Memorandum by the Advisory Panel on Standards
for the Planning Inspectorate (PI 45)
Since it was set up, six years ago, the Advisory
Panel on Standards have been advising the Secretary of State for
the Environment, Transport and the Regions, and the Secretary
of State for Wales (more recently the First Secretary of the National
Assembly for Wales) on the maintenance and enhancement of professional
standards within the Planning Inspectorate. Each year the Panel
prepare a report for the Secretary of State and the First Secretary
on professional quality standards within the Planning Inspectorate.
Enclosed are copies of the Panel's last three Annual Reports.[81]
The latest, Sixth Report, concludes that the
Panel "are satisfied that the Planning Inspectorate continues
to achieve high standards across the broad range of its responsibilities"
and that the "assessment of quality target performance recorded
in the Inspectorate's Annual Report and Accounts for the year
ended 31 March 1999 showed that 99.2 per cent of its casework
was free from justified complaint" (see paragraphs 18 to
50 of the Sixth Report).
Five specific topics of interest to the Select
Committee covered in the Sixth Report are as follows:
1. The relationship between the Inspectorate's
internal targets and the quality of the decisions made.
Quality of Service—paragraphs 35-37.
2. The ability of the Inspectorate to adjust
to changing workloads, including the use of new technology and
the volume of Local Plan inquiries.
New decision letter format. New technology and
Planning Assistants—paragraphs 29-32.
3. The treatment of complaints to the Inspectorate.
Monitoring exercise—paragraphs 11-18.
4. Compliance with timetables.
Timeliness targets—paragraphs 38-44.
5. Training.
Training Inspectors' Training Week—paragraphs
22, 25-28.
February 2000
81 Ev. not printed. Back
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