Board meeting minutes 3rd July 2023 - The Planning Inspectorate
Updated 17 April 2024
Applies to England
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Minutes 25th September 2023 date
| Title of meeting | Planning Inspectorate Board Meetings |
| Date | 03 July 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) | Chief Finance Officer | |
| Charlotte Spencer (CS) | Director of Planning, DLUHC |
| In attendance | |
| Strategic Governance Officer (NP), minutes (full meeting) | |
| PA to Chief Executive & Executive Support (DP) meeting support (full meeting) | |
| Arthur Young (AY) Deputy Director, Development Plans and Planning Inspectorate Sponsorship (full meeting) | |
| Head of Communities Planning and Planning Inspectorate (LF), (DLUHC) (full meeting) | |
| Simon Levi (SL) – Interim Chief People Officer (full meeting) | |
| Graham Stallwood (GS) – Chief Operating Officer (items 1-7) | |
| Sean Canavan (SC) – Chief Strategy Officer (items 1-6) | |
| Richard Schofield (RS) – Chief Planning Inspector (items 1-6) | |
| Rachel Graham (RG) – Chief Digital Information Officer (items 1-6) | |
| Head of Strategy & Change Management (SH) (item 6) | |
| Head of Data and Performance (AB) (items 6) | |
| Change Portfolio Lead (TJ) (item 6) | |
| Head of Operations (DPr) (items 7) | |
| Head of Finance (PO) (items 8 & 9) |
| Observers |
| Lesley Cowley (LC), Chair of the DVLA (Independent Effectiveness Review Lead) |
| PA to Chief Finance Officer & Chief Digital Information Officer (SU) |
1.0 - Welcome and Declaration of Interests
1.1 The Chair welcomed and introduced LC and SP to the Planning Inspectorate Board.
1.2 The Chair called for Declarations of Interest, RD declared she has been appointed to the Personal Injury Discount Rate Expert Panel as the member with expertise in economics.
Agreed:
1a) The Board noted the declaration of interest and agreed this does not create a conflict with the work of the Planning Inspectorate. RD remained at the meeting.
2.0 – Minutes of Board meetings and actions
2.1 May part one minutes require an addition at 6.2 in relation to the customer survey results informing the balanced scorecard. The metrics to support judgements should be outcome focused rather than input focused and should, for example, be about the information customers are telling us about the service not the timeliness of surveys.
2.2 No further comments were received for the May part two minutes and parts one and two of the June minutes.
2.3 NP updated 31 actions had closed since the May meeting.
Agreed:
2a) Subject to the amendment at part one of the May minutes, the May and June part one and part two minutes are an accurate record of the meeting.
3.0 – Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) update to the Board
3.1 RD gave the following update to the Board:
- The National Audit Office (NAO) reported to the Committee the annual report and accounts was laid in Parliament on time.
- Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) have reviewed the outstanding actions from audits conducted. There is a plan in place to monitor outstanding actions, a report is due back to ARAC in October.
- The Committee agreed the risk management process is in a good place, although the framework needs to be reviewed in line with the new Orange Book.
- Business Continuity testing identified an issue with Orbis, the organisation is working to resolve.
- Review of the strategic risk register and directorate risk registers, identified issues with the way risks are framed, should be outcome focused not just about inputs. This will help the organisation identify and manage the mitigations.
- Fraud risk has strong mitigations in place, but whilst risk likelihood is low, its impact is potentially high and requires continual monitoring. Closely linked to this is the monitoring of the contract management and any potential for fraud. Contract management strategic risk needs to ensure there is value for money.
- There is need for greater consistency on how risks are scored and embedded across the strategic risk register and directorate risk registers. Teams are also encouraged to consider the risk in failing to act on opportunities, in other words the risk of inaction as well as action, and also to review risk tolerance vs target risk scores and how this impacts the risk levels.
- GIAA conducted a piece of work to review DDaT commercial controls, providing advice on how we need to manage contracts in the organisation in line with DLUHC, with the identified level of risk/importance of each contract determining the approach. This needs to be a conscious choice, managed appropriately and focused on outcomes in a fit-for-purpose process that achieves results, reduces risk, cost efficient and improving performance. Contract management process to report back to ARAC in October.
4.0 – Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), update
4.1 CS joins the Board as the new Director of Leasehold Land and Planning Delivery, responsible for digital planning, development plans and management, land registry and policy on leasehold reform and arm’s length body on leasehold.
4.2 AY gave the DLUHC update to the Board:
- The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) has completed the Lord’s stage, Lords reporting on the 11th July, Royal Assent taking place in the autumn. Linked to this, Ministers are looking at the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) prospectus consultation and announcement of policy changes.
- Work continues on the Local Plan consultation; this is with the Ministers with aim to launch before or during the summer recess for Local Planning Authority (LPA) input.
- Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) consultation will launch as soon as possible; aiming to launch before summer recess.
- Conversations are taking place between DLUHC and the Inspectorate around budget for NSIP reform changes.
- Seven LPAs are still at risk of designation following performance issues, evidence will be gathered for the Minister to decide.
4.3 The Board discussed the following points:
- ST asked about the digital vision across the country and the ability to gather analysis of what is happening in the future and market trends. The Inspectorate is improving the process internally, where is this heading externally to join up LPAs and others and how can the Board help? CS explained the Planning Directorate is looking at a digital hub to draw on digital planning work and expertise. CS suggested return to this item at the September Board.
- RD suggested DLUHC and the Inspectorate link to the Geospatial Commission, CS agreed to investigate this.
- RG explained regular sessions are taking place with Digital team at the department and the team at the Inspectorate to look at the right point to move forward quicker.
Actions:
4a) CS to return to the September Board with an item on digital planning hub.
4b) CS to investigate linking DLUHC and the Inspectorate to the work of the Geospatial Commission.
5.0 Chief Executive’s update to the Board
5.1 PM gave the following update to the Board:
- Pay and Reward is a priority, along with engagement with teams in the Inspectorate.
- Temple Quay House (TQH) will close on the 10th July to Inspectorate staff. Work is underway to provide an office space for people that require a desk. JB is leading the incident response and is engaging with Trade Unions. PM with the Executive Team will monitor impact on people, performance and business.
- Following a meeting with the Minister, GS, CS and PM are drafting a submission around our performance.
- Strategic Plan engagement is underway, plans and strategic intent will be set out in the autumn.
5.2 The Board discussed the following points:
- RD noted planning application submissions are down by 14% when compared to 2022 and asked if this is translating to appeals in the system. GS confirmed appeal submissions are lower, but remain within the realms of normal. Since December we have issued more decisions than received. We are seeing changes in the profile of work.
6.0 Balanced scorecard
6.1 SH gave the following update to the Board on the Balanced scorecard:
- SH presented May data to the Board, due to timing of the July meeting, June data is still being gathered. SH and team have reviewed the presentation to Board to bring a succinct package following comments received at the June Board.
- The Scorecard remains a work in progress as further data is gathered, there are some key measures not up and running, these will come online month by month such as customer survey data and staff pulse survey data.
- On review of the measures, none of these are reporting off track or a delivery risk.
- One workstream is reporting red and two are reporting red amber, two of these are due to resourcing issues and one pending a decision from Executive Team on the Artificial Intelligence project. Item is scheduled for a decision at Executive Team meeting in July and should resolve the amber red status.
6.2 The Board discussed the following points:
- RD asked who has judged the red, amber, green ratings. RD also felt the use of numbers not labels made it difficult to interpret what is happening. SD agreed with this. RD would also like more information on progress on all workstreams and measures, not just those determined to have problems. It would be helpful to set out issues in a similar way to the ARAC dashboard.
- On median decision times, RD did not feel this was a good measure to understand our performance. As the older cases are closed this will worsen the median time hiding the work of GS and team to improve performance. It would therefore be helpful to have additional measures, such as how the age profile of the cases on the books has changed over time.
- SH explained judgements are made by the accountable Executive Team member using data and interpreting if this is signalling a significant change. The team are working to get the balance of data and linking to the business plan and cases.
- ST felt the scorecard contained a good mix of operational, tactical and strategic measures. On people related matters, Board needs to see a measure on strategic workforce planning and have view of the overall totality of risk in the organisation.
- ST reflected, from a customer perspective, the only measure is complaints received, what are the outcomes for the customer, delivery, timeliness, reputation what do people think of us. SH measures one, two and three are related to customer and are tracking customer satisfaction, right first time, this information is not coming across but it is being tracked.
- Benefits need to be tracked, how well are we delivering the benefits and capital investment.
- Learning and Development measures are needed, how are we looking forward as an organisation and improving, is the level of investment right, appropriate and delivering.
- SD asked the team to think about how they can incorporate productivity of the workforce into the measures, rather than just measuring absence. Other HR measures that might be considered include monitoring the resourcing model, employee turnover, pulse survey measures, learning and development and appraisal system
Actions:
6a) SH to review the reporting measures for casework performance.
6b) SH to develop a measure for the strategic workforce plan.
6c) SH to look at benefits management to the scorecard.
6d) SH to add learning and development measures.
6e) SH to add workforce productivity measures.
6f) SH to improve labelling and background information associated with the scorecard, to make it easier to use.
7.0 Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) reform – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
7.1 OFFICIAL SENSITIVE item captured as part two minutes.
8.0 Budget update – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
8.1 OFFICIAL SENSITIVE item captured as part two minutes.
9.0 Pay Flexibility case – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
9.1 OFFICIAL SENSITIVE item captured as part two minutes.
10.0 Learning and Development (L&D) Strategy
10.1 SL gave the following update to the Board on the L&D strategy:
- Current approach to L&D is to focus on good practice, make part of our culture, core skills and behaviours and talent management.
- Conversations to shift from course lead learning to mentoring, shadowing, coaching, making it easier to access learning, introducing a tailored system for line managers.
- We need to understand the current skills in the organisation, technical skill requirements and making sure everyone belongs to a profession. Talent management and succession planning is critical.
10.2 The Board discussed the following points:
- SD questioned the timeline to deliver the strategy; can we bring in external resources to prioritise focus, deliver “quick wins” leveraging existing or off the shelf materials and to reduce overall timeframe?
- With the recruitment challenges we have encountered, RD suggested bringing forward the talent management timetable and suggested the team look at team based learning vs individual based training.
- ST agreed with the timings and some areas need to be prioritised and brought forward and asked how the strategy is going to be measured, how will we report success.
- SL explained the L&D team are now in place following recruitment. The system will track completed training, the team will conduct a learning needs analysis which will set out role by role what have and need to do. Measures for the strategy are being refined with SH and the team.
Actions:
10a) SL to review and prioritise the L&D activity set out in the strategy.
10b) SL to review team based learning vs individual based training needs.
11.0 Forward Look, review of the meeting, blog key points
Boardroom Apprentice
11.1 TE asked the Board to continue to support the Board Apprentice programme as a Host Board and to add the role to the Board terms of reference.
Non-Executive Directors
11.2 TE took the opportunity to thank ST, RD and SD for their contribution to the organisation and for the work they have taken forward outside of the Board, supporting individuals and teams with areas of work and projects.
Agreed:
11a) To continue to Host a Board Apprentice through the Board Apprentice Programme.
11b) The September Board agenda.
Next Board meeting 28th September 2023, 2 Marsham ST, London: