To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what his Department's target time period is for answering correspondence from (a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public; what proportion of responses met these targets in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the average time taken was to respond to a piece of correspondence. (221798)

Since the machinery of government changes, and the creation of the Department on 28 June 2007, correspondence has been handled by an interim arrangement which relied on our legacy Departments. The Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) has assisted in the handling of correspondence relating to skills, further and higher education and the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has dealt with correspondence about science and innovation.

The Department has a target to respond to correspondence from either hon. Members or members of the public within 15 days of receipt. From June 2008 all correspondence has been handled using DCFS' computerised handling system. During the period 1 January 2008 and 31 August 2008, 77 per cent. of correspondence from hon. Members was despatched within target and the average time taken to respond was 14 days. For correspondence from members of the public, 98 per cent. was despatched within target and the average time taken to respond was nine days.

This information has been extracted from the DCSF system and refers to the correspondence DCSF have responded to on DIUS' behalf. Statistics regarding the correspondence handled by BERR on behalf of DIUS are not available.

To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many pieces of correspondence his Department received from (a) hon. Members, (b) Peers and (c) members of the public in the last 12 months; and what proportion of these received a response within (i) one week, (ii) two weeks, (iii) one month and (iv) a time period longer than one month. (221799)

The information set out in the following table relates to correspondence about higher education, further education and skills issues, and since June 2008, science and innovation correspondence and covers the period 1 January 2008 to 31 August 2008.

To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what recent representations he has received on the performance of his Department in dealing with correspondence in a timely manner; and if he will make a statement. (221800)

As I said in my earlier statement, the Department has a target to respond to correspondence from either hon. Members or members of the public within 15 days of receipt, something we take very seriously, and to date there have been no representations on the timeliness of response.

To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many complaints his Department has received from (a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public relating to the timeliness or substance of his Department’s responses to correspondence in the latest period for which figures are available. (221802)

Let me repeat again, the Department has a target to respond to correspondence from either hon. Members or members of the public within 15 days of receipt, something we take very seriously, and to date there are no recorded complaints about either the substance or timeliness of responses to correspondence.