Transparency data

Board meeting minutes 23rd March 2023 - The Planning Inspectorate

Updated 17 September 2024

Applies to England

Minutes 18th May 2023 date

Title of meeting	Planning Inspectorate Board Meetings
Date	23 March 2023
Venue	Conference Room 7, Marsham St, London
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
Graham Stallwood (GS)	Chief Operating Officer
Sean Canavan (SC)	Chief Strategy Officer
Jo Butcher (JB)	Acting Chief Finance Officer
Richard Schofield	Chief Planning Inspector
Conrad Smewing (CS)	Director of Planning, DLUHC

In attendance
Strategic Governance Officer (NP), minutes (full meeting) (in person)
Executive Support and Governance Officer (DP), meeting support (virtual)
Project Manager (AC), (items 5)
Head of Operations, Group 2 (SW), (items 5)
Head of Digital & Data (AB), (item 6)
Head of Operations Group 1 (TW), (item 7)
Operations Lead, Group 1 (SL), (item 7)
Futures Lead (NPo) (item 8)
Head of Strategy and Change (SH) (item 9 & 10)
Continuous Improvement Manager (CD) (item 9 & 10)
Strategic Planning and Performance Manager (FG) (item 9 &10)

Observers
Customer Service and Insights Team Leader (KA)
Operational Delivery Support Leader (ND)
PA to Chief Operating Officer and Chief Planning Inspector (SS)

Apologies
Sponsorship Team (RW), DLUHC

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 January Board meeting and corporate action tracker

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

2.2 The dashboard actions captured on the action tracker require review as the balanced scorecard is developed.

Agreed:

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

Actions:

2b) NP to bring together the dashboard actions and circulate to PM, AB and SH.

3.0 – Chief Executive’s update to the Board

3.1 PM gave the following update to the Board:

• The Executive Team (ET) structure for the organisation has changed to further improve and give clear accountability, remit and interaction at ET level. PM and SC are discussing through strategy development, improving performance and timeliness. More widely conversations are taking place with the department (DLUHC) around policy changes, legislative changes, and the asks of the Inspectorate. There are complexities to achieving our ambition and further discussions will take place with DLUHC colleagues to focus on plans and prioritisation of work.

• Pay and reward discussions are taking place to develop our strategy, how we recognise and reward in the organisation and how we give clear accountability where work cuts across functions. The pay remit for Senior Civil Servants (SCS) is still awaited. The Trade Unions (TU) are part of the pay and reward working group and we continue to engage early and share changes with the TU.

• Work conducted on pay, recruitment and retention indicate, whilst we can recruit to some professions, there have been struggles to recruit into roles in the Corporate Services area, which are around digital and data.

3.2 The Chair invited an update from ZO, as our Non-Executive Director (NED) Boardroom apprentice to share insights from the programme so far:

• Boardroom apprentice scheme has been running for three years in Northern Ireland, whilst this is a new programme in England, ZO is one of 25.

• The programme is in place to accelerate diversity on Boards and to give people an opportunity to shadow and be part of a Board. Observing and learning about strategic insight, how to absorb and probe large amounts of information and data and gain the experience by seeing these things in action. Boardroom apprentices are supported by a series of training.

• As part of the group, ZO and team have a topic based case study to present to a panel.

• TE asked ZO to keep the Board up to date on when the recruitment for the next cohort will take place, as the programme are looking to extend the number of Boards to support the reach of the programme.

Actions:

3a) PM to provide a briefing note to the Board following the pay and reward meeting.

3b) PM at NED catch ups, keep the NEDs update on pay challenges and options.

3c) ZO to update the Board when the next NED Board apprentice recruitment campaign launches.

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

4.1 CS gave the following DLUHC update to the Board:

• CS is moving from role as Director of Planning to the Treasury in Easter. Announcement for replacement is imminent.

• Lots of progress made to launch consultation documents on the infrastructure levy and planning fees.

• The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation has now closed; responses are being logged and analysed.

• Nationally Significant Infrastructure (NSIP) action plan and environmental outcomes report have been published.

• The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) is currently with the House of Lords and has attracted amendments. The Secretary of State remains committed to deliver the Bill by the end of Summer.

