The CIOB Policy Team Newsletter - March 2023
March with the CIOB Policy Team
Welcome to this edition of CIOB’s policy team newsletter.
This edition includes an overview of our new resource page for the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, a blog covering our attendance at the Health & Safety Executive Building Safety Regulator Conference, our regional overviews and our reaction to the recent Spring Budget.
If you have anything you would like to share, we would love to hear from you, so please do get in touch at [email protected]
One thing you need to do...Check out CIOB's new resource page on the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill
Over the past five months much speculation has been floating around about the actual implications of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill for the construction industry and wider built environment.
Whilst the impact of the Bill will be felt mostly in sectors outside of the scope of the built environment, we hold several concerns relating to the potential scraping of crucial employment, health & safety and environmental law without suitable alternatives in place.
CIOB has produced a resource page to inform members and the wider built environment community of the details, and potential implications, of the proposed Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill which was introduced as draft legislation in Parliament on 22 September 2022.
The page contains a full briefing outlining our position on the Bill, a joint letter that was sent to the Secretary of Business and Trade from Chartered Institute of Building, Royal Institution of Town Planners, Royal Institute of British Architects and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors outlining our position as well as a link to an article we published on the Bill in Politics Home.
You can access the full resource page here.
Building Safety Regulator Conference 2023
On Wednesday 22 March 2023, members of CIOB’s policy and public affairs team attended the first Building Safety Regulator conference at Central Hall in Westminster.
The event served as an opportunity to hear directly from the new Building Safety Regulator (which sits within the Health & Safety Executive) about important changes that will come into effect from April 2023.
Read the full blog here.
The Health & Safety Executive's Asbestos and You campaign
On 6 March 2023, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) launched a campaign to encourage younger people who work as plumbers, electricians, and in other trades to take the risk posed by asbestos more seriously.
The campaign, called Asbestos and You, wants to reach construction workers who started their careers after the use of asbestos was banned in 1999.
The HSE is concerned the length of time it takes for symptoms to develop after asbestos exposure could lead to a perception among today’s younger workers that it is something that only impacts older people who were working before the ban.
Five thousand people a year still die from asbestos related illnesses and asbestos can still be found in buildings built or refurbished before the year 2000.
A range of resources have been developed to help discuss the risks and where asbestos hides in domestic and industrial properties. Further information can be accessed here.
Should you require any further information, or would like to support the campaign, please contact [email protected].
Regional Overviews
- Ireland & Northern Ireland
The dissemination of ‘Flipping the Green Switch: a case for deferring stamp duty on residential retrofit in Ireland’ continued this month. The paper was presented in the titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast as part of the BuildEx conference and tradeshow. Presenting during the sustainability section of the conference, the paper reached a varied audience of industry professionals, local government, academics, and fellow professional bodies.
In Ireland the paper was presented again in Leinster house, this time to Cian O’Callaghan TD, the Social Democrats lead on Housing.
As part of our sustainability agenda, we submitted a response to the Department for the Economy’s draft Circular Economy Strategy for Northern Ireland. Our response leveraged our increasing body of work on sustainability in the built environment, and covered areas such as the reuse of materials from demolition projects, the need to create a policy and regulatory environment that ensures buildings can adapt to different uses over time, the need for procurement practices to reflect wider sustainability policy goals, and the importance of green skills in the construction sector.
- Scotland
CIOB’s engagement with policymakers continues in earnest. In March, we attended several working group meetings to directly feed into policy discussions. As part of our work with the Scottish Aggregates Tax Bill Advisory Group, we met to discuss the proposed scope of the tax as well as proposed reliefs and exemptions. This work is in its early stages.
Alongside industry partners like the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), we attend the first meeting of the Scottish Government’s Tenement Maintenance Working Group ‘Subgroup 5’ tasked with developing a proposal for how five-yearly tenement inspections and reports could work in practice.
Finally, we attended the Scottish Government Cladding & Remediation Stakeholder Working Group where civil servants provided updates on the Single Building Assessment programme, Terms of Reference for the Working Group and the Safer Buildings Accord.
The CIOB also welcomed the appointment of Paul McLennan to the Minister for Housing, with coverage received from Scottish Construction Now, Construction Management and Building magazine.
- Wales
Welsh Government’s Net Zero Skills Action Plan and Wales Innovates strategy were released on 28 February. This package – while not aimed entirely at the construction industry – does outline plans to put together pathways for the industry to decarbonise itself, and offers industry stakeholders the chance to work with Welsh Government to ensure construction is at the forefront of Wales’s net zero targets. David Kirby (policy and public affairs officer for Wales) recently published a blog post on the topic, which you can read here.
Aligned with this package was the Welsh Government’s Just Transition consultation. You can read more about this, and our submission here, but at the forefront of our response was a call for Welsh and UK Government to identify new funding streams to ensure equitable access to renewable heating systems and the benefits they bring. We also reiterated the need for rural-specific funding to ensure these areas – which contain some of Wales’s oldest and most fuel-poor properties – are not left behind in decarbonisation schemes.
