§ Ms HodgeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what performance indicators and performance targets there are for measuring the performance of her 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. [26235]
§ Mr. SackvilleThe Department has an explicit aim to answer all letters from members of the public within 28 days. This is included in departmental business plans, and monitored as part of local management responsibilities.
The majority of telephone calls received from members of the public relate to the national health service and are passed initially through the Department's public inquiry office. Questions that cannot be answered by the inquiry office are passed to relevant parts of the Department for reply. As with written communications, performance targets are set internally and achievement against those targets monitored by local management.