HC Deb 19 March 1996 vol 274 c98W
Mr. Cummings

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on how many occasions in each of the past five years Ministers in his Department have passed(a) hon. Members' letters and (b) hon. Members' questions to agencies for response; and what this figure is as a percentage of the total number of letters and questions received. [19420]

Mr. Willetts

Records are not held centrally for letters received before July 1993, when computer records began. The table covers the number of hon. Members' letters passed to agencies for response and this figure as a percentage of the total number of letters from July 1993:

Further efficiency gains can be expected after privatisation. RAS will be free to pursue new business in the private and public sectors and so will be able to spread its overheads over a wider customer base.