Transparency data

Board meeting minutes 23 September 2021 - The Planning Inspectorate

Updated 17 April 2024

Applies to England

Title of meeting	Planning Inspectorate Board Meetings
Date	23 September 2021
Venue	Virtual
Chair	Trudi Elliott

Present	Planning Inspectorate Board Meeting
Sally Dixon (SD)	Non-Executive Director
Rebecca Driver (RD)	Non-Executive Director
Stephen Tetlow (ST)	Non-Executive Director
Navees Rahman (NR)	Director, Corporate Services
Christine Thorby (CT)	Director, Strategy
Graham Stallwood (GS)	Director, Operations
Neil Hemington (NH)	Chief Planner (Welsh Government)
Simon Gallagher (SG)	Director, Planning (DLUHC)

In attendance	Planning Inspectorate Board Meeting
Strategy & Corporate Governance Lead (KT)
Change Portfolio Project Manager (PM) (item 5)
Head of Operations (TW)
Head of Data & Performance (RG) (item 6)
Senior Finance Business Partner (PO’T) (item 7)

Apologies	Planning Inspectorate Board Meeting
Sarah Richards (SR)	Chief Executive

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 July Board meeting and corporate action tracker

2.1 No further comments were received on the July Board Minutes.

2.2 No issues raised from the action tracker, actions are either in progress or completed.

Agreed: 2a) The minutes of the July Board meeting are an accurate record of the meeting.

3.0 Planning Reform and Project Speed Strategic Assurance Panel – key messages for the board

• The Inspectorate will continue to respond to different priority requests from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and understand the component parts of resource modelling for Planning Reform and Project Speed.
• There is uncertainty around the Inspectorate’s position within the digital requirements of Local Planning Authority (LPA) agendas and how best to continue developing internal digital strategies to support wider government planning initiatives.
• The Inspectorate’s good working relationship with DLUHC and its input and professionalism with assisting policy making is effective.

4.0 Sponsor Updates

DLUHC:

• Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has changed its name to Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities due to substantial functional changes to the organisation. These comprise of departmental, administrative, election policy and staffing changes, including the appointment of Michael Gove as the new Secretary of State.
• Planning Reform has temporarily paused to allow the new Secretary of State to review the policy before publication.
• The Spending Review is expected to conclude by 27th October 2021, and recognition has been given to the Inspectorates’ Head of Corporate Services and Head of Finance and Commercial for their work.

Welsh Government:

• Currently undergoing familiarisation with new administration and the implications of a climate change ministry, including implications on transport, planning and housing. Also, solidifying the role of planning in relation to Net Zero and its wider implications on climate change.
• Second homes and holiday lets are a current focus of Planning and Environment Decisions Wales due to difficulty defining any material change of use of the property.
• Future Wales is underway, being implemented through strategic planning and local development plans, with local authorities learning the process of following a statutory development plan.

5.0 Welsh Separation update

5.1 Welsh separation is expected to successfully occur on 1st October 2021, with digital processes, commercial and staffing already in place. New case submissions through the Appeal Casework Portal (ACP) were frozen from the 16th September 2021, data input remains the final task before the separation.

5.2 The Memoranda Of Understanding (MOU) document, which sets out how the organisations will work together and provide services to each other has yet to be signed. The MOU sets out the flexible working relationship where training and people resources can be borrowed if there are conflicts of interest, schemes crossing the England/Wales boundary and any National Infrastructure projects in Wales.

Agreed: 5a) The Planning Inspectorate formally thanked all colleagues involved with the Welsh Separation and passed on well wishes to all transferring colleagues and to the Welsh Government.

Actions: 5b) NR to update TE, outside of committee, on the decision for how to include the Welsh Separation in the Annual Report and Accounts regarding the Welsh Separation occurring mid cycle. 5c) Consider a ‘lessons learned’ from this smooth transition. GS to inform NH what things are required for assisting organisation to aid the transition.

6.0 Dashboard, including Operational Performance

6.1 Updates were provided on the following areas of the dashboard:

6.1.1 Customer

• Timeliness in answering complaints has improved during August.
• Most High Court cases concern Section 78 appeals or Enforcement cases.

