Transport for Wales Board Meeting Minutes - 22 September 2022

22 September 2022

09:30 - 17:00

Venue - Llys Cadwyn and online

 

Scott Waddington (Chair), Heather Clash, Nicola Kemmery, Sarah Howells, Alison Noon-Jones, and James Price.

In attendance: Jeremy Morgan; Leyton Powell (item 2); and Natalie Feely (items 1 to 3).

 

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting

 

1a. Apologies for absence

Vernon Everitt gave his apologies for the morning session.

 

1b. Notice of quorum

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

 

1c. Declarations of interest

Being employed in the broadband industry, Sarah Howells declared a potential interest in the CVL Fibre item. 

 

1d. Minutes and actions of previous meeting

The minutes of the TfW Board meeting 21 July 2022 were approved as a true and accurate record. The actions log was noted.

 

1e. Safety moment

Care needs to be taken over the risk of complacency from people being on site for so long. This is when incidents are more likely to happen.

 

1f. Customer moment

The Board were reminded of the need to ensure automatic responses to customer queries and complaints provide some benefit to the customer.

The Board reflected on some recent experiences with rail replacement services and taking care over the use of messaging when communicating with customers.

 

2. Safety performance

Leyton Powell joined the meeting.

The Board were updated on the launch of the Railway Guardian app; support for Pullman Rail whilst a Safety Manager is recruited; and a security forum held at Treforest depot with BTP, AIW and their delivery partners.

Seven accident/incidents were reported over the last period with one resulting in a RIDDOR. Further investigations are underway. There were 11 close calls raised during the period, mainly within catering with the faulty equipment reported and taken out of rotation for maintenance. The team are planning for a concerted effort on close calls in the next financial year.

The Board were alerted to knives being found on board a Cl175 unit in Holyhead. This was raised with the security and resilience team. Staff have been advised to report any suspicious activities to BTP.

Operations reported reasonable performance against KPI targets. The Combined fatality weighted index (FWI) score (0.07) was lower than the predicted (0.17). Workforce FWI remains consistent this period (0.03) with the moving annual average (0.05) remaining lower than predicted figure (0.07). There was an increase in the number of workforce events with 22 reported during the last period (higher than predicted figures).

There were six SPaDs during the period. The Board were informed of the resulting action taken in response including a deep dive, alerts to all depots, drivers removed from normal duties at time of SPaD pending corrective action plans, and the RSSB benchmarking the SPaD Management Processes against good practice.

The Board were also updated on several minor incidents across infrastructure, CVL Transformation and Pullman Rail. Leyton Powell left the meeting.

 

3. Strategic update

3a. CEO report

The Board were informed that the last two months have been busy across the whole business with a continued focus on strategically planning for the future, developing and delivering schemes, and moving forward with improving day to day rail services. There has also been a significant focus on implementing the new operating model and working with the Welsh Government to agree the CVL funding position.

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The Board were informed that work continues with the Welsh Government to develop TfW’s role in the bus agenda, particularly around letting and running a franchised network. Clarity will be sought in upcoming meetings including the TfW Steering Board.

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The Board were updated on a previously discussed idea of developing alternative capacity options via high quality coach services for passengers who are unable to use rail services due to high passenger numbers. Plans under development in this area with a pilot planned for September and November.

The CVL design output continues to be broadly stable at a much higher output level. 

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There has also been generally good progress on CVL build with outputs showing good productivity. The Board discussed entry into service and CVL integration. It was agreed that Dan Tipper will provide an update at a future meeting and that Tony Mercado would be asked to join the session [Action Jeremy Morgan]. 

Further discussions have taken place regarding Active Travel with the Welsh Government, TfW and Sustrans. The Board were informed that ambitions will require a multi-partner approach. Key conclusions from the discussions were that: (a) there is a need for even better prioritisation of projects; (b) there is a need to have a clearer plan for encouraging some local authorities to improve in this space; (c) there is a need for a significant improvement in the volume of evaluation and the quality of same; and (d) there is a need for some form of centralized resource to drive this.

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The Board discussed the recent period of hot weather and the resilience of both rolling stock and infrastructure. It was agreed that long-term resilience planning is required.

 

3b. Finance and governance

The Board were briefed on key finance and governance activity over the last month including funding gap discussions with the Welsh Government, TfW Rail Q2 forecast, rolling stock, the CVL programme and a review of TfW delegations.

The Board discussed the need to ensure active travel spend is carefully monitored, with less than half spent so far for the current financial year. It was agreed that James Price, Heather Clash, Geoff Ogden and Dan Tipper would discuss [Action Jeremy Morgan].

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The defined contribution pension scheme launch and consultation is in progress, with the consultation ending on 7 October. Staff will be able to make a personal choice on whether to switch provider. A Pensions Committee is being set up to oversee all pension issues.

