The British Standards Institute defines Plain Language Questions (PLQs) as:

Questions asked of the supply chain by the employer to inform decision-making at key stages of an asset life cycle or project from PAS 1992-3.A request for information that is expressed in simple, easy to understand terms from BS 8536-1.

Essentially each stage in a plan of work will be supported by a sequence of high level questions which establish in clear, non-technical language the data and/or information that a client requires at a particular project stage to inform their business decisions such as whether to proceed to the next work stage or not will be made based upon the answers to these questions.

During a typical construction projects high amounts of data and information are exchanged. The use of PLQs help organisations identify their minimum information requirements at each stage and ensure it is mapped to the business process.

Examples PLQs for this stage are listed below: