Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the number of queries from MPs which her Department does not answer within the 20 working-day target timeframe.

The Department works to a target of responding to 95% of MPs written correspondence within 20 working days. Performance has been impacted by a very significant increase in the volume of correspondence received, alongside the need for Ministers and officials to instigate a remote process for drafting and signing correspondence during the period of COVID-19 restrictions.

The Department recognises we have not been able to meet service standard in some cases but have implemented an action plan to clear backlogs and drive up performance.

Staff unable to perform front facing roles in the Department have been redeployed to assist in clearing MPs correspondence backlogs. This has started to impact productivity after initial investment in their training and development. The Department are also contacting MPs offices by telephone to offer to close urgent cases by telephone while we continue to work through the backlog and to offer regular engagement surgeries to discuss and resolve enquiries.