HC Deb 08 January 2002 vol 377 c700W
Mr. Chope

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many formal notices his 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. [18766]

Malcolm Wicks

[holding answer 27 November 2001]: The Department received 234 statements of complaint from the Parliamentary Ombudsman in the last financial year April 2000 to March 2001. The average length of time taken to respond to the statement of complaint is 25.51 working days.