§ Mr. GreenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Ashford of 25 September and 4 November; and if he will make a statement on the performance of the correspondence sections of his Department. [103858]
62W
§ Yvette CooperI replied to the hon. Member's letter on 5 January.
The Department' s Ministerial Correspondence Unit works very hard to ensure that letters from hon. Members are turned around as quickly as possible. As recorded on 11 June 1999, Official Report, columns 403–06W, the Department's performance against its Service First target of 20 working days in replying to correspondence from hon. Members is 61 per cent. We are aware of the need for improvements in this area and work is currently underway to address this.