§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment 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. GummerMy Department aims to reply to letters within 15 days, and to send an acknowledgement if a full reply cannot be given within this time. Some 1.5 million letters are received annually at the Department's headquarters. Work is now under way to ensure the systematic monitoring of performance in replying.