Transport for London

Minutes of a special meeting of the Board
held on Tuesday 19th March  2002, commencing at 1.05 p.m. 
in  Room AG16, Romney House, Marsham Street, London SW1P 3PY

Present: 	Ken Livingstone (Chair)	Oli Jackson
Board Members:	Professor Stephen Glaister	Paul Moore
	Noël Harwerth	Tony West
	Kirsten Hearn	Dave Wetzel	
	Mike Hodgkinson (Items 15 to 18)
	
Special Advisors 	Bryan Heiser 
in attendance: 	Lynn Sloman
	
Others 	Robert Kiley	Maureen Nolan	
in attendance :	Ian Brown	Eric Rothman
	Peter Hendy 	Michael Swiggs
	Lesley McLeod	Derek Turner
	Richard Meads	Jay Walder
	Betty Morgan

15/02	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence had been received from David Begg, Susan Kramer, Murziline Parchment and David Quarmby.

16/02	DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

The Chair reminded Board Members of the requirement to declare any interests in matters under discussion.  No interests were declared. 

17/02	OVERVIEW ON BUDGET, PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK AND BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE PLAN

Jay Walder presented an overview on TfL’s 2002/03 Budget, Performance Framework and Targets, and Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP). The purpose of the meeting was to seek approval of the budget, the Performance Indicator targets, and the proposed contribution to the GLA Best Value Summary.

Since the Board approved TfL’s Business Plan on 24 October 2001, revisions had been made which were set out in the submission.  The changes in funding and expenditure were outlined, and also a summary of the items it was proposed be removed and replaced in order to balance the budget. 

It was noted that the proposed budget represented an increase of over sixty percent over the present net expenditure in 2001/02.   Plans were under development to accelerate and/or bring work forward from 2003/04 in the event that delays on some aspects of the Plan occur.  It was further noted that it would be important to continue to plan work on 2003/04 programmes during the year. 

It was noted that the Business Plan did not include provision for the transfer of London Underground Limited (LUL).  However, McKinsey & Co had been retained to facilitate the integration of LUL, including advising on the settlement of LUL funding with the Government, the design of the new organisation, and identifying areas where cost efficiencies could be achieved.  The cost of this work had now been included. 

18/02	Board Members discussed a number of issues, including:

•	Board Members expressed a view that soft issues, such as the Perth experiment and green travel plans, should not be ignored.  A report would be put to a future meeting of the Board and the Street Management Advisory Panel on the Perth experiment and the possibility of extending the experiment to London;
•	Concern that TfL might not have sufficient staff resources to carry out the work committed to in the walking and cycling programme. It was noted that the design work would continue in anticipation of progressing the programme at the appropriate time;
•	An accessibility performance measure encompassing accessible buses, stops and lack of bus stop obstruction by parked vehicles was desirable by would need development which might be difficult.  This would be provided  by Street Management and Surface Transport;
•	Concern was expressed over the deletion of expenditure to provide additional door to door facilities.  TfL Officers were asked to consider methods of incorporating this into the programme, should resources allow;
•	It was noted that the Government national target for road safety targets for child  deaths and serious injuries had been adopted as an implicit target by TfL;
•	The expansion of Dial-a-Ride and Taxicard was strongly pressed.  It was considered desirable to make the management and organisation changes at Dial-a-Ride, which would improve the service in any event, before further expansion work or eligibility also had to be pursued; 
•	It was noted that staff were required with strong project management skills, particularly within Rail Services and Street Management.

Following discussion, the Board approved the following resolutions: 

19/01	2002/03 BUDGET

The Board approved:
i.	The proposed budget for 2002/03 at Business Unit and activity level;
ii.	The proposed level of external borrowing of £55 million by Transport Trading Limited;
iii.	The following borrowing limits for Transport for London, as a Local Authority, in 202/03:
•	The overall borrowing limit (£20 million)
•	The short-term borrowing limit (£20 million)
•	The maximum proportion of interest at variable rates (100%)

20/02	PERFORMANCE INDICATOR FRAMEWORK AND TARGETS

The Board noted the proposed performance indicator framework to monitor the TfL Business Plan.

The Board approved the proposed performance targets for 2002/03 as outlined in Tables C, D, E and F of the Board Paper (Agenda Item 3).

21/02	BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE PLAN 

The Board noted:
i.	The latest requirements of the Best Value legislation;
ii.	The current position in developing TfL’s Business Plan/Best Value Performance Plan.  An update would be presented at the next regular meetings of the Finance and Audit Committee and Board to endorse the BVPP content prior to publication.

The Board approved the proposed TfL contribution to the GLA Best Value Summary document, to be made public at the end of March. It was agreed that authority to finalise the wording of the GLA Best Value Summary document be delegated to the Managing Director, Finance and Planning. 

22/02	ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The Commissioner introduced Richard Webster, who had been appointed Financial Director of Street Management. with effect from 25th February 2002. 

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 2.30 p.m.

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Chair		Date