Business Plan and Budgeting

DRAFT East of England Business Plan 2008 Executive Summary – 2. Environment / Market Membership Analysis Statistical data is presented at Appendix A . These show that membership decline in East of England continued a trend started before 2003* apparently “bottoming-out” as late May 06, although the recovery is still very slow and cannot yet be described as sustained . Other market factors. The skills observatory ( which RM chairs for construction skills) predicts the East of England as having the third highest construction output growth in UK over 2008-12, with infrastructure predicted to have a staggering 5.6 % per annum average increase in output over the period . This is in large part due to Government's development ambitions for the region, which are enshrined in the Regional Spatial and Economic strategies being produced by the Regional Assembly ( EERA) and Development Agency ( EEDA) respectively and to which ICE East is contributing ) but with predicted inadequate associated growth in construction sector human resources to cater for that growth. An independent academic paper (B.Clarke, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, “Graduate Civil Engineers: defining a new breed”, Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers, May 2005) predicted a 34% undersupply of civil engineers nationally and an over 70% undersupply in the East of England. This situation has not changed significantly since 2005, as forecast output growth has not declined and supply of graduates has been stable. The Region has only Cambridge University offering Masters level and Anglia Ruskin University offering Bachelors level degrees although provision for NC to HND degrees is better with 4 institutions offering these. The Region is host to some of the nation’s major contractors and consultants (Sir Robert McAlpine, Taylor Woodrow, Skanska, Kier, Faber Maunsell etc) and of these only two companies have professed not to have a recruitment problem. Other major national contractors have been seen to be successful in the Region eg Carillion, Balfour Beatty, where perhaps supply of graduates near their head offices is more plentiful. This fundamental skills/capability shortage to deliver planned sustainable development in the East of England is the central and directing core of much of the business plan activity. 3. Organisation and Structure Due to the difficult circumstances outlined at Environment /Market above, (expanding demand vs constant /diminishing supply of professionals to deliver it) an additional member of staff for the RST has been proposed as regional education liaison officer. This role will work to continue the growth in number of students in E of E applying for civil engineering degrees and to help with the strategy of supporting associated HE/FE provision and its relationship with the new diplomas and government’s new line of encouraging employer engagement and life long learning for the work force. 4. Policy and External Relations The core activities driving this area of the plan will remain the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies. The majority of media successes and all inter-action with Regional Government have derived from these crucial policy documents which ICE E of E has to date been actively engaged in contributing to. 5. Member Communications Similarly, no major changes are proposed here, although it is now recognised that ecommunications are not a panacea. Re-introduction of link people to physically promote evening meetings and engender a “club” type mentality is needed if the social cohesion 1 DRAFT needed for successful membership events is to be maintained. The budget depends on continuing sponsorship from materials supplier Halfen, which was introduced during 2006 in order to pay design costs when members appeared to be demanding a slicker production. 6. Building Capacity As described above: schools, students and graduates will remain the focus of activity as it in these areas that it is perceived that the ICE can be the most effective and where society needs our activity. Action for other grades of membership will continue to revolve around learned society lunchtime and evening meetings for “taster” cpd .Thomas Telford Training, (to become ICE Training) efforts are to be maintained, which were introduced into the Region in 2005. Focus on effort here will be to continue the initiative for training in the practicalities, rather than theory, of sustainability. 7. Networking and Events. Major new initiatives are: The photo competition is to be run in parallel with the Young Members papers comp in an effort to raise the profile and success of that event which was poorly supported in 2007. The annual conference, initiated in 2006 by transport board, was a great success in terms of raise profile and influence and of policy development. Following that success another conference is planned for Nov 2007 on the topic of low carbon development where it was felt ICE could again raise profile and possibly contribute to formulation of policy . Similar strategy is proposed for 2008, when possibly water resources might be an influential issue for discussion The communications competition is a national initiative which ICE East are keen to participate in and raises capability in that it helps equip young engineers with the skills needed to present projects to public enquiry for instance. 8. Key Objectives for the next 3 years (2008, 2009, and 2010) These are related to the core “skills” issue as described at 2 above and are:: Encouraging young people into the profession 1. Maintain applications to civil engineering course from students in the region. (Ongoing 2008-10; Measure via MOVE/CITB/RA?) Maintaining professional standards 2. Develop HE/FE Further Learning modules in association with Co. Approved F/L schemes with UEA etc via MoVE and HEFCE ( 2008-10) 3. Support the new University Campus Suffolk /ARU as only two BEng institutions in the Region. ( 2008-10) To ensure continued viability /sustainability of the Institution. 4. Maintain membership numbers at current level but with shift to younger end of the spectrum especially Graduate members and work to ensure good conversion rate to Members. 5. Conversion of graduates also to target over 300 number graduates that are over 40 years of age including supporting Technical Report Route 9. Performance Measures KPI’s are proposed for each of the areas of activity /outputs. 10. Training and Development Needs Currently, the only strategically important training is perceived to be Media Training for MDO/ chairman/ other volunteers as current media activity almost entirely dependent on RM. 11. Financial The budget is presented at Appendix ? 12. Key Risks. Over the period considered, these are primarily assessed as arising from resource constraints either due to personnel changes or inadequate financial support. 2 DRAFT 1.Vision and Purpose – (to be updated as ICE July Council documents). 3 DRAFT 2. Environment / Market 1. Member Analysis. Numbers for each grade and trends. Membership statistics are shown at Appendix A. The overall ( global membership ) statistics presented usefully inform that the minimum membership in any year occurs in May , when members who have not paid subs are removed from the roll. Subsequent pages of statistics show that membership decline in East of England continued a trend started before 2003* apparently bottoming out as late May 06. This apparently lags by nearly 2 years global membership trends which bottomed out in June 2004. One explanation of this for the East of England is the very successful student marketing campaign which it is recalled was instigated in early 2006. It is felt the global statistics reflect a strong growth in international membership which continues in 2007. *(When from Sept 03 to Sept 04 the combined membership of Anglian and Chiterns fell by 2.6% from 5255 to 5118 against a national decline of 1.6% and international increase of 4.2%. NB This is only indicative of trends in E of E because E of E is actually Anglian plus Chilterns take away Buckinghamshire and add Peterborough. ) Prognosis It is suggested membership in the East of England has hopefully bottomed out, although the recovery is still very slow and cannot yet be decribed as sustained . The May 2008 figures will indicate whether recovery is short-term or, more likely, is stabilising to a steady figure rather than showing any significant growth or decline. It is noticeable however that the current stabilization depends on continued growth in student numbers outweighing decline in other all other grades of member and obviously there is a maximum limit when the student membership reaches the student population of the region. These statistics do however emphasise the importance in East of England of sustaining the number of student members which depends on continung the membership development activities in schools and colleges. 2. Universities with Civil Engineering degree courses. Number of undergraduates with trends. A table showing the institutions offering FE/FE in East of England is included as Appendix B. Total civil engineering student numbers are at this stage only a guess and further research will be required to make these actual figures. It should be noted that E of E only has one institution ( CUED) offering a Masters level engineering degree accredited by Engineering Council and only one offering a BEng ( ARU). There are several offering NC through to HND . This paucity of institutions producing engineering graduates leads to a significant skills gap for the industry, especially given the predicted significant growth in output (demand) described at section 7 below. 