Debate: Handling Members’ Correspondence - 15th Mar 2012

Handling Members’ Correspondence Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Lord Maude of Horsham

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Handling Members’ Correspondence

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Ministerial Pensions

Thursday 15th March 2012

(12 years, 8 months ago)

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The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)

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I am today publishing a report on Departments’ and agencies’ performance on handling Members’ and peers’ correspondence during the calendar year 2011. Details are set out in the table below. Correspondence statistics for 2010 can be found on 28 March 2011, Official Report, 1WS.

Departmental figures are based on substantive replies unless otherwise indicated. The footnotes to the table provide general background information on how the figures have been compiled.

*Correspondence from MP/Peers to Ministers and Agency Chief Executives 2011*
Correspondence from MPs/Peers to Ministers and Agency Chief Executives¹	2011
Department or Agency	Target set for reply (working days)	Number of letter received	% of replies within target
Attorney General’s Office	20	318	92
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills	15	14,857	82
- Companies House	10	134	100
- Insolvency Service	10	49	88
- Land Registry²	15	134	36
- Met Office	10	14	83
- Skills Funding Agency	10	240	85
Cabinet Office	15	3,988	63
Charity Commission	15³	133	84
Department for Communities and Local Government⁴	10	12,680	65
- Planning Inspectorate	7	399	95
Crown Prosecution Service	20	411	97
Department for Culture, Media and Sport⁵	20	5,913	96
- Royal Parks	10	28	100
Ministry of Defence	15	6,315	81
- Service Personnel and Veterans Agency⁶	15	67	93
Department for Education⁷	15	18,666	39
Department of Energy and Climate Change	15	7,560	82
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	15	12,069	80
- Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency	15	174	87
- Rural Payments Agency	15	222	81
Food Standards Agency
DH Ministers replies	20	214	99
FSA Chair/CE replies	20	121	89
Foreign and Commonwealth Office	20	10,402	87
Department of Health	20	18,686	99
- Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency	20	422	98
Home Office⁸	15	9,878	57
- Criminal Records Bureau	15	727	97
- Identity and Passport Service	10	1,206	81
- UK Border Agency	20	48,712	90
Department for International Development	15	3,894	97
Ministry of Justice	15	8,608	70
- HM Courts Service and Tribunals Service	15	846	86
- National Archive	15	11	91
- National Offender Management Service	15^* 20^**	1,077 342	73 83
- Office of the Public Guardian	15	198	95
- Official Solicitor and Public Trustee	15	47	100
^*Where Ministers replied
^**Where CEO replied
Northern Ireland Office	15	485	86
Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Schools	15	136	90
Office of Fair Trading	15	665	88
Office of Gas and Electricity Markets	15	285	67
Office of the Leader of the House of Commons	15	171	90
Office of the Leader of the House of Lords	15	159	90
Office of Rail Regulation	20	47	88
OFWAT (Water Services Regulation Authority)	10	93	76
Scotland Office	15	144	84
Serious Fraud Office	20	30	83
Department for Transport	15	11,766	51⁹
- Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency	7	1,549	99
- Driving Standards Agency	10	103	98
- Highways Agency	15	367	96
- Maritime and Coastguard Agency	10	29	83
- Vehicle and Operator Services Agency	10	84	93
HM Treasury	15	14,453	62
- H M Revenue and Customs¹⁰	15	2,705	48
- HMRC CEO^*	15	7,715	36
^*Cases where the HMRC’s Chief Executive has replied directly, rather than Ministers
Treasury Solicitor's Department	10	17	100
Wales Office	15	75	87
Department for Work and Pensions	20	24,883	94
- Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission^*	15	3,058	99
- Debt Management^*	15	13	90
- Health and Safety Executive^*	15	124	93
- Jobcentre Plus^*	15	2,753	94
- Pension, Disability and Carers Service^*	15	2,133	100
^* Letters sent direct to Chief Executive/Officials
¹Departments and Agencies which received 10 MPs/Peers letters or fewer are not shown in this table. Holding or interim replies are not included unless otherwise indicated. The report does not include correspondence considered as Freedom of Information requests. ²Drop in performance was due to significant increase in correspondence from February - April on property fraud, alongside a change in Chief Executive. Performance for the remainder of 2011 rose to 50% with October to December at 63% ³Response target 15 working days with effect from 1 April 2011. ⁴Response target reduced to 10 working days with effect from May 2010. Performance against 15 working days was 85% ⁵DCMS also monitor Ministerial correspondence to the following Departmental targets: 2 working days - 41% of responses sent. 10 working days - 79% of responses sent ⁶Agency wound up with effect from 16 June 2011. ⁷Between January and June 2011, the Department cleared a substantial backlog of correspondence following a 20% increase in correspondence overall since May 2010. For the January-June period 34% of correspondence was sent within the 15 day target, and 47% within 20 days. The Department has now put in place a new system to improve quality and deal with sustained higher volumes of correspondence. Between July and December 47% of letters were sent within the 15 day target, and 66% of letters were sent within 20 days. The Department expects improvements in performance to continue in 2012. ⁸Includes the Government Equalities Office. ⁹This decrease in performance is due to a number of factors - including an overall increase in correspondence volumes of 24%, introduction of a new correspondence handling system, and departmental re-structuring. A number of measures have now been put in place to improve performance, including improved reporting arrangements; process efficiencies and an increased focus on clearance. ¹⁰Correspondence often about complex individual tax matters hence delays in replying. Improvements in place to improve performance.

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