Cabinet Office written statement – made at on 20 March 2008.
Tom Watson
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office), Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee
I am today publishing a report on Departments' and Agencies' performance on handling Members' and Peers' correspondence during 2007. Details are set out in the attached table. Figures for 2006 were published on
The footnotes to the table provide general background information on how the figures have been compiled.
| Correspondence from MPs/Peers to Ministers and Agency Chief Executives(1) | 2007 | ||
| Department or Agency | Target set for reply (working days) | Number of letters received | Percentage of replies within target |
| Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform(2) | 15 | 7,502 | 74 |
| Companies House | 10 | 54 | 100 |
| Insolvency Service | 10 | 311 | 98 |
| Cabinet Office | 15 | 485 | 88 |
| Department for Communities and Local Government | 15 | 11,018 | 61(3) |
| Planning Inspectorate | 10 | 186 | 93 |
| Crown Prosecution Service | 15 | 422 | 99 |
| Department for Children, Schools and Families(4) | 15 | 16,383 | 92 |
| Department for Culture, Media and Sport | 20 | 5,449 | 77 |
| Royal Parks Agency | 20 | 17 | 94 |
| Ministry of Defence | 15 | 6,682(5) | 48(6) |
| Met Office | 10 | 24 | 83 |
| Service Personnel and Veterans Agency | 15 | 645 | 98 |
| Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 15 | 14,068 | 73 |
| Animal Health | 15 | 61 | 94 |
| Marine Fisheries Agency | 15 | 33 | 96 |
| Rural Payments Agency | 15 | 645 | 40(7) |
| Foreign and Commonwealth Office | 20 | 9,792 | 92 |
| UK Visas | 20 | 401 | 77 |
| Department of Health | 20 | 19,329 | 92 |
| Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency | 20 | 193 | 80(*) |
| 20 | 31 | 100(**) | |
| NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency | 20 | 12 | 80(*) |
| (*)Agency Ministerial cases | |||
| (**)Letters sent directly to Agency Chief Executive, where Agency Chief Executives responded on behalf of Ministers | |||
| Food Standards Agency | |||
| (*)Letters where Health Ministers have replied | 20 | 279(*) | 72(*) |
| (**)Letters where Chief Executive/Chairman has replied | 20 | 75(**) | 95(**) |
| (***)DH Campaign letters(8) | 20 | 142(***) | 17(***) |
| Meat Hygiene Service | 20 | 15 | 80 |
| Home Office(9) | 15 | 6,567 | 95 |
| Criminal Records Bureau | 10 | 505 | 95 |
| Identity and Passport Service | 10 | 931 | 90 |
| Border and Immigration Agency(10) | 20 | 43,178 | 82 |
| HM Prison Service(11) | 20 | 182 | 100 |
| Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills(12) | 15 | 2,125 | 73 |
| UK intellectual property Office | 15 | 289 | 96 |
| Department for International Development | 15 | 3,888 | 78 |
| Ministry of Justice(13) | 20 | 4,777 | 90(*) |
| (*)Letters where Ministers have replied | |||
| HM Courts Service | 15 | 28 | 100(**) |
| Land Registry | 20 | 134 | 97(**) |
| HM Prison Service(14) | 20 | 320 | 99(**) |
| Public Guardianship Office(15) | 15 | 94 | 96(**) |
| Official Solicitor and Public Trustee | 15 | 31 | 100(**) |
| Tribunals Service | 10 | 1,969 | 99(**) |
| (**)Letters where Chief Executive/Director General or officials have applied | |||
| Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers | 20 | 554 | 87 |
| Northern Ireland Office | 15 | 432 | 81 |
| Compensation Agency | 10 | 49 | 96 |
| Northern Ireland Prison Service | 10 | 69 | 59 |
| Office of the Leader of the House of Commons | 15 | 475 | 94 |
| HM Revenue and Customs(*) | 15(16) | 4,779 | 70 |
| (*)Local Office and "delegated" figures (where local tax offices have replied directly to MPs) | 15 | 1,197 | 63(17) |
| Scotland Office | 15 | 95 | 77 |
| Department for Transport | 15 | 8,406 | 80 |
| Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency | 7 | 1,481 | 87 |
| Driving Standards Agency | 10 | 134 | 54(18) |
| Highways Agency | 15 | 330 | 94 |
| Vehicle and Operator Services Agency | 15 | 69 | 100 |
| HM Treasury | 15 | 6,385 | 84 |
| National Savings and Investments | 15 | 18 | 78 |
| Office for National Statistics | 15 | 201 | 90 |
| (*)Letters where the National Statistician replied on the Ministers' behalf | 10 | 161(*) | 70 |
| Valuation Office | 18 | 26 | 73 |
| Treasury Solicitor's Department | 10 | 22 | 100 |
| Wales Office | 15 | 72 | 90 |
| Department for Work and Pensions | 20 | 10,379 | 92 |
| Child Support Agency | 15 | 6,650 | 92 |
| Debt Management | 15 | 69 | 100 |
| Disability and Carers Service | 15 | 416 | 91 |
