Corporate report

Geospatial Commission: Board of Commissioners meeting 29 November 2022

Published 7 February 2023

Geospatial Commission: Board of Commissioners meeting 29 November 2022

Google Meet

11:00-13.00

Attendees

Commissioners:

Bernard Silverman (Chair)
Nigel Clifford (Deputy Chair)
Thalia Baldwin
Louise Heathwaite
Alex Notay

Nominated Commissioners:

Karen Hanghøj
Peter Sparkes

Commission Unit:

Jamie Clark
Chris Chambers
Joe Cuddeford
Ros Goodfellow
Catherine McGrath
Alasdair Kyle
Holly West
Callum Adams
Ellie Skinner
Allanah Ashdown
(Minutes by: Liz Conn)

Observers:

Alan Corbett (Scotland)
Jim Lennon (Northern Ireland)
Fiona James (ONS)
John Morris (for Glyn Jones)

Apologies:

Steve Unger,
Glyn Jones (Wales)

1. Minutes and Matters Arising

1.1. Bernard opened the meeting.

1.2. Apologies were given for Glyn Jones and Steve Unger.

1.3. The September board meeting minutes were approved with no changes. No other matters were noted.

2. Report from the Nominated Commissioners

2.1. Karen Hanghøj and Peter Sparkes summarised the points raised by the Partner Bodies at the Nominated Commissioners’ meeting on 24 November:

• The Partner Bodies’ collective view is that work on the National Land Data Programme is hugely important and they feel they have a considerable amount to contribute. They would welcome the opportunity to explore in-depth at a strategic alignment session in the New Year;
• Several of the Partner Bodies are engaged in, and supportive of, the Commission’s Property Data Project work;
• There is also regular dialogue between the Commission and Partner Bodies on the Commission’s Transport and Electric Vehicle charge point work. The Partner Bodies encouraged the Commission to consider relevant learnings from previous government projects, including E-CAVE.
• The Partner Bodies were very appreciative of the efforts of the Commission’s Allanah Ashdown and relevant Partner Body teams for organising and contributing to the Shadowing Programme 2022 (see Item 7 below).
• A number of the Partner Bodies are working on strategy refreshes or new strategies. Karen drew attention to the current BGS public consultation and invited the Geospatial Commission and Partner Bodies to give feedback.

2.2. As Karen’s term representing the Partner Bodies on the Commission board is coming to an end, the board expressed its gratitude to Karen for her positive engagement and contribution as Nominated Commissioner over the past two years. The January board meeting will include a visit to BGS, which the board is looking forward to.

3. Report from the Director of the Commission

3.1. Thalia provided an update on activities and highlights from across the Geospatial Commission during October and November, which saw a significant amount of external facing engagement, as well as close engagement with the Independent Commissioners, and included:

• the Commission chairing round tables on both Property and Transport;
• Commissioner Alex Notay chairing the National Land Data Programme Expert Group (see Item 4 below);
• Thalia and representatives from the Geospatial Commission and Partner Bodies joining a UK delegation to India for the UN World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC), an international forum at which the UK presented on a range of topics. The Commission itself presented on NUAR, Ethics, Value of Data and Skills. The presentations were well received and the Commission was pleased to be part of important global geospatial discussions;
• continued work on the Earth Observation pilot, the procurement exercise for which is due to launch shortly. An update will be provided at the January board meeting;
• the launch of the geospatial strategy refresh call for evidence which closes on 16th December, on which the Partner Bodies have been engaged. An update will be provided to the board at the January meeting;
• Commissioner Steve Unger joining a Ministerial roundtable in Wales on the National Underground Asset Register, which is moving to the Minimum Viable Product stage. A demonstration will be given at the January board meeting. An interview with Evan Davis about NUAR is to be featured on BBC Radio 4 in December.

4. Update on the National Land Data Programme (NLDP)

4.1. Alasdair Kyle joined the meeting. Louise Heathwaite gave an update on the National Land Data Programme (NLDP), highlighting the opportunity for the Commission to add value in this space by working to unlock friction points. The land use dialogue is in its early stages, with the Commission-led round tables revealing the complexity of the current situation.

4.2. Louise impressed upon the board that thinking about the national framework and a more integrated modelling capability will be really important.

