§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Prime Minister whether he will state the approximate and/or average time taken by him or his Department formally to acknowledge a communication from a Member of Parliament and give similar details for time-lapse before an interim reply is sent; and whether he will instruct Ministers to send acknowledgements to Members of Parliament in less than three weeks.
§ The Prime MinisterNo meaningful answer can be given to my hon. Friend's questions because while some letters can be dealt with quickly others require a good deal of research before a reply can be prepared. I can, however, assure him that letters from Members of Parliament, as indeed all correspondence received by me, is dealt with as expeditiously as possible. As to the last part of his Question it is not for me to instruct my colleagues on matters of this kind.