AGENDA ITEM: A1
[Min.nos. RSSB.16/01 – 16/14]
RSSB: MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
14 January 2016
th
15:00 Royal Scot, The Helicon, 4 Floor, 1 South Place, London, EC2M 2RB
Attendees:
Anna Bradley (AB) Chairman
Chris Fenton (CF) Chief Executive
Alan Emery (AE)
Dolores Byrne (DB)
Gary Cooper (GC) alternate for CH
Apologies:
Graham Hopkins (GH)
Charles Horton (CH)
Observers:
Ian Prosser (IP) ORR
Robin Groth (RG)
In attendance:
Eileen Pevreall (EP) RSSB
George Bearfield (GB) RSSB
Helen Hasse (HH) RSSB - Secretary
John Abbott (JA) RSSB
Mark Phillips (MP) RSSB
Geoff Spencer (GS)
Jeremy Candfield (JC)
Malcolm Brown (MB)
Paul Kirk (PK)
Steve Murphy (SM)
MINUTES
The chairman noted apologies from Graham Hopkins and Charles Horton and noted
Gary Cooper’s (GC) attendance as alternate for Charles Horton.
RSSB.16/01 A1 Draft Minutes for Approval: 14 November 2015
The circulated draft minutes of the board meeting held on 14 November 2015 were
approved for signature by the chairman following two minor amendments on page
three.
RSSB.16/02 A2 Actions and matters arising
All actions were reviewed and progress noted. It was noted that action RSSB.15/63
would be picked up at the board workshop on 04 April 2016.
RSSB.16/03 A3 Chairman’s Report
None this period.
RSSB.16/04 A4 Chief Executive’s Report
The chief executive flagged the following items for the board’s attention:
 Latest progress on the Shaw and ORR reviews
 Relationship with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG): Flagging up a concern about

the lack of link into the RDG currently. Malcolm Brown (MB) said that there
had been an agreement set up when RDG was established to codify the
relationship between RDG and the RSSB board, with timescales set out for
when the two bodies should meet. Gary Cooper (GC) requested a copy of
this agreement should be provided.
RSSB Major Projects: A Major Projects team made up of the SLT has been
established to oversee the progress of the main projects critical to RSSB
priorities.
RSSB Board Meeting: 14 January 2016- Draft for signing
Page 1 of 7
CF
[Min.nos. RSSB.16/01 – 16/14]
 An update on various engagement activities between the SLT and staff
whereby strategy and priorities are communicated.
 Innovation: Confirming that the DfT had raised the possibility of further grant


funding for 15/16. Potential projects have been identified that are now
unfunded following the cap on HLOS funding at £20m. DB asked if there was
any financial exposure. CF confirmed that the money was additional to money
already granted and that there was no exposure to the company.
System Safety: RSSB is supporting the Freight Community in its response to
RAIB recommendations following a series of freight train derailments. He
confirmed that George Bearfield (GB) would act as Chair of this task pending
transfer to industry.
R2 & IT Systems: The go-live date was set for 31 January 2016 however due to
multiple change requests from participants there would be a delay in cost
savings for a 6 month period.
MB asked for an update on the outcome of the most recent staff pulse survey. The
chief executive confirmed that the survey conducted was a bigger survey than was
anticipated and that key findings showed that engagement scores were lower from the
Human Resources and Innovation departments. As a result further investigation and
appropriate actions have been put in place to address this.
It was confirmed that the pulse survey results would be distributed to directors
following the meeting and that another pulse survey would take place in 6 months’
time.
RSSB.16/05 B1 Business Plan 2016/17- Budget planning discussion
The chief executive provided a slide covering a draft strategic framework. He
confirmed that the threads would be pulled together for a final version to be presented
at the board workshop in April.
He then introduced the paper and requested input from the directors for the 16/17
priorities that will form the basis of the 16/17 budget proposal.
DB asked what financial challenges the SLT were expecting given the challenges faced
during the 5 year fixed funding arrangement and whether the increase of various costs
were factored into budget planning. CF confirmed that the SLT would continue to work
to reduce costs in all areas. He confirmed that the RPI-1% model for the fixed scope
would be met however additional scope would be challenging and require additional
funding.
The chair concluded that any additional scope would need to be carefully considered
going forward.
