Architects Act 1997 (Amendment) Regulations 2022

Considered in Grand Committee

Moved by

That the Grand Committee do consider the Architects Act 1997 (Amendment) Regulations 2022.

My Lords, these regulations, which were laid before both Houses of Parliament on 14 November 2022, are part of the new framework for the recognition of internationally qualified architects in the UK, using powers provided in Sections 4, 6 and 13 of the Professional Qualifications Act 2022. Before I go into the background, I should declare my interest: my daughter is a properly qualified and registered architect working in the UK.

I will start by providing some context and background to these important regulations. To provide business with confidence about the availability of international talent following the UK’s exit from the EU, the Government chose to continue the recognition of EU architectural qualifications in the same way as we did when we were bound by the EU’s mutual recognition of professional qualifications directive. This has allowed the architecture sector to continue to recruit EU-qualified architects while government and the regulator, the Architects Registration Board, prepared for the recruitment of international talent from across the globe.

Last April, the Professional Qualifications Act 2022 came into force. It introduced a new framework for the recognition of internationally qualified professionals in the UK, including supporting a new framework for the recognition of international architects. It is therefore now time to end remaining alignment to EU law and allow the Architects Registration Board to use its own expertise to decide which qualifications it wishes to recognise.

These regulations can be considered in two parts. First, they end remaining alignment to EU law in the Architects Act 1997. This means the law will no longer require the Architects Registration Board automatically to recognise EU architectural qualifications. Instead, the regulator will be able to assess qualifications and decide whether it deems the recognition of the qualifications appropriate.

My Lords, I do not know much about architects, but what I do know is that it seems we are creating a problem that did not exist until we had the Brexit legislation. Two of the most prestigious buildings of recent years in France are the Millau bridge over the River Tarn, a fantastic and amazing piece of architecture designed by Norman Foster, and, earlier, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the work of another great British architect, Richard Rogers. Our global talent was already being exported and used by our nearest neighbours in the EU. With the Brexit legislation, we have contrived to say, “We can’t recognise these qualifications any more. Mutual recognition will go out the window, and we will have to start again and create new mutual recognition arrangements.”

The dilemma that the Government have created is set out well in the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee report. It says:

“DLUHC says … that architects with EU qualifications who are already on the ARB register will not be affected”,

which is fine. It goes on:

“In addition, a briefing note by the ARB states that in the absence of”

a mutual recognition agreement

“with the EU, the ARB has decided unilaterally that, in practice, it will continue to recognise EU qualifications listed in the former Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive until a new MRA is agreed”.

So, while we are going through all this, architects are saying, “Blow this. We want to continue to have mutual recognition agreements with the EU so that’s what we’re going to do.” The Government have created unnecessary dilemmas for us here. All I can say is good luck to the architects. There is global recognition that we have great architects in this country. To try in any way to restrict them using their talents in countries across the world, but particularly in our nearest neighbours, is a foolish restriction of their ability to work.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her introduction to this statutory instrument. We have heard that it will form part of the new framework for the recognition of internationally qualified architects in the UK. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this specific but quite important change for mutual recognition agreements with counterpart regulators in other countries. We believe that the changes are needed and we will certainly not oppose these measures. However, I have a few questions for the Minister.

During debates on the Professional Qualifications Bill, these Benches asked for certain amendments around statutory consultation, particularly around regulations under Clauses 1, 3 and 4. Following that, the amendments introduced the statutory consultation requirements. It would be helpful if the Minister could inform the Committee how the department has met those requirements with regard to these regulations in front of us today.

The Explanatory Memorandum states that monitoring will be done by the Architects Registration Board. Can the Minister confirm whether this means that it will be doing it in its entirety, and that the department will therefore not be involved in monitoring the implementation of the regulations themselves?

Finally, on mutual recognition agreements, the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee mentioned in its report—as did the Minister—the agreements that will come into force with countries such as Ireland, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. However, also in response to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s report, DLUHC said that the UK is currently seeking a new MRA with the EU under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. I wondered if the Minister was able to provide your Lordships with any kind of update or progress on how that is going, or when we are likely to see an outcome from it.

My Lords, I thank both noble Baronesses for their valuable contributions to this debate. However, I do not agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock: we are not restricting talent. This instrument allows the UK to import global talent from across the world, and we are still in conversations with the EU. We are not precluding any future relationship with the EU; that will still be covered by the future TCA negotiations, which are still ongoing.

I do not understand the noble Baroness’s complaint that the ARB will continue to recognise EU architectural qualifications, because we recognise that the UK still needs to import such talent from the EU. For the moment, for a time-limited period, we will continue to recognise EU architectural qualifications, to help to bridge the gap between this legislation and the new agreement under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement coming into force.

In answer to questions from the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, about the consultation, we did indeed consult on those issues, as we said we would in the Professional Qualifications Act. We conducted the public consultation on the proposed amendments between 4 November 2020 and 22 January 2021, and the Government’s response was published. The consultation received 404 responses from individuals and organisations, 60% of whom were UK-qualified architects, 14% were internationally qualified, and the remaining 26% were organisations involved in the industry. They recognised the benefits of providing international architects with a route to recognition which would not be long and expensive. The majority of respondents agreed that enabling the ARB to recognise qualifications that it deems equivalent to the UK standard, and providing a single cohesive system of recognition, would be beneficial to UK architectural practices wishing to recruit international architects.

Motion agreed.

Committee adjourned at 5.29 pm.