§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many representations he has received on the limited drugs list; and what is the average length of time taken by his Department to reply to letters on this issue.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeWe have received over 13,000 letters about the selected list of drugs since we announced the proposals on 8 November 1984. We are endeavouring to answer all letters as quickly as possible, but the volume of correspondence is such that some delays are occurring. I regret that some apparent discourtesy to correspondents may have occurred, but this is inevitable when organised write-in campaigns by lobbyists swell the volume of correspondence on any subject to this extent.