§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the volume of correspondence sent to and received from hon. Members by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in the periods(a) 1 January to 26 March 1994 and (b) 1 January to 26 March 1998. [47688]
§ Mr. Robin CookBetween 1 January to 26 March 1998, I received 1,329 letters from hon. Members. In the same period, I replied personally to 222 letters from hon. Members.
29WThis reflects the long-standing convention that the Foreign Secretary answers letters from Cabinet (or ex-Cabinet) Ministers, Shadow Cabinet Ministers and Privy Councillors, and replies to some other hon. Members where there is special reason for doing so.
On immigration issues, my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State replies to Privy Councillors, and the FCO Correspondence Unit to other hon. Members. On consular issues, my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State replies to the majority of letters.
The figures for 1994 are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the e-mail address of his Department's Ministerial Correspondence Unit. [49804]
§ Mr. Tony LloydThis department handles its public e-mail via an interactive form on its Web site (www.fco.gov.uk). Messages are acknowledged electronically and then sent to the relevant internal address for appropriate reply.
§ Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what target his Department sets for the maximum time to respond to letters from hon. Members; what proportion of letters meet that target; and what is the average time taken to respond to a letter from an hon. Member. [49802]
§ Mr. Tony LloydI refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Office of the Public Service,Official Report, column 1.