MINISTERS taking an age to reply to MPs' questions and letters has been a frequent gripe of Peter Luff.

But it now emerges Dr Richard Taylor has been the victim of some pretty shoddy treatment, too.

He submitted three staggering examples to a select committee investigation into Ministerial accountability, which has just been completed.

One concerned a letter sent to Health Minister Lord Hunt on March 13, 2002 about postcode prescribing. His answer arrived on January 22, 2003. As Richard said: "The answer is of course completely useless as it has been superseded by events."

He also wrote to the then Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, on June 20, 2002, to point out his Wyre Forest constituents were having difficulties with NHS Direct.

The reply? January 21, 2003.

As well as delays, he also had some pretty vague responses. On January 7, he was told the Diabetes National Service Framework would be published in the "next few weeks". It came out two days later, making Richard Cross at such an "unacceptable" response.