To ask the Minister for Infrastructure what powers her Department has to assess a local council's decision-making regarding enforcement action around planning matters.

The Planning (NI) Act 2011 empowers the Department to conduct, or appoint a person to conduct on its behalf, an assessment of a council's performance of functions generally under the Act, or of particular functions under the Act. In addition, the Act provides for such an assessment of how councils deal with applications for planning permission, but does not specifically extend this power to cover the council's discretionary enforcement function.