§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has of the number of persons employed by local authorities in town and country planning departments and in his Department, respectively.
§ Mr. Graham PageThere is no centrally-held record of numbers of staff employed in specific departments of local authorities. At a very rough estimate some 2,500 people with a professional qualification are employed on planning duties. In my Department—including the Inspectorate—rather under 2,000 of all grades are employed on planning and land use matters. Of these, some 500 hold professional qualifications and 187 are chartered planners.