Transport for Wales Board Meeting Minutes - 20 January 2022

20 January 2022

10:00 - 16:30

Venue - online

 

 

Scott Waddington (Chair); Alun Bowen; Heather Clash; Vernon Everitt; Sarah Howells; Nicola Kemmery; Alison Noon-Jones; and James Price.

In attendance: Natalie Feeley (items 1-3); Leyton Powell (items 1a - 2c); and Jeremy Morgan. Operational update session (Part B): Karl Gilmore, Geoff Ogden, David O’Leary, and Dave Williams. Lee Robinson joined for item 5; Mark Brown (Amey) for item 6; and Ian Cater for item 7.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and wished everyone a happy new year and best wishes moving forward.

 

1a. Apologies for Absence 

None.

 

1b. Notice of Quorum

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

 

1c. Declarations of Interest

None declared.

 

1d. Minutes and Actions of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the TfW Board meeting 18 December 2021 were approved as a true and accurate record.

The actions log was noted.

 

1e. Safety Moment

Monday this week was ‘Blue Monday’. People struggle this time of year especially with covid, working from home, and financial challenges and there is therefore a need to keep a focus on well-being. The Board were informed that this will soon feature in company-wide safety briefings.

The recent CVL blockade was carried out in adverse conditions and poor weather conditions but with no accidents.

 

1f. Customer moment

A customer host on a main line train had to struggle with a contactless only payment system with poor Wi-Fi. The option for paying with cash should remain open for TfW services when possible.

TfW’s new app went through a period of testing. This included one young person traveling to England using the app on other operator’s services, but the app was not working properly. The young person received a penalty fare from the other operator and a letter from ORR. TfW intervened as it did not seem fair on the young person that the app was not working and did not know to request a refund and buy a new ticket. There is a need to ensure that this risk does not still exist [Action Lewis Brencher / Dave Williams].

 

2. Safety performance

Leyton Powell joined the meeting.

Safety performance across TfW Group was generally positive, with some good proactive activity and significant amounts of activity around Christmas activities and covid controls. Controls around construction projects are also positive. The Board’s attention was brought to two specific activities: (1) working with Transport for London on covid sampling which will be shared with TfW; and (2) supporting the Welsh Government with new guidance for alert level 2 and the rollout of lateral flow tests for critical workers.

REDACTED

A security review is ongoing on Transformation and infrastructure management. The Board emphasised the need to ensure safety is the number one priority on CVL transformation.

There was a slight increase in incidents in TfW Rail over the last period, with analysis being carried out around types of accidents and behaviours. The combined Fatality Weighted Index score for the period was 0.20, slightly higher than the prediction of 0.18. The number of workforce physical assaults remains above the predicted figures with 11 physical assaults reported during the period. There were three SPAD incidents in the period which are all being investigated. There were four dispatch irregularities which are all being investigated.

There were no infrastructure accidents during the period but 14 trespass incidents. There were two minor no lost time injuries reported on CVL Transformation this period and two damage incidents.

Pullman Rail had no lost time events but three first aid injuries. Support has been offered around areas of priority risk areas.

 

3. Strategic update
3a. CEO report

Good progress across the business continues to be made despite the Christmas break and Omicron restrictions which impacted the pace at which some activities have been delivered. Rail operational performance has improved as scheduled services were reduced due to Covid absences. This enabled the people resource to cope leading to a material reduction in cancellations and shortforming. Progress continues on the CVL Transformation programme with two successful Christmas blockades carried out despite Covid illness and very wet weather.

As predicted and discussed at the last meeting, with a change in the guidance from the UK and Welsh Governments, the trend of increased use of the rail service reversed resulting in a sharp decline from around 80% of pre-covid gate-line footfall at the beginning of December to around 40% by the end of the month. This was followed by a reasonably healthy bounce back in the last full week to around 50%. The significant challenge is to now recover the original timetable at the fastest pace possible without damaging reliability and matching service levels to staffing availability, especially moving into capacity crowds at sporting events very shortly.

The Board suggested communications should be released stating why service levels are unlikely to be back to normal until after the Six Nations [Action Lewis Brencher]. 

As part of a wider look at rail performance, consideration is being given as to how best hold Network Rail to account for delivering a network that is able to run effectively during the stormy months. Wales was subject to more stringent speed restrictions than the rest of the UK network due to the number of dead dying and diseased trees.

Positive work continues with Network Rail and DfT on preparing for future timetable enhancements. Funding and plans are now in place for the next round of improvements this year and discussions have taken place around the full programme up to 2024.

The CVL Transformation Programme was discussed at length at the last the Major Projects Committee. Recent discussion by the Major Projects Committee and the Board have centred around design, build, and funding. The Boards agreed that over the coming months it would now give equal consideration of rolling stock and operation, and entry into service, integration and regulatory approvals.

REDACTED

Risks remain around CVL operations due to the not yet agreed Metro door protocol. The Board were informed that a programme of action with the RMT has commenced to try and bring this to a conclusion in the next few months.

