Minutes of the ASC Annual General Meeting

Held at Imperial College, London.
Friday, 22 April, 2005  

1          APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

             Randy Banks, Raz Khan

 2          MINUTES OF THE LAST ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

             The Minutes were agreed.

 3          MATTERS ARISING

             There were no matters arising

 4          REPORT FROM THE CHAIR

             The Chair apologised for the lateness of the meeting, which was originally scheduled for September 2004.   The report will cover the whole period since September 2003. 

            The Newsletter has continued to be published twice yearly; the next one due in May.   For a second year the joint ASC/MRS Award for Technology took place, the winners being E-Tabs who will present their winning entry at an evening event on the 9^th June at the Royal Statistical Society. Details of this and next year’s award have been posted on the website.   An announcement of the 2005 award is included in the delegate pack.  

            There was a successful event – Software Showcase – held at Imperial College in April 2004.   In addition to the conference being held today, most of the planning for the next event – Maximising Data Value – a residential conference on 15/16 September 2005, is now complete.   Potential delegates were advised to book early to take advantage of the early booking discount, which is only available until the end of May.

            The ASC is currently re-assessing the direction it should take.   There are several working groups within the Committee actively assessing various options, e.g. different types of events.   News from these groups should soon be available but any views from members would be welcome in the meantime.

             The Committee and administrator were thanked for all their work during the year and members thanked for their support.

 5          TREASURER’S REPORT

             The treasurer thanked the administrator for preparing the accounts and Stuart Manson of the University of Essex for once again auditing them.

             The balance at the end of fiscal 04 was £36,712 which is a decrease on the previous year of £9,600. The projection for the April 2005 year end balance will be a further £8,000 decrease. 

            Running costs have remained reasonably static and there is little scope for reducing discretionary spending.   There has been a lower conference attendance and only a modest increase in revenue from membership fees.

             As the Chair indicated, the committee are tackling the issues surrounding lower income and there is no immediate cause for alarm.   The ASC continues to be a viable entity.

             The Harris donation of nearly £5,000 will be included in the 2005 accounts and this sum is being ring fenced for supporting open standards such as Triple-S.

             It was proposed that the accounts be accepted by Garj and seconded by Andrew Westlake.

 6          ELECTION TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

             All committee members standing for re-election were duly elected.

 7          ANY OTHER BUSINESS

             There was no other business