The UK Government has referred to its Levelling Up plan as a decade-long project to transform the UK by spreading opportunity and prosperity to all parts of it.
Whether or not new funding is available, the people charged with delivering the levelling up ‘missions’ identified in the recently published white paper must use a project-centric approach, ensuring there is a strong vision for the benefits they intend to deliver and a clear roadmap for realisation of those benefits.
As the chartered body for the project profession, APM believes that projects are the means for delivering positive, long-term, sustainable change. It is imperative that a long-term initiative establishes with clear goals and specific plans to achieve them.
We need to see more detail on the proposed shift in power from Whitehall to local leaders, but there is an opportunity to re-evaluate how communities plan and deliver levelling up activity. And we need to see more detail on the benefits realisation, given the long-term nature of the plans. More leaders are acknowledging the value of applying project-led approaches more broadly, but it’s vital that the required core skills are in place if this is to succeed.
The importance of project skills is made evident in APM’s 2021 Salary Survey and Market Trends report (a survey of over 2,500 project professionals), with almost half (47 per cent) saying the skills gap and talent pipeline needed for future project work is the biggest challenge facing the project profession over the next five years. Additional APM research* also reveals that the majority (76 per cent) of project professionals think there needs to be greater professionalisation of skills in their sector.
APM is well placed to support this by delivering education, developing qualifications, chartered status for project professionals, conducting research, and providing knowledge and resources that enable project practitioners to deliver in the face of change, or deliver change itself.
*APM survey of 1,000 project professionals carried out by UK research company Censuswide
Andrew Baldwin is head of public affairs at Association for Project Management (APM)
For further details about APM and membership visit apm.org.uk
