House of Commons Commission

Debate between Viscount Thurso and Jo Swinson

Friday 1st April 2011 Ministerial Corrections

[Jo Swinson]

To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, representing the House of Commons Commission, what proportion of (a) members of the House of Commons Management Board, (b) heads of department of the House of Commons and (c) heads of each office or service in each House of Commons department are women.

[Official Report, 18 March 2011, Vol. 525, c. 695W.]

Letter of correction from Mr John Thurso:

An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson) on 18 March 2011.

The full answer given was as follows:

[John Thurso]

The information is as follows:

(a) The House of Commons Management Board comprises the Clerk of the House (Chair), the Directors General of the four departments of the House and the Director of PICT, which is a joint department of the two Houses. There is also an external member. The proportion of women is 17%. A new department, the Department of Finance, will be launched on 1 April 2011. The Head of the new department will sit on the Management Board, and her presence will alter the proportion of women on the Board to 29%. (b) The proportion of women who are heads of the four current departments of the House is zero and will rise to 20% of five departments in April. If PICT is included, the figures are 17.5% and 33% respectively. (c) Currently, there are 27 Directors/Heads of Office. 10 of these (43%) are women. If PICT is included, the figure is 37%.

The correct answer should have been:

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Viscount Thurso and Jo Swinson

Thursday 20th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

7. What progress the procedural data programme has made on the provision in electronic form to the Official Report of the text of answers to parliamentary questions.

[John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)]

On 16 December, the procedural data programme board agreed to the project initiation document for a pilot project on electronic delivery of answers. That pilot is due to end in March 2011. The project team will produce a report recommending next steps, which the board will consider in May.

[Jo Swinson]

I was astonished to learn of the inefficient process by which—in the 21st century—written answers are published in Hansard. They are typed in the Department and delivered by hand to the House as a print-out, at which point the Hansard reporters have to type them again. I am glad that the Commission is considering changing the process, but may I urge it to do so quickly, and to recognise that short-term costs such as the cost of the necessary software will be outweighed by long-term savings in staff time?

[John Thurso]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her approval of the steps that the Commission is taking. The process is somewhat complicated, not least because no two Departments use exactly the same technology when preparing answers, and a large amount of business analysis must be conducted to produce a sufficiently detailed understanding of their working practices. However, resource expenditure of £34,970 has been invested in the project, and we will work as expeditiously as possible to arrive at a resolution.