Class B, year 1 , 13 students

Light vehicle maintenance

Cumbernauld Campus
New College Lanarkshire
20/11/2016

Dear Andy Murry, Thank you for the visit to our class on Friday.

The class would like to raise some concerns with yourself.

There seems to be some confusion on your part ( NCLAN ) not you personally Andy, this is a
complaint in regards to Senior Management and the board.

Our Tutor is first class our store persons are top notch and all other contact with the other lecturers
has been positive, the issues seem to arise out with our Mechanics department.

All but a few that is, firstly we raised a complaint regarding Zak and Kieran not receiving EMA
until next semester , this we found unjust unreasonable and unlawful.

We say this because the policy states that payments will stop the week of your 20th birthday, so we
all feel that its only reasonable that they start the week of your 16th birthday.

This complaint had two solutions attached one of the solutions was a discretionary fund payment of
£180 for each of our two class mates, to tide them over until January.

We were fobbed off , and have escalated this with the student president and third parties.

Now we are in receipt of freedom of information documentation , we have all saw that each of us
has over half of our bursary , the so called ring fenced part that is £335 , we all feel let down that ,
no one had the foresight to allocate £30 from each of us the 13 students in Class B , to mend this
wrong?

You are aware of the funding issues as am I, and my class so we can skip that ordeal for the
moment.

Due to the funding crisis, I have spent a lot of time in the funding department,it was there that I first
learned of the £335 broke down into 3 sections Clothing , equipment and Extra's.
This was the straw that broke the camels back Andy.

What we have been supplied with(tool box and contents) is inferior and it cost to much compared to
other products on offer , we the students could have saved 40-60% on what you paid , and we are
minnows compared with your purchasing power?

As you are aware the whole year attended a presentation conducted by a rep from Halfords.
Now you might not agree, but we the class agree , that what was on offer was better for our chances
of self- employment/employability and the price , quality and the fact that these tools were
guaranteed for life on a swap out basis in store , basically competing with Snap-On. We agree that
we should have had a choice at the very least on what our money was being spent on ( see below for
NCLANS own wording on the matter once this complaint changes style, Thank you Andy)
We asked at the time of the rep visit, if we could put some of our own money on top of what you
were getting us, and we were ignored.
Some time passed , and then our inferior product turns up, we now know that you ordered this well
after we requested the tool set from halfords.

So please advise us on the thinking behind the purchase of said items and what is the excuse for it
costing so much?

Let me clarify briefly for you Andy as I can go on a bit most times.

We the student base would relay appreciate it if someone would transfer £30 from each of our
remaining £171.83 that allows both Zak and Kieran to be paid there £30 per week back dated to
there birthdays.

We would also like you to arrange another visit from Halfords and this time ask for a senior manger
to attend, as we would like to negotiate a reduced price for bulk buying , utilise our new Trade
cards and get the further 20% offer which ran out the end of October, before we saw the over priced
items.

We will keep within our remaining £140 budget.

And as a gesture of friendship and goodwill to those receiving automotive training out with the
campus , in community centres and high schools etc, they can have the majority of the items that we
the student body deem inferior for the use of , trying to Earn and Learn.

Now to the change in style Andy. Below is basically a copy and paste job from NCLANS 60 page
charity financial filing that I looked through last night , they were very very interesting as you will
see.

These are in no particular order and I have played about with the fonts , to make it easier for me to
show the class this week and to highlight certain words and wordings .

I actually feel that what I have written so far, should be enough , we have asked a couple reasonable
requests well with in our already allocated budget , but just in case I have not made a good case
please continue to read on for a more evidence based approach to our complaints.

Anything below with one or several question marks, please forward an answer to us, post haste.

Thank you for reading part 1 of our complaint , the following is part 2, as mentioned above is a
copy and paste with the odd notation for our records and ease of use.
.

From NCLAN ACCOUNTS 214-15

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the sixteen month period ended 31st July
2015

For Bursary, Discretionary and E.M.A. Funds, the grants are excluded from the Income and
Expenditure Account as these grants are available solely for students with the College acting
as paying agent. F.E. and H.E. Childcare funds are included in the Consolidated Income and
Expenditure Account.
New College Lanarkshire Financial Statements for the Sixteen Month Period Ended 31st July
2015

Page 1 of 60 Report of the Board of Management Operating and Financial Review The Board of
Management of New College Lanarkshire presents its audited Consolidated Financial Statements
for the sixteen month period ended 31st July 2015.

Vision and Mission Statement

New College Lanarkshire aims to be the college of choice, recognised for its achievements in
empowering people and enriching lives through learning. The College aims to provide
innovative, high quality, relevant learning for careers, life and success whilst supporting the
people, business, economy and sustainable development of Scotland.

