asked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will now appoint a departmental equal opportunities officer with responsibility for co-ordinating the Civil Service policy of non-discrimination within his Department.
Such an officer was designated for my Department in November 1984.
| Determined by Secretary of State | Determined by Inspectors | ||||
| Inquiries | Written Representations | Inquiries | Written Representations | Informal Hearings | |
| 1979 | 49 | 38 | 27 | 23 | — |
| 1980 | 44 | 37 | 27 | 26 | — |
| 1981 | 44 | 32 | 26 | 18 | — |
| 1982 | 46 | 33 | 27 | 17 | — |
| 1983 | 48 | 39 | 26 | 19 | 20 |
| 1984 | 53 | 42 | 28 | 22 | 25 |
Notes:
1 Median, and not average times are used in the Department's appeal statistics.
2 Times are in weeks.
3 Informal hearings were introduced in July 1983.
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans and proposals he has for speeding up the time taken to determine planning appeals.
Appeals intake is now some 20 per cent, above 1983 levels. I nevertheless intend to cut processing times by appointing more planning inspectors and making the most effective use of them, accelerating procedures and speeding up the decision-making process.