Publication Scheme

Roles and Responsibilities

Advance Northumberland is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northumberland County Council, set up under Section 95 Local Government Act 2003 as a Local Authority Trading Company. Northumberland County Council holds all the shares in Advance Northumberland.

Advance Northumberland was established for the commercial purpose of delivering Northumberland County Council’s Corporate Plan and Economic Strategy in November 2018. The Advance Northumberland Group brings together a number of subsidiary companies under the parent company – Advance Northumberland – delivering services in investment, housing, commercial business growth and physical development.

Advance Northumberland is governed by a Board drawn from public and private sectors.

Board members are responsible for:

• Ensuring that the Company has a clear strategic direction and vision and working closely with the Council and the Company’s senior management to set Advance Northumberland’s overall direction, policy, and plans.
• Ensuring that the Board performs effectively and efficiently as a collective entity, to direct and control the work of the Company and each subsidiary to ensure that it maximises output against its strategic objectives, quality of service and value for money.
• Upholding the values of Advance Northumberland, providing strategic direction and motivational leadership in the delivery of its business plans.
• Providing clear demarcation of governance between the Council Shareholder and the Company.

Articles of Association

The Advance Northumberland Articles of Association are currently under review and will be published once updated.

Board Membership

The Board comprises four non-executive independent directors (who are individuals with significant relevant business experience), two senior employees of Northumberland County Council, two Executive Directors of Advance Northumberland, and a non-executive Chair (an elected member of Northumberland County Council).

Cllr Jeff Reid – Non-Executive Chair of the Board: Jeff is the leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Northumberland County Council and represents Plessey ward in Blyth. Jeff was the Leader of the County Council between 2008 and 2013.

Andrew Moffat CBE - Non-Executive Director: Andrew is a Non-Exec Director at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust & Port of Tyne, CEO 2008-18. Andrew has over 13 years’ experience as a member of the board, Audit, Remuneration and Finance Committees whilst at Port of Tyne and Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust. Prior to this he gained extensive experience in senior positions in the mobile telecommunications sector, including Strategy Director at Orange and CFO at Three UK and Italy.

Adam McGhin - Non-Executive Director: Adam is a qualified solicitor in excess of 20 years, specialising in real estate, corporate and finance transactions. Adam has substantial experience in investment, property development, equity and debt capital markets transactions, and corporate governance.

Hilary Florek - Non-Executive Director: Hilary is a strategic communications and marketing specialist and is currently Chair of the Marine Management organisation, an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a position she took up in February 2018. Prior to this she was Chairman of the Port of Tyne for three years having served previously as Deputy Chairman. 

Iain Slater - Non-Executive Director: Iain is a successful, commercially focused and creative property professional, with over 30 years’ experience. Extensive experience gained in land development and brownfield site regeneration throughout the UK, including housing, retail, leisure, renewables, industrial, and office schemes.

Phil Hunter - Director of Strategy and Communications at Northumberland County Council

Kelly Gardner –Director of Strategic Change and Service Improvement at Northumberland County Council

Robin Earl – Group Executive Director at Advance Northumberland

William Thompson - Executive Director of Governance and Sustainability at Advance Northumberland

Board Minutes:

The publication of Board Minutes will be within 12 months of the meeting date. The aim of this is to lessen the impact of time and enable us to disclose more information. Individuals retain the right to make a Freedom of Information request at any time ahead of formal publication of minutes.

Senior Executives 

Robin Earl – Group Executive Director: Robin is responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of the company and is accountable for the strategic direction, general management and performance of Advance Northumberland and its subsidiaries.

William Thompson - Executive Director of Governance and Sustainability: William is responsible for ensuring the appropriate legal and statutory governance of the group and leading the sustainability agenda across Advance Northumberland and its subsidiaries.

Michael Black - Director of Economic Growth & Investments: Michael is responsible for positioning Northumberland in the wider economy to ensure that economic growth opportunities are maximised to their full extent, ensuring a pipeline of regeneration activity is developed from project inception to completion.

Paul Errington - Director of Ascent Homes: Paul is responsible for driving commercial development and managing successful Ascent Homes schemes which are delivered to a high-quality, on time and on budget.

Andrew Mowbray - Director of Projects: Andrew is responsible for driving commercial development and managing successful Commercial schemes which are delivered to a high-quality, on time and on budget.

