Board meeting minutes 16th July 2024 - The Planning Inspectorate
Updated 4 March 2025
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Board meeting minutes 16th July 2024 - The Planning Inspectorate
Minutes 28/10/2024
| Title of meeting | Planning Inspectorate Board Meetings |
|---|---|
| Date | 16 July 2024 |
| Venue | Hybrid/ Broadway House, London |
| Chair | Trudi Elliott (TE), Non-Executive Director |
| Present |
|---|
| Oliver Munn (OM), Non-Executive Director (virtual) |
| Emir Feisal (EF), Non-Executive Director (virtual) |
| Adrian Penfold (AP), Non-Executive Director |
| Paul Morrison (PM), Chief Executive |
| Joanne Butcher (JB), Chief Finance Officer (virtual) |
| Rachel Graham (RG), Chief Digital Information Officer |
| Hayley Kelly (HK), Chief People Officer |
| Richard Schofield (RS), Chief Planning Inspector |
| Sean Canavan (SC), Chief Strategy Officer |
| Madeleine Burch (MB), Non-Executive Director Boardroom Apprentice |
| Will Burgon (WB), Director of Planning, MHCLG |
In attendance
| Full meeting |
|---|
| Corporate Governance Officer (NP), minutes and action |
| Executive Support and Governance Officer (DP), meeting support |
| Operations Lead (CH), (sub for Operating Officer Officer) (virtual) |
| Attending for specific items – all joined virtually |
|---|
| Customer Insights Lead (ZC) (item 7) |
| Senior Media and External Affairs Manager (GL) (item 7) |
| Strategy and Corporate Governance Lead (BM) (item 8) |
| Project and Change Management Lead (TJ) (item 8) |
| Head of Strategy and Change (SH), (items 8, 10, 11, 12) |
| Innovation Lead (JG) (item 9) |
| Strategic Planning and Performance Manager (BM) (item 11) |
| Strategic Reporting Officer (item 11) |
| Financial Controller (EE) (item 11) |
| Head of Finance (PO) (item 12) |
| Apologies |
|---|
| Graham Stallwood (GS), Chief Operating Officer |
| Observer |
|---|
| Lead Delivery and Appeals Service Manager (TS) (virtual) |
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 May Board meetings and corporate action tracker
2.1 No further comments or amendments received for the part one or part two May Board minutes.
2.2 WB and team to pick up actions allocated to MHCLG and feedback to NP on progress.
Agreed:
2a) The part one and part two minutes of the May Board are approved and an accurate record of the meeting.
3.0 Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) update – July meeting
3.1 The ARAC focussed on risk deep dives which have taken place during quarter one with Executive Team (ET) and the deep dives scheduled for quarter two. The upcoming review of the risk assurance framework will be taking place and will report to the January ARAC meeting with a follow up session in April for ARAC to test the risk appetite of the Board.
3.2 The ARAC received a major paper on the Commercial Strategy, focus will be on the strategy over the next six to eight months and ARAC will monitor the progress.
4.0 Remuneration Committee update – May meeting
4.1 The Remuneration Committee focussed on end of year performance assessments for the ET, reviewed PM’s 2024/25 goals and looked at the options available for the pay and reward project.
4.2 It was agreed succession planning would be reviewed at a future Remuneration Committee meeting.
5.0 Chief Executive’s (CEO) update to the Board
5.1 PM will be meeting with the new Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook on the 18th July.
5.2 Our performance in June was slightly lower than expected and we closed fewer cases, a deep dive into why this happened will take place. Overall, we have closed 4.8% more cases when compared to last year and there has been a further reduction in the number of open cases.
5.3 The relaunch of the business apprenticeships saw five apprentices join us. The latest group of Appeal Planning Officers (APOs) include two former Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Chartered Planner apprentices. Two former APOs who achieved Chartered status through the Inspectorate have been appointed as band one Inspectors in the latest recruitment round.
Agreed:
5a) The Board agreed the success around apprentices and APOs is a good news story and should be shared more widely as we work to grow our own Inspectors and address the skill shortage.
6.0 Ministry for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (MHCLG) update to the Board
6.1 Following the general election a full Ministerial team is now in place. Angela Rayner is the Deputy Prime Minister. The Housing Minister is Matthew Pennycook and has a significant background in planning.
6.2 The Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, gave her first speech as Chancellor which focussed on the growth agenda, national planning policy framework (NPPF) changes and local planning authority (LPA) housing targets. The ban on new onshore wind in England has ended.
6.3 Alongside the NPPF consultation, LPAs will also be asked to review boundaries.
6.4 The King’s speech is expected to take place the week commencing the 29th July and will include planning and infrastructure.
7.0 Stakeholders and Customer engagement
7.1 Since the start of June the Media team has been piloting a method of sentiment analysis of our mainstream media mention, giving each story a positive, neutral or negative classification.