4 DRAFT The shortage of appropriately skilled Master level graduates in East of England is dire. The Royal Academy ( East ) advises over 90% of students wishing to study engineering must leave the Region to do so. 3. Major Employers, say top 5 -10 with number of members employed ( taken to be that work for any particular employer in the Region) and graduates under training Largest contractors represented (with Head or Major Offices) in the region include  Sir Robert McAlpine  Taylor Woodrow  Skanska  Kier  Fitzpatrick Largest consultants represented (with Head or Major Offices) in the region include      MottMacDonald Faber Maunsell Mouchel Parkman Atkins Royal Haskoning 4. Major Clients, as above           Cambs County Council Suffolk County Council Essex County Council Norfolk County Council Herts County Council Beds County Council Environment Agency at Hatfield and Peterborough Highways Agency at Bedford Anglian Water at Peterborough Network Rail ( Offices at York procure in Region) 5. Regional Government and relevant decision making Agencies and Authorities. Description highlighting relevance for ICE Regional Government is comprised of 3 layers i. Regional i. EERA ( comprised of leaders from each district/unitary authority plus other stakeholders) ii. EEDA arm of regional government charged specifically with economic growth as main objective iii. Go-East , in fact an arm of Central Government with each of the Whitehall departments/ministries represented in the Region ii. County 5 DRAFT iii. Six county authorities as indicated at Major Clients above. District/Unitary authorities. Of which there are many, but unitaries include Peterborough, Luton, Southend and Thurrock. All three layers are relevant to ICE in that they implement development decisions at one level or another and therefore are potential “customers” for influence over the decisions and actions they take. However , in that Regional planning guides all layers below it, the Regional Level planning is the most important and also the easiest to address in that it rests with the 3 Regional bodies identified above rather than the numerous bodies at County and District /Unitary level. 6. Status of relevant regional/national plans such as Regional Economic and Regional Spatial Strategy. Regional Spatial Strategy. Of the two strategies this document is perhaps the most important as it will have statutory status (recognised by the EU) when the final version is issued, and , from ICE point of view it contains a significant component which is related to planning of infrastructure. ICE East has contributed extensively to the consultation over this regional “development blueprint” document. Initial comprehensive written response to first consultation was made in March 2005. As as a consequence of which ICE East of England Regional Manager was invited to contribute to 6 sessions of the Examination in Public ( EiP) during November 05 to Feb 06 covering virtually all aspects of infrastructure provision . This in turn lead to RM representing ICE East of England at the House of Lords Scientific Select Committee Enquiry into Water Resources , when that Committee was considering the detail of the potential problems for water supply to the new development in the region. Subsequently the ICE Region again commented on the Secretary of State’s ( DCLG) final draft of the plan, when we expressed our disappointment that many of the good words and revisions put forward by the Panel Inspector as a result of the EiP had been lost. (good media coverage was obtained for each of these 3 stages of the consultation). DCLG is due to publish the final version of the plan some time this autumn, when ICE will take a view whether further comment on the plan is productive in terms of media exposure benefits as against possible downside of being critical of governments efforts. Regional Economic Strategy. In contrast to the RSS, this document is a policy document that’s value lies mainly in influencing at all levels. ie. it informs all other regional strategies and is used by government as an indicator of the priorities for funding in the region. It is therefore crucial that this document recognises the construction industry as a Key Sector of the economy, which fortunately (due in part to previous efforts of ICE as part of CIC East) it currently does. The first version of this document ( pre 2004) preceded the first RSS and it is currently in the process of revision. ICE’s contribution to date has to been to participate in the Review Workshops which were held in April of 2007. These workshops were designed to assess initial views of stakeholders before issue of the first draft for consultation planned for the autum of 2007. RM represented ICE and contributed to the discussions over 1. Goal 8 :Resource Efficiency 6 DRAFT 2. Goal 6 :Transport 3. Goal 4 : Putting people back into ( sustainable ) places It is anticipated contribution comment will infuture also be possible on 4. Goal 1 :Skills And possibly on 5. Goal 3: Innovation and 6. Goal 7 : Digital Technologies. 7. Construction Market activity trends in Region. The most authoritative source of information on this is the Construction Skills regional skills observatory ( which is currently chaired by the ICE’s RM) that produces predictions of construction output in order to help identify any potential skills gaps between demand and supply side (generated from the Region’s HE/FE institutions) . Key facts from the most recent skills observatory were: 1. There will be 9% growth in construction output for E of E between 2008 and 2012 with an average annual % increase in output of 2.3%. (This represents a slight slowing in predicted output growth as against a figure of 3.5% for 2007-2011 but consistent with a national slow down in the rate of growth from 2.6% to 1.6%.) 