6.1.2 People

• The Planning Inspectorate remains below the Civil Service averages for disability and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) community. Investigation is currently underway around the pay data for ethnicity and disability data and the best methodology for this. Official Statistics publication is expected by the end of October, showing the proportion of Planning Inspectorate staff in each ethnicity and pay group.

6.1.3 Operational Performance

• Open cases remain relatively stable, there were more cases opened than closed in August due to an increase in staff taking annual leave.
• More inquiries were closed than received, with levels closer to pre-pandemic. More hearing and written representation cases were received than closed due to high numbers of cases in August and complexity of cases.
• Review of virtual event timeliness is underway.
• Decision rates are projected to return to pre pandemic rates by September 2022 if a medium receipt rate and a high decision rate is maintained. However, this rate is influenced by the complexity of the cases focused upon versus the quantity being cleared whilst considering their economic impacts.
• Inspector recruitment is currently underway to increase our Inspector resourcing.

Agreed: 6a) RG to keep mapping trajectories over time, taking a more realistic approach. Focus on productivity and improvement strategies and balancing types of cases. 6b) GS to assist DLUHC in changing the policy to solve resourcing issues, forecasting 3 / 4 years ahead. 6c) SG to monitor implications of any choices we make.

Actions: 6d) RG to investigate the proportionality of high court case outcomes, in particular enforcement cases which go to appeal, considering the impact of cost on the number of cases. 6e) RG to re-investigate and compare disability pay data across different grade bands. 6f) RG to use projection data for modelling of any proposed changes, to allow insight and challenge on these predictions. 6g) RG/GS to consider quantifying how the Planning Inspectorate is making the greatest impact on case numbers. 6h) SG/GS to discuss financial implications of short-term resourcing e.g. non-salaried inspectors whilst considering the limited resource pool. 6i) RG to map out case refusal and appeal numbers across different LPAs to determine any trends. Consider how this data can be used to make improvements.

7.0 Spending Review - (OFFICIAL SENSITIVE) – PART TWO MINUTES

7.1 OFFICIAL SENSITIVE item captured as part two minutes.

8.0 Strategic Plan and Strategies

8.1 Inclusion of Covid-19 recovery in the vision was discussed, including the requirement to match with departmental outcome delivery plans and the importance of Covid-19 recovery to the purpose of society and to the Planning Inspectorates vision.

8.2 Concern was raised over the introspectiveness of Digital and Data Strategy, however investments are being made into technical specialist staff who will enable the required specialist conversations across the planning system to address this issue.

Agreed: 8a) Board have agreed that the material content of the Strategic Plan is ready for internal and external publication in early October following final changes to formatting/branding. The three supporting strategies will be published internally, welcoming feedback on the delivery plan and dependencies.

Actions: 8b) NR and KT to make the digital language more appealing, within the publication timeframe constraints.
8c) KT to ensure there remains a clear line of sight between the Strategic Plan and the Delivery Plan and subsequent sub strategies.

9.0 Forward Agenda and AOB

9.1 Framework agreement has been updated to reflect the Welsh Separation, awaiting clarification on performance management and the finalised MOU. The framework agreement will be circulated post sign off.

Agreed and Actions: 9a) NP to organise an informal session on Planning Reform and Project Speed to determine the Boards views.

9b) Environmental, Social and Governance to ideally return to Board in November, failing that by March, sponsored by SR, providing a progress report on the Environmental Policy and COP26.

9c) NP to discuss with NR/SR/GS/CT whether environmental impact should be included in standard board reports.

9d) NP to remove High Court Challenges from November Board as is due to be covered in an informal session and add Operational Performance as a standing Board item.

9e) GS and TW to expand on performance challenges, risks and timescale issues as part of Operational Performance at November Board.

9f) RG to include the people aspects of post covid recovery on the Performance Dashboard. 9g) NP for Cyber Security and Business Continuity to remain on October ARAC agenda with only any escalations being raised at November Board.

9h) TE, SR and NP to discuss the most effective time for Future Ways of Working to come to a Strategic Assurance Panel.

9i) NP to remove Spending Review from November Board. Instead, NR to circulate a briefing note on the conclusion of Spending Review.

9j) Health and Safety to remain on November Board agenda.

Next meeting: 25 November 2021