Northern Ireland Fishery Harbour Authority 216th Board Meeting of the Authority held on Monday 9th Dec 2019 at 1.30pm at 3 St. Patrick’s Avenue, Downpatrick Present: Terry Jarvis (TJ) – Chairperson Kevin Quigley (KQ) – Chief Executive Dr George McIlroy (GMcI)– Board Member Helen Henderson (HH) – Board Member Kate Burns (KB) – Board Member David Hill (DH) – Board Member Martin McDonald (MMcD) – Board Member & Chair of Audit Committee In David Lindsay (DL) – Project Manager attendance: Belinda McCaughey (BMcC) – Accounts Administrator Action Prior to commencement of the meeting KQ gave a presentation of current events in the Authority. MMcD asked if a paper trail for the replacement of KQ the Ardtole Beacon could be brought to the next Risk and Assurance Meeting. 1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES Apologies were received from DAERA. 2. CONFLICT OF INTEREST No Conflict of Interest declared. 3. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING Minutes of the 215th meeting held on 25 th Sept 2019 were approved. 4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES KQ has not yet written to the stakeholders but has spoken to the PO’s regarding the traffic management changes. KQ will send a letter to all Port KQ Users this week. HSE understood that nothing could be done immediately – we must have a plan; therefore, we are not in breach. KB asked about average Sick Leave. KQ noted that it was high now due to long term sickness of an employee. The Authority has an Employee Scheme in place for external help with stress, etc. Action KQ emailed Claire Vincent regarding dismantling vessels. Early in 2020 KQ KQ will bring the issue back to her attention. 5. CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT KQ summarised the report. In Ardglass the team are doing an excellent job. The Harbour Master (James) is now the Authority’s Health and Safety Co-ordinator. He has passed his NEBOSH and has just completed the Environmental NEBOSH course. KQ will work on this job role. An external review of the Health and Safety Management System has been completed. In Kilkeel the Team, under the leadership of the new harbour master (Danielle) are progressing extremely well. In Portavogie the Harbour Master has given notice and will leave on 31 March 2020. KQ noted that it will be a challenge to recruit a new Harbour Master. Admin Team are continuing to deliver. Everyone is doing more than their role entails. KPI’s are again at Green despite it being hard to hold formal meetings. Managing the Non-Composition Rate Vessels continues. Criteria is in place to offer discounts to those vessels taking up decommissioning in Portavogie but to date no-one has met the criteria. Planning Application has been submitted for the Decommissioning Site in Portavogie – still awaiting approval. In Kilkeel KQ has helped one of the business owners to progress his licence application. KQ is meeting with Seafish to develop a scheme to improve our environmental delivery and be suitable for a grant application under the FLAG programme. The Board discussed what being a responsible harbour meant. Ulster Wildlife have been in touch and want to be involved in this year’s Schools Project. They will add to the presentation in the schools and be at the harbours for the planned visits. Fisheries Industry Development Programme of Work – 1st stage is now complete and is leaning towards investment in Kilkeel. Action is being pushed – Final report is due by June 2020. TJ is dealing with a complaint that has been made against KQ. Still gathering information. Action 6. BALANCED SCORECARD 2019/20 – DECEMBER 2019 KQ discussed the following in detail: 2.B – Enable Business to be proactive and innovative in meeting challenges. Hard to get the time to make external visits. New Team in Kilkeel are very innovating. 2.D – Address lack of defined Pay and Grading Structure and Low Pay Issue. This is on schedule – plan/report will be brought to February Board KQ Meeting. 3.C – Publicise KPI’s relating to MSMS. So far these have not been KQ published but will be in the future. 5.D – Ensure Data Matching procedure is kept up to date – This is still al WIP. 7. REVIEW OF RISK REGISTER – DECEMBER 2019 KQ discussed the changes (noted in purple). In particular: 3. Uncertainty of Impact for Industry and NIFHA arising from Brexit – There are both short- and long-term operational issues. KQ will prepare a KQ paper for next Board Meeting. 4. Failure to meet planned delivery of Capital Projects. – From a procurement issue we are unsure as to whether the Portavogie Revetment will be awarded and completed. The HM Offices are still awaiting planning permission. There is now a real risk that there will not having the money required. 6. Parkgate Site – Grant has been approved at 83% only. The Risk is that we will have to supplement the funding. 