APS has increased its sector-wide engagement to better support members in developing and maintaining professional competence. Each week, we’ll share an update from APS HQ so you can see the breadth of work being carried out for your benefit.

What’s been happening?

• On Monday 20 July, APS started off its external meetings with the Architects Registration Board (ARB). A meeting with the ARB had been on the agenda for some time, but with their recent commission by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to lead an expert working group the meeting proved to be very timely. The ARB has been asked to focus on two key areas: to analyse the links between professional activity and risks to the public in the built environment, and to recommend measures for regulatory reform for ministers’ consideration. Their first job will be to deliver an initial assessment proposing interventions linked to catastrophic life safety risks. The ultimate risk framework will be broader than life safety. March 2027 is the final deadline for the work, with the interim assessment needing to be delivered by October 2026. APS have offered to feed into this work, which will take place through both the working group, but also through wider engagement. We may draw on members to feed into this work as and when we engage with the ARB.
• Sofie Hooper, APS DCEO, attended the regular Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG) Sector Led Group 7 on project management. Unsurprisingly, this meeting was entirely focused on feeding into the broader ICSG response to the MHCLG Call for evidence, which concludes on Wednesday 12 August. Many of the issues raised by our Fellows also featured high on the agenda here, with client competence gaps, procurement models and issues around competence development and pathways into roles being a key part of the conversation.
• The second meeting of the drafting panel for BS8770 on the management of individual competence in organisations took place. During this meeting, APS President Mark Snelling was welcomed as one of the lead technical authors for the standard, while consensus around the scope of the document was also reached.

Recent updates that members should know about

Last week saw a series of announcements about new appointments in Andy Burnham’s team. These included the reappointment of Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Other relevant appointments include:

• Rt Hon Miatta Fahnbulleh MP as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
• The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP remains as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
• Florence Eshalomi MP as Minister of State in the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government
• Rt Hon Matthew Pennycook MP will remain as Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. He will attend Cabinet.

• Chris McDonald is going to be Minister of State for Science. He will no longer be the Construction Minister;
• Blair McDougall is taking over the role of Construction Minister and Chris McDonald's old brief, as a joint DESNZ and DBIST Minister (the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade has been formed from the Department for Business and trade who also absorbed the science and Innovation portfolios). He will cover sectors, IS Jobs Plans and skills/labour markets; and
• Anas Sarwar will be Trade Minister (replacing Bryant), so will be the lead on steel tariffs and related issues.

The Lords Ministers for the MHCLG Department will continue to be Lord Leong and Baroness Lloyd.

The responsibilities have not yet been allocated among junior Ministers, which means we don’t know yet where the building safety brief sits, or where the HSE oversight will sit in the DWP.

The full list can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-appointments-july-2026

What’s coming up this week? (27 July – 2 August 2026)

Meetings that APS is involved in this week include:

• APS Special Fellows’ meeting to discuss the draft response to the MHCLG Call for evidence
• Meeting with the Building Safety Regulator to discuss the role of the principal designer building regulations, including its relationship to the principal designer under CDM

Over August, the regular weekly update will take a break, returning in September.
We’ll continue to keep members updated on key developments and engagement across the sector through the APS weekly alert, the APS news page and across social media channels where appropriate.

If you would like to contribute or share expertise on issues that matter to you, please contact APS HQ at info@aps.org.uk.