Guidance

Dounreay Socio Economic Board minutes - 19 September 2019

Updated 27 September 2023

Name	Organisation represented and job title
Present: Martin Moore	Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) Managing Director
Simon Middlemas	Cavendish Dounreay Partnership (CDP) Socio Economic support
June Love	DSRL Socio Economic Manager
Paul Hetherington	DSRL Head of Communications
Anna MacConnell	Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Socio Economic Manager
Andrew Van Der Lem	NDA Head of Government Relations and Socio Economics
Peter Faccenda	Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership (CNSRP) Programme Manager (agenda item 7 only)

Welcome and introductions

Martin Moore welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that Andrew Van Der Lem, NDA Head of Government Relations and Socio Economics had joined the meeting via teleconference.

Conflicts of Interest: Martin Moore requested all members to raise any potential conflicts of interest. The following was noted:

Name	Conflict of interest
Anna MacConnell	Scrabster Harbour Trust: a family member was now renting premises at the harbour. While she had no involvement in this business she had informed the NDA previously
June Love	Space Hub Sutherland project (50% secondment to support project)
Simon Middlemas	Space Hub Sutherland project support and CDP Engineering Hub sustainability project

Apologies received

Name	Organisation represented and job title
Mark Raffle	NDA Lead Programme Manager
Lesley Sewell	DSRL Business Services Director
Niall Watson	Dounreay Unions

Anna MacConnell noted that Mark Raffle would be standing down from attending this meeting. Discussions were currently ongoing as to the most appropriate NDA representative to replace Mark. Martin Moore asked that a letter be written to Mark Raffle thanking him for his contributions to the Board over the years.

Action: DSEB(2019)M003/A001 - DSEB chairman to write to Mark Raffle thanking him for his contribution to the Dounreay Socio Economic Board by 25 September 2019.

Approval of previous minutes

Martin Moore noted that all members had received copies of the last minutes – DSEB(2019)M002 – in advance of the meeting. It was agreed that the minutes were a true reflection of the meeting. This was proposed by Paul Hetherington and seconded by Simon MIddlemas.

Action: DSEB(2019)M003/A002 - June Love to finalise DESB(2019)M002 and publish on website by 30 September 2019.

Status of actions

The following actions were noted as ongoing:

DSEB(2019)M002/A004 - Lesley Sewell to consider the findings of the full Public Service Obligation (PSO) report and explore whether DRSL (and CDP) could support the potential underpinning of seats. Action ongoing.

All other actions had been completed since the last meeting and are recorded at the end of these minutes. Martin Moore asked for due dates to be included in all actions.

Action: DSEB(2019)M003/A003 - June Love to ensure all actions have deadline dates recorded by 25 September 2019.

DSRL socio economic budget spend/projections

June Love provided a summary of the socio economic spend to date and the estimated out-turn at year end. There was a discussion around the underspend from 2018/19 and Martin Moore asked for clarity as to whether this funding could be accommodated within the annual site funding limit (ASFL). Anna MacConnell noted that the NDA had previously provided approval to carry over up to a maximum of £150k per year and was currently in discussion about increasing that to £350k.

Martin Moore asked that:

• The financial information be provided at each meeting in a different format. Action: DSEB(2019)M003/A004: June Love to provide financial updates at each DSEB using the waterfall format by 15 December 2019.

• Confirmation be provided by the DSRL Business Services Director that the underspend from 2018/19 can be accommodated within the current ASFL. Action: DSEB(2019)M003/A005: Lesley Sewell to confirm whether the underspend from 2018/19 can be accommodated within the current AFSL by 30 September 2019.

NDA update

Andrew Van Der Lem updated on the following:

• £5 million funding support for Scrabster Harbour Trust announced at the end of March 2019
• The development of the revised NDA socio economic strategy to ensure consistent approach across the NDA estate
• NDA Corporate Central had approx. £3 million for socio economic projects this year – funding to cover Magnox and Dounreay sites
• Two funding requests: Space Hub Sutherland and North Highland College campus redevelopment
• Explored opportunities for NDA and DSRL funding to align for some CNSRP projects.

