Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on Ministers answering letters from hon. Members that are specifically addressed to them.

When a hon. Member makes a written enquiry to either the Home Secretary or an Immigration Minister, a Ministerial response will normally be provided by the appropriate Minister.

There will occasionally be circumstances where replies are provided by officials where the query is one which can be suitably answered by them, for example a query about an individual case where an update can be provided to indicate it has been granted, or where the member has simply forwarded a standard item of correspondence which has already been received multiple times.