2. This places East of England third in national rankings behind only Northern Ireland ( at 3.7% output ,but on what is only a relatively small base) and Greater London ( at 2.5%) compared to a UK average growth of 1.6%. 3. Within that overall average annual growth of 2.3 %, output increase is the highest for the infrastructure sub-group at an increase of output 5.6% per annum over 2008-2012. 4. In 2006 infrastructure output for E of E was approx £0.5 bn of a total output of approx £8bn which comprised of approx £4bn new work and £4bn repairs and maintenance. 5. Construction output per capita in 2005 was highest in the East of England at approx £1470 units per head as against a national average of approx £1320, an almost 11% above average output!! 6. Annual Recruitment requirements(2008-2012) for key groups are as follows: Construction Managers 860 Civil Engineering Operatives 260 Construction Prof and Tech staff 570 7 DRAFT 3. Organisation and Structure (existing plus any proposed changes) Covering activities under budget A+B+C 1. Volunteers – ie committees, branches, special interest groups etc. The Regional Executive Board is comprised of 13 members : 6 :one for each of the six branches plus 2: for each of Beds and Herts and Anglian Grads and Students 2: Chairman and immediate past chairman 1: Honorary Treasurer 1: Territorial Member 1: Regional Manager and Secretary . This board has fledgling sub-committee for External Relations and Schools Liaison Activities. Six Branches Beds and Herts Cambridge Essex Norfolk Peterborough Suffolk Special Interest Groups Herts and Beds Branch also has an Association of Municipal Engineers ( AME) Committee Cambridge Branch has hosted a  Sustainability Special Interest Group which is aligned with a CIC group for purposes of pan-professional interest.  Geotechnical SIG Norfolk Branch hosts a  Maritime Special Interest Group 2. RST + office + IT Support The organisation diagram as it currently stands is reproduced below where, for clarity, matrix management links to Directors of Membership, Engineering Policy and Innovation, and Resources have been omitted. Proposed Additional part time MDO post (RELO). A significant proposed change to this structure is the creation of a further part time post for the RST compliment: a specialist MDO suggested to be called Regional Education Liaison Officer (RELO). The background to this is as follows. The existing volunteer Regional Education Co-ordinator has indicated his wish to relinquish his duties over the next few quarters. There has also been a recent REB initiative for each branch to identify a schools liaison officer ( slo) to facilitate school activities on a branch basis. This will have the significant advantage of allowing activity to be managed more locally and allow closer geographical and social 8 DRAFT relationships to develop. However it does mean that there are now six slo whose activities require strategic direction and guidance. The existing REC and the Regional manager also see an urgent need for a staff member to allow a transition for the REC to retire (relatively slowly) but with provision for the role to be carried on and expanded upon. Perhaps more importantly the creation of the RELO role would allow ICE to be pro-active and to have a strategic overview for its activities rather than re-active and under –resourced to the rapidly changing educational environment we now face. The rapidly changing environment we now face includes but is not limited to. :  Introduction of 14-19 diplomas,  HE/FE receiving pressure to be more employer engaged,  HEFCE wanting more work based further learning,  emphasis on upskillling the workforce and encouraging 14-19 into HE,  Setpoints morphing into STEM points,  Indications that setpoint would like to move towards being a broker for schools activities rather than a deliverer,  citb construction skills being decimated in the Region,  importance of student numbers to ICE membership,  Projected severe skills shortage of civil engineers to deliver Regional Government’s development aspirations, with consequent increased importance of encouraging young people in the Region into the profession, albeit they may have to leave the region to get their graduate qualification. Regional Office. It is not currently proposed to create a Regional Office for the main reason that it is difficult to see how such a provision would provide any added value either for the membership it would be intended to serve, or for the Regional Support Team. One foreseeable potential future value would be if the creation of such an office allowed creation of closer ties and opportunity to influence Regional Government. However, as it currently stands the relevant arm , Inspire East, is not aligned to the built environment side of sustainable development but rather to the communities element of that project. Also the location of their existing offices is not conducive to either RICS ,or RIBA who currently have offices established close to each other south of Cambridge and convenient for rail travel. The