§ Mr. AtkinsonTo ask the Lord President of the Council what is the latest estimate of the average cost of a ministerial reply to letters from right hon. and hon. Members.
§ Mr. MacGregorNo definite costings are available. A recent scrutiny of ministerial correspondence estimated total costs of £17.5 million for some 250,000 ministerial replies, a mean average of £70. The estimate was based on small samples, and revealed a considerable range of costs related to the complexity of each Department's caseload.