GovWire

This consultation has now closed.

Below you can view our proposal, as published 19 September 2024, and the outcome of the consultation.

Background

The Planning Inspectorate is committed to publishing statistics in which the public finds trust, quality, and value. We are considering making changes to our current Official Statistics in support of this and would like to make sure that the changes that we make, are the right ones. We want to make sure that the statistical publications that we produce are providing value for users and any that are not, are appropriately removed or reduced. We would like to be able to devote more time to assuring the quality and increasing the value of these outputs in the future, which may include expanding what we publish to meet more of our users needs.

Proposed Changes

Monthly Statistical Release

Planning Inspectorate statistical release 20 June 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We propose that this publication, which is currently monthly, becomes quarterly. We currently publish an expanded bulletin and additional tables and charts in April, July, October, and January each year. These quarterly publications would be unaffected, but the shorter bulletins published in the other months (and their accompanying charts and tables) would stop.

We believe quarterly publications provide a better indicator of performance and are less affected by temporary fluctuations than monthly releases. We believe users will be able to more accurately understand our performance through quarterly releases.

Staff Diversity Official Statistics

Planning Inspectorate Staff Diversity Statistics 14 September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We propose to stop publishing the annual Staff Diversity Official Statistics. There would be no further publication. The statistics are not part of statutory reporting requirements. Data shows these statistics are very seldom accessed, leading us to believe we could better deploy our resources and provide better value for our customers.

The Planning Inspectorate would continue to submit gender Pay Gap statistics, produced as part of the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey and published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and follow any changes in reporting standards in the future.

Responses

We received two responses to this consultation. One response was from a member of the public giving full support for all the proposed changes. The other response was from a District Council. This opposed the proposal to stop publishing the diversity statistics entirely and communicated that there may be an alternative that allowed the Inspectorate to reduce the administrative burden of producing the current publication while still maintaining transparency by releasing data relating to gender, ethnicity and disability of staff.

Outcome

Monthly Statistical Release

The monthly publication of these statistics will stop as proposed. The expanded quarterly publication will be issued on 24 October 2024 and subsequent releases will continue on a quarterly basis thereafter.

Staff Diversity Official Statistics

The existing Official Statistics publication will stop. The Inspectorate will begin annual publication of a set of tables containing staff diversity data. The first of these is provisionally scheduled for 12 December 2024. The content and timing of these may change over time, influenced by changes in reporting standards or public interest.

Feedback

We thank those who took the time to respond to this consultation. We continue to welcome feedback and suggestions in relation to any of our data and statistics releases. This can be sent to statistics@planninginspectorate.gov.uk.