JPBPA would be successful in at least making the process more player-friendly through either collective bargaining or concerted activity. 217 Thus, the issue is ripe for action by JPBPA without fear of criminal or civil liability. 218 If they remain hesitant to strike, JPBPA can either file a complaint seeking administrative relief with a district labor relations commission, 219 or they may file suit in the court system for 213. In order for NPB to refuse collective bargaining, the league would have to provide a legitimate reason to do so. Labor Union Act, art. 7. 214. Employees may file motions with the Labor Relations Commission alleging unfair labor practices against an employer and requesting that the Commission investigate the matter. If the Commission finds sufficient bases for pursuing the matter, it will initiate a hearing to further explore the allegations. Id. art. 27(1). The Labor Relations Commission includes members representing employers, workers, and the public interest. Id. art. 19(1). The Commission has authority to investigate alleged unfair labor practices and to resolve labor disputes. Id. art. 20. 215. Smull, supra note 17, at 2. 216. In 2004, the JPBPA protested the possible merger of two NPB teams because it threatened both the stability of the dual-league format and the jobs of players and team personnel. JPBPA and NPB ownership signed an agreement, ending the action after two days and preventing a second strike, which provided that the merger would proceed as planned, but that NPB would initiate the process of finding corporate ownership for a new team to enter the league the following year in 2005. Additionally, the agreement abandoned the traditional exorbitant league entry fees charged to new corporate ownership while establishing an expansion draft-type system to ensure the new team's competiveness. Id. 217. Both public opinion and that of the legislature currently favors collective action by JPBPA. Id. at 3. Unions in Japan may decide to strike prior to reaching impasse in collective bargaining, but it is generally recognized that to strike over a term currently in negotiations is improper. Failure to give notice of a possible strike to an employer prior to the action is not dispositive of the legality of the concerted activity, but the propriety of such action is assessed based on whether it amounted to an intentional paralysis of the employer's operations. SUGENO, supra note 203, at 553–54. 218. As previously discussed, labor unions meeting statutory criteria may participate in administrative procedures and demand relief from unfair labor practices. See supra note 210 and accompanying text. In addition, such qualified unions may exercise their statutory right to engage in collective action while enjoying exemption from both criminal and civil liability. SUGENO, supra note 203, at 424. Furthermore, if JPBPA does strike over the posting system and it is deemed a "justifiable act," NPB would not be permitted to claim damages against the union for the disruption. Labor Union Act, art. 8. 219. Labor Union Act, art. 27. monetary damages. 220 Once again, JPBPA must initiate the reform process, but is reluctant to do so both because of cultural barriers and the daunting length of Japanese trials. 221 V. PROPOSAL FOR MODIFICATIONS TO THE POSTING SYSTEM In the absence of JPBPA action invalidating the Posting Agreement, there are modifications that can make the system more amenable to Japanese players' rights. 222 First, the bidding process, which takes place entirely in the United States among MLB teams, can be altered so that sole negotiating rights to the posted players are not awarded to the highest bidder. 223 Instead, the rights to negotiate with the player could be given to multiple teams thereby creating a pseudo-market in which the player may "shop" his talents to the club offering the best overall package, including term of contract, compensation, and location. 224 If more teams are allowed to negotiate, the player can extract more value for his talents and is assured the opportunity to bargain for an amount closer to his market potential, rather than a low offer which he must accept if he does not wish to remain in Japan. 225 Alternatively, the Posting Agreement can require MLB teams to pay NPB teams a percentage of the total package negotiated with the player, rather than having them place a bid beforehand. 226 This amount would be a percentage of the total package, but would not come out of the player's salary; it would be a separate payment to the NPB team, but would serve a similar purpose and be transferred comparably to the current bid 220. SUGENO, supra note 203, at 627. If JPBPA seeks relief from the Labor Relations Commission, it will not be entitled to "consolation money" or "compensation for abstract losses," but if it seeks relief solely from the court system, they can only obtain remuneration for past wages and will not be able to affect the employer-employee relationship in the future. Id. at 691–92. 221. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 147. 222. See discussion supra Part II.B–C. 223. Contra Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 11 (stating that only the highest bidder gets negotiating rights to the posted player). 224. This system would resemble free agency in that teams would actually compete to sign the player, therefore encouraging better offers. See Greenwood, supra note 20, at 273 (stating that escalation of players' salaries is due to free market competition encouraged by free agency); Basic Agreement, supra note 27, art. XX(B)(2) (setting forth procedures for negotiating and signing free-agent contracts). 225. See Gould, supra note 2, at 292 (referencing the potential for higher salary through free agency); see id. at 294 (referencing potential for MLB teams to bid high while knowing they cannot sign the player); Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para.12 (stating that players return to Japan for another year if negotiations are unsuccessful). 226. Contra Posting Agreement, supra note 8, para. 11 (providing for bidding process which occurs prior to a player's posting). price. 227 Since this alteration is analogous to the system in the Basic Agreement whereby MLB teams losing free agents to other teams are compensated with draft picks, it would encourage competitive negotiations with Japanese players. 228 Interested teams could submit skeletal contracts outlining some terms and conditions which they are prepared to offer, and then let the player choose the teams with whom he wants to negotiate based on his own criteria. 229 This pro-cess would afford the player a pro-active role in deciding where he will eventually play. Not only would he be given a chance to make an informed decision, but he would also have the leverage enjoyed by free agents to extract maximum value. 230 CONCLUSION The Posting Agreement is the product of decades of U.S.-Japanese baseball tensions resulting from NPB's animosity towards players desiring to prove their skills in MLB. The strictures placed on player mobility and bargaining power are the embodiment of NPB's desire to keep Japanese players in Japan, and to not become a farm system for MLB. Opponents to the system have suggested that its unfair labor practices violate both antitrust and labor law. However, for a Japanese player hoping to challenge the posting system in the United States, the baseball exemption from antitrust law and the lack of protection from MLBPA are nearinsurmountable hurdles. By instituting the proposed changes, MLB can still access Japanese talent while ensuring that NPB remains a competitive professional league and receives compensation for posted players. Furthermore, players will acquire bargaining power and freedom of choice, both of which the current Posting Agreement denies them. Nonetheless, the only way to truly combat this problem is for JPBPA to demand a better free agency system and collective negotiations specifically geared towards remedying the unfair labor practices that are encourgaed by posting. They can also accomplish this task by invalidating the Posting Agreement under Japan's 227. See id. (stating that in the event of successful contract negotiations, bid price goes to NPB team). 228. See Basic Agreement, supra note 27, art. XX(B)(4) (setting forth team compensation for loss of free agents). 229. Not only does this create a market for the player, but it re-establishes his freedom of choice. See WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 146 (quoting MLBPA officials as questioning the legality of posting for depriving players of choice and rights). 230. See Kurkjian, supra note 89 (discussing how the posting process deprived Daisuke Matsuzaka and his agent, Scott Boras, of leverage the negotiation of Matsuzaka's contract with the Boston Red Sox). antimonopoly law. MLB cannot unilaterally fix a problem arising from NPB's feudalistic and out-dated policies, and they "can[no]t force the Japanese players to stand up for their interests." 231 If Japanese players will not assert their rights, the Posting Agreement will remain intact and will continue to restrict their mobility and market value indefinitely. Victoria J. Siesta * 231. WHITING, MEANING OF ICHIRO, supra note 4, at 147. * A.B., Princeton University (2001); J.D., Brooklyn Law School (expected 2009); Managing Editor of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law (2008–2009). I would like to thank my family, especially my parents, Michael and Marian, my sister, Christina, and my grandfather, Vincent J. Siesta, Sr., for their unwavering love and support. Thank you also to the 2007–2008 Executive Board and staff of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law for their help in preparing this Note for publication. All errors and omissions are my own.
Katie Everett Recreation Supervisor 651.204.6060 Phone 651.204.6011 Fax email@example.com The City of Vadnais Heights 800 East County Road E Vadnais Heights, MN 55127 10A Memorandum: TO: Mayor Krachmer and City Council Members FROM: Katie Everett, Recreation Supervisor DATE: February 7, 2023 SUBJECT: Fee Schedule Update – Park Fees and Typographical Error in Fire Occupancy Language Requested Council Action Approve the date change and cancellation fees for park facilities in the Approved 2023 Fee Schedule and the typo under Fire Occupancy. Proposed changes are shown in red print. Background City staff works to accommodate customers using our athletic fields and picnic shelters to the extent possible. Staff recommend implementing a small date change fee to athletic field reservations to cover administrative costs associated with these requests. Additionally, cancellation policies have been in place, but the fees were not included in the fee schedule. Staff have included the corresponding cancellation fees in this fee schedule update as well. Fire staff noted that there was a typo in the Fire Occupancy fees. Shown in red and strike out language. Attachments: Proposed Amended 2023 Fee Schedule Ordinance No. 764 APPLICATION/FEE/PERMIT TYPE 2023 Fee Schedule Approved: 12/20/2022; Proposed Amended: 2/7/2023 2023 FEE ADDITIONAL COMMENTS APPLICATION/FEE/PERMIT TYPE 2023 Fee Schedule Approved: 12/20/2022; Proposed Amended: 2/7/2023 2023 FEE \| Contractor's License \| $60.00 \| Plus a certificate of insurance (and a bond if excavating) \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Electrical Permit \| * \| set through annual contract with contracted electrical inspector \| \| Fire Protection Permit \| $65.00 miniumum \| 2% of job value - $65.00 minimum \| \| Grading Permit \| \| Permit required for all earth work of greater than 25 cubic yards (bond required for commercial jobs only) \| \| One acre or less \| $500.00 \| $800 bond requried for each 12,500 square feet of disturbed area \| \| Greater than one acre \| $1,200.00 \| $6,000 per acre bond required \| \| Mechanical (HVAC) Permit \| \| \| \| Residential \| $65.00 minimum \| 1.5% of job value - $65.00 minimum \| \| Commercial \| $65.00 minimum \| 2% of job value - $65.00 minimum \| \| Plumbing Permit \| \| \| \| Residential \| $65.00 minimum \| 1.5% of job value - $65.00 minimum \| \| Commercial \| $65.00 minimum \| 2% of job value - $65.00 minimum \| \| Plumbing Permit - Reduced Pressure Zone (RPZ) \| $50.00 \| Per valve added or repaired (testing doesn't require a permit) \| \| Plumbing Permit - Utility Work Fees \| \| \| \| Sewer Service connection, repair, alteration, or re-inspection - Residential \| $50.00 \| \| \| Sewer Service connection, repair, alteration, or re-inspection - Commercial \| $50.00 minimum \| 2% of job value - $50.00 minimum \| \| Water Service connection new, repair, alteration, or re-inspection - Residential \| $50.00 \| \| \| Water Service connection new, repair, alteration, or re-inspection - Commercial \| $50.00 minimum \| 2% of job value - $50.00 minimum \| \| Septic Tank \| $55.00 \| \| \| Drain Field \| $55.00 \| \| \| Septic Tank and Drain Field \| $110.00 \| \| \| Plumbing Permit - Water Meter Fees \| \| \| \| The City provides the initial water meter at our cost plus sales tax and a 10% handling charge. If the cost of a meter and/or sales tax changes during the calendar year, fees will be adjusted accordingly. \| \| \| \| Size \| \| \| \| 5/8" or 3/4" \| $384.02 \| \| \| 1" \| $544.01 \| \| \| 1 1/2" omni \| $1,152.25 \| \| \| 2" omni \| $1,237.55 \| \| \| 3" compound \| $3,925.69 \| \| \| 4" omni compound \| $4,522.91 \| \| \| Sign Permit \| \| \| \| Billboard \| \| Building Permit required. Fee based on "Building Permit Fee Valuation" table. In addition, see "General Fees" for annual license fee. \| \| Pylon or Monument \| \| Building Permit required. Fee based on "Building Permit Fee Valuation" table. \| \| Temporary Bulletin or Banner Sign \| $50.00 \| Sign permit required. \| \| Wall, re-facing, non-pylon or non-monument (i.e., directonal or home occupation) \| $65.00 \| Sign permit required. \| ADDITIONAL COMMENTS \| APPLICATION/FEE/PERMIT TYPE \| 2023 FEE \| \|---\|---\| \| Comprehensive sign plan (3 or more new/replacement signs) \| $300.00 \| \| State Surcharge Fee \| \| \| Storage Tank Permit (fuel) \| $65.00 minimum \| \| Zoning Permit \| \| \| Accessory Structures (200 sf or under) \| $65.00 \| \| Driveways \| $65.00 \| \| Fences \| $65.00 \| Land Use Applications Each separate land use request shall be charged a separate fee even if submitted on the same application. In addition to the application fee, all planning cases are subject to a minimum escrow fee to cover any consulting costs the City may incur. Additional charges may apply if the consulting costs exceed the escrow amount. The escrow may be waived, reduced, or increased by the City planner on a project-by-project basis. For applications that involve excessive staff time, services performed by city staff will be billed at actual payroll costs including hours rates, payroll taxes and benefit charges. \| Easement Vacation \| $500.00 \| Escrow $1,500 \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Minor Subdivision \| $1,200.00 \| Up to 3 lots - escrow $1,500 \| \| Comprehensive Plan Amendment \| $1,200.00 \| Escrow $2,000 \| \| Planned Unit Development \| $2,000.00 \| Escrow $2,500 \| \| Planned Unit Development Amendment \| $1,200.00 \| Escrow $2,000 \| \| Plats \| \| \| \| Preliminary Plat \| $800.00 + $25.00 per lot \| Escrow $2,500; Fee excludes final engineering approval, construction services, and as-build reviews \| \| Final Plat \| $600.00 + $25.00 per lot \| \| \| Rezoning \| $1,200.00 \| Escrow $2,000 \| \| Site Plan Review \| $1,700.00 \| Escrow $1,000 \| \| Minor Site Plan Review \| $700.00 \| Escrow $500 \| \| Conditional/Interim Use Permit \| \| \| \| Residential \| $700.00 \| Escrow $1,000 \| \| All other Conditional/Interim Use Permits \| $1,200.00 \| Escrow $1,500 \| \| Amendments to Approved Conditional/Interim Uses \| 75% of above fees \| \| \| APPLICATION/FEE/PERMIT TYPE \| 2023 FEE \| \|---\|---\| \| Single-Family Uses \| $500.00 \| \| Commercial/industrial/multi-family uses \| $1,000.00 \| \| Zoning Verification \| $75.00 \| \| Zoning/City Code Amendment \| $1,000.00 \| \| Hydrant Meter Permit \| \| \|---\|---\| \| Road Right-of-Way (ROW) \| \| \| ROW Permit \| $150.00 \| \| ROW Registration \| $60.00 \| \| Small Cell Wireless Facility \| \| \| Right-of-Way Pole Attachment Permit \| $1,500.00 per pole \| \| Special Use Permit for Residential/Adjacent District \| $250.00 per pole \| \| Rent (annual) \| $150.00 per pole \| \| Maintenance Fee (annual) \| $25.00 per pole \| \| Electricity Fee (monthly) \| \| \| Water Tower Cell Permit Antenna Site Permit (on building permit) \| \| \| Administrative Fee \| $1,800.00 \| \| Escrow \| $8,750.00 \| APPLICATION/FEE 2023 Fee Schedule Approved: 12/20/2022; Proposed Amended: 2/7/2023 2023 FEE ADDITIONAL COMMENTS Administrative Permits, Ap /P p ERMIT TYP lic atio E ns, & Fees \| Administrative Penalty Fee \| $100 \| Fee Per Chapter 24, Article III, Section 24-57 of City Code \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Animal Licensing \| \| \| \| Cats \| $20.00 \| 2 year license and certificate of rabies vaccination and distemper \| \| Dogs \| $20.00 \| 2 year license and certificate of rabies vaccination and distemper \| \| Annual Dangerous Dog License \| $250.00 \| Plus other code requirements \| \| Annual Potentially Dangerous Dog License \| $250.00 \| Plus other code requirements \| \| Appeal of Potentially Dangerous Dog Designation \| \| Applicant provides escrow amount per staff estimate of potential costs \| \| Kennels \| \| \| \| Personal Kennel \| $85.00 \| \| \| Public Kennel \| $350.00 \| \| \| Impound Fee \| $50.00 \| \| \| Cannibinoid Sales \| $300.00 \| For each establishment \| \| Fine for Selling to Minor - licensee \| \| \| \| 1st Offense \| $250.00 \| Plus an additional compliance check \| \| 2nd Offense within 24 Months \| $500.00 \| Plus an additional compliance check \| \| 3rd Offense within 24 Months \| $1,000.00 \| Plua a minimum 7 business day suspension of the license \| \| 4th Offense within 24 Months \| $1,500.00 \| Plua a minimum 15 business day suspension of the license \| \| 5th Offense wihtin 24 Months \| $2,000.00 \| Plus a minimum 30 business day suspension of the license \| \| 6th Offense within 24 Months \| \| Revocation of the license for up to one year \| \| Fine for Selling to Minor - individual \| \| \| \| 1st Offense \| $75.00 \| \| \| 2nd Offense within 24 Months \| $200.00 \| \| \| 3rd Offense within 24 Months \| $250.00 \| plus minimum 7 day sales suspension \| \| Carnival Permit \| $230.00 \| Per setup; a certificate of insurance is also required \| \| Copies \| \| \| \| Print or copy documents: 100 or fewer pages \| $0.25 \| State maximum (M.S. 13.03) \| \| Print or copy documents: more than 100 pages \| \| actual costs of searching for, retrieving and providing documents \| \| Day Care Centers, home-based \| $50.00 \| $50.00 reinspection fee, State maximum (M.S. 245A.151) \| \| False Alarms (Per City Code Chapter 8, Article V, Section 8-338) \| \| \| \| 1-2 False Alarms \| $0 \| \| \| 3rd False Alarm \| $110.00 \| \| \| 4th False Alarm \| $165.00 \| \| \| 5th False Alarm \| $215.00 \| \| \| 6th False Alarm \| $265.00 \| \| \| 7th + False Alarms \| $320.00 \| \| \| APPLICATION/FEE/PERMIT TYPE \| 2023 FEE \| ADDITIONAL COMMENTS \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Fire & Rescue/EMS and Emergency Services \| $432.00 \| Per hour rate, per piece of equipment to non-residents for motor vehicles and tax-exempt properties for fire & rescue/EMS and emergency services. (First call of calendar year free of charge as per Resolution 09-01-021). \| \| Fire Occupancy Inspections for Businesses/Non-Profits \| \| 3rd time and subsequent re-inspections are $200.00 each \| \| up to 500 sq. ft \| $25.00 \| \| \| 501 to 1,000 sq. ft. \| $50.00 \| \| \| 1,001 to 1,250 sq. ft. \| $75.00 \| \| \| 1,251 to 5,000 sq. ft. 1,250 to 5,000 sq. ft \| $125.00 \| \| \| 5,001 to 10,000 sq. ft. \| $200.00 \| \| \| 10,001 to 20,000 sq. ft. \| $250.00 \| \| \| 20,001 to 30,000 sq. ft. \| $300.00 \| \| \| 30,001 to 40,000 sq. ft. \| $350.00 \| \| \| 40,001 to 50,000 sq. ft. \| $425.00 \| \| \| 50,001 to 100,000 sq. ft. \| $1,040.00 \| \| \| Over 100,000 sq. ft. \| $3,000.00 \| \| \| Rental Properties \| \| \| \| Multi-Family \| $100.00 \| Base fee, plus $15.00 per unit \| \| Single Family \| $75.00 \| \| \| Fire Reports \| $15.50 \| per report \| \| Gambling Permit \| $33.00 \| per day \| \| Late Gambling Payments \| $1,000.00 \| per month \| \| Garbage/Recycling Hauler \| $150.00 \| For first two (2) vehicles plus certificate of insurance \| \| Additional Vehicles \| $70.00 \| \| \| Late Fee Charge on Invoice \| \| Per City Code Chapter 10, Article I, Section 10-8 \| \| Per Month over 30 days \| 10.00% \| \| \| Lawn Maintenance Fee \| \| \| \| Per Person, Per Hour, One Hour Minimum \| $80.00 \| plus 25% administration fee \| \| Per Piece of Equipment, Per Hour, One Hour Minimum \| $40.00 \| plus 25% administration fee \| \| APPLICATION/FEE/PERMIT TYPE \| 2023 FEE \| ADDITIONAL COMMENTS \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Liquor \| \| \| \| On-Sale Liquor Establishment/Bar \| \| Based on square footage of liquor serving area, plus a $3,000 bond \| \| Up to 2,000 sq. ft. \| $3,300.00 \| \| \| 2,001 to 3,000 sq. ft. \| $4,300.00 \| \| \| 3,001 to 4,000 sq. ft. \| $5,300.00 \| \| \| Over 4,000 sq. ft. \| $6,300.00 \| \| \| 2:00 a.m. Option \| \| same as state fee \| \| Investigation Fee on New Application \| $300.00 \| \| \| Taverns (dancing/entertainment) \| \| Add 25% to associated liquor fees \| \| Off-Sale ($1,000 bond) \| $380.00 \| State Maximum (M.S. 340A.408) \| \| Sunday Sales \| $200.00 \| State Maximum (M.S. 340A.504) \| \| Consumption & Display Permit \| $300.00 \| \| \| As required by the State, off-sale license fees will be reduced by $100 if licensee agrees to meet the conditions specified in M.S. 340A.408 \| \| \| \| Wine on-sale only \| $400.00 \| State maximum (M.S. 340A.408) is lesser of 1/2 on-sale liquor license fee or $2,000 \| \| 3.2% malt beverage on-sale \| $175.00 \| \| \| 3.2% malt beverage off-sale \| $150.00 \| \| \| Temporary on-sale \| $75.00 \| per day \| \| Temporary Beer Permit (3.2 beer) \| $75.00 \| maximum duration of permit is 3 days \| \| Brewer Taproom On-Sale \| $600.00 \| \| \| Small Brewer Off-Sale \| $380.00 \| \| \| Microdistillery Cocktail Room \| $600.00 \| \| \| Microdistillery Off-Sale \| $380.00 \| \| \| Massage Therapy Establishment \| \| \| \| Initial License Fee \| $150.00 \| includes investigation fee \| \| Renewal License Fee \| $75.00 \| includes investigation fee \| \| Additional Owner, Change in on-premise manager, etc \| $50.00 \| \| \| Amendments to License \| $50.00 \| \| \| Temporary Off-Site Permit Fee \| $25.00 \| includes up to 3 individuals per event \| \| Massage Therapy Individual \| \| \| \| Initial License Fee \| $100.00 \| includes investigation fee \| \| Renewal License Fee \| $50.00 \| includes investigation fee \| \| Temporary Off-Site Permit Fee \| $25.00 \| includes up to 3 individuals per event \| \| Mobile Permit (in-home services) \| $100.00 \| \| \| Mobile Vendor (food and beverage) \| $60.00 \| \| \| NSF Check \| $30.00 \| State Maximum (M.S. 604.113) \| APPLICATION/FEE/PERMIT TYPE 2023 Fee Schedule Approved: 12/20/2022; Proposed Amended: 2/7/2023 2023 FEE \| Park Fees \| \| \|---\|---\| \| Picnic Shelters \| \| \| Resident Reservation for Picnic Shelter includes tax \| $75.00 \| \| Non-Resident Picnic Shelter Reservation includes tax \| $150.00 \| \| Picnic Shelter Reservation Special Permit Request (food trucks, inflatables, etc.) \| $50.00 \| \| Community Park - Softball Pavilion \| $75.00 \| \| Ahtletic Fields \| \| \| Field Reservations - Vadnais Heights Residents \| \| \| Youth Resident Practice or Game (includes tax) \| $6.00/hr \| \| Adult Resident Practice or Game (includes tax) \| $15.00/hr \| \| Field Reservations - Non-Residents \| \| \| Non-Resident, all ages (includes tax) \| $22.00/hr \| \| Date Change Fee \| $5.00 \| \| Approved Associations \| $6.00/hr \| \| Pending Assessment and Utility Search \| $28.00 \| \| Utility History Request \| $32.00 \| \| Public Outdoor Event \| $130.00 \| \| Recording Duplication (meeting/event, etc.) \| $25.00 \| \| Seasonal Outdoor Sales \| $150.00 \| \| Non-Profit Sales \| $70.00 \| \| Sign License \| \| \| Billboard Annual Fee \| $350.00 \| \| Solicitor/Peddler \| $95.00 (up to 2 people, $20 each additional person) \| \| Special Event Staffing \| $30.00 \| \| Tobacco Sales \| $300.00 \| \| Fine for Selling to Minor - licensee \| \| \| 1st Offense \| $75.00 \| \| 2nd Offense within 24 Months \| $200.00 \| \| 3rd Offense within 24 Months \| $250.00 \| \| Tree Removal Service \| $90.00 \| ADDITIONAL COMMENTS \| APPLICATION/FEE/PERMIT TYPE \| 2023 FEE \| \|---\|---\| \| Other Miscellaneous Requests, Special Projects or Data Practice Inquiries \| \| \| Vadnais Heights Commons \| \| \| Water Rates \| \| \| Water Base Charge; Residential or Commercial - 3/4" Meter \| $11.69 \| \| Water Base Charge; Multiple Dwelling Units \| $11.69 \| \| Water Base Charge; Meters Larger than 3/4" \| \| \| 1" Meter \| $24.64 \| \| 1 1/2" Meter \| $52.04 \| \| 2" Meter \| $80.94 \| \| 3" Meter \| $298.34 \| \| 4" Meter \| $422.08 \| \| 8" Meter \| $1,644.04 \| \| 10" Meter \| $2,645.87 \| \| Water Connection Availablility Charge \| $32.67 \| \| Deduct Meter Reading Fee \| $11.33 \| \| Water Usage Charge \| \| \| 0 - 12,000 Gallons of Water \| $1.43 \| \| 12,001 - 25,000 Gallons of Water \| $2.40 \| \| Over 25,000 Gallons of Water \| $4.17 \| \| Over 50,000 Gallons of Water, ALL irrigation water use \| $5.77 \| \| Meter Reading Not Attainable - 1st Quarter \| $55.00 \| \| Meter Reading Not Attainable - Subsequent Quarters \| $325.00 \| \| Meter Reading Not Attainable - Subsequent Quarters - Users over 50,000 Gallons per QTR \| $425.00 \| \| Radio Reading Meter Equipment opt out fee \| $325.00 \| \| Water Surcharge (MN Dept. of Public Health) \| $4.86 \| \| Water Meter Change-out Fee \| $115.00 \| \| Water Service Turn-on or Turn-off Fee \| $85.00 \| \| Meter Rental for Fire Hydrant \| \| \| Meter Larger than 3/4" - Monthly Rental Charge \| $55.00 \| \| Meter Larger than 3/4" - Water Charge \| $5.77 \| \| 3/4" Meter - Monthly Rental Charge \| $55.00 \| \| 3/4" Meter - Water Charge \| $5.77 \| \| Wrench Deposit \| $35.00 \| \| Sewer Rates \| \| \| Base Charge; Residential \| $28.50 \| \| APPLICATION/FEE/PERMIT TYPE \| 2023 FEE \| \|---\|---\| \| Residential Usage Charge \| $3.89 \| \| Hotel Usage Charge \| $3.89 \| \| Residential Base Charge - City Water Available, Not Connected \| $115.00 \| \| Residential Base Charge - City Water Unavailable \| $95.00 \| \| Commercial Base Charge - No City Water Connection \| $160.00 \| \| Commercial Properties: \| \| \| Base Charge \| $40.00 \| \| Usage Charge \| \| \| 0 - 25,000 gallons of water usage \| $4.97 \| \| Over 25,000 gallons of water usage \| $7.04 \| \| Surface Water Rates \| \| \| Residential Single Unit Properties \| $13.50 \| \| Commercial, Multi Dwelling Unit Residential Properties \| variable, 8.0% increase \| \| Illegal Sump Pump Surcharge \| $325.00 \| \| Collection Fees \| \| \| Returned Check/Failed Auto Deposit Fee \| $30.00 \| \| Late Payment Fee \| $5.00 or 15% (higher calculated amount) \| \| Pre-certification Processing Fee \| $35.00 \| After the due date of the 2nd quarterly billing (approximately August 9) all accounts delinquent for more than one quarter, owing an amount greater than the 2nd quarter billing, or an amount greater than $150.00, are subject to the annual certification process. Details regarding the process will be mailed to affected property owners of record. Accounts included in the process will be charged a non-refundable pre-certification processing fee of $35.00. Accounts that remain unpaid after the stated final due date will be certified to Ramsey County for collection with next year's property taxes. Quarterly late payment fees will continue through May 10 of the following year and will be certified with the delinquent amount owed. CITY OF VADNAIS HEIGHTS ORDINANCE NO. 764 AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING THE AMENDED 2023 FEE SCHEDULE The City Council of the City of Vadnais Heights does hereby ordain: WHEREAS, the City of Vadnais Heights annually adopts a Fee Schedule which establishes the fees and charges for service for the City's regulatory functions. The presence of a fee schedule allows regulatory-type fees to be easily identified in one document, as opposed to being scattered throughout City Code. In addition, a fee schedule adopted on an annual basis provides the City Council the opportunity to review fees for services in a comprehensive manner. I. Other Fee References. By enacting this ordinance, all fee amounts previously established and contained herein are hereby amended as submitted. II. Authority. The authority to enact the fees identified herein is established by City Code. III. Penalty. Failure to pay the fees identified herein is subject to penalties and interest as established by City Code. IV. Fee Schedule. The Amended 2023 Fee Schedule is shown in Attachment A. V. Effective Date. This ordinance shall be effective upon adoption and publication. VI. This Ordinance shall take effect and be enforced from and after its passage and publication. PASSED by the City Council of the City of Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, this 7 th day of February, 2023. ______________________________ Mike Krachmer, Mayor ATTEST: _________________________________ Kevin P. Watson, City Administrator
Sustainable Development Goals and Inclusive Development Joyeeta Gupta, Isa Baud, Ralien Bekkers, Steven Bernstein, Ingrid Boas, Vincent Cornelissen, Masahiko Iguchi, Norichika Kanie, Rakhyun E. Kim, Mairon Bastos Lima, Pedi Obani, Petra Schoof, Casey Stevens, and Dylan van Zoomeren Highlights: 1. Social goals tend to be marginalized in the implementation of sustainable development while economic growth is prioritized often also at the cost of ecological goals. Many of these development issues are essentially distributional issues. These distributional challenges will be exacerbated by the need to limit the environmental utilization space (ecospace) on Earth and the consequent challenge of how this space will be equitably and inclusively shared among countries and people. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets developed by the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG) against criteria for inclusive development. 2. Inclusive development principles, tools, and evaluation criteria for the proposed SDGs fall into three clusters: inclusive development per sé; inclusive development in the context of the Anthropocene; and inclusive development from a relational perspective. 3. Regarding inclusive development per sé, the SDGs currently proposed do not provide guidance to establish targets that would build capacity for the most marginalized populations so that they can learn about and access SDG-related opportunities. In the context of the Anthropocene, the SDGs neither adequately address ecosystemic limits nor the allocation of responsibilities, rights, and risks among countries and peoples in relation to fixed and diminishing resources. From a relational perspective, the wording of the OWG document lacks balance; it focuses more on effects than root causes. For example, while the document focuses on enhancing the rights of women and girls and ending gender disparities, it does not have a corresponding discussion on the policy instruments needed for dealing with the relations between men and women with respect to these rights. 4. These governance issues can be addressed by developing context-relevant, appropriate targets and indicators, but this will require exceptional steering and leadership to ensure their successful implementation. Sustainable Development Goals need to be tested on their inclusiveness There have been decades of increasing inequality between the rich and the poor. Worldwide, the top 1% have more wealth than the poorest 2.5 billion people. This concentration of wealth and the inherent power that goes with it has exacerbated many inequalities within and between peoples and countries. Most development problems are not caused by the lack of resources, but rather by distributional factors. Environmental constraints may further compound these inequalities. The environmental constraints include: (a) limited resources on a per capita basis (e.g. land); (b) declining economically-viable and politically-feasible access to specific strategic minerals and metals (e.g. phosphorous and rare earth elements); and (c) declining sinks and carrying capacities of the Earth's ecosystems (e.g. the permissible greenhouse gases that we may emit into the atmosphere if we are to address climate change). Articulating these constraints and limits and sharing the limited environmental utilization space (ecospace) with current and future generations are major challenges (Gupta 2014). The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), targets and indicators in 2000 and 2002 led to a global effort to improve the lives of at least half of the poorest by 2015. The Goals encouraged actions by a variety of local to global actors, although efforts and outcomes have been uneven (see Policy Brief 4). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be built "... there has been a tendency to make trade-offs in favor of growth at the expense of the poorest, resulting in a form of 'weak' sustainability" upon the foundation of the MDGs combined with the post-2015 development agenda. This process is extremely urgent in the Anthropocene (see Policy Brief 1). However, it is important to note that sustainable development research shows that there has been a tendency to make trade-offs in favor of growth at the expense of the poorest, resulting in a form of 'weak' sustainability. Extrapolating from such research, we argue that there is a risk that the SDGs may result in 'weak' sustainability, either in the design of the general goals or in the development of operational targets, indicators and means of implementation. This possibility makes it essential to develop criteria and use them to interpret and evaluate the SDGs and related targets and indicators for their inclusiveness. Inclusive development is justified for moral, legal, economic, social, security and environmental reasons (Cook 2006; Rauniyar and Kanbur 2010; Sachs 2004; Shortall 2008; Prahalad and Hart 2002; Sunderlin et al. 2005; Hartmann and SchraadTischle 2012). Such criteria would help to ensure that we not only define our planetary wellbeing and ecospace, but also explore how that ecospace is to be shared across different economic groups. Principles and tools of inclusive development We divide our principles and tools of inclusive development into three clusters: inclusive development per sé; inclusive development in the context of the Anthropocene; and inclusive development from a relational perspective. Inclusive developmentper sé At the global level, inclusive development per sé calls for leaving 'no one behind', which means equitably including the most vulnerable people in the development process within countries and internationally. We have identified several categories of marginalized groups to include: migrants, refugees, the disabled, indigenous peoples, and future generations (children and unborn generations). The five key principles for inclusiveness per sé are: ・ Include all in the opportunities for development. This can be achieved through enhancing opportunities for education and employment; access to publicly-provided civic amenities such as infrastructure for water, energy, transport, health and safety; and safety nets for those who cannot access these opportunities; ・ Include the knowledge of all in development processes (e.g. inclusive knowledge, indigenous and community knowledge, and scholarly knowledge focused on inclusive development); ・ Engage all in the politics of development (in political, economic, social, environmental, and culturalgovernance processes); ・ Build targeted capacity building to help the most vulnerable benefit from opportunities and engagement processes; and ・ Enhance the level of protection for the most marginalized communities. This means ensuring that they do not lose their traditional access to the natural resources they depend on, such as forests, land, water, fish and other resources (in terms of quality and quantity), and that they are not disproportionately exposed to the impacts of global change. Inclusive development in the context of the Anthropocene Inclusive development in the context of the Anthropocene calls for understanding the need to both adopt ecocentric standards and share the resulting ecospace equitably between peoples and countries, now and in the future. This implies that responsibilities to reduce emissions; rights of access to and benefits from use of ecospace; and costs of environmental impacts must be shared. Therefore, certain conditions need to be taken into account in all targets and indicators that may be elaborated now and in the future. The five key conditions for inclusiveness in the context of the Anthropocene are: ・ Adopt multiple sets of time-bound ecocentric limits from the local to global levels, subject to revision over time in order to maintain the regenerative capacity of the Earth as a whole and also its diverse individual ecosystems (this condition can be also used to define incentives for limit implementation, e.g. internalizing externalized costs; protected areas; building a circular economy); ・ Ensure that the rights, responsibilities and risks associated with the ecocentric limits are equitably shared among peoples and countries now and in the future, based on clear and predictable principles; ・ Build the resilience and adaptive capacity of all, including the most marginalized; ・ Appropriately reform international cooperative institutions as needed (e.g. investment, trade, official development assistance); and ・ Involve all stakeholders and create holistic approaches through interdisciplinary measures in information gathering and exchange, and develop context-relevant instruments. Relational perspective From a relational perspective, the SDGs, their targets and indicators should not just focus on assisting marginalized populations but also on reforming the political, social, and economic structures and dynamics, which include the relations between groups that lead to marginalization. There are implications that need to be taken into account in the development of global governance surrounding SDG design and implementation. The five implications for inclusiveness from a relational perspective are: ・ Ensure the global rule of law and constitutionalism so that no government, powerful entity or person, bank, or tax haven is above the law; ・ Ensure that (global/local) public goods do not become privatized or securitized in a way that privileges the access of some over others; ・ Address poor and marginalized groups (including women) as well as the relations they have with rich and powerful groups (including men); ・ Focus not just on the small-scale sector but also on the relations among various stakeholders, including large industry actors, through appropriate rules for market functioning; and ・ Address poverty but also ensure that all production processes and services provided are taxed (to combat the growth of 'offshoring' in the global economy) to generate the revenues needed for the global community and for redistribution purposes. Only if all these principles are taken into account will the SDGs become more inclusive, leading to cumulative beneficial effects for all. Enhancing the principle of inclusiveness in SDGs Of the seventeen SDGs proposed by the OWG, eleven have a strong social inclusion component focused on The proposed SDGs score well on general principles of inclusiveness per sé but poorly on inclusiveness in the Anthropocene and in terms of relational politics ending poverty, ending hunger, improving health, enhancing education, attaining gender equality, ensuring access to water, sanitation, energy and employment within inclusive settlements and societies, and reducing inequalities within and between states. This makes the SDGs prima facie strong on inclusiveness; however, the elaboration in the text on targets is much weaker in terms of meeting our criteria for inclusiveness. A closer examination reveals that although there is emphasis placed upon both enhancing access and opportunities and including all in political participation and capacity building, there is very little focus on the extra capacity building and support needed for the poorest and most marginalized to ensure that they are actually able to access new SDG-initiated resources and opportunities. For example, the SDG provision of drinking water should not come, for example, at the cost of land, water, and ecospace 'grabbing', which disenfranchise local actors. When one goes beyond the general principles, it becomes clear that the OWG's outcome document does not score well in addressing ecosystemic limits. Several examples are: (a) Instead of focusing on mitigation goals and targets in relation to climate change, it focuses more on adaptation and resilience. This focus on adaptation will result in a never-ending story if the climate problem is not rapidly controlled. (b) Although oceanic-resource limits are dealt with, the text is much more cautious in dealing with the issues of how these limited resources are to be shared among peoples and countries. (c) There is limited focus on ensuring that resources consumed to generate economic growth are reduced, reused and recycled within a circular sustainable economy. In terms of relational issues: (a) Several targets focus on women but none address changing the relations between men and women. (b) Some targets focus on the poor, but none deal with changing the relations between the rich and poor or the powerful and powerless. (c) Other targets focus on relations within the small-scale sector, but none attend to how markets can be reformed. Furthermore, while certain targets focus on generating new resources, they are very limited in their considerations of the large tax havens and huge business economies that operate outside of the various tax systems. Without attention to the principles of inclusive development, the SDGs will join the sphere of paternalistic goals, which may enhance the conditions of the vulnerable while not adequately addressing the challenging relational politics of sharing our Earth in the Anthropocene. References: Cook, Sarah. 2006. "Structural change, growth and poverty reduction in Asia: Pathways to inclusive development." Development Policy Review, 24, 51-80. Gupta, Joyeeta. 2014. "Sharing our Earth". Inaugural address as Professor of Environment and Development in the Global South, University of Amsterdam, 5 June 2014. Available from http://www.oratiereeks.nl/upload/pdf/PDF-3450weboratie_Gupta.pdf (Accessed 8/20/2014). Hartmann, Hauke and Daniel Schraad-Tischler. 2012. "Social exclusion and political change: When do inequality and economic frustration erupt into political turmoil?" Americas Quarterly [online]. Available from http://www.americasquarterly.org/hartmann (Accessed 8/20/2014). Prahalad, C.K. and Stuart. L. Hart. 2002. "The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid: Low-income markets present a prodigious opportunity for the world's wealthiest companies – to see their fortunes and bring prosperity to the aspiring poor." Strategy+Business, 26, 1-14. Rauniyar, Ganesh and Ravi Kanbur. 2010. "Inclusive growth and inclusive development: a review and synthesis of Asian Development Bank literature." Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 15, 455-469. Sachs, Ignacy. 2004. "Inclusive development strategy in an era of globalization." International Labour Office working paper No.35. Geneva: International Labour Organization. Available from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---integration/documents/publication/wcms_079129.pdf (Accessed 8/20/2014). Shortall, Sally. 2008. "Are rural development programmes socially inclusive? Social inclusion, civic engagement, participation, and social capital: Exploring the differences." Journal of Rural Studies, 24, 450-457. Sunderlin, William D., Arild Angelsen, Brian Belcher, Paul Burgers, Robert Nasi, Levania Santoso and Sven Wunder. 2005. "Livelihoods, forests, and conservation in developing countries: An overview." World Development, 33, 1383-1402. Sustainable Development Goals and Inclusive Development POST2015/UNU-IAS Policy Brief #5 Copyright © United Nations University, Project on Sustainability Transformation Beyond 2015 (POST2015) and the Earth System Governance Project, 2014 The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations University, Tokyo Institute of Technology or the Earth System Governance Project. Published by: United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Institute of Technology,T okyo, Japan Earth System Governance Project, Lund, Sweden Please cite this report as: Joyeeta Gupta, Isa Baud, Ralien Bekkers, Steven Bernstein, Ingrid Boas, Vincent Cornelissen, Masahiko Iguchi, Norichika Kanie, Rakhyun E. Kim, Mairon Bastos Lima, Pedi Obani, Petra Schoof, Casey Stevens, and Dylan van Zoomeren. 2014. Sustainable Development Goals and Inclusive Development. POST2015/UNU-IAS Policy Brief #5. Tokyo: United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability Editor: Reed Evans, firstname.lastname@example.org Design and Layout: Noge Printing Co., Japan
Finally, South Indian Hindus Get Their Own Kumbha Mela Category : May 1995 Published by Anonymous on May. 02, 1995 Finally, South Indian Hindus Get Their Own Kumbha Mela New Event Allows Pilgrims to Think Globally and Worship Locally V. Gowri Shankar, Madras Three hundred thousand grateful Hindus fulfilled their spiritual aspirations by participating in the third Dakshna (Southern) Kumbha Mela February 13th to 15th, 1995. Until just six years ago, each would have had to trek 1,000 miles north to join one of the four tri-annual Kumbha Melas. But thanks to the innovation and blessing of South India's religious leaders, pilgrims needed journey only to Triveni Sangam near Mysore, Karnataka, for three days of yajnas, elaborate pujas and the company of saints and holy men. As in previous years, the gracious presence of His Holiness, Jagadguru Sri Sri Sri Thiruchi Mahaswamigal, dressed in white, overshadowed this year's hallowed congregation of saffron-clad sadhus. It was he who conceived this Southern Kumbha Mela following the famous, time-honored Kumbha Melas of the North. On the full-moon day of the 15th, he and the other sadhus were brought in procession to the river bank. Just as he was dismounting from his flower-bedecked truck, the milling throng was treated to a memorable sight. A lone eagle flew near and circled slowly thrice above. The auspicious spectacle of the solitary eagle, his russet wings glinting in the midday sun and his snowy throat setting him off against the blue sky, was received with gasps of delight and wonder by the onlookers. Was the new Mela appreciated? I needed ask no further than 34-year-old Ram Kumar, an incense seller, for the answer. "I have always wanted to go to North India for a Kumbha Mela, but cannot afford it. Now my life-long ambition has been fulfilled with the Southern Kumbha Mela." page 1 / 6 The Triveni Sangam, literally "confluence of three rivers," is located at Tiramakudalu Narasipur in Mysore district of Karnataka State, a six-hour drive south from Bangalore. Here the Kapila river merges with the Kaveri [see map]. The third "river" is an underground spring known as the Spatika Sarovar, "crystal pool," which can be observed at the confluence. Sage Agastya did penance here in ancient times, and several famous temples and ashrams are nearby. Men and women of all ages flocked to this sequestered pilgrimage center nestling on the bank of the triple rivers. Some were hardy, ingenuous rustics clasping the hands of their tiny tots. Others were zealous young women with their babies, unmindful of the inherent perils of such a vast congregation and the inconveniences of packed public transports. And even affluent urbanites commanding commodious cars were among the faithful. Devotees who started pouring in from the previous afternoon vied with each other in offering puja and taking the holy bath. The local villagers cooperated wholeheartedly with the personnel of the various mutts and the government in helping pilgrims cross the rivers by operating the local almost Alice-in-Wonderland round metal boats. A makeshift bridge adroitly built by the Armed Forces enabled pilgrims to easily gather at the Dharma Sabha venue situated on an islet between the encircling rivers. Three main temples were filled with devotees waiting to offer prayers. The infant morning of Kumbha Mela here pulsed to the sacred stir that galvanized a vast multitude. There was sweet, sacred music in the air. Thousands made a beeline for the sacred bath during the auspicious hour between 7.30am to 8.30am. The heads of several mutts joined devotees in their holy dip. The river bank near Vyasaraya Mutt was fragrant with sandal smoke coiling up from pots of clay carried by itinerant vendors. Even the very poor found a little cash to buy a bit of sandal dust and burn it chanting the names of Gods. So too there was none too poor to buy a fistful of sacred bilva leaves and shower them on the countless Lingas adorning the Shiva shrine. Rudra homa and puja to India's seven celebrated holy rivers were performed that 15th morning. After completing their bath, the heads of various mutts were taken in a colorful, three-mile-long procession that wound its way around the small town. The procession, led by young girls and women carrying kumbhas (pots) on their heads, featured nine tableaux. The tableau of Goddess Chowdeshwari, the page 2 / 6 presiding deity of the temple town, was in the front. Preeminent among the spiritual leaders was Sri Thiruchi Swamiji. He was the picture of tranquil benignity, his dusky locks framing a face that belies his age of three score and more. Cymbals clashed, drums throbbed and pipes blared as a band of Adivasis (tribals) swayed and chanted with gay abandon. They formed a spectacular vanguard to the pageant that conveyed the saints from the town outskirts to the local Siva temple. Conspicuous among the galaxy of saffron-clad swamis who graced the occasion were Sri Balagangadharanatha Swami, the head of Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt, Sri Beerendhra Keshava Tarakananda Swami of Kaginele Kanaka Peetam, Sri Shivapuri Swami of Omkhar Hills, Bangalore, Sri Shivarathree Deshikendra Swami of Suttur Mutt and Sri Dayanandapuri Swami of Hampi in North Karnataka. The newly-elected Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri H.D. Deva Gowda and his cabinet colleagues Shri P.G.R. Scindia, Siddharamaiah, S. Nanjappa, H.C. Mahadevappa and Member of the Legislative Assembly Shri Mahadeva Prasad represented the government at the meet. In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister on the occasion, the organizers urged the government to declare and recognize the Kumbha Mela as a state festival. Tiruchi Mahaswami hoisted the Dharma flag and draped dainty shawls on the shoulders of the Chief Minister and other dignitaries. Shri Deva Gowda said, "The sacred roots of the Indian culture and Dharma have gone deep. Dharma is an inherent part of the religious minded people and it greatly influences the behaviors of the society. Our heritage is a radiant model for the whole earth. Democracy can never decay here. The Thiveni Sangam here would soon become one of the biggest religious centers in South India as it is religiously as important as Kasi [Benares]." Sri Balagangadharanatha, whose mutt was responsible for many of the arrangements, observed: "This place of pilgrimage is a symbol of integration, peaceful coexistence and social harmony. This Mela is an occasion where lakhs of devotees from the southern States can come together with total faith in God." In response to the invitation of Sri Balagangadharanatha, Sri Vishwesha Thirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Mutt, Udipi, graced the occasion. His is one of the eight ancient page 3 / 6 Mutts whose heads enjoy the privilege of doing puja to Lord Krishna at Udipi, the famous Krishna shrine in Western Karnataka near Mangalore. It is significant, for these Madhwa acharyas are very staunch Vaishnavites and usually do not mix with followers of other Hindu denominations. His presence significantly contributed to the occasion. February 15th clearly belonged to the swamis. A day that proclaimed triumphantly that Hindus still cherish the lowliest of the wandering monks above anybody else in their eternal peregrination in search of God. The faith of the pilgrims was strong, touching and as lucid as the waters they came to bathe in. The ashrams who made all of the arrangements for the event are to be congratulated for bringing this new spiritual dimension to the Hindus of South India. Correspondent V. Gowri Shankar is an Associate Editor at the Institute of Asian Studies in Madras. He is translating Periapuranam into English verse, and hoping to publish it soon. He lives with his wife, son and two daughters. Sidebar: How the Mela Began The idea for a Southern Kumbha Mela was conceived in 1989 at the Kumbha Mela in Prayag. Amidst 30 million devotees, Jagadguru Sri Sri Sri Tiruchi Mahaswamigal of Sri Kailas Ashram (Bangalore), Jagadguru Sri Sri Sri Balagangadharanatha Mahaswamigal of Sri Adi Chunchanagiri Mahasamsthana and other swamis there decided to hold a Southern Kumbha Mela at the Tirumakudalu Sangama. They felt the millions of southern Hindus should have the same opportunity to participate in such a great spiritual event as their brothers and sisters of the north. Many who would like to attend cannot afford the time or expense to get to northern India. Returning to Karnataka, the swamis discussed the proposal with Jagadguru Sri Sri Sri Shivaratri Desikendra Mahaswamigal of Sri Sunthara Mahasamsthana of Mysore, who unconditionally seconded the suggestion. They ambitiously decided to page 4 / 6 put the plan into immediate effect and scheduled the first mela for the 20th of February, 1989, the auspicious day of Magha Purnima-a mere fifteen days away. The event was held at the Triveni Sangam near Mysore. In spite of the short notice, about two-hundred-thousand delighted people participated, including a large number of sadhus and religious leaders. The second Dakshina (southern) Kumbha Mela was also held at the Triveni Sangama in 1992, again attracting two-hundred-thousand people. The event will continue to be held at the site until it becomes firmly established. Then it will rotate among four auspicious locations in southern India-following the twelve-year cycle of the four northern melas. The bathing days are determined by the same astrological calculations as the North. The 1995 mela is the third of the South. Sri Thiruchiswami is well known throughout South India as a spiritual leader and healer. His influence, born of rare spiritual attainment, extends wider and deeper than simple fame. Since his early days, Swamiji has worked methodically toward the revival of Hinduism in his area. He's improved the temples by raising money for construction and renovation. But more importantly, and reflecting far-sightedness, his ashram's patasala school has graduated a steady stream of proficient priests since its founding in 1976. Some of the patasala boys have opted to become renunciates and have joined his or another ashram after their thorough religious training at Kailas Ashram, thus greatly improving the religious teaching and leadership of the Bangalore region. The ashram has spawned a number of subsidiary spiritual centers staffed by Swamiji's monks, mostly in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Sri Sri Sri Balagangadharanatha Swami ascended the abbot's seat of the Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt in September 1974. It is a huge, monolithic complex that girdles a granite and forest hill jutting up off the arid floor of Karnataka's southern plains. It is famous for its five Siva Linga temples and empowered by centuries of yogic austerities and rigorous discipline. In just 21 years Swamiji has reshaped the previously obscure Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt into the single most effective institution of education, social service and religious teaching in this state of 25 million people. In the last several years Swamiji has branched out nationally and internationally from his base in Karnataka, acquiring land in New Delhi and establishing foundations in America and Germany. The Southern Mela is among his ambitious projects. page 5 / 6 Address: Sri Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt, Nagamangala Taluk, Mandya District, Karnataka, India. page 6 / 6
Spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain of neuropathic or ischaemic origin Technology appraisal guidance Published: 22 October 2008 www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta159 Your responsibility The recommendations in this guidance represent the view of NICE, arrived at after careful consideration of the evidence available. When exercising their judgement, health professionals are expected to take this guidance fully into account, alongside the individual needs, preferences and values of their patients. The application of the recommendations in this guidance is at the discretion of health professionals and their individual patients and do not override the responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or their carer or guardian. All problems (adverse events) related to a medicine or medical device used for treatment or in a procedure should be reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency using the Yellow Card Scheme. Commissioners and/or providers have a responsibility to provide the funding required to enable the guidance to be applied when individual health professionals and their patients wish to use it, in accordance with the NHS Constitution. They should do so in light of their duties to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, to advance equality of opportunity and to reduce health inequalities. Commissioners and providers have a responsibility to promote an environmentally sustainable health and care system and should assess and reduce the environmental impact of implementing NICE recommendations wherever possible. Contents 4 6 8 11 11 15 19 31 34 1 Recommendations 1.1 Spinal cord stimulation is recommended as a treatment option for adults with chronic pain of neuropathic origin who: * continue to experience chronic pain (measuring at least 50 mm on a 0–100 mm visual analogue scale) for at least 6 months despite appropriate conventional medical management, and * who have had a successful trial of stimulation as part of the assessment specified in recommendation 1.3. 1.2 Spinal cord stimulation is not recommended as a treatment option for adults with chronic pain of ischaemic origin except in the context of research as part of a clinical trial. Such research should be designed to generate robust evidence about the benefits of spinal cord stimulation (including pain relief, functional outcomes and quality of life) compared with standard care. 1.3 Spinal cord stimulation should be provided only after an assessment by a multidisciplinary team experienced in chronic pain assessment and management of people with spinal cord stimulation devices, including experience in the provision of ongoing monitoring and support of the person assessed. 1.4 When assessing the severity of pain and the trial of stimulation, the multidisciplinary team should be aware of the need to ensure equality of access to treatment with spinal cord stimulation. Tests to assess pain and response to spinal cord stimulation should take into account a person's disabilities (such as physical or sensory disabilities), or linguistic or other communication difficulties, and may need to be adapted. 1.5 If different spinal cord stimulation systems are considered to be equally suitable for a person, the least costly should be used. Assessment of cost should take into account acquisition costs, the anticipated longevity of the system, the stimulation requirements of the person with chronic pain and the support package offered. Spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain of neuropathic or ischaemic origin (TA159) 1.6 People who are currently using spinal cord stimulation for the treatment of chronic pain of ischaemic origin should have the option to continue treatment until they and their clinicians consider it appropriate to stop. 2 Clinical need and practice 2.1 Pain that persists for more than several months, or beyond the normal course of a disease or expected time of healing, is often defined as chronic. This pain becomes a significant medical condition in itself rather than being a symptom. Chronic pain can affect people of all ages, although in general, its prevalence increases with age. Estimates of the prevalence of this condition in the UK vary from less than 10% to greater than 30% depending on the specific definition of chronic pain used. Chronic pain is accompanied by physiological and psychological changes such as sleep disturbances, irritability, medication dependence and frequent absence from work. Emotional withdrawal and depression are also common, which can strain family and social interactions. 2.2 Neuropathic pain is initiated or caused by nervous system damage or dysfunction. Neuropathic pain is difficult to manage because affected people often have a complex history with unclear or diverse causes and comorbidities. Neuropathic conditions include failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). People with FBSS continue to have back and/or leg pain despite anatomically successful lumbar spine surgery. It is not easy to identify a specific cause of neuropathic pain and people with FBSS may experience mixed back and leg pain. CRPS may happen after a harmful event or period of immobilisation (type I) or nerve injury (type II). Pain and increased sensitivity to pain are the most significant symptoms and are present in almost all people with CRPS. Other symptoms can include perceived temperature changes, weakness of movement and changes in skin appearance and condition. 2.3 Ischaemic pain is caused by a reduction in oxygen delivery to the tissues, usually caused by reduction in blood flow because of constriction of a vessel (vasospasm) or its obstruction by atheroma or embolus. Ischaemic pain is commonly felt in the legs or as angina, but can occur anywhere in the body. Ischaemic pain conditions include critical limb ischaemia (CLI) and refractory angina (RA). CLI is characterised by a reduction of blood flow to the legs and can lead to gangrene, an increased risk of limb loss and a marked increase in mortality. CLI is also characterised by rest pain (which may be felt as a burning sensation), non-healing wounds and/or tissue necrosis. RA may be defined as the occurrence of frequent angina attacks that are not controlled by optimal drug and/or revascularisation therapy, with the presence of coronary artery disease, making percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery unsuitable. 2.4 The goal of treatment for chronic pain is to make pain tolerable and to improve functionality and quality of life. It may be possible to treat the cause of the pain, but usually the pain pathways are modulated by a multidisciplinary approach (described as conventional medical management [CMM] in this document). This may include pharmacological interventions such as non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs, tricyclic antidepressants, anticonvulsants, analgesics and opioids. Non-pharmacological interventions, such as physiotherapy, acupuncture, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and psychological therapies, can also be a part of CMM. For some chronic pain conditions there may also be conditionspecific treatments; for example, people with FBSS may have a repeat operation. People with chronic pain may continue to experience pain despite CMM, and complete relief is rarely achieved. 3 The technology 3.1 Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a treatment for chronic pain that is usually considered after standard treatments (such as those listed in section 2.4) have failed. SCS modifies the perception of neuropathic and ischaemic pain by stimulating the dorsal column of the spinal cord. SCS is minimally invasive and reversible. A typical SCS system has four components. * A neurostimulator that generates an electrical pulse (or receives radio frequency pulses) – this is surgically implanted under the skin in the abdomen or in the buttock area. * An electrode(s) implanted near the spinal cord either surgically or percutaneously (the latter via puncture, rather than through an open surgical incision, of the skin). * A lead that connects the electrode(s) to the neurostimulator. * A remote controller that is used to turn the neurostimulator on or off and to adjust the level of stimulation. 3.2 Neurostimulators may be either implantable pulse generators (IPGs), which use either a non-rechargeable or a rechargeable internal battery, or radio frequency devices, which receive energy in the form of radio frequency pulses from an external device powered by a rechargeable battery. Devices are not specific to pain conditions. However, SCS systems will have different longevities dependant on a person's pain patterns, stimulation power required and body area involved. Therefore the choice of SCS system will depend on these factors as well as preferences of the individual person and the clinician. 3.3 Fourteen SCS devices manufactured by three companies have received European approval to market (CE marking) and are available in the UK. List prices for SCS systems are not publicly available, but the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI) provided indicative SCS equipment costs: a mid-range price based on the average cost of each manufacturer's best-selling product, a lower cost based on the average cost of each manufacturer's least expensive product, and an upper cost based on the average cost of the most expensive product. The prices supplied were: SCS system including neurostimulator, controller and charger, if applicable, but excluding leads £9282 (range £6858 to £13,289); and leads £1544 (range £928 to £1804) or £1136 (range £1065 to £1158) for surgical or percutaneous implantation, respectively. Device and component prices may vary in different settings because of negotiated procurement discounts. 3.4 Boston Scientific manufactures a rechargeable IPG (Precision SC-1110). The device is CE marked as an aid in the management of chronic intractable pain. 3.5 Advanced Neuromodulation Systems manufactures seven devices. Four are nonrechargeable IPGs (Genesis IPG 3608, Genesis XP 3609, Genesis XP Dual 3644 and Genesis G4), one is a rechargeable IPG (Eon), and two are radio frequency systems consisting of an implant with external rechargeable power (Renew 3408 and Renew 3416). The devices are CE marked as aids in the management of chronic intractable pain of the trunk and/or limbs. 3.6 Medtronic manufactures six devices. Four are non-rechargeable IPGs (Synergy, Synergy Versitrel, Itrel 3 and Prime ADVANCED) and two are rechargeable IPGs (Restore ADVANCED and Restore ULTRA). The devices are CE marked as aids in the management of chronic intractable pain of the trunk and/or limbs, peripheral vascular disease, or refractory angina pectoris. 3.7 Further details of contraindications, implant requirements and potential complications can be found in the implant manual for each SCS component. 3.8 For FBSS, the British Pain Society (BPS) suggests that SCS may be an alternative to a repeat operation or increased opioid use. For CRPS, the BPS suggests that SCS may be considered after pharmacotherapy and nerve blocks have been tried but have not provided adequate pain relief. It is acknowledged that SCS is not suitable for everyone with chronic pain, and that it should be used only as part of a multidisciplinary team approach with other therapies and a strategy for rehabilitation. Re-intervention may be necessary to replace the SCS device because of complications (component failures, lead position or implant-related adverse events such as infection) or when the power source is depleted. Ongoing care of patients is also required, which includes 24-hour availability for the investigation and management of potentially serious problems. Spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain of neuropathic or ischaemic origin (TA159) 3.9 People selected for SCS normally have a stimulation trial to determine suitability for permanent implantation of a neurostimulator. This usually involves implanting the electrode(s) and leads with a temporary external device, which is used to mimic the effects of an implanted neurostimulator. A stimulation trial will assess tolerability (for example, of the stimulation sensation or the stimulation device) and the degree of pain relief likely to be achieved with full implantation. 4 Evidence and interpretation The appraisal committee considered evidence from a number of sources. 4.1 Clinical effectiveness 4.1.1 The assessment group included 11 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in their systematic review of clinical effectiveness. Three of these trials included people with neuropathic pain and eight trials included people with ischaemic pain. The devices used in all the trials were non-rechargeable IPG SCS systems produced by Medtronic. Neuropathic pain conditions 4.1.2 Two RCTs investigated the effect of SCS on the treatment of FBSS. One trial (PROCESS) compared SCS in combination with CMM with CMM alone. The other trial compared SCS in combination with CMM with repeat operation in combination with CMM. Follow-up in the PROCESS trial was at 6 and 12 months, and in the other trial at 6 months and after a mean of 2.9 years. The primary outcome in both studies was the proportion of people who had 50% or greater pain relief. 4.1.3 The PROCESS trial reported that SCS had a greater effect than CMM in terms of the proportion of people experiencing 50% pain relief at 6 months (48% and 9% in the SCS and CMM groups, respectively, p < 0.001) and 12 months (34% and 7% in the SCS and CMM groups, respectively, p = 0.005). The other trial also reported a statistically significant benefit in terms of those experiencing 50% pain relief, favouring SCS in comparison with repeat operation (39% and 12% in the SCS and repeat operation groups, respectively, p = 0.04). In the PROCESS trial, opioid use did not differ significantly between the two groups (56% and 70% using opioids in the SCS and CMM groups, respectively, p = 0.20). However, the other trial reported that SCS resulted in a significantly greater number of people reducing or maintaining the same dose of opioids when compared with repeat operation (87% and 58% in the SCS and repeat operation groups, respectively, p = 0.025). In the PROCESS trial the SCS group showed a significantly greater improvement in function compared with the CMM group for mean change in functional ability as measured by the Oswestry Disability Index. The other trial reported no statistically significant differences between SCS and repeat operation for pain related to daily activities or neurological function. The PROCESS trial measured health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and reported statistically significant benefits favouring SCS across all domains of the SF-36, except for 'role-physical'. 4.1.4 One RCT investigated the effect of SCS in combination with physical therapy compared with physical therapy alone for the treatment of type I CRPS. The people in this trial were followed up at 6, 24 and 60 months. The primary outcome was change in pain intensity from baseline. 4.1.5 This trial reported that SCS in combination with physical therapy was more effective than physical therapy alone in reducing pain, measured as mean change on a visual analogue scale (0–10 cm) at 6 months (–2.4 cm and 0.2 cm, respectively, p < 0.001) and at 2 years (–2.1 cm and 0 cm, respectively, p = 0.001), but not at 5 years (–1.7 cm and –1.0 cm, respectively, p = 0.25). No statistically significant differences were identified between the SCS and physical therapy groups for improvement in time taken to perform tasks using the affected hand or foot. There were also no statistically significant differences for HRQoL at 6 months (percentage change in HRQoL: 6% in the SCS group and 3% in the physical therapy group, p = 0.58) or 2 years (7% in the SCS group and 12% in the physical therapy group, p = 0.41). 4.1.6 A subgroup analysis of this trial, which included only those people who received their allocated treatment, reported that SCS in combination with physical therapy was more effective than physical therapy alone in reducing pain, measured as mean change on a visual analogue scale at 5 years (–2.5 cm and –1.0 cm, respectively, p = 0.06). Ischaemic pain conditions 4.1.7 Four RCTs investigated the effect of SCS on the treatment of CLI. Of these, two trials compared SCS in combination with CMM with CMM alone, one trial compared SCS in combination with oral analgesics with oral analgesics alone, and the fourth trial compared SCS in combination with prostaglandin E1 and standard wound care with prostaglandin E1 and standard wound care alone. In one trial the follow-up was at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. In the other three trials there was a single follow-up at least 12 months after SCS. The primary outcome for all four trials was rate of limb salvage. One trial also included pain relief as a co-primary outcome. 4.1.8 Two of the trials reported pain relief outcomes; neither reported statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups. Using a visual analogue scale (0–10 cm), one trial reported a mean reduction in pain of 2.45 cm for the SCS group and 2.61 cm for the CMM group at 18 months. The same trial reported medication outcomes: SCS was more effective than CMM in reducing use of analgesics at 6 months (p = 0.002), but not at 18 months (p = 0.70). 4.1.9 All four trials reported limb survival or amputation rates, but none reported statistically significant differences between groups. At 24 months, one trial reported 52% limb survival in the SCS group and 46% in the CMM group (p = 0.47). Another trial reported six major amputations in the SCS group and nine major amputations in the CMM group at 24 months. In one trial at 12 months, 16% of people in the SCS group had undergone a major amputation compared with 20% in the prostaglandin E1 group. One trial reported a borderline statistically significantly lower amputation rate for SCS compared with analgesics when categorising amputations by 'none', 'moderate' or 'major' (p = 0.05). One trial reported the results for a subgroup of people with intermediate skin microcirculation before treatment. In this subgroup, there was a non-significant trend towards lower amputation rate in the SCS group at 18 months follow-up. One trial assessed HRQoL. There was no statistically significant difference between the SCS and CMM groups (mean score on the Nottingham Health Profile at 18 months was 35 in the SCS group and 34 in the CMM group). 4.1.10 Four RCTs investigated the effect of SCS on the treatment of angina. One trial compared SCS with no SCS device implanted, one trial compared SCS with an implanted but inactive SCS system, one trial compared SCS with CABG, and one trial compared SCS with percutaneous myocardial revascularisation. All four trials recruited people with RA for whom revascularisation procedures were unsuitable or for whom it was considered that revascularisation would not improve prognosis. The follow-up was approximately 6 weeks in two trials and 1 year or more in the other two trials. In three trials, the primary outcome was exercise capacity. In one trial, the primary outcome was frequency of angina attacks. 4.1.11 One trial reported pain outcomes. This trial reported no statistically significant difference between SCS and inactive stimulator in terms of pain relief (measured as mean reduction on a visual analogue scale [0–10 cm]: 1.1 cm versus 0.2 cm, respectively). Three trials measured nitrate consumption. Two of these trials reported statistically significant benefits favouring SCS over no SCS device (median weekly nitrate consumption 1.6 and 8.5, respectively, p < 0.05) or an inactive SCS device (change in nitrate consumption –48% and 27%, respectively, p = 0.03). One of the trials found no statistically significant difference between SCS and CABG for short-acting nitrates but a statistically significant difference favouring CABG over SCS for long-acting nitrates (p < 0.0001). 4.1.12 Three trials reported frequency of angina attacks. Two of these reported a statistically significant difference favouring SCS when compared with no SCS (median number of angina attacks a week: 9.0 and 13.6, respectively) or inactive SCS (number of angina attacks a day: 2.3 and 3.2, respectively). One trial reported no statistically significant difference between SCS and CABG for mean number of angina attacks a week (4.4 and 5.2, respectively). 4.1.13 All four trials reported functional outcomes such as exercise duration or workload capacity. Two studies reported a statistically significant difference favouring the use of SCS when compared with inactive SCS (mean exercise duration in seconds: 533 and 427, respectively, p = 0.03) and no SCS (exercise duration in seconds: 827 and 694, respectively, p < 0.03). Another trial reported no statistically significant difference between the SCS and percutaneous myocardial revascularisation groups for exercise duration (mean exercise duration in minutes: 7.08 and 7.12, respectively, p = 0.466). 4.1.14 All four trials reported HRQoL outcomes. One trial reported that HRQoL (daily and social activity scores) was more improved by SCS than no SCS at 6–8 weeks (p < 0.05). The other three trials did not identify any statistically significant differences in HRQoL outcomes. 4.2 Cost effectiveness 4.2.1 A single joint submission was received from Boston Scientific, Neuromodulation Systems and Medtronic. This submission, which included an economic evaluation, was coordinated by the ABHI. The assessment group also developed their own economic evaluation. Both the manufacturers' and assessment group's models used a similar structure. The manufacturers' submission 4.2.2 The submission received from the manufacturers evaluated the cost effectiveness of SCS for the treatment of neuropathic pain and modelled both FBSS (SCS with CMM compared with either CMM alone or repeat operation in combination CMM) and CRPS (SCS with CMM compared with CMM alone). Ischaemic pain conditions were not modelled. The model included two-stages: a decision tree for short-term treatment with SCS (first 6 months), followed by a Markov process for SCS treatment from 6 months to 15 years. Probabilities of events were based on data from the RCTs of FBSS and CRPS. The time frame in the second stage of the model was based on an observational study that investigated clinical predictors of outcomes for people using SCS systems over a 15-year period. Treatment success was defined as 50% or greater reduction in pain. 4.2.3 Health-state utilities were based on the EQ-5D. Utility values were assumed to be the same for both FBSS and CRPS, and were based on the FBSS PROCESS trial. The baseline utility value for all patients was 0.168 (no pain reduction). Other stages were valued at optimal pain relief (0.598), optimal pain relief and complications (0.528), suboptimal pain relief (0.258), and suboptimal pain relief and complications (0.258). 4.2.4 In the base case, the cost of an SCS device was £9282. This cost was described in the submission as the average cost of the best-selling device from each manufacturer. In the base case, device longevity was set to 4 years, after which the neurostimulator was replaced. Other costs associated with FBSS and CRPS were taken from the PROCESS trial. 4.2.5 For FBSS, the model produced an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of £9155 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained when SCS in combination with CMM was compared with CMM alone. A comparison of SCS and CMM with repeat operation and CMM produced an ICER of £7954 per QALY gained. For CRPS, the model produced an ICER of £18,881 per QALY gained for SCS and CMM compared with CMM. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the model was sensitive to assumptions about device longevity and device cost. 4.2.6 Further data were provided by the ABHI on behalf of the manufacturers that included utility data collected in the CRPS trial. Health-state utilities were based on the EQ-5D. The baseline utility value for all patients was 0.16 (no pain reduction). Other stages were valued at optimal pain relief (0.61), optimal pain relief and complications (0.56), suboptimal pain relief (0.23), and suboptimal pain relief and complications (0.18). Using the CRPS utility data, the model produced an ICER of £16,088 per QALY gained for SCS compared with CMM. The SCS device cost used was £9000 and the device longevity was 4 years. Assessment group's economic evaluation of neuropathic pain 4.2.7 The assessment group developed a two-stage model, comprising a decision tree to 6 months with a Markov process extending to 15 years. Both FBSS and CRPS conditions were modelled using data from the two trials of FBSS and the trial of CRPS. For FBSS, SCS in combination with CMM was compared in the model with CMM alone, and with repeat operation in combination with CMM (the latter is referred to in the remainder of the document as 'repeat operation'). For CRPS, SCS in combination with CMM was compared with CMM alone. Patients entered into the second stage of the model in the same health state that they were assigned to at the end of the first 6 months (in the first stage of the model). The time frame was based on an observational study that investigated clinical predictors of outcomes for people using SCS systems over a 15-year period. 4.2.8 The effect of SCS was assumed to continue over the time horizon of the model except for an annual withdrawal rate from SCS of 3.24% per annum, assumed to be because of gradual loss of pain control. This figure was from a longitudinal observational study. Complications (after 6 months) were assumed to be at a rate of 18% per annum and no complications were assumed to occur in the CMM only groups. In the base case, device longevity was set to 4 years and explored in sensitivity analyses. 4.2.9 The assessment group used cost data from a range of published sources including the 'British national formulary' (BNF), the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) and published studies. In the assessment group base case, the combined cost of a neurostimulator and control system was lower than that used in the submission from the manufacturers. This cost reflected a midrange of device prices obtained, commercial in confidence, in a survey of manufacturers conducted by the assessment group. The assessment group also provided sensitivity analyses for a broad range of device costs, ranging from £5000 to £15,000. The assessment group's base-case results are not described in this document. Instead, the assessment group's sensitivity analyses using a device cost of £9000 are presented, which is similar to the £9282 presented in the submission from the manufacturers. 4.2.10 Health-state utilities were based on the EQ-5D and, in contrast to the manufacturers' model, differed between FBSS and CRPS. Utility data were obtained from the PROCESS trial for FBSS and a cross-sectional survey that investigated the burden of neuropathic pain for a range of conditions, including CRPS. In the model, the baseline utility value for FBSS for all patients was 0.168 (no pain reduction). Other stages were valued at optimal pain relief (0.598), optimal pain relief and complications (0.528), suboptimal pain relief (0.258), and suboptimal pain relief and complications (0.258). For CRPS, the baseline utility value for all patients was 0.16 (no pain reduction). Other stages were valued at optimal pain relief (0.67), optimal pain relief and complications (0.62), suboptimal pain relief (0.46), and suboptimal pain relief and complications (0.41). 4.2.11 For FBSS, the ICERs for SCS in combination with CMM, when assuming device longevity of 4 years and using a device price figure of £9000, were £10,480 per QALY gained compared with CMM alone and £9219 per QALY gained compared with repeat operation. 4.2.12 Results were sensitive to device longevity and price. At a device price of £9000, the ICERs for SCS in combination with CMM were less than £20,000 per QALY gained for device longevity of 3 years or longer, when compared with CMM alone or with repeat operation. At device longevity of 4 years, the ICERs for SCS in combination with CMM were less than £20,000 per QALY gained for a device price up to £13,000 when compared with CMM alone, and for a device price up to £15,000 when compared with repeat operation. 4.2.13 For CRPS, SCS in combination with CMM compared with CMM alone, when assuming device longevity of 4 years and using a device price of £9000, produced an ICER of £32,282 per QALY gained. 4.2.14 Results were sensitive to device longevity and cost. At a device price of £9000 the ICERs for SCS in combination with CMM compared with CMM alone were less than £20,000 per QALY gained for device longevity of 5 years or longer. At longevity of 4 years, the ICERs were less than £30,000 per QALY gained for device prices up to £8000, and less than £20,000 per QALY gained for device prices up to £6000. 4.2.15 The assessment group model – using utilities from the CRPS trial (as in section 4.2.6), a device cost of £9000 and device longevity of 4 years – produced an ICER of £16,596 per QALY gained for SCS compared with CMM. Assessment group's economic evaluation of ischaemic pain 4.2.16 The assessment group did not carry out an economic analysis of CLI, but explored the cost effectiveness of SCS for the treatment of RA using an alternative modelling approach. A threshold analysis was presented based on a mathematical model that incorporated data from a prospective observational study. This study compared the outcomes for CABG, PCI and CMM in groups of people for whom treatment with CABG, PCI or both (CABG and PCI) would be appropriate. Data for costs were taken from the BNF, the PSSRU and a study of outcomes in people who underwent revascularisation using CABG, PCI or both. Utility data were also identified in this study, which were reported after 6 years of follow-up. The time horizon of the model was 6 years. 4.2.17 The threshold analysis was presented as additional QALYs that would be needed for SCS to be cost effective at different levels of willingness to pay. In these analyses, it was assumed that survival in the SCS and comparator groups (CABG, PCI and CMM) was similar. The average minimum utility required for SCS to be cost effective at £20,000 and £30,000 per QALY gained, assuming similar survival, was then calculated. For each comparator (CABG, PCI and CMM), three scenarios were modelled based on groups of people for whom CABG, PCI or either revascularisation procedure would be clinically appropriate. 4.2.18 Results of the analysis indicated that, for people who are suitable for treatment with: * PCI: SCS dominates CABG (less costly and accrued more benefits). The expected utility values in the SCS intervention must be at least 0.6650 and 0.6504 when compared with PCI, and at least 0.6620 and 0.6384 when compared with CMM, for ICERs of £20,000 or £30,000 per QALY gained or less, respectively. * CABG: the expected utility values in the SCS intervention must be at least 0.6218 and 0.6203 when compared with CABG, at least 0.6001 and 0.5884 when compared with PCI, and at least 0.6321 and 0.6103 when compared with CMM, for ICERs of £20,000 or £30,000 per QALY gained or less, respectively. * CABG and PCI: the expected utility values in the SCS intervention must be at least 0.5687 and 0.5624 when compared with PCI, and at least 0.5657 and 0.5657 when compared with CMM, for ICERs of £20,000 or £30,000 per QALY gained or less, respectively. Compared with CABG, SCS dominates. 4.3 Consideration of the evidence 4.3.1 The appraisal committee reviewed the data available on the clinical and cost effectiveness of SCS for the treatment of chronic pain, having considered evidence on the nature of the condition and the value placed on the benefits of SCS by people with chronic pain, those who represent them, and clinical specialists. It was also mindful of the need to take account of the effective use of NHS resources. 4.3.2 The committee considered the pathways of care for people with chronic pain and the potential place of SCS in such pathways. The committee heard from clinical specialists and the patient expert about patient referral and access to specialist pain services and patient experiences with SCS. In addition, the committee heard about the use of SCS in UK clinical practice, including the application of BPS guidelines. It heard that BPS guidelines provide a general guide to the pathway of care, but that people have to be managed flexibly depending on their condition. The committee appreciated that, to ensure a flexible approach and individualisation of treatments, people with chronic pain conditions are managed using a multidisciplinary team approach, with consideration given to the full range of treatments offered as part of their care. In addition, the committee recognised that these treatments may vary for different chronic pain conditions because of their different presentation and management. The committee concluded that it was necessary for people with chronic pain conditions to be managed by a multidisciplinary team experienced in the provision of ongoing monitoring and support of the person assessed for SCS. 4.3.3 The committee discussed the use of a trial of stimulation before the permanent implantation of an SCS device, as had been carried out in the relevant clinical trials. The committee heard from the clinical specialists that a trial of stimulation was normally, but not always, used before permanent implantation. The committee heard that there could be benefits from a trial of stimulation, because it could help to identify people who would benefit from the complete procedure and gave people the opportunity to experience what stimulation would feel like. However, the committee heard that trial stimulation results may be both false positive (that is, people may report a successful trial stimulation, but then do not benefit from permanent implantation of SCS) and false negative (that is, have an unsuccessful trial, but may benefit from permanent implantation) and be associated with increased costs because of the need for additional hospital attendances and also a possible increase in the risk of adverse effects such as infection. The committee noted that the key trials and the economic modelling included people who had had a successful trial of stimulation. The committee therefore considered, on balance, that it was appropriate that permanent implantation of an SCS device should follow only after a successful trial of stimulation. The trial should be undertaken as part of an assessment by a multidisciplinary team experienced in chronic pain assessment and management of people with SCS devices. 4.3.4 The committee noted that pain measuring at least 50 mm on a 0–100 mm visual analogue scale was an inclusion criterion in the clinical trials of SCS in neuropathic pain. It also noted that clinical trials of SCS in neuropathic pain specified that the person enrolled had experienced pain for at least 6 months after surgery (in one FBSS trial) or that their pain had not responded to CMM of 6 months duration (in the CRPS trial). Therefore, the committee concluded that people considered for treatment with SCS should be assessed as experiencing a similar severity of pain and duration of CMM before being offered assessment for SCS. However, the committee recognised that the criteria for the assessment of severity of pain and the trial of stimulation may not be appropriate for people with physical or sensory disabilities or for people with other linguistic or cognitive difficulties. The committee concluded that healthcare professionals should take these factors into account. In these situations, modification of the testing procedure or alternative tests may be required. 4.3.5 The committee examined the clinical-effectiveness evidence for SCS. The committee noted that only a small number of clinical trials had been identified and that relatively small numbers of people were included in these studies. In addition, the committee noted that the trials were limited to four chronic pain conditions: FBSS, CRPS, CLI and RA. The committee recognised that neuropathic and ischaemic pain included a much larger range of pain conditions than those reflected in the evidence. Additionally, the committee heard from clinical specialists that there was additional evidence on the use of SCS in larger numbers of people and a greater range of chronic pain conditions, but this was from observational studies and clinical experience. The committee heard from clinical specialists that the different pain conditions did not need to be considered separately for the use of SCS. The committee concluded that it should take into account other chronic pain conditions of neuropathic and ischaemic origin that were not reflected in the clinical trial data. 4.3.6 The committee examined the evidence on the clinical effects of SCS in the treatment of FBSS and CRPS as examples of chronic pain of neuropathic origin. The committee agreed that, for FBSS and CRPS, the evidence suggested that SCS was more effective in reducing pain than CMM. The committee noted that, in the trial data initially reported for CRPS (section 4.1.5), the difference in pain relief was not sustained at the 5-year follow-up. However, the committee recognised that this analysis included a number of people who had not had a successful trial of stimulation and had consequently, as per the trial protocol, not received an SCS device. The analysis had also excluded people in the control group who had subsequently received an SCS device. The committee therefore considered a subgroup analysis (section 4.1.6) of only those people who had received an implant and considered that this analysis supported the likelihood of a maintenance of benefit. The committee accepted that there was some uncertainty about how the effects of pain treatments were sustained over time, but concluded that benefits could be sustained for at least up to 5 years in pain of neuropathic origin. 4.3.7 The committee next considered the clinical-effectiveness evidence for CLI and RA. It was aware that functional outcomes were important (as well as pain relief) as was reflected in the primary outcomes of the studies. The committee noted that no studies had demonstrated statistically significant differences for pain outcomes, but that for RA the effect of SCS had been shown to be comparable to other treatments, such as CABG and PCI, for functional outcomes. In addition, the committee considered that there was some evidence of reduced medication use from studies of RA. The committee was aware that for CLI, non-randomised evidence suggested that there may be greater benefits from SCS for certain subgroups of people with low levels of peripheral oxygenation who demonstrated an increase in transcutaneous oxygen tension after stimulation is started. The committee also noted comments from consultees that for people with CLI a meta-analysis of controlled trial data suggested that SCS may be associated with better limb survival. The committee heard from clinical specialists that they accepted that the benefits of SCS for CLI and RA were less certain than for FBSS and CRPS. The committee concluded that although the current limited evidence suggested that there may be additional benefits from SCS for CLI and RA in some subgroups of patients, there remained considerable uncertainty as to the extent of these benefits and whether these benefits may be generalised more widely. 4.3.8 The committee examined the economic modelling that had been carried out for the appraisal. It noted that both the model by the assessment group and that submitted by the manufacturers had a similar structure. However, the committee was aware that the models differed in cost data and, for CRPS, the data on utilities that were used. The committee noted that both models assumed there was some withdrawal from treatment but that the benefit from SCS was stable over 15 years. The committee considered that there was some uncertainty about this assumption but accepted that current evidence suggested maintenance of effect. The committee noted that serious adverse events had not been modelled in the SCS group, but were mindful of comments from consultees about the very low frequency of serious adverse events, and also that adverse events were not included in the CMM group. On balance, the committee agreed that it was appropriate to consider the outputs from both models as well as sensitivity analyses produced by the assessment group. 4.3.9 The committee noted that there were a range of SCS systems available at different prices. The committee heard from clinical specialists that one of the factors affecting the choice of device was the complexity of pain pattern and the extent of pain. For example, a person with a single painful limb may be expected to derive greater longevity from the same device than someone with a more complex pain pattern or greater body area affected. Clinical specialists suggested that device longevity may regularly exceed 4 years, even with a nonrechargeable device. The committee therefore recognised that price and longevity may be interdependent and that longevity varies depending on an individual's pain characteristics. 4.3.10 The committee considered the estimates of cost effectiveness for SCS in the treatment of FBSS. The committee noted that the manufacturers' and assessment group's models produced similar estimates of the ICERs for the use of SCS compared with alternative treatments, and that these were less than £11,000 per QALY gained for the base-case analyses. The committee was persuaded that the use of SCS for the treatment of FBSS would be a costeffective use of NHS resources. 4.3.11 The committee examined the estimates of cost effectiveness for SCS in the treatment of CRPS. It noted that the assessment group's and the manufacturers' models had used different sources of utility data and that neither captured the utility of a person with CRPS accurately, as one source was a trial of FBSS and the other a wider survey of neuropathic pain conditions. The committee noted the additional utility data (section 4.2.6) that had been provided by the ABHI on behalf of the manufacturers from the CRPS clinical trial. The committee agreed that these utility data appropriately reflected a group of people with CRPS who may be treated with SCS and that these data should be considered as part of the appraisal. The committee therefore examined an analysis completed using the assessment group's model (section 4.2.15) that included the utility data from the CRPS trial. It acknowledged that the results of analysis using these data produced an ICER of less than £17,000 per QALY gained when using a device price of £9000. The committee was also mindful of consultee comments that device longevity may be greater than the 4-year period used in the economic modelling. The committee recognised that increasing device longevity would further reduce the ICER. The committee was therefore persuaded that the use of SCS for the treatment of CRPS would be a cost-effective use of NHS resources. 4.3.12 The committee recognised that the economic modelling had only included FBSS and CRPS trial data and that these syndromes were part of a range of other neuropathic pain conditions. The committee recognised that because of the limited evidence there was uncertainty about generalising the available data to other chronic neuropathic pain conditions. The committee considered carefully how the impact of chronic pain on HRQoL may vary between different conditions that produce neuropathic pain and whether SCS was equally effective across neuropathic pain conditions. The committee was mindful of the lack of robust data on these two important factors, but was persuaded by clinical specialists that there was no evidence that different neuropathic pain conditions were significantly different in these respects. Consequently, the committee was persuaded that, on balance, if people with severe pain of neuropathic origin were appropriately identified, that is, undergo an assessment by a specialist multidisciplinary team which included a successful trial of stimulation, then the evidence of benefit could be generalised. The committee therefore concluded that the use of SCS should be recommended as a treatment option for all chronic pain conditions of neuropathic origin. 4.3.13 The committee noted that the manufacturers had not provided an economic evaluation of the use of SCS for ischaemic pain, and that the assessment group had only been able to complete exploratory threshold analyses for RA because of limited availability of evidence. The committee also noted the additional information provided by the ABHI on behalf of the manufacturers in response to the assessment group's threshold analysis. Examining the analyses for RA, the committee considered that their relevance was limited as they were based on a population of people for whom treatment with CABG or PCI was suitable. However, these revascularisation techniques are often unsuitable for people with RA. The committee concluded that although the clinical evidence suggested that there may be groups of people with RA and CLI who could benefit from SCS, there was insufficient evidence on survival and benefits in HRQoL, as well as on cost effectiveness. It therefore concluded that the use of SCS for the treatment of chronic pain of ischaemic origin could currently not be recommended. However, acknowledging the possible benefit in some subgroups, the committee recommended that the use of SCS for the treatment of chronic pain of ischaemic origin be subject to further research as part of a clinical trial. 4.3.14 The committee was aware that there was a range of SCS devices available. The committee heard from clinical specialists that, in clinical practice, they took into account factors such as the pattern of pain and the amount and intensity of stimulation required. The clinical specialists stated that for people with complex pain patterns, complex devices may be more appropriate as they could provide a more complete response to the pain and have a greater longevity, meaning that re-intervention is required less often. The committee considered that rechargeable devices, although more costly than some non-rechargeable neurostimulators, may have greater longevity and that this may be particularly important for those people requiring a greater complexity or intensity of stimulation. However, the committee concluded that if, after consultation between the responsible clinician and the patient, it was considered that more than one SCS system was likely to be equally appropriate, the least costly should be used. The committee considered that assessment of cost should take into account acquisition costs, the anticipated longevity of the system, the stimulation requirements of the person with chronic pain and the support package offered. 5 Implementation 5.1 Section 7 of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Constitution and Functions) and the Health and Social Care Information Centre (Functions) Regulations 2013requires integrated care boards, NHS England and, with respect to their public health functions, local authorities to comply with the recommendations in this evaluation within 3 months of its date of publication. 5.2 The Welsh ministers have issued directions to the NHS in Wales on implementing NICE technology appraisal guidance. When a NICE technology appraisal guidance recommends the use of a drug or treatment, or other technology, the NHS in Wales must usually provide funding and resources for it within 2 months of the first publication of the final draft guidance. 5.3 When NICE recommends a treatment 'as an option', the NHS must make sure it is available within the period set out in the paragraphs above. This means that, if a patient has chronic pain of neuropathic or ischaemic origin and the doctor responsible for their care thinks that spinal cord stimulation is the right treatment, it should be available for use, in line with NICE's recommendations. 6 Recommendations for further research 6.1 Further research is recommended as follows. * Comparative studies (preferably in the form of randomised controlled trials) to assess the use of SCS for the treatment of people with chronic pain of ischaemic origin. These studies should be designed to generate robust evidence about the benefits of spinal cord stimulation (including pain relief, function and quality of life) compared with standard care. * Observational research to generate robust evidence about the durability of benefits in the use of SCS for the treatment of people with chronic pain of neuropathic origin. 7 Appraisal committee members and NICE project team Appraisal committee members The appraisal committee is a standing advisory committee of the Institute. Its members are appointed for a 3-year term. A list of the committee members who took part in the discussions for this appraisal appears below. The appraisal committee meets three times a month except in December, when there are no meetings. The Committee membership is split into three branches, each with a chair and vice-chair. Each branch considers its own list of technologies and ongoing topics are not moved between the branches. Committee members are asked to declare any interests in the technology to be appraised. If it is considered there is a conflict of interest, the member is excluded from participating further in that appraisal. The minutes of each appraisal committee meeting, which include the names of the members who attended and their declarations of interests, are posted on the NICE website. Professor A E Ades Professor of Public Health Science, Department of Community Based Medicine, University of Bristol Dr Amanda Adler Consultant Physician, Cambridge University Hospitals Trust Ms Anne Allison Nurse Clinical Adviser, Healthcare Commission Dr Tom Aslan General Practitioner, The Hampstead Group Practice, London Professor David Barnett (Chair) Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, Leicester Royal Infirmary Dr Matt Bradley Head of HTA and Business Environment, Sanofi-Aventis Ltd Mrs Elizabeth Brain Lay Member Mr David Chandler Lay Member Simon Dixon Reader in Health Economics, University of Sheffield Mrs Fiona Duncan Clinical Nurse Specialist, Anaesthetic Department, Blackpool Victoria Hospital, Blackpool Mr John Goulston Chief Executive, Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust Mrs Eleanor Grey Lay Member Professor Philip Home (Vice Chair) Professor of Diabetes Medicine, Newcastle University Dr Vincent Kirkbride Consultant Neonatologist, Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Sheffield Dr Alec Miners Lecturer in Health Economics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Dr Ann Richardson Lay Member Mrs Angela Schofield Chairman, Bournemouth and Poole Teaching PCT Mr Mike Spencer General Manager, Facilities and Clinical Support Services, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust Spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain of neuropathic or ischaemic origin (TA159) Dr Simon Thomas Consultant Physician and Reader in Therapeutics, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle University Mr David Thomson Lay Member NICE project team Each technology appraisal is assigned to a team consisting of one or more health technology analysts (who act as technical leads for the appraisal), a technical adviser and a project manager. Ruaraidh Hill Technical Lead Zoe Garrett Technical Adviser Eloise Saile Project Manager 8 Sources of evidence considered by the committee A. The assessment report for this appraisal was prepared by the University of Sheffield, School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR). * Simpson EL et al. Spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain of neuropathic or ischaemic origin, March 2008 B. The following organisations accepted the invitation to participate in this appraisal. They were invited to comment on the draft scope, assessment report and the appraisal consultation document (ACD). Organisations listed in I and II were also invited to make written submissions and had the opportunity to appeal against the final appraisal determination. I) Manufacturer/sponsor: * Boston Scientific UK & Ireland (Precision Implantable Pulse Generator [IPG] Model no. 1110) * Advanced Neuromodulation Systems, UK Ltd (Genesis IPG [3608], Genesis XP [3609], Genesis XP Dual [3644], Genesis G4, EON Rechargeable Neurostimulation System, Renew [3408 and 3416]) * Medtronic Ltd (Synergy, Versitrel, Itrel 3, Restore Rechargeable Neurostimulation System) II) Professional/specialist and patient/carer groups: * Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain & Ireland * Association of British Neurologists * Back Care * British Association of Spinal Surgeons * British Heart Foundation * British Pain Society * Herpes Viruses Association & Shingles Support Society * Multiple Sclerosis Society * Pain Concern * Pain Relief Foundation * Pelvic Pain Support Network * National Refractory Angina Centre * Neuromodulation Society of the United Kingdom and Ireland * Physiotherapy Pain Association * Royal College of Anaesthetists * Royal College of Nursing * Royal College of Physicians – Cardiology Committee * Society of British Neurological Surgeons * Vascular Society III) Other consultees * Barnsley PCT * Department of Health * Welsh Assembly Government * Guy's and St Thomas Foundation Trust IV) Commentator organisations (did not provide written evidence and without the right of appeal) * Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI) * Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for Northern Ireland * NHS Quality Improvement Scotland C. The following individuals were selected from clinical specialist and patient advocate nominations from the non-manufacturer/sponsor consultees and commentators. They participated in the appraisal committee discussions and provided evidence to inform the appraisal committee's deliberations. They gave their expert personal view on spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain of neuropathic or ischaemic origin by attending the initial committee discussion and/or providing written evidence to the committee. They were also invited to comment on the ACD. * Professor Turo Nurmikko, Professor of Pain Science, Division of Neurological Science, University of Liverpool, nominated by Association of British Neurologists – clinical specialist * Mr Eric Ballantyne, Consultant Neurosurgeon, NHS Tayside, nominated by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland – clinical specialist * Mr Paul Eldridge, Society of British Neurological Surgeons. Surgery – clinical specialist * Dr Diana E. Dickson, Consultant in Pain Medicine, Independent Practice, nominated by Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland – clinical specialist * Mrs Judy Birch, Volunteer Chief Executive, Pelvic Pain Support network, nominated by the Pelvic Pain Support Network – patient expert Update information Minor changes since publication February 2014: Implementation section updated to clarify that spinal cord stimulation is recommended as an option for treating chronic pain of neuropathic or ischaemic origin. ISBN: 978-1-4731-5657-9 Accreditation
