Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
National Planning Framework 4 15 December 2021
Letter from the Convener of the Public Audit Committee - 15 December 2021
Dear Ariane
Scottish Parliament Scrutiny of the draft National Planning Framework 4
Thank you for your letter of 3 November 2021, in which you draw the Public Audit Committee’s attention to your forthcoming scrutiny of the draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).
I thought it might be helpful to bring to your attention to some of the recurring key audit themes, initially highlighted by our predecessor Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee (the session 5 Committee), which we now find are arising during our scrutiny of reports and briefings by the Auditor General for Scotland (AGS) and Audit Scotland in this session. I hope this will be helpful to your Committee as it undertakes its scrutiny of the NPF4. I outline these themes below.
Effective workforce planning
In 2019, the session 5 Committee published a report setting out the key themes that emerged during its audit scrutiny from the beginning of session 5. This included capacity and workforce challenges experienced at all levels across the public sector, not only in leadership positions. The Committee also highlighted that a number of audit reports identified recruitment difficulties faced by public bodies in respect of particular sectors and specific skill sets.
The Committee notes that the draft NPF4 will require the skills and expertise of a range of professions. This clearly incudes those working within the planning system and the construction industry who will be responsible for delivering the future approach to housing in Scotland, but also those with particular expertise in digital technologies and environmental sustainability to deliver on its wide ranging and cross-cutting objectives.
The Public Audit Committee therefore encourages your Committee to explore, as part of its scrutiny of the NPF4, what work the Scottish Government has conducted to ensure that the right skills mix, as well as sufficient capacity exists in Scotland to deliver on its objectives.
Delivering public sector ICT projects
The Session 5 Committee highlighted in its legacy paper that audit reports it had considered emphasised the need for good and comprehensive planning when public bodies are contemplating digital projects. This should include a clear sense of what the project is trying to achieve; a detailed business case; a clear scope and budget for the programme, including any long-term implementation costs and an assessment of the risks and how these can be managed.
The Session 5 Committee also considered a series of audit reports concerning failings in public sector ICT projects, which have significantly impacted on public funds. The reasons for these failings were multiple but included an underestimation of the level of skills and experience required in managing the project and miscommunication between the public body and the contractor about what is required. Further information on this issue can be found in the Session 5 Committee’s Key audit themes: Managing public sector ICT projects report, published in March 2021.
The Committee notes that the draft NPF4 recognises that “digital connectivity has a central role to play in unlocking the potential of our places and the economy and in opening up more remote parts of Scotland for investment and population growth”. The Committee further notes that to achieve this aim, the draft NPF4 states that the planning system should continue to support the roll-out of digital infrastructure across all of Scotland.
The Committee welcomes the commitment to advance digital technologies in the draft NPF4. However, it encourages your Committee to consider the issues raised by the Session 5 Committee as above mentioned on the delivery of public sector ICT projects during its scrutiny of the framework.
Data and outcomes
A further issue the Session 5 Committee highlighted in its legacy paper was in relation to the absence of key data making it impossible to determine whether policies and initiatives were actually making a difference to people’s lives. The former AGS explained to the Session 5 Committee that part of the problem is often that that the intended benefits and outcomes of new policies are not always explored at the outset or are altered once the policy is developed.
The Committee notes that the national spatial strategy, included in the draft framework aims to produce:
These aims are substantial and will require sufficient performance management arrangements to be put in place to measure the strategy’s medium and long-term impacts as well as whether value for money is being achieved. The Committee also notes that there should be a clear link between the strategy and the Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework.
Conclusion
In closing, we note that the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth has set out the importance of involving a wide range of people in planning. During our recent scrutiny of Audit Scotland’s Community empowerment: Covid-19 update, the Committee recognised that engaging and empowering local communities drives better outcomes and helps to address inequalities.
The Committee therefore encourages your Committee to consider to the extent to which the NFP4 will sufficiently empower local communities to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Should anything else arise in the course of our Committee’s work, that may be relevant to your scrutiny of the NPF4, I will write to you again.