§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give the reasons why it took him until 5th March 1976 to reply to the communication sent to him on 24th January 1976, raising matters mentioned by the Chairman of the Police Federation on 21st January; and as this is a further example of delay in dealing with correspondence, what action he proposes to take to answer correspondence in periods of less than six to 12 weeks.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsMy hon. Friend asked for a detailed reply to a number of points made by the Chairman of the Police Federation in the course of a wide-ranging speech. Those points dealing with complaints against the police fell to be considered by officers of my Department 369W who were also at the relevant time responsible for providing briefing material on the proceedings of the Police Bill. I regret however that a suitable reply took so long to prepare.