To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department’s average response time to a letter received from (a) an hon. Member and (b) a member of the public was in each of the last three years. (251440)

The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of Departments in replying to Members correspondence. The report for 2007 was published on 20 March 2008, Official Report, columns 71-74WS. Information for 2008 is currently being collated and will be published as soon as it is ready. Reports for earlier years are available in the Library of the House.

The 2008 DEFRA Departmental Report contains the 2006 and 2007 performance figures for the handling of all types of correspondence. The 2009 report will contain the figures for 2008 and will be published as soon as it is ready. The report can be found on the DEFRA website.