HC Deb 15 May 2003 vol 405 cc18-21WS
The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr. Douglas Alexander)

I am today publishing a report on Departments' and Agencies' performance in handling Members' and Peers' correspondence during the 2002 calendar year. Details are set out in the attached table. Departmental figures, where possible, are based on substantive replies.

For the first time, the report includes performance on handling correspondence received from Members of the House of Lords across all Departments since 1 June 2002.

The footnotes to the table provide general background information on how the figures have been compiled.

2001 2002
Department of Agency Target set For reply (working days) Number of letters received % of replies within target Target set For reply (working days) Number of letters received % of replies within target
Met Office 15 20 80 15 14 100
Veterans Agency 20 279 99 15 265 99
Department for Education and Skills4 15 18,237 76 15 15,595 84
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs5 15 9,905 34 15 11,241 47
Foreign and Commonwealth Office 20 10,275 79 20 15,535 83
UK Visas 15 8,276 78 15 10,322 98
Department of Health6 20 19,665 60 20 17,942 29
NHS Pensions Agency 15 65 98 15 65 95
Medicines Control Agency 10 17 82 15 36 89
Home Office7
*Non Prison Service correspondence 15 *16,251 35 15 *26,053 35
**Prison Service correspondence 20 **1,210 78 20 **1,267 86
Criminal Records Bureau8 5 632 N/A
HM Prison Service 20 1,272 75 20 942 77
UK Passport Service 10 279 87 10 132 97
Inland Revenue3 4
*Local Tax Office delegated figures 18 3,356 77 18 3,157 71
(where local tax offices have replied direct to MPs) 18 382 75 18 *439 80
Valuation Office 23 30 90 18 20 75
Department for International Development4 15 1,740 87 15 2,612 96
Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers2 15 284 96 15 378 63
Lord Chancellor's Department 20 1,737 74 20 2,577 54
Court Service 15 591 68 20 230 84
*15 593 78
HM Land Registry 20 24 79 20 32 100
Public Records Office 10 11 100 15 166 98
**10 61 98
Public Guardianship Office9 15 120 62 15 261 31
*Target for correspondence sent direct to
Agency Chief Executive.
**Target for correspondence sent direct to
Agency Chief Executive.
Northern Ireland Office 10 358 49 10 501 59
Compensation Agency for NI 7 27 93
Northern Ireland Prison Service 10 27 78 10 33 91
National Savings and Investments4 15 63 62 15 44 66
National Statistics4
*Letters where Chief Executive 15 192 77 20 212 82
replied on Minister's behalf. 10 *154 63
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister3 15 5,523 76
Planning Inspectorate 8 364 94 8 291 90
Privy Council Office 15 237 74 15 488 95
Scotland Office 15 96 75 15 115 73
Department for Trade and Industry10 10 9,260 49 10 11,565 41
10
Companies House* 10 50 100 10 45 100
Employment Tribunals Service** 15 12 100 6 46 93
Insolvency Service 10 292 80 10 398 96
Patent Office 10 154 95 10 367 98
Radiocommunication Agency 15 15 100 10 44 89

2001 2002
Department of Agency Target set For reply (working days) Number of letters received % of replies within target Target set For reply (working days) Number of letters received % of replies within target
Small Business Service*** 10 47 96
*Letters sent direct to Agency Chief Executive.
**Target date for letters sent direct to
Agency = 15 working days.
***Figures included in main DTI return.
Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions3 15 14,375 84 15 7,671 83
Department for Transport3 15 6,505 84
Driving Standards Agency3 15 82 100 15 56 98
DVLA 10 915 98 10 729 99
Highways Agency3 15 322 96 15 273 96
Maritime and coastguard Agency 15 21 95 15 27 100
Vehicle Inspectorate 15 32 94 15 27 100
HM Treasury3 15 4,039 78 15 4,647 78
Treasury Solicitor's Department 10 39 100 10 26 100
Wales Office3 15 91 63 15 118 97
Department for Work and Pensions 20 12,698 66 20 14,297 65
Appeals Service 15 87 64 15 52 88
Benefits Agency 20 2,529 90 20 504 87
Child Support Agency 20 3,293 58 20 3,194 51
Employment Service 15 520 94 15 72 95
Jobcentre Plus 15 1,103 57
The Pension Service 15 511 71
Disability and Carers Service 15 749 100
Debt Management 15 30 86
Child Benefit Centre 20 20 95
1 Departments and Agencies who received a total of 10 MPs/Peers letters or less during 2002 are not shown in this table. Holding or interim replies are not included unless otherwise indicated.
2 2002 statistics no longer include interim or holding replies details of which had been included in previous annual reports.
3 Includes interim or holding replies.
4 Includes all Ministerial correspondence eg letters from MEPs, Members of Devolved Legislatures etc.
5 The performance reflects problems in early part of 2002. DEFRA has taken steps to improve performance. Currently answering 74 per cent. correspondence within targets.
6 Poor performance was partly due to problems with a new internal tracking system and problems interfacing with the Agencies. Robust action is now taking place to address these problems including the setting up of a new Customer Service Centre to ensure that problems that occurred in 2002 do not happen again. Also includes figures for the Food Standards Agency as such correspondence is replied to by Department of Health Ministers.
7 The large increase in letters received relating to immigration matters has affected the overall performance. Home Office has made the improvement of performance a high priority with more robust systems being put in place to monitor the progress of correspondence and provide early indications of any outstanding or newly emerging problems, this includes the introduction of a new IT tracking system.
8 Figures for 2002 are not currently available.
9 A major restructuring programme has led to a large backlog of correspondence. There has also been a substantial increase in complaints to Ministers. A major recovery programme was launched to deal with this. 89 per cent. of Ministerial correspondence was answered within target by the end of 2002.
10 Due to problems in meeting the 10 working days target, DTI have raised their target for reply from 10 to 15 working days (in line with majority of other Government departments) for correspondence received in 2003. Raising the level to 15 working days will help improve performance to a more acceptable level.