Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2023 to Question 188915, what steps he is taking to increase compliance with the 20-day target across Departments.

Departments across government work to strict internal deadlines to ensure responses are progressed within 20 working days. The Guide to Handling Correspondence on gov.uk clearly sets out the importance this government attaches to the effective and efficient handling of correspondence received from Members.

Whilst 4 weeks is the deadline to respond to correspondence, departments are encouraged to set more challenging deadlines.

Officials working on correspondence across government departments are encouraged to engage regularly with policy officials, to ensure responses going out to Members are drafted and progressed as efficiently as possible. Cabinet Office regularly engages with correspondence officials in other Government departments to discuss performance and what may be impacting their performance.

As set out in the response to Question 188915, Government Ministers are expected to respond quickly and effectively to Members’ correspondence and I will continue to drive that message. Every effort must be made to reply to correspondence promptly and within the original deadline.