§ 24. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications whether he will take action to ensure that when Members of Parliament and the general public write to his Department they are not kept waiting for up to eight weeks for replies on straightforward matters.
§ Mr. ChatawayMy Department makes every effort to reply to all correspondence as quickly as possible. An interim reply is sent if detailed inquiries are likely to delay a substantive reply.
§ Mr. LewisIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that his Department, like almost every other, takes four or five weeks to send letters? I appreciate that interim acknowledgments are sent, but Departments take four or five weeks, and as many as eight weeks, very often simply to paraphrase a Member's letter, telling him what he has told the Department. Surely that does not need five to eight weeks? We are used to receiving negative replies and no help from the Department, but could the right hon. Gentleman send them a little earlier in future and not keep us waiting so long?
§ Mr. ChatawayI note that the hon. Gentleman has put down a similar Question to almost every Department. The average time taken by my Department to reply to Members' letters is between 15 and 21 days.