§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of correspondence received by(a) his Department and (b) each of his Department's agencies receives (i) an acknowledgement within five days and (ii) a substantive reply within 15 days.
§ Sir John Cope[pursuant to his reply, 20 January 1994, c. 779]: I much regret that the figure relating to the proportion of letters to Treasury Ministers receiving a substantive reply within 15 days was incorrect. In 1993 Treasury Ministers replied to 58 per cent. of ministerial letters handled within central Treasury within the target set.
This mistake arose as a result of a flaw in our procedures for logging completed correspondence casework against new targets, and has only recently come to light. Action has been taken to ensure that in future our records are complete and accurate. I apologise for having inadvertently given a wrong figure in my original answer to the hon. Member.