4.2 The Board discussed the following points:

• TE asked how the Board can ensure the Inspectorate does not carry out abortive work whilst amendments are still outstanding and suggested a conversation about priorities. CS confirmed whilst there are amendments, the plans relevant to the Inspectorate should not change, but there will be elements that are important to the Inspectorate.

• PM explained to the Board, at the Accounting Officer meeting held by DLUHC (with PM as Accounting Officer for the Inspectorate), discussions are underway to understand the immediate resource requirements with RS as policy changes emerge and the assumptions on lead in times. It is important to make sure the assumptions are documented with DLUHC.

• TE on behalf of the Board thanked CS for his contributions and work with the Board.

Agreed:

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

Actions:

4b) CS and PM to make sure the Inspectorate is kept abreast of the LURB elements that are going to change, making sure the Board is aware and involved.

5.0 Planning Reform and NSIP Reform update (OFFICIAL SENSITIVE)

5.1 OFFICIAL SENSITIVE item captured as part two minutes.

6.0 Dashboard, including operational performance

6.1 GS and AB gave the following update to the Board on the dashboard:

• Over the last three months, through focus on specific areas we are seeing improvement. 450 more hearing and inquiry decisions have been issued when compared to this time last year which is a 53% increase.

• Appeal service is due to rollout further, making the service available to 250 Local Planning Authorities (LPAs).

• Following the January Board, AB has worked with the data team to develop productivity measures with initial focus on measures for NSIP cases. Further work is needed to develop the unit cost model, the data engineer is working to create the model and gather the data, linking with colleagues in Operations to understand the variability and demand.

• In the last six months, over 1000 more site visits have taken place when compared to the same period last year.

• Checks on cases submitted through the new service have demonstrated, through a sample test of 169 householder appeals, 92% are valid on arrival, with 95% of section 78 appeals being valid on arrival.

6.2 The Board discussed the following items:

• RD suggested applying the productivity measure to appeal casework and rather than taking a cost focus, look at Inspector full time equivalent (FTE) and casework to get a sense of the mix. GS explained this is difficult to measure due to the different case types and splits.

• SD advised the Board not to lose sight on people, productivity is about the time you employ people, sickness, and leave.

• GS and colleagues are monitoring the range of appeal submissions, if things are looking similar in May, it is likely demand is dropping. LPAs are receiving fewer applications.

Agreed:

6a) The Board were pleased and supported the progress made to further improve the dashboard with the addition of the productivity measure and progress made to improve performance.

Actions:

6b) GS and AB to add to the next dashboard benefits tracking of the new service (Operational Delivery Transformation (ODT)) and how we are delivering against productivity.

7.0 Speeding up decisions on planning appeals by written representations

7.1 GS, TW and SL gave the following update to the Board:

• GS set out for the Board, the focus to improve planning written representation (WR) appeal performance, monitoring closely to make sure cases coming into the system do not get ‘old’ whilst working to decide older cases in the system. Whilst this work is under, there is a risk to timescales, these could get longer whilst we do the right things to improve performance.

• TW set out, approximately 95% of planning appeals are decided through the WR process, performance has varied for several years and main feedback from users is around inconsistency. Focus is to remove the tail of old cases in the system and to identify why the cases are taking as long as they do, by understanding we can we learn and make improvements. Using the learning and achievements in delivering faster decisions for hearing and inquiry cases and removing the old cases throughout 2023/24, we will implement a backstop for decision. Starting backstop will be 36 weeks, remaining under review and reducing over time.

• Inspector Managers will be sharing the outputs and performance with their teams to give more visibility on performance improvements and achievements.

7.2 The Board discussed the following items:

• TE suggested thinking about the communication requirements to support this work, what do we need to tell our customers.

• RD supported the focus on WR and suggested focus on communications and to think about how TW and team can demonstrate success, setting out the focus on time taken for a decision, be clear that things may get worse before they get better and look at the proportion of cases by age so people can see the older case numbers shrink.

• SD encouraged TW, SL and team to continue to focus on Inspector recruitment.

Agreed:

7a) The Board agreed and fully supported the focus on WR performance and encouraged the team to focus on the narrative for the customer as well as internal communications for our teams.