The College aims to provide innovative, high quality, relevant learning for careers, life and
success whilst supporting the people, business, economy and sustainable development of
Scotland. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Transitional Strategy

New College Lanarkshire serves the needs of Lanarkshire and Scotland through to 31st July 2016
guided by the 2014-2016 Transitional Strategy. This document articulates our commitment to the
people of Lanarkshire and Scotland for the delivery of the best possible standards of education,
training and skills development following the process of merger.

This is a Transitional Strategy pending the development of our full three to five year strategic plan
which will be created over the next twelve months led by our Board of Management and supported
by broad and meaningful consultation. Our new Strategic Plan for 2016-2020 will be developed
in full consultation with Staff, Learners and Stakeholders.

New College Lanarkshire

Financial Statements for the Sixteen Month Period Ended 31st July 2015

The College continues to work with a wide range of Community Partners and is a
central player in many learner focused projects. Many of these projects guarantee the
College’s position as the major supplier of FE in Lanarkshire with a significant focus
on student access, inclusiveness and employability. The College has maintained its role
as a high quality and high volume provider for Skills Development Scotland training
provision. The process by which contracts are awarded depends on learner success in a
wide range of programmes including Modern Apprenticeships. The College has not
only maintained this level of activity, but again has exceeded targets.

Strategic Objectives

1. Our College, our jobs, our life, our future

 1.1 Expand our range and scope of learning, teaching and engagement to support an
excellent, flexible learning experience.

1.2 Develop actions that facilitate responsibility, ownership and empowerment for
learners.

1.3 Help learners plan and manage their study, support and well being.

1.4 Evaluate our learner achievement, programme performance and help reduce
learner withdrawal and promote learner success.

1.5 Equip our learners with the right skills and knowledge to find the jobs and careers
they aspire to.

1.6 Provide enhanced opportunities to our young people in the life transition from
school to work.

1.7 Align what we offer with the needs and aspirations of our nation, our industries,
our communities and our learners

3.4 Prioritise value for money and, most importantly, social impact.

3.7 Maximise both national and international alternative funding sources for the
benefit of learners.

Financial Sustainability

As guided by ONS reclassification, the College will look to break even, maintaining permitted
cash and working capital balances, aligning resources to ensure that the College fulfils its
Vision and Values. Any surpluses will be transferred to the Arms Length Lanarkshire FE
Foundation.?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

AGE DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT USE FOR ZAK & KIERAN

Equalities The College is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse pathway to learning
which values partnership and promotes equality of opportunity. It recognises the need to be
responsive and customer-focussed and aims to ensure that students and staff are treated with
dignity, respect and equality. The College recognises the protected characteristics of age,
disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity,
race, religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex and sexual orientation.

Statement of the Board of Management’s Responsibilities

The Board of Management is responsible for keeping proper accounting records which
disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the College and enable
it to ensure that the financial statements are prepared in accordance with the Further and
Higher Education (Scotland) Acts 1992 and 2005, the 2007 Statement of Recommended
Practice: Accounting for Further and Higher Education and other relevant accounting
standards. In addition, within the terms and conditions of a Financial Memorandum agreed
between the Scottish Funding Council and the College’s Board of Management, the Board of
Management, through its designated office holder, is required to prepare financial statements
for each financial year (period) which give a true and fair view of the College’s state of affairs
and of the surplus or deficit and cash flows for that year (period).

Any system of internal control can, however, only provide reasonable, but not
absolute, assurance against material misstatement or
loss. ????????????????????????????????????????????

The College receives no similar exemption in respect of Value Added Tax. The
College is exempted from levying VAT on most of the services it provides to
students. For this reason the College is generally unable to recover the input
VAT it suffers on goods and services purchased.

b) Capitalisation of Plant and Equipment For College accounts, single items of

plant and equipment costing less than £10,000 are written off to the
Consolidated Income and Expenditure Account in the year of purchase. This
figure is £1,000 for the subsidiary. However as part of the uniform Group
accounting policies review, the impact upon the accounts is
immaterial. ?????????????????

Where tangible fixed assets are acquired with the aid of specific grants, they are
capitalised and depreciated. The related grants are credited to a deferred capital
grant account and released to the income and expenditure account over the
estimated useful life of the tangible fixed asset on a basis consistent with the
depreciation policy. ???????????

9. TAXATION The Board of Management does not believe the Group was
liable for any corporation tax arising out of its activities during the
period.??????

That is it for the moment Andy, we shall await your response , please take
part 1 as the main complaint part 2 is more evidence based for litigation
purposes , we do not see it coming to that , but best being prepared, just in
case , we get ignored again.

Regards Russell Ashcroft

Class Rep, Citizen & Student.