§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what were the staffing levels of the migration and visa correspondence unit on 1 October(a) 1995, (b) 1996 and (c) 1997. [13998]
§ Mr. FatchettThe answer is as follows:
- (a) 13
- (b) 12
- (c) 12 permanent, four temporary.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will create a dedicated unit to deal with hon. Members' correspondence at the migration and visa correspondence unit. [14001]
§ Mr. FatchettThe migration and visa correspondence unit's primary role is to deal with members' correspondence, which accounts for the greater part of its workload.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many complaints have been received about the level of service of the migration and visa correspondence unit in the last 12 months. [14002]
§ Mr. FatchettOur correspondence statistics are not broken down in a way that enables complaints to be identified separately. To provide the information requested would involve disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the average time taken by the migration and visa correspondence unit to answer correspondence from an hon. Member. [14000]
§ Mr. WinnickTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the average time between hon. Members writing on behalf of constituents in immigration and related cases and the reply being sent to the hon. Member. [13198]
§ Mr. FatchettAs the result of a 35 per cent. increase in correspondence from Members since the general election the migration and visa correspondence unit has been unable to maintain its normal target of a reply within 15 working days. The average time for non-urgent correspondence is currently five weeks. Extra staff have been deployed with the aim of eliminating delays.
167W
§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many letters were received by the migration and visa correspondence unit in each month of 1997. [13999]
§ Mr. FatchettThe migration and visa correspondence unit has received the following number of letters from Members:
Number January 556 February 517 March 459 April 600 May 427 June 982 July 1,278 August 1,158 September 956 Total 6,933 In addition, 4,461 letters were received during the same period from other correspondents.