Simon Middlemas noted that the announcement on funding for Scrabster Harbour Trust had been welcomed. He also noted that the North Highland College campus redevelopment was still to be put through the CNSRP process to determine whether it will sit on the CNSRP programme.

CNSRP update

Peter Faccenda, CNSRP Programme Manager thanked DSEB for inviting him to the meeting. He provided an update on the CNSRP priority projects and outlined a number of projects that would require partner funding to allow them to be progressed. He outlined the following projects with a potential request for DSRL funding:

• Space Hub Sutherland project
• Battery North
• Apprenticeship Co-ordination Centre
• Airport PSO project
• Sustainability

It was noted that DSRL funding support for this financial year had already been committed to:

• CNSRP Programme support
• Caithness Transport Forum
• ETEC Manager
• Business Mentoring support
• Caithness Horizons
• Wick Harbour Authority, high water gate technical review

Discussion followed the update and Martin Moore thanked Peter Faccenda for attending. He noted that the DSEB would now consider the discussion in terms of funding support for this financial year and the outcome would be provided to Peter Faccenda as soon as possible. Peter Faccenda thanked the board and left the meeting.

Discussion then centred round the potential funding support that could be provided and it was agreed that consideration would be given to providing funding for the following:

• Battery North
• Airport PSO project
• Sustainability project
• Space Hub Sutherland project

While it was noted that the shared community apprenticeship centre was also a priority it was felt that further work had to be undertaken before a credible business plan was available to judge priority support.

It was also noted that the extent of funding support would be informed by the decision on whether the underspend from 2018/19 can be accommodated within the current ASFL.

Anna MacConnell noted that DSRL should also consider asking CNSRP Programme Manager to explore other partner funding for these projects.

Action: DSEB(2019)M003/A006 - June Love to develop a draft proposal for funding support towards CNSRP projects taking on board potential funding scenarios by 30 September 2019.

CDP update

Simon Middlemas noted the following:

• CNSRP Executive Board meeting: It was noted that 1. The board had approved the priority projects noting that some required further work to outline the scope of the project.
  1. The strategy had been agreed with some small changes.
  2. A presentation on the sustainability project had been provided.
  3. Requirement for a communications plan.
• CN Engineering Hub: Discussions continued with Cavendish Nuclear with a recent meeting with Kenny Douglas, Parent Body Organisation. The DSRL Organisational Excellence Director who would be taking up post shortly would be requested to provide some support to take this project forward.

DSEB funding discussion

It was noted that this discussion had taken place immediately after CNSRP Programme Manager’s update.

June Love stated that there was one outstanding funding application requesting £30k over 2 years to support Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) (Space) related activities. She stated that she had circulated the application at the beginning of July but given there had been no outcome via correspondence a decision was now required. She noted that she would not take part in the discussion given her involvement with the Space Hub Sutherland project. Simon Middlemas also noted he would not take part in the discussion.

Anna MacConnell noted that Mark Raffle had sent his comments on the application. June Love stated that she had been in meetings all day and therefore had not seen these as yet.

Martin Moore asked for thoughts of those round the table who could contribute to a discussion. One member said he would be happy to support with a couple of caveats. Another member felt that was not the right time and a number of questions remained unanswered. Martin Moore stated that he was uncomfortable to support an application that was split in the support and therefore this application had not been approved at this time.

Action: DSEB(2019)M003/A007 - June Love to write to applicant of STEM (Space) funding application with outcome of DSEB decision by 25 September 2019.

