HC Deb 03 February 1994 vol 236 cc917-8W
Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 24 January,Official Report, columns 71–72, what assessment has been made of the inquiries received by the Scottish Office's information line; what was the nature of the inquiries raised; what were the main subjects raised; and what percentage of calls related to these main subject areas.

Mr. Lang

Calls received on the Scottish Office enquiry line form a small proportion of the 8,000 or so calls

per week dealt with by the Scottish Office central enquiry unit Calls relate to a wide variety of the subjects for which the Scottish Office is responsible. No central record is kept of the details of individual calls received since the central enquiry unit's task is to put the caller in touch as quickly as possible with the person in the Department who can best deal with the subject of the enquiry.

Mr. Donohoe

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to his answer of 24 January,Official Report, column 71, how many calls have been received by the Scottish Office's information line in each month since its establishment.

Mr. Lang

The number of calls to the Scottish Office enquiry line each month since its introduction has been:

Number
October 1993 797
November 1993 740
December 1993 452
1January 1994 155
11st to 21st.