Transparency data

Board meeting minutes 18th May 2023 - The Planning Inspectorate

Updated 17 April 2024

Applies to England

Minutes 3rd July 2023 date

Title of meeting	Planning Inspectorate Board Meetings
Date	18 May 2023
Venue	Virtual meeting
Chair	Trudi Elliott

Present	Planning Inspectorate Board Meeting (in person)
Stephen Tetlow (ST)	Non-Executive Director
Rebecca Driver (RD)	Non-Executive Director
Sally Dixon (SD)	Non-Executive Director
Zaffrin O’Sullivan (ZO)	Non-Executive Director – Boardroom Apprentice
Paul Morrison (PM)	Chief Executive
Jo Butcher (JB)	Interim Chief Finance Officer
Arthur Young (AY)	Interim Director of Planning, DLUHC

In attendance

Strategic Governance Officer (NP), minutes (full meeting)

Executive Support and Governance Officer (DP), meeting support (full meeting)

Richard Schofield (RS), Chief Planning Inspector

Graham Stallwood (GS), Chief Operating Officer

Sean Canavan (SC), Chief Strategy Officer

Rachel Graham (RG), Chief Digital and Information Officer

Simon Levi (SL), Interim Chief People Officer

Head of Communities Planning and Planning Inspectorate (RW), DLUHC) (full meeting)

Head of Strategy and Change (SH) (item 6)

Head of Digital & Data (AB), (item 6)

Head of Operations, Group 2 (SW), (items 7)

Head of Operations, Group 3 (DP), (items 7)

Deputy Director, Planning Infrastructure (JP), (DLUHC) (item 7)

Observers

Strategy and Corporate Governance Lead (BMc) (items 1 - 6)

1.0 - Welcome and Declaration of Interests

1.1 The Chair called for Declarations of Interest, of which there were none.

2.0 - Minutes of March Board meeting and corporate action tracker

2.1 No further comments or amendments required to the part one or part two March minutes.

Agreed:

2a) The part one and part two minutes of the March Board meeting are an accurate record of the meeting.

Actions:

2b) NP with the Board to review the Board action tracker

3.0 – Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC)

ARAC update from the April meeting

3.1 RD gave the following update to the Board:

• Focus was on the effectiveness of governance and control in the Inspectorate, views were sought from PM as the Accounting Officer on the effectiveness of controls to allow ARAC to assess their role, feedback from PM was positive and informed ARAC’s report to the Board.

• The National Audit Office (NAO) are pleased with the progress of the Annual Report and Accounts, it is in a good place subject to some changes to the narrative.

• Presentation from the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) raised concern for the Committee about the ownership and management of audit actions. A new process is in place to manage actions. The GIAA draft opinion for the organisation is Moderate.

• RD has started to draft the handover to the incoming ARAC Chair, the GIAA report will be a helpful reading document to the new Chair.

ARAC’s report to the Board

3.2 The Committee concluded the work conducted by the Committee, NAO and GIAA, the Accounting Officer can be satisfied with the integrity of assurance available to inform decision making. Risk is at the right level for budget, resourcing, and responsibilities and is managed in a sensible way.

ARAC Terms of Reference (ToR) for approval

3.3 Each year the Committee reviews the ToR to make sure the remain valid and support the Committee to work effectively. The following amendments have been made:

• Added the role of Non-Executive Director (NED) Apprentice as an attendee.

• Executive Team members asked to attend ARAC to encourage joint ownership and when items on the agenda fall under their responsibility. Wording to be changed from ‘encouraged’ to ‘required’ for consistency.

• The following wording was also added to the ToR in relation to co-opting members:

Where specific subject matter expertise has been identified as helpful to inform the Committee’s discussions, then in a situation where no existing ARAC member has this expertise, at the discretion of the Chair of the Board, an additional independent member of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee can be appointed.

Agreed:

3a) Subject to the amendment at 3.1.3, the Board approved the ARAC Terms of Reference.

Actions:

3b) DP to amend paragraph 3.1.3 of the ToR from ‘Executive Team are encouraged to attend’ to ‘Executive Team are required to attend’.

4.0 Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) update

4.1 AY gave the following DLUHC update to the Board:

• The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) is back in Committee today (18th May). There will be a further sitting day for the Infrastructure Levy and Environment.

• Alongside the Bill there will be consultation documents and publications, these are dependent on the passage of the LURB.

• The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation has now closed.

Agreed:

4a) The Board noted the update from the department.

5.0 Chief Executive’s update to the Board

5.1 PM gave the following update to the Board:

• Discussions are taking place with AY and RW to establish a plan to publish the business plan externally and how we approach external engagement with the business plan going forward. Initial thoughts are to publish alongside the annual report and accounts.

• The business plan has been published internally, next steps are to feed into reporting and priorities and turn to the development of the strategic plan. From September through to March we will be monitoring our business plan with an aim to develop a three-year business plan.

• Executive Team reviewed the corporate governance structure with focus on current and new services we must deliver, resource requirements and how these align with our priorities.

• Pay and Reward is another key area of focus for the Executive Team.

• PM attended a meeting of the staff networks with focus on equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) and how this links to our business plan and priorities.

6.0 Balance scorecard

6.1 SH gave the following update to the Board on the balance scorecard:

• The balance scorecard is presented in two section, section one monitors the progress of the business plan, making it easier to make judgement on how well we are delivering the five priorities.

• Section two are the additional measures giving a holistic overview of performance across the organisation. This is the main document used by the Executive Team and others to make informed decisions. Updates are made monthly.

• The scorecard is also used as a communication tool and will be shared at all staff briefings.

• This is a new tool with new processes and there are still some areas of improvement. Work is underway with the Data and Performance team to bring consistency to data gathering and there are some workstreams to be allocated to owners.

• The scorecard will continue to iterate; this will happen in line with the development of the strategic plan.

• Moving forward, the scorecard will be presented with a covering paper, which will drive the story presented by the data and inform decision making.

6.2 The Board discussed the following items:

• RD asked the team to consider the presentation of the data as the wheel and symbol format was difficult to follow.

• ST felt the information was too detailed for Board level. Board should see the financials - return on investment and benefits, strategic view of business process – how well the Inspectorate is running and developing, customers – how do we achieve the value to the customer and organisation capacity – how infrastructure and people are delivering on what we want to do and level of capacity to take us forward and development and learning.

• SD suggested highlighting the significant changes and if actions not started will be an issue.

• SC said the purpose is to drive and allow informed decision making. Covering paper to the Board with the scorecard going forward will provide a view and approach.

• TE agreed with the points raised by ST and asked for a summarised one page of headlines for the Board.

• JB clarified the Business Plan reporting will come to the Board, whilst reporting on treatment of controls will continue to report to the ARAC.

• PM agreed as the scorecard iterates the aim is to get to a signal page which shows tolerances and provides a trigger that action is needed by the Executive Team. JB agreed and advised this should also be looked at in line with risk mitigations.

RG reflected on ST comments in relation to customer, benefits and return on investment, we can develop these measures across the services. These can be shared when in place and we have the systems to gather the insights from customers.

Agreed:

6a) The scorecard is an interesting piece of work and thanked all involved for their work.

Actions:

6b) SH to share the balanced scorecard on a monthly basis with RW.

6c) SH to review the presentation of the customer satisfaction survey and how to present the outcomes of the survey to the Board.

6d) SH to review and provide the strategic level view to the Board and highlight significant changes and actions not started which will cause issues. Present this in a summarised one page of headlines.

6e) SH and JB to present the ARAC dashboard to Executive Team at the same time as the scorecard.

6f) SL to update the health, safety and wellbeing risk, current Red, Board agreed this requires updating.

7.0 Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) Reform – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE

7.1 OFFICIAL SENSITIVE item captured as part two minutes.

8.0 S62a applications and potential new LPA delegations – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE

8.1 OFFICIAL SENSITIVE item captured as part two minutes.

9.0 New Strategic Risk – Quality Assurance – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE

9.1 OFFICIAL SENSITIVE item captured as part two minutes.

10.0 Forward Look, review of the meeting, blog key points

Actions:

10a) TE and NP to draft Board blog.

Next Board meeting 8th June 2023 (virtual):

• Planning Inspectorate Board – 1.15pm – 2.45pm