Building standards - verifiers management and training and development recording: review

1. Introduction

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 The building standards system in Scotland was established by the Building (Scotland) Act 2003. The system is intended to protect the public interest by setting out the standards to be met when building work or a conversion takes place, to the extent necessary to meet the building regulations. The building standards are intended to:

• Secure the health, safety, welfare and convenience of persons in or about buildings and of others who may be affected by buildings or matters connected with buildings.
• Further the conservation of fuel and power.
• Further the achievement of sustainable development.

1.1.2 Verifiers are appointed by Scottish Ministers to provide independent checking of building work at design and construction stages. Their main functions are providing an independent check of applications for building warrants, granting/refusing building warrants, using reasonable inquiry to provide an independent check of construction activities and accepting/rejecting completion certificates. The 32 Scottish local authorities have been appointed as verifiers for their own geographical area.

1.1.3 Following a report prepared by the Compliance and Enforcement Review Panel, the Scottish Government launched its workforce strategy. The aim of the workforce strategy is to strengthen the resilience of the building standards service to deliver a first class verification service by developing the workforce to ensure it has the necessary skills and experience to carry out the verification role and be given the opportunity to gain relevant qualifications.

1.1.4 The workforce strategy is based around four themes with a shared commitment to timely and accurate data reporting. The themes being:

• A sustainable workforce.
• A skilled workforce.
• A professional framework.
• A profession for everyone.

1.1.5 As part of the skilled workforce theme, the strategy includes the development of a Competency Assessment System (CAS) for building standards staff. The CAS provides a consistent set of competencies that are linked to relevant training and work-based learning options to support attainment.

1.1.6 The CAS is supported by a self-assessment competence matrix which is used to define the level of competence required for different building standards job roles. The CAS provides a structure for all job roles, skills, qualifications and experience requirements for building standards professionals. It sets out a clearly defined career pathway and identifies the skills and experience needed to progress into more senior roles.

1.1.7 All staff involved in building standards service delivery should be covered by the competency matrix. The CAS enables individuals to identify their skills gaps and find learning and development opportunities to expand their competencies and achieve accredited qualifications for their career progression. The findings from the completion of the competency matrix will support the development of training courses and modules to fill any skills gaps identified.

1.2 Study Aims

1.2.1 The study is seeking to investigate how the recording of training needs identified through the CAS is managed and how the systems and processes can inform the development of a learning and development hub for the building standards profession. The specific objectives of the project are to:

• Gather evidence from verifiers about the existing local government training recording systems.
• Describe the current processes and systems that are used to manage, deliver and record training for staff in local authorities.
• Identify how specific training for the building standards profession identified in the CAS can be incorporated into existing processes and systems.
• Identify improvements to the delivery of the CAS that will form the basis of a future options appraisal for a digital solution.

1.3 Methodology

1.3.1 There were two main components to the research:

• An online survey of local authority building standards managers.
• A series of consultations with a sample of local authorities and other stakeholders.

1.3.2 The online survey was undertaken to understand the current (pre-CAS) processes and systems for recording training and development needs. A link to an online survey was sent to all 56 building standards managers in Scotland with a request to participate in the survey. A copy of the questionnaire is contained in Annex A.

1.3.3 Thirteen local authorities responded to the survey including Angus, Argyll and Bute, City of Edinburgh, East Renfrewshire, Highland, Moray, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

1.3.4 Following completion of the online survey, a sample of eight authorities were selected for more in-depth consultation. The purpose of these consultations was to explore in greater depth how the CAS can be incorporated into wider local authority systems and how it can be improved and delivered online.

1.3.5 The local authorities selected for this phase of the research were Angus, Argyll and Bute, City of Edinburgh, Moray, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Renfrewshire and West Lothian.

1.3.6 Further stakeholder engagement was also undertaken with the Improvement Service to understand any enhancements that may be emerging to training and development systems and processes.

1.4 Report Structure

1.4.1 The remainder of the report is organised as follows:

• Section 2 provides a summary of local authority existing processes for identifying, recording and addressing training needs.
• Section 3 summarises the experience of the authorities that have undertaken some assessments using CAS.
• Section 4 presents the results from the consultations.