Written question asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party) on Tuesday, 19 July 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 July 2005. It was answered by Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour) on Wednesday, 5 October 2005 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Correspondence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's policy is for dealing with and responding to correspondence received in (a) Welsh, (b) Scots Gaelic and (c) Irish Gaelic.

Answer: Correspondence received by the Department in Welsh is dealt with in accordance with Defra's Welsh Language Scheme which came into force in October 2002. This requires my Department to reply in Welsh within 15 days, the same period of time for correspondence in English. Any correspondence received in Scots or Irish Gaelic is dealt with at a local level on a case-by-case basis. This policy is under review and would be looked at again if a number of communications were received in either language.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 14695; 436 c2803W;436 c2829W
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Correspondence Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Languages