EARNINGS CALL-1 Q1-FY 2017 RESULTS July 15, 2016 CORPOR AT E P AR T I C I P AN T S Vishal Sikka Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director Pravin Rao Chief Operating Officer Ranganath D Mavinakere Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Mohit Joshi President & Head - Financial Services AN ALY S T S Arvind Ramnani Pacific Crest Sandeep Muthangi IIFL Anantha Narayan Credit Suisse Viju George JP Morgan James Friedman Susquehanna Ashwin Mehta Nomura Pankaj Kapoor JM Financial Sagar Rastogi Ambit Capital Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Day and Welcome to the Infosys Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing '*' then '0' on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Sandeep Mahindroo. Thank you and over to you sir. Sandeep Mahindroo Hello! Everyone and Welcome to Infosys Earnings Call to Discuss Q1FY17 Results. I am Sandeep from the Investor Relations Team in Bangalore. Joining us today on this call is CEO & M.D. – Dr. Vishal Sikka; COO – Mr. Pravin Rao; CFO – Mr. M.D. Ranganath along with other members of the senior management team. We will start the call with some remarks from the performance of the company by Dr. Sikka and Mr. Ranganath. Subsequently we will open up the call for questions. Please note that anything which we say which refers to our outlook for the future is a forward-looking statement which must be read in conjunction with the risks that the company faces. A full statement and explanation of these risks is available in our filings with the SEC which can be found on www.sec.gov I would now like to pass it on to Dr. Sikka. Vishal Sikka Thank you so much, Sandeep. Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Everyone and Thanks for joining us today as we report the results of our Q1 of Fiscal '17. To characterize this quarter, we had some unexpected headwinds that resulted in lower than expected revenue growth in this quarter. Yet at the same time we continue to make strong strides in the execution of our strategy. We started this year on the momentum from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 which was one of the best fourth quarters we had in recent years. We ended the first quarter of this year with revenue of $2.501 bn or Rs.16,782 crores. This represents a growth of 2.2% in US dollar reported terms, 1.4% in Indian rupee reported terms and 1.7% in quarter-onquarter constant currency. Volumes grew by 2.2%; operating margin for the quarter was at 24.1%, largely impacted due to typical employee and visa related cost of the first quarter but also supported by improvement in utilization and reduced spending on sub-contractor services. The softness in top line growth was primarily on account of unanticipated headwinds in discretionary spending in Consulting Services and Package Implementations as well as slower project ramp ups and large deals that we had won in earlier quarters. This resulted in lower revenue from some client engagements especially in our Life Sciences, Energy and Utilities portfolios. The revenue of our India and Finacle units declined slightly as well, all of which impacted our revenue for the quarter. On a positive side, Telecom reported 11.4% sequential growth, Manufacturing 2.9%, Retail and CPG reported 5.5% growth and Transportation and Logistics reported 9.3% growth, all well above the company's average for the quarter. As a result of our focused effort on expanding strategic client relationships, our top-10 clients grew by 3.9% quarter-on-quarter and our top-25 clients grew 4.4% quarter-on-quarter. The number of clients in the 100 mn revenue bracket increased from 14 to 17. We have more work to do in growing the next tier of clients and this will continue to be a focus area for us going forward. We also added 95 new clients during the quarter. Our headcount stands at 197,050 people as of June 30, 2016. While attrition was higher at 15.8%, the more important metric for us is high performer attrition which improved by more than 200 basis points. Revenue per employee showed a slight uptick from the previous quarter and was $50,897 for the quarter. Of course, we want this to be on a much higher trajectory going forward and this is where Automation and Innovation will play a key role. Despite a challenging quarter we made many positive strides in the execution of our strategy of 'Renew' and 'New' working in parallel built on a foundation of culture. This is evident in the growth of renewed traditional services in large deal wins in top account growth, gathering momentum of our new services, the early stages of monetizing key initiatives such as 'Zero Distance', the number of FTEs that we have saved due to Automation, the increased level of employee engagement and the overall changing perception of Infosys from a supplier to strategic partner and more. Revenue per employee is also moving in the right direction and various operational efficiencies are starting to yield results. We won $809 mn of TCV in large deals during the quarter, not including a frame agreement with a large financial services firm. These large deals give us better medium-term predictability though initial revenue from these deals maybe small as projects start to ramp up. Most importantly, these engagements give us access to a broader canvas of client operations that we can apply our software in automation, reduction of complexity and bringing together fragmented knowledge or data or understanding dependency across systems and so forth. This remains an important metric for us. Let me talk about some of these business elements in a little bit more detail: In renewing our core business, our traditional services of Applications Development and Maintenance, Infrastructure and Cloud Services, Product Engineering Services and Software Testing grew above the company average, aided by Automation and Innovation. Our 'Zero Distance' Program to bring innovation to every project now covers more than 95% of all our projects and we are seeing this program move beyond ideas and start to monetize. I believe this initiative has enabled us to change the perception of our company on the ground with our clients, from a supplier to a strategic partner as one of our key clients recently described to me; a partner that strives to be a company of innovators working on behalf of our clients. Our utilization improved 40 basis points to 80.5% and subcontractor spending reduced to 5.4% of revenue from the highs of earlier quarters. Leveraging our automation Solutions, we saved approximately 2,150 full time equivalent worth of effort across service lines, primarily in Application Maintenance, Package System Maintenance, BPO and Infrastructure Management. We are pushing the pedal on our cost optimization programs and Ranga will provide more color to you on this in his remarks. 'Zero Bench', our initiative to engage employees that are between projects on value creating assignments has now covered nearly the entire bench with more than 20,000 jobs created in almost one year since it has been launched. We are now taking this beyond our traditional delivery organization to include Consulting and BPO as well. In the 'New' areas, I am very excited about the launch of Infosys Mana at the end of April as it brings to life something that I have been working on for a very long time; bringing purposeful AI to the Enterprise to help continuously renovate enterprise business processes. Mana is a knowledgebased AI platform capturing the fragmented knowledge in people and in long-lived systems and bringing this together with data and machine learning to drive automation. We are encouraged by the interest shown from clients across industries with a steadily increasing pipeline of opportunities and our first Mana wins and first successes already with Johnson Controls, Syngenta and others, give us great room to be excited. Infosys Information Platform continues to gain traction. We have more than 227 engagements todate. Many of them are strategic in nature, including our work with an electronic payment client on transforming their core processing platform and enabling them to take advantage of innovation in Internet of Things, AI, Machine Learning, Big Data and other area. We are already seeing customers benefiting from our investments in next-generation technologies such as Waterline and Trifacta. We have already integrated our IIP with Waterline and have customers such as HarleyDavidson using it. Going forward, we will bring IIP into the Mana portfolio, branding it as Mana for data. I believe this will enable us to tell a much more holistic and simpler story around the sophisticated things that Mana can do for our clients. Skava, our Digital Cloud Platform had a great quarter. We continue to see the strong applicability of Skava in many industries including Financial Services and Insurance and of course in Retail. Nectar India which launched in India this week is built on the Skava platform. The EdgeVerve business continued strong momentum with 16 wins and 21 Go Lives for both the Finacle and Edge suite of solutions across markets. In bringing Design Thinking to our clients, we made significant progress over the last quarter to proactively drive new business transformation programs for our clients. We are working with the Hershey company on key transformational initiatives including their SAP implementation, their sales and digital initiatives as well as on their overall strategy to become an insights-driven company. We have many such examples and this to me is a truly exciting area where we continue to see significant potential. On investments and ecosystem, in the first quarter, we expanded our relationship with Microsoft in Product Development and in Legacy Modernization, announced a strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services to help clients transition from Mainframe and Legacy Systems to modern Cloud-based platforms and partnered with Kuka on Industry 4.0. We also announced an investment in Trifacta which develops software for data management and data wrangling. On our culture of learning and education, we have now trained nearly 100,000 people in Design Thinking in our effort to empower every Infoscions to be an innovator and to help our client find the most important problems for them to solve. We continue to revamp our curriculum, introducing new ways of learning, leveraging our Infosys Learning Platform and other tools. Employee engagement continues to be high and this week we are rolling out the first phase of our equity program enabling employees to share in the successes and in the ownership of our performance. Beyond our businesses and ourselves, we continue to bring a great passion and care to the communities around us. In India, the Infosys Foundation among various programs provided several grant this quarter towards education and healthcare. Some of these include grants to the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune and Bangalore Life Sciences cluster. In the United States, the Infosys Foundation USA continued its mission of providing equal access to computer science and maker education to underrepresented communities. Revangelize the Maker Movement, the foundation launch "@WhyIMake Social Campaign" at the June Nation of Makers Event at the White House as well as announced the winners of the spring cycle of the Infy Maker Award. At Crossroad 2016, the Foundation's Annual Thought Leadership Conference, the foundation announced CS for all community giving program in partnership with the National Science Foundation and DonorsChoose.org. In closing, as I said earlier, we had a challenging first quarter. At the same time, our long-term vision is stronger and more relevant than ever, as we see the promising signs of significant value that is possible with the software-led transformation of the services industry in these early successes along. Because of this, I take a balanced view on our overall performance in this quarter. On Brexit, there are challenges for a company such as Infosys in this uncertainty and yet there is a great opportunity for technology and services. Technology has a key role to play to work across the walled gardens, to be the unifier through a time of disruption. It is still too early for our clients or for us to specifically determine the impact of Brexit other than possibly the cautiousness that comes with the short-term uncertainty. Clients are obviously cautious in embarking on new programs at this time, especially in Financial Services. Given the weaker than expected Q1 revenue growth, our current visibility for Q2 and the remainder of the year and somewhat broader uncertainty and caution in the macro environment, we are lowering our full year fiscal '17 growth estimate to 10.5% to 12% in constant currency. We had guided in April that our revenue growth in fiscal '17 would be in the range of 11.5% to 13.5% in constant currency terms. As always, depending on our performance and the outlook at the end of Q2, we will provide you an update during the earnings report in October of this year. Let me now hand it over to Ranga for his comments before we take your questions. Thank you. Ranganath D Mavinakere Thank you, Vishal. Hello Everyone. This is Ranga here. Let me first start with Q1 revenue performance. Our revenues in Q1 were Rs.16,782 crores, this is a growth of 1.4% sequentially in rupee terms. On year-on-year basis when compared to Q1'16 our Q1'17 revenues have grown by 16.9% in rupee terms. In dollar terms, revenues grew sequentially in Q1 by 2.2% on reported currency basis and 1.7% in constant currency basis. On yearly basis, when compared to Q1'16, revenues have grown 10.9% in reported dollar terms and 12.1% in constant currency terms. Volumes grew by 2.2% during the quarter as compared to 2.4% in Q4 of FY16. On quarter-to-quarter basis onsite volume grew by 3.3% and offshore volume grew by 1.8%. Realization for the quarter declined 0.3% on reported basis and 0.7% in constant currency. However, on a year-on-year basis, realization declined in constant currency terms by 0.2%. As Vishal mentioned earlier, we continue to focus on optimizing our operating efficiency levers. These levers are utilization, subcontractor cost as a percentage of revenue, onsite mix per cent and onsite employee cost as a percentage of revenue. Let me take a couple of moments to talk about their trajectory during this quarter. Let me first talk about utilization. Our utilization excluding trainees improved during the quarter and it increased by 40 basis points to 80.5%. Similarly, utilization including trainees went up to 76.5%. As you would recall, over the last five quarters, utilization excluding trainees has been consistently above 80% and we will continue to focus on further improvement. Our subcontracting expenses as a percentage of revenue improved further during the quarter. You would recall that it was at a high level of 6.3% of revenue in Q3, it reduced to 5.6% in Q4 due to cost optimization measures and during the quarter it has further reduced to 5.4%. While some of the subcontractor cost is inevitable to address the business needs, we are further strengthening our talent planning to optimize the need for subcontractors. Our onsite mix increased to 29.9% during the quarter and we need to focus on bringing this down in a gradual manner and are putting our efforts in this direction. Onsite employee cost as a percentage of revenue is 39.3%, primarily on account of compensation increase during the quarter. As you know in Q1, we announce annual compensation increase and we also have visa cost. On a comparable basis to Q1FY'16, employee cost as a percentage of revenue has remained flat at 39.2%. Typically, in Q1, margins are impacted on account of visa and compensation as I mentioned earlier. The operating margin for the quarter was 24.1%, a decrease of 140 basis points during the quarter. Operating margin in Q4 was 25.5%. Margins for the quarter decreased 140 basis points due to wage hikes and additional 80 basis points on account of visa cost. This was partially offset by 80 basis points due to additional cost optimization measures and variable pay reduction. Our emphasis on healthy operating cash flow generation continued in the quarter. Operating cash flow generation was very strong during the quarter. We generated operating cash flow of Rs.3,039 crores in Q1 as compared to Rs.2,202 crores in last year same quarter. Operating cash flow was up 31% as compared to Q1 of last year. Our cash and cash equivalents as of June 30 was Rs.33,212 crores as compared to Rs.34,468 crores last quarter. This is primarily on account of the dividend payment of Rs.3,256 crores during the quarter. Our collections were healthy during the quarter and DSO for the quarter was 66-days as compared to 68-days in Q1 of last year. Coming to Employee Metrics, at the group level we added 13,268 gross employees with a net addition of 3,006 employees. The quarterly annualized attrition on a standalone basis has increased to 15.8% from 12.6% last quarter. At the group level the annualized attrition is 21% as compared to 17.3% last quarter. Q1 saw huge volatility in currency especially in the backdrop of Brexit. We manage to navigate the volatility effectively. As you know, on a period end basis, USD appreciated by 6.6% against British Pound 2.1% against Euro and 3.1% against Australian Dollar. Our hedge position as of June 30th was $976 mn. We expect near-term volatility in cross-currency and rupee and we continue to manage the same through appropriate hedges. Yield on cash balances was 7.8% this quarter as compared to 8% last quarter which is a reflection of softening interest rates in India. We expect the yield in FY'17 to be approximately 7.5% as compared to 8.6% in FY'16. The Effective Tax Rate for the quarter was 28.4%. Full year Effective Tax Rate projection is expected to be around 29%. Our net margins during the quarter were 20.5% as compared to 21.1% in Q1'16. Our EPS for the quarter was Rs.15.03 as compared to Rs.13.26 in Q1'16. EPS grew 13.4% on year-on-year basis and was down 4.5% on a sequential basis. During the quarter, number of $100 mn plus clients increased to 17 from 14 clients in the previous quarter. Active clients now stands at 1,126 as compared to 1,092 last quarter. Coming to Segment Performance: Amongst verticals, FSI grew 2.2%, Manufacturing grew 2.9%, RCL grew 1%, Energy, Communications and Services grew by 3.1%. In geographical terms, North America grew by 2.5%, Europe by 0.6%, Rest of the World 6.9% and India the revenues declined 7.6% during the quarter on a very small base. Coming to Margins, we have always said that in the medium-term, our margin expectation is in the range of 24% to 26%. If you look at this quarter we had operating margin of 24.1%, almost at the same level of Q1 of last year. During the quarter we were able to offset to some extent the effect of compensation increase and visa cost through cost optimization. As I mentioned earlier, some of our cost efficiency levers are improving and we will continue to further optimize them in the coming quarters. Therefore, we continue to expect our medium-term margin range to be 24% to 26%. With that we will open the floor for Questions. Moderator Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and Gentlemen, we will now begin the Question-and-Answer Session. We take the first question from the line of Arvind Ramnani from Pacific Crest. Please go ahead. Arvind Ramnani Hi. I just wanted to get a better sense of how the mechanics of your pricing decline works and if you can quantify your pricing decline over the past one year and over the past two years? Ranganath D Mavinakere What is comparable is really the year-on-year basis because quarter-to-quarter there will be volatility because of certain project shifts and how the milestones move between quarters. Yearon-year basis, on a constant currency basis it was 0.2% and in reported basis it is 1.3%. If we step back and look at FY'16, year-on-year over FY'15 the pricing decline was about 1.1% in constant currency. We do not see significant change from the current levels. While we continue to see pricing pressure in the commoditized business, we have always said that we need to offset these pricing declines through better internal cost efficiency and productivity metrics. So to answer your question, on year-on-year basis for the Q1 is 0.2%. Arvind Ramnani In terms of mechanics of this, are these basically rate card decline or is it some of the function mix, because what I am trying to get to you is like if we are seeing currency decline of a particular magnitude, you have a lot of ongoing projects, most of your projects are ongoing where pricing is already set. So if we are seeing a pricing decline of X per cent, can we infer that the kind of new project sign-ups, renewal are actually being priced at a magnitude more than just X per cent? Pravin Rao This is Pravin here. We do not find too much pressure on the rate card per se for existing clients. Clients are not coming back in between and asking for any rate card cuts or anything. But almost every deal of any reasonable size is bid out in a competitive way and there clients are typically expecting productivity improvements baked into the deal. So that is where we are finding pricing pressures and this is primarily in the legacy side or the IT and operations side of the business like ADM, Infrastructure Management, IVS and so on. So most of the pricing decline is reflective of the deals that we win during the year where we have to go aggressive, there is a clear expectation. Right now we have lot of levers on the operational side to try to mitigate that but in the long-term the efforts that we are putting in terms of automation and other things will help mitigate this. But that will take some time to kick in. In the interim, our pricing particularly in the business and IT operations side of the business will continue to be under pressure. Arvind Ramnani This quarter, whether a few specific client project ramps that caused the softness or do you think it was an overall situation across, what I am trying to get to is there is going to be more like a quarter shift kind of current quarter will probably be a lot more robust because of some project delays? Vishal Sikka It was generally in the Life Sciences area and generally in Consulting where we saw the big unanticipated decline, mostly in the discretionary areas. Some projects that were ending, some projects were slower to ramp up than what we expected from the large deals that we had won. It just happened to be the case that Life Sciences took a brunt of that. Some other areas like Finacle and India had small declines as well but the big part of it was in the Consulting and Package Implementation area where we saw a decline, we did not anticipate. Other than that, as you can see everything else had good performance. Going forward obviously we will keep a very close watch on this and focus on these two areas in particular among others. However, given the overall situation that we see, we have lowered the guidance by one point. But I want to reiterate that I continue to be confident and I am quite excited about the adoption that we have seen simultaneously in the new areas and also in the success in our overall delivery organization, our core machine, our core engine based on its renewal that we have already seen the signs of better operations. Arvind Ramnani Do you expect any impact from Brexit is a positive or negative in the next couple of quarters? Vishal Sikka Brexit is an example of some of these walls starting to show up across institutions which is unfortunate but actually it is an opportunity for a company like us over time. Why it is an opportunity? Because whenever walled gardens like this start to show up, then there is more need for transparency across the walls, there is more need for interoperability and integration and things of this nature, regulatory processes and so forth. I do see that assuming that this happens that over time this will create opportunities for us. But in the near-term, as you have seen there is a tremendous kind of sense of volatility and uncertainly in many industries, especially in the Financial Services. And so we are being cautious about it, but I do see this as an opportunity overtime. Mohit, you want to add something to that? Mohit Joshi Yes, Vishal. So just to basically reiterate what Vishal was saying, we have not seen any immediate impact. There is a degree of uncertainty and volatility, but in the long run with the restructuring, with the work that will need to be done around remediation of the platforms, this could be a longterm opportunity. I think some banks may also see this an opportunity to refresh their overall system landscape and that is a potential long-term opportunity as well. In short, we are not seeing any immediate impact, there is uncertainty and volatility and in the long run we hope that this will give us an opportunity. As technology becomes really central to most banks, we don't feel that Brexit or no Brexit banks can afford to slowdown or delay their digital or their industrialization agendas. Arvind Ramnani To the press you mentioned 24% to 25% kind of margins in the short-term, is that for Q2 or for all of fiscal 2017? Ranganath D Mavinakere Let me again reiterate, our margin guidance for the year is 24% to 26%, there is absolutely no change in that. What we have seen is 24.1% for the current quarter is same level as last year and we are able to offset to some extent the comp increase and visa hike impact in the margins through cost optimization levers. As I said, several cost optimization levers, whether it is sub-con expenses as a percentage of revenue or utilization are moving in the right direction. We reiterate our margin guidance for the year at 24% to 26%. Moderator We take the next question from the line of Sandeep Muthangi from IIFL. Please go ahead. Sandeep Muthangi I have a question on the guidance. Vishal, you mentioned that you are seeing the guidance has been cut a bit, but even at the lower end it is still pretty strong and it still implies a significant acceleration from what you have delivered in the quarter. I just want to get some sense in to what is leading to this confidence on growth accelerating? Is it some of these deals you are saying ramping up going forward or things got delayed in the quarter which will pickup in the next couple of quarters, what is the confidence behind the strength and the guidance? Vishal Sikka There are three parts to that, Sandeep. The first one is that, as you know we have won several large deals in the last few quarters. Last quarter we were at $ 757 mn, this quarter we have just crossed $ 800 mn. So these will ramp up. The ramp up in the previous quarter has been little bit slower than we expected, but we do expect that these projects will start to ramp up and many of these are already ramping up so that is one dimension to that. One very exciting dimension which is under Ravi's leadership, our delivery organization is actually firing on all cylinders and that is led by bringing Design Thinking into our delivery organization in a massive way. We just crossed 100,000 people who have been trained on Design Thinking. It is based on 'Zero Distance' which is our initiative to bring innovation into every project. And basically under Ravi's leadership we have close to 100% of the project with 'Zero Distance', we have had more than 5,000 conversations with clients around 'Zero Distance' innovation ideas. The third part is the benefits that we are bringing because of automation. So you already see the signs of this in the improved utilization and so forth. So that is the second thing that gives me confidence. And the third one is that the new services, which perhaps is the most exciting, that the new services, the new seeds that we have planted are starting to grow dramatically under Sandeep Dadlani's leadership. This is something that we are really excited about, we just launched Mana on the 27 th of April and it has already seen not only wins with clients but also the early successes with clients and in our press release today we had a couple of quotes from major companies who have already started to see some benefits from this. Skava had a great quarter. Edge continues to roll and even though Finacle declined compared to the previous quarter, actually Finacle also had a good quarter. So I am really excited about those three things together. Now Consulting and Packaged Services had this decline and BPO did not grow as well as we expected and the India business had a slight decline. So there are a few pockets, you can think of those as pot holes which are giving us this caution. But generally the big cylinders in the company both on the Renew side and New side are firing very well. So that gives us the confidence as we look ahead to the rest of the year. Sandeep Muthangi And just one more question, on the messaging or communication part of it. Vishal, I guess all of us know that the uncertainty in the business is increasing a bit and things like Brexit only add to the uncertainty. And analysts and investors are used to looking at IT results through a microscope. So these sort of results where there is a gap between what analysts expect and what the delivery is do tend to result in exaggerated stock price movements. Is there something that Infosys can do in terms of addressing special issues like this, do you want to look at some point of time reinstating the guidance, the quarterly guidance or some sort of a mid-quarter communication just to set expectation if you notice something that is way off from what the street is expecting. Vishal Sikka I think that a 90-day cycle and to govern a 200,000 employee company on a 90-day cycle, is hard enough and require micromanaging things in us that anymore precision and fine tuning on that will basically mean that we have no time left for longer term kind of thing. So I feel comfortable and plus it would take away a lot of your excitement in being able to forecasting on a quarterly basis by trying to interpolate and extrapolate things. By the way, if you do want our IIP platform has some extraordinary capabilities for doing those kinds of forecasting and so forth. I also want to take this opportunity to say that myself, Pravin and Ranga, we take this guidance matter very-very seriously and it is not around setting expectation or managing expectations, or 'under promise and over deliver' and all these types of things. Basically, our visibility on what we see in the business and we share that with you as we see. We take this responsibility very seriously and I am not in favor of making this anymore fine tuned than it already is. Ranga, perhaps you have something to add? Ranganath D Mavinakere Yes, Vishal. Yes, I fully endorse that. I think coming back to the main question of guidance. Infosys has always believed that the asymmetry of information between what the management knows and the investors know has to be minimal. We do not want to set wrong expectations either ways. When we see certain things positive we want to be positive, and when we don't see certain things positive we don't want to give a wrong expectation, even if it means that it hurts us in the shortterm. I guess that is core principle that we work on. Consistently the Company always comes every quarter before announcing the results, re-evaluates the visibility that it has. If you recollect, last year in Q3, even with a flat growth we would have met the guidance. We didn't increase the guidance in Q3 primarily because at that point in time we generally felt that we had certain challenges for Q3 and Q4. But we have overcome those challenges, but at the same time we want to be very upfront with the market in every quarter cycle. Then coming to your second question, why not mid-quarter? Because we have a very unique month-to-month progression of revenues and certain deals and certain progressions have couple of linkages and there are always surprises on a quarter-to-quarter basis. We have consistently said that we will not confuse the market or give a direction which is kind of selective and so on. We have a very disciplined approach. At every quarter just before the announcement of results, we have an honest assessment of visibility and based on what we have done in the quarter we will continue to do that on that basis. At this point in time, as Vishal said, I think yearly guidance is something that we would stick to. 10 Our next question is from the line of Anantha Narayan from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead. Anantha Narayan So I had a couple of questions. Vishal, firstly, if you look at this weaker than expected 1Q and you have laid out the reasons for that, but how much of it would you attribute to macro factors and how much of it would you attribute to maybe the client mix or the business mix of Infosys? Vishal Sikka Anantha, it is all us in this case. It is the client situation coupled with our execution. Anantha Narayan And my second question was on the attrition numbers. After a few quarters where we saw some pretty attractive improvements in attrition, things have slipped again. So what are the reasons you would attribute to that and what steps are you taking as well? Vishal Sikka I think the 15.8% is higher than we wanted to see. It is generally in line with the Q1 attrition numbers that we used to see in the past. There are couple of factors to that. First of all it is higher because at this time of the year the kids go to school and they get admitted to colleges and so forth. So there is a higher attribution due to that. And then also the variable payout and stuff like this happens. We want to continue our focus on that and bring it down further. Also, many of our employees are targets of our competition and that continues to always be an interesting thing where many of our competitors setup camp right outside our campuses to hire our folks with massive pay raises and so forth. But the thing that we have really focused on is through some unique talent management approaches, that are in some sense pioneering ones, where have put in a dedicated focus on preventing the attrition of the higher performers. We launched that towards the middle of the quarter and we were able to actually bring down the high performer attrition by 2 percentage points which is huge. It was something like 13.5% in the quarter before and it came down to 11.5% now and we will continue to really focus on that. So it is a little bit worse than we expected, generally this quarter is like this but this is not something that we are concerned about because in particular we have brought down the high performer attribution significantly. Pravin, you want to add anything to that? Pravin Rao I think you have communicated. If you look at over the last five years, on an average quarter one attrition has always been about 5% more than the Q4 and this is a consistent thing. Obviously we will watch this very closely but at this stage and given what we have seen in the high performance attrition which we have come down significantly. We are confident and we will continue to focus on employee engagement activities. In addition, today after a gap of 13 years we announced employee stock option plan. We have identified about 7,500 people, we are giving them RSUs. These are primarily junior to mid-management people. And we will follow through in subsequent weeks and announce a similar plan for senior management and title holders. Apart from that, we continue to focus on many of the employment engagement activities, focusing on training, reskilling, leadership development and so on. So while it is higher than what we saw earlier, at this stage we are not too concerned and we will continue to focus on improving employee experience and employee engagement activities. 11 Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Viju George from JP Morgan. Please go ahead. Viju George Vishal, I just wanted to probably probe a little bit on your comment on discretionary spending is a bit softer than expected. Apologize if you have answered this, but why do you think this has happened? Presumably it happened towards the end of the quarter and are you building a fair revival of this discretionary spend that is coming back for your guidance to hold? Vishal Sikka I think that in order for our revised guidance to hold, we have taken into account the pattern that we have seen. So I am not so concerned about it. I don't see that as a big structural kind of a thing. In Q1 in particular what happened was that there were a couple of large deals that we had won in the quarters before, that we had expected that they would ramp up already and in most of the quarter we would get a revenue impact of that which did not happen. One started much slower than we expected and then the other one started towards the end of the quarter and there were other examples like that. In particular, in the Consulting area we saw some projects ending and us not anticipating not being able to renew those and extend those projects and so forth and both of this happen to be in the Lifesciences area. So that is basically what has happened. In Consulting we are working to fix to the extent that the issues were on our side. I am confident that we will be able to fix these. Rajesh Murthy has taken responsibility for our Consulting organization and we are confident that we will be able to get this going. And to the extent that the slow ramp up in the project was reflective of any underlying thing in those clients or in those industries, we have already accounted for that in our revised guidance. Viju George Sure. And one more follow-on, if I may please. It is interesting to see that you have called out some weakness in Consulting and Package Implementation which I presume are more onsite centric, your onsite mix has actually moved up in this quarter. Why has that happened even though the impression is that the business is a little bit more onsite-centric? Thank you. Vishal Sikka Yes, those two are more onsite heavy obviously but the onsite increase that you are seeing is a result of momentum from prior work that was happening, that continues to move forward. So there is of course a huge mass of movement that happens across the organization that impacts for this. Ranga? Ranganath D Mavinakere Just to add, as you know the first stage of ramp up of project typically happens onsite, to some extent that also we saw in this quarter. Viju George Sure. And a third and last question is, are you foreseeing any eventuality from Brexit in terms of are you provided for any allowance of that, any buffers of that in your revised guidance or should 12 anything happen on that front then again we may have to sort of look at this again. Is that some possibility down the road? Vishal Sikka Viju, it is too early to say what impact it will have. I mean we have seen some banks decline significantly in their stock price and so forth and it is even a lot of the consultants are making a lot of money trying to explain to people what the nuances of these agreements are and all of that. So far it is too early to tell what is happening as a result of Brexit. Other than that, the longer term more of these walled gardens will end up creating opportunities for us. My sense is that in one more quarter we will have a better idea if there are any near term consequences of this. So that is what we have. Moderator Thank you. We have the next question from the line of James Friedman from Susquehanna. Please go ahead. James Friedman I wanted to ask generally about the waterfall from book-to-bill. What are some of the factors that influence how bookings get recognized in revenue? Ranganath D Mavinakere I assume that you are asking about how much of revenue conversion happens from this TCV. So if you look at, there are three factors I would say. One is of course the nature of the deal for example, between Infrastructure Management deal typically there are transition of efforts in the first phase, from the transition we start shadow support, then it comes to steady state and there are very well established accounting principles that we need to apply from when we can really translate that into revenue. While the project ramp ups can happen in terms of number of people being on the ground, etc., the actual translation to revenue typically depends upon the nature of transmission, nature of shadow support and what are some of the milestones that individual projects have. So Infrastructure Management, the ramp up is slow though it is probably more initially it will be much smaller and it is more back-ended and whereas for something like Application Development and Maintenance project it is more uniform. On a thumb rule basis, typically if you look at the TCV of every $100 mn that we have in a basket of services, roughly about 7.5% to 10% accrues in the first year. So that has been our thumb rule, but it can change the mix of the services can really change. The third factor is really the ramp up part of it. So suppose a particular project is awarded with a TCV of X mn, then sometimes we expect that to start with a quarter gap of one and sometimes the ramp-ups happen much faster. Many times the current vendors have to move out and there is a transition period. So these three factors principally impact the revenue conversion from TCV. But as a thumb rule, given the current basket of services, in the first year typically it is 7.5% to 10%. James Friedman And I just had a housekeeping question if you happen to have it there. I see from the fact sheet the de-growth in Health and Lifesciences, do you have to have that in constant currency? Ranganath D Mavinakere Yes, Lifesciences constant currency is (-16%) quarter-to-quarter. 13 Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Ashwin Mehta from Nomura. Please go ahead. Ashwin Mehta I just wanted to get a sense in terms of the seasonality of growth that you are likely to see this year for achievement of your guidance. Would the seasonality be similar in terms of 2Q being stronger and possibly in the 4% to 6% range, or you would require some heavy lifting at the backend or back half of the year for your guidance to be met? Vishal Sikka Ashwin, we have assumed the typical seasonality. But at the same time that is impacted by the ramp up in the large deals that we have signed recently. In the new services there is basically no seasonality. So in the Software and both Software licenses and software subscriptions in the new areas like Mana, Skava and our Edge products, there is no seasonality. So there will be some impact as a result of that, but generally obviously our Delivery and Consulting, these continue to have the usual seasonality. Ashwin Mehta And I had just one book-keeping question, in terms of ESOP charges is there any estimate that you can give in terms of what is the ESOP charge going to be in terms of amount this year or as a percentage of sales what is that you are looking at going forward? Ranganath D Mavinakere Yes, we have already factored in that amount in our 24% to 26% range. Moderator Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Pankaj Kapoor from JM Financial. Please go ahead. Pankaj Kapoor Sorry to persist, but I just had a couple of questions on the guidance. First is the adjustment for the first quarter lower revenues, is that the only thing which has gone into the adjustment in the guidance or are you factoring some incremental headwinds as well? Vishal Sikka Pankaj, that is primarily the factor. We look through the root causes of the lower than expected revenue performance and as a result of that we have a lower guidance. If you generally do the math you see that roughly 20 mn or so decline in one particular business, if you project that out over four quarters that amounts to more or less 1%. And a couple of other dimensions as well. Like I said earlier, it was not only this particular area in Consulting but also the slower ramp down and slightly lower performance in India and so forth which does not have that big an impact, these are small, but if you put it altogether that basically brings us to lowering this thing by 1%. 14 Pankaj Kapoor So the slower ramp-up that mentioned in the couple of client situation, so are we back on track there or things are still slow? Vishal Sikka It is too early to tell. We have done many large deals in the last few quarters. It is too early to tell whether it is limited to these two or three clients or if there is more going on here. In one case it is just a progressive slow beginning and so the curve itself is slower than we expected. And in the other one it started later than we expected, but it is going at the normal speed. So whether it is limited to these two or not, we will watch but we don't expect that there is any massive change because of this. Pankaj Kapoor Obviously there have been a few weeks since Brexit, in their last intervening few weeks have you seen any delayed decision making, at least in the UK or European clients? Although it is too early to call the impact of that, but anything in the decision making cycle if you have seen, especially on the large deals, any impact? Vishal Sikka Mohit, can you answer? Mohit Joshi Sure. So look, I don't think it is anything significant. I just want to add that most of our clients themselves were caught by surprise, they were caught by surprise by the Brexit decision and they are scrambling to figure out next steps. In one client we have seen certain delays, but I would not make a trend out of it as Vishal and Ranga mentioned, it is really too early to tell because most of the banks are absorbing the news and waiting for the announcement on next steps before they start making their strategic decisions. Pankaj Kapoor So is it fair to assume that decision making as of now in the uncertainty is basically on hold till people figure out how things are going to play out? Is it a fair assumption? Mohit Joshi No, I don't think we are saying that. I think what we are saying is as of now we have not seen any change in decision making patterns with one exception that I mentioned. As of now things have continued as before. Pankaj Kapoor And lastly, Ranga, if you can share the involuntary attrition number, is there a significant jump in that as well, if you can share the numbers quarter-on-quarter that would be helpful. Thanks. Ranganath D Mavinakere There is no significant change in the involuntary numbers. It is in the normal course as has been in the earlier quarters. 15 Thank you. We have the next question from the line of Sagar Rastogi from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead. Sagar Rastogi Going back to attrition, did you do something different in terms of wage hikes and variable payouts this quarter as compared to the previous year? For example, was there a lot of dispersion between top performers and average performers? Also, you have postponed wage hikes for senior staff by a quarter, do you think that also had an impact on the attrition number? Pravin Rao See, we continue to focus on increasing the differentiation between top performers and bottom performers. So I don't think the higher attribution numbers you can attribute to what you said. As I said earlier, if you look back over the last five years, on an average the attrition in quarter one is normally 5% more than what we see in quarter four. Particularly if you look at high performance attrition, it has actually come down dramatically from 13.4% to 11.2%. So I don't think you should give too much meaning to attrition numbers at this stage. Obviously, I mean we will continue to focus on all our employee engagement initiatives and I talked about the stock option plans that we rolled out, announced today. So we are doing many-many things to make sure that we keep the employee motivated and the focus is increasingly more on higher differentiation so that we can reward high performance much more than people who are not performing well. Sagar Rastogi So you are right that typically June is seasonally stronger, but at least from the current levels it appears to be a bit of larger negative surprise. For example, in the March 2015 quarter to June 2015 quarter if you see, the increase in annualized attrition numbers was only 100 basis points which is why… Pravin Rao Last year was an exception, but if you look back over the last five years, on an average it is 5%. Moderator Thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand over the floor to Mr. Sandeep Mahindroo for his closing comments. Over to you, sir. Sandeep Mahindroo Thanks everyone for spending time with us. We look forward to talking to you again. Have a good day. Moderator Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and Gentlemen, with this we conclude today's conference call. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines. 16
WHITEPAPER This Whitepaper is based on a Scientific Exchange meeting held on Saturday 14 December 2019 Meeting Attendees Chair: Professor Jonathan Shaw Endocrinologist, Deputy Director Baker Institute Other Participants: (alphabetical order) Professor Sof Andrikolopoulos (CEO, ADS) Professor John Atherton (cardiologist, QLD) A/Professor Ralph Audehm (GP, VIC) Dr Shane Nanayakkarra (cardiologist, VIC) Ms Heidi Roache (Partnerships, Baker Institute) Dr Anita Sharma (GP, QLD) Prof Sophia Zoungas (endocrinologist, Immediate Past President of ADS, VIC) Acknowledgment: AstraZeneca has provided an independent sponsorship to Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute for this report. BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 1 This whitepaper has developed out of a round table discussion that was convened in December 2019 to explore the public health and clinical benefits and risks of sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i). The aim of this paper is to identify the major clinical issues surrounding the safe prescription of these agents. It is intended that this process will form the basis of more formal advice and guidance to be issued by relevant professional bodies, including the ADS, CSANZ and RACGP. The meeting focus was on cardiologists and general practitioners; however, the group stated that other groups including nephrologists, general physicians and endocrinologists would also benefit from further education on SGLT2i, particularly for patients with heart failure. 2 BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE Benefits of SGLT2i * SGLT2i improve glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) by reducing renal glucose reabsorption leading to increased glucuresis and natriuresis.[1] * Three large, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) (EMPA-REG,[4] CANVAS,[5] DECLARE[6]), as well as a recent metaanalysis by Zelniker et al 2019,[7] demonstrated SGLT2i have cardiovascular and reno-protective benefits in T2DM. * Additionally, a recent study of stable, welltreated heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (DAPA-HF) has demonstrated cardiovascular protection irrespective of the presence or absence of diabetes.[8] * In the systematic review and meta-analysis, Zelniker et al 2019[7] reported that SGLT2i use versus placebo resulted in a: – 14% reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with previous atherosclerotic CV disease (HR: 0.86 [95% CI: 0.80-0.93]; p=0.0002). – 23% reduction in heart failiure (HF) hospitalisation/cardiovascular (CV) death (0.77 [0.71-0.84]; p<0.0001), with a similar benefit in patients with and without pre-existing atherosclerotic CV disease, and with and without a history of heart failure. – 45% reduction in the progression of renal disease (composite of renal worsening, end-stage renal disease or renal death) (HR: 0.55 [0.48-0.64]; p<0.0001) with a similar benefit in patients with atherosclerotic CVD and those with multiple CV risk factors. * In the double-blind, placebo-controlled DAPA-HF trial in stable heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (EF≤40%),[8] dapagliflozin led to a: – 26% reduction in worsening heart failure or CV death (primary endpoint) (HR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.65-0.85; p<0.001) (NNT: 21). This primary outcome benefit was present irrespective of the presence or absence of diabetes. – 30% relative risk reduction in worsening heart failure event (HR: 0.70 [0.59, 0.83]; p=0.00003). – Significant improvement in quality of life: The change in KCCQ total symptom score was 6.1 with dapagliflozin vs 3.3 for placebo; difference: 2.8 points [95% CI: 1.6, 4.0]; p<0.001]. Compared with placebo-treated patients, significantly more participants on dapagliflozin had an improvement in KCCQ score and significantly fewer participants on dapagliflozin had a deterioration in KCCQ score. * The exact mechanism(s) for the cardiovascular and renal protective effects of SGLT2i, however, remain unclear. * HbA1c is not a surrogate marker for SGLT2i reno-cardiovascular benefits. Public health imperative * The group agreed that there is a public health imperative to ensure SGLT2i are prescribed in appropriate patients, similar to initiation of other cardioprotective agents, such as ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB), beta blockers and statins. To support this, it would be useful to not only quantify the absolute benefits of SGLT2i in terms of mortality, but also the impact of SGLT2i use on future dialysis and heart failure hospitalisation costs. * The absolute mortality benefits of SGLT2i use can be modelled on data taken from the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS), which was published in The Dark Heart of Type 2 Diabetes Baker Institute Report 2017. [9] According to this data, a 30% reduction in mortality with SGLT2i use, as achieved in EMPA-REG study, would equate to 2,095 deaths prevented each year (assuming there was a 100% uptake rate). Even if the mortality benefit of SGLT2i use was only 10%, with a 50% uptake, there would still be 349 fewer deaths in one year. Risks of SGLT2i * Any potential benefits of SGLT2 inhibition should outweigh any potential risks. * Side-effects associated with SGLT2i include polyuria, genital infections, volume depletion in patients at risk of dehydration, and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).[4, 6] * The two side effects of SGLTS2i that cardiologists are most worried about are genital infections & DKA. * GPs are generally familiar with treating genital infections, and are accustomed to managing patients on SGLT2i, however, they may be concerned about DKA, particularly with broader SGLT2i use in the community. * Polyuria and genital infections are not usually dangerous, although they can be a nuisance for some patients. These AEs are usually mild to moderate and can be managed proactively by educating patients. Genital infections usually resolve with standard treatment, although recurrent genital infection may necessitate treatment discontinuation in a few patients. * Cardiologists may be more concerned about genital infections, as compared with GPs, as they are not used to treating these conditions. * For some patients, with a lower CV risk, the long-term benefits might not outweigh the inconvenience of frequent polyuria, nocturia or genital infections associated with SGLT2i. GLP-1 agonists may be a suitable alternative in some of these patients. WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 3 * Because of their natriuretic effect, SGLT2i can cause volume depletion in patients taking loop diuretics or in other individuals who are at risk of dehydration (e.g. acute gastrointestinal illness). Fluid status in these patients should be checked before initiating a SGLT2i. Nonheart failure clinicians require more guidance with respect to dose adjustment of diuretics in heart failure patients. * DKA is a serious and potentially lifethreatening condition caused by a "relative deficiency of insulin". The American Diabetes Association defines DKA as the combination of blood pH<7.3, HCO 3 ≤18 mmol/L and elevated ketones. * A recent retrospective controlled cohort study across all public hospitals in Melbourne and Geelong confirmed that there is a small but significant increased absolute risk of DKA with SGLT2i [OR: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.02-2.15; p=0.037].[10] – Much of the excess risk of DKA occurred in people already admitted to hospital for other reasons, and most cases of DKA that developed during hospital admission occurred in the context of surgery and fasting. – In most cases of DKA, insulin was ceased in hospital when patients were fasting, and those involved in patient management may have been falsely reassured by blood glucose levels that were not particularly elevated, which could have contributed to the development of DKA in these patients. – This study highlights the need to educate medical staff about the risks of DKA in patients with T2DM on SGLT2i. However, it was also noteworthy that the absolute number of DKA cases was 3x higher in non-SGLT2i users, than in SGLT2i users. The most common probable precipitating factor for DKA in non-SGLT2i users was infection/acute illness. BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE 4 * SGLT2i should be withheld at least 2 days prior to surgery and not re-started until the patient is eating and drinking. * The working group determined further education about DKA was required and made a number of suggestions (please refer to Section 5, page 26 of this report). * It is important to put DKA into context, given the overall absolute risk of DKA with SGLT2i was small, and given there is also a background risk of DKA in people with diabetes not taking a SGLT2i. Barriers to SGLT2i use The major barriers preventing clinicians prescribing a SGLT2i in appropriate patients are: * side effects (e.g. polyuria, genital infections, DKA) * existing guidelines/indication/ reimbursement are based on glucose-lowering * cost SGLT2i Guidelines/ Consensus Statement * It was determined that there was a need to develop SGLT2i Guidelines or a Consensus Statement in collaboration with ADS and CSANZ, with contribution from General Practice via the RACGP. A nephrologist should also have input into the document and, possibly a geriatrician. * The Guidelines/Consensus Statement should clarify when to start SGLT2i. For example, should the SGLT2i be commenced during hospitalisation for HF or a CV event, at the first cardiology follow-up visit, by the endocrinologist or by the GP? * Please refer to sections 7 and 8 for a list of suggestions and proposed follow-up actions with respect to developing and implementing SGLT2i guidelines. Objective The purpose of this whitepaper is to explore the benefits and risks of SGLT2i with the aim of ensuring the safe prescription of these agents in clinical practice. In particular, this whitepaper will explore: 1. safety issues of SGLT2i 2. clinical and public health benefits of intervention with SGLT2i. This whitepaper will focus on cardiologists and general practitioners; however, it was stated that endocrinologists would also benefit from further education on SGLT2i particularly for patients with heart failure. This whitepaper is hoped to act as a springboard for future collaboration with the Australian Diabetes Society (ADS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ) to develop a consensus/advisory statement for the safe use of SGLT2i. WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 5 Mechanism of Action of SGLT2 Inhibitors Sodium-glucose co-transporters (SGLTs) are the specific mediators of renal glucose reabsorption, with 90% of this reabsorption being facilitated by the isoform termed SGLT2, and the remainder by SGLT1.[1] Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are known to improve glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) by reducing renal glucose reabsorption leading to urinary glucose excretion (glucuresis). Blocking the SGLT2 receptor also increases sodium excretion (i.e. promotes natriuresis).[1] 6 BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE Benefits of SGLT2 Inhibitors In addition to glucose lowering effects, three large, randomised controlled trials (RCTs), as well as a recent meta-analysis, demonstrate SGLT2i have cardiovascular and reno-protective benefits in patients with T2DM.[4-7] Additionally, a recent study of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) has demonstrated cardiovascular protection irrespective of the presence or absence of diabetes.[11] Glucose lowering effects The glucose lowering effects of SGLT2i have been established in multiple randomised, controlled trials in T2DM. The average reduction in HbA1c is approximately 1 percentage point, although glucose reduction varies according to the underlying baseline HbA1c and other factors. [12] The glucose-lowering effect of SGLT2i may be reduced in patients with an estimated GFR<60 mL/min/1.73 m 2 . It is important to note that the renal and cardiovascular benefits of SGLT2i are independent of the effect on HbA1c. Therefore, even if there is only minimal glucose lowering, large RCTs have established there are cardiovascular and renal benefits with a SGLT2i [13, 14]. Therefore, HbA1c is not a surrogate marker for SGLT2i reno-cardiovascular benefits, although it is an important marker of glucose-lowering. SGLT2i, there may be reluctance to prescribe the agents for non-glucose lowering effects. Moreover, adherence to medication may be poor if there is no measurable effect. Reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) Three large, phase 3, randomised, placebocontrolled multinational trials have investigated the effect of SGLT2i on cardiovascular outcomes in people with T2DM: * EMPA-REG (empagliflozin)[4] * CANVAS (canagliflozin)[5] * DECLARE-TIMI 58 (dapagliflozin)[6] These studies have shown that SGLT2i led to a significant reduction in major cardiovascular events (i.e. myocardial infarction, stroke and CV death), and other CV outcomes such as heart failure/CV death in people with T2DM compared to placebo.[4-7] The populations in these outcome studies had different levels of baseline CV risk. Most participants in these studies had established atherosclerotic CVD; however some of the participants in CANVAS and DECLARE studies had multiple risk factors for CVD. All of the participants in EMPA-REG, 65.6% of participants in CANVAS and 40.6% of participants in DECLARE had pre-existing atherosclerotic CVD. Zelniker et al 2019 performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the three SGLT2i CV outcomes trials (n=34,322) [7]. Compared to placebo-treated participants, the investigators reported that participants treated with a SGLT2i had a: This may pose clinical challenges, as prescribers are generally accustomed to using an objective marker to track response to other medications. For example, the effect of an antihypertensive agent can be directly measured by blood pressure, and the effect of a cholesterol lowering agent can be measured by LDL-C or other lipid parameters. Therefore, without a biomarker to measure the renocardiovascular benefits of * 14% reduction in MACE in participants with previous atherosclerotic CV disease (HR: 0.86 [95% CI: 0.80-0.93]; p=0.0002) (Figure 1). The hazard ratio for the reduction in MACE in participants without established atherosclerotic disease in this meta-analysis was 1.00 [95% CI: 0.87-1.16]; p=0.98).[7] The p value for subgroup differences was 0.0501. * WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 7 * 23% reduction in heart failure/CV death (0.77 [0.71-0.84]; p<0.0001), with a similar benefit in participants with and without pre-existing atherosclerotic CV disease, and with and without a history of heart failure (Figure 2). The p value for subgroup differences was 0.41 * .[7] Figure 1. Effect of SGLT2i on the composite of MACE (MI, stroke and CV death) in cardiovascular outcome trials in T2DM (stratified by the presence or absence of atherosclerotic CVD) Figure based on Zelniker TA, et al. Lancet 2019.[7] NOTE: It is difficult statistically to draw firm conclusions regarding any potential differences between the subgroup of participants with previous atherosclerotic CVD and those with multiple risk factors for MACE, as the confidence intervals (CI) overlap. In situations where the treatment effect is relatively small, for example with an endpoint like MACE, which has a 14% relative risk reduction for SGLT2i vs placebo, a large number of events is needed to demonstrate a statistically significant benefit. For MACE, 1800 events are needed for 90% power to detect a statistical difference. In this analysis the event rate in the placebo arm in participants with multiple risk factors is very low, and the timeframe for follow-up may not be long enough to show benefit in this lower risk group. There are additional analyses underway, including data from CREDENCE, that will include more participants with CV risk factors; however, participants from CREDENCE have impaired renal function. Figure 2. Effect of SGLT2i on the composite of heart failure and CV death in cardiovascular outcome trials in T2DM (stratified by the presence or absence of atherosclerotic CVD) Figure based on Zelniker TA, et al. Lancet 2019.[7] 8 BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE Renoprotection In the three diabetes CV outcome studies, there was a significant reduction in renal deterioration with SGLT2i vs placebo[4-6] which was confirmed in the Zelniker et al 2019 meta-analysis[7]: Zelniker et al 2019 concluded: 45% reduction in the progression of renal disease (composite of worsening of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), end-stage renal disease or renal death) (HR: 0.55 [0.48-0.64]; p<0.0001) with a similar benefit in participants with atherosclerotic CVD and those with multiple CV risk factors (Figure 6). The p value for risk reduction trend across eGFR subgroups shown below was 0.0258.[7] These data suggest that SGLT2i should be considered in patients with type 2 diabetes regardless of presence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or history of heart failure, given that they safely reduce HbA1c and reduce the risk of hospitalisation for heart failure and progression of renal disease broadly across the spectrum of these patients.[7] Figure 3. Effect of SGLT2i on composite of worsening of eGFR, end-stage renal disease, or renal death in cardiovascular outcome trials in T2DM (stratified by baseline renal function) Figure based on Zelniker TA, et al. Lancet 2019.[7] WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 9 Benefits in heart failure participants with reduced ejection fraction Recently, a phase 3, placebo-controlled trial (DAPA-HF) demonstrated cardiovascular benefits in participants with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) (≤40%) (n=4,744), with dapagliflozin on top of standard care over a median of 18.2 months.