§ Mr. RichardsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what performance targets he has set for the planning inspectorate agency's work in Wales for the financial year 1994–95.
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesThe key objectives for the agency in Wales in 1994–95 remain to preserve the impartiality and quality of the inspectorate's work while seeking further to improve efficiency. The agency's key performance targets in Wales will be:
Timeliness
- (a) Eighty per cent. of planning appeals by written representations to be decided within 17 weeks;
- (b) To provide an inspector for local plan inquiries when requested within 26 weeks of the end of the objection period;
Financial
- (a) Unit costs of planning appeals decided by written representations not to exceed £690;
- (b) Recover 90 per cent. of receipts due within 8 weeks of invoice date;
Efficiency
Generate a 3 per cent. efficiency improvement in running costs as compared with 1993–94;Quality
- (a) The number of justified complaints about the way in which Inspectors have carried out their duties, and the number of successful challenges in the High Court, to be less than one in every hundred decisions issued;
- (b) The number of justified complaints about the way in which the Inspectorate handled the procedural aspects of casework to be less than one in every hundred decisions issued;
Volume
To determine 1,050 appeals, subject to intake not declining;Information and Guidance
To determine a third customer survey by 31 December 1994.These and other performance targets for the agency will be included in its business plan for 1994–95 which will be published shortly.
Separate timeliness and volume targets for the agency's work in England are being announced today by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment.