POLICY AND MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2011, CAMDEN TOWN HALL, LONDON. MINUTES. Member Region/ Authority/ Organisation Attendance

Transcription

1 POLICY AND MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2011, CAMDEN TOWN HALL, LONDON. Attendance: MINUTES Member Region/ Authority/ Organisation Attendance Alan Kennedy Chair. N.E. Durham C.C. Present Honor Byford Vice-Chair. North Yorkshire Council Present Su Negus Secretary. Medway Council. Present James Gibson P.P.R.O. Leicestershire C.C. Present Theresa Casbard Hon. Treasurer. Present Brian Hogarth Hon. Administrator. Present Sue Snoddy Y & H. Bradford M.B.C. Present Pam Shaw E.M. Nottinghamshire C.C. Present Judith Billingham S.W. Wiltshire C.C. Present Steve Chadwick Mercia. Shropshire Council Present Gareth Tuffery London. L.B. of Southwark Present. Christine Fitzgerald London. TfL. Present Nick Rawlings Stennik Communications Present APOLOGIES Alan Hinchcliffe Melanie McHale Emma Norton Paul Watson Cheryl Ford Becky James Katie Brimley Cheryl Evans Wales. Denbighshire C.C. N.W. Warrington M.B.C. London. L.B. of Newham N.E. Hartlepool B.C. N.E. Newcastle City Council. Y & H. Leeds City Council Eastern. Essex C.C. S.E. West Berkshire Council MINTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING AND MATTERS ARISING (i) AK will write to Justine Greening the new Minister offering her the Association s best wishes and seeking a Meeting (ii) SO intends to proceed with Officer s Job Descriptions once the outcome of the organisational restructure consultation is BMH/14/12/2011 Page 1

2 known (i) The Neil MacCallum Report has been circulated (ii) The Polish Conference, to be attended by AK, was postponed to a later date SO represented Road Safety GB at the recent meeting of the National Road Safety Committee. Other actions were covered under agenda items. The Minutes were accepted as a true record of the proceedings AGENDA ITEMS Website and Communications Update a) Road Safety GB website. JG circulated the latest, very positive statistics on the use of the Website. These will be placed in the Members area of the Website. JG He stressed the importance of such positive statistics when seeking continuation of DfT financial support (current 12K p.a.) The number of visits to the website by the users of hand-held devices is monitored closely. Eventually a unique version may need to be made available for such users. There has been a great deal of difficulty in relation to reader comments. There are guidelines by which such responses are judged. Recently a further guideline has been proposed, to ensure that contributions, which contain personal attacks on the integrity of persons mentioned in news items, are not used. Alan will mention this issue in his Chairman s Blog. In the New Year. The views of Members on this approach will be sought and brought to the next meeting to be held on March 13, P&M REPS The further development of the Website will be phased over two years. Income generation will be the priority the online shop, being the most expensive and complicated phase, will be the final project. In phase 1, the facility for the provision of Regional pages will be introduced. Phase 2 will be the subject of a consultation to determine the feasibility of an on-line shop. It was agreed, unanimously to proceed towards a launch date of 1 April 2012 for phase 1 which includes the re-design of the Website at a cost of 6,800. BMH/14/12/2011 Page 2

3 b) National Conference NR gave a very positive report of a highly successful event. He outlined the excellent results of every aspect of the event, which were obtained through the survey of delegates. 95% of respondents rated the event as Excellent or Good. It is anticipated that a surplus of 4-5,000 will be achieved. Arrangements are well in hand for the Conference of 2012 which will take place in London. The costs of staging a Conference in London are high. It is proposed that the Members rate will be 295 with a discount for the first 75 to register reducing their cost to 175 plus vat. There will be a day delegate rate of 85 (one day) and 125 (two days) Non-profit organisations will pay the same fee but other delegates will be charged 395. The current sponsors will be invited to renew their commitment and, at the same time, potential new sponsors will be approached. The Conference will be announced to Members shortly and the booking process will be opened in January These arrangements were approved. The Yorkshire and Humberside Region has kindly agreed to host the National Conference in c) Road Safety Knowledge Centre JG presented, once again, a very positive report. The Knowledge Centre is developing into a very well used resource. There are now 1352 items listed and further items are added weekly. There are currently 386 member organisations and 2379 individual subscribers. He urged all road safety teams to subscribe. The full report will be placed in the Members area JG The Knowledge Centre has recently won a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award. The two plaques will be held by Stennik Communications who have produced and manage the resource, and Colas who is the major sponsor. NR proposed a further minor modification to improve the ease of use. Alan has recently written to DfT expressing our concerns about the Road Safety Observatory which seems to duplicate much of the content of the Knowledge Centre. BMH/14/12/2011 Page 3

