Guidance

Dounreay Socio Economic Board minutes - Friday 26 June 2020

Updated 27 September 2023

Present

Name	Organisation represented and job title
Steve Young	Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) Organisational Excellence Director (Chair)
David Wallace	Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Stakeholder Relations Manager
Mark Rouse	DSRL Managing Director
Simon Middlemas	Parent Body Organisation (PBO) Socio Economic Support
Niall Watson	DSRL unions
Lesley Sewell	DSRL Business Services Director
Paul Hetherington	DSRL Communications Manager
June Love	DSRL Socio Economic Manager
Peter Faccenda	Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership (CNSRP) Programme Manager

Welcome and Introduction

Steve Young welcomed everyone to the meeting. He noted that both Mark Rouse and Peter Faccenda were attending for the first time and introductions were made.

Before proceeding a safety share focussed on behaviours as the site begins to phase the restart of work on site. David Wallace also highlighted the NDA ‘make a change’ programme which centred on health and well-being.

Potential conflicts of interest were tabled, noting that no-one declaring an interest receives any personal benefit from these projects:

Name	Conflict of interest
June Love and Simon Middlemas	Space Hub Sutherland
Simon Middlemas	CNSRP Support Hub

Steve Young summarised the focus, in relation to socio economics, had been on the impact to the community and local business during the COVID-19 restrictions. The current situation had influenced some of the decisions made over the last month and demonstrated the ability to make prompt decisions without compromising on due diligence.

He noted the funding provided to the North Highland Initiative (£30,000) to support community groups and to the Caithness Business Fund (£100,000) for local business support. The Caithness Business Fund requests had exceeded the funding provided and it was pleasing to see that the NDA had agreed to match fund and provide a further £100k to allow the business fund to commence a second round.

He asked that members focus on two main topics at this meeting – the programme of activities for the nuclear partners to deliver, which would become part of the overall CNSRP programme, and also the funding application for the CNSRP Support Hub.

David Wallace noted that the Scottish Government had published an economic recovery report and there were some pointers in the paper that could be useful to consider as thinking evolved on support for COVID-19 recovery. Simon Middlemas noted there were a lot of recommendations in the paper and these would clearly link into the Just Transition and climate actions. He stated it was worth keeping abreast of these evolving pieces of work.

Steve Young noted that while local CNSRP connections were good it would be useful to consider how to get better connected with Scottish Government and other CNSRP partners on a regional basis.

Apologies

Apologies were received from John McNamara, NDA Head of Stakeholder Relations.

Approval of previous minutes

Steve Young noted that the minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated to members in advance – DSEB(2020)M02 refers. Following feedback amendments had been made. Members endorsed the minutes as a true reflection of the meeting.

Action: DSEB(2020)M03/A001 - June to publish minutes (DSEB(2020)M02) on website by 2 July 2020.

Status of actions

The status of actions is recorded at the end of these minutes.

NDA update

Steve Young invited David Wallace to provide an update from NDA. David Wallace reported:

• NDA had provided £100,000 to the Caithness Business Fund to support local business become COVID-19 compliant when re-opening.
• It was expected that the new NDA socio economic funding process would go live on 16th July.
• The NDA Socio Economic Strategy was now nearing completion and was expected to be published next week.
• It was good to see that planning had been approved unanimously for Space Hub Sutherland.
• Stakeholder briefings would be issued on a monthly basis.
• Discussions with Skills Development Scotland (SDS) had taken place to explore how SDS could get more involved with CNSRP activities.
• David Peattie was meeting with Roseanna Cunningham (Scottish Government Minister) and Gail Ross, MSP next week.
• NDA was supporting Wick Harbour to fund the procurement of a consultant to review and further develop the business plan for the proposed high-water gate.
• It was expected that some NDA personnel would start moving back into offices around 20 July.

Steve Young noted that the NDA had set up a new socio-economic panel meeting to evaluate all applications over £200,000. This would allow some consistency across the NDA estate and he and June Love would be involved in these meetings.

Steve Young also noted that meetings between CNSRP, DSRL and NDA had taken place on skills audits. DSRL would be carrying out a site skills/technical competency audit as this was required for on-site purposes but would also be useful information externally. Parallel with this, NDA had committed to carrying out a wider skills audit for Caithness and North Sutherland and it had been agreed that these two pieces of work together would be useful input into CNSRP to translate the skills to nuclear requirements and other industries.

Simon Middlemas noted that he had completed a ‘medium’ NDA grant funding form and had found it quite hard to answer all the questions. Peter Faccenda echoed this and, while he understood information was required, he felt that some applicants would require support to complete these forms. David Wallace noted he would feedback these comments to NDA.

David Wallace noted that he had held internal discussions within the NDA on a potential lead provided by Steve Young on a research project proposal with Liverpool University. NDA were keen to explore this further and suggested a follow up meeting with the university, DSRL and NDA to get more information on the proposal. Peter Faccenda stated that if this collaboration was to go ahead it would be worthwhile bringing in North Highland College to see how they could partner. Niall Watson stated that if this proposal was to be taken forward it would be important to collaborate on the research element of this.

