§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the average response time was for responding to departmental correspondence; what percentage of letters took longer
Ministerial correspondence (including MPs' correspondence, invitations and inter-departmental correspondence) Number of letters received Replies within 15-day target (%) Replies within 20-day target (%) Replies that took longer than one month after the 15-day target (%) Replies that took longer than one after the 15-day target (%) 1997 (DETR) 38,059 51 1— 1— 1— 1998 (DETR) 31,798 58 1— 1— 1— 1999 (DETR)2 26,115 46 64 13 4 2000 (DETR) 31,445 69 81 7 2 2001 (DETR/DTLR)3 25,613 82 90 4 1 1 Not available. 2 This relates only to the period from April to December 1999 as the information for the first quarter is not available due to technical difficulties. 3 For 2001 the figures include correspondence addressed to DETR up until the general election and thereafter to DTLR.
Non-ministerial correspondence (from previous "Six Service Standards" reports) Period Total volume received Percentage replied to within 15 working days 1 April 1997–31 March 1998 672,980 96 1 April 1998–31 March 1999 546,385 94 1 April 1999–31 March 2000 804,404 95 1 April 2000–31 March 2001 1,161,736 97 1 April 2001–31 December 2001 472,083 99