MINUTES OF THE BOARD MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER
2005 AT RENAISSANCE HOUSE, WARRINGTON
Present:
Bryan Gray (Chairman)
David Brockbank
Joseph Dwek
Sir Martin Harris
Peter Hensman
Robert Johnston
Dave McCall
John Moverley
Marie Rimmer
Anil Ruia
Mike Storey
Maureen Williams
Also Present:
Steven Broomhead
Bernice Law (Secretary)
David Higham (GONW)
Ian Haythornthwaite (71/10)
George Baxter (71/00)
Mark Hughes (71/00)(71/06)
71/00 PRESENTATION: NUCLEAR DECOMMISSIONING
AUTHORITY
The Board received a presentation from Sir Anthony Cleaver,
Chairman and Ian Hudson, Head of Technology and Skills Development
of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Sir Anthony reminded the Board that the Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority (NDA) had been operational since 1 April 2005, with the
responsibility for cleaning up the nuclear industry. It has
an annual budget of £2bn and employs around 140 staff at the moment
but expects this to rise to 180. The Authority is based in
West Cumbria, with four regional sites covering twenty nuclear
sites in the UK. Sir Anthony ran through the statutory duties
of the NDA to:
- Ensure the nuclear legacy is dealt with safely, securely and
with care for the environment in accordance with Government
policy
- Promote competition
- Carry out research related to decommissioning skills
- Promote best practice and secure value for money
- Give support to the social and economic life of
communities.
Sir Anthony also advised the Board of the NDA’s achievements to
date, which are:
- Standardised process for all site plans
- Contracts negotiated
- Annual Plan, Report and Accounts published
- Supply chain relationships being developed
- Site and National Stakeholder Group established
- Draft strategy issued.
The Board were asked to respond to the NDA draft Strategy.
Sir Anthony said it would be helpful to know areas within the
document, which the Agency supports as well as areas the Agency
would like to comment on.Ian Hudson emphasised the need to
understand the industry’s skill needs and to work with appropriate
partners to ensure the skills needed are identified and
delivered.
A collective RDA response would be provided on the NDA Strategy,
however it was agreed that NWDA would also provide its own
response. Bernice Law would ensure that the NWDA response was
communicated to the NDA within the required deadline.
71/01 INTRODUCTION AND APOLOGIES FOR
ABSENCE
Apologies were received from Pauleen Lane,
Brenda Smith and John Merry.
71/02 MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 8 JULY
2005
These were approved as a correct record.
71/03 ACTION POINTS FROM LAST MEETING AND MATTERS
ARISING
The Board noted the Action Points from previous meetings.
ITEMS WHICH REQUIRE A DECISION
71/04 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
The Board considered a report on the Property Management Strategy
for the Agency to establish a Public, Private Sector Partnership
under Section 5(2)c of the RDA Act.
The Board had appointed a Task and Finish Group of Board Members
to review this proposal and noted the excellent work that had been
undertaken by this Group. The areas that had been considered
were outlined in the report and the Board were informed of the Task
and Finish Group’s recommendations.
It was agreed that the Board approve the establishment of a
Public, Private Partnership (PPP) as the basis of the Agency’s
Property Strategy, subject to DTI and HM Treasury approval.
71/05 SCIENCE STRATEGY
The Board received a Discussion Paper on the North West Science
priorities and strategy.
The Board felt the discussion was timely given the context of
the RES Review, together with ongoing reviews of business support
and cluster policy. The Board noted the North West Science
strengths and the areas for ongoing NWDA support.
The Board emphasised its commitment towards targeting NWDA
investment into fewer actions with greater impact.The Board
considered existing priorities and discussed the North West’s
strengths and challenges on science in the context of Central
Government’s views.
In looking at the broad principles for NWDA involvement in
science investment in the future, the Board emphasised that
projects should be internationally competitive and should encourage
industry to work with sources of knowledge e.g. HEI’s.
The Board asked the Director of Enterprise, Innovation and
Skills to take the comments made at this meeting into account when
working up the Regional Science Strategy.
