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?

• APS meetings began on Monday with a session involving one of its Fellows to draft the response to the consultations on the Construction Products White Paper and General Safety Requirement for Construction Products. In reviewing the documents, we discussed our key positions on the consultation questions and explored additional points not directly covered. A key point in our response is that current designated standards don’t assure safety consistently, and that government should require a duty of all manufacturers to take all reasonable steps to demonstrate that their product is safe for the applications it is intended to be used for/normal & foreseeable use. APS will submit its response this week, before Wednesday’s deadline.

• On Wednesday, APS attended the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG’s) update session on what is next for the Professions strategy. By way of reminder, in December the Single Construction Regulator Prospectus was published, which outlines what Government is considering when it comes to regulating professions. While initially focused on implementing the Grenfell Phase 2 Inquiry Report, the policy under development is not just considering professions in building safety, but across the entire built environment. APS is expecting the call for evidence that will support policy proposals imminently and will share an update as soon as it is published.

• APS attended the CIC Members Conference & Dinner on Thursday into Friday, with CEO, President and Deputy-CEO in attendance. During the day, the conference saw presentations and discussions on competence, information management, including a session on project IIRIS which outlined how information management can be used by insurance to drive better insurance coverage. Modern methods of construction also featured, with particular focus on how we can scale construction projects learning from logistics and the impact of automated workflows. On competence, the standout session was provided by Michael Anderson, the Head of Licensing and Revalidation at the General Medical Council. He talked about how the diverse medical profession as a whole moved to a licensing approach and revalidation every 5 years.

Recent updates members should know about

ITFG published its Industry Guidance on managing competence in organisations.

Last week saw the long-anticipated publication of the Industry Task and Finish Group. APS played a key role in the Group, convening its 50 plus stakeholders and chairing both the Full Group and its Steering Group. You can read more about the guidance here.

King’s Speech

The King’s speech took place last week Wednesday, where the legislative and policy programme for the coming parliamentary session was outlined. Much focus was taken away from the content of the Government’s programme as the news centred on the ongoing role of Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister. The Speech contained limited new proposals for the built environment. Stand out ones are a new Social Housing Renewal Bill and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, the latter seeks to address long-standing unfairness in the leasehold system and gives homeowners greater control, transparency and security.

The Remediation Bill provides further commitment to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding and ensure those responsible are held to account. Giving regulators stronger powers, creating clear duties to remediate, and closing gaps that have left residents stuck in unsafe homes are important steps toward restoring confidence and safety. Perhaps most important for APS’s members was the promise for continued action on late payments, which put pressure on many businesses across construction, through the forthcoming introduction of the Small Business Protections (Late Payments) Bill.
The full King’s Speech can be read here.

BSI consults on draft BS 8670-2 Built environment. Core criteria for construction product competence. Code of Practice The British Standards Institution (BSI) has launched a consultation on BS 8670-2 Built environment. Core criteria for construction product competence. Code of Practice. This British Standard describes core competence criteria for all individuals working with construction products and construction product information throughout its life cycle. It gives recommendations for applying these criteria to competence frameworks in the built environment sector. You can download, review and comment on the drafts here.

The closing date for the consultation is 13 July 2026.

What’s coming up this week? (18 – 24 May)

Meetings APS is involved in this week include:

• ICC Setting Expectations - Group 2 Clients meeting

• Building Safety Alliance trustees meeting

• CIC Economic & Policy Forum

• Scottish Building Standards Division meeting on Compliance Plan Approach and Industry Guidance

• ICSG SLG 11 meeting- this is a meeting of the Industry Competence Group that discusses in occupation issues. APS is part of the group to bring the design risk management perspective

• APS meeting its Fellows to draft a response to the Proportionality in HRB building work- redefining Category A work – any Fellow interested in joining the meeting on Thursday, 21st May, at 1-2.30pm, please get in touch at info@aps.org.uk

• CIC Professional Competence Task & Finish Group

We’ll continue to keep members updated on key developments and engagement across the industry as plans for 2026 take shape.

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