Transport for Wales Board Meeting Minutes - 17 September 2020

10:00 – 16:00; 17 September 2020

Clive House, Bradford Place, Penarth

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the meeting took place via video/audio conference

 

Scott Waddington (SW) (Chair); James Price (JP); Heather Clash (HC); Sarah Howells (SH); Nicola Kemmery (NK); Vernon Everitt (VE); Alun Bowen (AB); Gareth Morgan (item 2c) and Jeremy Morgan (Secretariat).

Operational update session (Part B): Geoff Ogden (GO); David O’Leary (DOL); Lewis Brencher (LB); Gareth Morgan (GM); Lee Robinson (LR); Alexia Course (AC); Karl Gilmore (KG); Gareth Morgan (GM) and Dave Williams (DW).

 

1a. Apologies for Absence

Natalie Feeley (NF), Alison Noon-Jones (ANJ) and Lisa Yates (LY) (operational update session)

 

1b. Notice of Quorum

A quorum being present, the Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and declared the meeting open.

 

1c. Conflicts of Interest

None declared.

 

1d. Minutes & Actions of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the Board meeting 16 July 2020 were accepted as a true and accurate record.

 

2a. Safety Moment

A school bus was yesterday involved in an accident by losing control and ending up on its side resulting in a few minor injuries. The Board were reminded that when TfW is involved in bus services, there will be a new set of challenges. The Board discussed issues around face coverings. There has been an escalation of passengers’ nervousness about travelling and the perception that people are inconsistently applying regulations and guidance. Confidence and allaying nervousness are fundamental in bringing people back to public transport. There is now more of a security presence at some stations and more than more than 3,000 people have been removed from trains for not following facemask regulations.

 

2b. Customer moment

SH shared her experiences of spending time at Radyr station with rail replacement colleagues. Most passengers were getting on busses wearing facemasks, but there was little enforcement of social distancing. It was a generally well organised system with people ushered onto busses. There were lessons to learn on metrics and revenue protection. One passenger came off the bus to commend the drivers and the service.

 

2c. Safety performance

GM joined the meeting to introduce the safety performance report. This has been a challenging period due to local lockdowns presenting challenges on the network. It was reconfirmed that certain lines and stations are being targeted to ensure passenger compliance with facemask regulations.

The Board were informed that the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee recently reviewed the fatal Stonehaven accident. There are 26 similar drains on the CVL network to the one which was at the centre of the Stonehaven incident, all of which have been surveyed. The RAIB will soon be reporting on the Stonehaven incident and recommendations will be reviewed to assess how they need to be applied on the CVL network.

A discussion took place on safety around level crossings near to stations which, owing to the current timetable, are only request stops. It was confirmed that risk assessments have been carried out on all 34 level crossings on the CVL network and if necessary, train speeds have been reduced to 15mph.

Internal workshops and training are on-going including fire and security assessments for the new Pontypridd office. A COVID-19 risk assessment on working arrangements has been undertaken. Fatigue risk management arrangements continue to be developed.

Unfortunately, there were two suicides on the network during the period. Stakeholder liaison officers are being trained in suicide prevention.

The Board discussed health and safety figures from the previous period and were advised that the Fatality Weighted Index has increased slightly, but workforce incidents are trending downwards with most being minor injuries. Although workforce assault incidents have reduced, the Board were concerned about the low level of enforcement fines. The Board agreed that it would be useful to have a discussion with BTP. No health and safety incidents have been reported on CVL transformation works, but close calls are being reported. Route crime incidents are increasing, especially around interfering with equipment such as cable theft. Trespassing incidents are also trending upwards over the last three periods.

 

3a. CEO report

JP presented his view on the business since the last Board meeting. A significant amount of thought and activity went into managing children and students returning to school and college. This presented several difficult challenges but were well managed and no-one has been unable to attend school or college due to TfW transport issues. Whilst the immediate problem was well managed, the cost of busses needs to be assessed and benchmarked.

