RICS resignations – read the letter that started it all

Below is the unedited text of a letter from RICS president Ann Gray (pictured) to Dame Janet Paraskeva, chair of the standards and regulation board. Following the meeting, Paraskeva resigned and later the entire standards and regulation board also quit.  Dear Janet  I am writing to request that you attend a meeting on Friday 23rd June at 16:30 to discuss concerns regarding your conduct and behaviour, some details of which I have outlined in the attached appendix, and to provide you with an opportunity to decide on the next steps that we take. The meeting will be held via MS Teams and the invitation to this will follow.  I want to be clear at the outset that given the significance of the concerns, it is my intention to remove you from the governance role as Chair of the Standards and Regulation Board by instigating the standard process to effect a removal from an RICS governance body under s.16 of the Global Appointments Model. The possible outcome at the end of this process is that you could be formally served with notice to terminate your contract for services with RICS.  I will be accompanied at this meeting by Andrea Sutherill, Interim Chief People Officer for RICS who will be in attendance as an independent witness.  At the end of our meeting, I want us to reach a decision on how to proceed and then Andrea will confirm the next steps.  Please confirm your attendance at this meeting by return.  Yours sincerely,  Ann Gray President, RICS  Appendix:  Breach of obligations  You held a meeting with Rachel Maclean, Minister for Planning and Housing, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) on Monday 12th June 2023. The importance and relevance of this meeting would have been obvious to you but you did not inform myself or other senior leaders within RICS about this.  At this meeting, you allegedly made several statements which were relayed by the Minister and other senior officials to RICS colleagues in a meeting on Tuesday 13th June 2023. These statements are as follows:  • You stated that the SRB did not have the independence, support or resources necessary to do its job and was being side-lined • You stated that the Bichard reforms were not being implemented; and • You stated that Clause 221 (which would give the Secretary of State the power to instigate an independent review into RICS) is needed  These statements from the Minister were considered by RICS colleagues in attendance to be absolutely clear and explicit and supported by the Director for Building Safety at DLUHC who was also in attendance at the same meeting.  As a result, you left the Minister with the impression that the RICS was not acting in a way that was conducive to it maintaining its role as an independent regulator and representative of the profession. Further, you made false allegations to the Minister about the steps taken following the Bichard review and implementing its recommendations which, as you know, have been enacted with Michael Bichards’ full involvement.  These statements are deemed serious unprofessional behaviour which affect both the business and reputation of the RICS in addition to being a material breach of your obligations as Chair of the Standards and Regulation Board. Further, the fact that such potentially damaging statements have been made to a member of the Government when the Bichard recommendations specifically exclude public affairs from your remit has resulted in a loss of confidence in you to perform your role.  In addition, the statements made to the Minister regarding your position on Clause 221 are in direct conflict with the assurance that you have given internally within RICS, including to Governing Council at its most recent meeting on 23rd May 2023.  Your further communication with the minister of 16th June 2023 attempting to mitigate damage to RICS was, once again done without involvement and/or review by myself or other senior leaders and was not within your remit.  See also: Read Dame Janet Paraskeva’s resignation letter >> Strong words as RICS SRB quits – read the resignation letter in full >>   To send feedback, e-mail newsdesk@eg.co.uk or tweet @EGPropertyNews