Examination of Witnesses (Questions 20-39)
DEPARTMENT FOR
CULTURE, MEDIA
AND SPORT
AND UK SPORT
2 APRIL 2008
Q20 Chairman: My personal interest
in sport is sailing and presumably we are going to be there at
the top, are we, Ms Nicholl, in sailing?
Ms Nicholl: Absolutely; we are
the best sailing nation in the world at this point in time.
Q21 Chairman: And you are going to
give us an absolutely commitment here that this seafaring nation
is not going to have a disaster in 2012? This is down to you,
is it? What are you doing about it? Tell us what you are doing
about it to make sure that we retain our reputation as the best
sailing nation in the world.
Ms Nicholl: In London in 2012
I am sure we can be confident. We have some excellent sailing
results.
Q22 Chairman: We are going to be
the top nation, top dog, are we?
Ms Nicholl: And it is a matter
of them retaining it. They are currently the top nation; it is
a matter of retaining it.
Q23 Chairman: But we are going to
retain it are we?
Ms Nicholl: That is what the sailing
fraternity would say as well; that is their target, absolutely.
Chairman: We are in your competent hands.
Mr Bacon.
Q24 Mr Bacon: I would like to ask
first of all about targets, which the Chairman touched on. Mr
Steele, you have become Chief Executive fairly recently and Ms
Nicholl was our witness as Acting Chief Executive the last time.
Does your remuneration include a bonus?
Mr Steele: Yes, it does.
Q25 Mr Bacon: How is the bonus calculated?
Mr Steele: On a performance plan
which is monitored quarterly through the year.
Q26 Mr Bacon: Does the performance
plan have any relation to these targets?
Mr Steele: It relates to delivery
of funding agreement amongst other performance indicators.
Q27 Mr Bacon: I am talking about
the targets in figure 15. Is there any relationship between the
targets in figure 15 and whether they are achieved or not and
your remuneration?
Mr Steele: The relationship would
be that the targets in figure 15 would be reflected in the funding
agreement in terms of the overall targets we set and my—
Q28 Mr Bacon: I am not quite sure
I understand that. I am really asking, and it is very obvious—and
the Chairman made this point—they are not stretching targets.
The National Governing Body aggregate for the first row there
is 40, the agreement between the Department and UK Sport was 30
and the actual was 51 and carrying this through all the way through
the actual significantly exceeded the target. What I am saying
is, does your remuneration or your bonus have anything to do with
the fact that the actual exceeds the target? Are you remunerated
more because the actual exceeds the target?
Mr Steele: No.
Q29 Mr Bacon: You are not?
Mr Steele: No.
Q30 Mr Bacon: At all?
Mr Steele: No.
Q31 Mr Bacon: Ms Nicholl, you have
been in post since 1999, do you have a bonus?
Ms Nicholl: I do.
Q32 Mr Bacon: How is your bonus calculated?
Ms Nicholl: On the basis of delivery
of objectives which relate to—
Q33 Mr Bacon: What are your objectives?
Ms Nicholl: The objectives relate
to the delivery of the responsibilities of the performance directorate,
they are not specifically linked to—
Q34 Mr Bacon: You do not get more
money if we get more gold medals?
Ms Nicholl: It is not as crude
as that, if you do not mind me saying.
Q35 Mr Bacon: I put it crudely deliberately
but there may be a slightly more sophisticated way of putting
the same point: if we do better in the Olympics do you get a bonus—a
bigger bonus than you otherwise would if we do badly?
Ms Nicholl: No.
Q36 Mr Bacon: It sounds to me a rather
poorly constructed bonus arrangement. I would have thought it
would be a good bonus arrangement where you got more money if
we got more medals.
Ms Nicholl: I would say that our
objectives linked to performance-related pay at UK Sport are those
for which as individuals we can be held fully accountable and
responsible for the delivery of them. So they are very much more
specific about the responsibilities on a particular post in terms
of delivery.
Q37 Mr Bacon: Can I ask about the
Finance Director—and this is probably a question for you,
Mr Steele? It says in paragraph 2.35 that: "UK Sport currently
has no Finance Director." This Report was published on 20
March and I presume that is still accurate, is it?
Mr Steele: We have been in the
process—
Q38 Mr Bacon: I am asking is it still
accurate?
Mr Steele: It is.
Q39 Mr Bacon: Is there no Finance
Director as of today?
Mr Steele: No.
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