§ Mr. Ripponasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations of the Matthew/Skillington report on promoting high standards of architectural design; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Denis HowellIn March 1975 the then Secretary of State for the Environment, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Member for Grimsby (Mr. Crosland), announced that in response to the Matthew /Skillington Report he had appointed Mr. W. D. Lacey to a new post of Director General of Design Services within the Property Services Agency and had set up an Environmental Board within the Department of the Environment.
A new multi-professional Design Office which is, by example, assuming a leading rôle in establishing high standards of design, has been set up within the PSA Directorate of Design Services and has embarked on a programme of projects that are representative of PSA's work. Staff are being appointed to it—by redeploying existing resources—in step with its workload, and the present number is 47. The PSA Board has formed a Design Panel for evaluating and monitoring design matters at top management level. In addition, a forum has been arranged at which design leaders in PSA can consider matters of common interest.
While it is still premature to assess the achievements of these new arrangements, there are indications that projects are benefiting from the increased attention to design matters that they provide.