Action: LR to benchmark the costs paying for school busses to ensure we are getting value for money

TfW has been working with the Welsh Government and the ODP to understand the implications of social distancing regulations, in particular amendments to laws brought in to maintain social distancing on trains. Compliance with wearing facemasks has increased from 20% to around 75% within a couple of weeks with a great deal of activity to clamp down on this through finding balance between education, encouragement, and enforcement.

The Board were briefly updated on the status of negotiations with Keolis Amey for arrangements post-EMA [Redacted]

 

3b. Finance

HC introduced the finance report and management accounts for August 2020. The key areas of focus are monitoring the current EMA agreement. This includes a review of the balance sheet and closing COVID19 items for reconciliation and final payment along with cashflow management and monthly reviews. Work continues to support arrangements for the post-EMA period through financial modelling, reviewing the fuel hedge, service impact modelling, CVL programme COVID19 implications, identifying emerging risks and contractual optioneering.

Work also continues across all other parts of the organisation through supporting work on the bus agenda, responding to the latest remit letter, rail contract variations pensions and internal audit.

The Board queried whether we there are any issues around future funding. It was confirmed that there were no current issues.

The Board noted August 2020’s management accounts. August’s Resource Expenditure spend was at £30 million, £28 million of which related to rail, the majority of which is passed through to the ODP. March’s capital expenditure was at £14.1 million, of which £14 million related to rail.

 

3c. Update on sub-committees

The Board received updates on recent meetings of the Audit and Risk, Customer and Communications, Health, Safety and Well-being and People Committee meetings.

The Committee also discussed progress with establishing the Major Change Projects Committee. It was confirmed that VE will chair the committee with AB as vice chair. The Board discussed the draft terms of reference which will be further discussed at an establishment meeting in early October and then formally adopted at October’s Board meeting. It was confirmed that the Committee will scrutinise and provide assurance for the Board on current and future major change projects.

 

3d. Board scorecard

The Board agreed the proposed content of a monthly scorecard. Reporting will start from October 2020.

 

3e. Steering Board

The Chair updated the Board on the recent TfW Steering Board meeting with the Welsh Government. The meeting covered post-EMA arrangements, risk management, remit, and budgeting and KPIs.

 

4. Any other business

[Redacted]

 

LB, LR, AC, KG, DOL, DW, GM and GO joined the meeting.

SW thanked the Exec and their teams for their work and encouraged everyone to ensure they take breaks during the day.

 

5a. Rail Futures

[Redacted]

 

5b. Acquisitions and shareholdings

The Board were updated on progress with four potential acquisition or shareholding activities TfW is managing. [Redacted]. Discussions have progressed well on the transfer of funding responsibility for services such as for PTI (Public Transport Information) Cymru from the Welsh Government to TfW. An in-principle agreement has been reached to develop this proposition further with PTI Cymru and plans are in place for TfW to attend their board meeting in November 2020. Internal planning and governance began in September 2020 to manage the acquisition and integration process.

 

5c. Risk Register

The Board discussed the Strategic Risk Register and were advised that two new risks had been added in relation to unexpected Network Rail asset change costs [redacted].

 

5d. Communications

The brand impression score remains positive. Recently run media campaigns are showing good results but significant challenges remain in getting across the message of being safe in the current environment.

 

5e. December 2020 timetable delivery rolling stock options

The Board supported a recommendation to retain the nine Porterbrook class 153s to enable December 2020 timetable delivery [redacted]. The Board were informed that there would be service reductions without retaining the rolling stock in question.

 

5f. Wrexham accommodation

The Board approved the construction of a refurbished Portakabin office facility at Wrexham General to provide a base for the North Wales team and TfW Rail Service personnel in North Wales at a cost of £1.1 million over 15 years.

 

5g. Programme and Corporate tracker

The Board noted the latest programme and corporate trackers.

 

5h. Infrastructure update

The Board noted a paper providing an update on infrastructure projects progress.

 

5k. AOB

None

 

The Chair thanked everyone for their attendance.

 

Next meeting – 15 October 2020.