Persistent Inquirers (Hansard, 31 July 1998)

§ Ms Hewitt

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executives of the Royal Mint, the Valuation Office, the Debt Management Office, National Savings and the Office for National Statistics. I have asked each of them to reply directly.

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Letter from Allan E. Pearce to Mr. Adrian Sanders, dated 31 July 1998: Thank you for your recent question to the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding procedures to identify persistent inquirers.I am replying on behalf of the Chief Executive of the Royal Mint. Whilst we do on occasion receive calls from persistent inquirers, the Mint does not monitor these independently of general enquiries. I hope you will find this reply helpful.

Letter from Michael A. Johns to Mr. Adrian Sanders, dated 31 July 1998: I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question to the Chancellor (ref 53955) where you ask which of his agencies have procedures to identify persistent inquiries for information. The Valuation Office Agency monitors correspondence which requires a substantive reply, but we do not log incoming telephone calls. We do not have specific procedures in place to identify persistent inquiries as we have not experienced any problems with this to date. I trust that this answers your query, but if I can help further please let me know.

Letter from Mike Williams to Mr. Adrian Sanders, dated 31 July 1998: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply direct to the Parliamentary Question you asked about procedures for identifying persistent inquiries for information, insofar as it relates to the UK Debt Management Office ("DMO"). The DMO does not maintain a formal record of persistent telephone inquirers although, by the nature of our business, we have a large number of regular telephone inquirers and monitor informally the sources of all telephone inquiries made. The great majority of inquiries from the general public are seeking factual information on gilt-edged stock. We do maintain a formal record of all written inquiries to the DMO and have a published target deadline within which to respond to these. A written acknowledgement will be sent to inquirers within two weeks of the receipt of the correspondence and, for at least 95 per cent. of inquirers, a substantive reply will be sent within four weeks.

Letter from Peter Bareau to Mr. Adrian Sanders, dated 31 July 1998: I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question 53955 about whether National Savings has procedures to identify persistent inquiries for information. National Savings receives thousands of calls for information each day from savers. We keep records of many of the calls, but do not monitor specifically for calls from persistent inquirers. National Savings does, however, keep a record of the main subjects of inquiry and ensures that the staff who handle inquiries are equipped to deal with them.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Adrian Sanders, dated 31 July 1998: As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent question on Treasury agencies having procedures to identify persistent inquiries for information. The ONS Public Enquiry Line staff record the total number of calls they have answered. However, whilst they do receive calls from persistent inquirers, these are not monitored independently.