Key information
Decision type: Assistant Director
Reference code: ADD313
Date signed:
Decision by: Stewart Murray, Assistant Director of Planning
Executive summary
This decision requests approval for additional expenditure of £6,013 as part of the Older Persons Policy review (see ADD254). The expenditure is sought to enable additional elements of work to be included in the study, which have been identified as necessary as the commission has developed. This includes;
• a detailed review of local plan policies and their implementation;
• the gathering of case studies to be explored in a story board format to ‘bring the material to life' and be accessible and interesting to a wide range of stakeholders; and
• providing detailed and targeted planning recommendations.
These additional areas have been identified as part of the project development with the consultants and, combined with the original broad think piece, will ensure the study can fully inform the full review of the London Plan and inform and influence stakeholders to a greater extent than previous studies in this area have.
Decision
The Assistant Director approves additional expenditure of £6,013 on the Older Londoners Policy Review (approved under ADD254), bringing the total spending to £26,013.
Part 1: Non-confidential facts and advice
1.1. The GLA has commissioned a study looking at the cross ranging implications of the projected growth in the older persons population. The aim of the commission was to develop a think piece to consider the overall potential implications of an ageing population for the London Plan. This will provide an understanding of the range of implications, both positive and negative, of London’s ageing population, including the economic and social implications, as well as housing, health and social care, environment and transport.
1.2. Following an in-depth literature review, discussions with some stakeholders and the GLA and drawing on their own experience in other related areas of research, consultants have identified a number of additional areas of work which should be added to the commission in order to best influence the debate and to help ensure findings are put into practice. In particular, consultants have found, through the literature review, that there is significant literature/recommendations around older peoples issues across a range of policy areas, many of which have an impact on, or could be delivered through, planning. However, the literature review and the consultants experience suggest that these recommendations are rarely being put in to practice and it is not clear why. Therefore, the consultants suggest that firstly; an in depth review of borough policies relating to these recommendations is required to see if and how recommendations are taken on board in policy development and where they are not, investigate why not. The second stage will be to see, if policies do exist, why they are not delivering the outcomes required / envisaged.
1.3. In part linked to the issues above, the consultants have identified the need to better communicate the messages around recommendations for older person’s policy – the literature review has shown that most reports on this issue are very technical and thus are only read by a limited audience. Therefore, consultants have suggested that the format of the output of this research should be changed to ‘bring the material to life’ – this would involve collecting a number of case studies which demonstrate how policy changes can address the issues identified in the literature review and the corresponding impact on quality of life. The proposal is to present the case studies in the format of ‘stick people’ story boards, making it interesting and accessible to a range of readers. As this will mean a more designed end report, additional resources are required.
2.1. It is envisaged that the proposed approach of presenting the issues through story board case studies, combined with the more technical recommendations for planning practitioners and the broad think piece, will help both inform the full review London Plan and inform and stimulate the debate at the political as well as policy level around how we plan for the growth in the older population and the wider policy areas this influences.
2.2. Consultants have stated that they can deliver the additional elements of the report and still meet the project closure deadline of the end of July.
3.1. The project will support the equalities objectives of the London Plan by addressing the needs and aspirations of older people in London and will provide evidence to inform policy and guidance to improve London’s approach to meeting their needs
a) key risks and issues
The contract will be managed in line with standard GLA risk management procedures.
4.1. If these additional areas of work were not carried out it would:
• lead to a less robust report being developed, that doesn’t explore the issues that have been raised by the literature review around why recommendations are not being taken on board
• lessen the impact of the report and not lead to the broader readership felt needed to ensure the impact of a growing older population is on the political and policy agenda.
b) links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.2. This study is to provide evidence and direction to future research, which will inform the implementation and review of the London Plan. It will support London boroughs in the preparation of Local Plans and partnership working by the GLA, boroughs and others on Opportunity Area Planning Frameworks.
5.1 Under ADD254 the Assistant Director of Planning approved expenditure up to £20,000 to procure and commission a consultancy study to produce an overview of the needs and aspirations of older people in London to 2041. Approval was also granted to award a contract. This decision seeks further approval for expenditure of an additional £6,013 to add additional pieces of work and a change of approach in terms of presentation to the study authorised through ADD 254.
5.2 The funding for the additional £6,013 for the study will be met from the 2015-16 London Plan Budget.
5.3 Any changes to this proposal including budgetary implications will be subject to further approval via the Authority’s Decision Making Process.
5.4 As this work is a contract, officers have to ensure that the requirements of the Authority’s Contracts & Funding Code are adhered to.
5.5 The London Plan unit (part of Planning Team) within the Development, Enterprise and Environment Directorate will be responsible for managing this contract and associated work.
Annex 1: Original study Brief (attached to signed decison form)
Signed decision document
ADD313 Older Persons review (signed) PDF.pdf
Supporting documents
ADD313 Older Persons review PDF.pdf