§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the hon. Member for Newham, North-West had to wait from 2nd October until 1st November to be informed that his letter concerning his constituent Mr. M. Amin had been passed to the Commissioner of Police for the City of London; why it took a month for this to be done; what was contained in this letter to occasion such delay; and whether he will take action to expedite replies in such cases.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesI have already apologised to my hon. Friend for the delay in informing him that we had sought the comments of the Commissioner of Police for the City of London about this case. Following his interim reply of 1st November, my noble Friend wrote to my hon. Friend on 10th November to inform him of the Commissioner's comments. It inevitably takes some time to deal with cases such as this where inquiries have to be made outside the department, but I have reminded officials of the need to ensure that there is no282W avoidable delay in dealing with letters to Ministers from hon. Members.