[11] The primary endpoint in this study was the time to first occurrence of any of the composite of CV death, or worsening heart failure, defined by hospitalisation for heart failure or an urgent heart failure visit resulting in intravenous therapy for heart failure. * There was a 26% reduction in worsening heart failure or CV death (primary endpoint) (HR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.65-0.85; p<0.001) in dapagliflozin- vs placebo-treated participants. This equates to a number needed-to-treat (NNT) of 21.[11] In DAPA-HF, there were also statistically significant reductions with dapagliflozin vs placebo in the individual components of the composite primary outcome: * 30% reduction in worsening heart failure event (hospitalisation or urgent visit for heart failure) (HR: 0.70 [0.59, 0.83]; p=0.00003)[11]; and * 18% reduction in cardiovascular death (HR: 0.82 [0.69, 0.98]; p=0.029).[11] Importantly, these benefits were present irrespective of the presence or absence of diabetes (Figure 4). The "no diabetes" subgroup included many participants with pre-diabetes, although this was not thought to substantially influence the results. [8] A further analysis of outcomes according to HbA1c tertiles [(i) HbA1≤5.6%; (ii) HbA1c of 5.7-5.9% and (iii) HbA1c ≥6.0%] in participants without T2DM at baseline, showed dapagliflozin was more effective than placebo for the primary efficacy endpoint in all three HbA1c groups.[8] Additionally, in the DAPA-HF study there was a: * Significant improvement in quality of life as measured by an increase in Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) with dapagliflozin vs placebo. The change in KCCQ total symptom score (6.1 with dapagliflozin vs 3.3 for placebo; difference: 2.8 points [95% CI: 1.6, 4.0]; p<0.001)[11]. This change in KCCQ total symptom score is similar to the quality of life improvement seen with ACE inhibitors and other heart failure treatments. Note: The higher the KCCQ score the better, as this means the participant experiences fewer symptoms. A ≥5-point change from baseline is considered "clinically relevant". – More participants in the dapagliflozintreated group, compared to the placebo group, experienced a clinically meaningful improvement in KCCQ total symptom score from baseline (i.e. ≥5 points) (58% vs 51% respectively; OR: 1.15; p<0001).[11] – Fewer participants in the dapagliflozintreated group, compared to the placebo group, experienced a clinically meaningful deterioration in KCCQ total symptom score vs placebo-treated participants (25% vs 33% respectively; OR: 0.84; p<0001).[11] Figure 4. Effect of dapagliflozin on heart failure events according to diabetes status in the DAPA-HF study Figure based on McMurray J, et al. Dapagliflozin in Patients with Heart Failure & Reduced Ejection Fraction Presentation at ESC Congress: Aug 31-Sept 3, 2019, Paris.[8] 10 BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE Absolute Mortality Benefit of SGLT2i There is a need to consider the public health responsibility for ensuring SGLT2i are prescribed in appropriate patients (e.g. in heart failure patients following hospital discharge), similar to initiation of other cardioprotective agents, such as ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB), beta blockers and statins. The absolute benefits of SGLT2i can be modelled based on data taken from the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS), which were published in The Dark Heart of Type 2 Diabetes Report 2017.[9] This analysis estimated that there were 6,983 deaths in people with T2DM and prior cardiovascular disease in 2015 across Australia. The estimated number of deaths prevented in 1 year with a SGLT2i based on this data is summarised in Table 1 below. Other information to help quantify the public health benefit could include: * Determining the impact of SGLT2i use on future dialysis * Estimating heart failure hospitalisation costs Based on these data, a 30% reduction in mortality with SGLT2i use, as achieved in EMPA-REG,[4] would equate to 2,095 deaths prevented in a single year (assuming there was a 100% uptake rate). Even if the mortality benefit of SGLT2i use was only 10% with a 50% uptake, this would still save 349 lives in one year. The group agreed there is a "public health imperative" to ensure SGLT2i are prescribed in appropriate people and further information about the absolute benefits of SGLT2i use is warranted. Table 1. The estimated number of deaths prevented in 1 year with a SGLT2i, according to effectiveness and uptake Based on data from Shaw J, et al. The Dark Heart of Type 2 Diabetes. Baker 2017.[9] WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 11 Risks Associated with SGLT2 Inhibition Rational prescribing of SGLT2i should consider not only the benefits, but the risk of adverse events (AEs) and other long-term safety aspects. Any potential benefits of SGLT2 inhibition should outweigh any potential risks. AEs associated with SGLT2i include polyuria, genital infections, volume depletion in patients at risk of dehydration and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). The two AEs of SGLT2i that cardiologists are most worried about are genital infections & DKA. GPs are generally familiar with treating genital infections, and are used to managing diabetic patients on SGLT2i, however, they may be concerned about DKA, particularly with broader use. Polyuria/nocturia Polyuria can generally be managed by proactively educating patients about potential side effects of SGLT2i. However, a minority of patients may not tolerate polyuria, particularly nocturia. In these cases, the clinician should undertake a risk/benefit discussion with the patient. In someone with a high CV risk, the inconvenience of polyuria, however, may be acceptable given the proven cardiovascular mortality and renal benefits of SGLT2 inhibition. For some patients, particularly those with a lower CV risk, the long-term benefits might not outweigh the inconvenience of frequent polyuria or nocturia associated with SGLT2i. GLP-1 agonists may be a suitable alternative in some patients. 12 BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE Genital infections All the trials have reported an increased risk of genital infections with SGLT2i, which, although not usually dangerous, can be a nuisance. Genital infections are usually managed with standard therapies, but on some occasions persistent or repeated infections may necessitate treatment discontinuation. More information is required to help clinicians discuss good genital hygiene and to be able to treat genital infections if they occur. Volume depletion Because of their natriuretic effect, SGLT2i can cause volume depletion, particularly in patients taking loop diuretics or in individuals who are at risk of dehydration (e.g. acute gastrointestinal illness). The fluid status in these patients should be checked before initiating a SGLT2i. Non-heart failure clinicians require more guidance with respect to dose adjustment of diuretics in heart failure patients. Amputations and fractures A statistically significant increase in the frequency of amputations and also fractures was reported with canagliflozin in the CANVAS study [5], but not in the CREDENCE study, which also used canagliflozin.[16] However, in the other trials, amputations and fractures with SGLT2i were not statistically different from placebo-treated patients. For example, in DECLARE the frequency of amputations was 1.4% with dapagliflozin and 1.3% in the placebo arm (p=0.53). The incidence of fractures for dapagliflozin and placebo were 5.3% vs 5.1% respectively (p=0.59).[6] Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) DKA is due to a "relative deficiency of insulin". The American Diabetes Association defines DKA as a blood pH <7.3, HCO 3 ≤18 mmol/L and elevated ketones.[10] DKA is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition requiring hospitalisation. Rare cases of fatal DKA have been reported with SGLT2i use. DKA is a rare class-effect of all SGLT2i. In the DECLARE study, the frequency of DKA with dapagliflozin was approximately double that observed in participants on placebo (0.3% vs 0.1%; HR: 2.18; [95% CI: 1.10-4.30]; p=0.02).[6] There is an increased risk of DKA in people with diabetes on SGLT2i, particularly hospitalised patients who are fasting prior to surgery or who have a major infection. DKA can be present with SGLT2i use even in euglycaemic patients (i.e. those with a normal glucose level).[10] Hamblin PS, et al 2019 recently published a retrospective controlled cohort study assessing the incidence of DKA in T2DM patients across all public hospitals in Melbourne and Geelong. [10] The incidence of DKA in patients with T2DM taking SGLT2i was compared with the incidence of DKA in non-SGLT2i (control group). Out of a total of 4321 medical records coded as DKA over the 26-month study period there were 162 cases of verified DKA (37 SGLT2i users and 125 non-SGLT2i users) with a physician adjudicated diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.[10] * Among those with DKA, it developed during the course of an inpatient admission in 14 (38%) SGLT2i users vs 2 (2%) non-SGLT2i users (OR: 37.4; 95% CI: 8.0 to 175.9; p<0.0001). * The incidence of DKA over a 26-month period was 1.02 per 1000 (95% CI: 0.74 to 1.41 per 1000) in SGLT2i users vs 0.69 per 1000 (95% CI: 0.58 to 0.82 per 1000) in non-SGLT2i users (OR: 1.48; 95% CI, 1.02 to 2.15; p=0.037).[10] * Among those with DKA, deaths occurred in 2 of 37 (5%) SGLT2i users and in 11 of 125 (9%) non-SGLT2i users (p=0.73). Only one death (in a non-SGLT2i user) was thought to be directly due to DKA, with the remainder related to comorbidities.[10] The patients on SGLT2i who developed DKA had a significantly lower HbA1c compared to the non-SGLT2i control group (9.3% vs 11.9% respectively; p<0.001), suggesting that the increased DKA risk was not caused by poorer glycaemic control. There were no differences in age, sex, ethnicity, body mass index, duration of diabetes, or co-prescribed diabetes medications between SGLT2i users and non-SGLT2i users, with the exception of metformin, which was prescribed in 32 (87%) SGLT2i users and 81 (65%) nonSGLT2i users (p<0.001). The estimates of DKA incidence in the whole population did not take into account the duration of exposure because of the lack of data on the timing of SGLT2i initiation. Since SGLT2i use was rapidly increasing during the study time period, SGLT2i exposure was likely for a shorter time than the comparison agents. This may have resulted in the odds ratio comparing SGLT2i users with non-SGLT2i being an underestimate. It is concluded that: * SGLT2i use was associated with a small but significant increased absolute risk of DKA [OR: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.02-2.15); p=0.037). [10] * SGLT2i users were more likely to develop DKA as an inpatient compared with nonSGLT2i users. Most cases of DKA that developed during hospital admission occurred in the context of surgery and fasting.[10] * In most cases of DKA in SGLT2i use, insulin was ceased in hospital when patients were fasting, and those involved in patient management may have been falsely reassured by blood glucose levels that were not particularly elevated, which could have contributed to the development of DKA in these patients. * This study highlights the need to educate medical staff about the risks of DKA in T2DM patients on SGLT2i, but also T2DM patients not on SGLT2i, as the absolute number of DKA cases in this group was three-fold that of SGLT2 users (the most common probable precipitating factor for DKA in non-SGLT2i users was infection/acute illness). * SGLT2i should be withheld at least 2 days prior to surgery and not re-started until the patient is eating and drinking. WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 13 14 DKA is particularly frightening for clinicians who are not familiar with SGLT2i and requires further education and guidance. Suggestions with respect to the risk of DKA with SGLT2i use: * Educate doctors regarding SGLT2i use and the risk of DKA and its management. Information and education should be from multiple sources. * Doctors need to be educated to verbally discuss DKA with patients repeatedly, as leaflets are often misplaced or forgotten. * Pre-procedural advice is likely to be the most effective. * Consider developing a "pre-op (theatre) check list" for patients undergoing surgery on a SGLT2i. * Consider using a "patient leaflet on DKA" for people with diabetes who are prescribed a SGLT2i – including "sick day management". * Consider developing a "DKA checklist for doctors". For example: – When to stop SGLT2i (and metformin) prior to major surgery – Avoid ketogenic/low carbohydrate diets – Check for ketones (using finger-prick ketone strip – not urine strip) if unwell, irrespective of blood glucose * Develop information for when the patient receives their SGLT2i script (pharmacy information) – When to re-start SGLT2i (i.e. when the patient is eating and drinking). BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE * Collaborate with the RACGP with respect to educating GPs and the risk of DKA with SGLT2i use. It is advisable to link DKA information with metformin as GPs are familiar with instructions for metformin use and surgery. * The risk of DKA may be even greater in patients on insulin and/or metformin. Further information is required in terms of what to do with fixed dose combination products with metformin. It is easier to stop SGLT2i and metformin on the same day prior to surgery. It is important to put DKA into context, given the overall absolute risk of DKA with SGLT2i was small, and given there is also a background risk of DKA in people with diabetes not taking a SGLT2i. Following a small number of deaths reported in patients who developed DKA while taking a SGLT2i, some institutions have instigated mandatory measurement of ketones in all hospitalised people with diabetes on a SGLT2i. However, it is important that DKA is put into perspective. Clinicians need to understand most pre-surgery patients with diabetes will have ketosis, but this is not DKA. Many factors such as diet can increase ketone levels, but acidosis must also be present for the patient to have DKA. AEs in elderly patients A post-hoc analysis of DAPA-HF analysed the efficacy and safety of dapagliflozin according to age.[17] Although AEs and study drug discontinuation increased with age, neither was significantly more common with dapagliflozin in any age group. The authors concluded that there was no imbalance in tolerability or safety events between dapagliflozin and placebo, even in elderly individuals.[17] AEs in patients without diabetes Further information about any difference in the side effects in those patients with and without diabetes would be valuable. Although the round table discussion was focused on the role of cardiologists and general practitioners (GPs), ongoing education of SGLT2i use with endocrinologists is also important as there may be an "emerging conservatism" within endocrinology because of fear of some of the side effects of SGLT2i, such as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). An analysis of AEs in the diabetes and nondiabetes populations from DAPA-HF (presented by John McMurray at ESC) showed no statistically significant difference in the incidence of AEs compared to placebo in either the diabetes or non-diabetes groups. However, as expected there was a lower proportion of serious AEs in the people without diabetes compared to people with diabetes (which may be related to diabetes-related AEs) (Table 4).[8] Table 2. Adverse events (AEs) reported with dapagliflozin and placebo from DAPA-HF study * The safety population included patients receiving ≥1 dose of trial medication: dapagliflozin n=2368 and placebo n=2368. + Major hypoglycemia defined as hypoglycemia requiring the assistance of another person to actively administer carbohydrates, glucagon, or take other corrective action. Figure taken from McMurray J, et al. Dapagliflozin in Patients with Heart Failure & Reduced Ejection Fraction Presentation at ESC Congress: Aug 31-Sept 3, 2019, Paris.[8] WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 15 Barriers to SGLT2i Use The major barriers preventing clinicians prescribing a SGLT2i in appropriate patients are: * cost * side effects (e.g. polyuria, genital infections, DKA) * difficulty with applying existing guidelines/indication/reimbursement based on glucose-lowering There is currently no guidance with respect to when to initiate SGLT2i, who should initiate the treatment and how long to continue SGLT2i use for their non-glucose lowering effects (see Section 7). Current guidelines, drug approved indications and PBS reimbursement for SGLT2i use are based on HbA1c/glucose lowering. However, cardiovascular/renoprotective benefits of SGLT2i are irrespective of the blood glucose levels. Prescription of other cardiovascular protective agents (e.g. statins, ACEi, ARBs etc) are based on the patient's underlying level of cardiovascular risk. 16 BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE Guidelines or Consensus Statement: When and Who Should Initiate SGLT2i? When to start SGLT2i? There is a need for further guidance with respect to in whom and when SGLT2i should be initiated for reno-cardiovascular benefits. For example: or ARB/ beta blocker/ MRA/ diuretic as well as diabetes medication such as metformin etc).[11] 1. Should SGLT2i be only started in those with hospitalisation for HF, and those with an acute CV event? 2. If the patient has not had an acute event, at what level of cardiovascular risk should a SGLT2i be initiated? 3. Should SGLT2i be introduced before metformin in a heart failure patient with newly diagnosed diabetes? 4. Should a SGLT2i be initiated by the cardiologist pre-discharge, following an acute cardiovascular event 5. Should the SGLT2i be initiated at the first cardiology follow-up appointment following an acute event? 6. Should the SGLT2i be started by the endocrinologist? 7. Should the specialist advise the GP to initiate the SGLT2i in the discharge letter following an acute event? Starting a SGLT2i following an acute event * The rationale for initiating a SGLT2i following an acute event (before a patient is discharged from hospital) is that other cardioprotective drugs (e.g. ACEi, ARBs statins, etc) are initiated at this time. It may be the most efficient time to start the treatment and the patient may be more motivated to take CV treatment. * Given the current indication for SGLT2i use is only for patients with T2DM, the proposed recommendation for initiating therapy following an acute event would only be for patients with type 2 diabetes. * Should there be a recommendation for initiating SGLT2i only following hospitalisation for acute heart failure, or after an acute atherosclerotic event such as an MI as well? Given the reduction in the primary study endpoint in heart failure with SGLT2i use was 26% vs 11% reduction in MACE, there is a stronger argument for initiating SGLT2i therapy post-acute heart failure compared to after an atherosclerotic event.[7, 11] However, post a CV event may be the 'easiest' group for cardiologists to initiate SGLT2i treatment. Furthermore, the benefit for heart failure outcomes was strong in those with a history of atherosclerotic disease whether or not they also had a history of heart failure. * Should it be part of a forced titration strategy that is initiated by the specialist in the hospital, which is then followed up by the GP? This strategy might, for example, require the addition of an SGLT2i at 2 weeks postdischarge. * There was a suggestion to look at data that has been collected in Queensland about the best time to start medication from an adherence point of view. Complicating factors during the acute setting * However, initiating a SGLT2i immediately after an acute CV event (or before metformin) is not in line with the patient population used in the clinical studies. In the DAPA-HF trial, acute heart failure was an exclusion criterion and patients were already stable on other standard of care HFrEF/diabetes treatments (e.g. ACE * Apart from a lack of direct clinical trial evidence for initiating SGLT2i after an acute HF/CV event, there may be other complicating factors to consider, for example, the: – Large number of other medications to initiate in a patient post hospital admission – Patient's level of hydration in the case of heart failure – Patient's underlying renal function. WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 17 * There is confusion around the different "indications" for SGLT2i (i) glucose lowering (ii) CVD, renal and heart failure benefits. Guidelines should address this confusion by using a 2-step process. For example: 1. Does the patient have T2DM and preexisting CVD (or multiple CVD risk factors)? If yes, then consider SGLT2i or GLP-1 agonist, irrespective of HbA1c. 2. If not, does the patient have an elevated HbA1c? If yes, then consider a range of glucose lowering drugs. Mandatory advice or options * It is hard to mandate initiation of SGLT2i immediately post an acute event, due to a lack of specific evidence at this time point, and due to the fact that individual factors need to be weighed up. * However, the proposed guidelines could state that it was a "reasonable" option to consider starting a SGLT2i before hospital discharge. * Other "options" are to start the patient on a SGLT2i at a follow-up specialist clinic, or the specialist could request the SGLT2i is started by the patient's GP. * However, if a SGLT2i is NOT started after an acute event, then the cardiologist should include the need to consider starting a SGLT2i in the patient's hospital discharge letter. Other considerations 1. Consider identifying a sub-group of those with established CVD, who are at low risk for SGLT2i complications, and in whom all cardiologists might be expected to be confident to initiate an SGLT2i. Criteria for such a GREEN LIGHT group might be: – HbA1c is >7.0% – Age is <80 years – EGFR is >45 mL/min/1.73 m 2 – The patient is not on insulin – Patient is not on a ketogenic diet – Patient does not have a history of recurrent genital infections 2. "Contraindications or precautions" for SGLT2i (i.e. RED or AMBER light system). For example if: Do not use SGLT2i if eGFR<15 mL/min/1.73 m 2 . Caution if eGFR 15-45 mL/min/1.73 m 2 – Patients on higher doses of insulin (because of increased risk of DKA). BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE 18 3. Adjustment of other glucose lowering therapy Although SGLT2i do not directly cause hypoglycaemia, they may precipitate it in people already on sulphonylureas or insulin. These drugs may therefore need adjusting or stopping, especially if HbA1c is already close to or at target. Given the large number of glucose lowering classes and drugs, many clinicians may lack confidence that they can can readily adjust sulphonylureas and insulin, and that they can assess risk of hypoglycaemia. 4. Provide appropriate advice on what to do if the patient becomes unwell 5. When to refer the patient to an endocrinologist Target a population who are most likely to benefit from SGLT2i * An alternate approach to the "traffic light" approach described above, is to target just one group of patients who are most likely to benefit from a SGLT2i e.g. any T2DM patient who has documented CVD or chronic heart failure with a reduced LVEF. * It may be easier to target one group where there is a "compelling need" to increase prescriber confidence with SGLT2i and then expand the guidelines to other groups. * This could be a "proof of concept" approach where it may be possible to demonstrate good uptake and adherence in a target group. * This approach should also include when to refer the patient to the endocrinologist/other specialist care. Keep SGLT2i guidelines simple * It is important to consider that there are many medications that are initiated and actions that must be taken in a patient post an acute event such as hospitalisation for heart failure; therefore, the instructions should be simple and accommodate other prescribing decisions at this time. * Some patients may be "overwhelmed" with the number of new medications to be initiated and, therefore, for some patients it may be more appropriate for the GP to start the SGLT2i after discharge from hospital when they can have a discussion with their GP. * General cardiologists may be unlikely to prescribe SGLT2i if the guidelines are too complex. Monitoring SGLT2i prescription/ guideline adoption * At the present time very few patients are commenced on a SGLT2i post an acute event, although for many patients they may be more motivated to start heart medication at this time period. * There should be a process to monitor SGLT2i prescription in appropriate patients on a national level. For example, hospital discharge codes could be used to take a baseline measurement of current SGLT2i prescription in diabetes patients who have had a HF/CV event. The measurement could be repeated after guideline intervention. It may be possible to link/use existing QLD heart failure data (which contains a register of patients who are referred to QLD heart failure services). Should GLP-1 agonists be included in the guidelines? * A consensus cannot be reached about the inclusion of GLP-1 agonists in any new SGLT2i guidelines. * Some advisors said GLP-1 agonists may unnecessarily overcomplicate the guidelines and cardiologists are unfamiliar with these agents and don't generally prescribe them. * However, another school of thought was that GLP-1 agonists should be included as there is a body of evidence supporting cardiovascular benefits with these agents, which could be an alternative treatment in people who cannot tolerate or who have a contraindication to a SGLT2i. * The group was unsure if there are any proven benefits of GLP-1 agonists on heart failure outcomes. * There may be some issues with the use of GLP-1 agonists in heart failure due to their effects on heart rate. Who should initiate SGLT2i treatment? There is the potential for a clinician not to prescribe SGLT2i in suitable patients as they may think it is another physician's responsibility (e.g. a cardiologist may assume the endocrinologist or GP will initiate the drug or vice versa). Therefore, it is important there is clear guidance for who is responsible for initiating SGLT2i. * There is a potential for under-prescribing SGLT2i if there is insufficient communication between medical disciplines. For example, if a SGLT2i is not initiated after an acute HF/CV event, and no explanation is provided in the patient's discharge letter/medical notes, then the GP/cardiologist may think SGLT2i prescription has been considered, although it may have been inadvertently overlooked. * The group discussed developing criteria for when an endocrinologist should be involved if a cardiologist/other physician initiates SGLT2i use. * If cardiologists perceive SGLT2i as a "diabetes drug" they may be less likely to prescribe these agents. The group thought that this situation may be akin to ophthalmologists' reluctance to prescribe fenofibrate to reduce diabetic retinopathy because they thought it wasn't an ophthalmology drug. Therefore, it is important when educating physicians that SGLT2i are not positioned as "diabetes only drugs". * Education is also required for other physicians (e.g. general physician, geriatricians, rehabilitation) as many heart failure patients are managed by these clinicians. How long should SGLT2i treatment be continued? Further guidance should be provided in terms of the duration of SGLT2i treatment. Long-term SGLT2i studies are warranted particularly in younger, lower risk patients. Who should be involved with developing and endorsing consensus statement/guidelines? * ADS * CSANZ * RACGP * Nephrologist * Geriatrician (The group thought this group could be involved with the dissemination rather than development/endorsement) However, the more people who are involved generally the longer the process will take. * Is it the cardiologist's responsibility at hospital discharge, the GP or the endocrinologist's role? WHITEPAPER: PRACTICALITIES OF USING SGLT2 INHIBITORS IN COMORBID DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE 19 References 1. Chao, E.C., Dapagliflozin: an evidencebased review of its potential in the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Core Evid, 2012. 7: p. 21-8. 2. Cherney, D.Z. and B.A. Perkins, Sodiumglucose cotransporter 2 inhibition in type 1 diabetes: simultaneous glucose lowering and renal protection? Can J Diabetes, 2014. 38(5): p. 356-63. 3. Cherney, D.Z., et al., Renal hemodynamic effect of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibition in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Circulation, 2014. 129(5): p. 587-97. 4. Zinman, B., et al., Empagliflozin, Cardiovascular Outcomes, and Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med, 2015. 373(22): p. 2117-28. 5. Neal, B., V. Perkovic, and D.R. Matthews, Canagliflozin and Cardiovascular and Renal Events in Type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med, 2017. 377(21): p. 2099. 6. Wiviott, S.D., et al., Dapagliflozin and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med, 2019. 380(4): p. 347-357. 7. Zelniker, T.A., et al., SGLT2 inhibitors for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and metaanalysis of cardiovascular outcome trials. Lancet, 2019. 393(10166): p. 31-39. 8. McMurray, Dapagliflozin in Patients with Heart Failure & Reduced Ejection Fraction Presentation at ESC Congress: Aug 31-Sept 3, 2019, Paris. . 9. al, S.J.e., The Dark Heart of Type 2 Diabetes. Baker Report 2017. 2017, Baker Institute. 20 BAKER HEART AND DIABETES INSTITUTE 10. Hamblin, P.S., et al., SGLT2 Inhibitors Increase the Risk of Diabetic Ketoacidosis Developing in the Community and During Hospital Admission. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2019. 104(8): p. 3077-3087. 11. McMurray, J.J.V., et al., Dapagliflozin in Patients with Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction. N Engl J Med, 2019. 381(21): p. 1995-2008. 12. Henry, R.R., et al., Dapagliflozin, metformin XR, or both: initial pharmacotherapy for type 2 diabetes, a randomised controlled trial. Int J Clin Pract, 2012. 66(5): p. 446-56. 13. Wysham, C., et al., Effect of Insulin Degludec vs Insulin Glargine U100 on Hypoglycemia in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: The SWITCH 2 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA, 2017. 318(1): p. 45-56. 14. Heller, S.R., et al., Lower rates of hypoglycaemia in older individuals with type 2 diabetes using insulin degludec versus insulin glargine U100: Results from SWITCH 2. Diabetes Obes Metab, 2019. 21(7): p. 1634-1641. 15. Vasilakou, D., et al., Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors for type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med, 2013. 159(4): p. 262-74. 16. annon, C.P., et al., Evaluating the Effects of Canagliflozin on Cardiovascular and Renal Events in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease According to Baseline HbA1c, Including Those with HbA1c <7%: Results From the CREDENCE Trial. Circulation, 2019. 17. Martinez, F.A., et al., Efficacy and Safety of Dapagliflozin in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction According to Age: Insights From DAPA-HF. Circulation, 2020. 141(2): p. 100-111. MELBOURNE ALICE SPRINGS Baker Institute Central Australia W&E Rubuntja Research and Medical Education Building Alice Springs Hospital Campus Gap Road, Alice Springs NT 0870 Australia T +61 8 8959 0111 F +61 8 8952 1557 PO Box 1294, Alice Springs NT 0871 Australia 75 Commercial Road Melbourne VIC 3004 Australia T +61 3 8532 1111 F +61 3 8532 1100 PO Box 6492, Melbourne VIC 3004 Australia
A regular meeting of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen was held on Tuesday, January 11, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Board Room. Present and presiding: APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS MOTION WAS MADE BY ALEX ZAFFRON AND SECONDED BY JOAL HALL BROUN TO APPROVE THE NOVEMBER 16 AND DECEMBER 7, 2004 MINUTES. VOTE: AFFIRMATIVE ALL ******** APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTHERN TRANSITION AREA ADVISORY COMMITTEE The purpose of this item was for the Mayor and Board of Aldermen to consider appointing Brian Decker to the Northern Transition Area Advisory Committee. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman Joal Hall Broun. A RESOLUTION APPOINTING BRIAN DECKER TO THE NORTHERN TRANSITION AREA ADVISORY COMMITTEE Resolution No. 73/2004-05 WHEREAS, the Town of Carrboro has two representatives on the Northern Transition Area Advisory Committee; and WHEREAS, one of these seats is currently vacant; and WHEREAS, Brian Decker has applied to serve on the NTAAC. NOW, THEREFORE, THE MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE TOWN OF CARRBORO HEREBY RESOLVES: Section 1. The Board of Aldermen appoints Brian Decker to the Northern Transition Area Advisory Committee. Mr. Decker's term will expire in January 2008. Section 2. This resolution shall become effective upon adoption. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this 11th day of January, 2005: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Chilton, Diana McDuffee, Jacquelyn Gist, John Herrera, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: None ******* TOWN CODE AMENDMENT – PARKING ON MERRITT MILL ROAD Town staff has prepared an amendment to the Town Code related to on street parking on a portion of Merritt Mill Road. Staff recommended that the Board of Aldermen adopt the ordinance amending the Town Code. MOTION WAS MADE BY ALEX ZAFFRON AND SECONDED BY JOAL HALL BROUN TO ADOPT THE ORDINANCE ENTITLED, "AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 6 OF THE CARRBORO TOWN CODE REALTED TO PARKING ON MERRITT MILL ROAD." VOTE: AFFIRMATIVE ALL ******* TOWN CODE AMENDMENT FOR STOP SIGNS AT THE STRATFORD DRIVE-AUTUMN DRIVE INTERSECTION Town staff has prepared amendments to the Town Code related to stop signs at the intersection of Stratford Drive and Autumn Drive. The Administration recommended that the Board of Aldermen adopt the ordinance amending the Town Code. MOTION WAS MADE BY ALEX ZAFFRON AND SECONDED BY JOAL HALL BROUN TO ADOPT THE ORDINANCE ENTITLED, "AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 6 OF THE CARRBORO TOWN CODE RELATED TO STOP SIGNS." VOTE: AFFIRMATIVE ALL ******** REVIEW AND APPROVAL: MUNICIPAL AGREEMENT FOR HANNA STREET SIDEWALK CONSTRUCTION PROJECT The Town of Carrboro has been approved to receive federal monies to cover a portion of the cost of sidewalks along Hanna Street. NCDOT has prepared a Municipal Agreement for this project. A resolution recommending the Board of Aldermen authorize the Town Manager and Town Clerk to sign and execute the Municipal Agreement was recommended for the Board's approval. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman Joal Hall Broun. A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF THE MUNICIPAL AGREEMENT WITH NCDOT FOR THE HANNA STREET SIDEWALK CONSTRUCTION PROJECT Resolution No. 69/2004-05 WHEREAS, the Town of Carrboro proposes to make certain street and highway improvements to consist of the construction of a five –(5) foot sidewalk along Hanna Street from Greensboro Street (SR 1772) in Carrboro for approximately 1150 feet; and Carrboro Board of Aldermen Page 2 WHEREAS, the Municipality has requested to use State Transportation Program Direct Attributable (STP-DA) Funds in the construction of the sidewalks; and WHEREAS, the Transportation Advisory Council (TAC) has authorized the Durham-Chapel HillCarrboro (DCHC) Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to approve the allocation of the State Transportation Program Direct Attributable (STP-DA) Funds to be used in the construction of the sidewalks; and WHEREAS, the Department has agreed to administer the disbursement of the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro (DCHC) Metropolitan Planning Organization's (MPO) State Transportation Program Direct Attributable (STP-DA) Funds allocation on behalf of FHWA to the Municipality for the construction of the sidewalks in accordance with the project scope of work and with the provisions set forth in this Agreement; and WHEREAS, the Town of Carrboro agrees to design the project plans, acquire the right of way and adjust utilities, award the construction contract, and supervise project construction and be responsible for the costs of design and preparation of plans for the entire project, for the costs of engineering and supervision of construction of the entire project, administrative costs incurred in the acquisition of right of way of the project, funding the 50% match ($55,564) for the Direct Attributable Funds authorized, all costs which exceed $111,128, and all eligible costs not reimbursed by the Federal Highway Administration due to noncompliance by the Municipality; and WHEREAS, said agreement further provides for the Department of Transportation to allocate an amount not to exceed $55,564 from the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro (DCHC) Metropolitan Planning Organization's MPO (MPO) State Transportation Program Direct Attributable Funds to the Town of Carrboro for the construction of the project in accordance with the terms of the agreement. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that said Project, Orange County, is hereby formally approved by the Board of Aldermen of the Town of Carrboro and that the Town Manager and Clerk of this Municipality are hereby empowered to sign and execute the Agreement with the Department of Transportation. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this 11th day of January, 2005: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Chilton, Diana McDuffee, Jacquelyn Gist, John Herrera, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: None ******** BUDGET AMENDMENT The Management Services Department, in an effort to streamline staff time and reporting requirements, requested a budget amendment to align budget transactions associated with tracking debt and lease payments in the same manner as reported in the current audit report. A budget amendment was required to transfer departmental lease payments for vehicles and equipment to the debt service function. Carrboro Board of Aldermen Page 3 MOTION WAS MADE BY ALEX ZAFFRON AND SECONDED BY JOAL HALL BROUN TO ADOPT THE ORDINANCE ENTITLED, "AN ORDINANCE AMENDING FY'2004-05 BUDGET ORDINANCE." VOTE: AFFIRMATIVE ALL ******* REQUEST TO APPROVE THE FY-2005-06 THROUGH FY2010-11 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN The FY2005-06 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) was presented to the Board for review on November 9, 2004. The Board did not request any changes to be made before bringing it back for formal adoption at the January 11, 2005 meeting. The town staff recommended that the Board adopt a resolution approving the CIP. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman Joal Hall Broun. A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE FY2005-2006 THROUGH FY2010-2011 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN Resolution No. 74/2004-05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE TOWN OF CARRBORO: Section 1. The Board of Aldermen hereby formally adopts the FY2005-2006 through FY2010-2011 Capital Improvement Plan. Section 2. This resolution shall become effective upon adoption. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this 11th day of January, 2005: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Chilton, Diana McDuffee, Jacquelyn Gist, John Herrera, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: None ******* REQUEST TO ADOPT A BUDGET AMENDMENT TO TRANSFER $16,000 TO PAY FOR THE CONDEMNATION OF THE ROGERS-TRIEM PROPERTY The purpose of this item was to present to the Board of Aldermen a request for a budget amendment to transfer $16,000 from undesignated funds from capital reserve to the General Fund – Public Works budget to pay for the condemnation of the Rogers-Triem property off Smith-Level Road. MOTION WAS MADE BY ALEX ZAFFRON AND SECONDED BY JOAL HALL BROUN TO ADOPT THE ORDINANCE ENTITLED, "AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE FY2004-05 BUDGET ORDINANCE." VOTE: AFFIRMATIVE ALL ******* Page 4 Carrboro Board of Aldermen REQUEST TO SET A PUBLIC HEARING: VOLUNTARY ANNEXATION OF THE ROSE WALK SUBDIVISION The purpose of this item was to accept a petition for the voluntary annexation of the Rose Walk Subdivision and to set a public hearing for January 25, 2005. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman Joal Hall Broun. A RESOLUTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER THE ANNEXATION OF ROSE WALK SUBDIVISION UPON THE REQUEST OF THE PROPERTY OWNER Resolution No. 76/2004-05 WHEREAS, the Town of Carrboro has received a petition from Berryhill Group, LLC requesting that the Rose Walk Subdivision be annexed into the Town of Carrboro; and WHEREAS, the Town Clerk has certified that the petition requesting the annexation of this property is sufficient in all respects under G.S. 160A-31. NOW, THEREFORE, THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE TOWN OF CARRBORO RESOLVES: Section 1. The Board of Aldermen hereby accepts this petition and shall hold a public hearing on January 25, 2005 to consider the voluntary annexation of this property. Section 2. The Town Clerk shall cause a notice of this public hearing to be published once in The Chapel Hill Herald at least ten days prior to the date of the public hearing. Section 3. This resolution shall become effective upon adoption. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this 11th day of January, 2005: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Chilton, Diana McDuffee, Jacquelyn Gist, John Herrera, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: None ******* PRESENTATION OF AUDIT REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2004 In accordance with principles of accountability and state statutes, the town undergoes an annual financial audit by independent auditors. The town contracted with Dixon Odom PLLC to perform the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004. The purpose of this agenda item is for the Board to receive the audit report. LaVonne Montague, CPA, of Dixon Odom PLLC, presented the report. . The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman Joal Hall Broun. Carrboro Board of Aldermen Page 5 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING THE 2003-04 AUDIT REPORT Resolution No. 70/2004-05 WHEREAS, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen have received the annual 2003-04 Audit Report; and WHEREAS, the Aldermen were informed by the Town's auditors, Dixon Hughes PLLC that the Town's financial statements are free of material misstatement and that the audit tests conducted by the firm did not uncover any material weaknesses that are required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards; WHEREAS, the Aldermen were informed by town staff, that the Town's financial statements have been significantly improved and submitted to the Government Finance Officers' Association for recognition of excellence in financial reporting; NOW THEREFORE, THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE TOWN OF CARRBORO: Section 1: Accept the annual 2003-04 Audit Report. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this 11th day of January, 2005: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Chilton, Diana McDuffee, Jacquelyn Gist, John Herrera, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: None ******** INFORMAL PRESENTATION OF THE ARTSCENTER REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT The purpose of this item is to honor a request by Main Street Properties to share information and get nonbinding feedback from the Mayor and Board of Aldermen on the ArtsCenter Redevelopment project. Laura Van Saint with Main Street Properties introduced Jim Spencer, the architect for this project. Jim Spencer and Dan Jewell made the presentation. Alderman Gist requested that the Board schedule a discussion of courtesy reviews for projects. Mayor Nelson stated that the aesthetics of the project are very important so that it looks like Carrboro. Alderman Chilton suggested that extension of Roberson Street be part of the plan. Alderman Zaffron stated that the aesthetic issues are critical to making the project successful. ******** Carrboro Board of Aldermen Page 6 WORKSESSION WITH OWASA The purpose of this item was for the Mayor and Board of Aldermen to meet with representatives from OWASA to discuss information regarding OWASA's rates, bond debt and related items. Alderman Broun asked how many institutional customers there are. Ed Kerwin, Executive Director of OWASA, and Susie Hollowell, one of the town's OWASA representatives, answered the Board's questions. John Smith, a former Carrboro representative on the OWASA Board, discussed cost of service fees, specifically the fact that the University has not paid cost of service fees. Mark Marcopolos, Chair of the OWASA Board commented on the cost of service fees. Alderman Broun requested a copy of OWASA's financial overview. Mayor Nelson suggested that the Board continue discussion of this matter at the 2005 Planning Retreat. ******* MINOR MODIFICATION TO THE CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT FOR STATE EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION The State Employees Credit Union (SECU) represented by O'Brien Atkins Associates, PA, has submitted an application for a Minor Modification to the CUP for the existing facility located at 100 Highway 54 W, further identified by Orange County Tax Map number 7.114..31B. The administration requested that the Board of Aldermen review, deliberate and make a decision on the proposed minor modification application. Jeff Kleaveland made the presentation. Jonathan Parsons addressed the deregulation of parking spaces. He stated that they would dedicate the right of way as long as that dedication does not bring the project into noncompliance. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman John Herrera. A RESOLUTION ALLOWING A MINOR MODIFICATION TO THE CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT FOR THE EXISTING STATE EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION LOCATED AT CARRBORO PLAZA 100 HIGHWAY 54 WEST BYPASS Resolution No. 72/2003-04 WHEREAS, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen approved a Conditional Use Permit for the State Employees Credit Union located at 100 Highway 54 West, (further identified by Orange County Tax Map number 7.114..31B) on March 17, 1998; and WHEREAS, the Town of Carrboro Land Use Ordinance requires that any modification of an existing Conditional Use Permit that does not substantially impact neighboring properties, the general public, or the intended occupants of the project, constitutes a minor modification to the original Conditional Use Permit; and WHEREAS, the Board of Aldermen finds that the applicant has satisfied the requirements related to minor modifications contained in the Land Use Ordinance. Carrboro Board of Aldermen Page 7 NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen that the Board of Aldermen approve the minor modification to the, State Employees Credit Union located at 100 Highway 54 West authorizing the 1199 square foot building addition with the following conditions: 1. That the applicant dedicates 10 feet of right-of-way along Old Fayetteville Road. 2. That the nine parking spaces reserved for "park and ride" along the northeast quadrant of the parking lot (adjacent to the main entrance) be deregulated and returned to the control and use of the applicant. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this 11th day of January, 2005: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Chilton, Diana McDuffee, Jacquelyn Gist, John Herrera, Alex Zaffron Noes: Michael Nelson Absent or Excused: None ******* TSANAMI RELIEF FUNDRAISER Mayor Nelson stated that he had been asked that the town be a co-sponsor for a Tsunami Relief Fundraiser that will be held at the Century Center. MOTION WAS MADE BY JACQUELYN GIST AND SECONDED BY JOAL HALL BROUN THAT THE TOWN BE A CO-SPONSOR FOR THE TSANAMI RELIEF FUNDRAISER. VOTE: AFIRMATIVE ALL ******* MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. PEACE VIGIL Alderman Gist stated that the N.C. Council of Churches has requested that the town co-sponsor a vigil in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Town Commons on January 20 th . MOTION WAS MADE BY JACQUELYN GIST AND SECONDED BY JOHN HERRERA THAT THE TOWN BE A CO-SPONSOR OF THE VIGIL. VOTE: AFFIRMATIVE ALL ******* COMMENTS BY ALDERMAN ZAFFRON Alderman Zaffron thanked everyone for the kind words and forbearance during this father's illness and death. ********** MOTION WAS MADE BY JOAL HALL BROUN AND SECONDED BY ALEX ZAFFRON TO ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION AT 9:30 P.M. TO DISCUSS A MATTER INVOLVING ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE. VOTE: AFFIRMATIVE ALL Carrboro Board of Aldermen Page 8 ___________________________________ Mayor ________________________________ Town Clerk Carrboro Board of Aldermen Page 9
I. CALL TO ORDER II. MOMENT OF SILENCE III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES V. EXECUTIVE SESSIONS HELD BETWEEN MEETINGS VI. ELECTION BOARD MEETING A. Steve Chiavetta, Director of Registration & Elections 1. Proposal to buy some voting machines from a county in New Jersey. VII. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION VIII. DIRECTORS/GUESTS A. Rich Bowra, Executive Director, Karen Cullings, Community Relations Director; & Bill Cologie, Board President, of the Dauphin County Library System; and Linda Eyer, President from Cartridge World of Harrisburg. 1. Check Presentation IX. SALARY BOARD A. Personnel Department 1. Create a full-time Retirement Assistant/Departmental Clerk II position, range 1009, step 02, grade 02, salary $11.04 p/h, effective February 8, 2006. B. Budget & Finance Department 1. Create a full-time Grants Manager Coordinator position, range 0110, step 08, salary $19.98 p/h, effective February 8, 2006. C. Facility Maintenance 1. Create a part-time Custodian position, range 9050, step 01, salary $6.65 p/h, effective February 9, 2006. DAUPHIN COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS COMMISSIONERS' LEGISLATIVE MEETING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2006 (10:00 A. M.) Final Wed. 02/08/06 9:30 a.m. January 18, 2006 Workshop Mtg. January 25, 2006 Legislative Mtg. January 25, 2006 Salary Bd. Mtg. February 1, 2006 Workshop Mtg. D. Spring Creek 1. Reclassify a full-time RNAC Supervisor position, from range 00125, step 13, salary $37.04 p/h to range 00124, step 14, salary $31.54 p/h, effective February 13, 2006. E. Schaffner Youth Center 1. Create a full-time Workers' Comp-Modified Duty Worker position, range 9002, step 06, grade 02, salary $10.74 p/h, effective January 24, 2006. X. PERSONNEL PACKET XI. PURCHASE ORDERS – RANDY BARATUCCI, PURCHASING DIRECTOR XII. REPORT FROM BUDGET & FINANCE – MIKE YOHE, BUDGET DIRECTOR A. Budget Amendments for the 4 th quarter general fund and the 2 nd quarter fiscal budget ending December 31, 2005. B. Investment Report XIII. REPORT FROM CHIEF CLERK/CHIEF OF STAFF – CHAD SAYLOR XIV. SOLICITOR'S REPORT – BILL TULLY, ESQ., SOLICITOR XV. MATTERS REQUIRING BOARD ACTION A. Training Packet B. Approval of FY05/06 Per Diem Rates between the Children & Youth Agency and: 1. Northwestern Human Services of Pennsylvania, Inc. Therapeutic Family Care/Foster Care Plus baby with mother: 2. ViaQuest Behavioral Health of Pennsylvania d/b/a Seven Mountain Academy RTF – Seven Mountain Academy non-JCAHO $225.00/day C. Reappoint Jeff Haste to the Capital Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Area Council Board of Directors. D. Reappoint August "Skip" Memmi as Alternate to the Capital Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Area Council Board of Directors. E. Temporarily appoint Sandy Moore to the Capital Area Behavioral Health Collaborative (CABHC) Board, replacing Barry Wyrick. F. Reappoint Marielle Hazen to the Dauphin County Council on Aging. (Term will expire December 31, 2008) G. Approve the following Change Orders for District Justice Office #12-2-05: General Contract #05-01: 1. Change Order #1 with ECI in an add amt. of $12,931.79. 2. Change Order #2 with ECI in an add amt. of $9,770.01 3. Change Order #3 with ECI in an add amt. of $20,379.08 $40.00/day Electrical Contract #05-2: 1. Change Order #1 with Shannon A. Smith, Inc., in an add amt. of $306.14 2. Change Order #2 with Shannon A. Smith, Inc., in an add amt. of $2,547.12 3. Change Order #3 with Shannon A. Smith, Inc., in an add amt. of $1,130.01 H. Real Estate Tax Refunds/Exonerations: 1. Request for additional refund of 2005 real estate taxes to Gregroy Johnson, 692 Mountain Road, Halifax, Reed Township, parcel #52-004-012, in the amt. of $20.23. 2. Refund of 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005 real estate taxes to Kenneth Deibler, P. O. Box G, Mohr Road, Elizabethville, Lykens Township, parcel #39-000-141, in the amt. of $351.47. I. Preventive HVAC Maintenance Agreement #71082 between Facility Maintenance and G.R. Sponaugle for equipment located at the McBride Building. J. Maintenance Agreements for Facility Electrical Distribution Systems (#E6068 Building Maintenance and #E6007 Generators) between Spring Creek and G.R. Sponaugle for equipment located at the Spring Creek Campus. K. Fire Sprinkler Inspection Agreement between Spring Creek and Triangle Fire Protection, Inc. for sprinklers located at Spring Creek/McBride Building. L. Consultant Agreement between Dauphin County and Terry Haines for the administration of the Affordable Housing Fund Program. (Community and Economic Development) M. Dauphin County Book Publishing Agreement between Dauphin County and Atlantic Communications Group, Inc. N. 911 Radio System Maintenance Contract Renewal between Emergency Management Agency and Capital Area Communications. O. Adopt Resolution No. 3-2006 Approving the Reallocation for HOME Funds. P. Agreement between PPL and Dauphin County as a subcontractor for PPL' Weatherization Program (WRAP). Q. Agreement for Maintenance with Comarco Wireless Technologies for (2) Emergency Call Box Units located at Wildwood Sanctuary. (Parks & Recreation) R. Electronic Monitoring Service/Maintenance Contract between Juvenile Probation and BI Incorporated for ankle bracelets. S. Approval of the 2006 Fee Proposal Letter with Post & Schell Attorneys at Law for legal (labor) services provided by William J. Flannery, Esquire. T. Agreement with IMR Limited for the support of automated software system located in the Register of Wills Office. (Information Technology) U. Amendments to FY05/06 Purchase Agreements between Children & Youth Agency and: 1. Bethanna Bible Missionary Center – Amendment #1 2. The Impact Project, Inc. – Amendment #1 3. Northwestern Human Services of Pennsylvania, Inc. - Amendment #2 4. ViaQuest Behavioral Health of Pennsylvania, Inc. - Amendment #1 5. Vision Quest National, Ltd. – Amendment #1 V. Purchase of Service Agreement for FY05/06 between Mental Health/Mental Retardation and Kelly L. Rice, OTR/L (t/d/b/a Sovia Therapy) W. Adopt Resolution No. 4-2006 for the Allocation of Childcare Network Administrative Funds to "Communities That Care" Subgrants 2001/2002/2003-PC-ST-11168 and 2002/2003/2004-PC-ST-12092. X. Addendum to RSR Appraisers and Analysts Contract for appraisal consulting services for Spring Creek. Y. Approval of a settlement for a Tax Assessment Appeal for Gregg S. Isom properties – 206 Verbeke Street, parcel #06-027-016 and 206 Verbeke Street, parcel #06-027-015. Z. Addendum to Contract between Schaffner Youth Center and Dr. Lizabeth Potter to provide Psychological Evaluation, Treatment and Counseling Services. AA. Adopt Resolution No. 5-2006 Closing out Community Conservation Partnerships Grant Project (BRC-TAG-7-2. XVI. FORMER BUSINESS XVII. NEW BUSINESS XVIII. COMMISSIONERS' DISCUSSION & ACTIONS XIX. CORRESPONDENCE A. Notification from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development indicating they have received the County's Action Plan for FY2006 for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnership (HOME) Programs. B. Notification from CET indicating the Middletown Borough Authority intends to apply to DEP for a NPDES permit to discharge sewage from the Authority's wastewater treatment facility located at Lawrence Street and Mud Pike, Middletown, PA. C. Notification from Rettew indicating the Borough of Highspire Sewer Authority will be submitting a Part II Water Quality Management Permit application to DEP for for the wastewater treatment plant upgrades for the facility located at Lumber and Industrial Roads. D. Notification from Haines & Kibblehouse, Inc., indicating they are applying to DEP for an air quality permit for the temporary installation of a portable crushing plant for the Handwerk Material plant, Lower Swatara Township. E. Notification from Mellott Engineering, Inc., indicating The McNaughton Company intends to file an application to DEP for an NPDES permit for the Townes at Briar Creek a residential subdivision located in West Hanover Township. F. Notification from Dura-Bond Pipe indicating they intend to apply to DEP for a Title V Operating permit. G. Notification from DEP indicating a permit correction to Eastern Industries, Inc. for the Elizabethville Quarry operation in Washington & Jackson Townships. H. Notification from Robert Shaffer, Jr. indicating he intends to apply to DEP for general permit #5 & 7 for residential single-family 2 lot development & to construct a small wetlands crossing. I. Notification from Eastern Industries, Inc., indicating they intend to submit an application for an air quality permit for the Elizabethville Quarry. J. Notification from the Colonial County Club indicating they intend to submit an application to DEP for a permit for a foot bridge at #5 green. K. Notification from ARM Group Inc., on behalf of Milton Hershey School, indicating they intend to apply to DEP for an NPDES permit to discharge wastewater associated with a groundwater heat exchange system from their facility located in Derry Township to an unnamed tributary of Spring Creek. L. Notification from K & W Engineers indicating that the Highland Development Group and Real Estate Investment will be applying to DEP for a NPDES permit for stormwater discharges associated with a proposed Retirement Community at the Colonial Village, Lower Paxton Township. M. Notification from Madden Engineering Services, Inc., indicating they will be applying to the Dauphin County Conservation District for a NPDES permit for a project consisting of a 13,200 square foot building addition to the existing Cummins Power Systems, Inc., located at 4499 Lewis Road, Swatara Township, Dauphin County. N. Notification from Advantage Engineering indicating Chesapeake Design Build, LLC has submitted a final report to DEP for a site located at 4010 McIntosh Road, Harrisburg, Lower Paxton Township. XX. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION XXI. ADJOURNMENT THE NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING WILL BE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006 AT 10:00 A.M. - A COMMISSIONERS' WORKSHOP MEETING. "THE BOARD RESERVES THE RIGHT, PURSUANT TO ACT 84 OF 1986 AS AMENDED, TO HOLD EXECUTIVE SESSIONS BETWEEN THE TIMES OF THE BOARD'S OPEN MEETINGS FOR ANY PURPOSE AUTHORIZED BY STATUTE."
