Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department’s target is for time taken to respond to letters and emails from hon. Members; what the average time taken by his Department to respond to such letters and emails is; and how many such letters and emails received between 1 January and 30 September 2015 remained unanswered after eight weeks.

Mr David Lidington

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Ministers aim to respond to all correspondence from Honourable Members within 20 working days of receipt. However, due to the complex nature of certain items of correspondence, it is not always possible to meet this deadline.

FCO Ministers responded to around 81 per cent of correspondence from parliamentarians between 1 January and 30 September 2015 within 20 working days. During this period, FCO Ministers sent a total of 5702 letters to Members of Parliament, Peers and Members of the Public.

Detailed information on the average time taken to respond to correspondence is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.