Corporate report

Minutes: 31 January 2023

Published 22 December 2023

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

Executive Board (EB) minutes of the 119th meeting via MS Teams and in Bristol Conference Room 31 January 2023

Attendees:

Richard Stanford (Chair)
Anna Brown
Amanda Grist
Derrick Osgood
James Pendlebury
Steph Rhodes
Paula Rice
Jo Ridgway
Mike Seddon
Andrew Stirling (observer)
Julia Lovell – minute secretary
Head of Sector Capacity and Green Economy – Sector capacity
Deputy Head of FC Comms – FC Communications Strategy
Head of Health and Safety and Training – Health and Safety updates
Director of Marketing and Engagement – Coronation
Leadership and Development Manager – Professional Manager Programme
OD Project Manager – Your offer
PA Consulting – FC Strategy

1. Welcome, updates and introductions

The Chair opened the meeting with some updates.

The Environment Improvement Plan (EIP) launched today.

Update from Sir William Worsley is that the ministerial reports had been received well:

• there was agreement to include woodland carbon code in the England Tree Strategy
• we advised to emphasise UK Forestry Standard instead of setting conifer planting targets to meet softwood demand
• keen to give Forestry England greater freedoms to ensure less political interference for a long-term vision
• FC to respond on how to make ELM changes effective
• FC will need to input into the land use framework to make the case for trees

The Chair also had a meeting with the National Theatre. They have reached out to the FC to help them secure a sustainable source of timber for their sets, which we can do through the Forestry England Woodland Partnership.

Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) strike action is taking place on 1 February 2023. There is some confusion surrounding this so to clarify: PCS members can strike, non-union members can strike, members of others unions cannot strike.

On the forward look: need to consider how to present what we already do for forestry education and how commissioners are involved in this. February will be a busy month with many meetings and decisions taking place.

2. Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising

The minutes for the meeting of the Forestry Commission (FC) Executive Board (EB) of 28 November 2022 were agreed as a true and accurate record. The actions points were updated as follows:

Action 1: Julia Lovell to pass on updated paper as an information note on international representation to Richard Stanford so that actions 2 and 3 can be discharged.

Action 2: Richard Stanford to circulate the updated paper to commissioners as an information note on international representation activity.

Action 3: Richard Stanford to circulate the information note on Defra colleagues, including David Hill, Edward Barker, Nicola Spence, Simon James and Ceri Morgan at Defra.

Update on Action 5 – [redacted].

Update on actions 6, 7, and 8 on vehicle policies.

There is currently no ministerial appetite for relaxing rules around salary sacrifice schemes through CAPES.

ULEV are already a default choice when requesting car hire, however Enterprise are struggling to supply these as standard.

Guidance is being updated to help staff balance business needs when a hire car fails and there is a need to use personal car for travel.

All other actions were discharged.

3. Health and Safety update

This was a brief update as there were few incident reports over the festive break. Majority of the reports were of a minor nature and no RIDDOR incidents.

We are approximately 75% through the process of having a COSHH system, annual subscription has been negotiated but will not commence until full configuration is complete.

New PPG on provision and use of work equipment (PUWER) is being led by the MES team. This will guide staff on procurement, management and maintenance of vehicles and equipment.

The mandatory training group has reconvened to review whether the topics, format and content of training is effective. The results and recommendations will be brought back to the EB for endorsement this year.

4. GIAA Action Tracker

Good progress has been made on the GIAA Action tracker, open actions reduced by a third. Derrick Osgood thanked this group and wanted to recognise the staff who have worked hard to get to this point.

No new actions had been put on the tracker due to the festive period. Two actions had been extended, two actions are now overdue, all other actions are on track.

5. FC Communications strategy

The FC commissioners have provided comments on the draft of the FC Communications strategy. Discussion was around working with organisations closest to the communities we want to reach with forest messaging and perceptions of wording associated with forests. The proposal is to use key words used in government and in plain English.

The EB welcomed the forward look for forestry combined with Defra’s schedule to ensure joined up planning but resource to do this still needs to be identified.

The EB endorsed further finessing workstreams of the strategy to better understand the request for resource. FS communications team can provide information on what can be absorbed by existing resource.

The EB agreed to pause communications strategy to align with work of the FC Strategy. This is due to be completed end of March, with clearance from the commissioners’ board.