Organisational Structure

Senior Management Organisational Structure

Location and Contact Details

Wansbeck Workspace, Rotary Parkway, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 8QZ

enquiries@advancenorthumberland.co.uk

Gender Pay Gap Reporting

Advance Northumberland currently have a headcount below 250 employees and therefore are not required to report on Gender Pay Gap statistics, however, we aspire to report this from the 2024/25 financial year.

Group accounts can be accessed through Companies House here; https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11161983/filing-history

Expenditure

Each company within the Advance Group manages its expenditure independently. As each Company undertakes a different type of business activity, the typical expenditure profile varies for each entity within the Group. The bulk of expenditure for each of the individual entities is as follows:

Advance Northumberland (Commercial) Limited: Staff costs, consultancy/legal fees, and council tax/business rates

Advance Northumberland (Developments) Limited: Housing development and staff costs

Advance Northumberland (Housing) Limited: Property repairs and maintenance, staff costs and council tax/business rates

Advance Northumberland Limited: Staff costs

Staff Pay and Grading Structure

See separate ‘Senior Management Organisational Structure’ document

Advance Northumberland maintains information on staff pay. Reporting on the ‘pay multiple’ is not currently undertaken, however, we aspire to report this from the 2024/25 financial year.

Staff and board members’ allowances and expenses

Prior to the appointment of the current Non-Executive Directors in May 2023, board members could not claim allowances or expenses.

Since their appointment in May 2023, current Non-Executive Directors are remunerated at a flat rate of £10,000 per annum. Additional allowances and/or expenses cannot be claimed.

Staff members, excluding Non-Executive Directors, have access to the following employee benefits:

• Healthcare cash plan
• Employee Assistance programme
• Flu Jab
• Group life assurance
• Reduced cost gym membership
• Pension scheme
• Enhanced Family friendly policies
• Home electronics and Cycle to work scheme
• Flexible working options, including hybrid working

Capital Programme

Advance Northumberland own a large portfolio of property and land. As asset management strategy is currently in development which will, in turn, support the creation of a capital programme.

Procurement and tender procedures and reports

Procurement Policy

Advance Northumberland are seeking to create a page within this website to provide specific information to suppliers, including frequently asked questions and advertising available opportunities. We aspire to have this functional from the 2024/25 financial year. Please refer to the following website to search for current live opportunities to tender for work: https://procontract.due-north.com/Opportunities/Index?tabName=opportunities&resetFilter=True

List of contracts awarded and their value

Advance Northumberland maintain a contract register which will be published at the end of the financial year.

Advance Northumberland Business Plan 2023/24

Annual Report

Annual financial reports can be found here; https://www.advancenorthumberland.co.uk/about

Customer surveys

Advance Northumberland are currently developing a Continuous Improvement Plan across the Group; this will include an options analysis for the implementation of formal customer satisfaction monitoring. The Customer Feedback policy, included in Class 5 below, provides more information on how we currently manage complaints, compliments and suggestions about the services and products provided by Advance Northumberland.

Data Protection Impact Assessments

Advance Northumberland maintains a schedule of Impact Assessments which will be published at the end of the financial year.

Copies of Board Minutes can be found here; https://www.advancenorthumberland.co.uk/about

Conducting business:

Code of Conduct

Delivering your services:

Freedom of Information

Recruiting and employing staff:

Recruitment and Selection

Equality and diversity:

Dignity at Work

Health and safety:

Health and Safety Policy

Customer service and complaints:

Customer Feedback

Record Management:

Record Management

Charging Regimes:

Fees under EIR

Under EIR, the Advance Northumberland cannot charge for:

• allowing access to any public register; and
• allowing any person to examine relevant information (at a location and time agreed by the Company)

In all other instances, Advance Northumberland reserves the right to charge a fee for complying with requests for information under EIR.

Fees under FOI

Advance Northumberland will not normally make a charge for responding to the request for information under FOIA unless the cost of responding exceeds £450.

This is calculated on a standard rate of £25 per hour, as set by Government, and is based on estimating the staff time taken to:

• determine if the information is held
• locate the information or a document which may contain the information
• retrieve the information, or a document, which may contain the information
• edit or extract the releasable information contained within a document

This calculation does not take into account the time spent/costs of:

• checking that a request for information meets the requirements of FOIA
• considering the application of exemptions; prejudice and/or public interest tests
• obtaining internal or external legal advice
• consulting with third parties and obtaining authorisation to send out information

Where the cost limit of £450 is exceeded, Advance Northumberland can choose to either decline to respond to the request, or to do so only after payment of a fee. The minimum fee would therefore be £450.

