HC Deb 15 October 2001 vol 372 c1087W
Sir Brian Mawhinney

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire will receive a reply to his letter of 26 March on behalf of his constituent Mrs. Hall. [5936]

Mr. Meacher

[holding answer 20 July]: I replied to the right hon. Member's letter on 21 August.

Mr. Yeo

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what target she has set for the length of time her Department takes to answer letters from(a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public. [7561]

Mr. Morley

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has set different targets for the length of time that the DEFRA may take to reply to correspondence from hon. Members and members of the public.

The Department's target for responding to letters from hon. Members is 15 working days. This is also the Department's target for replying to correspondence from members of the public, except in the regional offices of the Rural Payments Agency and the Rural Development Service, where the target is 10 working days.