The six national standards for central Government were introduced to the Northern Ireland Office and its Executive Agencies from April 1997.
However, even though no longer formally monitored by the Cabinet Office, the Department continues to use the national standards as a way of ensuring it maintains a good customer service to the general public.
One of the standards is to answer letters quickly and clearly, within a departmental target of 15 working days. Performance for the period 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2005 was as follows:
Number of letters received Percentage in target NIO Core 2,026 89 Northern Ireland Prison Service 1,079 98 Forensic Science Northern Ireland 113 98 The Compensation Agency 98,800 98 Public Prosecution Service 117 93 Youth Justice Agency 157 96
It should be noted that some parts of the Department impose a local target of replying to correspondence within 10 working days. In particular the Compensation Agency which has responded to a vast amount of correspondence during 2005.
The performance in relation to this target is monitored on a regular basis.