§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what proportion of correspondence received by(a) his Department and (b) each of his Department's agencies receives (i) an acknowledgement within five days and (ii) a substantive reply within 15 days.
§ Mr. WaldegraveCorrespondence received by my office from 1 January to 30 November 1993 has generally been acknowledged within five working days, with the exception of write-in campaigns. For correspondence receiving a ministerial reply, 67 per cent. received a substantive reply within 15 working days, which is the departmental target. For correspondence receiving an official reply, 71 per cent. received a substantive reply within 20 working days, which is the departmental target. No record is kept against a 15-working-day target for official replies.
The above figures include correspondence passed to agencies for replies to be drafted for ministerial signature. The position for correspondence received direct by agencies and answered by them is as follows:
Chessington Computer Centre
From 1 January to 30 November 1993 100 per cent. of written enquiries were acknowledged within 10 working days. 97 per cent. received a substantive reply within one calendar month. No records are kept against other targets.Civil Service College
1081WCorrespondence from customers concerning courses has a target reply time of 24 hours. General correspondence has a target of 15 working days, with as much as possible answered within five. The College keeps no records against these targets.Occupational Health Service
No records kept of reply times. However, all correspondence usually replied to within 15 working days. Acknowledgements are not usually sent.Recruitment and Assessment Services
All letters are acknowledged within five working days and receive a substantive reply within 15 working days.Her Majesty's Stationery Office
From 1 January to 30 November 1993. of MPs' letters passed to the chief executive to reply, 100 per cent. were replied to within five working days. 97 per cent. of correspondence for the chief executive was acknowledged, by letter or telephone, within five working days and 94 per cent. received a substantive reply within 15 working days. No records are held centrally of other correspondence received by HMSO.Central Office of Information
All correspondence to the chief executive receives a reply within 15 working days. No records of other correspondence are held centrally.