Minutes 52/09/05 – 66/09/05

MEETING OF MEMBERS OF THE BOARD – OPEN SESSION

MINUTES of the Board Meeting held in The Chamber, City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London, SE1 2AA at 15.00 pm on Wednesday, 28 September 2005

Present:	Ken Livingstone 
Dave Wetzel
David Begg
Honor Chapman
Stephen Glaister
Kirsten Hearn
Sir Mike Hodgkinson
Paul Moore
Sir Gulam Noon
John Ormerod
Tony West
	Chair of the Board 
Vice Chair	(for minute 63/09/05)
		(for minute no’s 59/09/05 – 65/09/05)	
In Attendance:	Lord Toby Harris
Bryan Heiser
Murziline Parchment
Lynn Sloman

Bob Kiley
Maggie Bellis
Ian Brown
Stephen Critchley
Michele Dix
Peter Hendy
Ellen Howard
Gareth John
Malcolm Murray-Clarke
Tim O’Toole
Ben Plowden
Fiona Smith
Duncan Symonds
Ed Thompson
Valerie Todd
Vanessa Grisdale	Special Adviser to the Board
Special Adviser to the Board
Special Adviser to the Board
Special Adviser to the Board

The Commissioner of TfL
Managing Director, Group Services
Managing Director, London Rail
Chief Finance Officer
Director of Congestion Charging
Managing Director, Surface Transport 
TfL Legal
Director of Legal
Director of Congestion Charging
Managing Director, London Underground Ltd
Managing Director, Group Communications
General Counsel
Commissioner’s Chief of Staff
Taxi & Private Hire Director
Director, Group Equality & Inclusion, TfL
TfL Secretariat	
	Jo Chance 	TfL Secretariat	

52/09/05	Apologies for Absence
	
	Apologies for absence were received from Patrick O’Keeffe and Jay Walder.	

53/09/05	Declaration of Interests
	
	There were no interests declared.	
		
54/09/05	Minutes of the Last Meeting held on 13th July 2005
	
	The minutes of the last meeting were approved subject to:
-	recording the observance of a two minute silence by the TfL Board and the Assembly Members in memory of those who had been injured and lost their lives in the events of 7th July; and
-	a point of clarification regarding the Audit Committee Report.	
		
55/09/05	Matters Arising

There were no matters arising.
	
56/09/05	Proposed London Low Emission Zone – T(2005)06
The Board NOTED the content of this paper and the delegation from the Mayor of 22 June 2005 to revise the Transport and Air Quality Strategies to include a revised proposal for a LEZ; to carry out the associated consultation processes and report to him; and to meet the costs in relation to this.
	
57/09/05	The Commissioner’s Report – T(2005)01

Bob Kiley introduced the report.

Crossrail
He highlighted the latest position with respect to Crossrail.  At present a review of Local Authority Financing to be led by Sir Michael Lyons had been announced by Government.  In consequence funding for Crossrail could be delayed until the Lyons Report was complete.

The Mayor remained confident that Crossrail would come to fruition as it was critical in the longer term to the London economy.
	
58/09/05	1st Quarter Finance and Performance Report – T(2005)02

Stephen Critchley introduced the report and noted that for the first time it included a review of progress on the Investment Programme and would be a regular quarterly report.
	
	In response to a question regarding the effect of the increase in bus fares on ridership growth, Peter Hendy confirmed that the position was as anticipated.  Stephen Critchley confirmed that currently bus passenger numbers and income were close to budget.

The Mayor advised that he would be announcing within the following three weeks a 10% increase in bus fares from January 2006.  The public’s response to this increase would enable TfL to assess the impact of a rise on demand.
	
	Tim O’Toole advised that tube patronage had largely recovered from the effects of 7th July to business plan levels.  He noted that the customer satisfaction level for the second quarter of the current year stood at 79%, the highest ever recorded for an equivalent period.  
	
