64th UK EITI MSG, 19th September 2024

MSG - Meeting minutes Mining & Quarrying / Oil & Gas

UK Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG)

Minutes of the 64th Meeting – 19th September 2024 – Via Microsoft Teams

(10.00am – 11.30pm)

Attendance

Chair and Secretariat

Mike Nash - Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ)

Industry

Aurelie Delannoy – Mineral Products Association (MPA)

Dr Pat Foster – Camborne School of Mines at the University of Exeter

Government

Jeff Asser - Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ)

Mike Earp – North Sea Transition Authority 

Leo Kellaway – HMRC

Johann MacDougall – Scottish Government

 

 

Civil Society

Tilly Prior – Transparency International UK

Guests/observers

Helmi Ben Rhouma – BDO

Mark Burnett – EITI International Secretariat

Helen Day – Coal Authority

Tim Vickery – Independent Advisor

Hedi Zaghouani - BDO

Apologies

Jacqui Akinlosotu – ENI

John Bowater – Aggregate Industries

Sophia Brecknell - Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)

Chara de Lacey – Transparency International UK

Nick Everington – The Crown Estate (TCE)

Joel Watson - Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)

1 – Welcome and update:

  1. All were welcomed to the 64th meeting of the UK EITI MSG.

     

  2. Kerry McCarthy MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Climate) at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has agreed to take on the role of UK EITI Champion. This was confirmed late yesterday. This will be publicised via a news story on the UK EITI website shortly.

 

2 – Agreement of minutes and action points of 24th July 2024 meeting:

  1. The minutes of the MSG meeting on 24th July 2024 were agreed.

 

  1. The MSG were updated on the main action points from the meeting on 24th July 2024.

 

  • Post-validation preparation timetable to be drafted and circulated to MSG members. Updated validation timeline, including post January 2025 timetable, circulated to the MSG on 12th August 2024.

  • UK EITI workplan to be re-circulated to the MSG for initial comments/review. An agenda item to fully review the workplan will to be added to the 19th September MSG agenda. Workplan circulated to MSG for comment on 24th July 2024. Comments received and incorporated into workplan. A review will take place during today’s meeting. 

  • UK EITI Renewables Strategy Paper to be re-circulated for further comment. Paper circulated to MSG for comment on 24th July 2024. No further comments received.

     

3 – UK EITI Payments Report for 2023 update 

  1. The final draft report was circulated this morning for approval by the MSG. A total of 48 companies (35 oil and gas and 15 mining and quarrying companies) have taken part in the 2023 process. This represents a high industry participation of over 99% of potential in-scope payments as reported by government agencies.

  2. Payments and refunds reported by government agencies in 2023 show a net total of £7.64 billion, made up of tax flows of over £7.99 billion offset by repayments of £0.35 billion. A net total of £70.53 million was reported by government agencies in respect of out-of-scope revenues, non participating and out-of-scope companies. This is subtracted from the overall total to leave a net total of £7.57 billion reported by government agencies and almost the same figure reported by in-scope companies. The final reconciliation shows a discrepancy of £215 or 0.000003%.

 

  1. Other highlights of the 2023 report include the rise in extractive revenues by £763 million or 11% in 2023 compared to 2022, due mainly to the Energy Profits Levy. Also all 48 companies that participated provided Beneficial Ownership data.

 

  1. The MSG agreed to approve the report and the UK Secretariat plan to publish on Wednesday 25th September. Embargoed copies will be circulated to all participating companies and the MSG on Tuesday 24th September. Comms will include a news story on the UK EITI website and MSG to publicise via their networks and social media. Other avenues will also be explored by the UK Secretariat and Comms & Engagement chair.

 

  1. A summary document of the additional information was circulated. This summary includes the data provided by companies around anti-corruption, ESG, gender pay and financial statements. Links can be provided to financial statements and some of the other data. The summary document will be added initially to the Payments Data section of the UK EITI website.

 

  1. It may be worth checking with companies that they would be happy to disclose information on their company structure. It is important to ensure that this information is available to potential users of the data.

4 – EITI International update

  1. The latest European Regional call will take place on 8th October to discuss subnational payments, more specifically, Requirement 6.1 of the 2023 EITI Standard. EITI International colleagues from the Disclosure and Policy team will be joining the session to provide targeted advice and support.

     

  2. Countries have indicated that they need more time before their validation starts. The first validations against the new Standard are due to start in January 2025, including the UK.

 

  1. A proposal has been put forward to move the start of these validations to July 2025. No decision has been made on this proposal yet, but there may be a possible Board decision on this in November. Therefore as far as the UK is concerned we should continue to work towards the January 2025 deadline until advised otherwise.

