Defra Service Standards Adjudicator
I wrote to my MP on 10 August last year about the failure of Defra to respond properly to a parliamentary petition. My MP, Tom Pursglove, forwarded my letter to George Eustice (then Secretary of State, Defra) on 18 August. Yesterday, 24 January, I received a reply from Defra (from Trudy Harrison MP, Minister for Natural Environment and Land Use) dated 20 January.
A period of more than five months to address a letter sent by an MP on behalf of a constituent is unacceptable. That is my complaint.
Parliamentary petitions last 6 months – today is the last day of the petition to which my letter referred. You can sign it here Limit the shooting season of Woodcock – Petitions (parliament.uk) if you do so before midnight.
Dr Mark Avery by email
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It’s no secret that the conservative Government is (has?) falling apart but that ‘normal services’ provided by the civil service are failing so spectacularly is yet another scary factor adding to the erosion of democracy in Britain. Ministers aren’t up to it and on top of that they don’t care, especially with anything which conflicts with their view of the world. How long does it have to go on ? We’ve had an ex prime minster leaning unacceptably on civil servants to enrich himself, another who broke the law with no qualms, another who crashed the markets almost her first day in office and now an ex Chancellor of the exchequer fined for tax evasion whilst in office. Can it get any worse ? Yet it probably will.