sensors ISSN 1424-8220 www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors Article Development and Evaluation of an Improved Technique for Pulmonary Function Testing Using Electrical Impedance Pneumography Intended for the Diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients Myeong Heon Sim 1 , Min Yong Kim 1 , In Cheol Jeong 2 , Sung Bin Park 1 , Suk Joong Yong 3 , Won Ky Kim 1 and Hyung Ro Yoon 1, * 1 Biomedical Engineering Research Group, Yonsei University, Wonju 220710, Korea; E-Mails: firstname.lastname@example.org (M.H.S.); email@example.com (M.Y.K.); firstname.lastname@example.org (S.B.P.); email@example.com (W.K.K.) 2 Chronic Disease Informatics Program, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA; E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.org 3 Department of Pulmonology, Wonju College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Wonju 220701, Korea; E-Mail: email@example.com * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.org; Tel.: +82-33-760-2431. Received: 8 September 2013; in revised form: 22 October 2013 / Accepted: 12 November 2013 / Published: 21 November 2013 Abstract: Spirometry is regarded as the only effective method for detecting pulmonary function test (PFT) indices. In this study, a novel impedance pulmonary function measurement system (IPFS) is developed for directly assessing PFT indices. IPFS can obtain high resolution values and remove motion artifacts through real-time base impedance feedback. Feedback enables the detection of PFT indices using only both hands for convenience. IPFS showed no differences in the sitting, supine, and standing postures during the measurements, indicating that patient posture has no effect on IPFS. Mean distance analysis showed good agreement between the volume and flow signal of IPFS (p < 0.05). PFT indices were detected in subjects to differentiate a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient group from a normal group. The forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC, and peak expiratory flow (PEF) in the COPD group were lower than those in the normal group by IPFS (p < 0.05). IPFS is therefore suitable for evaluating pulmonary function in normal and COPD patients. Moreover, IPFS could be useful for periodic monitoring of existing patients diagnosed with obstructive lung disease. Keywords: spirometry; pulmonary function test; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; impedance technique; both hands 1. Introduction Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common and major cause of morbidity, mortality, and airflow obstruction in adults [1–3]. In fact, worldwide, the mortality from COPD and patient has been increasing steadily over the last few decades [4]. Early diagnosis is most effective for managing the progression of COPD, thus, periodic monitoring for prevention has been emphasized. A pulmonary function test (PFT) is useful for the diagnosis, assessment, and management of COPD and other respiratory diseases [5]. For example, in patients already suffering from COPD, regular PFTs can be used to determine whether the condition is worsening [6,7]. Spirometry is the most common type of PFT. It can be categorized into two main types: spirometry used in hospitals (e.g., Vmax Encore from VIASYS Healthcare Inc., Hoechberg, Germany) and Peakflow meters (e.g., Piko-1 from Nspire Health Inc, Longmont, CO, USA, or Vitalography copd-6 from Peal Healthcare Solutions Inc, Delaware, USA) used in home environments. It provides useful diagnosis through measuring and monitoring the lung function of COPD and asthma patients, and for enabling the determination of a therapeutic response to the treatment. The forced vital capacity (FVC) is the maximal volume of air exhaled with maximally forced effort from a maximal inspiration. The forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) is the maximal volume of air exhaled in the first second of a forced expiration from a position of full inspiration. FEV1/FVC is ratio between FEV1 and FVC. The peak expiratory flow (PEF) is the highest flow achieved from a maximum forced expiratory maneuver started without hesitation from a position of maximal lung inflation [8]. The impedance method is a simple technique that requires only the application of two or more electrodes. According to Geddes and Baker, "the impedance between the electrodes reflected seasonal variations, blood flow, cardiac activity, respired volume, bladder, blood and kidney volumes, uterine contractions, nervous activity, the galvanic skin reflex, the volume of blood cells, clotting, blood pressure and salivation" [9]. For these reason, alternative lung function assessment methods have been researched using impedance methods such as impedance pneumography; respiratory inductive plethysmography and various other magnetic, capacitive, and optical methods. For example, electrical impedance pneumography (EIP) indirectly measures the lung functions of patients by sensing the transthoracic electrical impedance variation from the ribcage. The main advantage of EIP is that it can be easily applied; furthermore, it is safe and time-efficient [10]. Goldensohn and Zablow were the first to report a quantitative relationship between the respiration volume and the transthoracic impedance change [11]. The transthoracic impedance voltage change was calibrated with lung volume change, and transthoracic impedance measurements can accurately measure the tidal volume during natural breathing [12,13]. Houtveen et al. investigated the transthoracic impedance change and derived respiratory signals obtained from four spot electrodes [14]. Seppa et al. investigated the use of EIP for monitoring pulmonary flow and volume signals instead of only the respiration rate or tidal volume [15]. Agarwal et al. compared the lung functions of normal, obstructive, and restrictive subject groups by analyzing the frequencies of EIP signals [6]. However, both of these studies could not realize the direct determination of lung function assessment parameters because the impedance signals had limited resolution. Carry et al. evaluated the accuracy of EIP [16]. In all these studies, EIP was used to determine various lung function parameters, and the obtained results were compared with those obtained by spirometry. However, these studies which are not concerned about PFT indices (e.g., FEV1/FVC, FVC, FEV1, and PEF) focused on respiratory rate detection using a belt(s) or attaching an electrode(s) on the patient's chest because of low level respiratory signal resolution [17]. According to the GOLD guidelines, COPD is caused by ventilation, and then COPD can be diagnosed by FEV1 and FEV1/FVC [18,19]. Therefore, in this study, we developed a hand-held typed impedance pulmonary function system (IPFS) to realize the direct determination of lung function assessment such as the impedance forced vital capacity (IFVC), impedance forced expiratory volume per one second (IFEV1), IFEV1/IFVC, from volume signals and impedance peak expiration flow (IPEF) from flow signals during respiration. Moreover, the PFT indices obtained by the IPFS can be compared with those obtained by spirometry to enable discrimination between the COPD patient group and the normal group. 2. Experimental 2.1. IPFS Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the IPFS. The voltages measured on each hand were differentially amplified. A precision full-wave rectifier was used to acquire the impedance signal without incurring a loss from the differential-amplifier signals. The acquired impedance signal contains the base impedance and the change of impedance during respiration. The total impedance of the right arm, left arm, and thorax are called the "base impedance". In previous studies, a high-order high-pass filter for rejection of base impedance was used. In this case, however, the technique removed volume information so as to detect PFT indices when respiration was halted. The width of the pulse width modulation (PWM) was linearly controlled in accordance with the base impedance, as digitized using a Cortex-M3 (32-bit ARM core). The PWM output signal was filtered using a second-order Butterworth low-pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 4 kHz. Therefore, the IPFS can eliminate the base impedance by differentially-amplifying the low-pass filter output signal and the base impedance signal without requiring high-pass filtering. The signal with the eliminated baseline represents the volume; the signal's derivative represents the flow. These volume and flow signals were filtered using a 5 Hz low-pass filter (second-order Butterworth filter) and then amplified. The volume and flow signals were displayed on a 7" LCD (800 × 480 pixels) and transmitted to a PC after the isolation process. The IPFS used an excitation current of 1 mA (rms) at a frequency of 100 kHz. The current high (CH) electrode was used to inject the current and the voltage high (VH) and voltage low (VL) electrodes were used to measure the voltage generated. The current low (CL) electrode was used as a ground electrode to prevent a floating potential difference, measured by electrodes VH (right hand) and VL (left hand) [20,21]. All electrodes are custom-made, chromium-plated ones. 2.2. Signal Processing Figure 2 shows a flowchart of the signal processing method. The PFT module's (ML-311; AD Instruments, Bella Vista, Australia) volume and flow signals were recorded on a PC using the PowerLab software (ML-880; AD Instruments). The PFT module and PowerLab are used to acquire reference signals. The IPFS signals were acquired simultaneously. All the signals were sampled at fs = 1 kHz. In addition, the voltage-volume and voltage-flow ratios were found using the tidal volume and flow signals in the sitting position of test (1). In this study, we used an ML-311 to calibrate the volume and flow signals of the IPFS. We measured volume and flow raw signals simultaneously, increasing the volume of the spirometry module in four steps (each 100 mL), from 100 mL to 500 mL. The calibration factors (a, b) were calculated using the obtained first-order linear equation for volume (unit: mL) of the spirometry module and the voltage (unit: mV) module of the IPFS. The calibration factors for the IPFS volume were a = 1.260, b = 0.389, and r = 0.977, and those of the flow were a = 6.610, b = 1.776, and r = 0.955. The output voltage, indicating respiration, is monitored in real-time. The system can generate a constant voltage level using this output voltage. We solved the individual subject calibration problem by generating a personalized constant voltage level using real-time monitoring of the output voltage. Thus, the voltage changes (unit: mV) were converted into to volume (unit: mL) and flow (unit: mL/s) changes via the calibration factor. The IPFS measured the volume signal; the flow signal was determined by differentiating the volume. The measured volume and flow signals are amplified to accurately detect the characteristic points. The IPFS used a Savitzky–Golay smoothing filter (S-G filter) to eliminate the effects of cardiogenic oscillations (CGOs) on the volume and flow signals. This method has the advantage of removing the cardiogenic peak content of the signal [15]. 2.3. Improvement in Resolution of IPFS Current is applied to subjects to measure their base impedance, i.e., their body's impedance. Base impedance measurements used a single frequency in the range of 50 to 100 kHz using currents from 0.5 to 4 mA (rms) [22]. The changes in the lung's impedance to airflow (approximately 1 to 10 Ω) are in the range of 0.1% to 1% of the base impedance (approximately 400 to 600 Ω). Therefore, the base impedance is considerably greater than the lung impedance [23]. As shown in Figure 1, a constant current source provides current to the outside electrode CH. The injected constant current (right hand, CH) flows to the ground (left hand, CL). The voltage is measured across ZLung using a voltage amplifier and electrodes VH and VL. Assuming the output impedance and the input impedance of the v then: of the current source is >> ZCH+ZRight_arm+ZTh voltage amplifier is >> ZVH+ZRight_arm+ZThorac horacic +Z Lung +Z Left_arm +Z CL cic +Z Lung +Z Left_arm + Z VL , ZBase+Lung has a large steady pa ZBase, and a small part, ∆ZLung, whi art, which is proportional to the magnitude ch represents the change due to respiratory ac of the base impedance ctivity. The output of the voltage dif feedback system, which removes th voltage, which is proportional to ∆ fferential amplifier is connected to the rea he base impedance signal, resulting in an imp ∆ZLung: al-time base impedance proved resolution output To relate the value of ∆ZLung conducting volume model is use impedance ZBase consists of a base The conducting volume (b) contai (electrically) in parallel. The cond L, and a time-varying cross-section the volume of electrically conduc during inspiration. The reduction resistivity of the lung. Therefore, lung and impedance ∆ZLung is decr expressed in terms of the volume c obtained for the lung to the respiration vol ed [24]. As shown in Figure 3, the condu e impedance due to the right arm, left arm, a ins the change of lung impedance. The two c ducting volume (b) with impedance ∆ZLung ha nal area during respiration. Moreover, accord ctive condensed matter per unit volume of l n of electrically conductive condensed mat the impedance ∆ZLung is increased. In contra reased during expiration. Accordingly, the im change, as shown in Equations (3) and (4): lume change, a parallel ucting volume (a) with and thoracic impedance. conducting volumes are as a resistivity ρ, length ding to Nopp et al. [25], lung tissue is decreased tter leads to increasing ast, the resistivity of the mpedance change can be ∆VLung is the respiration volume change of the lung, ρ is the resistivity of the respiration volume conductor [Ω·cm], L is the length of the conducting volume, ZBase is the base impedance, and ∆ZLung is the magnitude of the respiration impedance change. The IPFS extracts the volume and flow signals during respiration by measuring the changes in the air inflow impedance during inspiration and expiration. The existing equipment considerably distorts the original signals because the filter removes the base impedance level from the demodulated signal to achieve a high resolution [26]. During inspiration, ∆V will increase with ∆ZLung, whereas, during expiration, ∆V will decrease with ∆ZLung. Unlike in spirometry, the proposed IPFS calculates the flow on the basis of changes in volume. The flow is calculated as follows: In particular, the IPFS shows a larger change in the base impedance value due to the body posture because it uses hand-held electrodes. Therefore, the influence of the measurement posture was minimized by removing the initial base impedance value using a real-time base impedance feedback system that uses pulse width modulation. This method determines lung functions by measuring only the impedance from the subjects' hands. 2.4. Test Subjects and Measurement Procedure Thirty subjects participated in this study. They were classified as normal subjects (three males, fourteen females), who had no symptoms of respiratory disease, cardiopulmonary and other diseases or they were classified as COPD subjects (six males, seven females), who had been diagnosed with COPD through a PFT. The clinical procedures were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Wonju College of Medicine, and written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. The following two tests were conducted: (1) Investigation of effects of subject posture during IPFS measurement. The effect of the subjects' postures during IPFS measurement was investigated by measuring natural breaths for 5 min while maintaining each of the following postures: supine, standing, and sitting, in this order. Additionally, to compare the maximal inspiratory and expiratory maneuvers for deriving the PFT indices, forced expiration was conducted in the sitting posture. As shown in Figure 1, the raw volume and flow signals of the PFT module (ML-311; AD Instruments) and the IPFS data were recorded simultaneously. (2) Comparison of PFT indices obtained using spirometry with those obtained using the IPFS. PFTs were conducted on all subjects to compare the PFT indices obtained using spirometry (Vmax Encore; VIASYS Healthcare Inc.) with those obtained using the proposed IPFS. During spirometry, the subjects were instructed to maintain their posture and wear a nose clip. Technicians assisted them during the measurement process. The subjects' tongue and teeth had to be positioned in a certain manner so as not to obstruct the airflow. Each subject wore an airtight seal around their mouthpieces, and performed at least three resting tidal breaths. Then, when instructed, they breathed as deeply and rapidly as possible [8]. If the technicians judged that the PFT results implied that the subjects did not breathe as deeply or rapidly as they could, they repeated the test process to obtain a set of three similar results. Among the results obtained from the repeated measurements, the best results were compared with those obtained using IPFS. The spirometer was calibrated using a 3-L calibration cylinder and was recalibrated before each subject was tested. The room temperature was maintained between 23 and 27 °C. 2.5. Statistical Analysis The data on the influence of measurement positions were presented as VT values with interquartile ranges as appropriate. Descriptive data were recorded for all subjects. The parameters' mean values as measured in the three postures were compared using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test [27]. To have a comparison between the reference signals, we also calculated the mean square difference between the normalized signals PFT module and IPFS. As waveforms are normalized, 95% of the values lie mean ±2 SD, then a near maximum value for ∆ 2 is equal to 16 (a situation in which each sample pair is 2 SDs apart) [16]. D is the distance between the IPFS and the spirometry waveform expressed as a percentage of this maximum. The sample of both the volume and the flow signals, Nv and Nf, respectively, is 7 s: To validate the use of IPFS with COPD patients, the correlations of the indices were evaluated by a simple regression and Bland-Altman analysis between spirometry and IPFS[28]. The statistical programs used in this study were SPSS 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and MedCalc 12.0 for Windows (MedCalc Software, Ostend, Belgium). 3. Results and Discussion 3.1. Measurement Results by Posture To eliminate the influence of posture on the IPFS, tidal volume changes were measured for each posture and each group. Table 1 presents a comparison of the VT values obtained using IPFS at each posture for all subjects. The detection error of the PFT indices can be minimized for all measurement positions of VT; the error ratios in the supine position and standing position were less than 5%. The tidal volume for 30 subjects (COPD patient: n = 13, normal group: n = 17) was estimated in sitting, supine, standing positions, respectively, to validate the base impedance rejection performance. The error in Table 1 refers to how much greater or less tidal volume is estimated when subjects were in supine and standing position on the basis of sitting position. Consequently, we obtained a mean error of 1.52% and a standard deviation of −2.10% to 16.75% in the supine position; and a mean error of 1.59% and a standard deviation of −3.73% to 3.75% in the standing position. From the above results, we can be sure that there is no statistically significant difference in tidal volume for the sitting, supine, and standing postures, because the significance level (p-value = 0.991) of the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test is greater than 0.05. Therefore, the IPFS confirmed that the removal of both the base impedance of the human body (e.g., left arm, right arm, and thorax) and the impedance caused by the initial measurement posture improved performance. Table 1. Comparison of tidal volume (VT) values in each posture of IPFS. (p-value = 0.991) is significance level of the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test according to each posture. VT = Tidal volume (mL); (1) Sitting VT (mL); (2) Supine VT (mL); (3) Error of supine (%). The VT error ratio of supine against sitting posture; (4) Standing VT (mL); (5) Error of standing (%). The VT error ratio of standing against sitting posture. 3.2. Agreement between Volume and Flow Signals for PFT and IPFS The agreement between the volume and the flow signals was evaluated for all subjects without separating them into groups. Figure 4 shows the agreement between natural breaths and forced expiration for the PFT module, and the IPFS's volume and flow signals. To compare the waveforms of these two signals, we eliminated any discrepancy due to baseline or amplitude differences. These conditions were realized by normalizing each signal waveform. Statistical analysis shows that the mean distances of the volume and flow of natural breath are significantly lower than those of the volume and flow of forced expiration (p < 0.05). In both natural breath and forced expiration, the flow signals had larger errors than the volume signals. For this reason, the effects of CGOs on the volume signals were eliminated, whereas those of flow signals were not completely eliminated because of the differentiator's characteristics. However, the flow signal error rate due to the differentiators was approximately 0.6%. Moreover, the PEFs of the flow signals are not strongly influential when identifying COPD patients from all subjects. Figure 4. Mean distance between natural breath (VT) and forced expiration (PFT) for all subjects. In this study, we proposed the IPFS for improving upon the disadvantages of existing spirometric and impedance-based methods for the determination of lung function assessment parameters such as FEV1/FVC, FVC, FEV1, and PEF. To validate the performance of the IPFS, the indices of the IPFS were evaluated using a simple regression and Bland-Altman analysis. The flow signals were determined using volume as the criterion; the IPEF was found to be lower than the other indices (IFEV1/IFVC, IFVC, and IFEV1). The correlation values were obtained using the IPFS: IFEV1/IFVC (r = 0.972), IFVC (r = 0.977), IFEV1 (r = 0.968), and IPEF (r = 0.955) (p < 0.05). IFVC, IFEV1, and IFEV1/IFVC are the volume indices of PFT. IPEF is the flow index of PFT. PFT indices obtained by spirometry were well correlated with those obtained by the IPFS for all subjects (p < 0.05). Figure 5 shows the plots of the average values for IPFS and spirometry (x-axis) and the differences between IPFS and spirometry values (y-axis). The Bland–Altman plots indicate that 95% of the mean differences fell within the limits of agreement for FEV1/FVC (Figure 5a), FVC (Figure 5b), FEV1 (Figure 5c), and PEF (Figure 5d). In addition, the Bland–Altman plot's regression lines show that as the average values obtained by spirometry and the IPFS increased, so did the differences between the values obtained by spirometry and IPFS. These results imply that the PFT indices for all subjects (n = 30) are widely distributed, and therefore, the values estimated using the proposed IPFS are statistically reliable. Figure 6 shows the correlations between the PFT index measurements for both IPFS and spirometry. The PFT in flow signal. PFT indices obtained using the IPFS (y-axis) when analy ndices are FVC, FEV1, and FEV1% for the v using spirometry (x-axis) were well correla yzed for all subjects (p < 0.05). volume and PEF for the ated with those obtained Using the PFT indices measured by the IPFS, the subjects were classified into normal and COPD patient groups. These PFT indices were compared with those obtained using spirometry. Table 2 shows the results of individual patient classification of PFT indices, which were measured through IPFS and spirometry. The classification was made according to the COPD gold standard [19]. The COPD assessment criteria are as follows: FEV1 < 80% of the predicted value in combination with FEV1/FVC < 70% confirms the presence of airflow limitation [22]. The classification results of all subjects were identical, except for subject 9. The statistical significance was confirmed in the classification of normal and COPD patient groups using the developed IPFS because the classified results had an accuracy of 92% detection ratio. Table 2. Result of PFT indices for normal group and COPD patents. PEF = peak expiratory flow, FVC = forced vital capacity, FEV1/FVC = ratio of FEV1/FVC, FEV1(FEV1% Predicted) = forced expiratory volume in 1 s (ratio of FEV1/FEV1 Predicted). Classified result from FEV1/FVC of IPFS and FEV1% Predicted in Normal group and COPD patient group (Classification): Subject i: The case distinguished Normal group from Normal group. Subject ii: The case distinguished COPD group from COPD group. Subject iii: The case distinguished Normal group from COPD group. 4. Conclusions The proposed IPFS can be used to determine lung function assessment parameters such as the FVC, FEV1, and FEV1/FVC from volume signals and PEF from flow signals, and these indices can enable classification between normal and COPD patient groups. Unlike spirometry, the IPFS determined the signal flow from the volume. Previous studies on detecting respiration changes using the impedance method [6,15] did not report the parameters used for the assessment of lung function because impedance signals involving respiration had limited resolution. In addition, the attachment of electrodes to the chest inconveniences the patient. IPFS is more convenient than the conventional method for users, because the IPFS measures the volume and flow of breathing using only the hands. The base impedance values for both-hands, arms, and chest were removed using a real-time base impedance feedback system. The variation in the amount of respiratory impedance is less than the change in the base impedance's value. Therefore, it is important that the base impedance has been completely removed and then amplified to improve the accuracy of the respiratory characteristic point detection ratio. This problem is easily shown for the system at low voltage operation. On the other hand, low voltage (e.g., a single 3.3 V system) operation system such as the IPFS can solve this problem using real-time base impedance feedback. Moreover, this system enables the calculation of the tidal volume and the PFT indices through the detection of the respiration signals. The subjects were classified into two groups, the COPD patient group and the normal group, using the PFT indices measured by the IPFS. These PFT indices were compared with those obtained using spirometry. The COPD assessment criteria to confirm the presence of airflow limitation are as follows: FEV1 < 80% of the predicted value and FEV1/FVC < 70% [22]. As shown in Table 2, the PFT indices for all subjects were determined using IPFS. All subjects were classified into normal (subjects 1–5, 19–30) or COPD patient groups (subjects 6–18) by the specialist during the experiment. It is possible to classify the normal and COPD patient groups using this result. A spirometric curve of lung volume and the FEV1 parameter of the force expiratory volume curve have been used as important clinical indicators of the distinction between obstructive lung disease and restrictive lung disease. Arterial blood gas (ABG) measurement is important clinical test that represents indicators for a comprehensive evaluation of two parts of respiration, the degree of ventilation and perfusion. However, the progress of lung disease (e.g., COPD, asthma) can make a decision by monitoring of respiratory volume and flow because ventilation is more problematic than perfusion for these diseases. In the GOLD guidelines, it has been mentioned about the COPD assessment criteria [19]. In the GINA guidelines, the most important use in the diagnosis and treatment of asthma, PEF is used as a significant indicator of asthma and PEF value is capable by comparison of own previous best measurement [18]. The IPFS using electrical impedance pneumography method can be detected the PFT indices (FEV1/FVC, FVC, FEV1, and PEF) conveniently. IPFS only use hand-held typed electrodes, not use ancillary equipment. Especially, IPFS is able to estimate COPD indices without any experienced technicians. Therefore, IPFS could be useful for periodic monitoring of patients diagnosed with obstructive lung disease. For those reasons, our study is about a novel system capable of pulmonary function indices detection for COPD prevention and diagnosis through impedance technique. Our study was limited to a small sample size and studied only normal and COPD patient groups. In future studies, when the volume-flow curve is suggested for detecting the exact characteristics of the ventilation pattern, it can be used for examining pulmonary disease as well as the classifying normal and COPD group by using IPFS. Acknowledgments This research was financially supported by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE), Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) and Gangwon Leading Industry Office through the Leading Industry Development for Economic Region (No.70007738). This study was supported by a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health &Welfare, Republic of Korea (No. A100054). Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest. References 1. 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Scranton School District Building Reconfiguration Strategy Chief Recovery Officer Candis Finan, Ed.D. PFM Group Consulting, LLC March 30, 2020 © PFM 1 Overview Since the adoption of the Recovery Plan in August 2019, the Scranton School District has focused its efforts on implementing Plan initiatives and addressing other emerging challenges SSD's Recovery Plan includes initiatives with the inter-related goals of improving academic performance and stabilizing finances in order to improve long-term balance * Stable budgets are a key tool to invest limited funds in educational and operational priorities The challenges facing the District did not appear over night, and it will require many years of hard work and prioritization to completely address every issue * Continuing to do what was done yesterday actively contributed to the District's current situation * Resolving the District's challenges will require new approaches, the focused application of limited financial and operational resources, and a structured plan to apply these resources over time Many of the academic, financial, and operational challenges in Scranton are related to one another, and a multifaceted plan is needed to address the root of each problem © PFM 2 Update on Recovery Plan Following the adoption of the Recovery Plan in August, the District has focused on the implementation of major initiatives from the Plan and other priorities of the administration © PFM 3 Update on Recovery Plan continued © PFM 4 Update on Recovery Plan continued © PFM 5 Update on Recovery Plan continued © PFM 6 Key challenges Academic approaches need to be brought up to 21 st century standards * Years of reactive planning have left little room to invest in updating curriculum, technology, and classroom spaces that meet the demands of current educational practices. Stability in the budget and in the central office will allow the District to lay the groundwork to meet the academic improvement goals set out in the Recovery Plan. Every school building requires large investments to remain functioning * The District's 2012 feasibility study and the 2018 review conducted by PFM identified tens of millions of dollars in building repairs that were required to keep school buildings open. Subsequent review of the buildings and capital projects by the District and PFM have refined the list, and each of the District's school buildings will need significant upgrades over the next several years. Budgets will require hard work to be balanced for the foreseeable future * Even after changes to bring the 2019 and 2020 budgets closer to alignment, financial projections in the Recovery Plan and updated projections completed over the past several months continue to show multimillion dollar deficits if no further action is taken. Addressing these deficits will require completing the Plan's revenue and savings initiatives to avoid borrowing for operations. For many programmatic and operational investments, savings will need to be found within the budget. Unexpected challenges will continue to emerge * Since the adoption of the Recovery Plan, the District has encountered unexpected health and safety issues in its school buildings, and is now facing issues related to COVID-19. Over the course of the next several years as implementation of the Plan continues, the District will likely continue to encounter challenges that were not in the original Plan. © PFM 7 Building re-configuration strategy The Recovery Plan requires the District to analyze its academic programs and building usage and develop a comprehensive facilities utilization plan * In the analysis, the District is required to review the configuration of grades, usage of classroom space, location of buildings, and impacts to areas such as transportation * The requirement is based on the Plan's finding that the District has capital needs that exceed its ability to pay for them, and that it has excess capacity in its current buildings In addition, several other initiatives are tied to the evaluation of buildings including transitioning to community providers for pre-kindergarten programs, transportation efficiencies, and an audit of special education programs Over the past several months, the District administration, the CRO and PFM have evaluated enrollment data, classroom usage, essential building repairs * In addition, meetings were held with the Building Advisory Committee to solicit input for the plan, and tours of the District's buildings were arranged This presentation summarizes the findings and recommendations from this analysis for consideration by the School Board © PFM 8 Finances: What if we do nothing? The Recovery Plan's baseline scenario, shown below, illustrates the financial impact of maintaining the status quo before the adoption of the narrowly-balanced 2020 budget * These projections assume no additional tax increases, no changes in headcount, or increases in salaries for employees * Borrowing approximately $23 million in 2020 and again in 2022 for high-priority capital projects across all District buildings is included in this scenario * The 2012 facilities study identified basic building needs of over $50 million, and the need has increased in subsequent years As shown by the increasing annual deficits after 2020, the structural imbalance in the District's finances will not resolve itself without further action © PFM 9 What is the impact of the initiatives in the Recovery Plan? In the Recovery Plan, eleven fundamental initiatives are highlighted as actions that will have a significant effect in restoring financial and operational stability to the District The projection shown below includes the impact of these initiatives (such as annual tax increases, building re-configuration, transportation efficiencies and contract rebidding) * As noted in the baseline scenario, this projection also does not include salary increases Even with these significant initiatives, the District will continue to face large annual deficits in the next several years, and annual results are narrowly balanced in the final years of the projections * There are no funds available for annual salary increases or investment in other priorities © PFM Are we really broke? As shown in the previous slides, the District is projected to face large annual deficits and negative fund balances beginning immediately after the 2020 budget if no action is taken Other indicators of the District's financial health can be found elsewhere: Over the coming years, the School Board will need to weigh priorities, implement initiatives from the Plan, and participate in other decisions to maintain the District's financial health © PFM The District's financial facts The "going concern" opinion in the District's financial statements reads that: * "The School District's ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on the School District in implementing and executing the Recovery Plan" The District's financial statements also identify an unreserved negative fund balance of $22.7 million * This is due to six consecutive years of deficit spending and borrowing to finance operating deficits The Government Finance Officers Association recommends that general purpose governments maintain a fund balance of two months of revenues in order to provide working capital to pay bills, meet other obligations, and create a reserve for contingencies * For the Scranton School District, this amount would be approximately $27.6 million The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania allows a more narrow positive fund balance of 8 percent of budgeted expenditures * For the Scranton School District, this amount would be approximately $13.2 million Because of the lack of a typical amount of reserves, the District was forced to borrow when state funding was delayed in 2015-16, and it is still repaying that borrowing Now the District is extremely vulnerable to the financial impacts of COVID-19, and will experience additional financial pressure affecting its ability to invest in its facilities and its teachers © PFM Impact of COVID-19 on the District As we move beyond the immediate impact of COVID-19 on the way Scranton and other school districts operate, there will be additional effects as the economic impact sets in Although it is too soon to predict exactly how these trends will affect the District's finances, there are a number of ways this may impact the current and future year budgets * Delayed real estate tax collections (lower current collections, or higher future delinquent payments) * Potential future assessment appeals * Reduced taxes from other economically sensitive local taxes (earned income and business privilege) * Flat funding for major state subsidies, or delayed payments if cash flow becomes an issue * Reduction in funding or delayed implementation of state or federal support programs * Additional expenditures for health and safety, remedial education, or remote learning As the headlines change each day, there is diminished likelihood of recurring formula aid from Harrisburg during the Recovery Plan period – solutions will have to come from within, as the Plan projects © PFM Focusing on Academics © PFM Preview of recommendations In conjunction with the District's senior administrative team, and following on the progress described earlier in this presentation, the CRO has developed a strategy to take the academic and facilities initiatives in the Recovery Plan and tie them to a renewed focus on achieving the academic performance goals in the Plan The recommendations that will be presented to you include: * Re-programming Title I funding from pre-kindergarten programs to K-5 math and reading support while retaining Pre-K in Scranton and preserving jobs for teachers and paraprofessionals * Establishing a middle school STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine) program that will expand to higher grades over time * Expanding high school supports to promote readiness for higher education or the workforce * Investing in building repairs with a focus on health, safety, and deferred maintenance * Reduction in the number of leased or owned school buildings to free up funds for the academic enhancements Each of these changes will be described in further detail later in this presentation © PFM Investing in our students Over the past several months, the CRO and the District administration have identified these as our highest priority goals, and the plans to achieve them © PFM Aligning the budget with our goals Financial planning and budgets can often seem far removed from the day-to-day operations of a school district, and the important focus on the education of and care for our students * School districts do not exist only to collect taxes and pay bills, but money is critical to fund the School district's mission There are a number of ways tight budgets and financial issues can impact learning: * Difficulty maintaining stable staffing levels for all types of classroom positions * Reduced student support services (ex. administrators, librarians, social workers, mental health professionals, and others) * Limited ability to generate funds to support salary increases and training * Deferment of building repairs * Reliance on old or outdated curriculum, classroom materials, and technology Carrying over plans from the prior year with minimal changes can mean that resources are not necessarily aligned with the needs of each building, the District's priorities, or with financial realities Scranton School District cannot afford to sit by idly and wait for a windfall to make these investments * Money must be found within the District's budget to achieve these priorities, with proposed increases in spending will be weighed against other needs including balancing the budget © PFM Guiding principles to consider The following slides outline the major components of our recommendations to the School Board that were introduced previously In evaluating these recommendations, the Board should consider these principles: 1. Scranton cannot do everything, but we must do something. Scranton School District owns or rents 18 school buildings with many District-owned schools built before the Second World War. Some buildings have not been renovated in over 50 years. Making these buildings warm, safe, dry and compliant with modern requirements will cost tens of millions of dollars; bringing them up to modern teaching standards would require significantly more money. New school buildings are not an immediate possibility, and we must plan to use the buildings that we have for the time being while beginning to plan and save for new buildings in the future. 2. Scranton has to prioritize its plans. Both rehabilitation of the District's current buildings and construction of new properties will be extremely expensive. The District's significant financial challenges will compound these difficult decisions, and the District will have to choose among the best and most achievable options rather than waiting for a perfect solution. In addition, these decisions will need to be balanced against other priorities and emerging issues. 3. Even changes for the good will be disruptive; however, adults should make choices that are least disruptive for students. Rehabilitating our existing buildings, and in the future replacing old buildings with new buildings, will take time and will cause temporary closures or reassignments. However, these changes are a long-term investment in our students, so adults will have to compromise first. © PFM Guiding principles continued 4. In general, Scranton should operate fewer, more efficient buildings. Limited resources means that the District will have to prioritize the funds that it invests into its school buildings. Changes to buildings will take into account other preferences, such as the desire for walkable elementary schools and programs at each of the grade levels. In all cases, the District should seek to have fewer buildings, with the most expensive buildings to renovate having priority for closure where possible. 5. Scranton should not fund all of the costs of new construction and major rehabilitation from debt. Whenever possible, the District should not try to fund all of its capital improvements from debt. As noted in the Recovery Plan, a portion of all windfalls will be directed to the Plan's priorities, and this will include building repairs and upgrades. These funds should be placed in a committed fund balance account, or directly transferred to the capital projects fund. The District should seek to set and abide by capital eligibility standards, and use pay-as-you-go funds for projects that are otherwise ineligible, as provided in the Plan. 6. Pre-kindergarten programs are an important asset of the city, and the District's transition will not reduce opportunities for students. In the current configuration, pre-kindergarten programs are in 14 classrooms across the District's 11 elementary school buildings. These programs will continue in other forms because alternative sources of funding are available for pre-kindergarten, and there are providers who currently offer these services and could expand their programs. Scranton will continue to have pre-kindergarten programs, however, these will not be operated or paid for, or located in the School District. Current pre-kindergarten teachers and paraprofessionals are greatly needed to enhance K-5 student learning and performance to meet state educational benchmarks. © PFM Pre-Kindergarten Programs © PFM Proposed changes to pre-kindergarten As outlined in the Recovery Plan, the District will transition from providing pre-kindergarten programs directly to partnering with organizations to offer these services Early childhood education is an important program, and these services will continue through providers that are funded through Head Start, the state's Pre-K Counts program, as well as private providers * Students moving to these providers will bring more state and federal funds to Scranton to provide these programs at a time when the District cannot afford to operate them on its own * Students eligible for Head Start will now also receive important wrap-around services not funded by the District, and that would be unaffordable with its current resources The plan presented to the School Board includes the following timeline: * Scranton School District will offer the students currently enrolled in the three-year old prekindergarten program a spot in the District-operated program for the 2020-21 school year * No new applications will be received for the three-year old program for the 2020-21 school year * The District will ensure that community partners will have sufficient space and funding to accommodate families applying for their three-year old for Pre-K next year * In 2021-22, the District will no longer offer any pre-kindergarten programs, and the services will fully transition over to community providers © PFM Scranton School District pre-kindergarten program Enrollment as of February 2020 Program Characteristics By Age Group By Region * 3-year old: 133 students * 4-year old: 271 students * Total: 404 students * North: 120 students * South: 158 students * West: 126 students © PFM 14 total classrooms * At least one classroom in all 11 elementary schools * Whittier, Tripp, and Willard each have two classrooms for pre-kindergarten All 3-year old and 4-year old classrooms operate on a half day schedule with a.m. and p.m. classes Class sizes generally follow the Pennsylvania School Code guideline of 20 students per teacher Each class is staffed by a full-time teacher and paraprofessional Overview of regional pre-kindergarten programs Generally, there are three types of pre-kindergarten classrooms run by providers in the city, and these classrooms are categorized by their major funding sources * These include classrooms funded by Head Start, Pre-K Counts, or tuition (both private and nonprofit organizations) Early childhood providers can receive a Keystone STARS rating from the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), which is an assessment of service level and quality * Scores range from STAR 1 (compliance with basic requirements) to STAR 4 (additional assessment criteria) © PFM Major funding streams Head Start (Federal) Eligibility based on income and risk factors Free for families who meet eligibility criteria Provides students with pre-kindergarten and wrap around services including health, social service, and family engagement supports Pre-K Counts (State) Eligibility based on income Free for families who meet eligibility criteria Does not provide wrap around services offered by Head Start Regional centers are run by the Scranton Lackawanna Human Development Agency (SLHDA) and the agency's partners Other Funding Sources Head Start Supplemental: State funding to expand capacity for Head Start programs Child Care Works: State and federal program to support childcare costs for working families Early Intervention: State program providing services to children with special needs or developmental delays © PFM Program comparison © PFM SSD Family Income Analysis – Current 3-year olds © PFM Of the group of 133 current students enrolled in the District's 3-year old program 116, or 87 percent, would qualify for the Head Start or Pre-K Counts programs Income eligibility is based on the federal poverty guidelines, which are updated annually * 100% to 130% of the federal poverty level: Head Start must serve * 130% to 150%: Some flexibility for Head Start eligibility; can be served by Pre-K Counts * 200% to 300%: Can be served by Pre-K Counts Redeployment of Scranton SD staff Under the pre-kindergarten transition proposal, all teachers and paraprofessionals would be able to retain a position with the Scranton School District Early childhood education is important and these services to our children will continue through providers that are funded through Head Start, the state's Pre-K Counts program, and private providers * As noted earlier, some children will also be eligible for expanded Head Start wraparound services that are beyond what the District can provide Currently, our K-5 students have a great need for additional interventions from reading and mathematics coaches to support their classroom learning * As described in the Recovery Plan, the District's academic performance lags state averages and best practice peers; this initiative will provide targeted intervention where it is most needed to fulfill its basic academic mission and prepare kids more fully in reading and math Re-directing Title I funds to support K-5 interventions will shift funding to support at least one additional teacher and instructional aide for each of the 11 elementary schools * Staff resources would be allocated based on building needs through school planning for the implementation of Title I budgets * Some schools would potentially receive more support due to their income and academic performance qualifications © PFM Investing in Our Students © PFM Dynamic programs The proposed building reconfiguration strategy for the Scranton School District begins with dynamic educational offerings designed to motivate students to learn and improve outcomes at each level In order to provide a great education for all children, the Scranton School District will have dynamic, innovative educational programs that make kids excited to come to school and parents thrilled to send them there For each group of schools, we will devote resources to enhance our programs for these high priority initiatives * Elementary School: Maintain walkable schools where possible; focus Title I funding on reading and mathematics intervention * Intermediate School: Launch a STEMM program beginning at the intermediate level and growing to high school year-by-year * High School: Improve graduation rates through college and career partnerships with organizations; establish a mid-year graduation to keep students on track for completion; improve college attainment © PFM Keys to success We will have to focus our efforts on many different areas over a number of years if we are to make these exciting changes a reality for the Scranton School District Most important, our plans will have to be flexible and evolve over time as we encounter new challenges. However, the cornerstones of our success will include: * Rethinking educational programs, class assignments, and building utilization * Transitioning over a number of years to a smaller number of buildings with more targeted opportunities that meet the needs of today's students * Ensuring our smaller number of buildings meets state and federal educational and safety requirements * Continuing ongoing dialogue with parents, teachers, staff, and the broader community to explain the District's plans and get constructive feedback to improve outcomes for our students © PFM Component 1: Scranton cannot afford to maintain all of its buildings As shown later in the presentation, Scranton will require significant investments in its buildings just to keep them open and functioning The follow up analysis on building enrollment and classroom utilization at each of the District's school buildings confirmed that there are opportunities to reallocate how we use our space In order to concentrate our limited capital funds on the places with the greatest impact, our goal is to transition to fewer buildings over time * Fewer, fuller classrooms will more equitably distribute our instructional resources across all buildings, and minimize costs of transportation Revised use of space and new realigned programs would allow for the closure of several buildings and the eventual construction of one or two new buildings in the future * Although the construction of new buildings would be the ideal choice, the current state of the District's finances and the need to keep even a reduced portfolio of buildings safe and compliant will prevent his from being an option in the short-term All of the current school buildings will remain open for next year, but future years will include changes that may range from catchment area reassignments to building closures © PFM Component 2: Realign K-5 education to revitalize elementary schools Elementary school programs provide the foundation of success for our students, and our students have needs for more intensive interventions to make sure they are on track for learning Reallocating the $2.3 million in Title I funding from pre-kindergarten programs to K-5 reading and mathematics intervention will allow us to greatly expand our capacity to support our K-5 schools, and aligns with the District's mission * Current supports offered to schools are limited in terms of the number of staff and the amount of time that can be dedicated to students * In some cases, resources are shared between buildings, which further limits our ability to support our elementary students Preliminary findings from the special education audit indicate that Scranton School District must take steps to reintegrate special education programs into its school buildings School enrollment and classroom assignments will be evaluated to more equitably distribute instructional and support resources across our schools * Initial focus will be on efficient use of classrooms, with potential near-term modification of school boundaries * Medium-term focus will include school closures, and longer-term planning could include construction of new schools © PFM Component 3: Reimagining the intermediate school experience The District's administrative leadership team has already started planning to launch a STEMM program beginning at the intermediate school level in the fall of 2021 (2021-22 school year) * District administrators have organized site visits to other Pennsylvania school districts to learn how other schools are brining innovative programs to their students to excite and challenge them and prepare them for the modern economy Initial plans will include exploratory programs for 6 th graders with more focused opportunities for 7 th and 8 th graders in a STEMM academy * Location of the program will ultimately be determined by the District's ability to complete building renovations * Current plans would locate the academy at West Scranton High School or Intermediate School The District and other local partners have submitted a joint application to the PA Smart Grant fund to support the start up of this program © PFM Component 4: Dynamic high schools with more opportunities In addition to the program enhancements at earlier grades, more support services will be targeted to the District's two high schools In order to promote higher graduation rates, several new initiatives are planned to increase student engagement Mid-year graduation and flexible course requirements would allow students to complete their high school degree with more ease Career opportunities would be provided to students through District programs and local partnerships * One of the benefits of co-locating the intermediate school STEMM program at West Scranton High School would be the continuation of programs from grade 7 through 12, adding a grade each year after 2021-22 * Co-ops, college classes, and closer partnerships with Johnson Technical College, Lackawanna College, and the Career Technology Center would provide opportunities for students to build skills and prepare for the workforce For those students considering higher education, the District would work to increase the number of students taking either the SAT or ACT, and provide other supports © PFM Investing in Our Buildings © PFM Facilities overview The Scranton School District operates 20 facilities * 16 school buildings * 2 rented academic spaces (Whittier Annex and Electric City Academy) * Administration building * Memorial Stadium Every one of the District's owned facilities will require significant capital investments just in order to remain operational over the next several years * Newer buildings such as Scranton High School and Isaac Tripp Elementary School are reaching a point in their lifecycles where they require periodic major maintenance, and some high cost needs have arisen * Older buildings require multi-million dollar investments for major renovations like roofs or HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems * It is critical to secure the envelope of each building to avoid additional damage * After roofs and windows are secure, HVAC systems are the next key priority * These projects are not glamorous, but they are important and often quite expensive © PFM Summary of capital needs \| School \| Square Feet \| Construction Year \| Last Renovation \| Short-Term Needs (1-5 Years) \| Long-Term Needs (5+ Years) \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| John Adams ES \| 40,380 \| 1931 \| - \| $2,379,484 \| $1,664,640 \| \| George Bancroft ES \| 24,740 \| 1928 \| - \| $2,081,846 \| $1,144,440 \| \| Robert Morris ES \| 43,600 \| 1895 \| 1966 \| $2,469,202 \| $2,080,800 \| \| William Prescott ES \| 28,056 \| 1966 \| - \| $1,816,548 \| $1,144,440 \| \| Neil Armstrong ES \| 77,750 \| 1969 \| - \| $6,524,902 \| $0 \| \| John F. Kennedy ES \| 41,350 \| 1964 \| 1983, 2008, 2010 \| $408,425 \| $1,352,520 \| \| McNichols Education Plaza \| 49,685 \| 1977 \| - \| $2,554,940 \| $0 \| \| Whittier ES \| 44,391 \| 1896 \| 1966, 2011 \| $12,404 \| $0 \| \| Whittier Annex \| N/A \| N/A \| - \| $0 \| $0 \| \| Charles Sumner ES \| 34,080 \| 1968 \| - \| $1,663,580 \| $1,560,600 \| \| Frances Willard ES \| 45,920 \| 1928 \| 1960 \| $1,821,500 \| $2,392,920 \| \| Isaac Tripp ES \| 92,602 \| 2011 \| - \| $630,299 \| $0 \| \| Northeast Scranton IS \| 206,121 \| 1904 \| 1930, 1999 \| $11,776,197 \| $9,675,720 \| \| South Scranton IS \| 182,734 \| 1937 \| - \| $7,204,593 \| $9,571,680 \| \| West Scranton IS \| 174,166 \| 1975 \| - \| $5,367,871 \| $0 \| \| Scranton HS \| 293,092 \| 2001 \| - \| $2,685,121 \| $0 \| \| West Scranton HS \| 255,000 \| 1927 \| 1932 \| $16,010,487 \| $11,964,600 \| \| Administration Building \| N/A \| 1910 \| N/A \| $440,160 \| $260,100 \| \| Memorial Stadium \| N/A \| N/A \| N/A \| $528,000 \| $0 \| \| Contingency \| N/A \| N/A \| N/A \| $1,000,000 \| $0 \| \| Total \| 1,633,667 \| N/A \| N/A \| $67,375,558 \| $42,812,460 \| \| Average \| 102,104 \| 1949 \| N/A \| \| \| Note: Average excludes Administration Building and Memorial Stadium. © PFM 2012 Palumbo Group feasibility study, 2018 PFM facilities report, and 2020 capital priorities. Source: Practical considerations The Recovery Plan requires the Scranton School District to issue bonds to complete the most pressing building renovations * Capital cost savings from building closures will be used to reduce the costs of the borrowing, or the savings could be used to accelerate other important capital projects * If state or federal programs are established to support school district construction projects, then these programs can be used to support Scranton's plans * As required by the Plan, future windfalls, similar to the one-time PlanCon payments received in 2017 and 2018, must be allocated to priorities such as building renovations The District's current administration does not have the capacity to oversee tens of millions of dollars in annual construction projects The District will need to get temporary support to manage the day to day operations of the projects, manage timelines and bids, and inspect completed work on behalf of the District The District's feasibility study is nearly ten years out of date, and no longer provides the clearest picture of the District's total needs * In conjunction with the capital borrowing, the District will simultaneously update its facilities study and use the initial proceeds of the first borrowing to cover the most high priority projects that we know of today © PFM Transition to fewer buildings over time All of Scranton's current sixteen school buildings will remain open for the 2020-21 school year, however, building closures are a strong possibility in future years At the end of the five year period in the Recovery Plan adopted by the School Board, the District will have fewer buildings. Current recommendations include the following changes: * Close one to two elementary schools * Long-term plan for intermediate schools to be developed; over time that will include * Occupying a portion of Northeast Intermediate School * Eventual replacement of Northeast Intermediate School with newer building(s) or other sites * Impact of eventual final location of STEMM program students on building needs * Sale of the Administration Building and re-location of administrative personnel * Reduced reliance on rented spaces if possible (Annex and Electric City Academy) © PFM Planning for change Our plans will change over time as more information is available and capital projects launch * If the District's financial situation improves significantly, then consideration of how future new elementary or intermediate schools would be integrated into this process sooner In evaluating which schools will be closed, the District will consider factors such as: * Opportunity for academic improvement * Building capacity * Capital costs * Walkability and impact on transportation * Community needs * Program access © PFM Next Steps © PFM Next steps In order to give parents, children and the non-profit and private providers time to plan for the fall of 2020, the Board should vote to approve the pre-kindergarten transition plan at its April 6 meeting, and include the new allocation of funds in its 2020-21 state and federal Title I planning documents To meet critical capital needs the District will enhance its planning and building programs by: * Hiring a Director of facilities, grounds, and operations as soon as possible * Identifying the most critical capital needs by prioritizing capital projects and including them in a capital budget and plan presented to the School Board * Retain a qualified and certified owners' representative to support the District in capital project management * Designate the projects that can be designed and executed in the summer of 2020, if any * Designate the projects that can be designed and executed during the 2020-21 school year, including school breaks, and those that should be scheduled for the summer of 2021 * Depending on the need for emergency repairs and the balance in the capital fund, prepare for a debt borrowing in the fall of 2020 or early 2021 to fund the initial round of projects © PFM © PFM Thank you Appendix © PFM Fundamental Plan Initiatives © PFM Elementary school test scores from Recovery Plan Advanced Proficient (2017-18) Below Basic (2017-18) \| Grade \| Scranton \| Abington Heights \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 3 \| 49 \| 82 \| \| 4 \| 49.3 \| 78 \| \| 5 \| 45.2 \| 67.9 \| \| Scranton \| Abington Heights \| \|---\|---\| \| 39.2 \| 69.6 \| \| 26.3 \| 63.7 \| \| 34.8 \| 61.3 \| \| Grade \| Scranton \| Abington Heights \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 4 \| 66.2 \| 87.7 \| © PFM \| English/Language Arts \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Grade \| Scranton \| Abington Heights \| Statewide Average \| \| 3 \| 14.3 \| 3.1 \| 10.4 \| \| 4 \| 16.6 \| 3.1 \| 9.7 \| \| 5 \| 14.7 \| 3.9 \| 8.9 \| \| Grade \| Scranton \| Abington Heights \| Statewide Average \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| 3 \| 36 \| 10.6 \| 24.5 \| \| 4 \| 41.6 \| 14.3 \| 29.8 \| \| 5 \| 34.8 \| 14.7 \| 28.7 \| \| Science \| \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Grade \| Scranton \| Abington Heights \| Statewide Average \| \| 4 \| 10.4 \| 2.3 \| 5.4 \| Estimated construction costs Based on recent new school construction projects completed in other parts of Pennsylvania, we have estimated the costs of building new elementary and intermediate schools If the District decided to build a new school, local factors would likely lead to variances from these estimates * For example, obtaining new land or conducting significant remediation would lead to higher costs New elementary school (100,000 square feet; approximately size of Isaac Tripp) * $40 million to $50 million New intermediate school (180,000 square feet; approximately size of South and West Intermediate) * $60 million to $80 million Alternative options for intermediate schools may include building a smaller school that would be closer to the costs of a new elementary school © PFM