In the consultation response, we also identify the workforce as one of the primary barriers to the success of any green, just transition. We will be holding an event in partnership with the other professional and membership bodies of Built Environment Alliance Cymru (BEAC) on this topic in Cardiff on the 18 April. You can find out more information and register for the event here.
Finally, following CIOB’s policy proposal for a demolition levy in Scotland to preserve the built environment, we were thrilled to publish an article on how a similar levy could work in Wales. You can read that article in the Institute of Welsh Affairs’ Welsh Agenda here, and we are currently engaging with Members of Senedd across political parties on this issue.
CIOB and the press
CIOB’s Response to the Chancellor’s Spring Budget was included in articles across trade media including Building Magazine, Construction Management and PBC Today. Director of policy, external affairs & research, Eddie Tuttle was also interviewed by Fix Radio with the interview being included in the station’s daily podcast.
There has been coverage across construction trade media of the launch of CIOB’s new client resources including in Scottish Construction Now, Facilities Management UK, Build in Digital and Specification Online. A column penned by Linda Stevens, which includes a supportive comment from Lord Stunell has been published by Politics Home.
Our February column for Scottish Construction Now was written by CIOB Scotland's policy and public affairs officer, Jocelyne Fleming, and explained how CIOB is working to address the construction skills gap in Scotland. The March column by Emma McKay (CIOB assist manager) focussed on CIOB Assist.
CIOB's director for education, Rosalind Thorpe’s interview with Building Design/Building Magazine about education standards was published online and led to Ros being approached by the Architects Registration Board for her input into their consultation on architects standards.
Politics Home published an online article written by CIOB parliamentary & public affairs officer, David Parry, on how the Government’s decisions on which parts of EU legislation to retain post Brexit, will impact the construction sector. A letter sent to Government by CIOB and other professional bodies on the matter of retained EU law, was the subject of an article by Construction News.
Media relations manager, Becky Trotman and policy and public affairs officer for Wales, David Kirby, have been working with two Welsh publications to secure CIOB coverage. Welsh Housing Quarterly will, in April, publish an article on CIOB’s policy recommendation on deferring stamp duty/land transaction tax to increase retrofitting, while the Institute for Welsh Affairs has published an article on how a levy on demolition could reduce the number of buildings being knocked down in favour of more sustainable refurbishment and retrofit.
An “Introduction to CIOB” article has been submitted to influential publication AgendaNI in Northern Ireland and will be published in a special infrastructure edition of the magazine in late April. The magazine’s audience is predominantly politicians, policy makers and business leaders.
CIOB’s support for the Scottish CQIC’s charter on quality was reported by trade media including Scottish Construction Now, following our press release.
Press releases were issued to trade media on CIOB’s annual Student Festival and the announcement of the ten finalists in this years’ Global Student Challenge, with both being covered by a handful of outlets.
Coming up in April
Both the House of Lords and House of Commons are in recess for most of April, returning to sit on Monday 17 April.
With what little times remains of April both houses will preside over some interesting business relating to the built environment. Firstly, in the committee chambers the House of Lords will continue to debate the draft Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill before they marshal a list of amendments to send to the House of Commons. Also in the committee chambers, the House of Lords, Built Environment Select Committee will report on an inquiry into public transport in town and cities. The same committee will also hear evidence on a fresh enquiry into the impact of environmental regulations on development.
Secondly, on draft legislation, the House of Lords will then begin the report stage on the draft Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Lastly, there are two interesting oral questions sessions to note in April. The first of these will be the first oral questions session for the new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero which will take place on 18 April just after the end of the recess. The second of these will be during the House of Lords oral questions where Conservative peer, Lord Swire, will ask about assessments for applying the same rate of VAT to building repairs and maintenance as to the construction of new homes.
If you made it this far...Read our comment on the Spring Budget 2023
Eddie Tuttle, Director of policy, external affairs and research at CIOB said: “A number of the proposals in the budget statement will rely heavily on the construction sector, including the creation of new investment zones, growing renewable energy generation and local schemes to improve roads. The prospect of investment in local infrastructure will be welcome news to construction companies across the country.
“Our concern however is that construction is already battling a huge skills gap, and this has to be addressed if the industry can play its vital part in delivering the Government’s growth plans. Schemes to get retired and disabled people back into work are unlikely to help fill many of the more physically demanding vacant roles, however we’re keen to hear more about the proposed “Returnerships” which could be a good opportunity for older workers to retrain for less physical roles of which there are a growing number in the sector.
“At a time when we’re looking to dramatically improve the diversity of the built environment workforce we were also pleased to hear the Chancellor’s plans on childcare costs which could help more women get into work. It’s important the construction sector now seizes this opportunity and works together with Government to promote the vast range of roles available and the value women can bring to what is typically a male dominated working environment.”
Read our full comment here.
Staying in Touch
Thank you for reading this month’s update from the CIOB policy team. We will be back in your inbox next month with more information about what the team is up to, what is going on in Parliament and built environment news to look out for.
All the best,
The CIOB policy team
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