Guidance

Dounreay Socio Economic Board minutes - Friday 6 November 2020

Updated 27 September 2023

Present

Name	Organisation represented and job title
Steve Young	Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) Organisational Excellence Director (Chair)
Mark Rouse	DSRL Managing Director
Simon Middlemas	Parent Body Organisation Socio Economic support
Niall Watson	DSRL Unions
Lesley Sewell	DSRL Business Services Director
June Love	DSRL Socio Economic Manager
Paul Hetherington	DSRL Head of Communications
Peter Faccenda	Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership (CNSRP) Programme Manager
Kim Thain	DSRL Unions
John McNamara	Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Head of Stakeholder Relations
Neil Smith	NDA Business Development
Simon Bowers	DSRL Organisational Excellence (OE) support

Welcome and introductions

Steve Young welcomed everyone to the meeting. He welcomed Simon Bowers to the meeting who had recently joined the OE department to support transformation and would be working with June to mature the socio economic programme.

Potential conflicts of interest were tabled, noting that no-one declaring an interest receives any personal benefit from these projects:

Name	Conflict of interest
June Love and Simon Middlemas	Space Hub Sutherland
Simon Middlemas	Sustainability project

Before proceeding, Steve Young invited members to raise a safety share. This was raised in terms of mental health and how it applies to a workforce.

Apologies

Apologies were received from David Wallace, NDA Stakeholder Relations (Scotland).

Approval of previous minutes

Steve Young noted that the minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated to members in advance – DSEB(2020)M04 refers. Following feedback amendments had been made. Members endorsed the minutes as a true reflection of the meeting. This was proposed by Simon Middlemas and seconded by Lesley Sewell.

Action: DSEB(2020)M05/A01 - June to publish minutes (DSEB(2020)4) on website by 23 November 2020.

Status of actions

The status of actions is recorded at the end of these minutes. Of note:

Action: DSEB(2020)M01/A005 - June Love and Paul Hetherington to work together to develop the annual review and explore ways of providing this in a short, easy to read document by 20 March 2020.

Paul Hetherington noted that this had taken longer than expected and wondered whether it would be better to provide an update of 2020 (calendar year) activities which would capture the COVID-19 support alongside those socio economic projects supported throughout the year. He proposed to supersede the original action with this and agreed to have this finalised before Christmas. This was agreed.

Action: DSEB(2020)M01/A002 - Paul Hetherington to develop a socio economic review covering activities of calendar year 2020 by 14 December 2020.

Dounreay update

June Love provided the following update:

• As of Period 7 (October 2020), £248,000 had been spent with a projected year end out-turn of £430,000
• Two further applications had been received and would be discussed under agenda - Dounreay funding applications
• All ongoing funding commitments were on schedule to deliver the funding conditions with the exception of: Caithness and CNSRP Support Hub - delays in recruitment had delayed this project slightly and at this stage there had been no drawdown of funding. Caithness Horizons: The Highland Council has now confirmed that all building commissioning was now complete and the facility was ready to handover to HighLife Highland (HLH). HLH had intimated that they would require a 7 week lead in time to allow for recruitment activities and readiness of the building to accept visitors. An update meeting to all Caithness Councillors is due next week and it was expected that a date to re-open would be identified at that meeting
• A socio economic programme was under development and includes the work ongoing from the Business Transformation project as well as all other socio economic activities. This was on track to be delivered by December although it was noted that this would continue to be an iterative process to reflect potential omissions or alignment with CNSRP activities. The next stage was to go through the programme in detail with those identified as accountable for aspects of the programme and this would be done during November

Niall Watson noted that he had made some comments on the programme but these had been addressed in discussions.

Simon Middlemas recognised that the programme was a high level picture of the activities and noted that underpinning this work would be the identified owners, scope, schedule. He added that the Executive Team would need to enable these activities.

Simon Middlemas noted that communications would be a key aspect of the programme as staff would need to be kept informed.

Steve Young recognised that some of the earlier activity had slipped mainly due to resource requirements. Simon Bower had been brought in to support this activity and provide further resource as one of the 5 strands of transformation. The baseline programme would be delivered before Christmas.

