Setting young planners from ethnic minorities on path to qualification

Planning, 22 August 2008

Black and minority ethnic (BME) groups are badly underrepresented in planning, making up less than two per cent of RTPI members. When it started working with the DCLG and the RTPI on setting up the Tomorrow's Planners initiative, it was the Planning Inspectorate's ambition to create a more diverse workforce.

The initiative has been run by Positive Action Training Highway (PATH) for the past five years. The initiative places trainees at private and public sector employers with a view to them getting experience and training that will lead them on to becoming qualified planners and taking on senior roles.

The aim is to increase black and minority ethnic groups in the profession so it better reflects the make-up of communities it serves. It is working with both public and private sectors to take placements.

Tomorrow's Planners is part of the DCLG's ten-year strategy to recruit 500 BME professionals and is a priority for its racial equality strategy. So far, PATH has recruited 83 planners, with a further 15 trainee planners to be hired in 2008-09.

The initiative aims to provide trainees with relevant skills and real work experience in planning, which will enable them to compete for and secure jobs in the sector. Of the 83 trainees, 17 have got jobs before the end of their traineeship.

Aaron Lau is a Tomorrow's Plan-ners graduate who did his work placement at the London Borough of Newham, where he is now employed. Lau started his three-year placement in September 2006 and worked in the development control and policy departments.

He took an MA in urban and regional planning and is currently completing a dissertation. He says: "I felt that the PATH scheme was a perfect platform to propel me in my chosen career."

Alan Nettey was a PATH-sponsored trainee and is now an established planning officer at the Planning Inspectorate (PINS). He says: "The traineeship was an interesting and rewarding experience that has led to a great job at PINS and a potentially sound career in a dynamic, fascinating profession."

The employer has to make a major commitment to the trainee, but it is a cost-effective way of filling a post. Employers must identify a position in their planning department or closely linked to it and ensure that on-the-job training and opportunities are provided to complete a part-time professional qualification.

Trainees who are expected to achieve a degree have to be paid. The employer also has to make a contribution towards PATH's costs in recruiting trainees and providing support to them.

PATH National is part of the Novas Scarman Group and is a national skills development agency that works with BME communities. Its focus is on enhancing workforce diversity through a variety of training and development interventions. It promotes the recruitment of professionals into areas such as housing, planning, environmental health and other areas across the public sector where BME groups are currently underrepresented among the workforce.

PATH is keen to work with more organisations. The key challenges have been to build and maintain relationships with planning departments in local authorities to persuade them of the business case for the PATH traineeship model. The number of local authorities recruiting PATH trainees has fallen because of budgetary uncertainties, limiting the capacity for long-term plans.

At the same time, much more is needed to achieve a greater representation in the profession. The underrepresentation of BMEs is still high, as it is for women and disabled people at senior levels. All these groups have a lower than average level of RTPI membership.

PATH aims to build on the success of Tomorrow's Planners to include women and to target private sector employers. There is now a need to broaden its remit to deal with the wider equalities agenda. PATH is researching the feasibility of an initiative to encourage women into the planning profession. This would support local authorities to deliver their public sector duty to promote gender equality.

- Bal McVeigh is deputy chief executive of PATH National. For more details on PATH and hosting a trainee, please email Bal@pathuk.co.uk.