Renewal skill tsar 'ignored by MPs'

Allister Hayman, Regeneration & Renewal, 2 May 2008

Giving evidence to the communities and local government select committee, Egan said he had not been asked by ministers to conduct an evaluation since his 2004 Government-commissioned review of the skills and training required to deliver sustainable communities.

Egan told the committee - which was conducting its first inquiry into planning skills - that he joined the Prime Minister's Thames Gateway planning committee after completing his review, but added that this had "petered out" after "a couple of meetings".

He said: "I had hoped to keep in contact with what was happening through that committee, but it seemed to be disbanded. I (expected) to have some contact to evaluate progress."

In the review, Egan called for more cross-occupational co-operation and said "generic" skills were in short supply. The review argued that all the professional institutes, regeneration agencies, colleges and universities had to better engage with each other.