§ Mr. WeirTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was, for each year since 1995, the average response time for providing a substantive answer to(a) hon. Members' correspondence, (b) correspondence from members of the public and (c) written parliamentary questions in the (i) Commons and (ii) Lords. [7046]
§ Ms BlearsThe available information is in the table.
Percentage of replies sent to MPs within service first targets of 20 day members of the public within service first targets of 20 days 1995 79 1996 87 1997 76 4 1998 61 63 1999 47 56 2000 50 80.5 2001 60 87.5 I regret that comparable data about parliamentary questions is not readily available in the form requested because the record management database from which it is drawn is currently not reliable, for the reasons set out in the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002, Official Report, column 192W.