The chief executive asked the board to note the identified challenges the company was
faced with in section 6 of the paper, as follows:
-
6.1 Pay
A benchmarking exercise had been conducted in late 2015 and it identified that
staff wages were broadly in line with the London market median. CF requested
the boards steer on the level of increase which could be applied for 16/17.
There was a range of views. It was noted that in certain sectors such as freight,
RSSB Board Meeting: 14 January 2016- Final for signature
Page 2 of 7
CF
[Min.nos. RSSB.16/01 – 16/14]
there were constraints on pay as a result of the current economic climate. PK
noted that it was not easy to differ from industry trends which were typically >1%.
The chair confirmed that a case needed to be made for a proposed level of
increase, but the expectation would be that pay would not increase by more than
inflation (whether it be RPI or CPI) and pay recommendations would be evidence
based.
It was confirmed that this would be discussed in further detail at the
Remuneration Committee meeting, which precedes the board on 03 March 2016.
-
CF
6.2 Cash and Reserves
The chief executive asked that the board note the difference between reserves and
cash. He asked for the boards steer on building a contingency fund so that there
was a rainy-day-pot to avoid increase in member fees in the face of new demands.
Whilst the SMIS+ project had taken up a chunk of the contingency it was uncertain
how much contingency the board expected to be re-built.
MB said that the pot should continue to be built on (minus the SMIS+ figure)
however it was not essential that the reserve totalled £1.25m by the end of 2019.
The chair requested that a reserves policy be developed by the SLT and brought
to the Audit Committee for consideration.
-
CF
6.3 Income assumptions
The chief executive advised the board that consideration needed to be given to
additional charging of members for new and existing services with increased scope
of activity, for example:
- Cyber-security (initial funding only secured to date)
- Driver Training
- Additional Human Factors scope
- Additional Health and Well Being
- Additional Industry engagement
- Rail Supply Group support
- RISQS/RISAS new programme procurement (potential to become self-funding)
The chair concluded that any new or additional activity outside core funding
agreement would need to be brought to the board on a case by case basis for
consideration.
The board APPROVED the priorities for 16/17 that will form the basis of the 16/17
budget proposal on the proviso that the KPI’s 16/17 and the framework pyramid
are explicitly linked.
RSSB.16/06 B2 Innovation Update
The chief executive confirmed that the paper was presented to the board as part of its
governance reporting procedure.
GC confirmed that reporting levels through TSLG had substantially improved over the
past 6 months.
RSSB Board Meeting: 14 January 2016- Final for signature
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CF
[Min.nos. RSSB.16/01 – 16/14]
DB noted that a clear audit trail was required detailing how ‘pipeline’ items were
agreed.
The chief executive confirmed the revalidation of projects would be included as part of
the Rail Technical Strategy refresh.
AB requested that the connection between TSLG key priorities and this project was
shown in future.
Further discussion regarding TSLG governance would be discussed alongside other
board sub-committee governance at the board workshop in April.
The board NOTED the progress with the Future Railway Programme, the causes of
the delays that have impacted the programme and the resultant action taken.
Also NOTED was the ongoing issues around the clarity of future funding and its
alignment risk to the RTS.
RSSB.16/07 B3 Rail Health and Safety Strategy
A copy of the strategy was circulated to directors ahead of the meeting. JA confirmed
that significant work had been carried out on the creation of the strategy and final
comments had been reviewed and relevant changes made. The board were asked to
approve the strategy and discuss its objectives, launch plan and adoption.
JA emphasised the importance of support from the industry in the endorsement of the
strategy. He confirmed the formal launch for the strategy would take place on 21 April
at the Industry Health and Safety Meeting (IHSM) and following that a further public
launch would be set.
GS confirmed that he would help getting the buy-in from the RDG freight group and GC
confirmed that it would have the full support of TOC MD’s. PK asked that consideration
was given to the broadening of the launch commitment so as not to leave out any key
parties such as the infrastructure contractor community/NRSG.
There was strong endorsement around the board for the strategy.
MB asked if ministerial endorsement could be sought. RG offered to consider a
statement of support.
AE asked how we could measure commitment of the industry and duty holder support.
The directors agreed that a measurement of industry and duty holder commitment
was required. It was suggested that this issue should be taken to the IHSM on 21
April – asking how the industry is moving forward with the strategy/RM3 model.
