To ask the Minister for Infrastructure, pursuant to AQW 8175/17-22, whether she will publish the Planning Forum’s review of resourcing for statutory consultations within DfI Rivers.

One key action of the Planning Forum relates to statutory consultees reviewing resourcing requirements associated with their statutory consultee role against their workloads, to ensure efficient and timely responses to planning consultations.

I can confirm that an internal review of staff resources within my Department’s Rivers Planning Advisory and Modelling Unit has been completed by officials. The review noted the increased workload in the unit, in terms of consultation numbers and their complexity. It also recommended that 3 new Professional and Technical posts and one new Administrative post be added to the staff structure, to deal with this workload and ensure that future planning consultations could be dealt with in a timely manner. The recommended posts have now been created. As the report was internal and dealt with staffing issues, it is not intended for publication however a summary of the key findings are outlined above.