§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what change there has been in the amount of mail received by his office from hon. Members regarding law and order issues during 1993; and what steps he is taking to avoid excessive delays in replying.
§ Mr. MacleanIn the first six months of this year my office received 1,624 letters from hon. Members on law and order matters, compared with 414 in the same period in 1992—an increase of 392 per cent. A monthly comparison is set out in the table.
I very much regret the time taken to reply to some hon. Members' letters. A number of measures have been put in hand to reduce delays. Most notably, additional staff have been allocated to the division principally responsible for assisting in the preparation of replies. Every effort will be made to see that all outstanding correspondence from Members is answered as expeditiously as possible.
Number of letters received from hon. Members on law and order issues 1992 1993 January 61 114 February 76 194 March 92 555 April 16 287 May 74 279 June 95 195 Total 414 1,624