§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many officials he employed(a) full time and (b) part time in his Department in each of the last three years to answer letters sent to him from hon. Members; and what was the estimated overall cost of replying to them in each of the last three years. [5622]
§ Mr. Jonathan EvansThe Lord Chancellor's Department comprises two next steps agencies—the Court Service, established as an agency in April 1995, and the Public Trust Office, established in July 1994—the departmental headquarters and associated offices. Hon. Members' letters about the operation of the agencies are referred to the respective chief executives for reply and I have accordingly asked them to write direct setting out their arrangements for dealing with this correspondence. In LCD headquarters and associated offices, and throughout the Department before the establishment of the agencies, Members' correspondence is allocated to individual divisions according to subject matter. Detailed882W breakdowns of the amount of time spent by officials on this work and its cost are not available and the information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Letter for Julia C. Lomas to Mr. Anthony Steen, dated 18 December 1995:
The Parliamentary Secretary has asked me to respond to you as part of the Lord Chancellor's Department's response to your Parliamentary Question, listed on 8 December 1995, regarding the number of officials employed to answer letters sent from Honourable Members and the estimated overall cost of replying to them over the last three years.The Public Trust Office does not employ any officials to specifically deal with ministerial cases, however, all officials will spend a proportion of their time dealing with them. The estimated cost of replying to letters sent from Honourable Members could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.Letter from Mr. Michael Huebner to Mr. Anthony Steen, dated 18 December 1995:
The Parliamentary Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department has asked me to reply to your Question about the number of staff employed in the Court Service to deal with letters from Members.The Customer Service Unit of the Court Service, established in April 1995, currently contains 12 full-time members of staff who are involved in the preparation of replies to letters sent from Members of Parliament. This figure can be broken down as follows:
- 1 x Grade 7
- 2 x HEO
- 9 x EO.
Approximately 50 per cent. of their time is devoted to the preparation of these replies. This has an estimated cost, for the period 1 April 1995 to 1 December 1995, of £140,035.