Letter from Rt Hon John Healey MP, CLG
(DAR 09-14)
Thank you for your letter of 6 July 2009. I
apologise for the delay in replying.
I note that you intend to follow-up the matters
relating to skills when you take evidence on the departmental
annual report in the autumn. An update on progress on the select
committee recommendations is currently in preparation in order
to prepare for this.
I also note that you request evidence on reductions
in staffing levels a separate note on this is attached as Appendix
One. The findings of the SEEDA report which you cite are also
currently being considered.
I would like to reassure you that we are not
complacent or defensive about the committee challenge and are
looking at further ways to monitor performance and progress on
the select committee recommendations.
The Government is continuing to address these
issues and recent initiatives include an increase in the number
of planning bursaries on offer this year, capacity support to
local authorities between publication and adoption of their Core
Strategy (£25,000 each) and the success of the Planning Skills
and Capacity Building Board.
It is noted that the Committee has chosen to
focus attention on the former Academy for Sustainable Communities
(ASC) in the context of its planning skills enquiry, but it should
be recognised it is a relatively small organisation with a limited
role to play in addressing the shortfall of planners. However
responses to the questions the committee has raised in respect
the former ASC are set out below.
ACCOUNTABILITY
We trust that now the ASC has become the Homes
and Communities Agency Academy (HCAA) its accounts will be subject
to much greater transparency.
The HCAA is the skills arm of the Homes and Communities
Agency (HCA) and it's financial information will be subsumed within
HCA's overall accounts, which is consistent with the reporting
of the HCA's other programmes. The Business Performance section
of HCA's annual report will include a high level summary of breakdown
of spend by programme, including the HCAA.
More generally, the HCAA does provide quarterly
performance reports to the HCA Academy Committee and report on
end of year financial and non financial outturns. This information
has been provided to the Select Committee in the past and can
be again, if helpful. In addition, the Academy has commissioned
independent end of year evaluations, with the current evaluation
due in the next few months. Previous versions have been published
on the Academy's Committee (previously known as the Academy Board)
section of the Academy website (www.hcaacademy.co.uk) and also
sent to the Select Committee.
Work is ongoing to rationalise reporting mechanisms
across all HCA programmes including the HCAA in order to ensure
that there is consistency as well as sufficient transparency and
accountability.
PERFORMANCE
The Committee queried the assessment of the
Academy's performance.
It should be noted that the extract from the
York Consulting report which was cited by the Committee was followed
by a further reference to means of assessment: "Qualitative
indicators of delivery and engagement are valuable tools in telling
the story of ASC's work to date, .... They do however need to
be underpinned by more sophisticated indicators of impact, something
ASC is clearly conscious of".
Further to this, over the past year the Academy
has worked with CLES Consulting to establish an Evaluation Framework
for its activities to ensure a robust and consistent approach
to evaluation, and measuring impact of the Academy's work. The
Framework is structured around the Academy's delivery priorities
with indicators set up to capture performance against these priorities
and their outputs and outcomes, and also their contribution towards
the final outcomes (linked to the Government's PSA targets). It
also aims to articulate the role of the Academy in the HCA's "place-based"
agenda, at local, sub-regional, regional and national levels.
The Framework is designed to face "both ways" on "internal"
reporting against the Academy's delivery priorities and the "external"
contribution towards wider objectives, including PSA targets and
DSOs.
It is also important, however, to note advice
from York Consulting's earlier report on ASC:
"... this does not mean that the ASC should
stop carrying out activities where outputs are intangible or difficult
to quantify. Not all activities will naturally lend themselves
to this kind of process." CLES Consulting, in the most recent
review of the Academy, commissioned in 2008-09, noted that in
the Academy's case assessing the extent to which outputs and outcomes
achieved had resulted in objectives being meet was challenging
because (i) the Academy is a young organisation and the outcomes
expected to flow out of its work will only become apparent in
the medium to longer term, (ii) until recently the Academy has
placed more emphasis on articulating output performance rather
than outcomes, and hence has not captured the entirety of its
impact (this is similar to many public sector organisations in
similar fields)."
The CLES report, which is in its final stages
of production and will be published (it concludes that the academy
is "performing well"), serves to confirm the impact
of the Academy, stating that "the sector was less fragmented
than it had been ... and that the Academy could take credit for
building relationships within the sector and encouraging more
joined up cross disciplinary approaches to skills and capacity
development". The evaluation explored the extent to which
the Academy had influenced government policy and stated that there
was "clear evidence of Academy activity in this area".
At the operational level the majority of Leaders Network members
consulted felt that their involvement with the network would help
their organisation develop more sustainable communities. Positive
testimonials from those engaging with Academy programmes was very
high with 92% of participants willing to recommend them to colleagues
and with positive responses from 89% in terms of satisfaction
with the programme or resource. Evidence from the evaluation of
specific programmes has also been extremely positive, with a number
of complimentary references having been received.
The CLES report will be published shortly on
the Academy website as part of the Committee papers.
CONTRIBUTION
The Committee expressed concern regarding the
Academy's Skills Action Plan, and its relation to the HCA's Single
Conversation.
Over the past year and a half the Academy has
switched the focus of its work in order to ensure that it directly
supports the Single Conversation. During the set up phase of the
HCA, the Academy worked as part of the team looking at how HCA
would be structured and how and what it would deliver. Following
a nationwide consultation process with HCA stakeholders, skills
for the Single Conversation and placed based leadership were identified
as key roles for the Academy as part of the HCA.
