§ Mr. Gwilym JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what progress has been made in establishing a joint planning inspectorate agency for England and Wales under the "next steps" initiative.
§ Mr. David HuntI am pleased to say that the planning inspectorate will be launched as an executive agency in the Department of the Environment and the Welsh Office on 1 April 1992. The agency will have a distinct Welsh team to deal with planning inspectorate work in Wales.
A framework document setting out the organisational, financial and management structure of the agency will be published on 1 April. The Welsh Office will pay for the service provided by the agency in Wales.
Key objectives for the agency will be to preserve the impartiality and quality of the inspectors' work while seeking to improve efficiency. A range of performance targets which will measure the efficiency and value-for-money of the service in Wales will be set out in the business plan for 1992–93.
The agency's key performance targets in Wales will be:
Timeliness
Eighty per cent. of planning appeals by written representation to be decided within 19 weeks and to provide an inspector for local plan inquiries on request within six months of the end of the objection period;Volume
To determine 1,340 planning and enforcement appeals subject to intake not declining;In addition the activities of the inspectorate in Wales will contribute to the achievement of the following joint England and Wales targets:Financial
Unit costs (average) of these appeals not to exceed £706 per case;Efficiency
Generate a 2 per cent. efficiency improvement in the use of gross running costs compared with 1991–92;Quality
High Court appeals and/or other justified complaints allowed against Inspectors' decisions not to exceed 1 per cent. of intake;Information and guidance
To complete a customer survey by 31 December 1992.Separate timeliness and volume targets for the agency's work in England are being announced today by my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning.