Contract for Local Plan Examination Programme Officer

The role of the Programme Officer is to provide administrative support to the examination. The LPA is responsible for appointing the Programme Officer and for the processing of any personal data during the examination. The Programme Officer provides the channel of communication between the Inspector, the LPA and the other participants in the examination outside of the hearing sessions and this requires them to be, and to be seen to be impartial, calm, patient, tactful, confident and, when necessary, politely firm. A Programme Officer must be a good communicator in person, on the telephone and in writing. They must be able to work alone and to take decisions in relation to their areas of responsibility, referring to the Inspector when in doubt.