Board meeting minutes 20th November 2024 - The Planning Inspectorate
Updated 4 March 2025
Applies to England
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Board meeting minutes 20th November 2024 - The Planning Inspectorate
Minutes 28/01/2025
| Title of meeting | Planning Inspectorate Board Meetings |
|---|---|
| Date | 20 November 2024 |
| Venue | Virtual |
| Chair | Trudi Elliott (TE), Non-Executive Director (NED) |
| Present |
|---|
| Emir Feisal (EF), Non-Executive Director (NED) (until 3pm) |
| Oliver Munn (OM), Non-Executive Director (NED) |
| Adrian Penfold (AP), Non-Executive Director (NED) |
| Paul Morrison (PM), Chief Executive |
| Graham Stallwood (GS), Chief Operating Officer |
| Sean Canavan (SC), Chief Strategy Officer |
| Rachel Graham (RG), Chief Digital Information Officer |
| Hayley Kelly (HK), Chief People Officer |
| Richard Schofield (RS), Chief Planning Inspector (item 8 only) |
In attendance
| Full meeting |
|---|
| Executive Support and Governance Officer (DP), meeting support |
| Corporate Governance Officer (NP), minutes and actions |
| Arthur Young (MHCLG) |
| Head of Finance (PO) (sub for Chief Finance Officer) |
| Attending for specific items |
|---|
| Customer Insights Lead (ZC) (item 6) |
| Corporate Strategy and Reporting Lead (BM) (item 7-10) |
| Project and Change Management Lead (TJ) (item 7 & 8) |
| Head of Strategy and Change (SH) (item 7, 9 & 10) |
| Strategic Planning and Performance Manager (CM) (item 9) |
| Health, Safety and Wellbeing Lead (JBr) (item 11) |
| Apologies |
|---|
| Madeleine Burch (MB), Non-Executive Director (NED) Boardroom Apprentice |
| Will Burgon (WB), Director of Planning, MHCLG |
| Joanne Butcher (JB), Chief Finance Officer |
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 October Board meetings and corporate action tracker
2.1 October Board minutes to be circulated.
2.2 Since the Board pack was circulated, MHCLG colleagues reviewed and closed eight actions, highlighted on the tracker.
3.0 Remuneration Committee (Rem Com) update – November meeting
3.1 AP provided an update from the meeting earlier that day which focussed on mid-year performance assessments for the senior civil servants (SCS) in the organisation. It was agreed the January Board meeting should received a paper on the gender pay gap.
4.0 Chief Executive’s (CEO) update to the Board – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
4.1 Recorded in the part two minute
5.0 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) update to the Board – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
5.1 Recorded in the part two minutes.
6.0 Stakeholders and Customer engagement
6.1 Customer Service is performing well, with two of the three measures exceeding target. The team are also working with colleagues in Operations to taking learning and improve services. The overall complaints landscape has improved and reduced by 25%.
6.2 The overall performance of the Customer Service Team has improved, with customer complaints, enquiries and freedom of information requesting being responded to within the service level agreement (SLA) of 20 working days.
6.3 The aggregate customer satisfaction score for the appeals service is 62% which is 13% below the UK Public Service baseline. Once the post decision survey is in flight, we will have a third score to add to the aggregate score, which will give us more detail and a truer picture. Surveys are in flight for our other services.
6.4 A trial is in place to support customer self-service, providing basic automation for customers through a web form. Through use of the web form, customer contacts are directed to the right team and receive a quicker response. Since the trial started, there has been no negative impact reported through social media or stakeholder feedback received.
6.5 AP asked ZC to provide more information on the general feedback received from stakeholders and to give a general overview of the complaints received. ZC confirmed this information is available and can be provided as part of the next pack by theme.
6.6 ZC asked the NEDs to reach out to ZC and the Communications Team ahead of stakeholder engagements to receive key messages and updates in the customer and stakeholder space.
6.7 RG and ZC discussed the ability to understand the customer at various stages in the process and think about how to gather the data and encourage users to share so we can help them in the process. ZC is looking at customer segmentation, understanding needs and learning about underrepresented groups. Part of the survey will be building a customer focus group.
Actions:
6a) ZC to add stakeholder feedback and overview of complaints received in the next update to the Board.
6b) NEDs to contact ZC ahead of stakeholder engagements to receive key messages and updates.
7.0 Balanced Scorecard, including review of performance reporting and productivity update – OFFICIAL SENSITIVE
7.1 Recorded in the part two minutes.
8.0 Business plan 24/25 update: Systemising Inspector training
8.1 The update was brought to the Board following discussion at the October Board. The paper sets out where we are and what will happen next.
8.2 TE asked when will the workstream report green in the scorecard and the work complete. RS explained the workstream will roll across two business plans and will complete in approximately two years. There are several strands to the work with different elements happening at different times. Next steps are to develop the individual work packages to include Inspector training, development of the annual training plan, resource requirements and management of functions.