A regular meeting of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen was held on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Board Room. Present and presiding: Mayor Michael Nelson Aldermen Joal Hall Broun Mark Dorosin John Herrera Diana McDuffee Alex Zaffron Assistant Town Manager Bing Roenigk Deputy Town Clerk Richard White Town Attorney Michael B. Brough Absent: Alderman Jacquelyn Gist TASTE OF HOPE CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE Angie Smith, OWASA Customer Service, requested the Board's participation in the Taste of Hope Customer Assistance program. Chris Moran, of the Interfaith Council, provided statistics on poverty and households requesting assistance. He commended the Board for approving the resolution calling for reform of U.S. immigration law and policies. Kristen LaVerne, Carrboro Facilities Program Director, gave an example of a resident having difficulty. Alderman Broun requested that the program information be placed on the town's web site. Alderman McDuffee requested that OWASA place an insert in monthly bills. ******** APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING This matter will be placed on the March 19 th agenda. ****** A REQUEST TO SET A PUBLIC HEARING FOR MODIFICATION TO CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT OF CARRBORO PLAZA SHOPPING CENTER WITH AN ABC STORE The Orange County ABC Store has submitted an application for a modification to the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) of Carrboro Plaza Shopping Center with an ABC Store. The applicant is proposing to construct an addition (2000 square feet) onto the existing building (4000 square feet). The Board of Aldermen must hold a public hearing to receive input before reaching a decision on the modification to the conditional use permit application. The Administration recommended that the Board set a public hearing for March 26, 2002, for consideration of modification to the conditional use permit request. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman Joal Hall Broun. A RESOLUTION CALLING FOR A PUBLIC HEARING ON THE MODIFICATION TO CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT REQUEST FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY ABC STORE LOCATED AT 106 HIGHWAY 54 BYPASS Resolution No. 109/2001-02 WHEREAS, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen seeks to provide ample opportunities for the public to comment on the proposed modification to conditional use permit projects; and WHEREAS, an application has been received for a modification to the conditional use permit for the Orange County ABC Store. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen that the Aldermen call a public hearing on March 26, 2002 to consider the modification to the conditional use permit request for the Orange County ABC Store project. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this the 12 th day of March 2002: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Dorosin, John Herrera, Diana McDuffee, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: Jacquelyn Gist ****** APPOINTMENTS TO HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION The Mayor and Board of Aldermen were requested to make appointments to the Human Services Commission. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman Joal Hall Broun. A RESOLUTION MAKING APPOINTMENTS TO THE HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION Resolution No. 103/2001-02 WHEREAS, due to term expirations and resignations, there are currently five (5) vacant seats on the Human Services Commission; and WHEREAS, these vacancies have been advertised and applications were received from Karen Current, Errol McCauley, Earleen Burch and Kathryn Rose; and WHEREAS, these applications were reviewed by the Chair of the Human Services Commission. NOW, THEREFORE, THE MAYOR AND BOARD OF ALDERMENOF THE TOWN OF CARRBORO RESOLVES: Section 1. The Mayor and Board of Aldermen hereby appoint Karen Current, Errol McCauley, Earleen Burch and Kathryn Rose to serve on the Human Services Commission. Section 2. This resolution shall become effective upon adoption. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this the 12 th day of March 2002: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Dorosin, John Herrera, Diana McDuffee, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: Jacquelyn Gist ****** A TO REVIEW OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING DENSITY BONUS PROVISIONS AND A REQUEST SET A PUBLIC HEARING: LAND USE ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENT REGARDING DENSITY AND SETBACKS The Board of Aldermen has requested that staff provide additional information on revisions to the affordable housing density bonus provisions of the Land Use Ordinance. Should the Board of Aldermen wish to proceed with changes to the notice requirements, it will be necessary to receive public comment, a Planning Board recommendation, and Orange County comments regarding consistency with the Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan. A resolution that sets a public hearing for April 23rd was recommended for the Board's adoption. Trish McGuire, the town's Planning Administrator, made the presentation. The Board agreed to allow the ordinance to move forward as written and discuss changes at a later time. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman Mark Dorosin. A RESOLUTION CALLING A PUBLIC HEARING ON A LAND USE ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENT THAT AMEND THE DENSITY AND SETBACK PROVISIONS RELATING TO DEVELOPMENT UTILIZING THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING DENSITY BONUS Resolution No. 110/2001-02 WHEREAS, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen seeks to provide ample opportunities for the public to comment on existing policies and regulations; and NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen that the Aldermen call a public hearing on April 23, 2002 to consider adopting "An Ordinance Amending the Land Use Ordinance Provisions Relating to Affordable Housing." BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the draft ordinance be referred to Orange County for review per the Joint Planning Agreement and to the Planning Board for comment and recommendations to the Board. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this the 12 th day of March 2002: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Dorosin, John Herrera, Diana McDuffee, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: Jacquelyn Gist ****** STATUS REPORT: SHAPING ORANGE COUNTY'S FUTURE PROVISIONAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS John Link, County Manager, has submitted a letter conveying Orange County's plan for completion and implementation of the Shaping Orange County's Future project. A resolution that directs staff to submit a copy of the Carrboro SOCF evaluation to Orange County for review by the Task Force was recommended for the Board's adoption. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Joal Hall Broun and duly seconded by Alderman Alex Zaffron. A RESOLUTION DIRECTING STAFF TO CONVEY SOCF EVALUATION AND COMMENTS TO ORANGE COUNTY Resolution No. 105/2001-02 WHEREAS, the Town of Carrboro has participated in the Shaping Orange County's Future project; and WHEREAS, the SOCF Task Force is scheduled to complete its report in spring of 2002; and WHEREAS, the Town has prepared an evaluation and compiled comments on this report. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Board of Aldermen of the Town of Carrboro that the SOCF evaluation and resolution be conveyed to Orange County for review by the SOCF Task Force for consideration during the final report preparation. The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this the 12 th day of March 2002: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Dorosin, John Herrera, Diana McDuffee, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: Jacquelyn Gist ****** REVIEW OF THE 2002-03 ACTION AGENDA The Action Agenda allows staff to align the town budget with the Board's goals and objectives. The Board conducted two retreats this year to set two-year goals, objectives, and projects for town departments. The Town Administration has prepared an Action Agenda to implement the decisions reached at the retreats. The purpose of this item was to request that the Board review and adopt the 2002-2003 Action Agenda. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Broun and duly seconded by Alderman Zaffron: A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE 2002-2003 ACTION AGENDA Resolution No. 111/2001-02 WHEREAS the Board has conducted two planning retreats on December 2, 2001 and January 27 and 28, 2002 to discuss the direction in which it would like to lead the Town for the next two years, and WHEREAS the Action Agenda allows staff to implement the Board's goals and objectives, NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Carrboro Mayor and Board of Aldermen that the Board has reviewed the 2002-2003 Action Agenda as the work plan for the years 2002-2003 and taken the following actions: 1) The Mayor voted on Project 15: Review Board Compensation and Project 23: Develop Town Manager Job Description as follows: Deleted Project 15 and added Project 23. Alderman Herrera will research and write the description. 2) Deleted Project 44: Encourage Local Institutions and Groups to Support and Strengthened Local Businesses 3) Deleted Project 20: Strategic and Operational Review of Town Services/Review of Current Staffing Levels and Resource Projection. This review will occur as part of the upcoming budget deliberations. 4) Reviewed each new project description, end product, start and end times and made the following revisions: Project 24: Provide a quarterly report in addition to a strategy Project 26: the Mayor requested that Alderman Herrera obtain a copy of the Century Center logo as a place to start Project 27: Schedule for discussion in April 5) Assigned Aldermen to each of the following projects: 6) Approved the 2002-03 Action Agenda The foregoing resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this the 12 th day of March 2002: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Dorosin, John Herrera, Diana McDuffee, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: Jacquelyn Gist ****** A REQUEST TO DISBAND THE AGENDA PLANNING COMMITTEE The purpose of this item was to request that the Board of Aldermen disband the Agenda Planning Committee. The following resolution was introduced by Alderman Alex Zaffron and duly seconded by Alderman John Herrera: A RESOLUTION DISBANDING THE AGENDA PLANNING COMMITTEE Resolution No. 112/2001-02 NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Carrboro Mayor and Board of Aldermen that the Board has approved disbanding the Agenda Planning Committee. The following resolution having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this the 12 th day of March 2002: Ayes: Joal Hall Broun, Mark Dorosin, Jacquelyn Gist, John Herrera, Diana McDuffee, Michael Nelson, Alex Zaffron Noes: None Absent or Excused: Jacquelyn Gist ****** REBROADCAST OF BOARD MEETINGS The Mayor requested that staff discuss with Time Warner Cable rebroadcasting Board meetings. ****** ADVISORY BOARD APPOINTMENT GUIDELINES Alderman McDuffee distributed guidelines for comments. ****** METROPOLITAN COALITION Alderman Zaffron provided an update on the Metropolitan Coalition budget committee meeting last Thursday. He will provide the Board with a list of recommendations when available. ****** MOTION WAS MADE BY ALEX ZAFFRON AND SECONDED BY JOHN HERRERA TO ADJOURN. VOTE: AFFIRMATIVE ALL ******** _____________________________ _______________________________ Deputy Town Clerk Mayor
Concordia University Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program (DAAPP) Updated January 2016 INTRODUCTION: Concordia University cares about the health, safety, and success of its students and employees and has a commitment to proactively address high-risk drinking and substance use. The illegal use and abuse of alcohol or other drugs by students or employees interferes with the academic learning process and places the safety of individuals and the campus community at risk. Our goal is to improve academic success and the quality of student life on the campus by increasing healthy lifestyles and reducing the harm associated with alcohol and other drug abuse. It is expected that all students and employees comply with Concordia's alcohol and drug policies. The University takes this matter seriously. For students, violation of these policies will result in immediate referral to the student conduct process and sanctions. For employees, the matter will be referred to Human Resources for further action. It is important those in our community have all the information so you are able to comply and also understand the associated risks with alcohol and drug use. In addition, we are sharing this information in compliance with federal law (Drug Free Schools Act). Other important information included below: * University conduct standards for alcohol and drug use * Resources * Legal and University sanctions for alcohol and drugs * Health risks associated with alcohol and drug use POLICIES: Student and employee policies related to alcohol and other drug use are included in the applicable handbooks (student and employee) and are reinforced during orientation and through communication from Student Affairs and Human Resources. STUDENT POLICIES: DRUG AND ALCOHOL FREE COMMUNITY Our community is committed to a drug free campus, which would include the absence of alcohol and illegal mood altering substances. This policy reflects our conviction that the use of these substances within the context of this community is inappropriate for legal, educational, and developmental reasons. The potential of these substances to promote behavior that is destructive to both property and lives makes them unacceptable in a community committed to healthy development. DRUG FREE CAMPUS Civil law clearly defines illegal mood altering substances. The university will cooperate fully with police officials to address illegal behavior. Drug paraphernalia is not allowed on campus. Hookahs are also not allowed on-campus. ALCOHOL FREE CAMPUS 1. Persons under the age of 21: There is to be no possession, consumption or sale of alcohol on-campus by anyone of any age. In addition, students may not consume alcohol or be intoxicated at any off-campus student event sponsored and funded by the University. Disruptive or self-abusive behavior including, but not limited to, intoxication or the display of alcoholic beverage containers are considered violations. Possession or use of alcohol by any person on campus under the age of 21 is a clear violation of civil law. Police officials may be contacted. In addition to regular university conduct sanctions for campus policy violations, the university reserves the right to notify students' parents or legal guardians. 2. Persons 21 years of age and older: All persons entering the campus, whether 21 years of age or older, are required to comply with the university alcohol free policy. Violations of this policy will result in university conduct sanctions. In addition, our community emphasizes that supplying alcohol to minors is a clear violation of civil law. Police officials may be contacted. Being in a room where alcohol or drugs are being used or openly displayed is considered passive approval and you also will be found in violation of the policy. Also, possession or display of empty alcohol containers is not allowed. All alcohol or drug related items will be confiscated by Public Safety and/or the Resident Assistant to be photographed and then dumped or destroyed. STUDENT SAFETY COMES FIRST! IN ANY EMERGENCY INVOLVING ALCOHOL OR OTHER DRUGS, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE. Concordia University is strongly committed to the health, safety, and wellbeing of all its students. Students are encouraged to look out not only for their own health and wellbeing, but also for that of their peers. When a student's health or safety is threatened or appears to be at risk, take immediate action to prevent injury, illness, or danger. Medical Clemency is a policy that allows students to seek help for themselves or others involved in a drug or alcohol-related emergency, without being referred to the formal conduct process. Concordia University is deeply concerned that, in a medical emergency involving alcohol or other drugs, some students may consider refraining from calling for help because of fear that doing so might subject them to disciplinary action. To address this concern, the following protocol will be used for addressing possible disciplinary consequences when medical emergencies result from the use of alcohol or other drugs. A student may only claim Medical Clemency prior to any report or discovery of an alcohol or drug violation by Residence Life or Public Safety. a) Any individual who seeks campus or medical assistance on behalf of another student during an alcohol or other drug-related emergency will meet with the appropriate college official(s) to discuss the incident, but will not be subjected to disciplinary proceedings through Concordia's conduct process for possession or consumption of alcohol or other drugs. c) Misuse of the Medical Amnesty Policy: The Medical Amnesty Policy should not be abused. This policy does not protect students who are found to be in violation of other Concordia policies from disciplinary action. Cases in which the individual in need of help is found to be responsible for sexual abuse/assault; physical assault; vandalism; theft; destruction of property, etc., will in most cases result in formal disciplinary action as described in applicable Concordia policies. b) The recipient of medical clemency will not be required to resolve the matter through Concordia's conduct process if she/he agrees (1) to participate in a referral to an appropriate campus or community resource, and (2) to comply with any possible recommendations set forth by that resource. If the recipient of medical attention does not comply with provisions one and two then he or she will be sent through the normal conduct review process. (3) Because the safety and wellbeing of our students is such a concern, students with multiple Medical Clemencies may be required to seek professional evaluation regarding their alcohol and/or drug use. The responsibility for determining applicability of this protocol rests solely with the Dean of Students or his/her designee. This protocol is not intended to address possible violations of criminal laws or their consequences outside the Concordia campus. In cases of sexual harassment or sexual assault involving alcohol or other drugs, the University will not pursue disciplinary action against someone who complains of sexual harassment or sexual assault if they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs in relation to the complaint. EMPLOYEE POLICIES: Alcohol and Drug Abuse Concordia University, in conformity with the Drug-Free Workplace act of 1988, states that the manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession or use of controlled substances is unlawful and prohibited in this workplace. Employees who violate this policy may be referred to the Employee Assistance Program, suspended or terminated. Employees who are convicted of violating any criminal drug statute must notify the Assistant Director of Human Resources within 5 days of that conviction. In addition, the university strictly prohibits employees from being under the influence of alcohol and/or any drug while on duty or performing university business, including driving University-owned vehicles. This under-the-influence prohibition which includes legally prescribed medications, means that to the extent such use causes the employee's work ability, job performance, or safety on the job, the employee has violated the policy and is subject to disciplinary action up to an including termination. Voluntary Employee Substance Abuse Assistance Program If an employee comes forward to admit involvement with alcohol or other drugs, the university is committed to working with the employee to address the issue. A referral will be made to a trained counselor. The university will then assist the employee to carry out the recommendations of the trained counselor. This could entail continued counseling, enrollment in an alcohol or other drug education/rehabilitation program and/or inpatient treatment. If an employee does come forward to follow this process no disciplinary action will take place. Cost of the referral and treatment shall be the responsibility of the employee, however, all of the university's health care providers currently provide coverage for substance abuse treatment. Involuntary Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Leave If the University determines an employee is using drugs or alcohol, to the detriment of his/her work performance, the University can make rehabilitation a requirement of continued employment with the University. When such action is taken, an agreement should be developed between the university and employee, which may include a commitment to no longer use of alcohol or drugs and meet aftercare requirements imposed by the rehabilitation program. The employee must sign a release of information for the University so that information on the progress of rehabilitation and aftercare is available. Employees on involuntary rehabilitation leave may be given up to thirty days of paid rehabilitation leave to participate in a rehabilitation program or similar accommodations for a part-time or after working hours program. The University should make reasonable efforts to keep the employee's enrollment in a rehabilitation program confidential. Costs of participation in such a program will be paid by the employee or his/her health care provider. Subject to other terms and conditions, benefits should remain in effect for the thirty days an employee is on an approved rehabilitation leave and the university should continue to contribute the designated amount toward the cost of their benefits. PROGRAMMING: STUDENT RESOURCES: Counseling Services: Call the Counseling Directory line at 503-493-6499 and press 1 Lower level, Centennial Hall http://www.cu-portland.edu/student-services/counseling-services Health Services: message only: 503-493-6226 email@example.com Centennial Hall, Room C004 http://www.cu-portland.edu/student-services/healthwellness-services Public Safety: 503-280-8517 firstname.lastname@example.org Hagen Center, in Student Activity Center (SEAC) http://www.cu-portland.edu/student-services/campus-safety Multnomah County Crisis Line: 503-988-4888 National Drug Information Treatment and Referral Hotline (1-800-662-HELP) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's toll-free telephone number for alcohol and drug information /treatment referral assistance. When you call the toll-free number, you can speak to a representative concerning substance abuse treatment, request printed materials on alcohol or drugs, or learn more about local substance abuse treatment referral information in your state. EMPLOYEE RESOURCES: * Telephone and online support through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) * Voluntary Employee Substance Abuse Assistance Program (noted previously) o http://hr.cuportland.edu/file/view/EAP%20Overview.pdf/440575590/EAP%20Overview.pdf o http://apps.cignabehavioral.com/web/basicsite/consumer/educationAndResourceCenter/a lcoholism/alcoholismMemberInfo.jsp PROGRAMS: * Annual Employee Fair providing important information on health and support services, including the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) noted previously * Distribution of employee and student handbooks which include detailed information on University policies related to alcohol and drug use * Student Health 101 online magazine (http://readsh101.com/cu-portland.html) is a significant education and programming piece for students, with monthly reports usually showing 200 to 300 or more unique online users each month spending hundreds of hours reading articles on student health, including alcohol and drug use and associated issues. SH 101 informed Concordia that its student readership is "much higher" than the national average. * Behaviors which can interfere with academic and life success are highlighted in Concordia's freshman year experience course called "Commitment." Alcohol and drug use is specifically discussed as one of these issues. * Annual Residence Night Live program in fall semester focusing on alcohol education. Attendance has averaged well over 100 students each year the past 2 years. * Residence Life Orientation (required) addresses issues of alcohol/drug use, community standards, and student success. Mandatory meetings occur monthly in residence halls to address community concerns, including * Professional Residence Life staff and Counseling staff have had training in Motivational Interviewing with Jason Kilmer from University of Washington * alcohol/drug-related behavior. * Counseling and Health Services staff provide individual alcohol and drug assessment and education * Health Services has worked significantly over the past 2 years to help educate the Concordia community on the benefits of being a smoke-free campus. A significant step in that direction is expected by August 1, 2015. * Health Services programmed (tabling, flyers) on the Great American Smokeout day. ATHLETIC PROGRAMS: There are just over 300 student-athletes at Concordia. Concordia is officially transitioning from NAIA to NCAA Division II in summer 2015. As part of the NCAA Candidacy Year One Annual Report, Concordia was required to submit an Institutional Self Study Guide (ISSG) which included information on Drug & Alcohol Educational Programs. Summary of Concordia University Athletics Drug Education Program: The Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Welfare & Development, in coordination with the Athletics Training staff, is responsible for developing a drug education program which will include presentations to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, in Student-Athlete Leadership Training classes, to all Student-Athletes at the fall welcoming event and in team Compliance and Eligibility meetings conducted each semester. All Student-Athletes are required to attend the fall welcoming event and a Compliance and Eligibility meeting each semester. (S-A Handbook) * Team Meetings – Compliance & Policies o Institutional and National Association Drug Policies and sanctions are a point of emphasis o All Student-Athletes are required to acknowledge in writing that they are responsible for and will abide by the terms and provisions of the policies contained in the S-A Handbook, which acknowledgement specifically references 'the CU Athletics Alcohol/Substance Use and Drug Testing Policy'.. o The Associate Athletics Director and the Athletics Compliance Officer (Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance & Academic Support) and the Head Athletic Trainer meet with every team each semester to review rules compliance and the provisions of the StudentAthlete Handbook. * Educational Sessions o ESS faculty and Athletics Trainers have also address the effects of drug use with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and in our Student-Athlete Leadership Training classes. o Each fall the Athletics Department hosts a 'Welcome Back BBQ' for all Student-Athletes. The program includes a presentation on 'What Goes Into Your Body', which is conducted by faculty from the Department of Exercise and Sport Science and/or members of the Athletics Department Training staff. * Published Materials o NCAA Drug Education materials will be posted in Athletic Facilities and distributed to Student-Athletes commencing Fall 2015. o Athletics Department and NCAA Drug Policies are addressed at length in the StudentAthlete Handbook, which is available on the Athletics Department web site CONDUCT VIOLATIONS Student Conduct sanctions included: 3 rd Millennium's Under the Influence and Marijuana 101, plus educational reflections/research papers, event attendance, community service within CU Community, follow-up meetings with staff, Counseling appointments, campus nurse appointments, drug testing, Athletic Department notifications, parent notifications and conduct fines. Disciplinary Probation (the step before suspension) and Suspension were also utilized. UNIVERSITY and LEGAL SANCTION UNIVERSITY SANCTIONS: General Sanctioning Guidelines Because of the serious threat to health and safety and disruption of the educational living environment that policy violations entail, usually one or more educational sanctions and a monetary sanction will be assigned. 1. Educational Sanctions 2. Monetary Sanctions Educational sanctions are utilized as a means of holding students accountable for their actions. Students may be given "community restitution" projects designed to give them a better understanding of how their behavior impacts the community as well as "giving something back to the community." The goals of educational sanctioning are to create positive learning experiences in which the student can obtain the skills to become responsible and accountable for their actions and behavior. * Violations of the residential Visitation policy and/or non-compliance are usually sanctioned at the first offense of at least $25 and the second offense of at least $50. * Destructive and Violent Behaviors are usually sanctioned at a first time offense of $50 plus the amount of restitution needed to repair the situation * Violations of the Alcohol and Drug Policy and any other illegal activity are usually sanctioned at the first time offense of at least $50 and second offense of at least $100 (note: first-time drug offenses may result in $125 monetary sanction in addition to other sanctions, including drug testing). * Violations of other University Policy may involve monetary sanctions. * Students hosting a party/gathering where policy is being violated may be held to a higher level of responsibility. This may result in additional monetary fines and educational sanctions. * Repeated Violations and multiple policy violations will usually involve a larger range of sanctions including the total cost of each offense and each policy violation. * Students not completing educational sanctions may incur additional monetary sanctions 3. Disciplinary Warning This level of sanction gives notice to the student that he/she has violated University policy and that further violations will result in more severe disciplinary action. 4. Disciplinary Probation When the behavior of a student is a serious detriment to community (either the overall CU community or within a residence hall) and other sanction levels have been exhausted, he/she may be placed on Disciplinary Probation. A specified term will be worked out as well as criteria for getting off probation. Probation is the level of sanction that would usually precede suspension or expulsion from the University. It may include limiting access to certain areas of the campus. In cases related to alcohol or drug violations, parental notification will likely accompany Disciplinary Probation. Note: In some cases, resident students may be evicted from the residence halls. In this event, there will be no housing refund for the current term and the return of one's housing deposit of $250 remains contingent on following the proper check-out procedures and condition of the room. ACADEMIC SANCTIONS FOR BEHAVIOR INCIDENTS Pertaining to habitual violations of campus policies, dangerous or threatening behavior, or violations of criminal law by residential or commuter students, the following sanctions are available only to the Dean of Students or the Judicial Review Board (comprised of 3 faculty and 2 students). S 1. Short Term Suspension This would mainly consist of a time period, no more than one school week in length, where a student would be banned from attending classes. Suspensions are defined as follows: the student has no access to campus services (housing, dining services, etc.) or faculty members; it is the responsibility of the student to make up any school work; faculty members are under no obligation to facilitate make-up work or missed tests. 2. Long Term Suspension Long term suspension will last at least until the end of the current term and no longer than one additional term. 3. Expulsion This step requires the action of the Judicial Review Board or the Dean of Students. The expulsion could be appealed to the Vice Provost for Student Services and Enrollment Management, and ultimately to the President. In the event of long term suspension, or expulsion, the financial policies stated in the Concordia University Catalog under Tuition and Fees-Refund Policy will be utilized. In all of these cases, these sanctions will only be utilized when other courses of action have been exhausted or proven inadequate to the violation or behavior. LEGAL SANCTIONS: The following are Federal penalties and sanctions for Illegal Possession of a Controlled Substance. Additional penalties are imposed for trafficking. * After one prior drug conviction: At least 15 days in prison, not to exceed two years and fined at least $2,500 but not more than $250,000, or both. * 21 U.S.C. 844(a). First conviction: Up to one year imprisonment and fined at least $1,000 but not more than $100,000, or both. * After two or more prior drug convictions: At least 90 days in prison, not to exceed three years and fined at least $5,000 but not more than $250,000, or both. * 1st conviction and the amount of crack possessed exceeds five grams. * Special sentencing provisions for possession of crack cocaine: Mandatory at least five years in prison, not to exceed 20 years and fined up to $250,000, or both, if: * 2nd crack conviction and the amount of crack possessed exceeds three grams. 3rd or subsequent crack conviction and the amount of crack possessed exceeds one gram. * * 21 U.S.C. 853(a)(2) and 881(a)(7). Forfeiture of personal real property used to possess or to facilitate possession of a controlled substance if that offense is punishable by more than one year imprisonment. (See special sentencing provisions re: crack.) * 21 U.S.C. 844a. Civil fine of up to $10,000 (pending adoption of final regulations). * 21 U.S.C. 881(c)(4). Forfeiture of vehicles, boats, aircraft or any other conveyance used to transport or conceal a controlled substance. * 21 U.S.C. 853a. Denial of Federal benefits, such as student loans, grants, contracts, and professional and commercial licenses, up to one year for first offense, up to five years for second and subsequent offenses. * 18 U.S.C. 922(g). Ineligible to receive or purchase a firearm. Miscellaneous. Revocation of certain Federal licenses and benefits, e.g., pilot licenses, public housing tenancy, etc., are vested within the authorities of individual Federal agencies. State of Oregon Sanctions For current information regarding Measure 91 in Oregon please visit: http://www.oregon.gov/olcc/marijuana/Pages/default.aspx Oregon Chapter 475 — Controlled Substances; Illegal Drug Cleanup; Paraphernalia; Precursors https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors475.html HEALTH RISKS The use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs can cause a number of problematic changes in behavior and physiology. Alcohol or substance dependence occurs when a person continues their use despite recurrent social, interpersonal, physical, and/or legal consequences. For basic information about the risk of alcohol and other drugs please visit the National Institute on Drug Abuse website: http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/alcohol Concordia is committed to upholding the alcohol and other drug policies outlined in the Student Handbook. These policies, combined with alcohol and other drug prevention programs, intervention resources, and general University programming contribute greatly to the overall wellness and safety of both the individual student and the greater Concordia community. . DISTRIBUTION COMPLIANCE: o A written statement about its standards of conduct that clearly prohibits the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students and employees on its property or as part of any of its activities; In compliance with federal law, on an annual basis Concordia will provide the following information in writing to all of its current students and employees: o A written description of the applicable legal sanctions under local, state, or federal law for the unlawful possession or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol; o A description of any drug or alcohol counseling, treatment, or rehabilitation or re-entry programs that are available to employees or students; and o A description of the health risks associated with the use of illicit drugs and the abuse of alcohol; o A clear statement that the institution will impose disciplinary sanctions on students and employees (consistent with federal, state, and local laws and ordinances) and a description of those sanctions, up to and including expulsion or termination of employment and referral for prosecution, for violations of the standards of conduct. For the purpose of this section, please note that a disciplinary sanction may include the required completion of an appropriate treatment program. Distribution and content will be managed by Concordia's Director of Counseling Services (or designee) in collaboration with DAAPP Review Committee. An email, updated each summer, will be sent to all students and employees during the first month of the fall semester. Information will be reinforced at all new student and new employee orientation sessions. DAAPP REVIEW and TIMELINE: A multi-department process has been adopted to ensure input and collaboration among Public Safety, Student Affairs (including Counseling and Health Services), Residence Life, Athletics, Human Resources and Institutional Research. Further, a timetable and action steps have been adopted to ensure that: 2. Biennial Reviews are conducted in a timely manner and fully documented 1. Concordia's Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program (DAAPP) is reviewed annually with representatives from the aforementioned departments 3. Materials are distributed and notifications sent in accordance with the DFSCA The DAAPP Review Committee will be coordinated and convened by the Director of Counseling Services (or his/her designee) at least twice per year to review Concordia's DAAPP, assessment methods being utilized, compliance with the DFSCA, and to prepare for the Biennial Review (BR). The BR will utilize guidelines in Complying with the Drug-Free Schools and Campuses Regulations. The Biennial Review will be completed by the DAAPP Review Committee every two years. The following timeline will be utilized during the year the BR is to be completed: * Jan-Feb: DAAPP Committee compile assessment results, data and documentation from appropriate sources * Sept-Nov: DAAPP Committee create and finalize plan for completion of next BR * Mar-May: DRAFT of new BR to be completed and reviewed by DAAPP Committee * June: FINAL version of BR sent to University President for approval All documentation will reside with the Director of Counseling Services (or his/her designee). Prepared by Steve DeKlotz, Dean of Students Updated January 2016
DARTMOOR NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY (Audited) Statement of Accounts and Annual Governance Statement 2018/19 Issued: 26 July 2019 Narrative Report Introduction Dartmoor National Park Authority is a small organisation with limited resources available to fulfil our two statutory purposes: - To conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the National Park; - To promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the area by the public. In carrying out this work, we are also required: - To seek to foster the economic and social well-being of local communities within the National Park. Much of the work we do is undertaken in partnership with others in order to achieve the best outcomes for Dartmoor National Park, the people who live and work here and those who visit this special place. Our ambition is to act as a powerful and effective enabler and advocate for Dartmoor National Park; working with others to deliver a National Park that is thriving, inspirational and valued. We set out what this means in practice and how we will seek to achieve it in our Business Plan, Annual Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan. Our work supports the wider National Park Management Plan – Your Dartmoor. The National Park Management Plan is a statutory document setting out a long-term vision for the National Park, which is shared by the Authority and other partners; there is a close correlation between the Authority's priorities and those identified through consultation and engagement in the preparation of the Management Plan. Our challenge is to work in partnership to conserve Dartmoor's special qualities, enable people to enjoy them, and to do this in ways which help develop understanding of the National Park and contribute to the local economy. The aim of this Statement of Accounts is to demonstrate the overall financial position of the Authority at the end of the 2018/19 financial year; how we have used our financial resources to meet our Business Plan priorities and how we have achieved positive outcomes for the National Park. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting (the Code) which is based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The accounting policies (Note 2) establish the principles on which the figures in the financial statements are based. IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers have been adopted by the 2018/19 Code; both have been assessed as having no material impact for this Authority. There are no other changes to accounting policies this year. The Annual Governance Statement is included within this publication but does not form part of the accounts. The Annual Governance Statement describes the Authority's Governance Framework; and any identified significant governance issues and the challenges faced by the Authority. This report constitutes the Authority's "Narrative Statement" as required by Section 8 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. Financial Environment The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) sets the level of Government funding for the National Park Authority on an annual basis. For 2018/19 National Park Grant was increased by 1.72% in comparison to 2017/18. National Parks have experienced a period of financial stability following the 2015 Spending Review; this has provided the opportunity to plan ahead for a four year period, until 2019/20. This period of financial stability follows five years of significant cuts. At the time of writing this report we await details of the 2019 Spending Review process. In response to the reductions in funding between 2007 and 2015, which saw our income reduce in real terms by in excess of 40%, the Authority undertook a major change programme which saw staffing levels reduce by 25%; a reduced number of senior managers; a renewed focus on efficiency and effectiveness and a new emphasis on securing alternative sources of income. We continue to keep our staffing structure under constant review and robustly control costs and spending plans. We have also focused our resources on generating additional income streams such as: applying for external grant funding from a variety of sources, introducing new fees and charges and seeking sponsorship and donations; both in cash and in-kind. However, an increasingly competitive funding environment requires considerable outlay in terms of staff time to develop funding bids and new income generating projects and is not without risk – success is not guaranteed and normally requires significant match funding by the Authority. The match-funding is often provided through use of reserves. The Government published an ambitious plan for the environment: A Green future: Our 25 Year Plan to improve the Environment (2018) and an Eight Point Plan for National Parks (2016). Our Business and Financial Plans respond to both of these and demonstrate how, through key actions and service delivery, we are conserving and enhancing the environment and providing people with opportunities to enjoy it and improve their health and well-being. We are also contributing to the Government's productivity and clean growth agendas through our support for local businesses and a desire to see enhanced environmental productivity. Financial Performance The Authority has once again proved to be very successful in levering in additional income, and has continued to make operational and efficiency savings in-year when possible. During 2018/19 the Authority generated additional income of just under £385,000 against budget (£300,000 in 2017/18) from various sources including: grants, retail sales, donations, sponsorship, planning fees and other fees and charges. By maintaining flexible and agile spending plans, we have also been able to bring forward some future planned work, grasp new opportunities to work with new partners, access new funding streams and undertake new projects and initiatives. Total National Park Grant (NPG) increased from £3,697,575 in 2017/18 to £3,761,173 in 2018/19. A three year MTFP was approved, in March 2018, for the period 2018 - 2021 and a new MTFP has since been approved for the period 2019 - 2022. The final revenue outturn is a surplus of £69,394 against the 2018/19 budget; a minus 1.69% variance (£78,605 surplus and a minus 1.97% variance in 2017/18). This figure is reconciled to the deficit shown in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement (on page 12) in the following table: Budget management, financial control and value for money continue to be given the highest priority by Members and the Leadership Team; with robust budget management and monitoring being undertaken on a monthly basis, and with formal reporting to the Leadership Team and the Audit & Governance Committee on a quarterly basis. In addition to its core revenue spending, the Authority is engaged in a number of partnership projects and where external funding relating to these projects was received in 2018/19 but not spent, it has been transferred into earmarked reserves (as required by International Financial Reporting Standards) so that it can be carried forward. Similarly, previously received and unspent funding was drawn down from reserves in 2018/19. Further detail can be found in the Audit Governance Report dated 24 May 2019 published on the Authority's website. Gross service expenditure totalled £5.728million and Chart 1 highlights spending for each Service as presented in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement (CIES). In addition to National Park Grant (NPG) of £3.761 million, income received for the year from external grant support, sales, fees & charges and interest totalled £1.075 million. Chart 2 highlights the income for each service (excluding NPG) as presented in the CIES. In 2014 the Authority embarked on a five year, £3.9 million Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Landscape Partnership Project: "Moor than Meets the Eye". The Authority is the lead and accountable body for this Partnership Project. The income and expenditure relating to this project is accounted for separately and is therefore not included in our own Statement of Accounts. The Scheme Manager is line managed by the Director of Conservation and Communities and reports to the Landscape Partnership Board and the HLF. The Authority is represented on the Landscape Partnership Board by a Member and the Chief Executive (National Park Officer) or Director of Conservation and Communities. Members of the Authority are kept informed of Scheme progress, the financial implications and the associated risks via the Audit and Governance Committee. The Authority set aside a £300,000 provision at the start of the project, held within the Match Funding reserve, to manage the timing of future cash flows, especially the cash retention held back by the HLF at the end of the project, which might not be released for several months. Capital Spending The Capital Assets of the Authority includes: Land, Buildings, Community Assets, Heritage Assets, Intangibles, Vehicles, Plant and Equipment. The total carrying value in the Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2019 was £3.55 million (£3.58 million at 31 March 2018). A full valuation of the Authority's Land and Building portfolio took place this year resulting in an unrealised gain of £0.155 million being recognised in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Account (CIES) and the Revaluation Reserve. The Authority acquired one new vehicle during the year, at a cost of £25,570 funded from National Park Grant (revenue) but had no disposals. Further information is provided in Notes 13 and 25. General and Earmarked Reserves At the beginning of the year total reserve balances stood at £2.702 million. During the year we used £0.373 million and made transfers to or between reserves of £0.404 million. The General Reserve (working balance) was also increased by £0.05 million to £0.5 million (from surplus earmarked reserve balances); which equates to approximately 12% of the 2019/20 Net Budget Requirement, or three month's salary payments and is the minimum level that the Authority has determined must be retained. Overall, this has resulted in a closing balance of £2.733 million at year-end; which is a net increase of £0.031 million. A breakdown can be found in Note 12. In aggregate, the level of reserves and balances held is regarded as sufficient to meet current needs and to provide some assurance that unforeseen risks and emergencies can be managed. These balances are determined in part by our on-going work programmes and projects and by a risk based analysis and methodology designed by the Authority. The Authority is debt free but could decide to undertake and apply for prudential borrowing to finance capital expenditure in the future. Pension Scheme Assets and Liabilities The Authority's pension fund deficit is subject to two different actuarial valuations; the Triennial Valuation and the IAS 19 annual accounting valuation. The Triennial Valuation is used to set the employer contribution rates for the following three years and is based on assumptions that are specific to the authority's part of the Devon Pension Fund. The annual IAS 19 valuation, that the authority is required to use in these accounts uses standardised assumptions and is designed to provide comparability between employers. The result of the annual accounting valuation as at 31 March 2019 for the Authority is that the net liability has increased by £0.269 million from £12.953 million to £13.222 million, due mainly to changes in financial assumptions. In 2018/19 the actuary applied revised mortality assumptions reducing the life expectancy estimates used in the previous year's report and has estimated the possible impact of any amendments that may be required as a result of the Court of Appeal judgement on the McCloud and Sargeant cases (see notes 5 and 33 for further detail). The liability is the annual accounting valuation and is an assessment of the level of corporate bonds a corporate body would need to issue in order to cover the cost of the deficit over an assessed period. This approach was designed with the Private Sector in mind but has also been adopted by the Public Sector, although of course in local government, the true pension fund deficit is assessed through the Triennial Valuation and the deficit made good over the working life of the employees rather than by issuing Corporate Bonds. The most recent triennial valuation took place at 31 March 2016 and the Authority's funding level was assessed to be at 90% compared to 88% in 2013. The Authority continues to make additional contributions to seek to achieve a 100% funding position in accordance with a 17 year recovery plan as determined by the Actuary. In February 2017 Members approved the payment of a cash lump sum contribution of £500,000 into the fund, with the aim of reducing past service deficits and to potentially reduce future years' contribution increases. The outcome of this decision will only become clear in future years, however current performance indicates that our deficit recovery strategy remains on track. The annual accounting valuation and disclosures included in these accounts (see Note 33) makes use of many assumptions, and is a "snapshot" valuation of assets and liabilities on one particular day at year-end. This snapshot approach to valuing the deficit is volatile and unpredictable. It is arguable whether the annual calculation of the pension fund deficit accurately reflects the long run position, many believe it does not. The pension fund deficit as reported in these accounts does not represent an immediate call on the Authority's reserves but simply provides an accounting valuation snapshot (at 31 March 2019) with the value of assets and liabilities changing on a daily basis. The Business Plan - The way we work The Business Plan is a strategic document and as such does not seek to describe everything that we do, rather it seeks to: - Explain the vision for the Authority and outline the way we will work to achieve National Park purposes; - Identify the core values which will guide our work; - Detail the funding available to deliver the Business Plan. - Set out the Authority's strategic priorities and the key actions to achieve these; It also provides a link between the National Park Management Plan (Your Dartmoor), individual work programmes and staff appraisals. The Business Plan is structured around three themes: Sustain, Enjoy and Prosper, but our overall goal is to work in an integrated way (often with partners) to ensure that each work area or priority action considers and delivers across all three themes. The Business Plan sets out key actions to deliver our priorities but also recognises that our core business/services continue on a daily basis. Whilst the Business Plan focuses on each individual financial year, it also identifies where actions/ programmes will continue beyond one year and thus links to the Medium Term Financial Plan as well as the current year's revenue budget. The 2018/19 Business Plan identified 28 key actions against six agreed priorities (there were 43 actions in 2017/18). The number of key actions highlights the breadth of the work of the Authority and the nature of the key actions ranges from specific short-term projects to longer term strategic goals, each requiring different levels of officer and Member input and commitment. Progress against the actions is summarised in the following table: \| Business Plan: Progress against Actions \| Number \| \| \| \|---\|---\|---\|---\| \| Completed 2018/19 actions delivered for ongoing projects \| \| 16 \| 57 \| \| 2018/19 actions partially delivered for ongoing projects \| \| 11 \| 39 \| The Authority has a wide ranging set of Performance Indicators (PIs), some of these relate directly to the services we provide and thus set 'service standards'; others are 'State of the Park' indicators and as the name suggests help us assess the condition of the National Park and monitor key trends. The 'State of the Park' indicators are not influenced solely by the Authority's actions. Some of the PIs are set nationally (either by Government or as a set of indicators for all English NPAs) and others are set locally by the Authority itself. Our PIs are also grouped together and reported against our three strategic themes: Sustain, Enjoy, Prosper, and this allows us to monitor progress and achievement of outcomes across all service areas. During 2018/19 the Authority maintained an excellent level of service in priority areas as measured against the agreed performance targets. The Authority considers Risk Management to be an important element of its performance management framework and the Strategic Risk Register is reviewed and updated by Leadership Team on a quarterly basis and by Members at least half yearly. Monitoring performance and outcomes against the Business Plan, our Performance Indicators and Risk Management is undertaken at a 'service' or 'team' level and is reported to Leadership Team on a quarterly basis and to the Audit & Governance Committee. Copies of the reports and documents can be found on the Authority's website. Your Dartmoor - National Park Management Plan 2014 - 2019 Under section 66(1) of the Environment Act 1995 each National Park Authority (NPA) is required to prepare and publish a National Park Management Plan for its Park and review it every five years. Although preparation of the Management Plan is the prime responsibility of the NPA, we need to actively engage with and gain support from of all key stakeholders who will assist in its delivery. The Management Plan is the strategic plan for the National Park as a whole and not just for the Authority. It is a Plan for all who care about Dartmoor and its future. There is an annual meeting of all stakeholders, convened and facilitated by the Authority to up-date the action plans for each of the priorities and to identify new actions/issues. A Delivery Board comprising senior representatives from key delivery organisations plays a strategic role in overseeing implementation of the plan, monitoring how delivery is progressing, considering priorities, resourcing and providing a constructive challenge role for delivery. Your Dartmoor has its own dedicated website and the Authority receives an annual report of progress in delivering the key actions in the Management Plan with feedback from the Steering group and Delivery Board. State of the Park Report The State of the Park Report is produced every five years and provides a wider perspective on what is happening to the National Park across the three themes that underpin our work (Sustain, Enjoy, Prosper). The State of the Park report helps us and our partners determine: - What the key changes and trends are; - How we are progressing towards the vision in the National Park Management Plan and delivering National Park Purposes. - The issues and gaps which need further investigation or addressing; In addition, the 2017 State of the Park report provides an evidence base for the review of the next National Park Management Plan (2020-25). We will be working with Exeter University in 2019/20 to explore the potential to use remote sensing data to assess 'the state of the Park' and determine key trends/pressure points. Looking Forward The national policy context for the 2019/20 Business Plan is provided by documents such as the Government's plan for the environment (A Green future: Our 25 Year Plan to improve the Environment); the Eight Point Plan for National Parks and its Industrial Strategy and productivity agenda. The Business Plan identifies the links to the Environment Plan and Eight Point Plan for National Parks. The Authority has set an ambitious work programme in its 