The chair confirmed that an industry collaboration to commitment was key and that
RSSB would continue to facilitate the project.
The project team were asked to report on progress with the strategy’s implementation
and delivery.
The board:
 NOTED the project progress to date;
 APPROVED the content of the strategy; “Leading health and safety on
RSSB Board Meeting: 14 January 2016- Final for signature
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JA
[Min.nos. RSSB.16/01 – 16/14]



Britain’s railway – A strategy for working together” and commencement of
duty holder endorsement;
DISCUSSED the objectives of the strategy;
REQUESTED a measure to be identified to monitor industry and stakeholder
commitment
And NOTED the role to be played by individual board members for the launch
plan and adoption of the strategy.
The chief executive wished to formerly record thanks to John Abbott and Roan
Willmore on their immense leadership in pulling the strategy together.
RSSB.16/08 C1 System Interface Committees Annual Report
The board NOTED the report of the activities of the five SICs for 2015 and planned
activities for 2016.
RSSB.16/09 C2 Data Quality Health Check Report
The paper provided the board with an overview of the data quality health check
process for 2015, including the data quality scores of all companies assessed during the
process.
GS questioned the accuracy of reporting by flagging the low reporting level for one
member in relation to the other operators. GB confirmed that there was an element
of uncertainty in the accuracy of the figures which were reliant on accurate reporting
by individual companies.
The chair asked if further measures could be put in place for future reporting which
would tell us whether the right things are being reported and not just whether the
things that are being reported are being reported in the right way.
GB confirmed that this was an evolving piece of work and that it currently provides a
good window of information.
The board NOTED the contents of the report and APPROVED its release to the ORR.
RSSB.16/10 Section D Business Review
The directors noted the contents of the Business Review section of the agenda which
included:
 A Key Performance Indicators Dashboard;
 Finance Dashboard;
 Safety, Health, Environment and Quality Dashboard;
 Industry Safety Performance Report
The chief executive confirmed that an evidence base for the measurement of the
KPI’s would be prepared and presented to the Remuneration Committee in due
course.
CF
DB requested that a forecast/outturn be provided for the KPI and finance
dashboards.
CF
Further work was required on the SHEQ dashboard before the next meeting,
including clarity on timescales of reporting, commentary and the provision of target
measurements on the graphs.
CF
RSSB Board Meeting: 14 January 2016- Final for signature
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[Min.nos. RSSB.16/01 – 16/14]
The board engaged in discussion on paper D4 Industry Safety Performance Report.
DB asked what the measures of success were for this information. GB indicated that
the measure was set out in the ASPR regular report.
The chair concluded the discussion confirming that more work needed to be done on
the performance pack, but it was heading in the right direction. The board required
assurance that the various sub-groups of the board were taking the appropriate actions
in order to provide the right material.
RSSB.16/11 E3 Approval Requests and Noting Items
The board authorised the following items:
R&D project authorisations:
-
The board AUTHORISED the ‘Enhancing the accuracy and functionality of the
All Level Crossing Risk Model (ALCRM)’ project in principle to enable RSSB to
start procurement pending full budget authorisation decision.
-
The board AUTHORISED the ‘Trial of variable rate sanders, flow rates and
effects on track circuits’ project in principle to enable RSSB to start
procurement pending full budget authorisation decision at the March Board
meeting.
Purchase order approval:
-
IBM - SMIS application support contract
The board APPROVED the annual renewal of the SMIS application support
contract with IBM for [redacted for publication]. Original board approval for
the support services was authorised by the board in 2011.
Appointment of SIC Chair:
-
The board resolved to APPROVE the appointment of Kamini Edgley as
Chairman on the Vehicle/Train Energy System Interface Committee with
immediate effect.
RSSB.16/12 E1 Feedback from sub-committees
[Redacted for publication]
RSSB.16/13 E4 Forward Agenda
The directors noted the content of the forward agenda.
RSSB.16/14 AOB
There being no further items, the chairman concluded the meeting.
RSSB Board Meeting: 14 January 2016- Final for signature
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[Min.nos. RSSB.16/01 – 16/14]
Date of next meeting: Thursday 03 March 2016 at 15:00hrs, to be held at The Helicon.
Signed………………………………….. Date………..……
Chairman
RSSB Board Meeting: 14 January 2016- Final for signature
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