HC Deb 03 February 1972 vol 830 cc671-3
Q5. Mr. R. C. Mitchell

asked the Prime Minister whether he will now take action to ensure that, as a practice of his Administration, all Ministers give the same priority to replying to letters from Opposition Members of Parliament as they do to replying to those from Members of their own party.

The Prime Minister

Replies to letters from all hon. Members are sent as quickly as possible, and there is no discrimination between hon. Members of different parties as implied by the Question.

Mr. Mitchell

Is the Prime Minister aware that there is considerable dissatisfaction on this side of the House about the length of time taken by some Ministers to reply to letters? Can he give us an assurance that there is equal dissatisfaction on the back benches opposite?

The Prime Minister

As I have said, if an hon. Gentleman has any particular instance about which he wishes to complain, the Ministers in the responsible Departments will certainly examine it at once. I have found general agreement in the House that with a very heavy burden of correspondence Departments do endeavour to answer letters as quickly as possible. I do not know what the hon. Gentleman's particular complaint is but if he has a specific matter which he wants me to investigate I will do so. The only letter from him I have been able to find in recent weeks is one which he wrote to the Secretary of State for Social Services on 13th January, to which he received a reply on the 21st.

Sir G. Nabarro

Is my right hon. Friend aware that a couple of weeks ago I wrote him my first letter of this Parliament about the McMahon Treaty and British nuclear policy and that I had an answer in 48 hours which was unequivocal, objective, accurate and in every way commendable?

The Prime Minister

I well recall the letter which my hon. Friend sent me. I must say that to achieve that standard it is not possible to reply in 24 hours—it does require 48.

Mr. Lipton

On the subject of Ministerial behaviour, will the Prime Minister remind his colleagues of the polite convention by which a Minister visiting a Member's constituency notifies the Member concerned beforehand? Will the right hon. Gentleman in particular draw this to the attention of the Secretary of State for Education and Science?

The Prime Minister

This is a longstanding convention which we wish to uphold to the utmost. We all know there are occasions when unfortunately, because of pressure of business, a private office slips up in giving notification. It is certainly not intentional and if the hon. Gentleman wishes me to do so I will look into this matter.