2019/20 Business Plan and Members set out their priorities as follows (in no particular order): - Conservation of the natural and historic environment; - Promote a positive experience of Dartmoor National Park for residents and visitors; - Work to support sustainable farming systems; - Work towards ensuring Dartmoor has a thriving local economy; - Be an excellent organisation. - Improve support to and engagement with local communities; The Business Plan identifies key actions to help deliver these six priorities. In the last couple of years Members have highlighted a number of areas where they wanted to see a clearer focus, these include: - Management and enhancement of access (Public Rights of Way and other access infrastructure); - Future direction of agriculture policy; - Role of the Authority in supporting economic development and productivity; - External funding and promotion of the work we do. - Engaging with people and communities; The key ingredients for most of the actions are staff time and partnership working. The Authority's 2019/20 Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan reflects the Business Plan priorities. There is also a clear correlation between the ambition of the Government to enhance the environment and reconnect people with it and the actions in the Business Plan. Whilst many of the actions are funded there are a number that relate to work programmes designed to develop future funding bids and/or secure other forms of funding (voluntary donations, commercial sponsorship etc.). During 2018/19 we were successful in securing external funding for a number of projects, including: - Dartmoor Headwaters Project - a partnership project to develop natural flood management techniques in key catchments on Dartmoor; - Dartmoor Peatland Project – this is a partnership project, led by South West Water, to undertake peatland restoration on Dartmoor, Exmoor and Bodmin Moor. The Authority is leading the Dartmoor work; - Dartmoor Rural Crime Partnership – a new initiative involving the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, constituent local authorities and other key bodies. The focus will be on tackling anti-social behaviour. After gaining outline approval last year from the Rural Development Programme for England for a capital grant to build a new Visitor Centre at Postbridge, we submitted a bid application; the outcome will be known by summer 2019. Having secured these and other projects, our challenge is to manage them effectively and still have time to think about the next project. To continue to secure external funding requires sufficient core funding to be able to discharge our statutory duties and have time to work up project proposals and grant applications. The Government's 25 Year Plan Environment Plan contains a specific commitment to "conserve and enhance the natural beauty of our landscapes by reviewing National Parks and Areas of outstanding Natural beauty (AONBs) for the 21 st century". Julian Glover has been appointed to lead this review and the Authority hosted a visit by him and the head of his secretariat in July 2018 and a separate visit by Sarah Mukherjee (a member of the review panel) in November 2018. The Authority submitted evidence to the review in December 2018. The review is due to report to Government in autumn 2019. Building on the National Parks England report Farming in the English National Parks and the work of a separate task and finish group of Dartmoor farmers and land managers, the Authority submitted a formal proposal to Defra for an Environmental Land Management System 'Test and Trial' in February 2018. In December 2018 we were told that our proposal had been successful and invited to submit a further costed work programme. This was also approved and we are now awaiting a decision on potential funding. Conclusion Managing an ambitious and complex work programme once again presented a significant challenge. Any slippage in programmed work has been reported during the year via the Budget Management and Business Plan Monitoring reports. Members have recognised the huge effort that all staff have made this year and have congratulated them for the outcomes achieved. We have in place a clear performance monitoring framework for the Business Plan and a series of "Dashboards" for individual services. These help us to maintain robust financial and non-financial management, identify resource issues and make any necessary adjustments and guard against unplanned over expenditure or work programme slippage. Success this year has resulted from: - proactively seeking and achieving efficiency savings where ever possible; - proactively seeking and securing external funding; - promoting our key messages, which results in financial support in terms of sales, sponsorship, donations and partnership working and funding; and - working strategically and in partnership with many organisations and the community, with whom we achieve so much more together The financial statements record that as a result of careful management of the Authority's resources a robust level of reserves has been maintained. The Authority maintains a robust, honest and critical view on future risks, challenges and opportunities which means that we are able to adapt and flex our spending and service delivery plans if required. Kevin Bishop Chief Executive (National Park Officer) Donna Healy Head of Business Support (Chief Finance Officer) 26 July 2019 26 July 2019 Statement of Responsibilities for the Statement of Accounts The Authority's Responsibilities The Authority is required to: - Make arrangements for the proper administration of its financial affairs and to secure that one of its officers has the responsibility for the administration of those affairs. In this Authority, that officer is the Chief Finance Officer - Manage its affairs to secure economic, efficient and effective use of resources and safeguard its assets - Approve the Statements of Accounts The Chief Finance Officer's Responsibilities The Chief Finance Officer (CFO) is responsible for the preparation of the Authority's Statement of Accounts in accordance with proper practices as set out in the CIPFA/LASAAC Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom (the Code). In preparing this Statement of Accounts the Chief Finance Officer has: - Selected suitable accounting policies and then applied them consistently - Complied with the local authority Code - Made judgments and estimates that were reasonable and prudent The Chief Finance Officer has also: - Kept proper accounting records which were up to date - Taken reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities Chief Finance Officer's Certificate I hereby certify that this Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2019 has been prepared in accordance with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and that it gives a true and fair view of the financial position of Dartmoor National Park Authority as at 31 March 2019 and its income and expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2019. Donna Healy, Head of Business Support (Chief Finance Officer) Date: 26 July 2019 Approval of the Accounts by the Authority I confirm that these accounts were approved and authorised for issue by Members of the Authority at the meeting held on 26 July 2019. Ms P Woods, Chair of the Authority Date: 26 July 2019 The Financial Statements The financial statements and their purpose are summarised as follows: - Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement (page 12) – This statement shows the accounting cost in the year of providing services in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices, rather than the amount to be funded from Government Grant. National Park Authorities receive Government Grant and raise other income to cover expenditure in accordance with statutory requirements; this may be different from the accounting cost. The taxation (government grant) position is shown both in the Expenditure and Funding Analysis and the Movement in Reserves Statement - Movement in Reserves Statement (page 13) – This statement shows the movement from the start of the year to the end on the different reserves held by the Authority, analysed into 'usable reserves' (i.e. those that can be applied to fund expenditure) and other 'unusable' reserves. The statement shows how the movements in year of the Authority's reserves are broken down between gains and losses incurred with generally accepted accounting practices and the statutory adjustments required to return the amounts chargeable to government grants for the year. The Net Increase/Decrease line shows the statutory General Fund Balance movements in the year following those adjustments. - Balance Sheet (page 14) – the Balance Sheet shows the value as at the Balance Sheet date of the assets and liabilities recognised by the Authority. The net assets of the Authority (assets less liabilities) are matched by reserves held by the Authority. Reserves are reported in two categories. The first category of reserves are useable reserves and are those reserves that the Authority may use to provide services, subject to the need to maintain a prudent level of reserves and any statutory limitation on their use (for example the Capital Receipts Reserve may only be used to fund capital expenditure or repay debt). The second category of reserves are those that hold unrealised gains and losses (for example the Revaluation Reserve) where amounts would only become available to provide services if the assets are sold, and reserves that hold timing differences shown in the Movement in Reserves Statement line 'Adjustments between accounting basis and funding basis under regulations' The Authority has a negative Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2019 which means that the Authority's liabilities are £6.652 million greater than its assets. The negative Balance Sheet has no impact on the Authority being considered a going concern. The net Pension liability of £12.918 million (£12.953m in 2017/18) has a substantial impact on the net worth of the Authority as recorded in the Balance Sheet. However, statutory arrangements for funding the deficit mean that the financial position of the Authority remains healthy. The deficit on the local government pension scheme will be made good by increased contributions over the remaining working life of employees, as assessed by the scheme Actuary (see Note 33 for further information). - Cash Flow Statement (page 15) – the Cash Flow Statement shows the changes in cash and cash equivalents of the Authority during the reporting period. The statement shows how the Authority generates and uses cash and cash equivalents by classifying cash flows as operating, investing and financing activities. The amount of net cash flows arising from operating activities is a key indicator of the extent to which the operations of the Authority are funded by way of grant income or from the recipients of services provided by the Authority. Investing activities represent the extent to which cash flows have been made for resources which are intended to contribute to the Authority's future service delivery. Cash flows arising from financing activities are useful in predicting claims on future cash flows by providers of capital (i.e. borrowing) to the Authority. - Expenditure and Funding Analysis Note (page 16) - the Expenditure and Funding Analysis shows how annual expenditure is used and funded from resources (government grants, rents, fees and charges) by the Authority in comparison with those resources consumed or earned by the Authority in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices. It also shows how this expenditure is allocated for decision making purposes between the Authority's service areas. Income and expenditure accounted for under generally accepted accounting practices is presented more fully in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement This statement shows the accounting cost in the year of providing services in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices, rather than the amount to be funded from Government Grant. National Park Authorities receive National Park Grant and raise other income to cover expenditure in accordance with statutory requirements; this may be different from the accounting cost. The taxation (government grant) position is shown both in the Expenditure and Funding Analysis and the Movement in Reserves Statement. Movement in Reserves Statement This statement shows the movement from the start of the year to the end on the different reserves held by the Authority, analysed into 'usable reserves' (i.e. those that can be applied to fund expenditure) and other 'unusable' reserves. The statement shows how the movements in year of the Authority's reserves are broken down between gains and losses incurred with generally accepted accounting practices and the statutory adjustments required to return the amounts chargeable to government grants for the year. The Net Increase/Decrease line shows the statutory General Fund Balance movements in the year following those adjustments. Balance Sheet The Balance Sheet shows the value as at the Balance Sheet date of the assets and liabilities recognised by the Authority. The net assets of the Authority (assets less liabilities) are matched by the reserves held by the Authority. Reserves are reported in two categories. The first category of reserves are usable reserves, i.e. those reserves that the Authority may use to provide services, subject to the need to maintain a prudent level of reserves and any statutory limitations on their use (for example the Capital Receipts Reserve that may only be used to fund capital expenditure or repay debt). The second category of reserves is those that the Authority is not able to use to provide services. This category of reserves includes reserves that hold unrealised gains and losses (for example the Revaluation Reserve), where amounts would only become available to provide services if the assets are sold; and reserves that hold timing differences shown in the Movement in Reserves Statement line 'Adjustments between accounting basis and funding basis under regulations'. Authorised for Issue The un-audited Accounts were authorised for issue by the Chief Finance Officer on 31 May 2019. The audited Accounts were authorised for issue by the Chief Finance Officer on 26 July 2019. Cash Flow Statement The Cash Flow Statement shows the changes in cash and cash equivalents of the Authority during the reporting period. The statement shows how the Authority generates and uses cash and cash equivalents by classifying cash flows as operating, investing and financing activities. The amount of net cash flows arising from operating activities is a key indicator of the extent to which the operations of the Authority are funded by way of grant income or from the recipients of services provided by the Authority. Investing activities represent the extent to which cash outflows have been made for resources which are intended to contribute to the Authority's future service delivery. Cash flows from financing activities are useful in predicting claims on future cash flows by providers of capital (i.e. borrowing) to the Authority. Notes to the Accounts 1. Expenditure and Funding Analysis The Expenditure and Funding Analysis shows how annual expenditure is used and funded from resources (government grants, other grants and contributions, sales, fees and charges) by the Authority in comparison with those resources consumed or earned by the Authority in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices. It also shows how this expenditure is allocated for decision making purposes between the Authority's service areas. Income and expenditure accounted for under generally accepted accounting practices is presented more fully in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. 0 2. Accounting Policies General Principles The Statement of Accounts summarises the Authority's transactions for the 2018/19 financial year and its position at the year-end 31 March 2019. The Authority is required to prepare an annual Statement of Accounts in accordance with proper accounting practices; these proper accounting practices principally comprise: - the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the UK 2018/19 (The Code) - the Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003 No03146, as amended) (the 2003 Regulations) The Statement of Accounts has been prepared using the going concern and accrual basis. The historical cost convention has been applied, modified by the revaluation of certain categories of noncurrent assets and financial instruments. Accruals of Income and Expenditure Activity is accounted for in the year that it takes place, not simply when cash payments are made or received. In particular: - Revenue from contracts with service recipients, whether for services or the provision of goods, is recognised when (or as) the goods or services are transferred to the service recipient in accordance with the performance obligations of the contract - Supplies are recorded as expenditure when they are consumed. Where there is a gap between the date supplies are received and their consumption, they are carried as inventories on the balance sheet - Expenses in relation to services received (including services provided by employees) are recorded as expenditure when the services are received rather than when payments are made - Interest payable on borrowings and receivable on investments is accounted for on the basis of effective interest rate for the relevant financial instrument rather than the cash flows fixed or determined by the contract - Where revenue and expenditure has been recognised but cash has not been received or paid, a debtor or creditor for the relevant amount is recorded in the balance sheet. Where debts may not be settled, the balance of debtors is written down and a charge made to revenue for the income that might not be collected - Where grant offers have been made by the Authority to individuals or organisations but not drawn down by the 31 March, agreement is sought from the Authority to make provision for their future payment from an earmarked reserve Adjustments between Accounting Basis and Funding Basis The resources available to the Authority in any financial year and the expenses that are charged against those resources are specified by statute (the Local Government Act 2003 and the 2003 Regulations). Where the statutory provisions differ from the accruals basis used in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement, adjustments to the accounting treatment are made in the Movement in Reserves Statement, so that usable reserves reflect the funding available at year end. Unusable Reserves are created to manage the timing differences between the accounting and funding bases. The material adjustments are: \| Expense \| Accounting Basis in Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement \| Funding Basis in Movement in Reserves Statement \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Property, Plant & Equipment \| Depreciation and revaluation / impairment losses \| Revenue provision to cover historical cost determined in accordance with the 2003 Regulations \| \| Intangible Assets \| Amortisation and impairment \| Revenue provision to cover historical cost \| \| Non-Current Asset Disposals \| Gain or loss based on sale proceeds less carrying amount of asset (net of costs of disposal) \| No charge or credit \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| Capital Grants & Contributions \| Grants that become unconditional in current year or received without conditions \| No credit \| \| Pensions Costs \| Movement in pensions assets and liabilities \| Employer’s contributions payable and direct payments made to pensioners \| Cash and Cash Equivalents Cash is represented by cash in hand and deposits with financial institutions repayable without penalty on notice of not more than 24 hours. Cash equivalents are highly liquid investments that mature in periods of up to three months from the date of acquisition and that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash with insignificant risk of change in value. In the cash flow statement, cash and cash equivalents are shown net of bank overdrafts that are repayable on demand and form an integral part of the Authority's cash management. Employee Benefits Short Term Benefits Short-term employee benefits such benefits as wages and salaries, paid annual leave, sick leave and expenses and paid on a monthly basis are charged on an accruals basis to the relevant service line in the comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. Termination Benefits When the Authority is demonstrably committed to the termination of the employment of an officer or group of officers or making an offer to encourage voluntary redundancy, these costs are charged on an accruals basis to the relevant service line in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. Post Employee Benefits Employees of the Authority are members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) administered by Devon County Council which is accounted for as a defined benefit scheme. The scheme provides defined benefits to members (retirement lump sums and pensions) related to pay and service. - The liabilities of the Devon Pension Fund attributable to the Authority are included in the balance sheet on an actuarial basis using the projected unit method, i.e. an assessment of the future payments that will be made in relation to retirement benefits earned to date by employees, based on assumptions related to items such as mortality rates, employee turnover rates and projections of projected earnings for current employees. - Liabilities are discounted to their value at current prices, using a discount rate of 2.4% based on the annualised Merrill Lynch AA rated corporate bond yield curve. - The assets of the Devon pension scheme attributable to the Authority are included in the balance sheet at their fair value: - Quoted securities – current bid price - Unquoted securities – professional estimate - Unitised securities – current bid price - Property – market value The change in the net pension liability is analysed into the following components: Service cost comprising: - Current service cost – the increase in liabilities as a result of years of service earned this year – allocated in the Comprehensive Income & Expenditure Statement to the services for which the employees worked - Past service cost – the increase in liabilities as a result of a scheme amendment or curtailment whose effect relates to years of service earned in earlier years – debited to the Surplus or Deficit on the Provision of Services in the Comprehensive Income & Expenditure Statement as part of Non Distributed Costs - Net interest on the net defined benefit liability (asset), i.e. net interest expense for the Authority – the change during the period in the net defined benefit liability (asset) that arises from the passage of time charged to the Financing & Investment Income and Expenditure line of the Comprehensive Income & Expenditure Statement – this is calculated by applying the discount rate used to measure the defined benefit obligation at the beginning of the period to the net defined benefit liability (asset) at the beginning of the period – taking into account any changes in the net defined benefit liability (asset) during the period as a result of contribution and benefit payments. Re-measurements comprising: - The return on plan assets – excluding amounts included in net interest on the net defined benefit liability (asset) – charged to the Pensions Reserve as other Comprehensive Income & Expenditure - Actuarial gains and losses – changes in net pension liability that arise because events have not coincided with assumptions made at the last actuarial valuation or because the actuaries have updated their assumptions – charged to the Pension Reserve as Other Comprehensive Income & Expenditure Contributions paid to the Devon Pension Fund – cash paid as employer's contributions to the pension fund in settlement of liabilities; not accounted for as an expense. In relation to retirement benefits, statutory provisions require the General Fund Balance to be charged with the amount payable by the Authority to the pension fund or directly to pensioners in the year, not the amount calculated according to the relevant accounting standards. In the Movement in Reserves Statement, this means that there are transfers to and from the Pensions Reserve to remove the notional debits and credits for retirement benefits and replace them with debits for the cash paid to the pension fund and pensioners and any such amounts payable but unpaid at the yearend. The negative balance that arises on the Pensions Reserve thereby measures the beneficial impact to the General Fund of being required to account for retirement benefits on the basis of cash flows rather than as benefits earned by employees. Discretionary Benefits The Authority also has restricted powers to make discretionary awards of retirement benefits in the event of early retirements. Any liabilities estimated to arise as a result of an award to any member of staff are accrued in the year of the decision to make the award and accounted for using the same policies as are applied to the Local Government Pension Scheme. Events after the Reporting Period Events after the Balance Sheet date are those events, both favourable and unfavourable, that occur between the end of the reporting period and the date when the Statement of Accounts is authorised for issue. Two types of events can be identified: - Those that provide evidence of conditions that existed at the end of the reporting period - the Statement of Accounts is adjusted to reflect such events - Those that are indicative of conditions that arose after the reporting period – the Statement of Accounts is not adjusted to reflect such events. But where a category of events would have a material effect, disclosure is made in the notes of the nature of the events and their estimated financial effect. Events taking place after the date of authorisation for issue are not reflected in the Statement of Accounts. Government Grants and Contributions Whether paid on account, by instalments, or in arrears, government grants and third party contributions and donations are recognised as due to the Authority when there is reasonable assurance that: - The Authority will comply with the conditions attached to the payments; and - The grants or contributions will be received Amounts recognised as due to the Authority are not credited to the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement until the Authority has satisfied any conditions attached to the grant or contribution that would require repayment if not met. When conditions are satisfied, the grant or contribution is credited to the relevant service line (attributable revenue grants and contributions) or Taxation and Non-Specific Grant Income (non-ring-fenced revenue grants and all capital grants) in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. Prior Period Adjustments, Changes in Accounting Policies and Estimates and Errors Prior period adjustments may arise as a result of a change in accounting policies or to correct a material error. Changes in accounting estimates are accounted for prospectively, i.e. in the current and future years affected by the change and do not give rise to a prior period adjustment. Changes in accounting policies are only made when required by proper accounting practices or the change provides more reliable or relevant information about the effect of the transactions, other events and conditions on the Authority's financial position or financial performance. Where a change is made it is applied retrospectively (unless stated otherwise) by adjusting opening balances and comparative amounts for the prior period as if the new policy had always been applied. Material errors discovered in prior period figures are corrected retrospectively by amending opening balances and comparatives for the prior period. Property, Plant and Equipment Assets that have physical substance and are held for use in the production or supply of goods and services, for rentals to others, or for administrative purposes that are expected to be used during more than one financial year are classified as Property, Plant and Equipment. Recognition Expenditure on the acquisition, creation or enhancement of Property, Plant and Equipment is capitalised on an accruals basis provided that it is probable that the future economic benefits or service potential associated with the item will flow to the Authority and the cost of the item can be measured reliably. Expenditure that maintains but does not add to an asset's potential to deliver future economic benefits or service potential (i.e. repairs and maintenance) is charged as an expense when it is incurred. Expenditure below the following (de-minimus) limits is treated as revenue expenditure and is charged to the relevant service line in the Comprehensive Income & Expenditure Statement in the year that it is incurred: - £20,000 for land and buildings - £20,000 for information communications technology related equipment (systems upgrades and software) - £5,000 for vehicles, plant and equipment Measurement Assets are initially measured at cost comprising: - The purchase price - Any costs attributable to bringing the asset to the location and condition necessary for it to be capable of operating in the manner intended by management - The initial estimate of the cost of dismantling and removing the item and restoring the site on which it is located Assets are carried in the Balance Sheet using the following measurement bases: - Community assets and assets under construction - depreciated historical cost - All other assets – current value, determined as the amount that would be paid for the asset in its existing use (existing use value – EUV) - Surplus assets - fair value Where there is no market-based evidence of current value because of the specialist nature of an asset, depreciated replacement cost (DRC) is used as an estimate of current value. Where nonproperty assets that have short useful lives or low values (or both), depreciated historical cost basis is used as a proxy for current value. Assets held in the Balance Sheet at current value are revalued sufficiently regularly to ensure that their carrying amount is not materially different from their current value at year-end, but as a minimum every five years. Increases in valuations are matched by credits to the Revaluation Reserve to recognise unrealised gains. (Exceptionally, gains may be credited to the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement where they arise from the reversal of a loss previously charged to a service). Where decreases in value are identified, they are accounted for as follows: - Where there is a balance of revaluation gains for the asset in the Revaluation Reserve, the carrying amount of the asset is written down against that balance (up to the amount of the accumulated gains) - Where there is no balance in the Revaluation Reserve or an insufficient balance, the carrying amount of the asset is written down against the relevant service line(s) in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement The Revaluation Reserve contains revaluation gains recognised since 1 April 2007 only, the date of its formal implementation. Gains arising from before that date have been consolidated into the Capital Adjustment Account. Impairment Assets are assessed at each year-end as to whether there is any indication that an asset may be impaired. Where indications exist and any possible differences are estimated to be material, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated and, where this is less than the carrying amount of the asset, an impairment loss is recognised for the shortfall. Where impairment losses are identified, they are accounted for in the same way as revaluation losses. Depreciation is provided for and charged to services in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement, on all Property, Plant and Equipment assets by the systematic allocation of their depreciable amounts over their useful lives. An exception is made for assets without a determinable finite useful life (i.e. freehold land and Community Assets) and assets that are not yet available for use (i.e. assets under construction). Depreciation Depreciation is calculated on the following bases: - Buildings – straight line allocation over the useful life of the property as estimated by the Valuer - Vehicles, Plant & Equipment – straight line allocation over the life of the asset, as advised by a suitably qualified officer Where an item of Property, Plant and Equipment has major components whose cost is significant in relation to the total cost of the item, the components are depreciated separately. Revaluation gains are also depreciated, with an amount equal to the difference between current value depreciation charged on assets and the depreciation that would have been chargeable based on their historical cost, being transferred each year from the Revaluation Reserve to the Capital Adjustment Account. When an asset is disposed of or decommissioned, the carrying amount in the Balance Sheet (whether Property, Plant and Equipment or Assets Held for Sale) is written off to the Other Operating Expenditure line on the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement as part of the gain or loss on disposal. Receipts from disposals (if any) are credited to the same line in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement also as part of the gain or loss on disposal (i.e. netted off against the carrying value of the asset at the time of disposal). Any revaluation gains accumulated in the Revaluation Reserve are transferred to the Capital Adjustment Account. Amounts received for a disposal in excess of £10,000 are categorised as capital receipts, credited to the Capital Receipts Reserve and can only be used for new capital investment or set aside to reduce the Authority's underlying need to borrow (the capital financing requirement). Heritage Assets Heritage Assets are recognised and measured (including the treatment of revaluations gains and losses) in accordance with the Authority's accounting policies on property, plant and equipment. The Authority has one Heritage Asset which is reported in the Balance Sheet at insurance valuation which is based on a building re-instatement cost assessment. The insurance valuation is reviewed and updated (if required) on an annual basis. Part of the property dates back to the 14th Century, and it is therefore deemed to have an indeterminate life: hence the Authority does not consider it appropriate to charge depreciation. The Authority does not have a policy for the acquisition and disposal of Heritage Assets, the acquisition of "Uppacott" was a 'one-off' opportunity. The property is managed and preserved in accordance with the Authority's Asset Management Plan, the terms and conditions of the HLF grant and a property specific Business Plan. The carrying amount of this Heritage Asset is reviewed where there is evidence of impairment. Any impairment is recognised and measured in accordance with Authority's general policies on impairment. If this property is identified for disposal in the future, it will be dealt with in accordance with the Authority's general provisions relating to the disposal of property, plant and equipment and the terms and conditions of the HLF grant. Disposal proceeds are disclosed separately in the notes to the financial statements and are accounted for in accordance with statutory accounting requirements relating to capital expenditure and capital receipts. Intangible Assets Expenditure on non-monetary assets that do not have physical substance but are identifiable and controlled by the Authority as a result of past events (e.g. software licences) is capitalised when it is expected that future economic benefits or service potential will flow from the intangible asset to the Authority. Intangible assets are measured initially at cost. Amounts are only revalued where the fair value of the assets held by the Authority can be determined by reference to an active market. In practice, no intangible asset held by the Authority meets this criterion and they are therefore carried at amortised cost. The depreciable amount of an intangible asset is amortised over its useful life to the relevant service lines in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. An asset is tested for impairment whenever there is an indication that the asset might be impaired – any losses are posted to the relevant service lines in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. Any gain or loss arising on the disposal or abandonment of an intangible asset is posted to the Other Operating Expenditure line in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. Where expenditure on intangible assets qualifies as capital expenditure for statutory purposes, amortisation, impairment losses and disposal gains and losses are not permitted to have an impact on the General Fund Balance. The gains and losses are therefore reversed out of the General Fund balance in the Movement in reserves Statement and posted to the Capital Adjustment Account and (for any sale proceed greater than £10,000) the Capital Receipts Reserve. Leases Leases are classified as finance leases where the terms of the lease transfer substantially all the risks and rewards incidental to ownership of the property, plant or equipment from the lessor to the lessee. All other leases are classed as operating leases. Where a lease covers both land and buildings, the land and building elements are considered separately for classification. Arrangements that do not have the legal status of a lease but convey a right to use an asset in return for payment are accounted for under this policy, where fulfilment of the arrangement is dependent on the use of specified assets. Leases (The Authority as a Lessee) Operating Leases Rentals paid under operating leases are charged to the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement as an expense of the services benefitting from the use of the leased property, plant or equipment. Charges are made on a straight line basis over the term of the lease, even if this does not match the pattern of the payments (e.g. if there is a rent free period at the beginning of the lease). Finance Leases Property, plant and equipment held under finance leases is recognised on the Balance Sheet at the commencement of the lease at its fair value measured at the lease's inception (or the present value of the minimum lease payments if lower). The asset recognised is matched by a liability for the obligation to pay the lessor. Initial direct costs of the Authority are added to the carrying amount of the asset. Premiums paid on entry into a lease are applied to writing down the lease liability. Contingent rents are charged as expenses in the periods in which they are incurred. Lease payments are apportioned between: - A charge for the acquisition of the interest in the property, plant or equipment – applied to write down the lease liability; and - A finance charge (debited to the Finance and Investment Income and Expenditure line in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement). Property, plant and equipment recognised under finance leases is accounted for using the policies generally applied to such assets, subject to depreciation being charged over the lease term if this is shorter than the asset's estimated useful life (where ownership of the asset does not transfer to the Authority at the end of the period). The Authority is not required to cover depreciation or revaluation and impairment losses arising on leased assets from National Park Grant. Instead, a prudent annual contribution is made from revenue funds towards the deemed capital investment in accordance with statutory requirements. Depreciation and revaluation and impairment losses are therefore substituted by a revenue contribution in the General Fund Balance, by way of an adjusting transaction with the Capital Adjustment Account in the Movement in Reserves Statement for the difference between the two. As the Authority only has two finance leases and the lease liability is not material for either of them, the annual lease payments are accounted for within the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement as they fall due. The assets are therefore carried as Property, Plant and Equipment in the Balance Sheet, rather than as a Long Term Liability. Overheads and Support Services The costs of overheads i.e. charges for use of non-current assets (depreciation, impairment, impairment reversals and employee benefit accrued costs) are charged to services in accordance with the costing principles of the Code, the CIPFA Service Reporting Code of Practice and the National Parks Financial Grant Memorandum 2008. The full cost of Support Services, which also includes our main premises and organisational running costs are reported as a separate service segment in accordance with the Authority's arrangements for accountability and financial performance and not allocated to those services that benefit from them. Financial Instruments Financial assets are classified on a classification and measurement approach that reflects the business model for holding the financial assets and their cashflow characteristics: there are three main classes of financial assets measured at: - Amortised cost - Fair value through other comprehensive income (none) - Fair value through profit and loss (none) Our business model is to hold investments to collect contractual cashflows. Financial assets are therefore classified at amortised cost (bank deposits and debtors). Financial assets measured at amortised cost are recognised in the Balance Sheet when we become party to the contractual provisions of the instrument and are initially measured at fair value. They are subsequently measured at their amortised cost. Annual credits are made to the Financing and Investment Income and Expenditure line in the CIES for interest receivable, based on the carrying amount of the asset multiplied by the effective rate of interest for the instrument. Any gains and losses that arise on derecognition are credited or debited to the Financing and Investment Income and Expenditure line in the CIES. Expected credit Loss Model - we recognise expected credit losses on financial assets held at amortised cost either on a 12-month or lifetime basis. Only lifetime losses are recognised for trade receivables (debtors). Impairment losses are calculated to reflect the expectation that the future cash flows might not take place due to default. Credit risk plays an important part in assessing losses. Where risk has increased significantly since initial recognition, losses are assessed on a lifetime basis. Where risk has not increased significantly or remains low, losses are assessed on the basis of 12 month expected losses. Accounting Standards Issued not Adopted The Code requires the disclosure of information relating to the expected impact of an accounting change that will be required by a new standard which has been issued but is yet to be adopted by the 2018/19 Code. The Code also requires that changes in accounting policy are to be applied retrospectively unless transitional arrangements are specified, this would result in an impact on disclosures spanning two financial years. Accounting changes that are introduced by the 2019/20 code are: - Amendments to IAS 40 Investment Property: Transfers of Investment Property - Annual Improvements to IFRS Standards 2014-2016 Cycle - IFRIC 22 Foreign Currency Transactions and Advance Consideration - IFRIC 23 Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatments - Amendments to IFRS 9 Financial Instruments: Prepayment Features with Negative Compensation. These changes are not expected to have a material impact on the Authority's financial performance or financial statements. 3. Critical Judgements in applying Accounting Policies In applying the accounting policies as set out in Note 2, the Authority has had to make certain judgements about complex transactions or those involving uncertainty about future events. The critical judgements made in the Statement of Accounts are: - The accounts have been prepared on a going-concern basis. The concept of going concern assumes that the Authority, its functions and services will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. There is no indication that Defra or Central Government intends to abolish National Park Authorities. - The Authority is continually reviewing the use and ownership of a number of assets. All land and building assets are classed as operational and held at current value, until they are declared surplus; at which point they are re-classified and held at fair value 4. Assumptions made about the future and other sources of estimation uncertainty The Statement of Accounts contains estimated figures that are based on assumptions made by the Authority about the future or that are otherwise uncertain. Estimates are made taking into account historical experience, current trends and other relevant factors. However, because these balances cannot be determined with certainty, actual results could be materially different from the assumptions and estimates. One item in the Authority's Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2019, for which there is a significant risk of material adjustment in forthcoming financial years, is as follows: \| Item \| Uncertainties \| \|---\|---\| \| Pensions Liability \| Estimation of the net liability to pay pensions depends on a number of complex judgements relating to the discount rate used, the rate at which salaries are projected to increase, changes in retirement ages, mortality rates and expected returns on pension fund assets. A firm of consulting actuaries is engaged to provide the Authority with expert advice about the assumptions to be applied. \| 5. Events after the Balance Sheet Date The Statement of Accounts was authorised for issue by the Chief Finance Officer on 26 July 2019. Events taking place after this date are not reflected in the financial statements or notes. Where events taking place before this date provided information about conditions existing at 31 March 2019, the figures in the financial statements and notes have been adjusted in all material respects to reflect the impact of this information. Since the accounts were issued, on 31 May 2019, it has become clear that a recent judgement in the Court of Appeal about cases involving judges' and firefighters' pensions (the McCloud/Sargeant judgement) has the potential to impact on the Authority's Pension liability. We therefore sought an assessment of the potential cost and impact for the Accounts. The professional view of the Authority's Actuary was that the impact is material. The Pensions liability (Past Service Cost) has therefore been adjusted by £0.304m (which is considered to be a reasonable approximation for any potential adjustment) and reflects the possible impact of any amendments that may be required to the Local Government Pension Scheme, as a result of the Court of Appeal judgement, see note 33 for further detail. 6. Financing and Investment Income and Expenditure 7. Taxation and Non Specific Grant Income National Park Grant is a general grant allocated by Defra directly to National Park Authorities as revenue grant. NPG is non-ring-fenced and is credited to Taxation and Non-Specific Grant Income in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. 8. Adjustments between Accounting Basis and Funding Basis under Regulations This note details the adjustments that are made to the total comprehensive income and expenditure, recognised by the Authority in the year in accordance with property accounting practice, to arrive at the resources that are specified by statutory provisions, as being available to the Authority to meet future capital and revenue expenditure. The following sets out a description of the reserves that the adjustments are made against. General Fund Balance The General Fund is the statutory fund into which all the receipts of an authority are required to be paid and out of which all liabilities of the authority are to be met, except to the extent that statutory rules might provide otherwise. These rules can also specify the financial year in which liabilities and payments should impact on the General Fund Balance, which is not necessarily in accordance with proper accounting practice. The General Fund Balance therefore summarises the resources that the Authority is statutorily empowered to spend on its services or capital investment (or for the deficit of resources that the Authority is required to recover) at the end of the financial year. 9. Note to the Expenditure and Funding Analysis Adjustments between Funding and Accounting Basis 2018/19 47 45 51 98 75 41 53 Adjustments between Funding and Accounting Basis 2017/18 43 56 51 90 83 40 55 a) Adjustments for Capital Purposes - this column adds in depreciation and impairment and revaluation gains and losses in the services line b) Net Change for Pensions Adjustments - Net change for removal of pension contributions and the addition of IAS19 Employee Benefits pension related expenditure and income: - For services - this represents removal of the employer pension contributions made by the Authority as allowed by statute and the replacement with current service costs and past service costs - For Financing and investment income and expenditure - the net interest on the defined benefit liability is charged to the CIES c) Other Differences - other differences debited / credited to the CIES and amounts payable / receivable to be recognised under statute i.e. accumulated absences 10. Expenditure and Income Analysed by Nature 11. Segmental Income 12. Reserve Balances Accounting Policy The Authority sets aside specific amounts for future policy purposes or to cover contingencies. Reserves are created by transferring amounts out of the General Fund Balance. When expenditure to be financed from a reserve is incurred, it is charged to the appropriate service in that year to score against Surplus or Deficit on the Provision of Services in the Comprehensive Income & Expenditure Statement. The reserve is then transferred back to into the General Fund Balance so that there is no net charge against Government Grant for the expenditure. Certain reserves are kept to manage the accounting processes for non-current assets, financial instruments and employee benefits and do not represent useable resources for the Authority; these reserves are explained in the relevant policies and in note 22. Reserve Balances Our reserve balances are regularly reviewed using a risk based approach to determine their level and use; they are made up as follows: - General Reserve (unallocated) - a contingency balance for emergency situations and is the minimum level that we have determined will always be maintained (in accordance with CIPFA guidance and good practice) - Contingency Reserves (allocated) - provisions set aside using a risk based analysis to cushion the impact of uneven cash flows and unexpected events where the timing of and / or amounts are uncertain - Earmarked Reserves (allocated) - consisting of ring-fenced grants and contributions received from third parties, sums set aside for capital schemes, commitments against future contracts and agreements and external match-funding allocations where we are working in partnership with others It can therefore be seen that the majority of our Reserve Balances are "allocated". The following table sets out the amounts set aside from the General Fund balance in earmarked reserves to provide financing for future expenditure plans and the amounts posted back from earmarked reserves to meet General Fund expenditure in year. * To be reallocated to the Invest to save and generate reserve for the "Moor Otters II Project" 13. Property Plant and Equipment Property, Plant & Equipment Movements in 2018/19 Cost or Valuation At 1 April 2018 Additions Revaluation increases & decreases recognised in the Revaluation Reserve Revaluation increases / decreases recognised in the Surplus/Deficit on the Provision of Services Reclassification At 31 March 2019 Accumulated Depreciation and Impairment At 1 April 2018 Depreciation charge for the year Depreciation written out the Revaluation Reserve At 31 March 2019 Total Net Book Value at 31 March 2019 Property, Plant & Equipment Movements in 2017/18 Cost or Valuation At 1 April 2017 Revaluation increases & decreases recognised in the Revaluation Reserve Revaluation increases / decreases recognised in the Surplus/Deficit on the Provision of Services Reclassification At 31 March 2018 Accumulated Depreciation and Impairment At 1 April 2017 Depreciation charge for the year Depreciation written out the Revaluation Reserve At 31 March 2018 Total Net Book Value at 31 March 2018 Depreciation The following useful lives and depreciation rates have been used in the calculation of depreciation: Revaluations The Authority carries out a valuation programme that ensures that all Property, Plant and Equipment required to be measured is revalued at least every five years. The most recent valuation was undertaken as at 31 March 2019. Land and building valuations are carried out by our qualified external Valuer, Stuart Oxton BSC (Hons) MIRCS, of NPS (South West) Ltd. The basis for valuation is set out in the Accounting Policies. Valuations of land and buildings were carried out in accordance with the methodologies and bases for estimation set out in the professional standards of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Valuations of vehicles, plant, furniture and equipment are based on current prices where there is an active second hand market or latest list prices adjusted for the condition of the asset. The significant assumptions applied in estimating the fair values are: - Taken as the amount that would be paid assuming its existing use value or market value - Disregarding any alternatives uses - Depreciated replacement cost 14. Heritage Assets The Authority owns "Uppacott", a Grade 1(star) listed, Devon Longhouse. This property was acquired principally because of its historical and cultural value and provides opportunities for the public to increase their knowledge, understanding and appreciation of Dartmoor's cultural heritage. The acquisition was part funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The following table is a reconciliation of the carrying value (insurance rebuild cost) see note 13 for details of the valuation date and valuer. 15. Intangible Assets The Authority accounts for its software as intangible assets, to the extent that the software is not an integral part of a particular IT system and accounted for as part of the hardware item of Property, Plant and Equipment. The intangible assets include purchased licenses only, as the Authority does not internally generate software. All software is given a finite useful life, based on assessments of the period that the software is expected to be of use to the Authority. The useful lives assigned to the major software suites used by the Authority are between 3-15 years and the carrying amount of assets is amortised on a straight line basis. Amortisation is charged to the CIES by being absorbed as an overhead across all the service headings in the Net Expenditure of Services. It is not possible to quantify exactly how much of the amortisation is attributable to each service heading. The movement of Intangible Asset balances during the year is as follows: 16. Financial Instruments The following categories of financial instrument are disclosed in the Balance Sheet: 2018/19 The (gains) and losses recognised in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement in relation to financial instruments is as follows: 17. Nature and Extent of Risks Arising from Financial Instruments The Authority's activities expose it to a variety of financial risks: - Credit risk – the possibility that other parties might fail to pay amounts due - Liquidity risk – the possibility that the Authority may not have funds available to meet its commitments to make payments - Market risk – the possibility that financial loss might arise for the Authority as a result of changes in such measures as interest rates and stock market movements The Authority's overall risk management programme focuses on the unpredictability of financial markets and seeks to minimise potential adverse effects on the resources available to fund services. Risk management is carried out by Leadership Team, under policies approved by the Authority. The Authority has adopted the CIPFA Code of Practice for Treasury Management in Public Services and as part of this approves an annual Treasury Management Strategy and Practices which sets out the policies on borrowing, investment, credit risk and interest rate exposure. The Authority provides written principles for overall risk management as well as written policies covering specific areas, such as interest rate risk, credit risk and investment of surplus cash. The Authority, at all times, invests its surplus funds prudently. Priority is given to security and liquidity rather than yield. Credit Risk and Expected Credit Loss Allowances Credit risk arises from deposits with banks and financial institutions, as well as credit exposures to the Authority's customers. This risk is minimised through the Authority's Annual Investment Strategy which requires that deposits are only made with financial institutions that meet certain minimum credit criteria. The Authority uses the ratings produced by all three of the UK's credit rating agencies. Amounts arising from expected credit losses would normally be established for investments and debtors based on estimates of the losses that might be incurred if those owing money to the Authority fail to pay it back. In order to calculate an impairment loss allowance in respect of the Authority's bank deposits the Authority has used the combined historic default rate data from the three main credit rating agencies. We have concluded that the expected credit loss is not material therefore no allowance has been made. The Authority's standard terms and conditions for payment of invoices (trade receivables) are 28 days from invoice date. Low risk, no history of default and with signed agreements in place with third parties, we have concluded that the expected credit loss is not material therefore no allowance has been made. Liquidity Risk The Authority has a comprehensive cash flow management system that seeks to ensure that cash is available when needed. Surplus cash is invested with financial institutions that meet certain minimum credit criteria and limits are set for the amount that can be invested for fixed periods. All trade and other payables are due to be paid in less than one year and the Authority currently has no borrowings. There is no significant current or future risk that it will be unable to raise finance to meet its commitments under financial instruments. Market Risk This is the risk that the Authority's investments will decrease due to changes in market factors which includes the following elements: - Interest Risk. In terms of short-term cash investments, the variable rate of interest earned on surplus funds moves during the year and any assumptions in annual budgets are made cautiously based on current market and treasury forecasts. A 1% movement in interest rates would result in £20,000 more or less than budget if investments were held for a year. The Authority is currently debt free and has no plans to borrow. - Price Risk. The Authority does not have any investments in equity shares or shareholdings. - Foreign Exchange Risk. The Authority has no financial assets or liabilities denominated in foreign currencies and thus it has no exposure to loss arising from movements in exchange rates. 18. Inventories Inventories (retail stock held for resale) are included in the Balance Sheet at the lower of cost and net realisable value. The cost of inventories is assigned using the weighted average costing formula. The Authority has three Visitor Centres within the National Park, which sell books, maps, souvenirs, items of clothing and other suitable material that promotes National Park Purposes and this defrays the cost of the overall service. The Visitor Centres exist to further the provision of information and education, the "trading" results therefore, while significant, are incidental to the main provision of a Visitor Centre Service. Hence, there is no attempt to recharge proportions of staffing or other premises costs against the gross profit stated below. 2017/18 2018/19 19. Debtors Representing sums of money owed to the Authority for goods and services supplied during the year and not paid for by 31 March, or where the Authority has made payments in advance. 20. Cash and Cash Equivalents 21. Creditors These represent sums of money owed by the Authority for goods and services received during the year and not paid for by 31 March, or where the money has been received by the Authority in advance. 