| Health and Safety Executive | 15 | 259 | 85 |
| Jobcentre Plus | 15 | 1,727 | 90 |
| The Pension Service | 15 | 1,186 | 97 |
| The Rent Service | 15 | 12 | 100 |
| (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) As part of Machinery of Government changes, The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform was formed from the Department of Trade and Industry on 28 June 2007. The statistics include correspondence handling figures from DTI up until 27 June 2007 (3) Communities and Local Government have improved performance substantially since 2006. Revision of their processes in February 2007 has led to continued improvement. (4) As part of Machinery of Government changes, The Department for Children, Schools and Families was formed from the Department for Education and Skills on 28 June 2007. The statistics include correspondence handling figures from DFES up until 27 June 2007 (5) Database is unable to differentiate between letters from MPs/Peers and other correspondence, including FOI requests. Figures are therefore for all letters which received a ministerial reply. (6 )Drop in performance caused in part by technical difficulties following the implementation of a new handling system. Arrangements have been introduced to improve performance, which has been made a priority by the Secretary of State. The figure for December 2007 was 69 per cent. (7) The percentage of replies within target has increased from 23% in 2006, and performance has steadily improved throughout the year. Many of the letters that the RPA responds to involve complex casework and these take time to resolve effectively. (8) The campaign correspondence exclusively concerned regulations relating to the marketing of infant and follow-on formula and a delay resulting from finalisation of those regulations. (9) As part of Machinery of Government changes, the Respect Task Force moved to the Department for Children, Schools and Families on 28 June 2007. The figures include performance of the Respect Task Force up to and including 27 June. (10) Former Immigration and Nationality Directorate prior to 1 April 2007 (11) As part of Machinery of Government changes, the Office of Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) and the National Offender Management Service/HM Prison Service moved to the Ministry of Justice on 5 May 2007. The above figures include performance of the OCJR and the HM Prison Service up to and including 4 May. (12) As part of Machinery of Government changes, The Department for Innovation, Universities and Science was formed from parts of the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Trade and Industry on 28 June 2007. Figures are for 28 June 2007 onwards. (13) The Ministry of Justice was formed from the Department of Constitutional Affairs and part of the Home Office on 9 May 2007 (14) Part of the Home Office until 4 May 2007; figures for only 9 May - 31 December 2007 (15 )Former Public Guardianship Office prior to 1 October 2007 (16) HMRC reduced response targets from 18 days to 15 days (17 )Performance significantly improved in the last quarter of 2007 when the average clearance time was reduced to less than 10 days. (18 )Drop in performance following changes in the way correspondence statistics are collected. The necessary measures have been implemented to improve performance. | |||
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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Annotations
barbara richards
Posted on 21 Mar 2008 10:02 am (Report this annotation)
I suggest all you MPs take a good hard look at this list. If 16,383 people have been motivated into writing to the Department for Children Schools and Families, that is a pretty clear indication that something is not as it should be.
One of those letters was mine. It asked the question, why have the Government allowed a notorious American paedophile to influence an important Government consultation paper on the family courts?
Another question I would like to ask is, when am I going to get an answer to this question? It has been more than 15 days since I asked it - it has been more than two months!
Daniel Watkins
Posted on 22 Mar 2008 6:32 am (Report this annotation)
Barbara,
Once again, could you inform us of the name of this American paedophile, so we can come to our own conclusions and potentially support you in this?
I will also reiterate that just being a paedophile does not automatically mean that everything you have ever said or written is wrong.