| answer text |
<p>This Government recognises the importance of responding to members of the public
in an effective and timely manner, and the Cabinet Office published an updated Guide
to Handling Correspondence for government departments and agencies on July 2021.</p><p>
</p><p>The guidance reasserts the standards for handling correspondence, including
a 20 working day deadline for departments to respond to members of the public, criteria
outlining when a response to a member of the public is required, and when a piece
of correspondence from a member of the public should be transferred to another department.
Following publication of the updated guidance, all departments have been reminded
that they must follow the processes outlined in the guidance. The Attorney General’s
Office always aims to respond to public correspondence within 20 working days where
it falls within our remit.</p><p> </p><p>My department's timeliness in responding
to MP letters and Freedom of Information requests is among the best in the civil service.
Since January 1<sup>st</sup> 2018, 80% of MP and Lords letters my department received
were responded to within our target of 20 working days, and 99% of Freedom of Information
requests were responded to within the statutory time limit. I am confident that public
correspondence is responded to by my office in a similarly timely fashion and that
every effort is made by my officials to respond as promptly as possible.</p>
|
|