22. Unusable Reserves Movements in usable reserves are detailed in the Movement in Reserves Statement. Revaluation Reserve The Revaluation Reserve contains the gains made by the Authority arising from increases in the value of its Property, Plant and Equipment, Heritage and Intangible Assets. The balance is reduced when assets with accumulated gains are: - Revalued downwards or impaired and the gains are lost - Disposed of and the gains are realised. - Used in the provision of services and the gains are consumed through depreciation, or The reserve contains only revaluation gains accumulated since April 2007, the date that the reserve was created. Accumulated gains arising before that are consolidated into the balance on the Capital Adjustment Account. Capital Adjustment Account The Capital Adjustment Account absorbs the timing differences arising from the different arrangements for accounting for the consumption of non-current assets and for financing the acquisition, construction or enhancement of those assets under statutory provisions. The account is debited with the cost of acquisition, construction or enhancement as depreciation, impairment losses and amortisations are charged to the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement (with reconciling postings from the Revaluation Reserve to convert fair value figures to a historical cost basis). The account is credited with the amounts set aside by the Authority as finance for the costs of acquisition, construction and subsequent costs. The Account also contains revaluation gains accumulated on Property, Plant and Equipment before 1 April 2007, the date that the Revaluation Reserve was created to hold such gains. Note 9 provides details of the source of all the transactions posted to the Account, apart from those involving the Revaluation Reserve. Pensions Reserve The Pensions Reserve absorbs the timing differences arising from the different arrangements for accounting for post employment benefits and for funding benefits in accordance with statutory provisions. The Authority accounts for post employment benefits in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement as the benefits are earned by employees accruing years of service, updating the liabilities recognised to reflect inflation, changing assumptions and investment returns on any resources set aside to meet the costs. However, statutory arrangements requires benefits earned to be financed as the Authority makes employer's contributions to pension funds or eventually pays any pensions for which it is directly responsible. The debit balance on the Pensions Reserve therefore shows a substantial shortfall in the benefits earned by past and current employees and the resources the Authority has set aside to meet them. The statutory arrangements will ensure that funding will have been set aside by the time the benefits come to be paid. Accumulated Absences Account The Accumulated Absences Account absorbs the differences that would otherwise arise on the General Fund Balance from accruing for compensated absences earned but not taken in the year e.g. annual leave entitlement carried forward at 31 March. Statutory arrangements require that the impact on the General Fund Balance is neutralised by transfers to or from the account. 23. Cash Flow Statement – Operating Activities The Surplus or Deficit on the Provision of Services has been adjusted for the following non-cash movements: The cash flows for operating activities include: 24. Cash Flow Statement - Investing Activities 25. Capital Expenditure and Capital Financing The total amount of capital expenditure incurred in year, together with the resources used to finance it is set out in the table below. If capital expenditure is the be financed in future years by charges to revenue as assets are used, the expenditure results in an increase to the Capital Finance Requirement (CFR), a measure of the capital expenditure incurred historically that has yet to be financed. 26. External Audit Costs The Authority has incurred the following costs in relation to the audit of the Statement of Accounts. 27. Officers' Remuneration a) Senior Officers Remuneration The Authority is required to name all officers that earn over £150,000 per annum for all or part of a year (there are none); and to list all officers who earn between £50,000 and £150,000 for all or part of a year, and who also fit the following criteria: - They report directly to the Chief Executive, or; - They hold posts required by statute (the Chief Finance Officer and the Monitoring Officer) - They are part of the Authority's Senior Management Team, or; £ No other employees earn over £50,000 per annum b) Exit Packages The numbers of exit packages with total cost per band and total cost of the compulsory and other redundancies are set out in the table below: 28. Members' Allowances The Authority paid the following amounts to members of the Authority during the year: * Includes Chair, Deputy Chair or special responsibility allowances. Allowances are not an indication of individual attendance. 29. Grant Income The Authority credited the following grants and contributions to the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. 30. Related Party Transactions The Authority is required to disclose material transactions with related parties – bodies or individuals that have the potential to control or influence the Authority or to be controlled or influenced by the Authority. Disclosure of these transactions allows readers of the accounts to assess the extent to which the Authority might have been constrained in its ability to operate independently or might have secured the ability to limit another party's ability to bargain freely with the Authority. Central Government has effective control over the general operations of the Authority predominantly via the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Defra is responsible for providing the statutory framework, within which the Authority operates, provides the majority of its funding in the form of National Park Grant and prescribes the terms of many of the transactions that the Authority has with other parties. Details of transactions with government departments are set out Notes 7 and 29. Members of the Authority have direct control over the Authority's financial and operating policies. A list of the Members' allowances paid in 2018/19 is shown in Note 28. The Authority's Standing Orders require Members to declare their interests in related parties in a register of interests. In addition Members are asked to declare separately any transactions with the Authority. No material transactions have been disclosed. Officers of the Authority are bound by the Authority's Code of Conduct which seeks to prevent related parties exerting undue influence over the Authority. Senior Officers are required to declare any transactions with the Authority. No transactions have been disclosed. Devon County Council The Authority has several Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with Devon County Council which include: providing VAT, Treasury, Payroll, Legal, Communications and ICT related services. The Authority made payments totalling £93,753 in 2018/19 for the provision of these services (£57,332 in 2017/18). The Authority has an agreement with Devon County Council conferring delegated responsibility to us for the inspection, maintenance and management of most Public Rights of Way within the National Park boundary, including footpaths, bridleways and restricted byways. In 2018/19 the Authority received £43,000 from Devon County Council for maintenance work (£43,000 in 2017/18). We made contributions to Devon County Council totalling £4,567 (£12,580 in 2017/18) for other Dartmoor related projects and initiatives undertaken or lead by the County Council and received contributions of £5,000 (£10,282 in 2017/18) for projects that we took the lead on. Devon Audit Partnership Our Internal Audit function is provided via a Service Level Agreement with the Devon Audit Partnership (DAP) at a cost of £6,160 (£5,500 in 2017/18). Teignbridge District Council We have a service level agreement with Teignbridge District Council for Health & Safety support, at an annual cost of £4,500 (£5,176 in 2017/18). Peak District National Park Authority We entered into a service level agreement with the Peak District National Park Authority to review and support our Health & Safety provision, at a cost of £3,416. West Devon Borough Council We have a formal agreement for car park management services at Princetown at a cost of £5,845 for 2018/19 (£5,875 in 2017/18) the fee paid being based on a percentage of income collected. The Authority received New Homes bonus grant income of £5,164 in 2018/19 (£9,880 in 2017/18). Other Partnerships The Authority has entered into a collaboration agreement in respect of the Devon Portal Project, which provides a common gateway to local authority services in Devon, the lead Authority is Devon County Council. Dartmoor National Park Authority has not made a financial contribution in 2018/19. The Authority is a partner in the National Parks Shared Internet Portal Project, to which the annual contribution for membership is £10,000 (£10,000 in 2017/18); the accountable body is National Parks UK Ltd. The Authority is a partner in National Parks Partnerships Limited Liability Partnership, a company established by all 15 UK National Parks; a £10,000 contribution was made in 2018/19 (and 2017/18). The company is managed by a Board of Directors who report to the Chairs of the UK National Parks (DNPA does not have a representative on the Board). The Authority is also holding a cash balance of £61,542 for the "Moor than Meets the Eye" Heritage Lottery Funded Landscape Partnership project, in its bank account. The Authority is the lead and accountable body for the partnership, however, as the balance of monies held is not DNPA funds, the income and expenditure relating to the project is accounted for separately and therefore excluded from the Authority's primary financial statements. The Authority is holding a cash balance of £175,000 (received in 2015/16) from a Developer, representing 50% of the commuted sum, for a S106 Planning Obligation Agreement on land at Chagford. This is in lieu of making provision within the development for community purposes in accordance with the adopted Local Plan and it is to be passed on to third party(s) to secure delivery of those community purposes. This balance is therefore excluded from the Authority's primary financial statements, as it does not represent DNPA funds. Assisted Organisations The Authority gives grants or contributions for conservation, interpretation, education, culture and heritage projects to organisations and individuals. Whilst individually these payments are not material to the Authority, the total of grants and contributions given in 2018/19 was £71,231 (£79,476 in 2017/18) and could be considered as material to those assisted organisations. The Authority enters into land management and access agreements with various land owners or tenants across Dartmoor. The total amount paid in 2018/19 was £13,413 (£13,510 in 2017/18). 31. Leases Authority as Lessee The Authority has two administrative buildings that have the attributes of finance leases. The Authority's interest in the assets is included within non-current assets on the balance sheet. The lease liability is not included within the balance sheet as the sum is not material. The annual lease payments are accounted for within the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement as they fall due. Operating Leases The Authority has acquired the following operating leases: - Multiple land leases, many of which are at nil payment or a peppercorn rent - Vehicle fleet and equipment, with lease terms of five years or less - Short term storage leases Land & Vehicles Equipment Expenditure charged to the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement in year: 32. Termination Benefits In 2017/18 the Authority terminated the contracts of two employees, and incurred liabilities of £27,526 see Note 28(b) for the number and the total cost per band. In 2018/19 there were none. 33. Defined Benefit Pension Schemes As part of the terms and conditions of employment, the Authority makes contributions towards the cost of post-employment benefits. Although these benefits will not actually be payable until employees retire, the Authority has a commitment to make the payments (for those benefits) and to disclose them at the time that employees earn their future entitlement. The Authority participates in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) which is a funded, defined benefit statutory scheme, administered by Devon County Council in accordance with the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013. The Authority and its employees pay contributions into a Fund, calculated at a level to balance the pension liabilities with investment assets. The Investment and Pension Fund Committee, at Devon County Council, oversees the management of the Fund whilst the day to day fund administration is undertaken by a team within the administering authority. Where appropriate some functions are delegated to the Fund's professional advisers. As administering authority to the Fund, Devon County Council, after consultation with the Fund Actuary and other relevant parties, is responsible for the preparation and maintenance of the Funding Strategy Statement and the Statement of Investment Principles. These should be amended when appropriate based on the Fund's performance and funding. Contributions are set every three years as a result of the actuarial valuation of the Fund required by the Regulations. The latest actuarial valuation of the Fund was carried out as at 31 March 2016 and contributions have been set for the period from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2020. There are no minimum funding requirements in the LGPS but the contributions are generally set to target a funding level of 100% using the actuarial valuation assumptions. In general, participating in a defined benefit pension scheme means that the Employer is exposed to a number of risks: - Investment risk. The Fund holds investment in asset classes, such as equities, which have volatile market values and while these assets are expected to provide real returns over the long-term, the short-term volatility can cause additional funding to be required if a deficit emerges; - Interest rate risk. The Fund's liabilities are assessed using market yields on high quality corporate bonds to discount future liability cashflows. As the Fund holds assets such as equities the value of the assets and liabilities may not move in the same way; - Inflation risk. All of the benefits under the Fund are linked to inflation and so deficits may emerge to the extent that the assets are not linked to inflation; and - Longevity risk. In the event that the members live longer than assumed a deficit will emerge in the Fund. There are also other demographic risks. In addition, as many unrelated employers participate in the Devon County Council Pension Fund, there is an orphan liability risk where employers leave the Fund but with insufficient assets to cover their pension obligations so that the difference may fall on the remaining employers. All of the risks above may also benefit the employer e.g. higher than expected investment returns or employers leaving the Fund with excess assets which eventually get inherited by the remaining employers. The Authority's Pension Fund liability does not represent an immediate call on reserves; it is a snapshot valuation in time, based on assumptions. The true value of the deficit is assessed on a triennial basis with contribution rates set to recover the balance over the longer-term. A recent judgement in the Court of Appeal about cases involving judges' and firefighters' pensions (the McCloud/Sargeant judgement) has the potential to impact on the Authority. The cases concerned possible age discrimination in the arrangements for protecting certain scheme members from the impact of introducing new pensions arrangements. As the Local Government Pension Scheme was restructured in 2014, with protections for those members who were active in the Scheme at 2012 and over the age of 55, the judgement is likely to extend to the Scheme. However, the potential impact is uncertain. Even though the Supreme Court has refused the Government's application to appeal the judgement. No decisions have been made about the remedies that would be required or the extent to which additional costs would fall on the Authority. On the presumption that the remedy (still to be determined) is for the Authority to incur costs in extending protections to all members who were active at 31 March 2012 until their retirement, the Authority's Actuary has estimated that the effect of this decision would be: - To increase pension the liability in the balance sheet at 31 March 2019 by £0.304million; and - To increase the projected service cost for 2019/20 by £0.024million (2.4% of the service cost before the McCloud/Sargeant judgement) It should be noted that the estimated potential impact for the Authority as calculated by the Actuary has also been based on analysis carried out by the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) and our own employer liability profile. Transactions Relating to Retirement Benefits The cost of retirement benefits in the reported Cost of Services is recognised when they are earned by employees, rather than when benefits are eventually paid as pensions. However, the charge that is required to be made against Government Grant is based on the cash payable in the year, so the real cost of retirement benefits is reversed out of the General Fund via the Movement in Reserves Statement. The following transactions have been made in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement and the General Fund Balance via the Movement in Reserves Statement during the year: Other Post Employment Benefit charged to the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement Re-measurement of the of the net defined benefit liability comprising: Pensions Assets and Liabilities Recognised in the Balance Sheet The amount included in the Balance Sheet arising from the Authority's obligation in respect of its defined benefit plans is as follows: The Local Government Pension Scheme Assets The estimated asset allocation for Dartmoor National Park Authority as at 31 March 2019 is: Based on the above, DNPA's share of the assets in the Fund is less than 1% The percentage of the total Fund held in in each asset class (split by those that have a quoted market price and those that do not): Basis for Estimating Assets and Liabilities Liabilities have been assessed on an actuarial basis using the projected unit credit method, an estimate of the pensions that will be payable in future years dependent on assumptions about mortality rates, salary levels etc. The Fund liabilities have been assessed by Barnett Waddingham, an independent firm of actuaries, estimates for the Fund being based on the latest full valuation of the Scheme as at 31 March 2016. The next valuation of the Fund will be carried out as at 31 March 2019 and will set contributions for the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2023. The principal assumptions used by the actuary have been: The estimation of the defined benefit obligations is sensitive to the actuarial assumptions set out in the table above. The sensitivity analyses below have been determined based on reasonably possible changes of the assumptions occurring at the end of the reporting period and assumes for each change that the assumption analysed changes while all the other assumptions remain constant. The assumptions in longevity, for example, assume that life expectancy increases or decreases for men and women. In practice this is unlikely to occur and changes in some of the assumptions may be interrelated. The estimations in the sensitivity analysis have followed the accounting policies for the scheme, i.e. on an actuarial basis using the projected unit credit method. The methods and types of assumptions used in preparing the sensitivity analysis below did not change from those used in the previous period. Impact of the Authority's Cash Flows The objectives of the scheme are to keep employers' contributions at as constant rate as possible. The Authority has agreed a strategy with the scheme's actuary to achieve a funding level of 100% over a 17 year period. Funding levels are monitored on an annual basis. The next triennial valuation is due to be completed as at 31 March 2019. The scheme will need to take account of the national changes to the scheme under the Public Pensions Services Act 2013. Under the Act, the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales and other main existing public service schemes may not provide benefits in relation to service after 31 March 2014 (or service after 31 March 2015 for other main existing public service pension schemes in England and Wales). The Act provides for scheme regulations to be made within a common framework, to establish new career average revalued earnings schemes to pay pensions and other benefits. The Authority anticipates that it will pay £0.496 million expected contributions to the scheme in 2019/20. GLOSSARY OF FINANCIAL TERMS Accounting Policies Accounting Policies determine the basis on which income and expenditure, assets and liabilities, transactions and adjusting events are reflected in financial statements. For example, an accounting policy for a particular type of expenditure may specify whether an asset or a loss is to be recognised, how it is to be measured and where in the comprehensive income and expenditure statement or Balance Sheet it is to be presented. Accruals Except for the Cash Flow Statement, the Statement of Accounts is prepared using the Accruals basis of accounting. This requires the non cash effects of transactions to be reflected in the accounting period during which those effects are experienced and not in that during which any cash is paid or received. On this basis, income and expenditure is reported when the related activity or benefit actually occurs. Actuary An Actuary is an expert on pension scheme assets and liabilities. Actuaries compute the actuarial charges falling die in each year in accounting for retirement benefits. Actuaries also make recommendations every three years regarding the rate of employer contributions due to the Local Government Pension Scheme. Amortisation Amortisation represents the use of economic benefits derived from intangible assets and is charged on a straight line basis over their useful lives. These are reviewed annually. Amortisation is charged with but is distinct from impairment charges. Appropriation Certain charges and credits which are made to the comprehensive income and expenditure account do not affect the authority's funding requirements and so are not chargeable to the general fund. In such cases appropriation of the amount concerned is made from the general fund to the relevant unusable reserve. The authority may also set sums aside for planned future expenditure by appropriation of the funding to earmarked reserves. All appropriations are included in the movement in reserves statement. Balance Sheet The balance sheet is one of the primary financial statements and presents the authority's recognised assets, liabilities and reserves as at the end of each financial year. It shows the distribution of assets in relation to short and long term liabilities and the extent to which the authority's net worth is available in usable and unusable reserves. Each balance sheet element is recognised and valued in accordance with the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting (the Code) as set out in supporting notes. Budget A Budget is approved annually by the Authority's and sets out the approved spending and income for a financial year. It is prepared in accordance with legislation applicable to local authorities and the National Park Grant Memorandum issued by Defra. The budget does not include any of the adjustments needed to comply with financial reporting standards, as such and is not truly comparable with the results as shown in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Account for the year. Capital Adjustment Account The Capital Adjustment Account records the funding from internal resources of Capital Expenditure and the financing (under statute) of certain revenue expenditure. It also includes, for existing Property, Plant and Equipment, the revaluation gains accumulated prior to 1 April 2007 (the date on which a separate revaluation reserve was established). It is an unusable reserve and relevant adjustments are summarised in the Movement in Reserves Statement. Categorised as timing adjustments, these typically comprise period Depreciation, Amortisation and Impairment debits, charges for financing of certain revenue expenditure under statute or for repayment of financial assistance for capital purposes, revaluation deficit adjustments, credits for financing charges to Revenue (including MRP) and for unconditional grants applied to Capital Expenditure. Finally, there are adjustments in respect of assets reclassified (as investments or assets held for sale) or derecognised on disposal. Capital Charges Depreciation, Amortisation and downward revaluations (subject to restriction) are charges made to the comprehensive income and expenditure account for the use, depletion or impairment of noncurrent assets during each financial period. These charges do not affect the funding position of the Authority and are accordingly appropriated from the general fund to the capital adjustment account. Capital Charges reduce the carrying value of non-current assets and correspondingly reduce the capital adjustment account and (subject to restriction) the revaluation reserve. Capital Expenditure Capital Expenditure represents expenditure on the construction, acquisition, development or improvement of Property, Plant and Equipment and of Intangible Fixed Assets (principally, software licenses). Under legislation it may be financed from capital sources or from funds set aside from revenue. It is to be distinguished, however, from Revenue Expenditure funded from Capital Under Statute which is charged, appropriately, as revenue expenditure in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement and only matched with its capital funding by transfer in the Movement in Reserves Statement. Capital Receipts Capital Receipts are income received from the sale of Property, Plant and Equipment or Intangible Assets. They are available only to finance new Capital Expenditure or to repay debt. Until this occurs they are held on the Capital Receipts Reserve. Cash Flow Statement The Cash Flow Statement summarises the inflows and outflows of cash and cash equivalents resulting from operations, and from investing and financing activities. It also shows how the net cash flow from operations is related to the Net Surplus or Deficit on Provision of Services. CIPFA CIPFA (The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) is the lead body for setting standards in public sector accounting practice. Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement The Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement shows the cost in the year of providing services in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices (rather than the amount to be funded from taxation or NPG). It discloses the gross income and expenditure of continuing operations analysed by service, any exceptional items, other operating expenditure, financing and investment income and expenditure, and taxation and non-specific grant income. These items together comprise the surplus or deficit on the provision of services. Below this line, valuation and actuarial gains and losses are included in order to arrive at the total comprehensive income and expenditure. Those elements which are not to be included in the surplus or deficit under statutory regulations are transferred to the respective Unusable Reserves in the Movement in Reserves Statement. Community Assets Assets that the Authority intends to hold in perpetuity, that have no determinable and useful life (where useful life is defined as a period of time over which the Authority benefits from the use of the asset) and that may have restrictions on their disposal. Contingent Liability Contingent liabilities arise where, firstly, past events precipitate a present obligation which is either unlikely to result in a transfer of economic benefit or cannot be measured with sufficient reliability. Secondly, past events may give rise to a possible obligation whose existence can only be confirmed by some future occurrence not wholly under the authority's control. A contingent liability is not provided for, therefore, either because of the improbability of outflow or the inability to measure it. Contingent liabilities are disclosed by way of note. Contributions Contributions are receivable other local authorities and other non-governmental bodies in respect of the authority's functions carried out independently. They are distinguishable from fees and charges income, which is received under a contract of supply. The same distinction applies to contributions paid by the authority. Contributions receivable are distinguished from grant income only in that grants are received from UK or EU governments (or their agencies). Credit Loss Credit loss is the difference between all contractual cash flows that are due to the Authority and all the expected cash flows (i.e. cash shortfalls) discounted at the effective rate of interest. Creditors Creditors are amounts due to third parties as at the balance sheet date arising from goods or services that have been received but for which payment has not been made, from income received in advance of supply, or from unspent grant monies covered by a repayment clause. Creditors also include provisions and amounts held on account for payment. Current Assets/Liabilities Current Assets are either assets held with the expectation of realisation within twelve months of the Balance Sheet date or cash. Current Liabilities are liabilities due for settlement within twelve months of the Balance Sheet date. Current Value The Code has introduced the concept and definition of current value to the measurement of property, plant and equipment. Current value measurements reflect the economic environment prevailing for the service or function the asset is supporting at the reporting date. For non-specialised assets, current value should be interpreted as existing use value. In the RICS Valuation – Professional Standards, this is market value based on the assumption that property is sold as part of the continuing enterprise. For specialised assets where no market exists, current value should be interpreted as the present value of the assets' remaining service potential, which can be assumed to be at least equal to the cost of replacing that service potential. Under these circumstances, property, plant and equipment is measured at Depreciated Replacement Cost. Debtors Debtors are amounts owed to the authority at the balance sheet date where services have been delivered but payment has not been received. An unexpired period in a period-based charge is also included under debtors as expenditure in advance. Depreciation Depreciation is the systematic allocation of the depreciable amount of an asset over its useful life. As charged in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement, it represents the measure of the cost or re-valued amount consumed during the period. Depreciation is charged with but is distinct from Impairment. Fair Value Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Financial Reporting Standards (FRS) Are accounting standards developed by the Accounting Standards Board. They determine the standards adopted in the preparation and presentation of the Authority's accounting records. General Fund The General Fund is the usable revenue reserve which finances the Authority's working capital. It represents the cumulative net budget surplus after appropriations to or from earmarked reserves. Government Grants Government Grants are amounts receivable from Government and Government agencies, (local, national or international), in order to fund Capital Expenditure or services and statutory functions. Government Grants are held as Creditors until all conditions for their receipt have been met. They are then included in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. Specific revenue grants are allocated to service expenditure lines while other grants are included in Taxation and Nonspecific Grant Income. Capital grants, once recognised, are transferred in the Movement in Reserves Statement to reserves; either to Capital Grants Unapplied or, when consumed, to the Capital Adjustment Account. Contributions from other bodies are accounted for in the same way as their Government grant equivalents. The following abbreviations have been used to describe awarding bodies in the analysis of Government Grants: - MHCLG = Ministry [of] Housing, Communities & Local Government - DEFRA = Department [for] the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs Heritage Assets A tangible asset with historic, scientific, technological, geophysical or environmental qualities held and maintained principally for its contribution to knowledge and culture, included in the Balance Sheet at insurance valuation. Impairment Impairment is the charge made in order to reduce the carrying amount of Property, Plant and Equipment or Intangible Assets to the recoverable amount. An Impairment loss is recognised when a specific asset's remaining service potential has been detrimentally affected by, for example, obsolescence, damage, or the adverse effects of reorganisation or regulatory changes. It is distinct from revaluation losses which, being price based, are non-specific in nature. Impairment also has separate applications to Financial Instruments. Intangible Assets Intangible assets have no physical substance but have a value in use of more than one year. These assets are not considered as marketable and are included in the balance sheet, subject to any impairment, at amortised historical cost. All intangible assets currently owned by the authority are software licences. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) These standards are issued by the international accounting standards board. They are adapted under the auspices of CIPFA so as to apply to local authorities and consolidated in the code of practice on local authority accounting (the Code). Leases Two types of leases are accounted for. Finance leases transfer substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership of the assets concerned to the authority as lessee; operating leases do not. The type of lease concerned in a particular case will be determined using a list of prescribed criteria which include, for example, the length of the contract (in relation to the life of the asset), the nature of the asset (whether for specialist or general use) and the allocation of responsibility for maintenance and insurance. Operating leases are included simply as expenditure in the comprehensive income and expenditure account. Finance leases are capitalised as corresponding assets (within property, plant and equipment) and liabilities (discounted to net present value). The lease payments are similarly disaggregated as repayment of principal and interest while depreciation is charged annually to the service for which it is used. Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) MRP represents the minimum amount that, under Government regulations, the General Fund must be charged each year in order to fund the repayment of existing debt. Movement in Reserves Statement The Movement in Reserves Statement sets out the transfers between reserves which are mad in arriving at their balance sheet values. The Surplus or (Deficit) on the Provision of Services is carried to the general fund. Appropriations are then made (to exclude non-monetary charges and credits) to unusable reserves, except for asset disposal sales proceeds and unapplied capital grants, which are usable reserves. Other discretionary appropriations are made to earmarked reserves for projected future spending. Appropriations are also made between the capital adjustment account and either the capital receipts reserve or capital grants unapplied reserve in order to reflect the application of capital grants and disposal receipts already credited to the comprehensive income and expenditure account. Adjustments to revaluation surpluses similarly involve the capital adjustment account and the revaluation reserve. NPE National Parks England, formally: English National Park Authorities Association (ENPAA). Net Book Value/Carrying Amount Net Book Value is the carrying amount at which assets and liabilities are included in the Balance Sheet under the Code. In the case of Financial Instruments, it is stated after including any timing adjustments and, in the case of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, any revaluation, depreciation or amortisation. In all cases it is stated after any recognised Impairment. NPMP National Park Management Plan – the single most important strategic plan for all National Parks and is a statutory requirement. NP (UK) Ltd National Parks UK Ltd formally: Association of National Park Authorities (ANPA) NPP LLP National Parks Partnerships Limited Liability Partnership: a company set up and owned by all 15 UK National Park Authorities to create and manage commercial partnerships between commercial companies and the Parks. Outturn Outturn represents the annual results of the revenue and capital programmes which the Authority reports in order to account for its use of public funds under government legislation. It is reported in the same terms as the budget. It is not subject to external audit, does not comply with the Code, nor does it include a balance sheet. As such is not truly comparable to the statement of accounts. Prior Period Adjustments Prior period adjustments are adjustments, applicable to prior years, arising from changes in Accounting Policies or from the correction of material errors. They do not include corrections of recurring items or adjustments of accounting estimates made in prior years. Property, Plant and Equipment Assets that have physical substance and are held for use in the production or supply of goods or services, for rental to others, or for administrative purposes and that are expected to be used during more than one financial year are included in the balance sheet under the heading of property, plant and equipment. Such assets are carried at current value and are regularly revalued in order to ensure that this remains the value at which they are reported annually. Where there is no marketbased evidence of current value (because of the specialist nature of an asset), depreciated replacement cost is used as an estimate of current value. Depreciation is charged annually by reference to the remaining useful life of an asset or of each class of component making up that asset. Surplus assets are valued at fair value. Provisions A provision is a liability of uncertain timing or amount. It is recognised when there is a present obligation (whether legal or constructive) as a result of a past event where a transfer of economic benefit is likely to result and a reliable estimate of this transfer can be made. Related Parties Parties are considered to be related if one party has the ability either to control the other party or to exercise significant influence over it in making financial or operating decisions. Parties are also related if they are subject to common control. Related parties include subsidiaries, associates, joint ventures, and possibly other entities or individuals. Central government is a related party by this definition. Related parties attract additional disclosure requirements in order to identify the extent to which the authority may exercise or be subject to influence or control. The statement of accounts includes the following in this respect: - Details of significant government grants and the awarding bodies; - Transactions with the pension fund. - Transactions with subsidiary and associated companies; - Transactions with related individuals not applicable to other members of the community (for example, members and chief officers). Revaluation Reserve The revaluation reserve is an unusable reserve holding revaluation gains on property, plant and equipment and intangible assets. Each revaluation is asset specific, allowing no offset, and restricted to operational assets, thus excluding investment properties and surplus assets. Accounting for changes in valuation is closely prescribed and distinct from the treatment of impairment. Revaluations cannot be grouped or offset, and a revaluation deficit is appropriated to capital adjustment account. Revenue Expenditure Funded From Capital Under Statute (REFCUS) REFCUS is revenue expenditure that is funded from capital either because it is capital in nature (but not ownership) or because capital financing has been allowed by specific regulation. REFCUS is included accordingly in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement and transferred to Capital Adjustment Account in the Movement in Reserves Statement. Section 151 Officer The Section 151 Officer is the officer designated under that Section of the Local Government Act 1972 to take overall control of the financial affairs of the Authority and to take personal responsibility for its financial administration. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Sets out the type and standards of service that one organisation provides to another, or the services provided by one part of an organisation to another part of the same organisation. Unusable Reserves Unusable reserves are reserves that the authority is not able to utilise to provide services. These reserves fall into two categories, namely: revaluation balances and adjustment accounts. Revaluation gains held under the first category only become available for use when the assets to which they relate are disposed of and the gain realised as a capital receipt. In the second category, each reserve is named after the adjustment variously required to report the comprehensive income and expenditure account under the accounting basis. These adjustments are realised only by reversal and thus constitute timing differences. By these adjustments, the general fund continues to be stated under the funding basis required by regulation. Usable Reserves Usable reserves are reserves available to the authority for the provision of services although there may be statutory limitations on the type of use in each case. Reserves usable for capital expenditure consist of the capital receipts reserve (which may also be applied in the repayment of borrowings) and capital grants unapplied. Usable revenue reserves consist of the general fund together with any earmarked reserves set aside from general fund for specified future expenditure. Valuation Assets and liabilities are included in the Balance Sheet at their carrying amounts: those valuations determined in accordance with The Code. These are set out in the note on Accounting Policies. ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT 2018/19 SCOPE OF RESPONSIBILITY Dartmoor National Park Authority (the Authority) is responsible for ensuring that its business is conducted in accordance with the law and proper standards, that public money is safeguarded and properly accounted for, and is used economically, efficiently and effectively. DNPA also has a duty under the Local Government Act 1999 to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. In discharging this overall responsibility, the Authority is also responsible for ensuring that there is a sound system of internal control which facilitates the effective exercise of its functions and which includes arrangements for the management of risk. The Authority has developed a Local Code of Corporate Governance, which is consistent with the principles of the CIPFA/SOLACE Framework 'Delivering Good Governance in Local Government'. A copy of the code is available on our website. The Annual Governance Statement explains how the Authority has complied with the Local Code of Corporate Governance and also meets the requirements of regulation 4(2) of the Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2011 in relation to the publication of a statement on internal control. THE PURPOSE OF THE GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK The governance framework comprises the systems and processes, and cultures and values, by which the Authority is directed and controlled and the activities through which it accounts to, engages with and leads the community, including residents, visitors and stakeholders. It enables the Authority to monitor the achievement of its strategic objectives and to consider whether those objectives have led to the delivery of appropriate, cost-effective services. The system of internal control is a significant part of that framework and is designed to manage risk to a reasonable level. It cannot eliminate all risk of failure to achieve policies, aims and objectives and can therefore only provide reasonable and not absolute assurance of effectiveness. The system of internal control is based on an ongoing process designed to identify and prioritise the risks to the achievement of the Authority's policies, aims and objectives, to evaluate the likelihood of those risks being realised and the impact should they be realised, and to manage them efficiently, effectively and economically. The governance framework has been in place for the year ended 31 March 2019 and up to the date of approval of the Business Plan and Statement of Accounts. The framework has been further supported by the Local Code of Corporate Governance. THE GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK & LOCAL CODE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE The Authority operates within a Corporate Governance Framework which ensures accountability to its users, stakeholders and the wider community to which it relates. It comprises the systems and processes, cultures and values by which decisions are made and functions undertaken to deliver the purposes and duties of the organisation. The key elements of the systems and processes that comprise the Authority's governance arrangements are based on the 7 core principles contained in the Local Code of Corporate Governance and include the following aspects: - The vision, objectives and priorities for the local area (Dartmoor National Park) for the period 2014 -2019 as set out in "Your Dartmoor", the National Park Management Plan (NPMP). "Your Dartmoor" was developed via a process of extensive community involvement and the associated action plans are revised annually in a process involving a wide range of partners/stakeholders. During 2018/19 the Authority commenced work on a more fundamental review of the National Park Management Plan organising, with partners, a series of Dartmoor Debates to discuss the future vision for the National Park. - The Business Plan for the Authority is a strategic document which provides a link between the National Park Management Plan and work programmes (for teams and individuals). The Business Plan, including priorities and targets, is reviewed annually and a separate annual review is produced in June to report on performance and highlight key projects undertaken inyear. - The Authority's financial management arrangements conform with the governance requirements of the CIPFA Statement on the Role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in Local Government (2010). - The principles of decision making are set out in the Authority's Standing Orders, supported by: 1. Financial Regulations, a Disposals Policy, a Sustainable Procurement Policy and Procurement Procedures; 2. The Authority's adopted codes of practice in relation to Treasury Management for Investments and for Capital Finance and Accounting (the Prudential Code) 3. Scheme of Delegation 4. Code of Conduct for Members and Officers 5. Job / role descriptions for Members and Officers 6. Policies and Procedures - Public involvement and transparency in decision making is facilitated through formal consultations, workshops, involvement in service reviews, consultative forums with members of the community representing access, land use, conservation, businesses and community interests and public participation at the Authority and its Committees. - Ensuring that established policies, procedures, laws and regulations are complied with is the responsibility of nominated statutory Officers, the Monitoring Officer and the Chief Financial Officer, as laid down in the Authority's Standing Orders & Financial Regulations. - A Risk Management Strategy that defines and identifies the process for ongoing risk management and the responsibilities of the various stakeholders in the risk management process. - A Strategic Risk Register is compiled, regularly reviewed and monitored by the Audit and Governance Committee and Leadership Team. Leadership Team monitors and manages operational risks via service plans, work programs and Service Dashboards. The Authority's internal project management guidance requires identification and management of risks. - A programme of service reviews or value for money/business reviews that look closely at and challenge service provision and delivery and discharges the Government's Value for Money requirements for the Authority. - Comprehensive budgeting systems set targets to measure financial performance which are reviewed by the Leadership Team and reported to the Audit and Governance Committee on a quarterly basis for detailed review and scrutiny. - Performance management is applied consistently throughout the Authority against a Performance Management Framework. Reports of progress against performance targets are reported quarterly to the Leadership Team and the Audit & Governance Committee. - The Standards sub-Committee monitors the ethical framework for the Authority and will alert the Authority to any potential issues arising from its decision making processes. All of the above elements are subject to independent challenge and scrutiny through Internal and External Auditors and other review bodies such as Defra. REVIEW OF EFFECTIVENESS The Authority has responsibility for conducting, at least annually, a review of the effectiveness of its governance framework including the system of internal control. The review of the effectiveness of the system is informed by the work of the Leadership Team and other Officers within the authority who have responsibility for the development and maintenance of the governance environment, the Head of Internal Audit's (Devon Audit Partnership) annual report and also by responding to comments and recommendations made by external auditors and other review agencies and inspectorates. The Authority's Chief Financial Officer and Monitoring Officer have also provided assurance that there have been no significant control issues that have required the need for: formal action in their respective roles; significant additional funding; had a material impact on the accounts; or resulted in significant public interest, damaging the reputation of the Authority. Although a review of the effectiveness of the Governance arrangements is reported once per year to the Authority, the process of gathering evidence and monitoring performance is continual and is managed through reports to Audit & Governance Committee. The Actions identified to be addressed during the year were: Other significant improvements in relation to governance arrangements undertaken during 2018/19 as follows: - Procurement: entered into a Service Level Agreement with Devon County Council resulting in revised and updated procurement procedures, improved templates and processes; - Local Development Scheme: this document is required by Government policy to set the 'timetable' for reviewing the Local Plan and other documents. It was updated in November 2018; - Statement of Community Involvement: a 'Local Development Document' required for setting out how a Local Planning Authority involves communities and other stakeholders in the plan-making and decision-making process. This was updated in November 2018 to incorporate new government guidance on Neighbourhood Planning; - Local Plan Review: the first draft (Regulation 18) consultation was approved by Members in November 2018 having been shaped over the preceding 18 months by a Member Steering Group. This was published for 9 weeks public consultation; a final draft will be brought to Members in 2019 for approval for a further period of public consultation; - National Park Management Plan: the adopted Management Plan is overseen by a crossorganisation Delivery Board managed and chaired by DNPA. An internal Steering Group is overseeing the review of the Management Plan and a draft for public consultation will be prepared during 2019; - Member attendance reporting: Members agreed that their attendance records should be published on the website; - Development Management: undertook a review of the site visit protocol and scheme of delegation; - Submitted evidence to the Government's independent review of Protected Landscapes in England. GOVERNANCE ISSUES Although the Authority has been assessed as having strong Governance arrangements in place, to ensure continuous improvement, it is proposed that the following work is undertaken during 2019/20: - Consider, respond to and implement relevant recommendations from the Government's independent Review of Protected Landscapes (due to report Autumn 2019); - Implement the revised Member induction training programme; - Review Standing Orders; - Provide procurement training to reflect revised systems and procedures; - Continue with the Local Plan review process; - Continue with the National Park Management Plan review process; - Review the Authority's involvement in the Heart of the South West Joint Committee and National Parks Partnerships Limited. CERTIFICATION We have been advised on the implication of the results of the review of the effectiveness of the governance framework by the Audit and Governance Committee and a plan to address weaknesses and ensure continuous improvement of systems is in place. We propose over the coming year to take steps to address the above matters to further enhance our governance arrangements. We are satisfied that these steps will address the need for improvements that were identified in our review of effectiveness and will monitor their implementation and operation as part of our next annual review. Signed: Signed: Ms P Woods Chair of the Authority K D Bishop Chief Executive (National Park Officer) Date: 26 July 2019 Date: 26 July 2019 Independent auditor's report to the members of Dartmoor National Park Authority Report on the Audit of the Financial Statements Opinion We have audited the financial statements of Dartmoor National Park Authority (the 'Authority') for the year ended 31 March 2019 which comprise the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement, the Movement in Reserves Statement, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and the CIPFA/LASAAC code of practice on local authority accounting in the United Kingdom 2018/19. In our opinion, the financial statements: - give a true and fair view of the financial position of the Authority as at 31 March 2019 and of its expenditure and income for the year then ended; - have been prepared properly in accordance with the CIPFA/LASAAC code of practice on local authority accounting in the United Kingdom 2018/19; and - have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. Basis for opinion We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the 'Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements' section of our report. We are independent of the Authority in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. Conclusions relating to going concern We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to you where: - the Chief Finance Officer's use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate; or - the Chief Finance Officer has not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the Authority's ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue. Other information The Chief Finance Officer is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Statement of Accounts, other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge of the Authority obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard. Other information we are required to report on by exception under the Code of Audit Practice Under the Code of Audit Practice published by the National Audit Office on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General (the Code of Audit Practice) we are required to consider whether the Annual Governance Statement does not comply with the 'Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework (2016)' published by CIPFA and Grant Thornton UK LLP. 1 SOLACE or is misleading or inconsistent with the information of which we are aware from our audit. We are not required to consider whether the Annual Governance Statement addresses all risks and controls or that risks are satisfactorily addressed by internal controls. We have nothing to report in this regard. Opinion on other matter required by the Code of Audit Practice In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit of the financial statements and our knowledge of the Authority gained through our work in relation to the Authority's arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources, the other information published together with the financial statements in the Statement of Accounts, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements. Matters on which we are required to report by exception Under the Code of Audit Practice, we are required to report to you if: - we issue a report in the public interest under section 24 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 in the course of, or at the conclusion of the audit; or - we make a written recommendation to the Authority under section 24 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 in the course of, or at the conclusion of the audit; or - we make an application to the court for a declaration that an item of account is contrary to law under Section 28 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 in the course of, or at the conclusion of the audit; or; - we issue an advisory notice under Section 29 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 in the course of, or at the conclusion of the audit; or - we make an application for judicial review under Section 31 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, in the course of, or at the conclusion of the audit. We have nothing to report in respect of the above matters. Responsibilities of the Authority, the Chief Finance Officer and Those Charged with Governance for the financial statements As explained more fully in the Statement of Responsibilities for the Statement of Accounts the Authority is required to make arrangements for the proper administration of its financial affairs and to secure that one of its officers has the responsibility for the administration of those affairs. In this authority, that officer is the Chief Finance Officer. The Chief Finance Officer is responsible for the preparation of the Statement of Accounts, which includes the financial statements, in accordance with proper practices as set out in the CIPFA/LASAAC code of practice on local authority accounting in the United Kingdom 2018/19, for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Chief Finance Officer determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the Chief Finance Officer is responsible for assessing the Authority's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless there is an intention by government that the services provided by the Authority will no longer be provided. The Authority is Those Charged with Governance. Those charged with governance are responsible for overseeing the Authority's financial reporting process. Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements. A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report. Grant Thornton UK LLP. 2 Report on other legal and regulatory requirements - Conclusion on the Authority's arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources Conclusion On the basis of our work, having regard to the guidance on the specified criterion issued by the Comptroller and Auditor General in November 2017, we are satisfied that the Authority put in place proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources for the year ended 31 March 2019. Responsibilities of the Authority The Authority is responsible for putting in place proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources, to ensure proper stewardship and governance, and to review regularly the adequacy and effectiveness of these arrangements. Auditor's responsibilities for the review of the Authority's arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources We are required under Section 20(1)(c) of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 to be satisfied that the Authority has made proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources. We are not required to consider, nor have we considered, whether all aspects of the Authority's arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources are operating effectively. We have undertaken our review in accordance with the Code of Audit Practice, having regard to the guidance on the specified criterion issued by the Comptroller and Auditor General in November 2017, as to whether in all significant respects the Authority had proper arrangements to ensure it took properly informed decisions and deployed resources to achieve planned and sustainable outcomes for taxpayers and local people. The Comptroller and Auditor General determined this criterion as that necessary for us to consider under the Code of Audit Practice in satisfying ourselves whether the Authority put in place proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources for the year ended 31 March 2019. We planned our work in accordance with the Code of Audit Practice. Based on our risk assessment, we undertook such work as we considered necessary to be satisfied that the Authority has put in place proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources. Report on other legal and regulatory requirements - Certificate We certify that we have completed the audit of the financial statements of Dartmoor National Park Authority in accordance with the requirements of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and the Code of Audit Practice. Use of our report This report is made solely to the members of the Authority, as a body, in accordance with Part 5 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and as set out in paragraph 43 of the Statement of Responsibilities of Auditors and Audited Bodies published by Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Authority's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Authority and the Authority's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. Julie Masci Julie Masci, Key Audit Partner for and on behalf of Grant Thornton UK LLP, Local Auditor Bristol Grant Thornton UK LLP. 3

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