To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the longest time taken by his Department to answer a letter from an hon. Member was in each of the last three years. (211042)

This information is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what target his Department sets for the maximum time to respond to letters from hon. Members; what proportion of responses met the target in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the average time taken to respond to a letter from hon. Members in that period was. (211043)

HM Treasury does not have a maximum time to respond to hon. Members but aims to reply to all correspondence within 15 working days of receipt. For the calendar year 2007, 84 per cent. of replies were sent to hon. Members within target at an average of 17 working days.