Government Departments: Correspondence
House of Lords
Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative)
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) letters, and (2) emails, were received by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in each of the past five years for which information is available; and, of those, how many were sent by (a) members of the House of Commons, (b) members of the House of Lords, and (c) members of the public.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not record centrally the number of letters and e-mails received. To ask every FCO department and overseas post how many letters and e-mails had been received would incur disproportionate cost.
The FCO reports annually to Cabinet Office on the performance of the department in replying to Members' and Peers' correspondence. The following table shows returns for the last five years. Separate figures for MPs' and Peers' correspondence are not recorded.
| Correspondence from MPs/Peers to Ministers and Agency Chief Executives: | |
| Year | Number of Letters Received |
| 2007 | 9,792 |
| 2008 | 10,334 |
| 2009 | 10,462 |
| 2010 | 9,845 |
| 2011 | 10,402 |
The Cabinet Office publishes an annual report to Parliament on the performance of departments in replying to Members' and Peers' correspondence. The report for 2011 was published on