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Written Ministerial Statements

Thursday 30 March 2006

CABINET OFFICE

National School of Government

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Jim Murphy): As part of a review being conducted by Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, into the role and functions of the Cabinet Office, I can announce our intention to establish the
 
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National School of Government as a separate non-ministerial Department. This change of status will support the National School of Government's strategy to become a more customer-led organisation that is providing a shared service across the civil service and the wider public sector. Further details will be published in a framework document later this year.

Correspondence

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Jim Murphy): I am today publishing a report on Departments' and Agencies' performanceon handling Members' and Peers' correspondence for 2005. Details are set out in the attached table. Departmental figures are based on substantive replies unless otherwise indicated.

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⁾

	2004			2005
	Target set for reply (working days)	Number of letters received	Percentage of replies within target	Target set for reply (working days)	Number of letters received	% of replies within target
Department or Agency
Cabinet Office	15	637	88	15	537	97
Department for Constitutional Affairs	20	3,416	64	20	3,179	92
Court Service	15	429	95	15	359	99
HM Land Registry	20	44	95	15	55	96
National Archives	15	149	100	10	30	100
Northern Ireland Court Service(2)	15	14	92	–	–	–
Official Solicitor and Public Trustee	15	17	100	15	26	100
Public Guardianship Office	15	134	93	15	112	99
Crown Prosecution Service	15	520	98	15	476	98
HM Customs and Excise(3)	18	1,321	51	–	–	–
Department for Culture, Media and Sport	18	4,817	78	20	5,085	63
Ministry of Defence4	15	5,989	62	15	5,378	79
Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency	15	126	99	15	207	99
Defence Estates(2)	15	11	100	–	–	–
Veterans Agency	15	287	99	15	138	99
Warship Support Agency(2)	15	15	91	–	–	–
Department for Education and Skills	15	15,313	93	15	18,547	86
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	15	14,305	81	15	12,051	75
Food Standards Agency	20	782*	59	20	738*	73
	20	78**	95	20	91**	90
* Letters where Health Ministers have replied.
** Letters where Chief Executive/Chairman has replied.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office(5)	20	26,942	83	20	9,588	80
UK Visas(6)	15	12,849	45	15	9,189*	45
				20	1,720**	58
*Letters where UK Visa officials have replied.
**Letters where FCO Ministers have replied.
Department of Health	20	20,140	80	20	20,155	91
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency	10	284	81	10	340	92
NHS Estates(7)	20	112	73	20	90	86
NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency	20	57	60	20	32	86
Home Office (non IND correspondence)	15	9,445	76	15	8,899	79
Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND)(8)	20	35,802	34	20	41,063	53
Criminal Records Bureau	10	272	95	10	471	94
HM Prison Service	20	1,154	73	20	868	80
UK Passport Service	10	486	74	10	524	60
Department for International Development	15	4,686	80	15	4,593	67
Inland Revenue(3)	18	2,993	85	–	–	–
	18	1,601*	45	–	–	–
*Local tax office delegated figures (where local tax offices have replied direct to MPs)
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lord's Office	15	60	87	15	143	95
Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers	20	404	63	20	335	68
Northern Ireland Office	10	567	68	10	742	64
Compensation Agency	7	125	67	7	62	100
Northern Ireland Prison Service	10	48	85	10	39	92
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister	15	10,135	81	15	8,937	79
Planning Inspectorate	8	379	81	10	243	67
Office of the Leader of the House of Commons	15	504	95	15	302	97
Scotland Office	15	82	77	15	56	53
Department for Trade and Industry(9)	15	11,807	72	15	10,821	50
Companies House	10	56	98	10	38	100
Employment Tribunals Service	10	61	93	10	91	95
Insolvency Service	10	33	94	10	99	98
Patent Office	10	297	84	10	496	94
Department for Transport	15	8,593	86	15	7,849	80
Driving Standards Agency	15	198	79	15	89	87
DVLA	7	1,276	100	7	1,113	100
Government Car and Despatch Agency	–	–	–	7	16	100
Highways Agency	15	285	95	15	287	99
Maritime and Coastguard Agency	10	20	100	10	18	100
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency	15	13	77	15	16	94
HM Treasury(1) 0	15	4,316	86	15	2,585	84
HM Revenue and Customs(3)	–	–	–	18	4,231	72
				18	1,601*	45
National Savings and Investments	15	74	92	15	21	95
National Statistics	15	189	95	15	155	91
	10	133	73	10	114**	84
Valuation Office	18	18	83	18	21	80
*Local Tax Office 'Delegated' figures (where local tax offices have replied directly to MPs). The marked increase in correspondence in quarters 3 and 4 of 2004 continued throughout 2005 unabated. Clearances during the year were affected by moving some complaint drafters to help to clear Disputed Overpayments. Currently restructuring how we deal with complaints and performance should improve.
**Letters where National Statistician replied on Ministers' behalf
Treasury Solicitor's Department	10	49	98	10	28	100
Wales Office	15	109	92	15	83	80
Department for Work and Pensions	20	13,319	86	20	10,596	90
Appeals Service	15	50	98	15	60	95
Child Support Agency	15	5,390	88	15	5,367	99
Debt Management	15	25	100	15	35	100
Disability and Carers Service	15	451	100	15	425	100
Health and Safety Executive	10	127	70	15	77	77
Jobcentre Plus	15	1,136	90	15	1,062	90
The Pension Service	15	1,340	89	15	1,042	98

⁽¹⁾ Departments and Agencies which received 10 MPs/Peers letters or fewer during 2005 are not shown in this table. Holding or interim replies are not included unless otherwise indicated. This report includes letters from prospective candidates prior to the general election. The report does not include correspondence considered as Freedom of Information requests.
⁽²⁾ Received fewer than 10 letters in 2005.
⁽³⁾ With effect from 1 April 2005, HM Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue merged to form HM Revenue and Customs.
⁽⁴⁾ Includes a small number of letters from members of the public that received a ministerial reply. Figure also includes some FOI requests, though these represent less than 1 per cent of total reported.
⁽⁵⁾ Reduced volume of correspondence compared to previous years reflects the setting up of a central correspondence system and the introduction of a more accurate method of monitoring letters received.
⁽⁶⁾ Poor performance caused by backlog of cases and resource issues. Performance for December 2005 was 75 per cent, increased to 81 per cent in March 2006.
⁽⁷⁾ Abolished in September 2005.
⁽⁸⁾ IND saw an increase in volume of 15 per cent between 2004 and 2005 (6 per cent increase in ministerial, and 21 per cent in official replies). During 2005 all official replies were again signed off by IND senior executive group members which inevitably built delays into the system, but had the effect of significantly enhancing the quality of replies.
⁽⁹⁾ Performance slipped last year due to internal reorganisation following a reduction in staff numbers. Launch of new centralised response unit will raise level of performance.
⁽¹⁰⁾Includes all ministerial correspondence.





 
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