7.2 On review of the negative stories, these related to the outcome of an appeal. An additional category will be added called critical of outcome, as the data builds and is monitored over the coming months the team will be able to spot trends. This will be a good source of stakeholder feedback.
7.3 The Media team is working with business plan workstream leads to develop content and key messages. This will focus on our ambitions and will make sure engagement takes place with the right stakeholders.
7.4 Further focus has been given to the stakeholder survey responses, GL will be writing to the stakeholders that responded to the survey to outline the actions arising.
7.5 AP reflected the main point he is hearing from small planning consultants is the question around where an appeal in the process. TE is hearing feedback in relation to LPA resource challenges, underperforming and the impact this has on third parties.
7.6 The feedback we are receiving through the customer lens is improving as we capture feedback at three specific points in the process which are pre-decision, post-decision and post-service. The customer team is collaborating with data analysts to gather the insights and identify key themes.
7.7 Our post-service customer satisfaction has improved and is now operating at 80% across all of the workstreams and resolving more customer cases.
7.8 ZC is working RS and team to drive and further improve quality through the quality rubric measurement which sets out the pillars we measure and have positive impact on our strategy. The quality rubric output gives the quality measures of our service and will show where to apply attention.
8.0 Balanced scorecard
8.1 The balanced scorecard includes some new measures and reporting since the last Board meeting. These include tracking the workstreams reporting against the progress of the Munn review, a cost effectiveness measure, more detail about measures reporting red or consistently reporting amber.
8.2 The first quarter of reporting has shown demand is lower than forecast and we have received less or the same amount of casework types.
8.3 At the last Board there was a request to add the number of local plans in the system, there are currently 47, 38 of these are strategic plans.
8.4 The number of older cases in the system are reducing but are still above the notional trajectory, focus will be on the specific appeals over the 24 weeks.
8.5 One of the strategic plan ambition measures which tracks the output of planning hearing and inquiries is reporting red when compared to performance against 2023/24. Last year 481 decisions were issued, from January to June this year 410 have been issued. There are plans in place to focus resource on this work profile.
8.6 Progress against the 2024/25 business plan is showing three workstreams still in the scoping stage and are expected to commence by the end of July. One workstream reported as a nil return and was amber/ red last month.
8.7 AP referred to the local plan target of 65 days and asked if there is any scope to discuss the target or if changes to the process will bring plans in line with the target. RS explained LPAs have a service level agreement in place and we work to this as closely as we can, sometimes we are not aware of slippages which impact on the target.
##9.0 AI adoption Plan
9.1 In mid-February an AI adoption plan was submitted to the Cabinet Office in response to a commission received from them, whilst we await a response on the submission, work continues to develop our AI adoption plan.
9.2 NPo as Chair of the AI working group explained there are three areas of work happening which are AI tools and platforms, governance and develop of a strategy.
9.3 NPo explained work is underway to prepare for Co-Pilot which includes acquiring licenses, security and reviewing SharePoint for safe and effective use. There is also focus on upskilling and training the AI skills for the workforce and is included in workforce planning.
9.4 There are a number of small use cases where we can trial AI such as virtual agent for Hornbill our HR ticketing system, the use of Chatbot to find information and redaction for sensitive information handled in casework.
9.5 The importance of good governance is crucial, the AI Governance Board is a formal part of our corporate governance and the AI working group will report into this Board and will be informed by the framework.
9.6 NPo is drafting and consulting on the AI strategy, NPo will return to a future Board meeting with the strategy. Following review of the adoption framework, EF asked what we are aiming to achieve by the end of this year. RG explained the AI testing and adoption roadmap is still under development and will come back to the Board at a later date with more detail.
9.7 AP suggested NPo and the team work with LPAs and MHCLG to share the learning on the way the planning system works and the work we are undertaking, taking an outward looking approach.
9.8 OM reflected it is important to reflect to staff the benefits of AI and how the use can improve areas of work. NPo explained an early adopters’ group has been established and they will be testing tools and supporting messaging.
9.9 TE and the Board look forward to the AI adoption plan and strategy returning to a future Board meeting, the results of the submission to the Cabinet Office should also be included in the paper.
Action:
9a) NPo and RG to return to a future Board with the AI adoption plan and strategy, including the results of the submission to the Cabinet Office.
10.0 Service Model – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
10.1 Recorded in the part two minutes.
11.0 2023/24 Annual Report and Accounts
11.1 TE asked FG and team to make sure the lessons learnt from this year’s process are documented.
Agreed:
11a) Following review of the annual report and accounts at the ARAC, PM as Accounting Officer should sign the annual report and accounts.
Action:
11b) FG, JM and team to document the lessons learnt from the 2023/24 annual report and accounts process.
12.0 Spending Review update – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
12.1 Recorded in the part two minutes. ### 13.0 Forward Look, review of the meeting, blog key points
Actions:
13a) TE to draft the Board blog.