Public Practice expands to the North of England: join us on 12th May to hear more

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Public Practice, the social enterprise with a mission to build the public sector’s capacity to improve places, is expanding its placement programme to the North of England, to include the North-West, North East and Yorkshire & the Humber regions.

This announcement comes as Public Practice’s national Local Authority Resourcing and Skills Survey finds that difficulties attracting skilled staff is by far the largest recruitment issue faced by local authorities, cited by 79% of the survey’s respondents. Local authority members of the NHC were invited to take part in the survey earlier this year.

Key findings included:

  • 79% faced difficulty attracting appropriately qualified or skilled candidates, the most common issue with recruitment by far, nearly 30 points above the next most pressing difficulties cited by around half of all respondents, such as funding, retention, or recruitment delays
  • There is a clear demand for built environment skills across the board, with the following areas prioritised by more than half of all respondents:
    • Digital & Data (64.3%)
    • Architecture, Urban Design and Master Planning (62.2%)
    • Environmental Sustainability (60.3%)
    • Ecology & Biodiversity (56.5%)
  • As a combined geography, the North has ambitious recruitment plans for the next 12 months.

Public Practice plays a key role in supporting public sector authorities to identify gaps in the capacity of planning and place-shaping teams. The organisation then matches skilled candidates to year-long placements with authorities, which are supported by learning, development and knowledge sharing activities. In February, Homes England with the support of the Department of Levelling Up, Homes and Communities (DLUHC) launched their investment of just over £200,000 in Public Practice, to enable the not-for-profit’s expansion across the country.

This week’s announcement is Public Practice’s first step towards this and emerges from three months of extensive consultation and research to build evidence to shape the direction and approach for how it will expand its programme nationally.

Call for local authorities and candidates

  • Public Practice recruitment is now open for placements in the North (North-West, the North East and Yorkshire & the Humber regions) and also in the South East (London, South East and East of England regions) from the 25th of April to the 30th of May.
  • Public Sector bodies – including Combined Authorities, Local Authorities, County Councils, and Unitary Authorities – are invited to express their interest here
  • Applications from built environment experts with a minimum of three years of experience are invited here.

Pooja Agrawal, Chief Executive of Public Practice, will join us for a 1 hour webinar on Thursday 12th May to discuss the programme in more detail and invite comments and questions from NHC members. Click here to book your place.