§ 47. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give the reasons why it took him until 18 August to write to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West stating that the 71W Member's communication of 5 August with correspondence from Ms M. Savage-Jones of the waste transport campaign was one to be dealt with by the Department of Energy; and whether he will take steps to ensure that there is a more efficient and expeditious method adopted by his Department for dealing with correspondence.
§ Mr. Whitelaw:As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister explained to the hon. Member in her letter of 7 September, the issues raised in the letter to which he refers affected the interests of a number of Government Departments and it was necessary to establish where the primary responsibility lay. I regret that the hon. Member was not told sooner that he would be receiving a reply from another Department. The handling of members' correspondence is kept under close scrutiny and whenever possible steps are taken to bring about improvements.