Guidance

Dounreay Socio Economic Board - minutes - 14 May 2019

Updated 27 September 2023

Minutes of the Dounreay Socio Economic Board held on Tuesday 14 May 2019 at 13:30 in D2003, NDA Meeting Room 1.

Endorsed: 19 September 2019

Present:

Name	Organisation represented and job title
Martin Moore	Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) Managing Director
Mark Raffle	Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Lead Programme Manager
Lesley Sewell	DSRL Business Services Director
Simon Middlemas	Cavendish Dounreay Partnership (CDP) Socio Economic support
June Love	DSRL Socio Economic Manager
Niall Watson	Dounreay Unions
Paul Hetherington	DSRL Head of Communications

Apologies:

Name	Organisation represented and job title
Anna MacConnell	NDA Socio Economic Manager

Welcome and introductions

Martin Moore welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that Lesley Sewell, Business Director had replaced David Lowe (former Deputy Managing Director) on the board.

Safety share: Martin Moore invited members to raise a safety share. June Love stated that it would be prudent to remember that with the sunny weather recently it was important to ensure that you were protected against the sun. Martin Moore noted that in addition to this it was useful to consider heat stress assessments especially when carrying out work in areas where the heat could cause issues.

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

Name	Conflict of interest
June Love	Space Hub Sutherland project (50% secondment to support project)
Simon Middlemas	Space Hub Sutherland project support and CDP Engineering Hub sustainability project

Approval of previous minutes

Martin Moore noted that all members had received copies of the last minutes – DSEB(2019)M001 – in advance of the meeting. It was agreed that the minutes were a true reflection of the meeting and were approved.

Action: DSEB(2019)M002/A001 - June Love to finalise DESB(2019)M001 and publish on website.

Status of actions

The following actions were noted as ongoing:

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 ongoing: This needs further local discussion, as it is a question for DSRL as to whether they would be able to front-load their socio-economic budget within the existing annual site funding level (ASFL).

It was noted that the front-loading had been discussed due to an application from Scrabster Harbour Trust for £1.35m from DSRL, which exceeded the £500k annual budget for socio economics. Given the NDA had committed £5m (which included the £1.35m requested from Dounreay) there were no active applications which would require the front-loading of the budget at this time. It was noted however that there was a peak of funding required for Caithness and North Sutherland Partnership (CNSRP) projects during 2019/20 to 2021/22. It was agreed that front loading from the site’s annual budget would not be possible given that any additional funding for socio economics would impact on decommissioning activities.

Niall Watson noted that the carry-over of any underspend of socio economic funding was, in effect, a virtual carry-over, as any carry-over spent during the following financial year would have to be accommodated within the overall site decommissioning budget (Annual Site Funding Limit). He felt that, if a good project came forward, there should be scope for the NDA to allow DSRL to accrue and administer unspent socio-economic funding without it being constrained by the ASFL. Mark Raffle said any projects coming forward would be considered on a case by case basis.

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 ongoing: An announcement was made at the end of March relating to £5m grant funding to support Scrabster Harbour Trust with the redevelopment of the St Ola Pier. An outcome from the NDA is awaited on two other projects that have resulted in requests for NDA funding of around £11m.

The remaining actions were all completed and these are recorded at the end of this minute.

NDA update

There was no written report from NDA. Mark Raffle noted:

• The recent announcement of £5M grant funding to support Scrabster Harbour Trust to redevelop the St Ola Pier.

Simon Middlemas asked whether there was a reason that the Board and CNSRP were not provided with advance notice before the announcement was made public.

Mark Raffle said he was not aware of the timeline of briefings regarding these announcements and would ask Anna MacConnell to outline the protocol for communications for such announcements.

Action: 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.

Martin Moore expressed concern that the majority of Board members were unware of this announcement in advance however the funding provided from the NDA was welcomed by the Board.

June Love noted that the application from Scrabster Harbour Trust for DSRL funding of £1.35m was now superseded and therefore a letter would be provided to Scrabster Harbour Trust to close out this application.

Action: 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.

CDP update

Simon Middlemas noted the following:

• CNSRP Executive Board meeting: At the last Executive meeting, there had been a strategy discussion with agreement on the priority projects for the next three years. He provided a quick update on all priority and enabling projects on the CNSRP programme. He also noted that confirmation was awaited as to whether Bill Hamilton, NDA would remain on this group given his recent appointment as the Magnox Communications Director.
• CN Engineering Hub: Discussions are continuing with the NDA to seek approval to commence a 2 year desk top study to inform the business case.
• Sustainability: This had been raised by Simon Middlemas at the last CNSRP Delivery Group and others around potential regional implementation. It was still at a very early stage in discussion with CNSRP, Caithness Chamber of Commerce and others, but there was growing interest but, as yet, no current ask of anyone. He agreed to provide update to the DESB as this project progressed.

DSRL update

June Love noted that she had provided a written update for the meeting. She noted the following:

• During 2018/19, NDA carried out an internal audit across its estate relating to socio economic funding. The audit report had been received and the NDA had produced a management response outlining improvements that will be made to the process. The DSRL socio economic funding was part of the audit with a couple of minor issues reported. At present all SLCs were awaiting guidance from NDA and a new funding application form which will be consistent across the estate is under development. Once the guidance is provided the DSRL process will be considered to ensure it reflects the NDA guidance whilst ensuring it is fit-for-purpose for local needs.
• The Dounreay Socio Economic Plan for 2019/20-2022/23 was submitted to NDA at the end of March 2019. A draft of the document was also presented at the DSG socio economic sub group with no substantive comments received. A response from the NDA is awaited.
• A Socio Economic Review 2018/19 providing information on all nuclear partner socio economic activities has now been completed.
• In 2018/19, DSRL provided grant funding to the Chamber of Commerce to develop evidence for a Public Service Obligation at Wick/JOG airport. The purpose of this study was intended to prompt discussion and reflection regarding air services into and out of the airport with the overall aim to enhance the appropriateness and speed of any public sector response to address any further reductions in air services.

The report has now been finalised and early discussion has commenced on communicating the results of the findings with key stakeholders. One of the activities identified was to reach out to local businesses in the area to explore whether they could underwrite a number of seats for flights, particularly if these could demonstrate an overall saving to the business, e.g. if timetabling would allow business to be conducted on a day return. DSRL would be approached to consider this. It was agreed that June Love would provide the full report to Lesley Sewell who would consider this with respect to DSRL.

Niall Watson felt that if flights from Wick/JOG airport were timetabled to allow for day returns or quicker connection times this could potentially show travel time savings. Factors in determining whether this would be of business benefit to DSRL would include the comparative costs of flying from Wick compared to other options, the reliability of service and whether this would reduce the need for overnight stays and therefore time out of the office. Mark Raffle agreed saying it would have to demonstrate a good business benefit. Martin Moore asked whether marketing was being undertaken. June Love noted that there were a number of stakeholder activities to be undertaken and these were being identified at present. Niall Watson stated that marketing had been undertaken to an extent but provided the effort expended by DSRL was not disproportionate it would be useful to provide input into this study in terms of data for DSRL travel.

Action: 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.

• All approved funding commitments for this financial year were summarised in the written update. There were no issues currently with delivering funding conditions.
• Funding application: One funding application had been received via CNSRP requesting half funding for an Economic Impact Assessment for the North Coast 500.

Martin Moore asked where this fitted with the CNSRP Programme. June Love stated that this would seek to identify a new baseline to inform strategy and options assessment to identify where CNSRP partners could support. Other observations provided by the Board included:

It was not clear how this information will support the identification of the scope of work for the CNSRP NC500 project.

• It would be useful to understand what outputs would result from this study.
• Whether CNSRP/HIE could identify, in terms of enterprise, where the potential gaps were.
• This could be considered as a day job for HIE (and once delivered could potentially provide useful information for CNSRP to identify a workstream on the programme).
• Whether the proposal could not have involved the use of a local (Caithness / Sutherland or Highlands) organisation to undertake the EIA.

It was agreed that further explanations were required to respond to the comments above and to also explain how and where this fitted in with the CNSRP programme. It was agreed that these comments would be passed back to the CNSRP Programme Manager to respond to.

Action: DSEB(2019)M002/A005 - June Love to provide DSEB comments to CNSRP Programme Manager on the funding application for an EIA for North Coast 500.

It was further agreed that it would be appropriate to invite the CNSRP Chair and Programme Manager to the next DSEB in order to meet with Board members.

Action: DSEB(2019)M002/A006 - June Love to invite CNSRP Chair and Programme Manager (and Chair if available) to attend the next DSEB.

• Commercial Department had begun to collate information regarding the socio economic benefit from sub-contractors. Discussions between Commercial Department and contractor organisations were underway as to the socio economic plans submitted within tenders for the decommissioning services framework contracts and how these would be measured.

Communications

Paul Hetherington noted:

• The Dounreay Socio Economic Annual Review 2018/19 had been produced and would be published shortly. The information contained within the report would allow for a series of social media reports via Facebook, twitter and would feature in the mini films around the company values.