current IE office is in Thetford which is neither the seat of Regional Government nor is convenient for public transport travel. Such a location would also have no value to any component of the membership being remote from any of the main employers offices in The Region. The current virtual office is the means of running the RST and is both efficient and effective in that time , energy and money are not spent on commuting and the various team members are currently fairly well dispersed throughout the Region. This situation vis avis a Regional Office will be reviewed as any change of circumstance arises , but currently is estimated to save the Regional budget at least £10,000 pa on office rental alone. IT Support The RST currently all have either desktop or laptop p/cs,printers and in cases of MDO and RM mobile phones. IT support from the centre for the RST’s at OGGS vis MIS Service desk is universally experienced as being excellent . 9 DRAFT Whilst the Region has a number of projectors held at each of the branches, the RST currently only has one projector which is held by MDO and this has caused logistical problems on occasions when RM also has simultaneous events to deliver. An additional projector will therefore be sought from 2008 budget. 10 DRAFT 4. Policy and External Relations (improve public profile and influence) Budget activities D 1. Key activities with Regional Government, Employers, Clients etc. These include but are not limited to : Activities with East of England Development Agency( EEDA) and its centre of excellence body Inspire East (IE) . i. Mostly focused on joint activities with CIC East through its Memorandum of Understanding with IE to deliver  Joint cpd events  Facilitate delivery of sustainable development for the region  Co-ordinate schools careers events  Raised profile and influence for the construction sector. ii. Also includes activity with the Haven Gateway accountability meetings where EERA and EEDA invite scrutiny of their activities for the Haven Gateway and ICE regularly comments and contributes. iii. Contribution to formulation and consultation over Regional Economic Strategy via specific invites and anticipated open public consultation Activities with Go East ( Regional Arm of Whitehall Government) i. Membership of the Sustainable Construction Task Group which is hosted by Go-East and is a subsidiary of the Sustainable Development Round Table. Activities with EERA ( Democratically representative body but also with 50% unelected stakeholders representation) i. ii. Comprehensive comment and contribution to the consultation over the Regional Spatial Strategy as discussed at 2.6 above. Also well developed relationship with chair of EERA ( Sue Sida Lockett) who has now chaired our annual debate on 2 occasions and who accompanied RM to the House of Lords Scientific Select Committee hearing in Feb 06. Activities with MP’s These tend to currently revolve around major campaigns such as responses to regional consultations and SoN regional briefing sheets, when as the Region routinely produces an associated leaflet then we routinely mail a copy to all of the Region’s MP’s. 2. Policy including SON type reports planned These products will most likely be in response to Regional Initiatives such as RES, or possibly as a Regional Briefing Sheet to accompany national SoN. Ability to produce will be dependent on other priorities as historically member volunteer support to 11 DRAFT 3. allow production has been difficult to secure due to external workloads etc. Conferences Historically Transport Conference Sept 06 at Norwich with key note speakers from regional government :influential in developing ICE Road user Pricing policy. Energy Conference planned for Nov 07, with key note speakers from regional government and FoE. Conference for 2008, yet to be confirmed dependent on outcome of 07 conference , as unless key media message also a possibility financial delivery alone may dictate not viable. Media activities To follow opportunities developed by other activities in Policy and External Relations and as indicated above. Additional spokepersons are essential pre-requisite of sustainable activity and hope to enlist support of other RST members and or additional volunteers with budget for appropriate training to facilitate. Effective monitoring of media results is futher essential prerequisite of performance management of this activity and local supplier who has proven performance on free trial period is budgeted for. Strategic partnership activities with other Institutions Key relationships are with  CIC East ( primarily RICS/RIBA/CIOB) where regional government recognises construction industry as a whole, and has explicitly vocalized request not to have to deal with individual member organizations. This requires careful management to ensure optimum exposure as part of CIC whilst ensuring maximum exposure for ICE as an independent and hopefully influential body in its own right.  