§ Mr. Haselhurstasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total number of staff employed by local planning authorities on development planning and control work; what is the total number of staff employed by his Department on planning work, including appeals; and how many in each case are qualified chartered town and country planners.
§ Mr. Guy BarnettThe equivalent of about 17,000 staff are employed by local 633W planning authorities in England and Wales in planning and development control. Figures for qualified staff are not available.
In my Department about 650 staff are employed predominantly on planning work. Of these, 177 are members of the Royal Town Planning Institute.