§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many formal notices her Department has received in the last year from the parliamentary ombudsman expressing an intention to carry out an investigation; and in respect of each notice how long it took to respond. [18765]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 27 November 2001]: Information on the outcome of statutory investigations which were concluded during 2000–01 are set out in the parliamentary ombudsman's annual report for 2000–01, copies of which are available in the Library of the House, or on the parliamentary ombudsman's website at
www.ombudsman.org.uk/pca/document/par01/index.htmBetween 8 June 2001 (the date on which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was set up) and 31 October 2001, the Department received one new statutory statement of complaint from the parliamentary ombudsman. The time taken to respond was 28 days.