The Board noted the Management Accounts for August 2022-23.

Natalie Feeley left the meeting.

 

5. Sub-committees

The Board were updated on the recent meeting of the Customer and Commercial sub-committee. The Committee’s consideration included complaint handling, the Real Social Network advertising campaign, and the TfW app.

The recent meeting of the Major Projects Committee discussed several on-going programmes and projects including CVL transformation, TfW’s role in the GCRE project, and rolling stock. It was agreed that a rolling stock update will be provided at October’s TfW Board meeting [Action Alexia Course].

The recent Audit and Risk Committee focussed on several internal audit reports and Future Generations.

 

6. Subsidiary Boards

September’s TfW Rail Ltd Board meeting focussed on timetable options, extensions, and rail replacement services.

 

6. Steering Board

The recent meeting of the TfW Steering Board discussed train overcrowding, CVL spend, budget shortfall, Stadler strategic agreement, future fares, TfW’s annual report, pay, and the new Target Operating Model.

 

7. Confidential

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Dan Tipper joined the meeting.

 

8. Sustainable Development update

Natalie Rees joined the meeting to provide an update on the consultation process for new public bodies which will be subject to the Wales Future Generations Act, including TfW. The Board were reminded that TfW had already been working as if it were a named body under the current Act. It was confirmed that TfW will not need to attend all 18 Public Service Boards, with the need to only attend where TfW objectives align with topics under consideration. TfW will also need to evidence how decisions made in terms of long-term impacts; will be subject to sustainable development examinations by the Auditor General for Wales; but will also receive further support from the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner and Welsh Government. The Board welcomed the work done to date but agreed that evidence-based decision making requires improvement as well as long-term planning.

The Board agreed to invite the new Future Generations Commissioner to a future Board meeting when they take up post.

Sarah Howells left the meeting. Vernon Everitt joined the meeting.

 

9. CVL fibre

REDACTED

Owain Taylor-Shaw left the meeting, Sarah Howells re-joined the meeting and Geoff Ogden joined the meeting.

 

10. CVL update

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Design performance remains at a high level, although performance in August was slightly lower than anticipated. Critical path items have been identified and mitigated where necessary with the deliverables replanned to achieve the required programme. Construction performance remains on or around the planned requirements.

Commissioning dates for reprofiling of the TAM Signalling and OLE has been carried out. The reprofiled dates have been defined and integrated with the Rolling Stock commissioning programme to maintain the vehicle approval timescales. Amendment of the driver training profile is ongoing to maintain the fleet introduction timescales.

The Board asked for an update on entry into service and EIS CVL integration. It was agreed to ask Dan Tipper to provide an update at November’s meeting and to ask Tony Mercado to attend.

 

11. Infrastructure projects six-month look-ahead

The Board noted the infrastructure projects six-month look-ahead profile.

Dan Tipper left the meeting.

 

12. Bus decarbonisation

Lee Robinson and Jo Scott joined the meeting. The Board noted the update on plans for bus decarbonisation and agreed for it to be tabled at the Steering Board. The Board were reminded of the Welsh Government’s target, TfW’s remit, the current status of the work and some of the potential barriers to implementation including affordability and developing technology.

 

13. Bus franchising

Jo Scott joined the meeting. The Board noted the update and agreed for the content of the paper to be tabled at the next TfW Steering Board. The Board were updated and discussed the Welsh Government’s policy objectives; TfW’s likely remit, alignment to the new operating model and TfW internal roles and responsibilities; external roles and responsibilities including funding, network development, performance and contact management, network review, infrastructure; and risks and opportunities.

Lee Robinson and Jo Scott left the meeting.

 

14. Communications

Lewis Brencher joined the meeting. The period has continued to be dominated by factors outside of the direct influence of TfW, with industrial action, and more recently Operation London Bridge influencing activity. The initial evaluation of ‘The Real Social Network’ is highlighting positive impact of the campaign with the initial evaluation providing some excellent insight which will be used to develop the next steps, once the second phase is complete.

Digital channels continue to perform very positively, with record website performance and CRM contacts achieved.

More ‘in person’ internal and external engagement activity is planned for the forthcoming months, building on the success of some of our new formats for stakeholder and community engagement. This is linked to the new strategic stakeholder engagement plan which aims to influence key suppliers, funders and industry partners. The development of or behaviour change plan continues with input from teams across TfW, and with support and advice from behavioural science specialists. Activity in this space is already underway but will increase over the coming months alongside work being delivered through programmes such as the Burns Commission.

Lewis Brencher left the meeting.

 

15. Risk register

Leyton Powell joined the meeting.

The Risk Register was noted.

 

The Chair brought meeting to an end and thanked everyone for their contributions.