The survey, carried out by Landward Research Ltd on behalf of FAME and the IfA, covers the period January-April 2011.

It shows that in the first three months of 2011 the number of archaeologists in work increased very slightly to an estimated 5863 (800 fewer than the summer 2007 peak), though further job losses in local government curatorial services are expected.

Several businesses have ceased trading, with university-based companies being particularly vulnerable. Business confidence was poor through much of 2010, but there has been a slight recovery in the first quarter of this year.

For the eighth quarter in succession, the skills needed for invasive fieldwork were those most frequently being lost.

The full report may be viewed here.

The consultation officially launches at the IfA Conference on 13 April and runs until 3 June 2011. All content can be found on the Southport webpage.

The draft report considers key areas of planning-led investigation of the historic environment, identifies obstacles to optimum delivery in the past, presents a vision for new ways of working under PPS5 principles, and makes detailed practical recommendations to reach that vision. The impetus for change stems from the 2010 publication of Planning Policy Statement 5, which offers an extraordinary and rare opportunity for the historic environment sector to ensure its work is truly driven by the interests of what has been discovered or lost and that its overall purpose is the realisation of public benefit.

The consultation asks historic environment professionals to provide written feed-back on whether they endorse the report visions, recommendations and proposed products, and to suggest any changes or additional commendations/products before the June deadline. Comments will help to shape the final report due to launch in July 2011.

Organisations assigned with actions in the report recommendations will be approached over coming weeks and asked if they wish to endorse the visions and commit, insofar as resources allow, to the recommendations subject to any changes they propose. The intention is for key sector bodies to indicate, at the launch of the final report in July, their intention to implement the report’s recommendations.

This is the best opportunity for the sector and those it serves since 1990, and it could well be another 20 years before another chance like this comes along. Please do make this consultation count.

Comments on the report should be emailed to southport@archaeologists.net by 3 June.

Audiences can choose to watch all or just some of the four half-day workshops that took place at the Museum of London in Docklands, each focussed on a different aspect of delivering benefit in relation to significance.

Broadly the Workshops focussed on 1) quality and standards, 2) publication and participation, 3) access to archives and information, and 4) research and collaborative working.

Historic environment practitioners took up an open invitation from the Southport Group (issued through sector networks and associations) to participate in the workshops. Agenda for the discussion in the workshops were set by the Southport Group, and over 40 people attended each workshop.

Participants were first invited to contribute to an hour-long round-table discussion in groups of five or six, directing their conversation towards a specific question or questions on the agenda. A rapporteur reported on each table’s discussion to the wider group, focusing on issues and barriers to delivery in the context of each question, and on possible solutions or products to enable improved delivery of PPS5 requirements.

Summaries and video recordings of the workshops, plus details of the consultation are available on the Southport webpage at http://www.archaeologists.net/Southport.