§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people, in term of full-time equivalents, are engaged in preparing replies to letters from members of the public in her Department's Correspondence Unit; and what is the average number of replies sent per working day. [44819]
§ Mr. FieldThe information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is set out
In 1997–98, 49,319 letters from members of the public were received in the correspondence section attached to Minsters' offices. Replies to 32,168 of these were prepared by the Policy Correspondence Unit (which also prepares draft replies to letters from MPs) which had 38 staff at 1 June 1998. The remainder, together with an unquantified number of letters sent to Departmental officials, were dealt with across the Department mainly by officials for who replying to correspondence is only part of their duties.
Note:
Staffing figures are based on whole time equivalents.