Constructing excellence where objectives for cpd and best practice share overlap significantly  I Mech E where as a result of recent proposed merger activity , strong relationships have been built and sensibly will be maintained  Construction skills where skills observatory is highly useful source of data on the industry and Training Awards are an area that civils companies could usefully pursue.  FoE . As a result of alliances built at Exam in Public, this independent body can be a useful ally but policy positions have to be carefully examined to ensure appropriate compatability on a case by case basis.  CPRE Similar to FoE , but not as well established.  CITB constructionskills/SETpoints could be strategic partners if skills were the issue for the policy and external relations activity. 4. 5. 12 DRAFT 5. Member Communications - Budget activities E Principle Means of member communications are 1. In Touch fortnightly e-zine which has variety of articles, news items and updates and which also details forthcoming events 2. On alternate Tuesdays to In Touch , we issue ad-hoc fliers , primarily for meetings that maybe undersubscribed or for time sensitive issues where the next e-zine would be too late 1 and (sometimes) 2 are issued using Concep software from whence we know that broadly speaking of the approximately 70% of members ( 3500) for whom we have an e-address , at best 35% of those ( maximum 1200) open or are able to access the e-zine. Typical opening would be around a 1000. So unfortunately e-comms only reach around 20% of our membership. Because of this the 3. web-site ( reference to details of web hits from OGGS marcomms KPI report to be inserted ) and 4. hard-copy twice yearly Newsletter are important means of communications . The latter is one of the largest individual item expenses on the budget ( Design and Print of each edition approx £5000 plus £2000 for postage), but as it is the only means of communication guaranteed to fall on members front door mat, it is generally felt that the expense is essential. The website appears to be of particular value in E of E with the number of hits being disproportionately high in relation to its membership. ( ref as above) We also issue 5. a program of events along with each summer Newsletter , which is a tried and tested traditional companion for members which it is understood is still widely used. We are also able to make limited communication with our members through the 6. ICE News section of NCE , both for news and forthcoming events ( Whats On). But unfortunately whilst this would be the most effective means of Comms with our members, editorial control does not rest with ICE and our success rate with news items is limited and even control over Whats On leaves certain aspects to be desired. ( ie repeated request for a sub-header to the section advising readers should consult regional web-sites for most up to date info on events. Which perhaps as it would detract from the image of NCE as authoritative source ,has still failed to be included!) 7. Individual and group meetings via for instance company visits or membership/SCE seminars. 13 DRAFT 6. Building Capacity (Membership) (F) ambassadors recruit supporting material for meteor challenge B & H D & T challenge in schools e-tech tibury £250 BA Crest awards Regional at setpoint B&H£270 NSEW/NCW initiative pens/ pencils/ mousemats/torches etc Undergraduate initiatives Graduate initiatives Writtle incl delegate pack+flier Beds and Herts G & S incl seminar pack+flier Member / Fellow initiatives Training / seminars SCE seminars Major initiatives for schools, 1. ICE East of England has initiated a completely new schools challenge the meteor strike challenge which was initially co-funded by CITB construction skills. Unfortunately the funding from construction skills is no longer forthcoming and the regional organization seems to have been decimated with the region amalgamated with that for E Midlands and the centre of operations moved to Loughborough. We are experimenting with sponsorship from private companies and initially May Gurney have expressed an interest in running the challenge in Norwich school in autumn 2007. 2. OGGS centre and CITB apparently colluded over re-invigoration of The Rapid Response challenge, and we are currently take the lead from CITB on this initiative who advise us of running it every 3 months or so. 3. In Spring 2007 , significant effort was made to procure and produce the Telford 250 debate which was scripted and performed by SPECTRUM theatre company of the Science museum . Once again we achieved limited sponsorship from Royal Haskoning for 2 performances of the play in one day (one constituting the 2007 annual debate). It is still hoped that a final performance of the debate at the Royal Science Museum in December may attract attention perhaps leading to a grant allowing this inspiring and educational event to continue to run in schools during 2008, when it would evolve to simply the Great engineering debate , with a strong sustainability theme. 4. It is hoped that a long standing expression of intent for CIC to support Inspire East with an initiative to run a planning challenge in schools throughout the Region may come to fruition in 2008. 