§ Mr. Wrigglesworthasked the Minister of Transport why it has taken his Department from 17 July to 30 October to reply to the representations made by the hon. Member for Thornaby on behalf of his constituent Mrs. F. O'Brien, of 226, Stockton Road, Middlesbrough; and what is the average time taken by his Department to reply to hon. Members' letters.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI am sorry for the delay in answering the hon. Member's letter. This was due to the considerable amount of work and the lengthy negotiations required to settle the complex compensation issues raised by Mrs. O'Brien's case. The hon. Member was sent two interim replies assuring him that the matter was being dealt with as quickly as possible, but I accept that a further such reply would have been courteous. The average time taken to deal with the 609 letters received from hon. Members in September was 30 days.