Public Affairs & Policy Team 2022 Look Ahead

For CIOB’s policy & public affairs team, 2021 was a busy year as the Government shifted its focus onto other areas away from the Covid-19 pandemic. Progress was made on refining one of the most influential pieces of legislation that the built environment has seen for twenty-five years through the Building Safety Bill. The long awaited Heat and Buildings Strategy was published (albeit to a lacklustre response), we launched our Charter for diversity and inclusion (which can be read here) and the devolved administrations pushed for a more joined up approach for creating new skilled workers.  

So, as we look ahead to 2022, it is time for the team to ponder what will be highest on the Government’s agenda for the construction industry:  

• Firstly, we expect more progress to be made on the Building Safety Bill as it continues to make its way through Parliament relatively unopposed. CIOB welcomes the publication of the Bill but remains concerned on the lack of clarity around key roles created by the Bill and how the Government plans to prepare the industry to fill these roles in the midst of a skills crisis. On 10 January 2022, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove MP made an oral statement to the House of Commons announcing plans to protect innocent leaseholders, who are trapped in unsellable homes and face excessive bills to fix dangerous cladding defects. This includes a package of measures and a warning to developers that they must agree a fully funded plan of action for remediation. Time will tell how these promises materialise as amendments to the Building Safety Bill and how enforceable these will be in terms of actually identifying those responsible for cladding remediation costs. We will continue to inform members and work with policy makers on this bill to ensure that leaseholders are not ultimately responsible for covering the costs of cladding remediation.  

• Secondly, it is evident in the wake of COP26 that sustainability will remain high on the Government’s agenda as the country considers how it will meet its legally binding net zero obligations. The Heat and Buildings Strategy may be a well-intentioned start, but it will be crucial for Government to implement a practical national retrofit policy to improve the energy efficiency of 29 million existing homes. We responded to the Strategy, highlighting that there  are significant gaps and that it does not go nearly far enough to meet the UK’s 2050 target of reducing overall emissions by 80 per cent. CIOB has consistently promoted the fact that addressing the sustainability of the built environment and hitting net zero ambitions requires coordinated, long-term action. Isolated activities and private market initiatives alone will not be enough to address the scale of the challenge. We will continue to promote joined-up actions to tackle sustainability such as a National Retrofit Strategy, amongst others.  

• Thirdly, we feel that another one of the Government’s priorities may be to tackle the ongoing skills shortage. It was predicted in the Autumn Budget that we would see a strong return in GDP towards the end of 2021. Office for National Statistics figures from the end of 2021 showed that construction and the services industry’s continued growth has helped lead the way with construction output growth at 1.3 per cent in September. However, this growth can only be maintained if there is a consistent stream of trained, skill professionals entering the construction industry, which at present, is not the case. Therefore, we expect Government to take notice of this and continue to pursue new avenues into the industry as has been sought through the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill. CIOB has been raising awareness of the ongoing skills shortage in the construction industry and we will continue to do so into 2022 by influencing key pieces of legislation such as the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill and through promoting the use of apprenticeships as an avenue to encourage school leavers to pursue a career in construction.  

These are just some of the potential key priorities for the Government in relation to construction in 2022. We would like to hear from you if you think there are any other areas that you feel that Government should push this year or whether there are any trends in the sector that we should be aware of. If you would like to get in contact with the team to share your views please email [email protected]