As part of the Academy's 2008/9 business plan
a priority around targeted capacity building was introduced. This
programme of work is directly targeted at providing support for
the single conversation process and at its core is the need to
improve the generic skills base of delivery partners as well as
multi agency and cross professional working. The Programme has
three key elements: place-based support, support to equip people
in the current economic climate, and support to improve leadership
in place making. The Academy has restructured its team to provide
Regional Skills Advisors to work in and with HCA regional teams
to support the capacity building needs of delivery partners.
Examples of the place based support include
the Academy's work in North Staffordshire, where the Academy is
working with the regional HCA team and regional partners to support
the Regeneration Partnership equip itself to deliver a large scale
HMR programme. The work there is focussing on helping develop
the partnership to build leadership skills, develop a shared vision,
improve partnership and collaborative working and engage with
the community.
In the Milton Keynes South Midlands (MKSM) region
the Academy is delivering a programme supported by the Local Delivery
Vehicle (LDV) Chief Executive's group: Delivering Growth in a
Recession. The programme will focus on skills interventions and
capacity building required whilst delivering growth in a recession.
It will specifically focus on capturing experiences, expertise
and good practice and sharing this best practice. It will link
these into new investment models, such as the Single Conversation
process. The skills focus is on:
— Partnership—working in and with
multiple relationships that have a range of types, and how they
individually and together can manage these relationships.
— Visioning—developing and agreeing
a broader and shared vision of where LDV's across MKSM want to
be in six and 12 months and five years.
The first phase of the programme will start
in October and run till April 2010. The second phase of the programme
will run from April until November 2010. Throughout the programme
a non-participant evaluator will monitor and measure the qualitative
outcomes and lessons learned. The outcome of the programme is
that LDV CEO's will be better equipped to support the growth requirements
across MKSM through a climate of uncertainty.
Turning to the Skills Action Plan, it is important
to understand that the Plan is only one strategic objective from
the Academy's 2008-09 business plan, and represents a very small
proportion of the Academy's resources.
The contribution of the Academy has been in
working with this large group of partners to produce this high
level strategic plan that looks at the wider skills agenda, in
joining-up all of their efforts to develop a unified approach
towards place making skills, a coordinated learning environment,
joint responses to market needs and core transferable skills.
The process of developing the action plan has created a shared
understanding of the market needs and priorities within it. It
has helped identify what work is already being done so that duplication
is avoided and shown where working together can add value. Under
each key theme there are a series of workstreams driven by one
or more of the partners, with other partners being involved in
line with their priorities.
Future activities will continue along the same
lines as before, with the majority of initiatives outlined in
the action plan being rolled out while partners also develop their
individual programmes in response to the changing supply and demand
for learning and skills. The partners will promote the need to
upskill practitioners to enable the sector to deal with the recession
and plan for the upturn. The Academy will ensure that other organisations
with a role in developing skills in the sector will be invited
to contribute to the action plan, and will undertake research
to determine the demand for skills from both employers and individuals.
SURVEY
The telephone survey referred to was undertaken
with Academy stakeholders as part of a wider Stakeholder Survey
carried out by an independent consultant. This involved 200 quantitative
interviews and 24 qualitative interviews with stakeholders across
England, including Regional Development Agencies, Local Authorities,
Government agencies, professional and representative bodies, research
& training organisations, and various delivery bodies involved
in regeneration, planning, housing, policy and partnerships. This
report is in the last stages of being finalised and will be available
shortly.
Feedback provided by the consultants has confirmed
that the "anecdotal information" referred to, regarding
dissatisfaction and scepticism about the Academy's overall impact,
and management of the Skills Action Plan clearly reflected atypical
views, and the Survey conclusion was on the whole positive.
I hope that this goes someway to allying your
concerns and I look forward to continuing this discussion in the
Autumn.
John Healey MP
APPENDIX ONE
LOCAL PLANNING AUTHORITY STAFFING LEVELS
It is difficult to be precise about the details
of numbers of planners employed in planning departments at a specific
time. The largest data set that is available is the CIPFA statistics
however the latest figures currently available are the position
as at 1 April 2008. We are awaiting the result of further research
on skills and capacity that was commissioned from ARUP as part
of the research relating to fees levels. We are also currently
investigating the possibility of commissioning further research
into the current position. An update to the "Mind the Skills
Gap" report is currently being commissioned by the HCAA and
this will give us further information when it reports in the New
Year.
CIPFA statistics set out the number of posts
budgeted for in local authorities in planning and development
areas of work (including development control, planning policy,
enforcement, building regulations and environmental initiatives)
together with the actual numbers employed in these areas. Figures
include planners filling a professional role, technical staff,
administration and any other support staff. These figures are
collected through an annual voluntary survey and as such the extent
to which data is provided per year for each local authority varies
affecting the extent to which yearly comparisons including total
figures can be made. The number of posts budgeted for are in brackets
after the number of filled posts.
Total staff employed (staff budgeted for)
| 2006 | 2007 |
2008 |
| Total Planning and Development |
21,627.1
(23,922.20) | 22,652.5
(24,639.70)
| 17,396.90
(18,531.30) |
| Planning Policy | 3,398.4
(3,833.90)
| 3,573.40
(3,978.4) | 3,602
(3,983.4)
|
| Development Control | 8,058.40
(8,727.70)
| 8,234.60
(8,866.10) | 8,672.8
(9,037.60)
|
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There has been a steady increase in the number of filled
posts in planning policy and development control. There has been
a marked reduction in the total number of filled posts in planning
and development and this is likely to relate to reductions in
administrative posts due to cost savings and technological advances.
The differences between the budgeted posts and actual posts have
remained relatively constant, although in 2008 the difference
between them in the overall figure has reduced.
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