§ Ms HodgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland 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. [26232]
§ Mr. LangWhere members of the public write to Ministers and the reply is made on their behalf by departmental officials, there is a target of 20 days for doing so. In 1994, 14,846 such replies were issued—76 per cent, within the target of 20 days.
Where members of the public write direct to departmental officials, the setting of targets for the issue of replies is a matter for individual divisions and units. There is no centrally laid down target and no central collection of performance figures by individual divisions and units.
The target for answering telephone calls to the Scottish Office central inquiry unit is an average of 10 seconds. Weekly performance is monitored electronically. During a recent 10-day period, 14,208 calls were handled. The average response time was 11 seconds.