§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the average response time was for responding to departmental correspondence; what percentage of letters took longer than one month for a response; and what percentage took longer than three months for a response in each of the last five years. [37452]
§ Mr. WillsThe Department and its agencies deal with and monitor correspondence in different ways, and these involve a range of time limits and targets. Information on average response times and answering letters within target is set out in the following tables. Information on percentage of letters that took longer than one and three months to respond is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Lord Chancellor's Department and its agencies—average time response to correspondence Working days 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Lord Chancellor's Department 15 13 14 13 9 Court Service — — — — — Public Guardianship Office1 — — — — — Land Registry — — — — — Public Record Office — — — — — 1 Formerly Public Trust Office Information from Court Service, HM Land Registry, Public Guardianship Office and Public Record Office on average response time is not readily available and could be only at disproportionate cost.