§ Mr. MaddenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the policy in his Department on acknowledging correspondence; and what is the average time taken between correspondence being received and acknowledgement being made.
§ Mr. HurdThe Department deals with correspondence as quickly as possible. Because of the disparate nature of the correspondence received by divisions, and the varying numbers of staff available, practice on acknowledging correspondence necessarily varies. Details of the average time between receipt and acknowledgement could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. MaddenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average time from receipt taken by officials in his Department to open letters addressed to his Department; what is the total number of unopened letters now awaiting attention in his Department; and how long he anticipates it will take to deal with the backlog.
§ Mr. HurdThe information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, and would not be significant since the amount of correspondence awaiting attention varies considerably from day to day between divisions according to the level of incoming work and the staff available.
The large number of applications for registration as British citizens received in the latter part of last year has produced delays in dealing with correspondence addressed to the immigration and nationality department. Every effort is being made to reduce, as quickly as practicable, the resultant backlog of work.