§ Ms ArmstrongTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the published recommended response times within which his Department is expected to reply to letters from the public. [3006]
§ Sir John WheelerThe published recommended response time for the Northern Ireland Office and Northern Ireland Departments to reply to requests for information under the code of practice on open government is 20 working days.
Targets for replying to other letters from the public are published by the individual NI Departments and agencies as follows:
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Department/Agency Published target responce time (working days) Social Security Agency 7 for letters of complaint Child Support Agency 10 Department of Agriculture 15 Valuation and Lands Agency 10 Department of the Environment: Environment Service, NI 5 Monuments and Building Record Making Belfast Work 10 Roads Service 15 Driver and Vehicle Licensing NI: vehicle Register information 4 General Correspondeance 5 Driver and Vehicle Testing 10 Agency Ordnance Survey of NI: Despatch of Orders 7 General Correspondence 10 Public Records Office for NI: 70 per cent. of cases within 10 95 per cent. of cases within 14 Rate Collection Agency 10 Training and Employment Agency 5 (where an acknowledgement is sent, full reply within 10 days) Department of Economic Development: Redundancy Branch 5 Companies Registry 5 (where an acknowledgement is sent, full reply within 10 days) Trading Standards Branch 5 Health and Safety Division 10 Compensation Agency 95 per cent. of cases within 14