§ Mr. McNultyTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when he will publish the latest figures on his Department's handling of correspondence from hon. Members; and if he will make a statement. [55134]
§ Dr. Jack CunninghamFigures showing the volume of correspondence received by Ministers and Agency Chief Executives from hon. Members in 1997, the targets set for reply and the percentage of replies sent within target are set out in the table. The table also includes comparative figures for 1996—first published on 17 June 1997,Official Report, columns 107–12.
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Correspondence from Members of Parliament to Ministers and agency Chief Executives 1996 1997 Department or Agency Target set for reply (working days) Number of letters received Percentage of replies within target Target set for reply (working days) Number of letters received Percentage of replies within target Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 15 10,645 62 15 7,423 76 Intervention Board1 — — — 10 27 85 Cabinet Office 15 21,067 63 15 341 96 Minister Without Portfolio's Office — — — 15 3247 87 Crown Prosecution Service 15 92 91 15 39 85 Department for Culture, Media and Sport4 18 5,476 81 18 2,939 78 Royal Parks Agency 10 29 86 18 18 100 HM Customs and Excise 18 4,303 63 18 54,291 20 Ministry of Defence 15 5,897 66 15 64,719 65 Army Personnel Centre — — — 15 119 64 Defence Evaluation and Research Agency 10 377 74 12 27 93 Department for International Development7 15 3,508 94 15 82,994 89 Department for Education and Employment 20 16,774 88 15 22,460 71 Employment Service 15 1,044 98 15 1,837 93 Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions9 15 930,324 59 15 1031,798 58 DVLA 7 373 100 7 299 96 Driving Standards Agency 15 273 91 15 194 78 Highways Agency 15 662 98 12 468 71 Marine and Coastguard Agency — — — 15 25 100 Planning Inspectorate 8 481 84 8 296 94 Vehicle Inspectorate 15 37 97 15 24 96 Foreign and Commonwealth Office 10 9,756 95 7 118,735 95 Department of Health 20 11,376 87 20 14,547 76 NHS Pensions Agency 15 46 70 15 78 76 Home Office 15 12,072 32 15 1416,831 1320 25 10,371 57 20 151,175 1622 HM Prison Service 15 2,911 89 1215 2,702 61 UK Passport Agency 10 245 87 1310 101 97 Inland Revenue 18 3,914 41 18 173,323 40 23 682 85 23 18375 79 Valuation Office 23 256 46 23 74 31 Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers 15 515 76 15 19301 88 Lord Chancellor's Department 20 2,876 68 20 2,458 76 Court Service 20 1,217 93 20 20,211,391 99 HM Land Registry 20 53 98 20 2137 100 Public Trust Office 15 113 100 15 2165 98 Northern Ireland Office (including Northern Ireland Departments) 10 4,195 52 10 222,163 59 Child Support Agency 10 69 86 10 144 67 Northern Ireland Prison Service 10 127 99 10 48 92 The Government attach great importance to the effective handling by departments of correspondence from hon. Members, and individual Ministers have already taken action to improve response times where their department's performance has not been satisfactory. However, the nature of correspondence and caseload varies greatly between departments and between agencies. In some departments and agencies, for example, a high proportion of correspondence requires reference to individual casework before a reply can be sent. Targets are set to reflect the particular circumstances of departments and agencies and performance against target is not therefore directly comparable. My Department will be producing shortly central guidance for all departments and agencies reminding them of the correct procedures to be followed when handling Ministerial correspondence.