The FC communications strategy should be ready to return to Commissioners with more information on implementation for the May meeting.

6. Business continuation planning

The Business continuation planning (BCP) group was initially set up to look at BCP for strike action and blackouts. The main recommendation of this working group is to ensure standardisation of approach across the business. The suggestion is to do this via existing networks and resources, led by governance leads. The EB endorsed this approach, with a framework for the EB to approve to come in June.

7. Coronation

Director of Marketing and Engagement provided an update to the FC EB on ideas to support Operation Golden Orb. The Coronation weekend will run over three days, with the Coronation on Saturday, a shared lunch on Sunday, and Monday dedicated to volunteering. Most of the events led by Forestry England will be at other times to support the celebrations. Defra have yet to issue guidance on communications.

The FC EB welcomed the range of ideas for involving communities to dedicating newly planted forests to the King. The committee asked for the programme of events to align with FC comms through Deputy Head of FC Comms to promote the work being done by other parts of the FC and not just Forestry England.

8. FC Risk appetite

The EB endorsed the recommendation that board level owns the risk appetite statement, the implementation of which sits at executive level. The risks can be amplified if appropriate at the sub-board level.

9. FC PMP

The FC EB were supportive of the current Professional manager programme (PMP) given the positive impact it has had on the organisation. The purpose of this item was to agree how to support the programme going forward. The EB asked for costing to support the recommendations presented to understand the financial impact on the business. The committee were otherwise supportive of the programme and its clear benefits to individuals and the business.

The EB are keen to see that those who finish the programme have the opportunity to support the programme as sponsors to provide training sustainability and retain benefits. The EB wished to record their gratitude to current and previous sponsors of the programme.

Action 4: Leadership and development manager to confirm estimated costings for the programme options going forward and outline how the proposed changes may impact the business.

10.Staff engagement survey - action plans

The FC EB were content with the progress against action plans as a result of the staff engagement survey in January 2022.

The next staff survey will be run by DJS. For the staff survey after DJS’s, the EB asked whether FC could be part of the Civil Service staff engagement survey.

The next survey could be in October 2023 or January 2024. Further discussions will be required to decide the final date for the survey.

Action 5: Jo Ridgway to confirm whether the FC can participate in the CS survey and whether this would be more cost effective and right for the organisation.

Action 6: EB to confirm date for next staff engagement survey.

11. Your offer

OD Project Manager provided a comprehensive update on Your Offer including information on Defra’s view of the business case, staff communications, timelines and Forestry Commission Trade Unions (FCTU) engagement.

Defra is keen to support the Your Offer Project and have not suggested any significant changes to the business case. The Secretary of State has requested to see all pay flex business cases from arms’ length bodies in one bundle. She is likely to look at them together in September 2023, which would delay the implementation of any changes in FC. It is, however, possible that the Secretary of State may review the case prior to the summer recess in June, so we still plan to submit the business case in May.

It was noted that the FC Trade Unions are frustrated that they have not yet had sight of the business case.

12. Sector capacity

Head of Sector Capacity and Green Economy provided an overview of the work over the past 18 months to improve sector capacity as part of the Nature for Climate Fund. Part of this work is the seminal publication of production forecast of nurseries, which will be made available to the public soon. The lag in demand is a challenge for nurseries, which the team is hoping to address by facilitating events with a sample of customers.

There are others in the sector already coming up with solutions to supporting the pipeline for skilled foresters. However there is still a role to play to coordinate to ensure gaps are identified or can be filled. This includes work to challenge the lack of diversity in the sector.

13. FC strategy

PA Consulting provided an update to the EB on their work for the FC Strategy. They have so far spoken with the accounting officers for each organisation and presented their findings so far. PA Consulting are facilitating this work on behalf of the FC, and so the messaging and refinement is FC led. The FC strategy will need to be broad to cover the FC as an umbrella organisation to exemplify flexibility within scalability.

14.AOB

Staff comments on intranet

Derrick Osgood noted that comments staff post on the intranet are records and subject to retention. Staff need to be reminded of their duties to comply with the civil service code when creating information, including on the intranet.

Strike action

Jo Ridgway noted that there will be a picket line at some point on PCS strike day outside the National Office.