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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality of pre-application advice, and what steps they are taking to ensure the quality of pre-application advice.

The government strongly encourages local planning authorities to utilise best practice guidance for pre-application engagement and Planning Performance Agreements published by the Planning Advisory Service. This is available here. Most local planning authorities will offer some form of pre-application advice service, but we have no plans to make this a mandatory function.