8.3 EF said we need to understand the cohort of people in the organisation, expected retirements, resource allocation model and adding expected blocks of training. EF asked RS how specialists leaving are being accounted for and if we have adopted a formal university model. Some government bodies have implemented, providing curriculum, learning and packages to be completed on their journey. RS confirmed thought is being given to a university model, this links back to resourcing, qualifications, and management of the function. More is required around succession planning, understanding specialisms, and gathering information about planned departures.
8.4 The scoping work is now complete and work is underway to transform into packages of work, understand the resourcing and how to progress.
8.5 PM explained as we move to the service model this will help us, there will be a collective group of people that will understand demand, capacity and service lines. They will scrutinise the pipeline, resourcing model and forecasting model.
8.6 TE reflected this is critically important work, we need to be as efficient as we can with the valuable resource we have. The Board fully support this work.
9.0 Environmental Plan
9.1 The environmental plan launched in April 2024 and reporting was aligned with the balanced scorecard. Climate related financial disclosures (TCFD) will be reported in the 2023/24 annual report and accounts with a phased implementation over the next three years of either comply or explain.
9.2 In the annual report and accounts we are also required to report against the Greening Government Commitment (GGC) targets. Quarter one and two data was submitted on the 18th November.
9.3 Next steps are to continue to report against the environmental plan, with a view to see if there are any additional items that we can include for next year. Conversations are scheduled with Finance, Risk and Corporate Strategy to make sure we have a plan to cover 2025/26 TCFD reporting.
9.4 AP said it would be helpful to see more data on carbon and carbon accounting and similarly on waste. This data can be used and shared with suppliers to gather information and will potentially help suppliers to improve their performance too. PM agreed the move from TQH is a good opportunity to do something different and apply the TCFD and GGC commitments.
Actions:
9a) PM to discuss accommodation requirements in conjunction with the environmental plan, TCFD reporting and GGC targets with JB, GW and CH.
10.0 Business Plan 2025/26
10.1 Budget assumptions have been applied to the business plan through conversations with MHCLG colleagues. A further update will come to the January Board on the work programme for 2025/26 and a resourcing profile for the organisation.
10.2 The Business Plan (BP) for this year has been developed with the Service Owners (SOs) as we move to the service model.
10.3 Each service set out the priorities for the coming period, demand forecast and resulting resource forecast. These are the foundations the BP will be built on.
10.4 Following this work, there are headline areas of growth predominantly in the Digital and Data (D&D) Unit and in Inspector numbers. More D&D colleagues are required to support new services such as Crown Development and to support changes to the LP service. The additional D&D colleagues will also drive forward AI and the appeals as data workstream.
10.5 OM referred to section six of the paper and advised the team not to short change other transformation activities as change is needed to be more efficient.
10.6 Through the Service Model, PM reflected people are starting to think in a different way and it feels like this is having the right impact. PM endorsed OM’s comment, we need to think around the service and not just BAU. What do we need to invest to make services more productive and efficient.
10.7 SH will return to the January Board with the work programme for each of the five services, ET’s agreed assumption on resource for the organisation and if possible the agreed financial settlement. SH may also table the draft BP.
Actions:
10a) As part of the January update to the Board, SH to include how the service design will be implemented and update on reforms too if possible.
11.0 Health, Safety and Wellbeing (HSW) update
11.1 Extra resource will join the HSW team in December, they will focus on health and safety (H&S) tasks that are required to ensure compliance with H&S legislation.
11.2 Work continues to make sure risk assessments are in place, with an additional tick box added to the quarterly quality conversation reporting tool. This will ensure managers are discussing, implementing, and updating risk assessments for staff. Risk assessments will be added to the HSW hub which is a central space for assessments to be stored.
11.3 GS and JBr continue to focus on the lone working solution for Inspectors.
11.4 There has been an increase in reporting of accidents, incidents and near misses. Most reports related to incidents whilst driving or relating to car hire, slips, trips, and falls and animals e.g. dog bites. Other incidents related to intimidation / aggression on site visits and issues with, or whilst staying at hotels.
11.5 TE referred to the Occupational Health (OH) referrals and employee assistance programme (EAP) contacts and asked if we are able to understand the contacts i.e do these relate to musculoskeletal issues or mental health so we can track our trends. JBr explained this is currently unknown, but we hope to have this information in the future. AY offered to provide this data for MHCLG for comparison.
Actions:
11a) AY to provide OH and EAP referral data to JBr.
12.0 Forward Look, review of the meeting, blog key points
12.1 AY encouraged the Board to make sure papers are distributed on time to allow MHCLG colleagues to input into briefings.
12.2 In preparation for the Board effectiveness review, AP asked for the paper and a summary of performance against the recommendations to be circulated. TE asked for this to be circulated before the questionnaire is circulated and interviews take place.
12.3 The Rem Com terms of reference were also shared with the Board for approval, following amendment in September. The amendment reflects Rem Com will make decisions on SCS pay rather than Board due to sensitivities.
Agreed:
12a) The Board approved the amended Rem Com terms of reference.
12b) AY to become a member of Rem Com.
Actions:
12c) NP to circulate the Board effectiveness update against recommendations ahead of the questionnaire circulation and interviews.
12d) NP to update EF and MB on the 17th December deep dive session which will be on the examinations service.
12e) NP to invite AY to the scheduled Rem Com meetings.