§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the hon. Member for West Chelmsford will receive a reply to his letter of 25 January concerning Mr. Heywood-Waddington of Chelmsford; and if he will make a statement on the reasons for the delay in replying. [160166]
§ Mr. HuttonA reply to the hon. Gentleman's letter was sent on 2 May 2001.
I apologise for the delay in replying to his correspondence but, unfortunately, his letter did go astray within the Department. A copy of his correspondence was sought and faxed through to the Department on 1 May. New operational procedures have been introduced in the Department to ensure that this sort of delay should not happen again.