Mark Rouse stated that this meeting was quite separate from other meetings that have a natural flow through into the executive meeting. Steve Young responded that the executive now had visibility of this via the Business Transformation project and ongoing work to incorporate into Near Term Work Plan (NTWP) and Life Time Plan (LTP). Simon Middlemas added that the Dounreay Socio Economic Board (DSEB) had been set up in 2010 and was perhaps now outlived. It might be useful to change the name of the group and place more emphasis against performance and activity as a way forward. Mark Rouse noted that there would be a new executive team shortly with the transition of the site to NDA and therefore it would be useful to review how socio-economic activities can be better integrated with business delivery.

Niall Watson stated his perception is that socio economic activity has tended to be viewed as peripheral to core DSRL business, almost as an add on rather than an embedded workstream. As the NTWP and LTP are developed the socio economic activity has to be a key part of that.

Action: DSEB(2020)M01/A003 - Steve Young/June Love to review the way socio economics (including programming, management and assessing their effectives) can be better integrated into the business.

Peter Faccenda noted the progress being made in the developing of the programme and stated that it would be useful to focus on a small number of activities to ensure these can be delivered on schedule. June Love said the programme would reflect a staggered approach to activities to focus on 2 or 3 main areas with other activities being pushed out to the right but again noted this would be an iterative process and prior to the programme being finalised consideration would be given to activities that could be delivered sequentially or in parallel dependent on resources available.

Steve Young provided the following update:

• The outline business case for the Nuclear Services hub had commenced and a draft would be available prior to Christmas. The concept of this hub would be, not just for the workforce, but looking at the potential to create a collaborative workspace
• The pilot skills audit had now kicked off utilising the cohort of Project Manager disciplines across the site. The output from the pilot would be available before Christmas, followed by a review period that will inform the wider skills audit which is due to commence early in the New Year

Peter Faccenda noted he had started tentative discussions with the CNSRP Delivery Group to capture any requirements from partners on accommodation. Feedback from partners was expected to come forward at the next CNSRP meeting.

Steve Young also noted that a workshop had been held recently with North Highland College, UHI as there were now 2 workstreams identified – skills/training agenda and research and development and these sit adjacent to the skills audit to ensure it meets the needs of the site as well as the wider economic activities of the area. Neil Smith added that the business case for Wick Harbour high water gate was something that needed to be factored into this to identify skills in offshore wind which could support workforce transition as the Dounreay mission came to an end.

Dounreay funding applications

June Love noted that 2 new applications (Strathnaver museum redevelopment and North Highland Initiative (NHI) business (COVID-19 support) had been received.

The 2 applications were discussed in detail and a number of questions were raised prior to Board approval to approve funding in principle for Strathnaver Museum (with a number of conditions) and approved 1 year of funding for NHI to allow time to identify more focussed targets for the potential funding for years 2 and 3.

June Love also noted that a number of funding streams, previously agreed on a 3 year rolling programme in line with CNSRP activities were due to come to an end at the end of March 2021. These were:

• Caithness Transport Forum (£10,000)
• Business Mentoring project (£15,000)
• CNSRP Programme Manager (part funding - £40,000)
• CNSRP Independent Chair (part funding - £9,300)

These were discussed in full and there was full agreement that these activities be funded for the next 3 years. June Love noted that she would speak with those responsible to ensure applications were put through the system to take these forward into the next financial year.

NDA update

John McNamara noted the following:

