Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people have been employed by the Planning Inspectorate to determine planning applications in each of the last five years.

This information is not centrally held in the form requested, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Councils are responsible for determining planning applications, not the Planning Inspectorate.

Planning inspectors work flexibly – across examinations of local plans, nationally significant infrastructure, rights of way, planning appeals, enforcement cases and cases under the Transport and Works Act. In that context, we do not hold staffing figures specifically in relation to work on planning application appeals.