Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average length of time was for Ministers of his Department to respond to correspondence from hon. Members in each month in the last two years.

The Department has a target of responding within 18 working days where a response is required. In 2019 the Department responded to 94% of correspondence from hon. Members within 18 working days, and 89% in 2018. A breakdown of the data by month is available in the attached table.

As you will understand, the Department is currently dealing with unprecedented volumes of correspondence due to COVID-19. The Department ensures that urgent cases raised by hon. Members are prioritised wherever possible, and is taking steps to provide substantive responses in as short a time as possible.

All correspondence received from hon. Members is being reviewed and will be responded to as soon as possible.