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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she plans to take to help tackle the backlog in certificate of lawfulness appeals at the planning inspectorate.

The Planning Inspectorate's Strategic Plan commits to removing all casework backlogs and meeting all Ministerial targets by 2027.

Casework including nationally significant infrastructure projects, local plan examinations, critical Secretary of State casework, appeals against refusal of planning permission and appeals against enforcement notices are currently being prioritised.

In addition, the Inspectorate has designed and developed a new digital Appeals Service currently in Beta phase. This new service improves the process for submitting appeals, including reducing the number of invalid appeals submitted. In turn, this reduces the number of validation checks required and is speeding up the time taken to validate appeals.

The new service has been expanded to cover all local planning authority areas.

The Planning Inspectorate is an Arm's Length Government Body with responsibility for allocation of resources, prioritisation and overall operational performance. The Inspectorate publishes updates on its performance on its website regularly.