	Bob Kiley highlighted that the levels of investment in bus services in TfL’s first three years had resulted in a 40% increase in ridership.  With the transfer of responsibility for London Underground to TfL in 2003, and the improving environment for investment, TfL was now directing increased investment into the tube.  The balance of investment between the two major modes of bus and tube would continually shift to reflect external forces such as the proposed western extension to the Congestion Charging Zone which could increase bus patronage and the disruption to service in order to deliver improvements to the Underground.

In response to a question regarding a reduction in the number of agency staff, Maggie Bellis confirmed that this was a concerted effort which included a recruitment drive, employing agency staff in substantive posts and the training of current staff to improve the resource base.
	
59/09/05	Annual Report – T(2005)03

Ben Plowden introduced the draft Annual Report and explained that this had been deferred from the previous Board meeting to reflect the events of 6th and 7th July when London went from rejoicing at the Olympic win to the horror to terrorist bombings in less than 24 hours.  In the intervening period it had been decided to restructure the Report on thematic lines, rather than modal, and to reduce the content to provide a more focussed report to meet the needs of a wider audience.

It was noted that the Audit Committee had reviewed the Report at their meeting on 14th September.
	
	The Board AGREED the proposed 2004/05 Annual Report.

The Board DELEGATED authority to Ben Plowden, Managing Director, Group Communications, for final approval of the Annual Report following the submission of any final comments from Board Members.

In response to a question about how the good news contained in the Annual Report could be disseminated to the wider London community, Ben Plowden confirmed that his team were looking at how the information could be communicated simply and effectively.
	
60/09/05	Annual Workforce Composition Report – T(2005)04

Valerie Todd introduced the report by stating that TfL had been striving to embrace diversity in employment in order to succeed in an increasingly competitive market for skills and to attract the best results.  The report set out the goals for the year ahead and the actions that would be taken to achieve them.

In response to questions regarding:
-	how long it would take to achieve targets which reflected the disabled and female community which TfL served;
-	how long it would take to produce targets which reflected the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Trans-sexual (LGBT) community which TfL served;
-	why the targets were short-term rather than building year on year; and
-	establishment of targets for groups representing multiple diversities?

Valerie Todd responded that the report looked at short-term goals.  The rate of progress in many organisations throughout the industry remained slow.  The important thing to note was that the TfL Board was demonstrating leadership in this area and TfL’s Senior Management Team were fully committed to the principle of diversity.  In relation to LGBT there was no reliable data currently available from which to set targets however, TfL had a Staff Network Group to discuss issues in this area and were working to towards ensuring TfL met the Stonewall Benchmarking Standards.  TfL would continue to adopt good practice and monitor the workforce in this area.  With respect to multiple diversity groups, whilst acknowledging the need to consider and develop an approach, TfL were not in a position to give a specific date when targets would be set but would continue to work towards delivering them.

In response to a question on Organisational Change Policy (OCP) which acknowledged that consultation with the unions had been undertaken, Valerie Todd confirmed that regular monitoring took place to ensure the unbiased implementation of the policy.  Maggie Bellis further noted that Equality & Inclusion and HR were working closely together to ensure that the OCP aims and objectives and their business benefits were understood across the TfL Group.
 
The importance of articulating the business benefits of a fully inclusive employment strategy in terms of obtaining and utilising the best talent was acknowledged by Valerie Todd. 

In response to a question regarding TfL’s employment policies in respect of staff childcare responsibilities, Valerie Todd advised that TfL had a range of family-friendly policies.  Maggie Bellis proposed to produce an explanatory note for Board Members setting out the range of policies in place.
ACTION: MAGGIE BELLIS
	
61/09/05	Door to Door Strategy – T(2005)05

In introducing this item, Peter Hendy stressed that this was a report ’so far’ which had been developed in collaboration with a number of parties. He acknowledged that the report had had a long gestation period but this reflected the extent of consultation which had taken place with the other third parties.