Communication Costs

Advance Northumberland may charge a fee where it estimates that the communication costs exceed £10.

Communication costs will be charged at the following rates:

(All costs quoted are for single sided printing and are inclusive of VAT)

Printing and Photocopying – pence per sheet

Applicants may also be expected to meet the costs for postage and packaging which will be charged at cost based on current Royal Mail rates.

Advance Northumberland is committed to the use of electronic means to provide information that has been requested and will encourage and advocate the use of these means in all appropriate cases, subject always to the stated preference of the applicant. Normally, information supplied electronically will not involve a cost unless hard copy information has been specifically converted for this purpose.

Other or additional costs (to postage and printing charges) incurred as a result of communicating information in a way requested by the applicant where the overall amount exceeds £10.00, may be payable. This includes, but is not limited to, requests to supply information on another medium, or in a language other than English.

Timescale

In responding to a request for information under FOIA or EIR, where Advance Northumberland identifies that fees and/or costs are chargeable, the Company will issue a fee notice to you within 20 Working Days of receipt of your request for information.

The period from the day the fees notice is issued to the day the fee is received does not count towards the 20-working day limit for response.

If Advance Northumberland does not receive payment within three months of issuing a fee notice, it is no longer obliged to respond to the request.

The period from the day the fees notice is issued to the day the fee is received does not count towards the 20-working day limit for response.

 If Advance Northumberland does not receive payment within 60 working days of issuing a fee notice, it is no longer obliged to respond to the request.

List of main contractors or suppliers

Advance Northumberland manages all contractors and suppliers through its finance system, QL. Contractors and suppliers are allocated to the specific Company within the Group that they are contracted to deliver on behalf of. Therefore, any extract of this data is encouraged to specify the single entity for which the request applies.

Advance Northumberland are seeking to create a page within this website to provide specific information to suppliers, including frequently asked questions and advertising available opportunities. We aspire to have this functional from the 2024/25 financial year. Please refer to the following website to search for current live opportunities to tender for work: https://procontract.due-north.com/Opportunities/Index?tabName=opportunities&resetFilter=True

Asset Register

Advance Northumberland own a large portfolio of property and land. Ownership is a matter of public record and is available through the land registry. Each company within the Advance Group manages its assets independently. As each Company undertakes a different type of business activity, assets will be under the ownership of the most appropriate Company within the Group.

Information Asset Register

Advance Northumberland maintains an Information Asset Register and a summary report will be published at the end of the financial year following an annual review.

Disclosure logs

Advance Northumberland maintains a log of FOI requests received and a summary report will be published at the end of the financial year following an annual review.

Senior Staff Declaration of Interests

Advance Northumberland requires all staff to complete an annual declaration of interest as a minimum. For the financial year 2023/24, all senior members of staff have completed a declaration to the satisfaction of the Executive Director of Governance and Sustainability.

Senior Staff and Board Member Register of Gifts and Hospitality

Advance Northumberland maintains a Gifts and Hospitality Register which will be published at the end of the financial year.

CCTV

Advance Northumberland have static CCTV systems which cover key commercial properties under the ownership of the Group. These are detailed within the Commercial Privacy Policy which can be found here: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://site-advance-northumberland-commercial.s3.amazonaws.com/media/Files/Advance%20Northumberland%20Commercial%20Privacy%20Notice.pdf  

Remote monitoring of live construction sites is ongoing dependent upon build-stage and appropriate signage is visible where this is in operation.

Ascent Homes: https://www.advancenorthumberland.co.uk/what-we-do/ascent-homes

Business Support: https://www.advancenorthumberland.co.uk/what-we-do/business

Commercial: https://www.advancenorthumberland.co.uk/what-we-do/commercial

Developments: https://www.advancenorthumberland.co.uk/what-we-do/developments

Homes: https://www.advancenorthumberland.co.uk/what-we-do/homes

Investments: advancenorthumberland.co.uk/what-we-do/investments

 Corporate communications and media releases: https://www.advancenorthumberland.co.uk/news-events