§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 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. [5619]
§ Mr. Hanley[holding answer 18 December 1995]: There are Departments within the FCO which have correspondence units dealing specifically with letters from the general public and Members of Parliament. The remainder deal with such correspondence within their existing staff resources.
To provide a breakdown of the expenditure on these services would incur disproportionate cost.