INTRODUCTION

  1.  It is very important to make clear that HSL's problems with buildings do not just relate to Sheffield. With the exception of the Robens Building in Sheffield, all of HSL's buildings in Sheffield and Buxton are in need of major rationalisation and refurbishment. If HSL does not address these problems then both its financial viability and operational capability will be threatened.

  2.  At Buxton there are around 100 buildings and structures. some date back to the 1920s, and are substantially in excess of current space requirements; are inflexible and frequently inappropriate to current/future requirements; and are expensive to maintain.

  3.  Outline Business Case project considered a total of eight options, including refurbishment of the existing Buxton and Sheffield buildings. However, the proposed collocation project represents the best of these options.

  4.  If the Outline Business project goes ahead, HSL will have a modern, flexible laboratory and will be ideally placed to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.

STAFFING

  5.  In 1998-99 overall turnover of staff in HSL was 10.2 per cent whilst for scientists it was marginally lower. The rates for this year, so far, are a little lower. Recruitment of suitable staff is not difficult except in a few specialist areas such as computational fluid dynamics (which is already located in Buxton), risk assessment and work-place psychology. Demand for these disciplines is high nationally. Exit interviews are held with staff who leave. The two most common reasons for leaving are given as pay and better opportunities elsewhere and there has been no detectable impact so far arising from any possible move from Sheffield and Buxton. HSL continues to attract bright, young scientists who are excited by the prospect of a variety of interesting work using excellent equipment. There is no reason to doubt that HSL will be able to maintain its intellectual capability. Indeed, turnover of around 10 per cent per year is quite acceptable enabling, as it does, HSL to refresh its intellectual capacity and respond positively to the changing nature of health and safety issues.

COSTS

  6.  It is essential to ensure a fair comparison of costs of accommodation. At present HSL's direct spend on its accommodation is at an historically low level since it is pointless to expend sizeable sums of money on buildings which, if collocation proceeds, will be disposed-of within the next three years. In any examination of future costs this current underspend must be acknowledged. Also, PFI is not just about the one-off provision of accommodation but also about providing a range of support services (ranging from estates maintenance to IT support) and long-term (whole life) building maintenance, over a 30-year period. The project will be judged on value for money (VFM) and its affordability (impact on HSL's prices). The correct comparison is not with the current situation but with what HSL would do if some other solution to HSL's accommodation problems were adopted. This is because "doing nothing" is not an option. HSL is currently in negotiation with the PFI provider, and HSL will not recommend the Buxton solution unless it does represent value for money and is affordable. The costs of moving staff are factored into the VFM calculation. The claim that it will cost the public purse an extra £4 million per year for each of the next 30 years is nonsense.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

  7.  The expected number of HSL staff who will relocate from Sheffield to Buxton is 190, not 250. The remaining 60 will be locally-recruited staff, largely in support jobs. HSL is negotiating a relocation package with the TU and the central plank will be to encourage staff to live in the Buxton neighbourhood. The IPMS submission assumes that all staff have partners who work in the Sheffield area. This is certainly not the case. For those staff who do not move from the Sheffield locality HSL will be encouraging car sharing and will be exploring options for improving public transport. New recruits to the Buxton site will, of course, centre their activities and those of their families on the neighbourhood of Buxton so that transport problems will disappear in due course. The Sheffield Universities do not provide a particularly important feeder route for staff. Most of HSL's scientific staff have received their University education elsewhere.

December 1999