 

  1. The validation templates that need to be completed have been modified and should be easier to complete. They should be available for completion in October 2024. 

5– UK EITI Workplan 2024-25 progress review

  1. The MSG is required to undertake an annual progress review of their Workplan. The progress review must include:

 

i. Progress and challenges in achieving WP objectives; changes in those objectives; and how implementation will be adapted to better achieve those objectives. 

 

ii. An overview of activities and outcomes achieved through EITI implementation.

 

iii. A description of the mechanisms for stakeholders to provide feedback on EITI implementation, as well as documentation of stakeholder views.

 

iv. Documentation on how the MSG has taken gender considerations and inclusiveness into account.

 

v. A report on actual expenses compared to the WP budget. 

 

  1. It was agreed to re-circulate the UK EITI Workplan for further MSG comment.

 

6– UK EITI Open Data Policy review

  1. The MSG need to carry out the annual review of their current Open Data Policy. An initial review has been carried out and tracked changes have been added to the policy paper. 

     

  2. The EITI Standard states that implementing countries must:

 

  1. Agree a clear open data policy on the access, release and re-use of EITI data. Government agencies and companies are expected to publish EITI data under an open license, and to make users aware that information can be reused without prior consent. 

 

  1. Make the data available in an open data format online and publicise its availability. Open data format means that data is made accessible in CSV or Excel format and contain all data of tables, charts and figures from EITI Reports.

 

iii. Complete summary data files for each fiscal year covered by the EITI in accordance with the template approved by the EITI Board.

21.       Implementing countries are also encouraged to make systematically disclosed data machine-readable and inter-operable, and to structure EITI disclosures and other data files so that the information can be compared with other publicly available data.

22.       It is believed that the UK fully meets all these requirements. The policy will be re-circulated to the MSG for final comment.

7– UK EITI Comms & Engagement subgroup update

23.       The UK EITI Comms and Engagement subgroup met at the beginning of September to discuss a revision of their strategy, review the implementation plan and agree the focus of work going forward.

24.        The subgroup agreed that efforts should focus on compliance with the Standard and ensuring that the UK is in a better position with regards to the validation and after that concentrate on increasing public engagement.

8-UK EITI MSG Terms of Reference review

24.       The MSG need to review the UK EITI MSG Terms of Reference (ToRs) before the validation to make sure it is up-to-date and relevant as possible. They were last reviewed at the end of 2023.

25,       The EITI Standard states that the MSG is required to agree clear public ToRs for its work. The ToRs must, at a minimum, include provisions on the role, responsibilities and rights of the MSG and internal governance rules and procedures. 

26.       It is believed that the UK fully meets all these requirements. The ToRs will be re-circulated to the MSG for final comment.

9-UK EITI Renewables Strategy update

27.       It was agreed that the UK EITI Renewables strategy would be is currently EITI Standard states that the MSG is required to agree clear public ToRs for its work.    The ToRs must, at a minimum, include provisions on the role, responsibilities and rights of the MSG and internal governance rules and procedures. 

28.       It is believed that the UK fully meets all these requirements. The ToRs will be re-circulated to the MSG for final comment.

10-UK EITI compliance subgroup update

29.       The EITI Standard states that the MSG is required to agree clear public ToRs for its work. The ToRs must, at a minimum, include provisions on the role, responsibilities and rights of the MSG and internal governance rules and procedures. 

30.       It is believed that the UK fully meets all these requirements. The ToRs will be re-circulated to the MSG for final comment.

11-AOB

31.       The next MSG meeting will take place on Thursday 28th November 2024. 

 

Action points:

  • Draft a news story for the UK EITI website to announce Minister McCarthy as the new UK EITI Champion. (Action: UK EITI Secretariat).
  • UK EITI Payments Report for 2023 to be published during w/b 23rd September 2024. (Action: UK EITI Secretariat).
  • Draft news story for the UK EITI website to announce publication of UK EITI Payments Report for 2023. (Action: UK EITI Secretariat/Tim Vickery).

  • UK EITI Workplan 2024-25 to be re-circulated to the MSG for further comment. (Action: UK EITI Secretariat/UK EITI MSG).

  • UK EITI Open Data Policy to be re-circulated to the MSG for further comment. (Action: UK EITI Secretariat/UK EITI MSG).

  • UK EITI MSG Terms of Reference to be re-circulated to the MSG for further comment. (Action: UK EITI Secretariat/UK EITI MSG).

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