§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland 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. [37450]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.
The information is collected in such a format where calculating the average response time could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, information relating to our own 15 working day response target is as follows:
in 1999, out of 409 cases, 81.42 per cent. were replied to within the 15 day target;
in 2000, out of 616 cases, 75.49 per cent. were replied to within the 15 day target;
in 2001, out of 408 cases, 74.26 per cent. were replied to within the 15 day target.
in 1999, 0.73 per cent. of cases took longer than one month for a response; in 2000, no cases took longer than one month for a response; and in 2001 4.41 per cent. took longer than one month for a response.
in no cases has the department taken longer than three months to respond.