§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will take action to ensure that when Members of Parliament and the general public write to his Department they are not kept waiting for up to eight weeks for replies on straightforward matters; and further whether he will take action to ensure that all civil servants speed up the means and methods whereby they reply to correspondence from taxpayers.
§ Mr. David HowellI am not aware of any unreasonable delays by the Civil Service Department in answering correspondence. If the hon. Member has any particular case in mind, perhaps he would let me have the details so that I can look into it. I am satisfied that Departments are aware of the need to deal with correspondence with the least possible delay.