§ Q2. Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the Prime Minister if he will give directions to Members of Her Majesty's Government to expedite their scrutiny of letters from hon. Members.
§ The Prime MinisterMinisters already deal as expeditiously as possible with correspondence, but there are times when the volume of letters received does entail some delay.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneIs the Prime Minister aware that the length of time 1389 which seems normally to elapse now between the sending of a letter and the receipt of a reply is running at about five or six weeks? Since the whole machinery of Government is grinding to a halt because of the idiotic legislation introduced by the Government, how does he think that Government Departments will cope with the thousands of letters they will receive from firms affected by the prices and incomes freeze?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman makes a statement that I do not accept as fact. I recognise that there was a delay in dealing with one letter, and he has had an apology from my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer about that case. If he has other cases, perhaps he will bring them to my attention. But there is no such general delay as he suggests, and to judge from my own postbag there is widespread support in the country for our measures to deal with the rising cost of living.