Corporate report

Geospatial Commission: Board of Commissioners meeting, 22 September 2020

Published 26 November 2020

Geospatial Commission: Board of Commissioners meeting, 22 September 2020

Tele-conference

Commissioners

Sir Andrew Dilnot (Chair)
Nigel Clifford (Deputy Chair)
Thalia Baldwin
Dame Kate Barker
Steve Blair
Kru Desai
Edwina Dunn OBE
Michael Mire
Steve Unger

Commission Unit

Maria Christodoulou
Jamie Clark
Joe Cuddeford
Paula Dorman
Claire Edwards
Rosalind Goodfellow
Catherine McGrath
Bomi Okuyiga
Abigail Page
Hugh Phillips
Heath Pritchard
Annabelle Sampah
Wotey Tannoh
Catherine Young
Kevin Yue

Observers

Glyn Jones (Welsh Government)
Albert King (Scottish Government)
Jim Lennon (Northern Ireland Executive)
David Wood (Defra)

External Speakers

Nick Walkley, CEO, Homes England

1. Minutes and matters arising

1.1. The minutes of the previous meeting were reviewed and approved for publication.

1.2. No other matters were noted.

2. Report from the nominated Commissioners

2.1. Steve Blair and Michael Mire provided an update from the Partner Bodies, in their capacity as Nominated Commissioners. Feedback on the papers was noted, and comments were made specifically on paper 1 about the Skills Programme, which was discussed in more detail during agenda item 4; and paper 3 about the Market Study which was discussed in more detail during agenda item 7.

2.2. The initial term of appointment for the Nominated Commissioners to the Board has expired. Partner body CEO’s have agreed that Karen Hanghøj, CEO, BGS, will replace Michael Mire as nominated Commissioner to the Board, and that Steve Blair will remain as Nominated Commissioner for a further year. The Board thanked Michael for his contributions in his role as Nominated Commissioner, in particular for his support with the delivery of the PSGA and the UK Geospatial Strategy.

3. Report from the Director of the Commission

3.1. Thalia Baldwin provided a report from the Geospatial Commission Unit, in her capacity as Director. Thalia provided an update on the Spending Review process to date and will provide a further update at the next Board.

3.2. Thalia provided a brief update on the Commission’s key external engagement events. Since the Board last met, the Commission has convened the first meeting of the Geospatial Skills Forum, the Transport Location Data Taskforce and a Market Study Expert Panel discussion. The discussion outputs are being incorporated into next steps across the Commission’s activities.

3.3. Thalia also noted that Sir Andrew Dilnot and Nigel Clifford have written to the Geospatial Commission Ministerial Steering Group to update them on how the Commission has and will continue to deliver against the UK’s Geospatial Strategy.

4. Mission 3: Enhancing capabilities, skills and awareness: Skills Programme: Update and next steps

4.1. Claire gave an overview of the Frontier Economics Demand for Skills report, also noting the analysis commissioned to look at online job vacancies and the impact of COVID-19. Claire also noted the first Geospatial Skills Forum that convened in August, bringing together stakeholders from across the public and private sector.

4.2. The Board encouraged the team to take a broad view of applicable skills, thinking beyond traditional geospatial skills by looking to the wider data science community. It was suggested that broadening the language used when describing geospatial applications could be one way to achieve this.

4.3. The Board also noted that the Commission has a role in demonstrating the importance of geospatial across all sectors, especially where the full benefits are not well understood. This could support the creation of more strategic geospatial roles.

4.4. The Board agreed that whilst the Frontier Economics report addresses a lot of the necessary points, a broader narrative could usefully provide clarity on the breadth of skills and applications linked to geospatial data.

5. Mission 2: Housing and Planning: Programme update

5.1. Annabelle gave an update on the housing and planning (H&P) programme. The Commission is exploring ways to improve the efficiency of the house buying and planning system by improving the  FAIR (Findable, Interoperable, Accessible, Reusable) aspects of location data within it. The Connected Places Catapult have been chosen to lead on the discovery work for the FAIR data project.

5.2. Annabelle outlined the high level of stakeholder engagement undertaken with industry experts across the public and private sector. Despite housing and planning being a crowded policy space, key players have welcomed the Commission leading on areas where there is no clear location data lead, such as driving the uptake of Unique Property Reference numbers (UPRNs).

5.3. The Board supported the focused approach to specific interventions  in order to add maximum value and demonstrate progress, for example, interventions to support easier linking of datasets potentially through a portal.

6. Mission 2: Housing and Planning - Discussion with Nick Walkley, CEO, Homes England

6.1. Nick provided an overview of Homes England work, including their broader missions and ambitions for the coming years.

6.2. Nick also gave an overview of geospatial-related work at Homes England; such as mapping planning issues, identifying target areas for housing growth and site specific opportunity analysis and prioritisation. The Board agreed that there is value in explicitly connecting the Commission’s Underground Assets programme to the government’s priorities for housing development.

7. Mission 2: Update on Market Study clearance and publication

7.1. Bomi gave a brief update on Market Study developments including an overview of the first Market Study Expert Panel, which was attended by Amelia Fletcher OBE, Sir Edward Troup, Sir Ian Diamond, John Pullinger CB and Tera Allas CBE. Bomi noted the helpful steers and recommendations provided by the panel.

7.2. Bomi set out a timeline for publication of the Frontier Economics authored Market Study and the Commission’s policy response to the study. The Board supported a  tone that emphasises the universal application of geospatial data across the economy.

8. Mission 3: Commission’s Communication: Strategic engagement approach

8.1. Ros provided an overview of the Commission’s updated approach to strategic communications and engagement post delivery of the UK’s Geospatial Strategy in June. The Commission is aiming to mature its tone  building on the credibility the Commission has developed to date.

8.2. The Commission will continue to maintain its collaborative, open and evidence-based approach, which will help ensure authenticity. The Board were strongly supportive of the transition to a more independent voice.

9. Any other business

9.1. The Board noted the paper on alignment of Partner Body plans with the UK Geospatial Strategy that was presented for information.

9.2. The next meeting of the Board of Commissioners will take place on 23rd November 2020.