§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How long each government department takes to reply to correspondence from:
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- (a) Members of the House of Lords; and
- (b) Members of the House of Commons; and [HL3491]
Whether they will instruct all government departments that all letters from Members of both Houses of Parliament should be replied to within six weeks of receipt and, in cases where a full reply cannot be sent within that period, a letter explaining delay must be sent. [HL3492]
§ The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston)The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the handling of Members' correspondence by each department, detailing target dates for reply, volume of correspondence received and percentage of replies within targets. All departments and agencies have targets for replies of six weeks or less.
The annual report for 2001 is due to be published shortly.
Parallel details regarding correspondence from Members of the House of Lords are not currently recorded centrally.
40WAThe Cabinet Office has published Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament: Guidance for Departments and Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament: Good Practice Guidance (copies available in the Library of the House) which set out the general and best practice principles departments should follow when replying to correspondence from Members of the House of Commons.
There is currently no separate guidance regarding the handling of correspondence from Members of the House of Lords.
To rectify this anomaly, officials in the Cabinet Office will write to departments asking them to ensure that with effect from 1 June 2002 they apply response targets to all correspondence from Members, including Members of the House of Lords.
The guidance will also be amended to make clear that it covers correspondence from both Houses.