• The consultation on NDA Strategy 4 was now closed. A virtual event had taken place with around 150 people attending
• David Wallace had met with the Scottish Councils’ Committee on Radioactive Substances (SCCORS), the Scottish equivalent to NuLeaf. No feedback at present
• The Scottish Government Scottish Nuclear Sites meeting would be held sometime in December
• NDA was beginning to develop an NDA Scottish Strategy which would encompass the operational strategy as well as communications, stakeholder engagement and socio economics. Meetings had taken place between NDA and Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform
• Copeland district had now volunteered to explore the potential for hosting the Geological Disposal Facility (GDF)
• North Highland Regeneration Fund held its AGM (6 November). The fund was still being used with new applications coming forward. This was a slightly different funding stream as this was a loan funding scheme with repayable loans that allowed funding to be redistributed
• The transition of DSRL into a subsidiary of the NDA was progressing and announcements for senior appointments are expected soon
• The continued COVID-19 restrictions had raised some issues around supply chain vulnerability. Mark Rouse noted that this was something that the Commercial Team was looking at to explore whether the site had the ability to pull forward some work. Lesley Sewell added that she had been in discussion with NDA for further guidance with the changing situation
• The NDA had provided funding support for the development of a business case for Wick Harbour high water gate. This work was progressing well. Peter Faccenda noted that this would support the potential to attract offshore wind companies into the area as the Scotwind leasing round was due to close on 31 March and this work could help support some inward investment activity in the area
• Simon Bowers noted that within the socio economic programme there was activity relating to Wick Harbour, Georgemas and Nucleus and these needed to be fleshed out more for the programme

CNSRP support and hub update

Peter Faccenda,CNSRP Programme Manager updated the Board on:

• Space Hub Sutherland, noting that David Wallace had made contact with European Space Agency and there was an opportunity to engage with local supply chain
• The re-development of the St Ola Pier at Scrabster Harbour was underway although it had been slightly delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions. There was a short discussion on how the harbour would support oil and gas activities whilst trying to drive sustainability through these type of projects
• Niall Watson queried how oil and gas activities fitted within the wider sustainability agenda and highlighted the importance of their inclusion not diluting the sustainability agenda. Peter Faccenda noted there was the potential to look at this in the context of carbon capture/storage. Simon Bowers asked whether ammonia as a fuel was also being considered
• As noted earlier, the Scotwind leasing round has been launched and bids will be closing on the 31 March 2021. The sites being bid are likely to be a mixture of fixed and floating wind. The area’s geography was a selling point in attracting some of this work to the local harbours. This is a significant opportunity for the area
• Early proposal from North Highland College regarding zero carbon research project. A working group is in place to develop this in more detail
• Public Service Order business plan for Wick/JOG airport: This is with Transport Scotland and Scottish Government were being pressed for a decision
• CNSRP support sustainability hub: this project had been slightly delayed due to recruitment issues but was now on track and interviews were organised for 13 November for the Business Development role. A person for the project management role had been identified and was going through final discussions. On the communications strand it had been agreed to procure the services of an agency to provide this in the first instance and this was being finalised to take through HIE’s procurement process. ROSE (Region of Sustainability Excellence) sustainability work was moving at pace with a Steering Group that had met twice during the last few weeks
• On digital connectivity, HIE were currently supporting businesses to adapt to the new way of doing business. There was also a wider picture to look at in this area to support the expansion of capability, i.e. cloud storage, cyber security etc. These will be added as a potential area of development to the CNSRP programme pipeline

Action: DSEB(2020)M05/A004 - David Wallace and Peter Faccenda to discuss ESA supply chain event and take forward.

Simon Middlemas noted that ROSE was presently a hybrid of a commercial/public sector operation and required more detail before any operating model could be agreed and a company could be formed. A programme for ROSE had been developed and was currently running separately from the CNSRP support hub but that was mainly due to lack of CNSRP resources at this time and would be fully integrated in due course. He added that a key person would be the NDA Sustainability Director because of the potential opportunities that could support the NDA’s mission as well as the wider area. There were opportunities to pilot some projects in Caithness that could be rolled out across the wider NDA estate. He also noted there could be an opportunity for some of the site’s graduates to get involved but they would need to commit to delivering programmes of work.

Niall Watson suggested it would be useful to have a simple diagram showing how the different sustainability elements (CNSRP Hub, ROSE programme, NDA Net Zero) fit together. This would allow an understanding of the relationships between the various elements. John McNamara agreed. Peter Faccenda said he would provide this.

Action: DSEB(2020)M05/A005 - Peter Faccenda to provide a simple diagram showing how sustainability flowed down through CNSRP projects.

