§ Ms HodgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what performance indicators and performance targets there are for measuring the performance of his Department in(a) answering letters from members of the public and (b) answering telephone calls from members of the public; how performance is monitored; and what are the latest figures for performance measured against the target set. [26242]
§ Mr. JackIn accordance with the citizens charter initiative customer service standards have been published for the MAFF regional organisation, inspectorates, most agencies and public facing non-departmental public bodies. These standards include target times for responding to correspondence; they also make reference to the prompt answering of telephone calls.
On performance, I refer the hon. member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Cleethorpes (Mr. Brown) on 23 May 1995, Official Report, column 508, and also to the reply given to my hon. Friend the member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) on 20 July 1994, Official Report, column 356.
Performance data on answering telephone calls are not currently held by MAFF and could not be collected without incurring disproportionate cost.