§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many formal notices his Department has received in the last year from the Parliamentary Ombudsman expressing an intention to carry out an investigation; and in respect of each notice how long it took to respond. [18762]
§ Mr. WillsInformation on the outcome of statutory investigations which were concluded during 2000–01 are set out in the Parliamentary Ombudsman's Annual Report for 2000–01, copies of which are available in the Library of the House, or on the Parliamentary Ombudsman's website at www.ombudsman.org.uldpca/document/part01/index/htm.
Between 1 April 2001 and 31 October 2001, the Lord Chancellor's Department received 15 new statutory statements of complaint from the Parliamentary Ombudsman and the details for each department are set out in the table.
Formal notices issued by Parliamentary Ombudsman 1 April 2001 to 31 October 2001 Department Number received Number responded to Working days to respond to each notice Lord Chancellor's Department1 2 2 16,17 Court Service 10 10 10, 13, 15, 16, 23, 27, 34, 45, 55, 91 Public Guardianship Office 2 1 26 HM Land Registry 1 1 19 Northern Ireland Court Service 0 0 — Public Record Office 0 0 — 1 Letter of 27 February 2001 not received until 30 April 2001