Actions:

7b) TW and SL to focus on the news story and communication piece around the work to improve WR performance, setting out the initial risk to performance whilst we make changes and improvements. This includes how we communicate to our teams internally.

8.0 Horizon Scanning (HS) update

8.1 NPo gave the following update to the Board:

• Following the last update to the Board and gathering learning, NPo has tried to recruit external parties from other departments and organisations to join the HS network, but without much success. NPo explained with wider focus on the planning system, rather than focusing solely on the Inspectorate more people may join. This is the main driver to conduct an annual scan with focus on the planning system.

• A further learning point came from a discussion with the Executive Team (ET), where ET felt the big strategic issues for the organisation to deal with are not captured. The refresh of the strategic plan (SP) will help to broaden the networks focus.

• The third learning point is around the difficulties on striking the balance on the things that are happening now and things which are several years away. Moving forward, we need to think about how we work with the known unknowns.

• Moving forward, NPo proposes to hold an annual external focused scan, which is already happening in other sectors. Benefits will be gathering system wide perspectives, view of changes, things we can prepare for and support decision making. A range of assessments and tools will be used to gather views and critical issues which will feed into our SP and business plan (BP) and will support our own decision making. This will be made available as a published report.

8.2 The Board discussed the following items:

• Whilst supportive of this work and using this as a source to support decision making, RD suggested NPo think carefully about the remit and parameters around the Inspectorate as a thought leader in this area. There may also be an opportunity to commission research into areas like local plans and understanding the impact on appeals and housing delivery growth as a system.

• SD questioned the cost and resource implications, is there an institute that could take this forward, removing internal cost and effort. Interesting angle to explore could be the use of statistical graduates to gather research.

• ST reflected on the trend deck and whilst there are 80 emerging trends shaping planning in the next 10-20 years, ST said this work is not just about predicting the future, but should be used to change mindsets. In the next round of work, focus on the implications of the findings.

• SC explained the challenge is around moving from internal to external focus and making sure this is focused and centred between DLUHC and the Inspectorate, which will then segway into the SP.

Agreed:

8a) The Board are supportive of HS improvement proposals. Questions were raised by the Board around how much collaboration and joint working with the Department can take place and the ‘so what’ outcomes. In doing this work, it needs to be made available to local government.

Actions:

8b) All NEDs – feedback to NPo which external experts and stakeholders they would like to see take part in the scan. We are looking to build a panel of individuals who are broadly representative of the planning system, including (but not limited to) local and central government, professional bodies, regulators, think tanks, industry, academics and ‘thought leaders’. Suggestions can be either individuals or organisations.

9.0 Business Plan

9.1 SH updated the Board on the progress and amendments to the Business Plan (BP) since the February Strategic Assurance Panel (SAP):

• Following feedback from the SAP, fewer priorities are included, there is a clearer framework, communications set out our priorities and the business as usual (BAU) workstreams are clearly captured.

• Work to set out the measures on how we will meet the priorities are set out on pages 9-11 in the BP.

• Next steps for the BP is to finalise in the coming weeks with publication both internally and externally taking place on the 6th April.

• DLUHC colleagues have reviewed and discussed the BP, the BP will be circulated with DLUHC once more ahead of publication to gather final comments. The BP aligns with the strategic direction set out by DLUHC.

9.2 The Board noted the amendments to the BP and focused on the measures, the actions from this discussion are captured below.

Agreed:

9a) The Board noted the improvement and progress made and thanked all involved for their work and updates.

Actions:

9b) SH to clarify who we are consulting with in key measure 10, Operational Effectiveness.
9c) SH to review the content of the document in conjunction with the outcomes of the Accounting Officer meeting.
9d) SH to review page 14, risk scoring, descriptions and risk appetite to make clear to the reader how much risk we are prepared to take and why, including review of the operational risk.

10.0 Emerging Strategic Plan- (OFFICIAL SENSITIVE)

10.1 OFFICIAL SENSITIVE item captured as part two minutes.

11.0 Forward Look

11.1 The Board asked for an update on budget and assumptions to come to a NED catch up session.

Actions:

11a) JB and NP to schedule and update NEDs on budget and assumptions.

Next Board meeting 18th May 2023 (virtual):

• Planning Inspectorate Board – 1.00pm – 4.00pm