4.3. It was noted that land use is an incredibly broad topic covering themes such as biodiversity, housing, food and energy production, water security, mineral extraction and many more. Given the complexity, there are different approaches that could be taken to organise engagement. The board discussed the pros and cons, which include taking a very broad approach, identifying issues and then considering solutions or focusing resources on specific use cases and investment opportunity areas. The board agreed it will be challenging work, but encouraged the Commission to seize the opportunity and consider what data is missing and how we can unlock it.

4.4. Karen confirmed that BGS is already involved in NLDP and there were various use cases where the connection between the surface and subsurface is important.  The Commission will engage the Partner Bodies and other relevant organisations on land use topics in early 2023 to develop a common understanding and taxonomy.

4.5. The Commission thanked the board for their comments, and particularly thanked Commissioners Alex Notay and Louise Heathwaite for their ongoing guidance and support.

5. Update on Property Data Work

5.1. Holly West joined the meeting. Alex Notay gave an update on the Property Data Project, through which the Commission is exploring the potential for improved property data to increase transparency, efficiency and productivity across the property ecosystem.

5.2. Alex has recently chaired three Property round tables, convening a mix of experts from public, private and the third sector, with discussions on land registration, construction, embedded carbon and retrofitting.

5.3. The Commission is  pulling together emerging findings and key themes into potential narratives that could form a future public policy document to support key government priorities.

5.4. It is a complex area, which also links to the National Land Data Programme and other areas, such as energy efficiency. The board agreed that public service and emergency response would be a priority and that advances in those areas would be most valuable.

5.5. The Commission thanked the board for their comments, in particular thanking Alex Notay for her support in convening and leading the round tables.

6. Update on Transport Work & Electric Vehicles

6.1. Callum Adams and Ellie Skinner joined the meeting, providing an overview of work on the Commission’s Transport Programme since it was last discussed at the board in July. Commissioner Steve Unger was unable to attend this meeting but Callum and the team wished to express their gratitude for his input and support.

6.2. Thinking has progressed and the team will shortly publish a report “Getting to the point: Geospatial data to accelerate EV chargepoint rollout” that identifies opportunities for location data to support the rollout of electric vehicle charge points, a draft of which has been shared with the board.

6.3. The Commission also intends to initiate a project on the role of data in the Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) sector, building on the 2021 report Positioning the UK in the fast lane.

6.4. Alan Corbett (Scottish Government) confirmed that Transport Scotland will be piloting use of an autonomous bus in 2023 and that they have started discussions with OS and others on the data required. Callum will bring forward his planned conversations with the Devolved Administrations to link into this.

6.5. The board is supportive of the Commission’s approach and agreed that it is both sensible and timely to have conversations around the envelope of data a CAV will be required to use. They added that there is a valuable role for the Commission to play in exploring with Local Authorities and bringing EV charge points into Local Plans as there is a significant gap there.

6.6. The board thanked the team and Steve Unger for their ongoing work in this important area.

7. Participants’ Reflections of the GC-Partner Body Shadowing Programme

7.1. Allanah Ashdown joined the meeting, along with representatives from the Partner Bodies who had participated in the Shadowing Programme, Eileen Callaghan (BGS), Michael Hogan (VOA), Michelle Crouch (HMLR) and Peter MacDiarmid (OS).

7.2. Allanah provided an overview of the Shadowing Programme, which was created to help build connections between organisations and share the vast wealth of expertise and experience within them, as well as contributing to individual learning and development. All seven organisations took part in the programme, with 132 applications to shadow received, of which 128 were successfully matched with a host.

7.3. Eileen, Michael, Michelle and Peter each presented on what they had gained from the experience, which they confirmed had been hugely beneficial to their understanding of other Partner Bodies and the Commission.

7.4. Overall feedback from all involved is that it was an incredibly beneficial programme and an enormous success. This will provide a framework to build on for the future, where a broader range of stakeholders and/or more formal secondments could also be considered.

7.5. The board thanked Allanah for her hard work pulling the programme together and suggested the Commission consider promoting it externally to share the success.

8. Any Other Business

8.1. The Commission will be changing the flow of its future board meetings, which will now be held quarterly over two days from January 2023 onwards, with subsequent meetings in April, July and October. The Secretariat Team will secure dates in diaries as soon as possible.

8.2. The board would like to formally record its thanks to Karen for all her hard work as Nominated Commissioner.