Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many items of correspondence from hon. Members received by the Department since 1 April 2026 have not yet received a substantive reply; what the average response time has been for such correspondence over that period; and what steps the Department is taking to ensure that correspondence from hon. Members is answered within its published response targets.

As of 9 October 2026, the Department had a total of 1,096 items of correspondence from hon. Members which had not yet received a substantive reply. The majority of this correspondence relates to policy areas transferred from the former Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. This figure excludes correspondence transferred to other Government departments.

The average response time for correspondence which was answered during that period was 27 working days. To manage the impacts of the recent Machinery of Government change the Department has established a dedicated team to improve the timeliness of replies to correspondence so that hon. Members receive responses within 20 working days. We recognise that all members deserve a response promptly and we are working at pace to resolve this.