5. Historically Beds and Herts branch have supported the Design and Technology challenge which runs in 3 to 5 Bedfordshire schools and has been supported by some Bedfordshire companies. This has 14 DRAFT always been budgeted for at £200 for materials /set up costs , but this year due to especial request from REC , additional allowance of £165 has been made for associated book token prizes. 6. E-tech event is a k’nex challenge event run by Setpoint Essex every spring which attracts around 400 primary school ( years 5 and 6 ) students and has been sponsored for many years by Anglian /Essex branch . Sponsorship has increased in –line with inflation and is currently £250. 7. BA Crest award is a regional award that was initiated this year, when it was felt that sponsorship of an award by ICE would be useful in maintaining profile of ICE as the preferred career choice within Engineering. As it currently stands IET/Mech E etc do not sponsor what appears to be quite a high profile event with approx 20 schools entering regionally. 8. National Science and Engineering Week and National Construction Week in the spring and autumn respectively always draw requests for sponsorship or support from SEtpoint or CITB respectively. Currently only nominal sponsorship is allocated to these events although last year the Telford 250 debate , which we had planned should win national grant ended up being funded from Regional funds. Activities 1 to 4 above , it is hoped to support by contributions in –kind where recruitment and allocation of ambassador support from Branches and local companies is an essential volunteer component of ICE’s ability to support/deliver these events. Activities 5 to 8 have historically drawn some “ nominal “ financial contribution from the region, which is reproduced in the 2008 budget bid. Students, It has been a business plan action plan since 2007 to take the Undergraduate DVD presentation into as many colleges as resources allow. This is seen as an increasingly important activity as conversion of student to graduate members is an important finishing part of any strategy to encourage young people into the profession. E of E currently has an above average conversion rate (reported at approx 62.5% at end of 2005 as against national average of approx 40%, but this in part reflects the high proportion of E of E grads who are at NC, HNC or HND grades where the degree is to a higher extent vocational than for Bachelors or Masters degrees). Ambassador support of this activity is an area we hope to grow, as recent graduates are probably the best at selling how rewarding the next stage of the career progression can be Graduates. 1. Thomas Telford Training We have since early 2005 , initiated an entirely new program of Thomas Telford Training courses in the region run at both Cambridge and now Stevenage to replace Hatfield.. It is understood that these courses will be re-branded to ICE training courses for 2008. 15 DRAFT 2. 3. 4. 5. Whilst no specific financial advantage accrues to the Region as a result of supporting and promoting these courses in the Region, in the respect that TTT is an integral part of ICE any additional income generated by these activities in the region can only be a positive contribution as all TTT profits are ploughed back into ICE services. Beds and Herts G & S branch annual seminar in the spring ( Sustainable Engineering in June 2007) The branch has a tradition of running this seminar to which attendances are variable. Conservatively it is assumed the event will break even. If there were serious doubt about the financial viability of the event then G& S would be consulted over possible cancellation due to lack of support. Anglian G & S Writtle Seminar is run annually around 1st week in September and historically has been one of the regions’ biggest earners attracting upwards of 60 students in some years from all over the UK. Conservatively it is assumed the events will break even. If there were serious doubt about the financial viability of the event then G& S would be consulted over possible cancellation due to lack of support. Communications Competition In line with national program it is intended to initiate this competition for 2008 , when any costs incurred will be covered by a nominal entrance fee. Technicians Members and Fellows. It is anticipated that some elements of TTT/ICE Training ( eg technical training on Eurocodes or sustainability) will also be appropriate as cpd for technicians , members and fellows. MDO meetings on routes to membership and preparing for the professional review are obviously also of benefit to those members following the progressive route to membership. Similarly SCE seminars contribute to the cause of building capacity in that it is SCE’s that oversee and direct the professional training process within companies and organizations. There are currently no initiatives specific to Fellows as strictly capacity building does not easily apply to Fellows where the grade is a retrospective recognition of skill and capability rather than the pro-active series of attributes /competencies prescribed and relating to the other grades and which any member can aspire to attain. 