Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Dr Adrian Lepper, Secretary to the Board e Learning Holding Company
1. DATES OF
MEETINGS OF
ELEARNING
HOLDING COMPANY
LIMITED BOARD
The board met on the following dates:
| 29 June 2001 |
| 5 October 2001 |
| 31 October 2001 |
| 14 February 2002 |
| 24 September 2002 |
| 6 December 2002 |
| 18 March 2003 |
| 16 September 2003 |
| 5 December 2003 |
| 10 March 2004 |
| 8 June 2004 |
| 29 September 2004 |
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2. SUN INVESTMENT
IN UKEU
In a Strategic Agreement dated 19 October 2001 UKeU agreed
to place 3,862K shares at a given value of £1.45 per share
in the custody of Croft Nominees. SUN had offered the following
discounts to UKeU
| £K |
| Professional Services | 314
|
| Hardware | 300 |
| Licences | 5,007 |
| Total | 5,600
|
| |
These shares were to be transferred to the Guillemont Trust
when Sun had provided or made available the products and services.
The Guillemont Trust would make charitable grants out of any dividends
received.
In April 2003 UKeU decided that they no longer required some
of the licences. 1,448K UKeU shares were transferred from Croft
Nominees to eLHC who paid UKeU £2.1 million.
Most of the shares were still in the custody of Croft Nominees
at the time of the agreement by the UKeU creditors of the Company
Voluntary Arrangement in July 2004. This is because most credits
related to student licences that had not been taken up.
3. ELEARNING
HOLDING COMPANY
LEGAL STATUS
The eLearning Holding Company Limited (eLHC) was incorporated
on 25 June 2001 as a company limited by guarantee. All UK HEI's
were invited to become members and all but four did so. Members
of a company limited by guarantee undertake to pay £1 towards
the liabilities of the company if it is dissolved. They make no
investment in the company and cannot obtain preferential benefit
from its activities over non- members. They receive the annual
report and can pass resolutions at company meetings. The intention
was that eLHC would, after covering its operational expenses,
distribute any dividends it received from UKeU through a charitable
trust to the benefit of UK HE. Its initial operating expenses
were met by a small grant from HEFCE.
4. STATEMENT BY
BOARD OF
ELHC
In December 2003 the Board reported to HEFCE that "it
was in no way surprised by the current trading position of UKeU
nor that problems had arisen in the implementation of the learning
platform. Neither reflected adversely on the commitment or competence
of the senior management or staff of UKeU. The Board did, however,
recognise, as acknowledged by UKeU, that the projections for student
numbers and revenue had no objective base and were subject to
a high level of uncertainty.
The projections could be exceeded, but significant risk existed
that a shortfall would occur. In these circumstances the break
even point for UKeU would recede further into the future, with
the prospects for private finance receding in parallel, and additional
financial support from public funds would be necessary if UKeU
were to remain in business."
12 January 2005
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