§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many letters each of the offices of728W the (a) Housing Executive and (b) Planning Service has received in the year ending 31 December 1996, or the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available; and, for each such office, how many of the letters were in (i) English (ii) Irish, and (iii) another language. [11908]
§ Mr. MossThe information relating to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive is a matter for its chief executive who has advised me that the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Matters relating to the Planning Service are the responsibility of the chief executive of that agency, Mr. W. Stewart. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from J. E. McConnell to Mr. William Ross, dated 23 January 1997:
Mr Moss has asked Mr Stewart, Chief Executive of the Planning Service to reply to your question about the number of letters received in each planning office, giving a breakdown, for each office, of the numbers in (i) English (ii) Irish, and (iii) other language. I am replying in Mr Stewart's absence on annual leave.The information sought is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. You will however be interested to know that the Planning Service proposes to introduce a computerised correspondence tracking system which will accurately record the volume of correspondence received.I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful on this occasion.