The Advisory Panel on Standards
for the Planning Inspectorate
79. The Advisory Panel on Standards for the Planning
Inspectorate (APOS) is set the task of advising the Secretary
of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions on "the
maintenance and enhancement of professional standards within the
Planning Inspectorate Executive Agency."[124]
The Advisory Panel sees its role as evaluating the adequacy of
the Planning Inspectorate's own quality control arrangements,
not performing a quality control function itself. The panel produces
an annual report on its work.
80. We have a fundamental concern about the quantity
of work which the panel is capable of undertaking. The Panel currently
has three unpaid members and a small secretariat within the Department
of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and we were told
that their work consists of:
"Between six and seven
meetings a year which last all afternoon and involve around 2
hours preparation ... The Panel also have a meeting annually with
the Planning Minister to report their work over each year. The
Panel also spend extra time reading and conducting the quarterly
monitoring exercise which takes at least 4 hours."[125]
The scale of APOS must be contrasted with that of
the Planning Inspectorate itself, which has nearly 400 Inspectors
and handles some 20,000 planning appeals each year.
81. Witnesses were concerned that this level of external
scrutiny was inadequate; the Council for the Protection of Rural
England, for example, bemoaned the Advisory Panel's lack of capacity.[126]
This criticism can be considered to particularly apply to the
panel's consideration of complaints to the Inspectorate: for 1998/99,
APOS examined only 75 out of the 1900 complaints received by the
Inspectorate and has not analysed complaints by the type of inquiry
in the last two years. This raises real questions as to whether
the panel is likely to pinpoint developing problems within the
Inspectorate's work.
82. Another matter which concerned witnesses was
the composition of APOS and its relationship with the Inspectorate.
We were disconcerted to come across a quote from Michael FitzGerald,
QC, the Chairman of the panel, when addressing an audience of
Planning Inspectors about the role of APOS:
"It is not an examination
by outsiders determined to find fault - it is an examination by
insiders attempting to improve what is already a very, very good
institution."[127]
This quote perhaps demonstrates why one witness was
"particularly concerned about the transparency and representativeness
of the Inspectorate's Advisory Panel and its relationship with
the Inspectorate."[128]
The existing members of APOS are drawn from a relatively narrow
background and this factor, taken alongside the limited time which
APOS members devote to their duties, inevitably provokes anxiety
that the level and type of scrutiny offered by the panel is not
providing an adequate external check on the Inspectorate. The
Minister told us that he was "open to proposals" for
expanding APOS and its work.[129]
83. We do not believe that the Advisory Panel
on Standards for the Planning Inspectorate is providing adequate
scrutiny of the work of the Planning Inspectorate. The members
of the panel should be paid for their work and encouraged to devote
more time to the role. Most importantly, APOS should be expanded
to include at least two other members drawn from outside of the
planning profession. The expansion of the panel should be accompanied
by increased resources and the panel should examine at least 10%
of all complaints made to the Inspectorate every year. This
enlargement should be seen as an interim measure to ensure that
the quality and quantity of scrutiny of the work of the Inspectorate
is improved in the short-term. Recommendations made later in this
report look to a solution for the longer-term.
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