Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps they are taking to reduce backlogs of Member correspondence in their office.
Since COVID the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has been working hard to clear its correspondence backlog. Correspondence data for all Government Departments is published annually by the Cabinet Office [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers-2022]. The FCDO has implemented a successful programme of work to streamline correspondence processes and this has significantly reduced the overall correspondence backlog year on year as shown below:
June 2021 - 932 letters
June 2022 - 199 letters
June 2023 - 60 letters