§ Mr. BerryTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the office of the Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Sir P. Beresford),(a) received the letter dated 24 January concerning stage II of the Avon ring road from the hon. Member for Kingswood and (b) forwarded this letter to the Minister of State for Transport. [18116]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordThe hon. Member's letter dated 24 January was received in my private office on 30 January 1997. It was then passed to Department of the Environment officials in the Government office for the south-west on 4 February and was forwarded to regional transport officials on the following day to consider whether the issues raised were more appropriate to the Department of Transport. Once this became apparent, officials notified the Department of Transport centrally, on 21 February. I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay. I have asked my hon. Friend the Minister of State to reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.