Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Civil Service Staffing: Member Correspondence

Thursday 9 June 2022 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Government attaches great importance to effective and timely handling of correspondence.
  • Official data on letters from MPs and peers answered by Government in 2021 has been published.
  • Departments received a significantly higher volume of correspondence in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Rachael Maskell Labour (Co-op) York Central
Parliamentary Procedure
Context

The question stems from concerns about the civil service's ability to handle correspondence in a timely manner. There are delays in responses from various departments, ranging from four months for Equalities Minister to seven months for Defence Minister.

Question

What recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of the level of civil service staffing to support timely responses to correspondence from hon. Members?

Answer from Michael Ellis

The Government attach great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence. Officials remain committed to providing the highest level of service. As part of our commitment to transparency, we have published data related to letters from MPs and peers answered by Government in 2021, which shows that Cabinet Office timeliness improved each quarter, with 89% of letters—89%—received from hon. Members in quarter four responded to within 20 days.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific adequacy assessment requested was not provided. The answer focused on general commitment and recent timeliness data but did not address the adequacy of staffing levels directly.

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Q2 Rachael Maskell Labour (Co-op) York Central
Taxation Employment Standards & Ethics
Context

The MP highlights the issue of long response times for constituents' letters to various ministers, ranging from four months to seven months. She also mentions staff spending significant time chasing responses from departments like UK Visas and Immigration.

Question

To get a response: the Equalities Minister, four months; the Health Minister, often four months but can be six months; and the Defence Minister, seven months, with our staff chasing and chasing, while being on the phone for three hours, or up to five hours to UK Visas and Immigration. Behind every letter and every call our office makes is someone in need—often pressing need. We all know that this is due to capacity, so how can the Government state that they plan to cut 20% of civil servant jobs, 91,000 people, when they cannot even cope with undertaking the most basic of tasks?

Answer from Michael Ellis

I recognise the importance of the correspondence for those constituents who write in. It might be instructive to know that Departments have continued to receive a significantly higher volume of correspondence in 2021, mainly due to the pandemic, and that has had an impact on resource and timeliness of responses. During 2021, most Departments continued to receive a significantly higher volume of correspondence. The Department for Transport was able to answer 92% of 13,363 letters, the Ministry of Defence 88% of 3,773 letters, and the Department for International Trade 84% of 2,182 letters, within 20 days.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The planned reduction in civil service jobs was not directly addressed. The answer focused on the volume of correspondence during the pandemic but did not explain why a reduction is proposed despite capacity issues.

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