§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will reply to the letters from the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, dated 11 June and 24 July 2002, concerning new prescription policing arrangements. [81725]
§ Mr. Lammy[holding answer 25 November 2002]: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 26 November 2002.
§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for his Department to improve the response rate to letters to hon. Members on behalf of their constituents. [83280]
§ Mr. Lammy[holding answer 25 November 2002]: A customer service project has been set up under the Department's change programme. The aim of this project is to significantly improve the Department's performance in handling telephone, written and e-mail inquiries from members of the public and their representatives, and to maximise the potential of the Department's website and other forms of communication media.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many replies remain outstanding to letters from hon. Members which were sent by them before 3 December 2001. [84064]
§ Mr. Desmond SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to reply to the letter of Ronnie Cairnduff of Hampshire Care dated 31 July. [84724]
§ Mr. LammyThe Department is unable to locate a copy of Mr. Caimduff s correspondence and the Customer Service Unit apologises for this and is seeking a copy of this correspondence.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the reasons for the 17 month delay in responding to a letter from the hon. Member for Totnes dated 27 June 2001 concerning Mrs. Alyson Bellenes of Marldon, Devon and St. John's Wort. [85245]
§ Mr. LammyFirstly, I apologise for the unacceptable delay in replying to the hon. Member's correspondence. Unfortunately, the Department did not receive the original correspondence but did receive the copy the hon. Member forwarded on 21 November. The delay was caused by administration difficulties within the Department.
292WTo prevent this kind of delay from reoccurring the Department has introduced a new correspondence tracking system designed to track correspondence throughout the Department via the electronic mailing system. A customer service project has been set up under the Department's change programme with the following objectives:
to improve significantly the Department's performance in handling telephone, written and e-mail inquiries from members of the public and their representatives.to maximise the potential of the Department's website and the other forms of communication media as a source of information to the public.The project will give further impetus to improving performance in the timeliness and quality of responses to correspondence.
§ David WinnickTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the honourable Member for Walsall North will receive a reply to his letter of 22 October regarding a constituent, Departmental Ref P01018138. [85889]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 9 December 2002]: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 5 December.
§ Mr. GrieveTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will answer the letter of 5 September to him from the hon. Member for Beaconsfield concerning Mr. and Mrs. C. Brewster. [86649]
§ Jacqui SmithA reply was sent to the hon. Member on 9 December.