Dounreay update

June Love noted that she had provided a written update and, given the desire to ensure the meeting devoted sufficient time to consider the application for a CNSRP Support Hub, she would take this update as read unless members had any queries. Members were content to take the update as read.

June Love noted that a high level programme of nuclear partners’ activities had been developed. Members were asked to review the programme to ensure all activities were included and that the dates for delivery were achievable. This programme, when finalised, would allow the reporting of progress against deliverables at this meeting. When finalised it would also be provided to CNSRP to allow them to incorporate into the overall CNSRP socio economic programme.

Simon Middlemas stated that he had developed a template for dashboard reporting and this would also align to the CNSRP programme. Steve Young agreed that the programme would provide a greater focus on delivery.

Action: DSEB(2020)M03/A002 - All members to review the high-level socio-economic programme, to ensure all activities are included and delivery dates are achievable, by 10 July 2020.

DSRL funding applications

Steve Young invited Peter Faccenda to provide a brief on the CNSRP support hub funding application to allow members to consider whether this was something that could be supported. At this point, Simon Middlemas left the meeting and took no part in the discussion.

In summary, the CNSRP Executive Board had agreed to a refreshed approach for future CNSRP programme activity and this had allowed the development of a proposal to establish a CNSRP Support Hub to provide some, and co-ordinate other, resources, expertise and support needed to help Caithness and north Sutherland organisations. The aims of the project were to aid rapid recovery from the impacts of Covid-19 restrictions and support future sustainability.

Peter Faccenda took members through the application form and the details of the proposal. The full discussion is recorded on the new NDA electronic system. Members, having questioned aspects of the application recommended that this funding application should be approved.

Action: DSEB(2020)M03/A003 - June Love to put the CNSRP Support Hub funding application and additional information into the new NDA socio economic application system by 1 July 2020.

Action: DSEB(2020)M03/A004 - June Love to draft letter of funding approval with conditions for Board comment/approval prior to being issued by 15 July 2020.

Communications

Paul Hetherington stated that there had been media coverage for a number of funding support projects during the month including the Caithness Business Fund, the North Highland Initiative fund and the provision of funding to purchase a motorbike to be based in Caithness for the Highlands and Islands Blood Bikes.

He also noted that the annual review for 2019/20 had been passed to the graphics department for design and was currently going through the document to finalise it.

Any other business

Steve Young invited the following to provide updates:

Off-site short-term accommodation strategy: Lesley Sewell reported that DSRL was currently compiling data needed for the requirements for offsite accommodation. In parallel, while considering the short-term requirements, medium to longer term requirements were also being considered. Office space was being considered in Thurso and Wick with a facility in Thurso identified as a good potential as it is already had appropriate IT infrastructure and was therefore a relatively quick fix. She was also speaking with NDA in relation to the support provided to Sellafield for offsite accommodation. She noted she had tried to contact Tony Smithers, NDA Property but had not managed to make contact. David Wallace said he would provide Lesley with Tony’s contact details.

Lesley Sewell also noted that there was two aspects to consider, the first being the site’s contractual arrangements and the potential to feed into another project that the NDA was considering.

Simon Middlemas stated that it was good to see some short-term work being considered as this should ultimately feed into the longer term aspirations for off-site accommodation for beyond Dounreay.

Steve Young agreed that this piece of work could feed into long term solutions for office accommodation, which would enable further discussion with the NDA around work mobility.

Action: DSEB(2020)M03/A005 - David Wallace to provide Lesley Sewell with contact details for Tony Smithers, NDA Property by 1 July 2020.

DSEB Terms of Reference: June Love noted she had distributed the latest Terms of Reference following comment at the last meeting. These had been circulated so that they could be agreed and finalised. Steve Young noted that objectives had been identified and consideration would be required as to how to measure success against these objectives.

Action: DESB(2020)M03/A006 - All DSEB members to provide final comment to June Love on the Terms of Reference by 15 July 2020.

Partnering charter/maturity model: Steve Young noted that discussion had been deferred from the last meeting and questioned the need for a partnering charter. Simon Middlemas said that the partnering charter, signed in 2012, made some bold statements. In the context of measuring success for the DSEB objectives this could be done by carrying out a partnering maturity model survey which allows members to consider and score where they believe the nuclear partners currently stand and then to repeat this a year later to ensure improvement.

Niall Watson stated he had looked at the maturity model and asked whether this was something for all CNSRP partners or for the nuclear partners only. Simon Middlemas responded that he felt this is something that the nuclear partners should do and then it would roll out to the wider CNSRP.

Peter Faccenda felt this approach was effectively based on what CNSRP could look like with the right partnership support. He believed this was something that he would like to use to engage CNSRP partners.

David Wallace felt the maturity model would be useful to bring the partners together and provided a good opportunity to consider the effectiveness of partners.

It was agreed that the partnering maturity model would be circulated to all DSEB members for completion and following that it would be rolled out to CNSRP partners.

