Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health why his office did not write to the right hon. Member for Swansea, West until 24 July to inform him that letters about the reform of the National Health Service sent to his Department on 8 June had been transferred to the Welsh Office.
§ Mr. FreemanI am sorry that there has been such a long delay before we notified the right hon. Member of the transfer of his letter. Staff in the Department have been dealing with a very large number of letters on the reform of the National Health Service and did not identify straight away that a response from the Welsh Office was appropriate.