§ Sir Geoffrey Finsbergasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many letters which have been with his Department for four, six, eight, 10 and 12 weeks, 529W respectively, as at 10 April and which were from Members of Parliament remain without substantive replies from his Department.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinAs at 10 April the total number of letters from hon. Members to my Department where substantive replies had been outstanding for more than four weeks was 131. After six weeks the total reduced to 75; after eight weeks 36; after 10 weeks 13 and after 12 weeks six.
Expressed as percentages of the total number of letters received from hon. Members during the period of review the above totals represent: 2.7 per cent., 1.5 per cent., 0.7 per cent., 0.2 per cent. and 0.1 per cent. respectively.