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Correspondence from Members of Parliament to Ministers and agency Chief Executives 1996 1997 Department or Agency Target set for reply (working days) Number of letters received Percentage of replies within target Target set for reply (working days) Number of letters received Percentage of replies within target Planning Service 15 163 99 15 78 77 Rate Collection Agency 5 19 100 5 12 92 Rivers Agency — — — 15 13 85 Road Service 15 91 100 15 23 87 Social Security Agency 10 75 87 10 94 78 Training and Employment Agency — — — 5 11 100 Water Service 15 52 92 15 37 92 Office for National Statistics 10 199 54 10 23269 92 President of the Council's Office — — — 15 3102 91 Scottish Office Historic Scotland 17 5,226 61 17 4,722 65 Scottish Courts Service 17 59 93 17 23 91 Scottish Office — — — 17 11 82 Pensions Agency 17 31 97 17 38 97 Scottish Prison Service 17 112 99 17 145 97 Student Awards Agency for Scotland 17 120 97 17 240 70 Department of Social Security 20 18,091 74 20 17,585 51 Benefits Agency 20 2,175 98 20 3,314 89 Child Support Agency 20 9,110 62 20 8,182 99 Contributions Agency 20 395 61 20 338 89 War Pensions Agency 20 1,283 99 20 693 99 Department of Trade and Industry 10 15,483 74 10 519,459 61 Companies House 10 48 100 10 41 100 Insolvency Service 10 42 98 10 27 100 Patent Office 10 26 100 10 12 100 Radiocommunications Agency 10 23 100 10 27 96 HM Treasury 15 4,331 57 15 4,553 54 Treasury Solicitor's Department — — — 15 2439 100 Welsh Office 12 2,989 80 15 2,998 75 CADW (Welsh Historic Monuments) 10 35 97 12 65 83 Notes on 1997 Figures: 25
1 The Intervention Board is not a MAFF Agency but a separate Government Department reporting to MAFF Ministers
2 Includes correspondence from MPs to the then Deputy Prime Minister
3 Figures from 1 May 1997 to 31 December 1997
4 The Department of National Heritage was renamed the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 14 July 1997
5 Includes all Ministerial replies, not only replies to Members of Parliament
6 Excludes 447 letters where Agency Chief Executives replied on Ministers' behalf
7 The Overseas Development Administration became the Department for International Development on 1 May 1997
8 Since 1 May 1997, DFID no longer handles correspondence on political matters in Africa. 1996 and 1997 figures are therefore not directly comparable
9The former DOE and DOT merged on 1 May 1997 to form the DETR. 1996 correspondence figures for the former DOE and DOT have been added together for ease of reference
10 74 per cent, of letters were replied to within 20 working days
11 In addition, the FCO's migration and visa department received 9,818 letters direct from MPs in 1997, of which 42 per cent, were replied to within 15 working days
12 HM Prison Service DG cases
13 UK Passport Agency DG cases
14 Includes letters from January 1997 where the target time was reduced for IND and UKPA cases from 25 to 15 working days. Excludes letters where Agency Chief Executives have replied on Ministers' behalf
15 Includes letters from February 1997 where the target time was reduced for HMP cases from 25 to 20 working days. Excludes letters where Agency Chief Executives have replied on Ministers' behalf
16 The Home Office is reviewing its procedures and has appointed a team to improve the timeliness of Ministerial replies and to establish that its statistics are prepared on the same basis as other departments
17 Head Office figures
18 Local Office and "delegated" figures (where local officials reply direct to MPs)
19 This figure excludes letters which were subsequently replied to by the Director of Public Prosecutions
20 Part estimated
21 Includes letters where the Chief Executive has replied on Ministers' behalf
22 Excludes DOE (NI) which received 368 letters from MPs in 1997 (77 per cent, of which were replied to within 5–15 working days). The figures given in the table, however, include an element of all letters which received a Ministerial reply, where figures for MPs' letters only were not held separately
23 Includes 208 letters where the Chief Executive replied on Ministers' behalf
24 Includes 11 letters where the Chief Executive replied on Ministers behalf
25 The 1996 figures are taken from the Official Report, 17 June 1997, columns 107–112. Please also refer to notes given with that reply,Departments and Agencies which received a total of between 1 and 10 letters from MPs during 1997 are not shown in this table
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