16 DRAFT 7. Networking + Events (Learned Society Activities) (G) Into this category for the budget are entered 1. All branch evening meetings 2. Merit Awards Dinner 3. Annual Debate 4. AGM 5. Royal Engineers Evening 6. B & H (AME Golf ) 7. The Photo competition 8. The annual conference And for G&S 9. G & S social event 10. G&S national/overseas site visits 11. 5-A-Side football competition 12. E of E Young members paper 13. Communications Competition 14. B & H ( EST seminar?) And for students: 15. E o E Best Student 16. CUED Best student project award Major initiative including awards, Those initiatives that are new for 2008 are indicated in blue in the list above. The photo competition is to be run in parallel with the Young Members papers comp in an effort to raise the profile and success of that event which was poorly supported in 2007. The annual conference was initiated in 2006 by transport board who wanted to run a conference in the region in conjunction with one of their Board meetings. The Transport conference held in Norwich in September 2006 was a great success in terms of raise profile and influence and of policy development, but a financial loss leader. Following this initiative it is proposed to run another conference in Nov 2007 and another topic of low carbon development was chosen where it was felt ICE could raise profile and possibly contribute to formulation of policy . Our partners for the conference FoE wanted the event to be not for profit, so it has been managed to that aim. Similar strategy is proposed for 2008, when possibly water resources might be an influential issue for discussion The communications competition is a national initiative which ICE East are keen to participate in and raises capability in that it helps equip young engineers with the skills needed to present projects to public enquiry for instance. 17 DRAFT Trends and changes on attendance KPI data to be inserted in due course , either direct from Carole or via paste from OGGS marcomms team report. 18 DRAFT 8. Key Objectives for the next 3 years (2008, 2009, 2010) A. In line with Customer Satisfactions Survey Priorities: Encouraging young people into the profession 6. Maintain applications to civil engineering course from students in the region. (Ongoing 2008-10; Measure via MOVE/CITB/RA?) Maintaining professional standards 7. Develop HE/FE Further Learning modules in association with Co. Approved F/L schemes with UEA etc via MoVE and HEFCE 8. Support the new University Campus Suffolk /ARU as only two BEng institutions in the Region. B. To ensure continued vailability /sustainability of the Institution. 9. Maintain membership numbers at current level but with shift to younger end of the spectrum especially Graduate members and work to ensure good conversion rate to Members. 9. Performance measures – KPIs plus any other In relation to key areas of activity : Membership 1. numbers of all grades 2. conversion rates a. student to graduate and b. grad to member 3. (measure for SCE/RST team): professional review pass rates Knowledge Management 1. Number of events in program ( to be maintained) 2. Total attendance at meetings 3. Attendances at a. Conference b. AGM c. Debate d. Merit Award Dinner Business Like Management 1. Budget Out-turn External Relations 1. Media reference in local press ( NB for effective monitoring of this we have budgeted for a local press cuttings service as the current OGGS service does not seem sufficiently comprehensive) 19 DRAFT 10. Training and Development Needs (Staff and volunteers) describe Currently only strategically important training perceived to be Media Training for MDO/ chairman/ other volunteers as current media activity almost entirely dependent on RM. 20 DRAFT 11. Financial (Copy of budget) Draft Budget with only significant increase being to account for proposed RELO to be submitted in parallel with this DRAFT business plan. 12. Key Risks Identifying key risks to successful implementation of business plan Key Risks relate to resources either human or financial: 1. Staff changes ( RM’s resource diverted onto recruitment activity and the induction ,acclimitisation, training of new resource) 2. Non support of events by delegates members especially for i. Conference ii. Debate iii. Annual Dinner iv. AGM 3. Lack of or erratic/sporadic support from volunteers especially for judging various competitions and awards eg# i. Merit ii. YMP iii. Best Student Project iv. Comms Comp v. Photo Comp 21 DRAFT Appendix A Membership Statistics Overall membership statistics as of June in any year: showing apparent nadir in 2004 with 2.4% recovery since and month on month illustrating annual low in May of any year, 22 DRAFT Appendix A Membership Statistics continued East of England membership statistics as of October 06: showing apparent nadir in Oct 2005 with 0.7% recovery to Oct 06 23 DRAFT Appendix A Membership Statistics continued East of England membership statistics as of June 07 showing apparent nadir in June 06 with 1% recovery to June 07 24 DRAFT Appendix A Membership Statistics continued East of England membership statistics showing likely real low in May 06 when membership fell to 5010 with 1% recovery to May 07 when 5071. 25