Handling Member's Correspondence Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Handling Member's Correspondence

Lord Maude of Horsham Excerpts
Tuesday 13th May 2014

(10 years, 6 months ago)

Written Statements
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Lord Maude of Horsham Portrait The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)
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I am today publishing a report on the performance of Departments and agencies on handling correspondence from Members and peers during the calendar year 2013.

Details are set out in the table below. Correspondence statistics for 2012 can be found in the Official Report, 13 May 2013, column 23W.

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 20131

Department or Agency

Target set for reply (working days)

Number of letter received

% of replies within target

Attorney-General’s Office

20

433

86

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

15

7,968

93

- Companies House

10

114

100

- Insolvency Service

15

62

89

- Land Registry

15

107

93

- Skills Funding Agency

10

451

96

Cabinet Office

15

3,072

72

Charity Commission

15

262

91

Department for Communities and Local Government

10

9,832

72

- Planning Inspectorate

10

1,022

81

Crown Prosecution Service

20

410

89

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

20

6,317

51

Ministry of Defence

20

4,853

82

Department for Education2

15

16,898

66

Department of Energy and Climate Change

15

6,920

74

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

15

10,362

71

- Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency

15

113

94

- Rural Payments Agency

15

179

91

Food Standards Agency *

*DH Ministers replies

20

141

87

*FSA Chair/CE replies

20

114

89

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

20

10,043

95

Department of Health

18

18,918

95

- Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency 3

18

64

93

- Public Health England

18

73

99

Home Office4

15

8,761

61

-UK Visas & Immigration/Immigration Enforcement/Border Force5

20

57,582

70

- Her Majesty’s Passport Office

15

1,123

69

Department for International Development

15

3,407

94

Ministry of Justice

15

4,985

83

- HM Courts Service and Tribunals Service*

*Where Ministers replied

15

1,006

78

*Where CEO replied

15

417

85

- National Archives (Minister and CEO replies)

15

19

100

- National Offender Management Service

*Where Ministers replied

15

899

74

*Where CEO replied

20

274

93

- Office of the Public Guardian*

*Where Ministers replied

15

47

90

*Where CEO replied

10

52

98

- Official Solicitor and Public Trustee

15

15

60

Northern Ireland Office

15

509

86

Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Schools

15

340

74

Office of Gas and Electricity Markets

15

379

67

Office of the Leader of the House of Commons

15

147

96

Office of the Leader of the House of Lords

15

134

85

Office of Rail Regulation

20

51

85

OFWAT (Water Services Regulation Authority)

10

119

85

Scotland Office

15

170

72

Serious Fraud Office

20

64

73

Department for Transport

20

8,041

97

- Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency

7

2,272

99

- Driving Standards Agency

10

192

98

- Highways Agency

15

417

91

- Maritime and Coastguard Agency

10

35

91

HM Treasury

15

9,608

72

- H M Revenue and Customs*

*Where Ministers replied

15

1,915

73

*Where CEO replied

15

6,331

83

Treasury Solicitor’s Department

10

16

100

Wales Office

15

47

100

Department for Work and Pensions

20

21,005

89

- Child Maintenance Group6

15

1,410

99

- Health and Safety Executive

15

165

95

- Human Resources

15

20

38

- Director General7

15

2,825

97

1 Departments 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.

2 Department for Education statistics include Education Funding Agency, National College of Teaching and Leadership, and Standards and Testing Agency.

3 From 1 January to 16 June 2013 the target set for reply at MHRA was 20 working days. The reduction to 18 on 17 June was made to bring the Agency in line with the target set by the Department of Health.

4 HOHQ refers to all Home Office correspondence that is not dealt with within UKVI/IE/BF (the former UKBA).

5 Reported separately from HOHQ because of different target that applies to these cases.

6 Formerly Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.

7 Formerly Chief Operations Officer.