Communications

Paul Hetherington noted that as agreed a 2020 socio economic highlights document would be produced prior to Christmas. In addition, the profile of socio economics was being raised through the business transformation workstreams so the profile was being raised within Exco and their direct reports.

Paul Hetherington also noted he was keen to do joint announcements on the CNSRP support hub roles.

Action: DSEB(2020)M05/A006 - Paul Hetherington and Peter Faccenda to work together to issue a joint announcement on the CNSRP support hub roles.

Any other business

• Paul Hetherington noted that consideration was being given to support fund raising activities given the restrictions of COVID-19. One idea was to encourage the workforce to spend a few hours supporting community initiatives. He noted this had just been a suggestion he had just received and further consideration was required
• June Love noted that the next scheduled Board meeting was due in December but given that the date of this meeting had moved she proposed to cancel the December meeting and set up a meeting at the end of January, beginning of February which would allow for a clearer view of the year end outturn spend alongside discussion on the evolving SE programme. This was agreed
• Steve Young suggested that the agenda topics for DSEB should be rotated in order to ensure there was sufficient time for a fuller discussion on CNSRP activities

Action: DSEB(2020)M05/A007 - June Love to organise next DSEB meeting for end of January, beginning of February.

Secretary’s note: At this stage Peter Faccenda and Simon Middlemas left the meeting to allow a discussion on continued support for CNSRP roles and succession planning.

Close

There being no further business, Steve Young thanked everyone for attending and formally closed the meeting.

Steve Young (Chair)

Organisational Excellence Director

13 November 2020

Status of Actions

Actions arising from this meeting

Action number	Action description
DSEB(2020)M05/A01	June to publish minutes (DSEB(2020)4) on website by 23 November 2020
DSEB(2020)M05/A002	Paul Hetherington to develop a SE review covering activities of calendar year 2020 by 14 December 2020
DSEB(2020)M01/A003	Steve Young/June Love to review the way Socio Economics (including programming, management and assessing their effectives) can be better integrated into the business
DSEB(2020)M05/A004	David Wallace and Peter Faccenda to discuss ESA supply chain event and take forward
DSEB(2020)M05/A005	Peter Faccenda to provide a simple diagram showing how sustainability flowed down through CNSRP projects
DSEB(2020)M05/A006	Paul Hetherington and Peter Faccenda to work together to issue a joint announcement on the CNSRP support hub roles
DSEB(2020)M05/A007	June Love to organise next DSEB meeting for end of January / beginning of February

Actions ongoing from previous meeting

Action number	Action description	Action status
DSEB(2020)M03/A007	June Love to provide partnering maturity model survey for members to complete and follow up with 1:1 discussions with Peter Faccenda	Action continuing

Actions completed since last meeting

Action number	Action description	Action status	Action update
DSEB(2020)M01/A005	June Love and Paul Hetherington to work together to develop the annual review and explore ways of providing this in a short, easy to read document by 20 March 2020	Action superseded	See DSG(2020)M05/A002
DSEB(2020)M03/A008	Peter Faccenda and Paul Hetherington to work up a single page summary describing the CNSRP Support Hub by 28th July 2020	Action complete
DSEB(2020)M04/A01	June to publish minutes (DSEB(2020)M03) on website by 30 August 2020	Action complete
DSEB(2020)M05/A02	June Love to put Nuclear Services Hub on the agenda for a full discussion at the next DSEB	Action complete		.
DSEB(2020)M05/A03	June Love to progress the CNSRP Support Hub communication actions with Paul Hetherington by 4th September 2020	Action complete
DSEB(2020)M05/A04	June Love to contact Strathnaver Museum to submit a funding application to support their early enquiry for funding to support redevelopment of the museum by 24th August 2020	Action complete
DSEB(2020)M05/A05	Lesley Sewell and June Love to discuss potential use of long-term accommodation with partner organisations by 10th September 2020	Action complete
DSEB(2020)M05/A06	Lesley Sewell to provide a timeline for the creation of a business case for long term accommodation	Action complete	This action had been transferred to Steve Young and the timeline is included in the developing SE programme
DSEB(2020)M05/A07	June Love to issue DSEB Terms of Reference and place on internal system by 28 August 2020	Action complete