Valerie Todd set out the vision as included in paragraph 2.2 and stressed that its focus was on delivering greater accessibility alongside fair criteria for eligibility, and ensuring consistency of standards across the whole of London.  
The scope of the Strategy was restricted to Dial-a-Ride, Taxicard and Capitalcard. While there were other forms of transport available to this user group, for example NHS patient transport, these were not currently included.  The report set out the discrete phases in the implementation of this strategy.

Bryan Heiser responded that there were big issues raised by this report and that the views he was expressing were not exclusively his own but rather were those of the user groups. It had taken a long time to get to this point. In principle he commended the report which brought to the Board an aspiration for the three quarters of a million Londoners who found it physically impossible to use the Bus or Tube  services.  He noted that whilst upgrades were making transport services more accessible there would always be those who could not physically use them and would always need this special support. He felt there were four fundamental issues to be addressed in achieving this aspiration:
1.	Funding –  consideration needed to be given to what funding was necessary;
2.	Integrated system – one contact number and one fare tariff;
3.	Scheme management and administration – the challenge which a partnership between TfL, the 33 boroughs and the ALG would present;
4.	Olympics - presented both an opportunity and a challenge in ensuring that 	the scheme was fully operable by 2012

In answer to a question regarding the potential extension of the Door-to-Door strategy outside the London area the Mayor responded that this could not be justified when those areas did not contribute to the funding.

More flexibility was sought in the administration of schemes to meet the needs of the users for instance the ability to carry over unused allowances. As a principle, one set of scheme rules should apply throughout London.

It was NOTED that bus stop accessibility was also an area of concern and that a paper on this issue was due to be considered at the next meeting of the Surface Advisory Panel. 

In response to a suggestion that Dial-a-Ride fares should be brought into line with bus fare policy the Mayor advised that should such a step be considered, it would lead to a more rigid definition of those who were entitled to use the service.  In order for more money to be available for door to door services it would need to be demonstrated that the service was going to the right people and that there was an effective entitlement process.

The Mayor confirmed he would speak with the Boroughs about their willingness to transfer funding and administration of Taxicard and Capitalcard schemes to TfL.  

It was AGREED that a further paper would be submitted to a future meeting of the Board to consider funding issues; and

NOTED that the Mayor would advise the Commissioner of the outcome of his discussions with the Boroughs.
	
62/09/05	Mayoral Direction and Delegation re: Olympics – T(2005)07

The Board NOTED the receipt of the Direction and Delegation from the Mayor.

63/09/05	Finance Committee Report – T(2005)08
Meetings 23 June & 14 September 

Sir Mike Hodgkinson introduced the report and highlighted that the Committee had discussed the quarterly review of whether there had been any material change affecting any matters contained in the Information Memorandum issued in connection with TfL’s Medium Term Note Programme. It had been reported that the Director of Corporate Finance had concluded that there was no material change that would require immediate notification and that the appropriate information would be included on the TfL website.	
		
64/09/05	Safety, Health & Environment Committee Report – T(2005)09 
Meetings 22 June & 8 September 2005
	
	Dave Wetzel introduced the report and highlighted that it covered two meetings.

The Board NOTED their concern regarding the decision by the Department for Transport not to support the installation of additional cameras by the London Safety Camera Partnerships during the current year, nor to allow re-deployment of existing cameras.  The Mayor had written to the Secretary of State asking him to lift the prohibition.
	
65/09/05	Documents Sealed on Behalf of TfL – T(2005)10

The Board NOTED the documents sealed on behalf of Transport for London between 7th May and 16th September 2005.
	
66/09/05	Any Other Business

Battersea Bridge

Peter Hendy reported that significant damage had occurred to one of TfL’s assets; a collision of a barge with Battersea Bridge had resulted in one of the main girders losing all, and a second losing half, their strength.  The costs of repairing the damage could rise to seven figures.  Work was in progress to assess the scope and cost of repairs but in the meantime the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic.  	

Signed by the Chair:	___________________________________________

Date:				___________________________________________