Action: DSEB(2020)M03/A007 - June Love to provide partnering maturity model survey for members to complete and follow up with 1:1 discussions with Peter Faccenda.

Niall Watson asked whether it would be possible to explain the CNSRP Support Hub in a single page. It was agreed that Paul Hetherington would work with Peter Faccenda to produce a one page summary.

Action: DSEB(2020)M03/A008 - Peter Faccenda and Paul Hetherington to work up a single page summary describing the CNSRP Support Hub by 28 July 2020.

Paul Hetherington asked what progress was being made on the Public Service Obligation (PSO) for Wick/JOG airport. Peter Faccenda responded that Eastern Airways had recently announced it would not be restarting flights to/from Aberdeen and because of this there was more urgency around the setting up of a PSO. Transport Scotland was considering the business case and there had been robust discussions with Scottish Government Ministers.

Mark Rouse noted he had been observing the majority of the meeting as this was his first one since returning as DSRL Managing Director. He stated he would reflect on the meeting and would follow up initial thoughts off-line to bring himself up to speed as there was a lot to take on board.

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

Steve Young (Chair), Organisational Excellence Director, 28 June 2020

Status of actions

Actions arising from this meeting

Action number	Action description
DSEB(2020)M03/A001	June to publish minutes (DSEB(2020)M02) on website by 2 July 2020
DSEB(2020)M03/A002	All members to review the high-level socio-economic programme to ensure all activities are included and delivery dates are achievable by 10 July 2020
DSEB(2020)M03/A003	June Love to put the CNSRP Support Hub funding application and additional information into the new NDA socio economic system by 1 July 2020
DSEB(2020)M03/A004	June Love to draft letter of funding approval with conditions for Board comment/approval prior to being issued by 15th July 2020
DSEB(2020)M03/A005	David Wallace to provide Lesley Sewell with contact details for Tony Smithers, NDA Property by 1 July 2020
DESB(2020)M03/A006	All DSEB members to provide final comment to June Love on the Terms of Reference by 15 July 2020
DSEB(2020)M03/A007	June Love to provide partnering maturity model survey for members to complete and follow up with 1:1 discussions with Peter Faccenda
DSEB(2020)M03/A008	Peter Faccenda and Paul Hetherington to work up a single page summary describing the CNSRP Support Hub by 28 July 2020

Actions ongoing from previous meetings

Action number	Action description	Action status	Action update
DSEB(2020)M01/A004	All DSEB members to provide comment on the Dounreay Socio Economic Alliance Impact Plan 2020-2023 by Friday 28th February 2020	Action complete	Comments received on draft plan and with Communications for final review
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	Action ongoing	Comments provided on annual review. With Communications for final edit and design

Actions completed since last meeting

Action number	Action description	Action status	Action update
DSEB(2020)M01/A001	June Love to amend DSEB(2019)M003 to reflect minor change and publish on website by 4 March 2020	Action completed	2 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	Action complete	The pipeline projects were now listed in the DSEA programme and would be considered while reviewing the programme
DSEB(2020)M01/A003	All DSEB members to consider the DSEB Terms of Reference including objectives and goals and provide comments by Friday 28th February	Action complete	Comments were received, and the ToRs were amended accordingly
DSEB(2020)M02/A001	June Love to include Mark Rouse on diary invitations for future DSEB meetings	Action complete	invites sent on 18 May 2020
DSEB(2020)M02/A002	June Love to publish DSEB(2020)M01 on website	Action completed	15 May 2020
DSEB(2020)M02/A003	David Wallace to set up a discussion with Andrew Van Der Lem , Karen Hallsworth, June Love and Steve Young to discuss how the socio economic process will be implemented	Action complete	The process of the new NDA system is nearly live having all those responsible for the process of applications being provided with training
DSEB(2020)M02/A004	June Love, David Wallace, John McNamara and Steve Young to discuss the potential changes in socio economic strategy to take on board COVID-19 recovery prior to the next meeting	Action complete	The NDA socio economic strategy was currently being finalised and consideration of COVID-19 recovery related activities will be included
DSEB(2020)M02/A005	June Love to progress all three proposals for funding support to provide more detail on conditions of funding and how these could be taken forward	Action complete	The Caithness Business Funding was completed. CNSRP support hub was on agenda for discussion at this meeting. The BD support for Dounreay socio economic support was currently being discussed with NDA
DSEB(2020)M02/A006	Lesley Sewell to provide an update on short term accommodation strategy at the next DSEB	Action complete	On agenda for discussion at meeting held on 26th June 2020
DSEB(2020)M02/A007	June Love to circulate final (draft) version of the ToRs for comment prior to the next meeting	Action complete	Draft ToRs circulated for final comments on 18th May 2020
DSEB(2020)M02/A008	June Love to put Partnering charter and performance of partnership working with Dounreay Socio Economic Alliance on next agenda for further consideration	Action complete	on agenda for discussion at this meeting (26 June 2020)