4 d) Website & Communications Group. JG mentioned the development of a new cascade system which will have a more corporate look and which can be used by all Officers. It will operate via the Website. There will initially be three groups of receivers Officers; Policy and Management Committee; General Membership: JG thanked John Billington, who is leaving the employment of Sandwell M.B.C., for his work with the Group since its inception in He also mentioned the use of product endorsement which produces a small income. He questioned whether such fees should be paid annually rather than a single payment. It was agreed that the offer of royalties for endorsements of products and the use of the Road Safety GB logo should not be accepted. It was also agreed that a single payment will continue and renewed on an annual basis BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT a) Progress to date. A Business Development Group has been set up composing Alan Kennedy, Honor Byford, Nick Rawlings Neil MacCallum and Ian Edwards. NM estimates the legal costs involved in transition to a CLG as 1,500-2,000 plus his own costs for up to 3 days per month. The total cost could be 15,000 over two years. The group will meet in Durham on Thursday 15 December to discuss the consultation process and eventually the decision will be made about how to proceed. Members will be informed of the result of the discussion. The Mercia Regional group would like more information for Regions about the Business Development Group. They would also like to know the advantages of a CLG over a Community Interest Company. The queries will be addressed by the Business Development Group. AK within the BDG The Regional Seminars are proving difficult to arrange and may eventually become a web-based consultation. However, AK has BMH/14/12/2011 Page 4

5 offered to meet with any Region that requests a meeting, and if he is available IRSO MERGER PROPOSAL This proposal has been sent to Members and Alan has received two responses. It has been established that IRSO are solvent but there remains a question over the final accounts that need to be resolved - in case it becomes apparent that there is a future call on the funds. AK will also respond to Peter Wilson, who raised further queries, by Friday 27 January. AK The Business Development Group will discuss the consultation process on Thursday 15 December. SC, speaking on behalf of Mercia Group, felt that Membership of the new organisation should be available to all members of Road Safety teams. It is hoped the joint organisation will function from April If the merger proceeds Prince Michael of Kent will be asked to remain as President of the newly merged RSGB organisation OFFICERS REPORTS CHAIR AK has had a conversation which re-established good relations with Stuart Lovatt of the Highways Agency who is keen for future cooperation. He also thanked everyone for their contributions to the work of the Association during the last twelve months in particular, Tim Philpot the retiring Vice-Chair VICE CHAIR Honor was attending her first meeting and looked forward to becoming involved in the issues that were coming up in the future SECRETARY There is nothing to report BMH/14/12/2011 Page 5

6 TREASURER Bank Current A/C (07/12/11) 6, Business Reserve A/C (07/12/11) 126, , Breakdown 1 Jan 7 December 11 (all inclusive of VAT) Income 126, , Total subs: 11/12 64, /13 10, /14 7, , , Profit from Conference , HMRC Interest 21, DfT support for website 14, Colas sponsorship of RSKC 126, Unpaid Invoices 9 subs invoices awaiting payment 3, Expenditure 89, , Meeting expenses: AK 2, Camden 1, Stennik Other Officers , , Financial management: Bank charges Accounts Treasurer , BMH/14/12/2011 Page 6

7 53, Website / RSKC 11, Admin PACTS membership 11, HMRC PMIRSA submission/comms strategy 2, Events 89, Theresa has enquired about investing part of Road Safety GB funds and is currently studying the interest rates on offer. She suggested investing 50K for up to 12 months at the best rate she can obtain. It was agreed that Theresa should proceed with this if she felt the rates offered were satisfactory. It was agreed to provide only tea and coffee on arrival and for lunch for meetings in TC BH to notify Camden and P&M Officers ANY OTHER BUSINESS a) Specialists. (Gareth Tuffery). Recently two further persons have offered to act as Motor Cycle Specialists bringing the number to 4. GT wondered whether this was too many. In obtaining views in respect of Consultations it can become unwieldy with differing opinions amongst the advisers. AK suggested that someone should be designated to take the lead role and GT will take this up with his co-specialists. He also recommended to the group that it should produce agreed position statements on the various hot topics in motorcycling, so that the group has a common response to enquiries from the public, the profession, and the media. This is the practice of the web and comms team on a number of road safety issues. GT b) Report from Mercia Region. SC asked how local authorities could llnk with their colleagues working in the area of Public Health. Opportunities, to make them aware of local authority road safety services, need to be taken. SC requested that guidelines be drawn up for members. BMH/14/12/2011 Page 7

8 This will be progressed by HB. AK accepted this request but made it clear, that the Officers, as with all other RSO s are laden with work, and that PM reps and the regions could be more involved in the collation of information and the production of guidance documents. He reminded PM of an instance when he had been requested to write to DfT on a particular matter. He had asked the originator of the request to draft the letter but it never emerged. HB DATE OF FUTURE MEETINGS The meeting closed at 2.55pm and will re-convene at Camden Town Hall on Tuesday 13 March 2012 BMH/14/12/2011 Page 8