§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are the dates of the last three occasions on which Her Majesty's Inspectorate has carried out full inspections of the planning schools at Leeds polytechnic, Oxford polytechnic, Liverpool polytechnic, Bristol polytechnic, Lanchester polytechnic , Birmingham polytechnic, Trent polytechnic, Gloucester college of arts and technology, the polytechnic of central London, the South Bank polytechnic and Chelmer institute of higher education; how many inspectors were involved on each occasion; how many of those held qualifications in planning; whether these reports are published; and whether they were available to the National Advisory Board for Local Authority Higher Education in making its decision to close the town planning department of Liverpool polytechnic.
§ Sir Keith JosephHer Majesty's inspectorate has not undertaken a full inspection of the planning courses at any of these institutions. However, each has been the subject of routine inspection visits by members of the small team of specialist HMI with qualifications and experience which span the major professions relating to the built environment. On the basis of the knowledge gained from such visits and from their links with professional and validating bodies, HMI offered advice—unpublished—on the quality of advanced courses in town planning to the National Advisory Board for Local Authority Higher Education last autumn, for consideration alongside the other information it had about those courses.