Any other business

• Niall Watson stated that, in relation to the earlier discussion on sustainability, as an environmental professional this was something he welcomed and felt had potential. He noted that as the CNSRP currently has a series of criteria to assess how funding applications align with high priority areas it would be worth considering how the criteria would need to be modified to accommodate sustainability. Simon Middlemas responded that the four pillars would be considered and felt that many projects/businesses already considered sustainability factors in their everyday business.
• Niall Watson noted that at the last DSEB meeting he had indicated that Jamie Stone MP had invited senior NDA officials to a meeting he was organising with the unions on the socio economics of the far north. The unions had recently been informed that a date had been agreed with the NDA, only to find out shortly afterwards that a new date would need to be sought.

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 18 May 2019

Actions Arising from this meeting.

Action number	Action description
DSEB(2019)M002/A001	June Love to finalise DESB(2019)M001 and publish on website.
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.
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.
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.
DSEB(2019)M002/A005	June Love to provide DSEB comments to CNSRP Programme Manager on the funding application for an EIA for North Coast 500.
DSEB(2019)M002/A006	June Love to invite CNSRP Chair and Programme Manager (and Chair if available) to attend the next DSEB.

Actions ongoing from previous meetings

Action number	Action description	Action status	Action status update
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 ongoing	This needs further local discussion as it is a question for DSRL as to whether they would be able to undertake within the existing ASFL.
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 & North Sutherland.	Action ongoing	An announcement was made at the end of March relating to £5m grant funding to support Scrabster Harbour Trust with the redevelopment of the St Ola Pier. An outcome from the NDA is awaited on two other projects that have resulted in requests for funding of around £11m.

Actions complete since last meeting

Action number	Action description	Action status	Action status update
DSEB(2019)M001/A001	June Love to amend minutes (DSEB(2018)M005) with changes requested and publish final version on website.	Action complete	Minutes were amended and published on website.
DSEB(2019)M001/A003	Anna MacConnell to provide information on the Sellafield model for socio economics.	Action superseded	The NDA will be carrying out consultation on a socio economic strategy in September with a view to finalising and publishing this in February 2020.
DSEB(2019)M001/A004	June Love to speak with Mac McGill, Security Director regarding the hot fire training proposal in terms of reviewing the request and taking forward to the Dounreay Executive if appropriate	Action complete	This was discussed with Mac McGill shortly after February meeting. It was also discussed with the Emergency Arrangement Manager who will provide a briefing to Security Director.
DSEB(2019)M001/A005	Jane Mackenzie, Commercial to provide information to the DSEB on the delivery of socio economic benefits from Dounreay contracts.	Action complete	Information is now started to be collated to provide evidence of socio economic commitments made via contracts.
DSEB(2019)M001/A007	June Love to provide a short process for dealing with requests ex-committee.	Action complete	See DSEB(2019)M001/A007 - Process for dealing with requests ex-committee. This was circulated to members on 26 February 2019.
DSEB(2019)M001/A008	June Love to provide DSRL funding application form to North Highland College for potential funding request to support the ‘hard to fill’ post of ETEC Manager.	Action complete	The application form was provided, dealt with via correspondence and subsequently approved. Letter of grant funding issued to North Highland College.
DSEB(2019)M001/A009	June Love to increase annual funding of the Dounreay Community Fund from £20k to £25k per year.	Action complete	Funding increased and communicated to Dounreay Stakeholder Group.
DSEB(2019)M001/A010	June Love to write to CNSRP Programme Manager requesting an update on HIE’s potential timeline for a decision being made on funding of the construction of the high water gate at Wick harbour.	Action complete	HIE confirmed it would take around 12 weeks from receipt of report to undertaken due diligence. The date to finalise this would be subject to when the documentation from Wick Harbour Authority was provided to allow the technical review to commence (as of 14 May the documentation was still awaited).
DSEB(2019)M001/A011	June Love to write to the CNSRP Chairman emphasising the need for a clear spend profile for priority projects to allow DSRL to predict requirements for annual funding more accurately	Action complete	Letter from Martin Moore to Ian Ross (CNSRP Chair) was issued. This has also been discussed with the new CNSRP Programme Manager.
DSEB(2019)M001/A012	June Love to write to Niall Watson, Dounreay Unions confirming a deputy for the Unions has been approved	Action complete	Email was sent to Niall Watson confirming approval for a deputy had been given
DSEB(2019)M001/A013	Niall Watson to confirm who the deputy trade union representative will be for the DSEB	Action complete	Niall Watson confirmed that Kim Thain would act as deputy.