Guidance

Dounreay Socio Economic Board minutes - 20 February 2020

Updated 27 September 2023

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Present

Name Organisation represented and job title
Steve Young Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) Organisational Excellence Director (Chair)
John McNamara Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Head of Stakeholder Relations
Simon Middlemas Parent Body Organisation Support
Lesley Sewell DSRL Business Services Director
June Love DSRL Socio Economic and Stakeholder Relations Manager
Paul Hetherington DSRL Head of Communications
Niall Watson Dounreay TU Representative

Welcome and introductions

Steve Young welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted he was chairing in the absence of the managing director. Before proceeding, a safety share was provided focusing on spatial awareness.

Conflicts of interest were noted:

Name Conflict of interest
Simon Middlemas Sustainability (as a topic), Space Hub Sutherland, Engineering Hub
June Love Secondment to Space Hub Sutherland
Steve Young Engineering hub

Simon Middlemas stated that there had been numerous discussions around conflicts and because some worked closely with Caithness and Sutherland Regeneration Partnership (CNSRP) it was difficult not to be conflicted on any of the priority projects. As no-one was personally benefitting from these workstreams it was important that discussions were open and transparent. It was agreed that if someone felt they were being conflicted there would be a discussion on this prior to agreeing whether that individual could take part in the discussion.

Apologies

Apologies were received from:

Name Organisation represented and job title
Andrew Van Der Lem NDA Head of Government Relations Socio Economics
Kenny Douglas DSRL Managing Director

Minutes of last meeting

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed – DSEB(2019)M003 refers. Paul Hetherington noted one minor edit that was required.

Action: DSEB(2020)M01/A001 - June Love to amend DSEB(2019)M003 to reflect minor change and publish on website.

An opening discussion was held which covered the following:

  • The NDA’s new draft strategy was welcomed, in particular elements which recognised the importance of providing resources to support, rather than solely provide financial support. Members were content to follow the process and also the revised reporting mechanism proposed as part of this.
  • Importance of Dounreay’s nuclear partners Dounreay Socio Economic Alliance (DSEA) playing their collective contribution to CNSRP and leading on some projects.
  • Ability for DSEA to contribute to delivering projects in terms of developing capture/business plans.
  • Potential to reconsider and realign the DSEA partnering agreement to reflect any changes in the strategy and resulting approach.

Actions

June Love tabled the status of actions and indicated that all actions had been completed.

NDA strategy and process

Steve Young noted the NDA draft local economic and social impact strategy that had been recently published for consultation. The following was noted:

  • This was a positive step forward
  • Identified funding for the area had been positively received.
  • The site’s socio economic plan would align to this strategy.
  • On the subject of worker mobility early discussions had commenced on work mobility. This had been received well by NDA as something for further discussion. The Pensions office was a good example of a service provided across the NDA estate being delivered from Caithness.

Allied to the strategy it was noted that:

  • The Dounreay Socio Economic Alliance (DSEA) should identify a list of potential pipeline projects, including potential spin outs from site, that had been identified and would be considered further. Once identified these would be led by DSRL and would sit on the CNSRP programme to allow transparency of progress being made. Linked to this was the engineering hub project and it was felt this warranted further discussion to look at widening the scope of this to nuclear services.
  • While it was recognised that there was a contractual relationship between the NDA and the site it was agreed that for the purposes of socio economic activities there needed to be a much more focused partnering arrangement.

Action: DSEB(2020)M01/A002 - June Love to organise meeting of DSEB members to explore potential for pipeline projects and to explore partnership working.

DSRL socio economic budget

June Love presented an estimated year end spend noting an underspend for various reasons including funding committed for projects that did not successfully receive match funding or projects that had been delayed pushing the requirement for funding into the next financial year.

Further discussion on the carryover would be undertaken at the end of the financial year to consider the financial outturn and whether the site’s budget had the capacity to allow for the underspend to be carried over into the socio economic budget for the following year.

DSEB terms of reference

The DSEB Terms of Reference were discussed and it was agreed that these should be reviewed.

Action: DSEB(2020)M01/A003 - All DSEB members to consider the DSEB Terms of Reference including objectives and goals and provide comments by Friday 28 February.

DSEA impact plan 2020-2023

The draft DSEA Impact Plan for 2020 onwards had been circulated and members were asked for comments prior to submission to the NDA.

Action: DSEB(2020)M01/A004 - All DSEB members to provide comment on the DSEA Impact Plan 2020-2023 by Friday 28 February 2020.

Communications

The impacts of the socio economic support for 2019/20 was currently being developed and once all information was collated this would result in an annual review being drafted.

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.

Any other business

John McNamara noted that the North Highland Regeneration Fund had held a strategy day. The fund would remain in place and would continue to be managed by the Caithness Chamber of Commerce.

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

Steve Young, Dounreay Organisational Excellence Director, Acting Chair DSEB  

Actions arising from this meeting

Action number Action description
DSEB(2020)M01/A001 June Love to amend DSEB(2019)M003 to reflect minor change and publish on website by 4 March 2020
DSEB(2020)M01/A002 June Love to organise meeting of DSEB members to explore potential for pipeline projects and to explore partnership working by 4 March 2020.
DSEB(2020)M01/A003 All DSEB members to consider the DSEB Terms of Reference including objectives and goals and provide comments by Friday 28 February
DSEB(2020)M01/A004 All DSEB members to provide comment on the DSEA Impact Plan 2020-2023 by Friday 28 February 2020
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
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