§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will place in the Library for each year
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Date Destination and purpose Participants 7–8 December 1999 Brussels—Raising awareness of the role of Wales in the European Community Secretary of State 1 Senior Civil Service 2 Grade 7 1 Special Adviser since 1995 the total number of (a) letters from hon. Members, (b) letters from members of the public and (c) parliamentary questions from (i) hon. Members and (ii) Lords dealt with by his Department; what percentage took (A) more than one month and (B) more than three months to provide a substantive answer; and if he will make a statement; [7023]
(2) if he will place in the Library for each year since 1995 the average response time for providing a substantive answer to (a) hon. Members' correspondence, (b) correspondence from members of the public and (c) written parliamentary questions in the (i) Commons and (ii) Lords. [7022]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyThe effective handling of correspondence and parliamentary questions is an issue to which I attach great importance. While information is not available in the detail requested, general information on the volumes of correspondence received across Government, and on overall performance is published by the Cabinet Office. Figures covering Wales Office performance in 1999 and 2000 were published in theOfficial Report on 6 April 2001, columns 324–28W. Available information for earlier years can be found in annual departmental reports of the Welsh Office.
Information about the time taken to process Welsh Office parliamentary questions is not available. However, I have placed in the Library the performance of the Wales Office since its establishment on 1 July 1999.