Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 23890 on Government Bills: Impact Assessments, whether her letter to Cabinet colleagues made reference to the publication of impact assessments before the First Reading of bills.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
It is a long-established precedent that internal government correspondence is not normally shared publicly.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2025 to Question 24243 on Government Departments: Written Questions, if she will publish that letter.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
It is a long-established precedent that internal government correspondence is not normally shared publicly.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, if she will provide guidance to Departments on ensuring that documentation referred to in written parliamentary questions is deposited in the Library.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
It is important that Members receive full and helpful responses to parliamentary questions. As set out in the Guide to Parliamentary Work (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work), when referring to public documents departments should “include the relevant extracts in your written response as well as the relevant hyperlink”.
We believe that publishing the relevant extract and link is the most effective and appropriate way to make such information available.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2025 to Question 21347 on Conditions of Employment, if she will ensure that answers to written parliamentary questions provide relevant hyperlinks.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
It is important that Members receive full and helpful responses to parliamentary questions.
The Guide to Parliamentary Work (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work), published by my office, states that “if referring to documents in the public domain, you should include the relevant extracts in your written response as well as the relevant hyperlink”.
I take these matters seriously and have raised this particular question with the Cabinet Office to ensure the link is sent to the Hon. Members for Bridlington and The Wolds and for Brentwood and Ongar at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2024 to Question 18705 on Home Office: Equality, if she will hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of the time taken to respond to written parliamentary questions where there is a Freedom of Information request on the same subject.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I have written to all Members of Cabinet to remind departments and Ministers about the importance of providing full and timely responses to parliamentary questions.
The government's position regarding the relationship between the treatment of requests for information through parliamentary questions and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is unchanged. The Guide to Parliamentary Work (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work), published by my office, states that “if information would be released under FOI, it would also be released in response to a WPQ”.
The Procedure Committee monitors departmental PQ performance and their sessional reporting continues to be an effective tool.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what guidance her Department has issued on how the policy and work of non-ministerial departments can be scrutinised by (a) oral and (b) written Parliamentary Questions.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Ministerial Code gives guidance to Ministers on their responsibilities. Section 1.6(a) states that “Ministers have a duty to Parliament to account, and be held to account, for the policies, decisions and actions of their departments and agencies”. It is expected that ministers from sponsoring departments can answer questions on behalf of non-ministerial departments they sponsor. This is true for both oral and written Parliamentary Questions.
Additional guidance on answering Parliamentary Questions is available to departments in the Guide to Parliamentary Work.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, if she will make an estimate of the average cost to the public purse of answering a written parliamentary question.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The information requested is not held. The cost to the public purse of answering written PQs depends on numerous factors, including the size of parliamentary teams, volumes of parliamentary questions submitted, and the complexity of the question asked (and required policy work to answer it), amongst other factors.
The Cabinet Office’s Guide to Parliamentary Work (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-parliamentary-work) sets out: “There is an advisory cost limit known as the disproportionate cost threshold which is the level above which departments can decide not to answer a written question. The current disproportionate cost threshold is £850.”
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that all Departments publish impact assessments to Bills when they are published at first reading.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is committed to ensuring Parliament has the information it needs to hold the Government to account and to understand the impact of legislation. When a bill is published the Explanatory Notes include information regarding any financial implications.
I have written to all members of Cabinet regarding their ministerial responsibilities to Parliament. Best practice guidance is also provided to departments through the Cabinet Office Guide to Making Legislation, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-making-legislation.
Published impact assessments, including their date of publication, are available on the Parliament website (https://bills.parliament.uk/).
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of recent answers to Written Questions in the context of improving transparency in Government.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Parliament has a right to hold Ministers to account. I have written to all members of Cabinet to remind Ministers of their responsibilities to provide helpful and timely responses to Members' PQs.
The Procedure Committee regularly monitors individual department’s PQ performance, and recently published a report on department’s performance in the 2023-24 session (available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/126/procedure-committee/publications/). I look forward to working with the Committee on this and other matters.
I would encourage hon. Members to raise any specific issues they may have with myself and my office.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, pursuant to her oral contribution of 12 December 2024, Official Report, column 1045, what discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (b) the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and (c) other Cabinet colleagues on the west midlands pension fund.
Answered by Lucy Powell - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
As the Hon. Member will know from my correspondence with her, following the Business Question on the 12th December 2024, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the 20th December 2024 and asked that this matter be looked into.
I understand that the Hon. Member has now received an update from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on this matter.