§ Dr. StarkeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will respond to the letters from the hon. Member for Milton Keynes, South-West of 21 October and 13 December 2001, pursuant to her oral statement of 18 October 2001,Official Report, column 1288. [56848]
§ Mr. MorleyA response was sent on 21 January 2002.
§ Mr. WeirTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many letters were received by each Minister in her Department in each month since June 1997. [59314]
§ Mr. MorleyDEFRA was created on 8 June 2001.
The number of letters received by each Minister from hon. Members in each month since June 2001 is detailed in the table.
Month Margaret Beckett Michael Meacher Alun Michael Elliot Morley Lord Whitty June 2001 148 44 9 36 20 July 2001 454 185 116 86 64 August 2001 486 213 58 107 72 September 2001 236 236 77 95 109 October 2001 174 197 115 115 199 November 2001 205 246 111 187 69 December 2001 141 154 49 108 68 January 2002 256 322 91 266 86 February 2002 271 480 91 161 64 March 2002 341 332 106 430 89 April 2002 323 309 131 209 72 May 2002 302 212 120 309 70 June 2002 288 141 68 168 58 July 20021 173 91 28 136 46 Total 3,798 3,162 1,170 2,413 1,086 Grand total 11,629 1 Up to 12 July In addition, over the same period, the Department received a further 886 letters from other Government Departments that had originally been sent to them for reply rather than DEFRA Ministers.
Information on the number of other letters received by each Minister would be available only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Peter AtkinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will respond to the representations of the hon. Member for Hexham of 2 January on cattle passports. [65645]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 2 July 2002]We have no record of receiving the hon. Member's letter of 2 January.