Handling Members’ Correspondence - 15th March 2012

The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)

Correspondence from MP/Peers to Ministers and Agency Chief Executives 2011 Correspondence from MPs/Peers to Ministers and Agency Chief Executives 1 2011 Department or Agency Target set for reply (working days) Number of letter received % of replies within target Attorney General’s Office 20 318 92 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 15 14,857 82 - Companies House 10 134 100 - Insolvency Service 10 49 88 - Land Registry 2 15 134 36 - Met Office 10 14 83 - Skills Funding Agency 10 240 85 Cabinet Office 15 3,988 63 Charity Commission 15 3 133 84 Department for Communities and Local Government 4 10 12,680 65 - Planning Inspectorate 7 399 95 Crown Prosecution Service 20 411 97 Department for Culture, Media and Sport 5 20 5,913 96 - Royal Parks 10 28 100 Ministry of Defence 15 6,315 81 - Service Personnel and Veterans Agency 6 15 67 93 Department for Education 7 15 18,666 39 Department of Energy and Climate Change 15 7,560 82 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 15 12,069 80 - Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency 15 174 87 - Rural Payments Agency 15 222 81 Food Standards Agency DH Ministers replies 20 214 99 FSA Chair/CE replies 20 121 89 Foreign and Commonwealth Office 20 10,402 87 Department of Health 20 18,686 99 - Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency 20 422 98 Home Office 8 15 9,878 57 - Criminal Records Bureau 15 727 97 - Identity and Passport Service 10 1,206 81 - UK Border Agency 20 48,712 90 Department for International Development 15 3,894 97 Ministry of Justice 15 8,608 70 - HM Courts Service and Tribunals Service 15 846 86 - National Archive 15 11 91 - National Offender Management Service 15 * 20 ** 1,077 342 73 83 - Office of the Public Guardian 15 198 95 - Official Solicitor and Public Trustee 15 47 100 * Where Ministers replied ** Where CEO replied Northern Ireland Office 15 485 86 Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Schools 15 136 90 Office of Fair Trading 15 665 88 Office of Gas and Electricity Markets 15 285 67 Office of the Leader of the House of Commons 15 171 90 Office of the Leader of the House of Lords 15 159 90 Office of Rail Regulation 20 47 88 OFWAT (Water Services Regulation Authority) 10 93 76 Scotland Office 15 144 84 Serious Fraud Office 20 30 83 Department for Transport 15 11,766 51 9 - Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency 7 1,549 99 - Driving Standards Agency 10 103 98 - Highways Agency 15 367 96 - Maritime and Coastguard Agency 10 29 83 - Vehicle and Operator Services Agency 10 84 93 HM Treasury 15 14,453 62 - H M Revenue and Customs 10 15 2,705 48 - HMRC CEO * 15 7,715 36 * Cases where the HMRC’s Chief Executive has replied directly, rather than Ministers Treasury Solicitor's Department 10 17 100 Wales Office 15 75 87 Department for Work and Pensions 20 24,883 94 - Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission * 15 3,058 99 - Debt Management * 15 13 90 - Health and Safety Executive * 15 124 93 - Jobcentre Plus * 15 2,753 94 - Pension, Disability and Carers Service * 15 2,133 100 * Letters sent direct to Chief Executive/Officials 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 Drop in performance was due to significant increase in correspondence from February - April on property fraud, alongside a change in Chief Executive. Performance for the remainder of 2011 rose to 50% with October to December at 63% 3 Response target 15 working days with effect from 1 April 2011. 4 Response target reduced to 10 working days with effect from May 2010. Performance against 15 working days was 85% 5 DCMS also monitor Ministerial correspondence to the following Departmental targets: 2 working days - 41% of responses sent. 10 working days - 79% of responses sent 6 Agency wound up with effect from 16 June 2011. 7 Between January and June 2011, the Department cleared a substantial backlog of correspondence following a 20% increase in correspondence overall since May 2010. For the January-June period 34% of correspondence was sent within the 15 day target, and 47% within 20 days. The Department has now put in place a new system to improve quality and deal with sustained higher volumes of correspondence. Between July and December 47% of letters were sent within the 15 day target, and 66% of letters were sent within 20 days. The Department expects improvements in performance to continue in 2012. 8 Includes the Government Equalities Office. 9 This decrease in performance is due to a number of factors - including an overall increase in correspondence volumes of 24%, introduction of a new correspondence handling system, and departmental re-structuring. A number of measures have now been put in place to improve performance, including improved reporting arrangements; process efficiencies and an increased focus on clearance. 10 Correspondence often about complex individual tax matters hence delays in replying. Improvements in place to improve performance.

[Source]