§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Prime Minister (1) if she will issue guidance to departmental Ministers that four to six weeks is a reasonable time scale for correspondence to be answered and that, in the exceptional cases where it is not, an answer should be sent to the hon. Member originating the correspondence advising him of the circumstances which prevent a definitive reply being sent within this time scale;
(2) what she assesses as a reasonable time for a Department to respond to correspondence from an hon. Member.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweI have been asked to reply.
Ministers normally seek to provide answers within the timescale mentioned by my hon. Friend or to send interim replies when this is not possible.