The matter was raised in Parliament by Labour MP for York Central Rachael Maskell.

She asked Cabinet Office Minister and Paymaster General Michael Ellis what assessment has been made of the adequacy of the level of civil service staffing to support timely responses to correspondence from MPs.

Mr Ellis said: “The Government attach great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence.

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle says correspondence from MPs needs to be answered more promptly by Government departments

“Officials remain committed to providing the highest level of service. As part of our commitment to transparency, we have published data related to letters from MPs and peers answered by Government in 2021, which shows that Cabinet Office timeliness improved each quarter, with 89 per cent of letters — 89 per cent — received from Honourable Members in Quarter Four responded to within 20 days.”

Ms Maskell said it was in fact the case that receiving replies even to urgent issues can take months.

She said: “To get a response: the Equalities Minister, four months; the Health Minister, often four months but can be six months; and the Defence Minister, seven months, with our staff chasing and chasing, while being on the phone for three hours, or up to five hours to UK Visas and Immigration.

“Behind every letter and every call our office makes is someone in need — often pressing need.

“We all know that this is due to capacity, so how can the Government state that they plan to cut 20 per cent of civil servant jobs, 91,000 people, when they cannot even cope with undertaking the most basic of tasks?”

Mr Ellis replied: “I recognise the importance of the correspondence for those constituents who write in. It might be instructive to know that Departments have continued to receive a significantly higher volume of correspondence in 2021, mainly due to the pandemic, and that has had an impact on resource and timeliness of responses.

"During 2021, most Departments continued to receive a significantly higher volume of correspondence. The Department for Transport was able to answer 92 per cent of 13,363 letters, the Ministry of Defence 88 per cent of 3,773 letters, and the Department for International Trade 84 per cent of 2,182 letters, within 20 days.”

That remark prompted an intervention from Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who said that he and former Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg “have been struggling to ensure that Members’ letters, from all sides, are answered”.

He added: “We should not try to defend the indefensible. I will be honest: Members need letters on behalf of their constituents to be answered as quickly as possible and, unfortunately, I am getting all the complaints.”

MP's concern on passport delays

Conservative former minister Andrew Jones sought assurances that civil service staffing cuts will not contribute to delays for people wanting passports, visas and driving licences.

The MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough said: “It’s been clear from the exchanges in this House this morning that it’s not just my constituents but many constituents are experiencing delays with passport processing, visa applications, driving licence renewals.”

He added: “Can the minister reassure me and my constituents that the planned reduction in civil servants will not impact on the capacity of the processing in these teams? I know there was also recruitment taking place, particularly in the Passport Office, but that recruitment is going to be directed into the front line to speed the application process.”

Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay said it is about “linking resource to outcomes” and highlighted a temporary boost in staff numbers for the Passport Office, noting it had increased by 650 since April to address the surge in applications.

He added: “At the same time there needs to be a change in the way we deliver public services and in particular around how we digitise access to those services. Too often the same information has to be entered multiple times when addressing things from government.

“We’re going to streamline that through the single sign-on process and the Passport Office will be one of the beneficiaries of that programme.”

At The Yorkshire Post, we are committed to speaking truth to power on behalf of the people who call God’s Own County their home. Our political team and Westminster Correspondent are Yorkshire's eyes and ears in the corridors of power.

If you’d like all the latest political news straight to your inbox, you can sign up to our newsletter for free at: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/newsletter

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle tells Minister not to 'defend the indefensible' on delays to MP letters