Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has any plans to increase the number of replies within her Department's working day standard; and if she will make a statement.

The Department for Education has set itself the target of Ministers replying to 95% of correspondence within 15 working days. In 2013, Education Ministers responded to nearly 17,000 letters, with 66% of replies sent within 15 working days. While this was an improvement on 2012, when 55% of letters were sent within deadline, we are still some way from responding to all our correspondence as quickly as we would wish. A programme of work is underway to improve performance in all Department of State functions, including correspondence.