71/06 PRESENTATION ON BUSINESS LINK
REVIEW
The Board received a presentation from Mark Hughes, Executive
Director of Enterprise, Innovation and Skills on the Business Link
Review, which outlined the scope and timetable for the Study.
It was programmed that the Review would produce options and a
recommended way forward by the end of December 2005. The
Board asked to be kept fully informed as the process proceeded.
71/07 CUMBRIA ISSUES:
The Board discussion took place on the following issues in
Cumbria:
- NW Nuclear Strategy
- National Nuclear Skills Academy
- National Nuclear Institute
- National Nuclear Laboratories
The Board felt it was important that the region had a clear
strategic approach to the North West’s Nuclear Sector as it was
vital to set out clearly how the actions of a range of partners can
act in a complementary way and in a coherent direction.
Sir Martin Harris gave the Board an update on his work and the
recommendations to HEFC to establish a University of Cumbria.
The Board gave this proposal its full support.
71/08 FORMER RNAD BROUGHTON MOOR (DERWENT
FOREST)
The Board were reminded of a discussion at its July meeting on a
proposal for the remediation of Broughton Moor. Following
that meeting, a visit to the site had been undertaken.
The visit by the Board members to the site gave the opportunity
for a comprehensive review of the project, which raised a number of
issues.
The Board agreed that Cumbria Vision was now best placed to
review this scheme and its economic benefits and sustainability in
the context of Vision’s emerging Business Plan for the sub
region.
It was agreed that:
- Cumbria Vision undertakes to seek the full engagement of the
private sector in any potential end use and report back to the
Agency Board via the Urban Sub Committee on a regular basis
- The Agency would meet senior MOD officials to discuss the
acquisition of the site and the provision of a dowry to take
forward remediation work.
71/09 CHIEF EXECUTIVES REPORT
1 BBC Move to the North
The Chief Executive reported on a very positive meeting he had had
with the BBC Director General on 23 August regarding the BBC’s
proposed transfer of core activities to Manchester by 2010.
These proposals are to be considered by the BBC Governors on 20
October 2005.
The Chief Executive reported that the BBC was considering five
location options within Manchester and Salford. These
included development of a “stand alone” BBC site or a more
ambitious Media Enterprise Zone (MEZ). The latter would
provide a city region and regional focus for media, creative and IT
related investment and bring significant jobs and GVA to the
region.
The Chief Executive agreed to update the Board at the October
meeting.
2 Carlisle Airport
The Chief Executive gave feedback on the report commissioned from
York Aviation on the economic and financial viability of the
development of an airport at Carlisle. Following receipt of
the report, the Agency and Cumbria Vision had held a number of
discussions with Lord Ballyedmond from Carlisle Airport and with
the key partners, Carlisle City Council, Cumbria County Council and
Scottish Enterprises. It was noted that discussions are still
ongoing.
3 2012 Olympics
The Chief Executive informed the Board that following the
successful bid by London to host the 2012 Olympic Games, the North
West region is scheduled to host part of the football tournament at
Manchester United Old Trafford Ground.
The Board noted that the Agency had already outlined the
potential benefits of the Games to the region in business
opportunities, tourism and the potential to provide training and
acclimatisation camps for athletes. The Board were also aware
of the need to explore the links between the Olympic Cultural
Festival and Liverpool’s Capital of Culture status.
It was noted that a cross Agency group had been set up to
explore these opportunities and that the Agency will be represented
at a NW Olympic Steering Group convened by Sport England.
4 Regional Funding Allocations
The Board noted the Government’s recently produced indicative
funding allocations across the areas of transport, housing and
economic development. These cover:
- Regional transport funding allocations up to 2007/08 which are,
for the first time, in line with the housing and economic
development figures
- indicative longer term planning assumptions for regional
funding across the three funding streams beyond the current three
years of the Spending Review.
