Minutes of the Twelfth meeting of the Geospatial Commission board of commissioners
Published 25 February 2021
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Minutes of the Twelfth meeting of the Geospatial Commission board of commissioners
23 November 2020
Tele-conference
1. Minutes and matters arising
1.1. The minutes of the September meeting were agreed and approved for publication.
1.2. Andrew welcomed Karen Hanghoj to the Board, in her new capacity as Nominated Commissioner. Michael Mire joined the meeting, as second Nominated Commissioner, in Steve Blair’s absence.
2. Report from Nominated Commissioners
2.1. Karen Hanghoj and Michael Mire, as Nominated Commissioners, provided an update from the Partner Bodies. Positive feedback was given on both papers, which were discussed in greater detail during items 4 and 6 below.
2.2. Karen highlighted that the Partner Bodies are supportive of the Commission’s role as a champion and coordinator of the geospatial data agenda across government, and recognise its opportunity to elevate the work of the Geo6 above and beyond what they could each achieve independently.
3. Report from the Director of the Commission
3.1. Thalia provided a progress report from the Geospatial Commission Unit since the last meeting. She noted a number of achievements the Commission has had to date; including the launch of the Geospatial Scottish Network Integrator, the launch of the £2 million Transport Location Data Competition, a series of Transport roundtables with industry experts and the launch of the request for information for the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) - a key step in its national rollout.
3.2. Thalia also provided a brief update on cross-engagement commitments; such as the AGI Annual Conference at which Edwina gave a keynote speech, the 1Spatial Conference at which Steve Unger presented on transport, and the continuation of the Commission’s guest blog series from our Partner Bodies, including from the UK Hydrographic Office and Ordnance Survey.
3.3. Thalia thanked the Board for their continued engagement on the Geospatial Data Market Study report by Frontier Economics, and the accompanying ‘Enhancing the UK’s Geospatial Ecosystem’ report from the Commission, both of which have now been published and can be found here.
3.4. Thalia provided an update on the Spending Review process. The Board noted that the business unit-level settlements for next year have not yet been agreed. A business planning round is due in the coming weeks and it is anticipated that a fuller review of spending allocations will be provided at the next Board in January.
3.5. This meeting was Andrew’s final Board meeting before stepping down as Chair. Thalia and Nigel thanked him on behalf of the Board for the penetrating thinking, personal credibility and focus he has brought to the Commission, as well as his exemplary Chairmanship. Nigel will step in as Interim Chair during the recruitment process for a new Chair.
4. Mission 2: Geospatial Data Programme Portfolio Pipeline
4.1. Catherine Carter-McGrath provided an overview of the paper, highlighting five “core” programmes in the portfolio pipeline as set out in the UK’s Geospatial Strategy, which will move from discovery to the delivery phase in the coming months.
4.2. The Board supported the Commission’s proposed concentrated approach on a small number of core areas, with a focus on NUAR as a priority. The Board also recommended focusing on key challenges facing the UK, including the environment, Net-Zero agenda and transport.
4.3 The Board encouraged the Commission to think about how it can use its unique position to engender public trust in geospatial data and reinforced the importance of engaging with the public in a simple, understandable way.
4.4. Data access will continue to be a fundamental element of this work, for example, work exploring the possibility of widening access to building attribute data held by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). Data that is already captured as part of the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA) will build on this, making it usable for the Geo6 as a whole.
4.5. The Board noted the potential gaps in public health and emergency response in this pipeline of work. Whilst this was not highlighted in the paper, this is still a big focus for public sector contracts. The Commission sees the potential to infiltrate this space once there is more capacity to do so, noting bids for pandemic planning as part of the current Spending Review.
5. Mission 2: Discussion with Professor Andrew Morris, Director, Health Data Research UK
5.1. Andrew Morris joined the meeting. He provided an overview of the work of Health Data Research UK (HDRUK) and the importance of cross-sector collaboration, innovative governance and data interoperability.
5.2. With a specific focus on COVID-19 response efforts, Andrew discussed the healthcare data space in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. The Board agreed that HDRUK and the Commission share many parallels in terms of the path they are both trying to forge, and many of the same challenges. Interoperability in the complex data ecosystem is essential, as well as gaining public trust and engagement to enable use of data to better respond to national emergencies.
5.3. Albert King highlighted the work that the Scottish Government have done with HDRUK and commented on some of the challenges faced with data linking and monitoring. The Board welcomed his insights and agreed it was important to take a cross-sectional approach to data governance and infrastructure.
5.4. Andrew Dilnot thanked Professor Morris for sharing his insight, highlighting the huge amount the Commission could learn from HDRUK and encouraging collaborative working between the two in future. Professor Morris left the meeting.
6. Mission 2: Future of the Geo6 Data Improvement Work
6.1. Catherine Carter-McGrath provided a progress update on the Geo6 Data Improvement Programme, noting the successes and, in particular, the improved ways of working and expertise-sharing across the Partner Bodies.
6.2. Catherine outlined plans to mature the relationship with the partner bodies, beyond funding specific data improvement projects, to focus on more strategic and sustainable outcomes utilising the levers set out in the Geospatial Commission’s Charter and Framework.
6.3. The Board discussed the unique position of the Geospatial Commission and how it should use that to elevate the work of the Partner Bodies and empower them to deliver beyond the sum of their parts. This was echoed by the Nominated Commissioners.
6.4. Thalia confirmed that the Commission will publish a progress update in an Annual Plan in mid 2021, which will detail strategic engagement with Partner Bodies, which the Board will be asked to feed into. The Board gave its support of the current direction of travel outlined.
7. AOB
7.1. The next meeting of the Board of Commissioners will take place on 19th January 2021.