8. Pedestrian/Traffic separation – Grant has now been approved. This is at the procurement stage. 13. Inadequate staff due to sickness and increasing demands – KQ noted KQ that the proposed action may not be enough. Will be reviewed. Workload has increased and the Authority has developed in that everyone steps up to the mark and does what needs to be done. The quality has significantly changed – staff need to be incentivised. DH noted that we have appointed vibrant staff such as the new HM in Kilkeel. MMcD stated that that KQ motivates the staff to perform well. Action 16. Insufficient Funds for Operational Tasks – There are enough funds this KQ year. This risk will be removed. 23. Insufficient Board Members – Controls have been updated but no government may cause time to run out. 26. Risk of Abandoned Vessels – This risk remains very high. KQ will KQ contact DAERA again on vessel sale controls. 8. HEALTH AND SAFETY / PORT MARINE SAFETY This is the Authority’s number one priority. Breach of Byelaws are being issued more frequently now. External Audit has been completed and we are awaiting the report. On the PMSC the vessel Dillon Owen has been removed from Ardglass and is reportedly in Greenock. 9. SECTION 75, PERSONNEL AND TRAINING Compliant with Section 75. So far this year 24 training courses have been attended (19 core). Investors in People – Very positive feedback across all categories. Pay and Grading Review Tender has been awarded. KQ has spoken to all staff advising them of paperwork which will need to be completed. Interviews with staff will be held week commencing 6 January 2020. The Review was fully discussed by the Board. The Report is planned to be brought to the Board Meeting in February 2020 for discussion prior to submitting a Business Plan to DAERA. GMcI confirmed that this review is required to ensure that the Authority moves forward with the right staff. The support of stakeholders in ensuring the Authority is well staffed is required. All in attendance agreed with this. 10. EQUALITY REPORT There was nothing to report on this. 11. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS – NOVEMBER 2019 Kpi’s were discussed. KQ noted that we are now at Green overall. Action 12. PORT MARINE SAFETY CODE COMPLIANCE At this point none of the Oranges have changed since last addressed. This KQ will be brought back to the February 2020 Board Meeting. 13. BOARD OPERATING FRAMEWORK The only change is the decision to review this annually instead of every two years. The Board approved the change. 14. FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING OF 27 NOVEMBER 2019 TJ gave an overview of the meeting. Management Accounts to the end of September (as approved by the Finance Committee) are excellent. Draft Budget for 2020/2021 was discussed. In particular: Slipway Income. Letters are being sent out to all to advise Port Users that if they cancel their booking with less than 30 days’ notice there will be a charge. Also, if the vessel overstays its booked period, they will be charged a supplement of at least 100%. There will be issues – never going to please everybody all the time. Level of Reserves – minimum amount required is £500k Estate Management KQ discussed current issues: Portavogie Unit – request to purchase remaining NIFHA unit on Princess Anne Road. This request was discussed but denied at this time. Office Accommodation – we have co-operated with the council to provide office accommodation to enable them to comply with Brexit issues. 15. LETTER TO PERMANENT SECRETARY RE CPD Board discussed this letter to Denis McMahon and its timeliness. 16. CAPITAL AND MINOR WORKS UPDATE DL updated the Board on funding application procedure – namely we must apply for Grant funding prior to talking to CPD. This means the level of funding is an estimate from our engineers. Our relationship with DAERA is such that we can usually apply for additional funding if necessary. DL gave an overview of the current EMFF Capital Works Projects. In particular: Action - Grab on the Excavator for the Dredger is being replaced by the Supplier. - Portavogie Revetment has very nearly been awarded. Outstanding issues have been identified and documents are being issued by CPD. We have confidence in this supplier. Board thanked DL for his hard work on this project. - End of Life Facility is being looked at again. The Coffer Dam and gate worked out to be too expensive, so cheaper solutions are being addressed. - Pedestrian/Traffic Safety measure – this is a hard to define project. GMcI asked could we use the Health and Safety Card with CPD to try and speed the process up? – unfortunately DL said that CPD only deal with processes, but he will push as much as he can. - The Bait stores in Ardglass and Portavogie have been installed and are operational.