§ Mr. SandersTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what is his Department's average response time to correspondence from members of the public; and how such response times are monitored. [48670]
§ Mr. HoonThe Lord Chancellor's Department has a 20 working day target for responding to correspondence from members of the public and monitors performance against this target. The average response time in 1997–98 was 15.7 working days for the Chancellor's Department Headquarters and 13 working days for the276W Court Service Headquarters. Information on average response time for the courts and the Public Trust Office is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans his Department has to correspond electronically with(a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public. [49836]
§ Mr. HoonThe information is as follows:
- (a) Hon. Members can e-mail the Lord Chancellor's Department's Ministerial Correspondence Unit at: mcu.lcd@gtnet.gov.uk
- (b) Members of the public can e-mail the Department at: enquiries.lcdhq@gtnet.gov.uk.
The Lord Chancellor's Department website (http//www.open.gov.uk/lcd) also provides a number of other e-mail addresses for more specific contacts, such as for responses to consultation papers. In addition, it is expected that the Lord Chancellor's Department will be linked to the Government Secure Intranet by the end of this year.