The Chief Executive reported that the Government is inviting
each region to give advice on its priorities in the three areas as
an input to Government policy decision making in advance of the
next budget. Following discussions with GONW and NWRA, an
agreed way forward has been found which is designed to produce
integrated advice. The RES Advisory Group, the Regional
Housing Board and the Regional Transport Forum would carry out
initial consideration for each of the three areas. It was
noted that the draft recommendations from these groups would be
considered and co-ordinated by the Chief Executive of NWDA, GONW
and NWRA. An Executive Board comprising of representatives of
the three bodies would agree final advice.
The Board were made aware that because of financial constraints
and commitments, there is little scope for regional discretion in
the early years of the process. Increasingly, the Agency will
have the opportunity to influence housing and transport investment
in support of its objectives.
5 Corporate Performance Update
The Chief Executive reported on the Government Office Regional
Directors’ Annual Report on the Agency’s performance in 2004/05 of
“Good”. The report commented that there had been considerable
improvement upon last year’s performance and that there is clear
evidence that the Agency is moving towards the “Excellent”
grade. The Chief Executive informed the Board that he felt
the report was a fair and reasonable summary of the Agency’s
performance in the past year. The Board noted that an
improvement plan, based on the report was being developed.
The Board also noted the survey of Stakeholders’ perceptions of
the Agency’s performance.
The Chief Executive reported that this was the last year that
this approach to performance monitoring would take place.
This would be replaced by a system of self reporting by RDA’s with
assessment by the National Audit Office based on the approach
developed for the London Development Agency by the Audit
Commission.
The Board noted the potential lines of enquiry, which were under
review and the timetable for the NWDA’s assessment.
6 NHS Reconfiguration in the North
West
The Chief Executive reported on a meeting with Chief Executives and
Chairs of Strategic Health Authorities (SHA’s) that had taken place
on 22 August 2005 as part of the RES consultation process.
The three SHA’s had welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the
draft RES.
It was reported that the meeting gave the SHA’s the opportunity
to inform the Agency of the future restructuring process of Primary
Care Trusts (PCT’s) and SHA’s. The Department of Health will
be looking to reconfigure PCT’s to have clear relationships with
Local Authority Social Services boundaries and for SHA’s to move
towards alignment with Government Office boundaries.
The Board noted that early indications for reconfiguration in
the North West are three SHA’s into one regional structure and
PCT’s to be reduced from 42 to approximately 22.
The Board noted the possible implications for the Agency.
71/10 FINANCE REPORT
The Board noted the report of the Director of Finance and Corporate
Resources for the period to the end of July 2005. The report
summarised programme expenditure against budget and forecast for
the year.
The Board was informed that the Agency’s Efficiency Plan had
been approved by the DTI. The first quarter progress report
was noted and the Board was informed that PriceWaterhouse Cooper
had been appointed by DTI to measure the achievement of savings
targets and would be reviewing the Agency performance at the end of
the second quarter of the year.
The Agency’s progress on the production of an Assurance
Framework was noted and the Board were informed this would be
provided to the Audit Committee at its meeting in October 2005 for
review.
The approved delegations for the period 25 July 2005 to 17
August 2005 were noted.
The Board approved the single tender actions outlined in the
report.
71/11 MINUTES FROM THE AUDIT COMMITTEE HELD ON 8 JULY
2005
The Board noted the Minutes of the Audit Committee held on 8 July
2005.
71/12 MINUTES FROM THE ENVIRONMENT SUB COMMITTEE HELD
ON 21 JUNE 2005
The Board noted the Minutes of the Environment Sub Committee held
on 21 June 2005.
71/13 MINUTES FROM THE ENVIRONMENT SUB COMMITTEE
HELD ON 21 JUNE 2005
The Board noted the Minutes of
the Environment Sub Committee held on 21 June 2005.
71/14 MINUTES FROM THE RURAL REGENERATION SUB
COMMITTEE HELD ON 12 AUGUST 2005
The Board noted the
Minutes of the Rural Regeneration Sub Committee held on 12 August
2005.
71/15 BOARD MEMBERS FEEDBACK
Maureen Williams reported on the proceedings of the Urban Sub
Committee of 12 September.
DATE AND TIME OF THE NEXT BOARD MEETING
The next meeting will be at Renaissance House on 13 October
2005.
The meeting finished at 14.00.