DSRL update

June Love noted that the majority of funding conditions for the various projects supported were on track with the exception of:

• Caithness Horizons: full funding would not be provided this year as the facility had not yet opened. She was continuing to request progress updates from The Highland Council for a timeline for the re-opening of the facility.
• Objectives for the Engineering, Technology and the Energy Centre (ETEC) Manager had been slightly delayed. A meeting had taken place to request the information before funding would be released.
• Wick Harbour Trust high water gate technical review: This project has been slightly delayed and a letter has been written to explain that the funding would only be available this year. A timeline for the technical review to be undertaken was expected shortly.

Communications

Paul Hetherington stated he was considering some positive articles around the airport sustainability model (PSO for the airport) and the DSRL support for the ETEC Manager.

Any other business

June Love noted that the Dounreay Unions had met with Jamie Stone, MP and representatives of the NDA to discuss socio economic topics. However, Niall Watson had not been able to attend this meeting and therefore would carry this over to the next meeting.

Close

There being no further business, Martin Moore thanked everyone for their input and formally closed the meeting.

Martin Moore Chairman, Dounreay Socio Economic Board Dounreay Managing Director 21 September 2019

Actions arising from this meeting

Action number	Action description
DSEB(2019)M003/A001	DSEB chairman to write to Mark Raffle thanking him for his contribution to the Dounreay Socio Economic Board by 25 September 2019
DSEB(2019)M003/A002	June Love to finalise DESB(2019)M002 and publish on website by 30 September 2019
DSEB(2019)M003/A003	June Love to ensure all actions have a deadline dates recorded by 25 September 2019
DSEB(2019)M003/A004	June Love to provide financial updates at each DSEB using the waterfall format by 15 December 2019
DSEB(2019)M003/A005	Lesley Sewell to confirm whether the underspend from 2018/19 can be accommodated within the current AFSL by 30 September 2019
DSEB(2019)M003/A006	June Love to develop a draft proposal for funding support towards CNSRP projects taking on board potential funding scenarios by 30 September 2019
DSEB(2019)M003/A007	June Love to write to applicant of STEM (Space) funding application with outcome of DSEB decision by 25 September 2019

Actions ongoing from previous meetings

Action number	Action description	Action update
DSEB(2019)M002/A004	Lesley Sewell to consider the findings of the full PSO report and explore whether DSRL (and CDP) could support the potential underpinning of seats by 15 December 2019	Action complete since last meeting
DSEB(2019)M001/A002	Anna MacConnell to continue to progress a response to the potential front loading of the Dounreay Socio Economic budget and report back as soon as a response has been provided by the NDA Executive. Action complete: NDA had considered this and passed it back to DSRL to consider whether this could be undertaken within the existing ASFL. Martin Moore noted that the budget for the coming years was already over-pressurised and therefore it would be difficult to consider this
DESB(2019)M001/A006	Anna MacConnell to provide an update at next DSEB meeting on the NDA Executive decision on socio economic funding for Caithness and North Sutherland. Action complete: An announcement was made at the end of March relating to £5 million grant funding to support Scrabster Harbour Trust with the redevelopment of the St Ola Pier. The other 2 projects with funding requests were discussed at the meeting held on 19 September 2019
DSEB(2019)M002/A001	June Love to finalise DESB(2019)M001 and publish on website	Action complete
DSEB(2019)M002/A002	Mark Raffle to speak to Anna MacConnell to request an outline of the protocol for communications of NDA socio economic funding announcements	Action complete
DSEB(2019)M002/A003	June Love to write to Scrabster Harbour Trust to close out existing funding application for support to the redevelopment of the St Ola Pier	Action complete
DSEB(2019)M002/A005	June Love to provide DSEB comments to CNSRP Programme Manager on the funding application for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for North Coast 500	Action complete
DSEB(2019)M002/A006	June Love to invite CNSRP Chair and Programme Manager (and Chair if available) to attend the next DSEB. Action complete: The Chair was unavailable to attend. Peter Faccenda, CNSRP Programme Manager attended this meeting to provide an update on CNSRP priority projects