REDACTED

 

3b. Finance and governance

Recent finance activity has centred on year end position and agreeing an outturn position with the Welsh Government. This is proving to be challenging given uncertainties around the rail revenue position. Other key activities have centred on rolling stock planning, CVL, KPI reporting, business planning and budgeting for 2022-23, rail strategic review, support for Pullman Rail Ltd, and introduction of UK SOX.

REDACTED

Natalie Feeley left the meeting.

REDACTED

 

Karl Gilmore, Geoff Ogden, David O’Leary, and Dave Williams joined the meeting.

 

5. Bus update

Lee Robinson joined the meeting. The Board were updated on latest developments on the bus agenda. The priority has been around supporting the Welsh Government around the design and subsequent implementation of new legislation and design of the operating model. The Board were updated on the conclusion and follow on to BES2, the strategic development and re-procurement of Traws Cymru, network design, concessionary cards, the rural agenda, fairer fares and funding integration.

The Board were impressed by the ambition of the bus agenda but understood that the point of needing to know who is responsible for leading different parts of the agenda, agreement  on who is delivering what and who will fund it -needs to be reached, including having clarity on TfW’s role. The Board agreed that TfW’s role is fundamental given remit of delivering an integrated travel network. It was agreed to raise this at next week’s Steering Board.

Lee Robinson left the meeting.

 

6. TfW Innovation Services

Mark Brown (Amey) joined the meeting to provide an update on the work of TfW Innovation Services Ltd. The total number of opportunities since TfW Innovation Services started operating is 106 across a range of activities, with 23 Task Orders approved, and four completed REDACTED The Board were shown case studies of the completed work carried out to date.

TfW Innovation Services’ objectives will be aligned with TfW’s 2022-23 business plan with the aim of the joint venture becoming increasingly proactive in taking proposals to TfW which align with business plan objectives and supporting activities; developing a benefits realisation package for all projects; and increasingly integrating the joint venture’s work with other TfW innovation streams.

Mark Brown left the meeting.

 

7. Strategic Road Network

Ian Cater joined the meeting. The Board were updated and discussed the results of an internal exercise to identify potential opportunities around the transfer of Strategic Road Network responsibilities from the Welsh Government to TfW.

REDACTED

The Board also noted changes in accountability around weekly senior executive reviews, programme delivery including increased supply chain engagement and covid working practices, and the bolstering of resources.

The Board thanked the team for the amount of work being undertaken to drive the project forward.

 

9. Infrastructure projects six-month look-ahead

The Board noted the live contract schedule and six-month procurement lookahead.

Karl Gilmore left the meeting.

 

10. Corporate Strategy

The Board noted progress on developing TfW’s five-year corporate strategy.

 

11. Risk Register

Leyton Powell joined the meeting. The Board noted updates to the Strategic Risk Register. A consistent approach to risk management has been established throughout TfW and TfW Rail. The Active Risk Manager (ARM) system is substantially complete with around 200 users, with work continuing around customisation to reflect needs, data cleansing of risks imported from other systems and day-to-day changes to the user group and to the risk data. This also includes a consistent scoring system standard approach across the risk portfolio for reporting and escalation to make the system more practical to use.

ARM currently holds 2,338 risk records, of which 1,441 are open, 683 are closed and 214 awaiting approval. There are four open risks on the SLT/Board escalated risk register, no new and emerging risks and issues for the period, and three risks were de-escalated from SLT / Board level.

The first draft of a risk scope to consider the impacts and potential mitigations from a Major Power Outage event has been completed in draft. This is currently in review to then initiate an in-depth impact assessment of a National Power outage of a significant period of time.

Leyton Powell and Geoff Ogden left the meeting

 

12. Communications report

The last period was another difficult one as a result of the Omicron variant and its impact on service quality. The impact was reflected across the majority of areas of activity including brand impression, stakeholder contact and community engagement. The announcement of emergency timetable helped offset some of this impact, but customer experience is the largest story for the period. The new year, improvement in service delivery and changes in restrictions is presenting an  opportunity to reset on our proactive plans for the year, and work is now underway to recover and grow positively during the second quarter.

Lewis Brencher, David O’Leary and Dave Williams left the meeting.

 

13. Update on subsidiary boards

The Board were updated on recent subsidiary Board meetings of Pullman Rail Ltd and TfW Rail Ltd. There were no significant new items discussed by the Rail Board with a major focus on performance, a new wheel lathe in North Wales, resourcing and rolling stock.

At its December 2021 meeting, the Pullman Board discussed finance, changes to the site and safety implications. The company is ending year strongly and has a full order book for 2022-23.

 

15. Update on sub-committees

The last meeting of the Major Projects Committee considered CVL Transformation and bus in some detail along with 20mph zones; annual review of rail renewals; station enhancements; the Global Centre for Rail Excellence; and Wales and Cross Border enhancements projects.

The recent Customer and Communications Committee meeting considered KPIs; a customer experience update; complaints; delay and repay figures; an update on Innovation Labs; and asset management.

 

16. TfW Steering Board

The recent TfW Steering Board meeting was an informal meeting and considered Omicron and the effects on staff absences; finances and budgets; the likelihood of internal Welsh Government staff changes; Articles of Association; PTI Cymru; and rail fares.

 

The Chair thanked everyone for their attendance and contributions.