Vol. 529 No. 1
1234 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the arrangements he has in place to respond to e-mail queries to the address posted on the Department's website; the number of e-mail queries received during the last quarter of 2000; the number of these which had not received any response from the Department by 19 January 2001; and if he will make a statement on the adequacy of the sys tem for responding to such e-mail queries. [1965/01]
Approximately 180 queries were received to the address posted on my Department's website during the last quarter of 2000. All of these queries have been responded to. Every effort is made to ensure that queries received through this medium are replied to on a same day basis. However, for more complex issues, queries are sent for a direct response to the section involved. In such circumstances, an acknowledgement is sent to the correspondent indicating the section where the query has been sent. I am satisfied that this system operates efficiently.
