§ Mr. SproatTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the average time taken by the Ministers in his Department including himself, to answer letters from hon. Members, in each of the first three quarters of 1992, measuring the time from the receipt of the letter to the dispatch of the substantive reply.
§ Mr. CurryIn this Department, Ministers replied within 21 days to letters from hon. Members and noble Lords in 80 per cent. of cases in the first quarter, 91.7 per cent. of cases in the second and 78 per cent. of cases in the third quarter of this year. Numbers of letters received during the first three quarters were 1,931, 2,521 and 3,684 respectively. The Department does not hold information on the average time taken to reply to Ministers' correspondence.